Culture

Malamar Has The Strongest Hypnotic Powers Of Any Pokemon (And Might Be Evil)

Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Malamar! Malamar Details Type: Dark/Psychic Average Height: 4′ 11″ Average Weight: 103.6 lbs. First Added In Generation VI I’ve…

Smoosh

Hello! This week we fall asleep while playing games, learn about all the companies skipping GDC, ask how Greninja won Pokemon Of The Year, check out the new GTA Online DLC, fight some Ewoks and crush a Furby. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week Democracy was a mistake. I fell asleep once playing Far…

Game Developers Conference Has Been ‘Postponed’ To Summer

Following the exit of several major exhibitors, the organizers of the Game Developers Conference said Friday that the show, originally scheduled to take place from March 16 to 20 in San Francisco, will be postponed until the summer due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus. “After close consultation with our partners in the game…

Overwatch Change That Nerfs Teabagging Is A Bug, Blizzard Says

Earlier this week, a small but vocal group of what can only be described as “teabagging enthusiasts” made a discovery straight out of their darkest, knee joint-less nightmares: Overwatch’s Ana, a champion teabagger despite her advanced age, could no longer crouch over unconscious enemies. Among other skills, Ana has a sleep dart ability that temporarily…

The Best Kirby Game For Non-Kirby Fans

How can anyone not like Kirby? For this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, I got my two cohosts to try out Kirby: Planet Robobot because I won a bet. Kirk has never played a Kirby game before, whereas Jason is just a skeptic. By the time they’ve beaten this game, they’ll both be dedicated Kirby…

EVE Online‘s Annual Fanfest Canceled Due To Coronavirus

EVE Online’s annual Fanfest event is the latest in a string of video game-related events to be negatively impacted by the spread of COVID-19, or coronavirus. EVE developer CCP Games announced today that the event, scheduled to take place April 2 through 4, would be canceled due to concerns of the spread of the virus.…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Who can play video games while Kotaku’s Riley MacLeod is off running his first half-marathon? I sure can. The weekend is for sitting comfortably inside a climate-controlled home playing video games while other people run. I won’t be running any time soon, but my virtual activity level will be high. This weekend I don tight…

Track: The Times They Are A-Changin’ | Artist: Bob Dylan | Album: The Times They Are A-Changin’

Omoide Yokocho. Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. By André Broa 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 

Oh Hell Yeah More Isometric Landscapes

Manuel Vormwald is a concept and background artist from Germany who has worked on games like The Pillars of the Earth and A Year of Rain You can see more of Manuel’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Dota Underlords Is Out Of Early Access And Better Than Ever

For a handful of weeks last year, Dota Underlords devoured my entire life. Then, abruptly, I stopped playing. At the time, Valve’s entry into the suddenly-crowded auto battler arena suffered from the same issue as its competition: Its bones, though they formed a sturdy spinal scaffolding, had no meat on them. Dota Underlords left early…

Greninja Voted Pokémon Of The Year, Somehow

Koffing was robbed. Despite my excellent case for Koffing’s status as the Best Pokémon, official results from Google’s Pokémon of the Year vote show that the world somehow believes otherwise. Greninja, the frog ninja that uses its own tongue as a scarf (ugh), dominated the poll with over 140,000 votes, followed by Lucario, Mimikyu, Charizard,…

Blizzard Made The Best Superman Game (Back In 1994)

Before Overwatch, StarCraft, Diablo, and even Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment and Sunsoft released the video game adaptation of DC Comics’ The Death and Return of Superman saga. While the 1994 Super Nintendo game and its 1995 Sega Genesis port are far from the best side-scrolling beat-em ups, they are the most fun I’ve had playing a…

Borderlands 3’s Next Major Expansion Coming March 26

Gearbox announced Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock, the second piece of post-release Borderlands 3 story content, at PAX East earlier today. It will launch on March 26. Guns, Love, and Tentacles will revolve around the wedding of Wainwright Jakobs and Sir Alistair Hammerlock, nuptials that were teased during the main game’s…

Microsoft Drops Out Of GDC, Too [Update: And Epic]

Following in the footsteps of several other major tech firms including Sony and Facebook, Microsoft and Epic both said today that they will no longer be attending this year’s Game Developers Conference due to the growing health risks posed by COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus. “After a close review of guidance by global health…

China Pulls Plague Inc. From App Store

The creators of the popular plague simulator say it was taken down by China’s Cyberspace Administration over “illegal” content. “We’ve just been informed that Plague Inc. ‘includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China’ and has been removed from the China App Store,” Ndemic Creations said in a…

The newest installment of the Major Nelson podcast breaks down some of the newly-announced Xbox Series X features. Among the intriguing details: the Series X doesn’t just let you suspend multiple games, but those suspensions can survive a system update. Pretty cool.

That’s One Monstrous Mythical Monkey, Pokémon Sword & Shield

After weeks of teasing, the Pokémon Company reveals Zarude, the rogue monkey Pokémon, the latest Mythical Pokémon for Pokémon Sword and Shield. Look at its claws. Check out its teeth. It’s amazing anyone in the Galar region is still alive. I was hoping the teasing silhouette posted on the official Pokémon Twitter account on February…

PopCap Soft Launches Plants Vs. Zombies 3

The third installment of PopCap’s legendary flower defense game series has gone live on iOS and Android devices in the Philippines, with more regions rolling out in the coming weeks. Plants Vs. Zombies 3 is vertical instead of horizontal and 3D instead of 2D, but the basic idea is the same. After fiddling around with…

Oh Hey, Granblue Fantasy Versus Is Coming To Steam March 13

Granblue Fantasy Versus, the gorgeous Arc System Works fighting game based on the popular mobile role-playing game, isn’t just for PlayStation 4 players anymore. Cygames has announced that a Steam version of the anime brawler is dropping March 13, a mere 10 days after its North American PS4 debut. Surprise? Announced in a post on…