Culture

A Twitch Streamer Unearthed Cards From A Fake ’90s Pokémon Ripoff, And Fans Are Pretending The Series Was Real All Along [UPDATE]

There’s elaborate performance art, and then there’s what renowned Twitch jester Jerma did over the weekend. In a truly inspired stream, he parodied the recent Pokémon booster pack craze by going out into the Nevada desert and pretending to excavate a chest seemingly full of unopened Pokémon cards from 1997. They turned out to be…

After Almost Three Years Away, Returning To Overwatch Feels Amazing

I have a confession to make: Despite being Kotaku’s number one Overwatch fan, I haven’t played it myself in two years. But buffeted by my optimism for Overwatch 2 and being unable to get my Overwatch fix because Overwatch League won’t be back for another month, I decided to play again, hoping to recapture what…

Bravely Default II’s Beastmaster Job Is Basically Pokémon

Creating your party in Bravely Default II is less about the characters you use than it is the jobs with which you equip them. It’s a smart strategy to always have basic healers and damage-dealers on hand, sure, but when it comes to my party, I don’t foresee ever not having at least one Beastmaster…

V1 Interactive Shuts Down Less Than A Year After Releasing Disintegration

V1 Interactive, the studio behind the real-time strategy and first-person shooter hybrid game Disintegration, is shutting down after five years. The studio announced via Twitter today, explaining that, after five years, the studio will officially close. V1’s president, Marcus Lehto, confirmed the news in a separate Tweet and explained the reasoning behind the shutting down…

Call of Duty’s Zombie Easter Eggs Were Too Hard, So Cold War Season 2 Is Simplifying Things

Secrets have long been a part of the Call of Duty Zombies formula. But while players have loved hunting for Easter eggs to reveal new bits of lore, according to Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch, very few players find these secrets in-game. So for its latest take on zombies, Treyarch has decided to make…

Regulators Approve Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Acquisition Of Bethesda Parent Company Zenimax Media

Microsoft’s $7.5 billion purchase of Zenimax Media, parent company of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom maker Bethesda, has cleared another set of hurdles, winning approval to proceed from both the European Commission and US Securities and Exchange Commissions “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s limited…

Monster Hunter Stories 2 Takes Flight July 9

Monster Hunter fans have a date with a newly-hatched baby Rathalos on July 9, when Capcom launches Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin for the Nintendo Switch and Steam. The original Monster Hunter Stories came out in 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS, giving players a new way to interact with the series’ mighty creatures.…

The Week In Games: Apex Legends Drops On Switch

Mark a spot on the map, grab some guns, and get ready to (hopefully) be the last team standing when Apex Legends comes out for free on Switch later this week. I played about three weeks of Apex Legends when it first came out and I enjoyed my time with it, but like all battle…

I Found Some Rad Tracks At This Virtual Japanese Music Festival

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Instead of highlighting a single soundtrack today, I wanna tell you about my visit to a virtual music festival this weekend, where I found lots of intriguing new tunes So that was cool. It started when…

Track: The Last Man on Earth | Artist: Wolf Alice | Album: Blue Weekend

Track: Shot In The Dark | Artist: AC/DC | Album: Power Up

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Has The Best Ending Of The Series

When I think of Assassin’s Creed games, I often remember big cities, cool assassinations, climbing tall towers, and maybe some sea shanties. Rarely do I remember how these games end because they often have forgettable or boring endings, sometimes with bad boss fights. So Assassin’s Creed Syndicate stands out as an exception with its fantastic…

‘Shop Contest: The Imps From Artifact Need New Jobs

Artifact is dead, or at least it won’t be updated anymore which for online games is basically the same thing as dead. That means the two imps seen in Artifact, both in-game and in promo artwork, need a new gig. Let’s help ‘em out! Your challenge this week: Find some new jobs or homes for…

Over 5,000 Final Fantasy XIV Players Were Banned For Using Or Advertising Real Money Trading

Square Enix announced earlier this week that over 5,000 Final Fantasy XIV players were banned after they were caught using or advertising real money in-game. As spotted by PCGamesN, on March 4 FFXIV publisher Square Enix revealed via a news post on the FFXIV website that 5851 players had been banned for their involvement with…

Sunday Comics: Wow Dad!

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 March 4. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 1. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: New Mail Truck, Winners!

Last week we got our first look at the new United States Postal Service mail trucks. To celebrate these new vehicles we made fun of them with strange images. We’ve been doing this for years now, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Our winning image this week comes from amazingmeow who wasn’t the only person to go…

Watch Dogs: Legion’s Multiplayer On PC Has Been Delayed Indefinitely Because Of Bugs

Yesterday, Ubisoft announced that Watch Dogs Legion’s online mode on PC has been delayed indefinitely due to serious bugs that need to be fixed. And some parts of multiplayer on the console will also be delayed due to, you guessed it, more bugs. Announced on Twitter yesterday, the PC version of Legion’s online mode has…

Fear The Cosmic Unicorn

This week on Snapshots we have some colorful screenshots, some dead bodies, shadows, superheroes, darkness, and a big, cosmic unicorn. I saw it in my dreams. It called to me. It wanted to kill me, but it did so slowly and in a way impossible to explain. Now my physical form remains here, with you…

The Division 2 Will Get A New Mode Later This Year, But Not Much Else

Good news for Division 2 players: Ubisoft and Massive have laid out plans for the future of the game, including a brand new mode later this year. Bad news: Don’t expect anything new for a while. In a blog post titled “The Road Ahead,” the developers behind the online looter-shooter, Massive Entertainment, explained that The…

Genshin Impact’s 1.4 Update Comes Out March 17, Adds A New Character And Mini-Games

Genshin Impact’s next big update releases on March 17 and with it comes the start of a new event, the Windblume Festival, bringing new mini-games, a new playable character, the opportunity to go on dates with select characters, and some quality of life changes. The news comes via a post on the PlayStation Blog announcing…