Culture

Twitch Suspends Leafy, The Banned YouTuber Who Harassed Pokimane

LeafyIsHere is a creator known primarily for picking on other creators. Last month, he was permanently banned from YouTube for repeatedly violating the company’s harassment policies after a series of videos about Twitch star Imane “Pokimane” Anys—one of which kicked off a hashtag campaign around the existence of her supposed, secret boyfriend—as well as a…

Xbox Series S Was Actually Revealed Back In June

Earlier this week, the folks over at Microsoft announced a lightweight alternative to the beefy Xbox Series X known as the Xbox Series S. But what if I told you that the official reveal wasn’t the first time the world caught a glimpse of the cute little console? In a cheeky bit of preemptive marketing…

I Keep Discovering Great Indie Games In Xbox Game Pass

Throughout my time with Undermine—which has been in early access on PC since 2019 but received a full release last month for PC and Xbox, where it’s part of the Game Pass library—I’ve seen a lot of good soldier-miners die. Bryeb got trampled by a bobo, a large primate that indiscriminately charges at anything in…

Apple’s New Game Streaming Rules Probably Won’t Lead To Stadia And XCloud On Your iPhone (Update)

Apple has made some changes to its App Store guidelines concerning game streaming services like xCloud and Stadia. The new rules allow for game streaming, but with restrictions and caveats that will likely continue to keep these services off Apple products for the foreseeable future. Previously, game streaming services like xCloud and Stadia weren’t allowed…

Destiny 2’s Weirdo Planetary Vendors Are Finally Getting Their Due

A bristly researcher taking a one-way trip into an ancient alien cave. A gruff warrior making one last stand against the odds. A fanatical cutlist watching the abyss stare back while trapped in a time maze. A brilliant engineer set on rescuing Earth’s last, most advanced artificial intelligence from cyber-death. The unifying thread? Some of…

12 Questions I Have About The Roswell Level In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1

You might have already heard, but that new Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 remake is really good. I’ve been playing it a lot and recently unlocked that strange final level in the first game. You know, the one set in a secret military base that has aliens and UFOs in it. The original Tony Hawk’s…

Hades Won’t Have Switch-PC Cross-Saves At Launch

Hades is coming to Switch, but folks who’ve been playing the early access version on PC won’t be able to carry over their save files—at least not from day one. Developer Supergiant Games announced in a tweet today that, while cross-save functionality between the two platforms is still planned, it won’t be available at launch.…

Twitch Bans Smash Champion After He Admits To Having Sex With Minor

Super Smash Bros. veteran Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada has been banned from Twitch two months after admitting to engaging in a sexual relationship with a fellow competitor who was underage at the time. Quezada’s official partnership with Twitch has also been terminated. The competitive Smash community was left reeling in July when over 50 allegations of…

Immortals: Fenyx Rising Trailer’s Choice Of James Brown Sample Confuses The Hell Outta Me

As a rule, I am a big proponent of having more diverse music in my entertainment. I’m so used to hearing that poor brown woman wailing or the overused “Braaaam” in various movies and trailers that it’s nice when companies break the mold. I especially love when movies and TV shows put contemporary music in…

Marvel’s Avengers Has An Age Of Ultron Easter Egg

Crystal Dynamics swears that Marvel’s Avengers isn’t a reinterpretation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As game director Shaun Escayg told CNET, following last year’s initial reveal of the game, “We wanted to clearly show that this was our spin on the Avengers.” You can determine for yourself whether or not Marvel’s Avengers successfully differentiated itself,…

The Mystery Around Control’s Next-Gen Upgrade Restrictions Takes Another Weird Turn

Owners of the original version of Control say they recently discovered it had automatically switched to the new Ultimate edition that ensures a free upgrade to next-gen platforms, raising even more questions about why the game’s upgrade process continues to be such a mess. The game’s publisher, 505 Games, had previously said that the only…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend is for decompressing after a week and change non-stop playing Marvel’s Avengers. Something simple with pretty colors is in order, I think. Something like Spinch, a surprisingly challenging little platformer from Canadian studio Queen Bee Games. See all the colors? Those are the work of Canadian cartoonist Jesse Jacob, whose psychedelic hues make…

Annapurna’s Eight-Game PS4 Box Sets Are So Good

Publisher Annapurna Interactive has released some outstanding games on the PlayStation 4, including Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, and Gorogoa. To celebrate the publisher’s first five years, Annapurna’s teamed with iam8Bit to bundle all eight games into a pair of gorgeous limited…

Revenge of Shinobi Fused Dance Beats With Ninjas

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s subject of inquiry is Yuzo Koshiro’s very first soundtrack on the hardware that’d make him famous in the West, The Revenge of Shinobi 1989’s The Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi in Japan /…

Track: Be a Rebel | Artist: New Order | Album: Be a Rebel (single)

I Don’t Think We’re Ready For How Big The Xbox Series X Really Is

I know that you know that the Xbox Series X is big. But I don’t think you’re aware of just how fucking big it is Over the last few days not just tech/game sites like The Verge and Gamespot but also Content Creators—specifically, those who specialise in simply taking products out of boxes—have been sent…

New Nintendo Leak Includes Numerous Unreleased Game Boy Games

Nintendo’s official release schedule may be a little thin, but the hits keep coming in the form of data leaks. The latest batch, which some have dubbed “Gigaleak III,” involves a huge “lotcheck” dump of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games that were either finished or close to being finished and sent off to…

Everything Ubisoft Showed During Today’s Forward Showcase

Ubisoft held its second summer showcase today, giving updates on a number of its live games and new looks at upcoming ones like Immortals: Fenyx Rising, the revamped mythological adventure shown in years past as Gods & Monsters. The company tried to clear the air beforehand by having CEO Yves Guillemot apologize for the widespread…

Steep Studio Announces Riders Republic, A Multiplayer Extreme Sports Game

Ubisoft’s “one more thing” for today’s Forward broadcast was Riders Republic, the next game from Steep developers Ubisoft Annecy. It’s heading to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Stadia, and the Epic Games Store on Febuary 25, 2021. The studio was reported to have been working on a sequel to Steep earlier…

After Some Confusion, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game Is Coming Back [UPDATED]

Ubisoft announced the popular Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is getting re-released, during the company’s second Ubisoft Forward event of 2020. This new release will feature the original release’s DLC and will be out later this year. The game was originally released back in 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, but was…