Culture

Minecraft Earth Ends This Summer

Augmented reality mobile game Minecraft Earth is shutting down in June, developer Mojang Studios announced this morning “Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play–two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation,” the official announcement reads. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources…

The Medium Finally Has The Hardware To Match Its Ambition

Upcoming horror game The Medium is about a psychic trying to solve a crime. Developers at Polish game studio Bloober Team tell me it’s also about breaking down player’s preconceived notions about the world. “The game is about points-of-view,” lead designer Wojciech Piejko explained during a recent interview with Kotaku. “Nothing is black and white,…

Nintendo Buys Canadian Studio Behind Luigi’s Mansion 3, Super Mario Strikers

Nintendo just announced that it has purchased Next Level Games, the developers behind titles like Luigi’s Mansion 3, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon and the Super Mario Strikers series. Nintendo’s announcement says the deal is expected to be concluded in March, and “will serve to secure the availability of NLG development resources for Nintendo.” To me,…

Xbox Emulation Is Coming Along Nicely

While platforms as recent as the PS3 and even the Switch are now running very nicely in emulators, the original Xbox has remained something of a thorn in the side of the scene. So it’s cool to see the xemu emulator making such solid progress. xemu’s v0.5 has recently been released, and this video shows…

Jarod Nandin, “The South Park Guy” Cosplayer, Has Died

Jarod Nandin, a World of Warcraft player and cosplayer best known for his depiction of South Park’s Jenkins, has died after complications from Covid. Nandintook the internet by storm back in 2013 with his perfect recreation of the character, and even made an appearance on stage at that year’s BlizzCon. Jarod announced back in December…

Video Games Predict A Grim 2021

2020 was a bad year for most of us, but a surprisingly good year for video games. As we enter 2021 with the hope offered by the vaccines, and the light at the end of the tunnel just about visible, it might soon be possible to allow hope back in. Unless, it seems, video games…

Ice-Pick Lodge, makers of the atmospheric survival horror game Pathologic 2 have announced a new game called Know By Heart due out later this year on PC. Less harrowing and more chill, it’s about exploring life in a quiet Russian town.

Breath of the Wild NPCs Appear To Be Based On ‘Advanced’ Miis

If you’ve ever stared at one of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s random villagers and thought, “Hey, that looks like a Mii,” it could be because the two might be related. Overnight, Twitter user and self-proclaimed Mii expert HEYimHeroic wrote that certain non-player characters in Breath of the Wild are based on…

My New Exercise Regimen Is A Plastic Taiko Drum Controller

Stuck in bed most days due to an ongoing medical condition and paralyzed from the chest down, I don’t have a lot of options for cardio exercise. Hand bikes, weights, and tension bands are boring. You know what’s not boring? Beating the hell out of Hori’s drum controller for Bandai Namco’s Taiko No Tatsujin games.…

What’s Great About Bowser

How do you evolve a franchise with an almost-static main character? You look to his antagonist: Bowser, King of the Koopas. Also known by his objectively superior Japanese name: Great Demon King Koopa. Super Mario’s World is a look at the characters that turned the Mario franchise into a household name for 35 years. Based…

The Week In Games: Werewolves

Another quiet release week. One of the biggest games coming out later this week is the Switch port of Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest. As usual, the first few weeks of January are mostly empty. Consider this a good time to dig into your backlog, read some books, or do what I…

Some Of 2020’s Nicest Screenshots

As I’ve done for the last few years, when a year comes to an end I like to look back on some very nice screenshots by one of my favourite screenshot artists, and 2020 was no different. Andy Cull’s 2020 was spent like the rest of us, playing stuff like The Last Of Us Part…

Unfinished Japanese PS1 Game Completed, Released Two Decades Later

In 1998 a small team of Japanese developers spent eight months working on a game called Magic Castle, which they sent off as a pitch to seven major publishers, including Sony. It never went anywhere, but thanks to emulators and the efforts of one member of the original team, we can now play it and…

Cyberpunk 2077 Gets “Working” Third-Person Mod

There’s now a mod available that lets you play Cyberpunk 2077 in third-person on the PC—but be warned, while it works in the most basic, functional sense, it’s not something you’re going to want to be using for any real stretch of time. The mod, created by Jelle Bakker, can be downloaded here. It lets…

Track: Happy New Year | Artist: ABBA | Album: Super Trouper

Sunday Comics: Almost Done

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published Dec. 31. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Dec. 28. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: 2021

It’s a new year. We are in the futuristic-sounding year of “2021!” How exciting. Let’s have some fun… in the future! (Which is now.) Your challenge this week: Make Some Games More 2021-y. This is a more freeform and open contest than usual. I figured this could be a fun way to start the year…

Nier: Automata’s “Final Secret” Has Been Found And It Lets You Skip The Whole Game

A new secret cheat code has been found in Nier: Automata that lets players skip the entire game after only beating the first boss. This new discovery has also been confirmed to be the “final secret” that the game’s developers teased a few years ago. Released back in 2017, Nier: Automata is a game with…

How To Watch Awesome Games Done Quick 2021

Awesome Games Done Quick, back for its 12th year, startstoday. After a terrible 2020, these fun and impressive speedruns might just be the best way to kick off 2021. Like last year, all donations will go to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. However, because of covid, the event is being held virtually, to help keep everyone…

‘Shop Contest: Miyamoto In A Pipe, Winners!

2020 is over. But we got some unfinished business to take care of: one last 2020 ‘Shop Contest needs to be judged. So, let’s get to it. Let’s see what you assholes did to Miyamoto. Our winning image this week comes from Arai-the fly on the wall who has decided to curse 2021. We just…