Culture

Microsoft is retiring the introductory price of Xbox Game Pass for PC. Starting September 17, it’ll jump from $5 a month to $10. If you’re already signed up, you’ll keep your old rate for one more billing cycle.

How’s It Going? End Of The Line Edition

Welcome to the final installment of our daily open thread. There is a new morning hangout, and it’s got music and everything. Our daily “How’s It Going?” posts started up many months ago as a means to help our community during the whole shelter-in-place thing, giving us a place to chill and hang. Now there…

Leaked Vids Reveal The Oculus Quest 2, A VR Headset That’s Gonna Get Dirty [Update]

Last year, Facebook untethered virtual reality fans from their computers with the standalone Oculus Quest, one of the best ways to experience VR. Earlier today a pair of videos originally uploaded to the Facebook Blueprint website revealed the Oculus Quest 2, a higher-resolution, more powerful standalone virtual reality headset with a white strap that’s sure…

Halo 3: ODST Comes To PC September 22

Halo 3: ODST comes to PC as part of the Master Chief Collection on September 22. PC players will finally get their chance to guide a group of orbital drop shock troopers through the streets of New Mombassa while listening to Nathan Fillion talk. Halo 3: ODST’s release means Halo PC fans are only waiting…

The Week In Games: Too Many Marios!

Not just one, not just two, but THREE classic Mario games are releasing this week for the Nintendo Switch. I know a lot of folks are excited about Super Mario 3D All-Stars, but I’ve never liked Sunshine, 64 was never my jam and I already played Galaxy recently via emulation. So I’m going to pass…

Super Mario Land Was A Bit Heavy On The Stereo

Mario’s first portable Game Boy adventure didn't skimp on the catchiness, either

This weekend, official Fist of the North Star single malt Scotch whisky was released in Japan. Bottles of Kenshiro-branded 20-year-old Teaninich-distilled single malt are 20,900 yen ($197), while Raoh-branded Glentauchers-distilled single malt are 24,200 yen ($228). Both are already sold out. 

Track: Mack The Knife (Live) | Artist: Ella Fitzgerald | Album: The Lost Berlin Tapes

RIP to everyone working video game retail this holiday season who will have to try and explain this

It Would Cost $538,000 To Buy Everything On Steam

I can’t believe I’ve never seen or wondered about this before, but it turns out you can scrape data from Steam and find out how much the entire service’s catalogue would cost to purchase. And it’s…a lot less than you’d probably think? Chenggang Wang has a lil’ site called Buy All Steam Games, and it…

Warframe Is Getting Smaller, Not Bigger

While Call of Duty’s updates keep making the game bigger, Warframe is doing a very cool thing and making sure that the game can now take up less space on your hard drive, not more. In a post called “The Great Ensmallening”, Digital Extremes say that they’ve found that “some people can’t fit [Warframe] on…

GameStop Is Closing Another 100 Stores

Back in March, struggling retailer GameStop announced that it would be closing at least 320 stores over the course of the year. That number has now jumped to “between 400 and 450 stores”. As CNN report, the company made the announcement last week, with CFO Jim Bell saying the closures would “allow us to more…

Charles Barkley Won’t Be In NBA 2K Until Older Players Get Paid

It used to be in the ‘90s that Michael Jordan was the most conspicuous absence from licensed basketball games. These days it’s Charles Barkley, not for any rights issues, but because of the way he believes 2K needs to help out some of the people it’s using to make its millions every year. The NBA…

Track: Mystify | Artist: INXS | Album: Kick

Uncharted 4 Contains Hidden Ghost Guns

The Uncharted games are action-packed adventures, filled with loveable characters and big setpieces. Also, apparently, ghost guns. Usually, the easiest way to do something is to just do it. For example, if you need an area in your game to have gunshots going off in the background you could just stick some guns in the…

‘Shop Contest: A Pirate’s Life For Me

Ahoy, there maties! Did you know that next Saturday is Talk Like A Pirate Day? Well, now you know! And to celebrate it, let’s walk the plank and other pirate things. Your challenge this week: Turn non-pirate game characters into pirates! You can add some eye patches, some peg legs, or a hat. Or maybe…

How’s It Going?: Hot Dogs Edition

You seem hungry. Well, I’m tossing some hot dogs on the grill right now. Come on over and come chat with other Kotaku readers in our daily open thread! I feel like hot dogs have a bad reputation. (And when I say hot dog, I also mean brats.) For some reason, when I tell people…

Sunday Comics: Wiggle, Wiggle

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 Sep. 10. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Sep. 7. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Cleaning Robot, Winners!

Last week we decided to focus on a no-name, hardworking and overlooked robot who was just doing his job. This robot finally got to see the world, and then some, thanks to you folks and your Photoshop skills. Our winning image this week comes from The Bodine who creates the ultimate boss: A helpful robot.…

Borderlands 3 Is Coming To Next-Gen Consoles

Gearbox announced today that Borderlands 3 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S in the future and these next-gen versions will support three and four-player split-screen. These new ports will available for free to current owners of Borderlands 3 on PS4 and Xbox One. Those older consoles will also be receiving…