Culture

Sony Copies Microsoft, Creates New PlayStation Studios Brand

Today Sony announced a new name for its first-party games: PlayStation Studios. PlayStation Studios will consist of Sony’s internal studios like Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, and Santa Monica Studio. The news was announced alongside a video of a new opening cinematic that will play before each PlayStation Studios game starts on your console. It shows…

How’s It Going?: Long Haul Edition

It’s not Monday anymore, so things are looking up. Welcome back to our daily open thread. Last night I was reading about how different parts of my state are faring in terms of re-opening. New York City seems pretty far from being ready for any kind of return to daily life. This didn’t surprise me,…

Play Tetris 99 This Weekend, Get An Awesome Animal Crossing Theme

Tetris 99‘s 13th Maximus Cup runs May 15 through May 18. Those skillful enough to earn 100 points during the event will secure themselves an Animal Crossing: New Horizons theme for the game, full of faces, icons, and music from the popular island life simulator. It’s very cute. I don’t know how motivated I’d be…

Track: Little Wonder | Artist: David Bowie | Album: Earthling

Welcome To Hong Kong

Olga Orlova is a freelance artist from Russia. You can see more of Olga’s stuff at her Instagramand ArtStation pages.

Four Years Later, Civilization VI Gets A Season Pass

Civilization VI is getting a season pass that’ll cover a range of updates coming to the game over the next 12 months. It sounds…fine? Four years after it was announced, Civilization VI is in a weird place. It’s two big expansions were good, but not great, and the game’s district-building meta isn’t for everyone. It…

Samurai Shodown Twitter Account Walks Back Overly Horny Tweets

Brands these days tweet like they’re your pals, replacing yesteryear’s buzzwords and obvious ads with lackadaisical prose meant to mimic millennial affectations. Sometimes they go too far. Case in point, the official Samurai Shodown Twitter account probably should have reeled it in a bit last week to avoid having to make an apology today, not…

Unfortunately you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to experience pod racing again, even on Switch. Developer Aspyr today announced that Star Wars Episode l: Racer has been delayed due to ongoing work from home requirements across the industry.

Political Consultant Suggests Rallying Dems With Giant, Fortnite-Style Holographic Biden

Former Pete Buttigieg campaign advisor Lis Smith cited “Travis Scott’s takeover of Fortnite” as a strategy for Democrats to consider when it comes time for the party’s National Convention in August. Because if you’re not already excited about Joe “30330” Biden, maybe parachuting around his giant digital head will do the trick. “Stefan Smith, who…

The 12 Types Of Video Game Sequel

We live in an age of sequels, but not all sequels are created equal. Are you playing a true sequel, or are you peeking a prequel? A reboot, expandalone, or maybe a threequel? Don’t get piqued, people. Our sequel technique will sort everything out. This post originally appeared 9/27/18. Here, in no particular order, are…

How’s It Going?: Grooming Edition

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve been growing a beard since mid-December, and this weekend I tried to trim it myself because it had gotten far too long and scraggly. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about how to do this before attempting it, but…

Transform Into Monsters Using A Walkman In Pokémon Fusion-Inspired Cassette Beasts

Coming to PC and consoles from Brighton UK-based indie devs Bytten Studio, Cassette Beasts is an ‘80s-flavored RPG in which players transform and fuse together creatures using the awesome power of cassette tape technology. Creators Jay Baylis and Tom Coxon, who have previously worked on games like Stardew Valley, Wargroove, and Starbound, took inspiration from…

The Week In Games: Halo 2 Comes To Steam

The Master Chief and all his guns, friends, and enemies are heading to personal computers. Halo 2: Anniversary Edition releases on PC this week. This isn’t the first time Halo 2 has appeared on PC, but that was a strange port that also used some weird tech that let you play it while the game…

Track: Send Me Some Lovin’ | Artist: Little Richard | Album: Lucille / Send Me Some Lovin’

Ellie’s Bad Day

Chloe Veillard is a concept artist and character designer from France. You can see more of Chloe’s stuffat her ArtStation page

Star Wars Cosplayer Thrown To The Ground, Arrested For Carrying “Plastic Gun”

A restaurant in Lethbridge, Canada last week thought it’d be fun for an employee to stand outside dressed as a Stormtrooper to celebrate Star Wars Day on May 4. Instead, the woman in the costume ended up getting the cops called on her and her nose smashed up before being arrested. As LNN report, the…

‘Shop Contest: GTA Online Aliens

Have you heard? A giant war between purple and green aliens is happening right now in GTA Online. But now the alien war has expanded beyond GTA and is entering other video games! Your challenge this week: Take these green and purple aliens and place them in different video games! Feel free to add as…

Empire of Sin Features John Romero’s Great-Grandmother, Who Was A Crime Boss In The 1920s

Moms can do anything. That is also true for grandmothers and great-grandmothers. For example, John Romero’s great-gran was an underworld crime lord in Mexico during the 20s. Empire of Sin is being made by legendary game designer Brenda Romero and is an XCOM-like strategy game about real-world and fictional crime bosses fighting over Chicago during…

How’s It Going?: Blankets Edition

Get comfy, grab a nice drink, and start chatting with us in our daily open thread. According to my calendar, we should be feeling the nice mild weather of Spring. Instead though, at least over here in Kansas, I am dealing with cold temps and lots of wet days filled with scary amounts of wind.…

Sunday Comics: Pay Your Loan!

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