Culture

Dark Souls Is Presumably Easier With Assault Rifles

A crossbow is an elegant weapon for a more civilized age, but it also lacks the stopping power of, say, an M16. Via PC Gamer, this mod called Modern Firearm by Forsakensilver does what it says on the box: it replaces a bunch of Dark Souls’ ranged weapons with “modern” (though some examples are stretching…

Last Of Us 2 Developer Condemns Online Harassment Of People Who Worked On The Game

The Last of Us Part 2 developer Naughty Dog put out a statement over the weekend condemning harassment and threats made against those who worked on the game as director Neil Druckman and others shared some of the vile messages they’ve received following the game’s release. “You can love or hate the game and share…

Growing Up As A Taiwanese-American Gamer Was The Best Of Both Worlds

Early September, 1999. Britney Spears dominated the airwaves, fear of the Y2K bug hung in the air, and my teenage mind was still wrestling with whether or not Phantom Menace was good. It had been about a week since I had returned from a summer trip to Taiwan to my home in Atlanta. A couple…

How An Accountant Earned 132,000 Gamerscore In One Month

It reads like a typo. “Gamerscore Leaderboard. Rank One With +132,000 This Month.” Surely, there must be some mistake. 132,000 achievement points in a month? There’s no way! There’s gotta be a hidden decimal point somewhere, right? From every angle—physically, chemically, intellectually—the math just doesn’t add up. You’d need to average about 4,000 points a…

A Controller Built For Xbox Game Streaming

Planning on using Xbox Game Streaming to play games on your Android phone or tablet? Third-party controller makers 8BitDo have a gamepad for that. The SN30 Pro is a pocket-sized Bluetooth Xbox One controller built with Xbox cloud gaming in mind. As cool as it is to carry around a full-size Xbox One controller to…

Fans of over-the-top shooting and stabbing rejoice, Shadow Warrior 3 is coming in 2021. While we’ll get our first look at gameplay for Flying Wild Hog’s latest game during this weekend’s Devolver Direct stream, a cute bunny gets bloodied in today’s teaser trailer, which should hold us over until then.

Ubisoft Employees Have ‘Grave Concerns’ Over Toronto Studio’s Misconduct Allegations

There’s a story some people tell at Ubisoft Toronto, the studio currently finishing one of this fall’s bigger planned releases, Watch Dogs: Legion. It goes something like this: Maxime Béland, one of its co-founders and, until last week, a 20-year veteran of Ubisoft, allegedly choked a female employee at a work party. Some heard it…

Microsoft is holding another next-gen showcase on July 23, the company announced on Twitter this morning. Unlike the first event in May which focused on third-party games, this event is set to highlight first-party games like Halo: Infinite. It’s scheduled to begin streaming at 12:00 p.m. ET.

How’s It Going: Bedside Edition

A new week has begun, and Fahey’s subbing for Riley. Welcome back to our daily open thread … in bed. These past couple of months have been pretty weird for me. Due to my paralysisand complications from having to stay in bed all the time, I have to stay in bed all the time. I…

That’s One Way To Make A Custom Switch Pinball Controller

Joy-Con shoulder buttons don’t make very comfortable pinball flipper controls. That’s why Nerds&Makers’ Tommy Williamson harnessed the power of creativity and 3D printing to create the SwitchPin, a TV-spanning Joy-Con dock the sole purpose of which is to turn two buttons into two other buttons. I am not disparaging Williamson’s pinball pursuits. Sometimes two buttons…

The Week In Games: Special Agent York Returns In Deadly Premonition 2

Releasing on Switch this week, the sequel to the cult classic survival-horror game Deadly Premonition. Get ready to…ride a skateboard…? I do worry that the sequel will end up trying too hard to be INTERNET GOOFY. It’s possible, now that the devs and folks involved have absorbed a decade of fan jokes, memes, and videos…

Track: L’estasi dell’oro | Artist: Ennio Morricone | Album: Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo OST 

All Hail Blue Jabba

Ariel Perez is a freelance concept artist and illustrator from Israel. You can see more of Perez’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Manor Lords Is A City-Builder With Medieval Battles

Hello, Manor Lords, and welcome to my wheelhouse. This upcoming PC strategy game is impressive for a number of reasons. Firstly because it’s combining two of my favourite types of game (city-builder and Total-War-style real-time combat), and secondly because it’s being made by one guy It’s currently in Early Access, and is due sometime in…

Persona 5’s Anime Is Finally Getting A $300 English Dub

While Persona 5’s anime has been out for over two years now, it’s only been available to watch with subtitles. The show’s upcoming Blu-ray release in the West is changing that, bringing back most of the game’s English-language cast for a dubbed release that…is going to cost you. I’m not really down on the pricing…

Track: No More Words | Artist: Berlin | Album: Love Life

In VR You Can’t Escape The Loading Screen

Loading screens are something we all deal with while playing video games. As long as they are brief many of us will just grab our phone and check Twitter or grab a bite to eat. But in virtual reality, with a headset strapped to your face, you are trapped and forced to awkwardly stand and…

‘Shop Contest: Pascal

Animal Crossing: New Horizons recently received a new update that lets players swim around their islands. And it also brought back a fan favorite animal, Pascal. He’s cool. Let’s welcome back Pascal with some fun images! Your challenge this week: Add Pascal to stuff. I haven’t played Animal Crossing in weeks. I just don’t find…

How’s It Going?: Leftovers Edition

It’s Sunday! The weekend is wrapping up and it’s time for a nice and cozy open thread. Come on in. Over the years my girlfriend and I have gotten very skilled at making dinners that are big enough to feed us both, leave some leftovers for lunch, and won’t cost us a lot to make.…

Sunday Comics: What Color?

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 July 2. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published June 29. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…