Culture

This Week In The Business: Conventional Wis-dumb

QUOTE | “The reality of doing business in the games industry is much more nuanced than prevailing industry opinions would suggest, namely because those opinions lack appropriate context.” – Butterscotch Shenanigans’ Sam Coster explains why the studio ignored everyone telling it a simultaneous mobile-PC launch for its Crashlands was a terrible idea Elsewhere in the…

Podcast: Straight Outta PAX

Jason and I are both at PAX West in Seattle, so we recorded Kotaku Splitscreen a little later in the week than usual. It’s a rare episode where we’re sitting in the same room, at the same microphone, interrupting each other with much greater clarity and resolve. Topics discussed: Jason’s impressed with the two-hour Final…

Ever Play A Game For 100 Hours, Then Realize You Hate It?

In light of recent talk about No Man’s Sky and people seeking refunds after 50+ hours of playtime, I’ve been wondering: have you ever spent way too long with a game that just wasn’t for you? It’s definitely not an isolated phenomenon. I see it a lot on Steam, with people giving negative reviews to…

Ark: Survival Evolved Players Not Pleased With Decision To Charge For Early Access DLC [UPDATE]

Dinosaur survival playground Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the most popular games on Steam, regularly ranking among the top ten most-played games on the whole service. Despite this, it’s still very much an Early Access game, something players are worried developer Wildcard is forgetting. Yesterday, Wildcard released paid DLC for their dinosaur sensation. Titled…

The Internet Reacts To Pokémon Sun and Moon’s New Snorlax

By now you probably know about Pokémon Sun and Moon’s preorder bonus, which gives you access to a Snorlax with a special move called Pulverizing Pancake. Turns out, waking Snorlax up can get pretty ugly in Alola. Just seeing the move in action is hilarious—Game Freak definitely had fun coming up with the idea: Given…

If Rocket League Had Some No Man’s Sky In It

Today on Highlight Reel we have No Man’s Sky landings, Witcher guts, train vengence, cool plane crashes and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more!…

Track: The Blues Are Still Blue | Artist: Belle & Sebastian | Album: The Life Pursuit Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

British Telecom Giant Is Suing Valve Over Steam Patent Infringement

British Telecommunications, a multinational mega-conglomerate with origins dating back to the 1800s, is suing Valve, a video game company that can’t count to three. The suit has been filed against Valve in Delaware, a place that tends to favor patent holders. BT claims that Steam “offers a broad range of products and services which incorporate…

Postal 2 Update Opens Secret Area That Was Closed For 13 Years

Postal 2, a 2003 PC game known for open-ended design and “offensive” humor that ran the gamut from wannabe-South-Park to downright ugly, recently did something pretty clever. We’re a bit late on this, but it’s cool enough to warrant talking about anyway. For more than a decade, Postal 2 contained a roped-off section in the…

What A Piece Of Junk

Von Caberte is an artist from The Philippines who has worked with companies like Wizards of the Coast and Fantasy Flight. You can see more of Von’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is…

Does anyone else never use the flee/escape option in turn-based RPGs? Or is this unusual?

Track: Theme de Camille | Artist: Georges Delerue | Album: Le Mepris Soundtrack Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Reason Behind Street Fighter‘s Iconic Button Layout

This week twenty-nine years ago, the first Street Fighter was released in arcades. There was Ken, Ryu, and some very different buttons. As pointed out on Event Hubs, the first cabinets had giant pressure-sensitive pads that you were supposed to POUND WITH YOUR FIST. Which is nuts. Problems arose from players punching the buttons, such…

Track: Bodies of Christ | Artist: Mariachi El Bronx | Album: Mariachi El Bronx (II) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Developer Decides To Pull Game From Steam After Just Three Days

It’s not easy being a Steam developer these days. Even once-successful creators are falling on hard times. Since 2009, Arcen Games has released 11 games on Steam. They’ve done pretty well for themselves, despite mixed reception of games like A Valley Without Wind—which, at best, can be called an ambitious mess—and its sequel, which, at…

Scraps From Covering Video Games A Decade Ago

This past weekend, I found a couple of small box in my apartment full of memories from when I was writing about video games for MTV News a decade ago. They might as well have been a buried time capsule. I had little memory of what I’d saved in those boxes, which I don’t think…

XCOM, Your Ice Cream Looks Delicious

We’re returning to the art of XCOM 2 today for a third time, because artist Dongmin Shin has shared some of his cute-as-hell poster art that adorns the walls of the game’s world. As shown off on the game’s blog, these cute little designs of the game’s bad guys were originally intended as posters for…

After a much-needed sabbatical, Highlight Reel is coming back this Thursday! I’m going through the backlog of submissions I’ve received now, but feel free to send more great clips my way at [email protected]

Track: Suedehead | Artist: Morrissey | Album: Viva Hate Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.