Culture

How’s It Going?: Biosphere Edition

We’ve made it all the way to Tuesday—good for us! Welcome back to our daily open thread. Last night I watched Spaceship Earth, a documentary about some folks in the 90s who lived inside a biodome for two years. I was alive then, but I don’t remember this at all besides the 1996 Pauly Shore…

Creaks, the latest game by Amanita Design, maker of Chunchel and Machinarium, is coming out July 22 on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. It’s a spooky-looking puzzle game reminiscent of a series of Edward Gorey illustrations brought to life, and it’s apparently been in development for eight years

YouTuber Uses Kinect Mod To Play Mario 64 With A Trampoline

It turns out using motion controls to make Mario jump is hard work. YouTuber Super Louis 64, who you might remember from beating Halo 3 with a guitar or taking on Dark Souls 3 with a Ring Fit, is back again, this time with a bizarre new control scheme for Super Mario 64. Using a…

Lego officially confirmed the retro NES console and TV sets that leaked yesterday are real, complete with a new trailer showing the crank that makes Mario side-scroll in action. The set is due out August 1 and costs $230.

Through the Trees. Drivenik, Croatia. By Eduard Tucaković | Instagram JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

Everything Is Cake Now, Including Dragon Ball Z Characters

He’s cake! He’s really cake! Memes hit a whole new level of galaxy brain over the weekend after a viral July 8 tweet showing all manner of objects being cut in half to reveal layer-cake inside changed how we think of reality: I think, therefore I am…cake? Maybe it’s the months of lockdown as a…

Destiny 2 Players Speedrun The Game’s Mind-Bending Prophecy Dungeon In Minutes

Prophecy is a three-person mini-raid full of gorgeous skyboxes and fun puzzles, both of which are on full display in a recent speedrun in which players cleared the Destiny 2 dungeon in just over eight minutes. Added when Season of Arrivals launched in early June, Prophecy lets players dig a little deeper into some of…

Titanfall 2, As Told By Steam Reviews

Titanfall 2 is a masterpiece, a sublime blend of speed, fury, and mech buddy feel-good vibes. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this, because when the stompy shooter first came out, it flew uncharacteristically under the radar for something involving giant robots. Now it’s getting a second chance on Steam. While a dedicated community…

Rare Copy Of Super Mario Bros. Sells At Auction For Record-Breaking $114,000

A mint-condition sealed copy of the original Super Mario Bros. sold at auction for $114,000 on July 10, setting a new record for the sale of a single collectible video game. The previous record, a private sale for $100,150 in February 2019, was another sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. “How the heck did they…

How’s It Going?: Snakes Edition

Oh dear, it’s Monday again. Welcome back to our daily open thread. This weekend I read Salvation on Sand Mountain, a book about snake handlers. It might be the first time I read about a religion without at least briefly wondering what my life would be like if I joined it. I haven’t seen a…

The Week In Games: Samurai Simulator 2020

This week, Ghost of Tsushima releases. This is one of the last big PS4 exclusives left before the PS5 comes out. I’m excited to play Ghost of Tsushima, but I’m going to hold off. I’m still finishing up Last of Us Part 2 and have to deal with moving and packing over the next few…

The latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is launching on August 18 on PC. The standard edition, with 20 planes and 30 airports, will be part of Xbox Game Pass for PC. The $90 deluxe edition has 25 planes and 35 airports. The $120 premium deluxe edition has 30 planes and 40 airports. I have…

Looks Like Lego’s Making A Brick-Built NES That Plays Mario On A Retro TV [Update: It’s Real]

Chinese website VJ Gamer (via Resetera) has uploaded a series of photos of what looks like Lego set 71374, a 2,646 brick recreation of a Nintendo Entertainment System complete with controller, cartridge, and a retro TV set that plays Super Mario Bros. when a crank on the side is turned. I’d buy it. While there’s…

Track: Prisoners | Artist: Doves | Album: The Universal Want

The upcoming Monster Hunter movie with Milla Jovovich has been delayed from September 4 to April 23, 2021. According to Deadline, if Los Angeles shuts down again next month, the August release schedule will move to the fall and reopening theaters would take time. 

Far Cry 6 Is Set On An Island Nation Inspired By Cuba

After some leaks earlier this week, Far Cry 6 got a proper reveal during today’s Ubisoft Forward event. It stars Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian) as the main villain, Anton, who is the ruthless dictator of a fictional small-island country heavily inspired by Cuba. (It is also set in the modern day, which means…

Everything Ubisoft Announced Today During Its Not-E3 Event

Today, Ubisoft hosted its not-E3 event, “Ubisoft Forward.” Though the event was ostensibly about games, it was impossible to ignore the recent upheaval surrounding the French publisher. Last night, three high-profile figures—Serge Hascoët, Ubisoft’s chief creative officer; Cécile Cornet, the global head of human resources; and Yannis Mallat, the head of Ubisoft Canada—departed the company…

Today, Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will be releasing on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia on November 17. The company also confirmed that previously delayed Watch Dogs: Legion will release on the same platforms on October 29. Both will be released on next-gen consoles in the future.

‘Shop Contest: Digital Giancarlo Esposito

Oops! Far Cry 6 has leaked a little bit ahead of the official reveal, which is happening later today. Now we know that Giancarlo Esposito is the bad guy. So let’s have some fun with this digital Esposito! Your challenge this week: Add digital Giancarlo Espositio to video games. Let’s try to stick to games…

How’s It Going?: Packing Edition

Annnnddd….we…are…live!! Kotaku’s daily open thread is ready. Come on in and chat about how things are going, how you are doing, or anything else. At the end of this month, my GF and I are moving. I’ve mentioned this a few times before in previous posts, but now that we are about two weeks away,…