Culture

I Prefer Boneless Donuts

Hello! This week we get ready to play Death Stranding, learn what Luigi and Geralt have in common, watch a trailer for a new Vampire: The Masquerade game, play a game starring John Goodman and eat some boneless donuts. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week I a great dive into a game that most…

Planet Zoo, As Told By Steam Reviews

If you’re the sort of person who sees packs of animals majestically gallivanting about in forests or on the National Geographic channel and thinks “I need to manage those,” you’re in luck: Planet Zoo is now out on Steam. But does it have Steam users squawking, or do they want to lock it up and…

It’s Hard To Play Death Stranding When You Have An Actual Baby

All three of us on Kotaku Splitscreen have begun to play Death Stranding, but only one of us did so with a newborn baby in the mix. Jason explained to me and Kirk this week that it’s just not cool to put your baby down for a nap and then get prompted to rock your…

Elite: Dangerous Players Compete To Decide The Fate Of The Ancient Ship

There’s a meditative quality to soaring through Elite: Dangerous’ vast reconstruction of outer space, but every once in a while, players discover something that jolts them out of their hyper-space stasis. Earlier this week, it was an ancient ship full of still-living passengers that turned heads, reinvigorating the game’s community after a sleepy few months.…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for finally throwing out all the takeaway containers that don’t have lids, because my tendency to think “I could use this, I’ll save it!” has tipped over into a frightening compulsion. The weekend is also for playing video games. I’m on the fence about playing Death Stranding: I have very little patience for…

Strip Clubs? Nah. The New Bachelor Party Is A Weekend Of Video Games

This weekend, Andrew Lin, a 31-year-old associate VP at a professional services firm from Queens, New York, will wed his girlfriend of seven years. Before that, he wanted to throw a common prenuptial bash: a bachelor party. Strippers, gambling, debauchery? Not for Lin and his friends. They got together for a weekend, stocked the fridge,…

Nintendo Just Released A Wacky Ambulance Game

A new Nintendo-published game, The Stretchers, just came out on the Nintendo eShop. It’s a co-op game where you and a friend load people onto an ambulance and take them to a hospital, and it looks very silly. The Stretchers comes from the same people that made Little Nightmares, Tarsier Studios, and it manages to…

Track: Everyday Life | Artist: Coldplay | Album: Everyday Life 

Edible Japanese Gardens Turn Snack Time Into Zen Time

If you’ve ever been to Japan, maybe you’ve visited one of the country’s numerous gardens. They are wonderful places to enjoy nature and contemplate life. What if you could make your own Japanese garden? Out of candy? And then eat it? You can! As Netgeek reports, there are DIY candy kit versions of Japanese gardens.…

Serenity In Kathmandu. Nepal. By Jonathan Stetson. 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!

The Star Warrior

Jude Smith is an artist at Kabam, developers of mobile games like Marvel Contest of Champions You can see more of Smith’s stuff at his personal site and ArtStation page

Massive Scandal Hits FIFA Community As Cowardly Pros Avoid Playing Each Other

A huge scandal has hit the online FIFA community recently, as several of the world’s top players were caught in a secret Discord colluding to avoid playing each other, thus making their games easier, and their winnings more secure. There’s a lot to take in here if you don’t play FIFA—and if you want the…

World Of Warcraft Will Reduce Everyone’s Level To Avoid A ‘Grind’

After 15 years and seven expansions, World of Warcraft has become the content equivalent of a foot-tall (not -long) sandwich constructed by an overly ambitious stoner. At this point, it’s teetering under the weight of pieces that, in hindsight, don’t really fit. That’s why the World of Warcraft team has decided to cut the leveling…

The Outer Worlds will be out on the Nintendo Switch some time in the first three months of 2020, according to publisher Take Two, narrowing the earlier promise for a release some time in 2020. In an update to investors today, the company also announced the delay of Kerbal Space Program 2 to some time…

YouTuber’s Lifetime Fortnite Ban Opens Conversation About Fair Punishments For Cheating

Jarvis Khattri, a YouTube content creator for the esports organization FaZe Clan, received a lifetime ban from Fortnite earlier this week after releasing a video of him cheating in the mega-popular battle royale shooter. This has since given way to discussion about the severity of the punishment and whether content creators whose livelihoods depend on…

Handmade Gaming Dice Kickstarter Raises $1.5 Million In A Day

Up until the moment she launched the Kickstarter campaign yesterday, Dispel Dice creator Karen Wang was worried that no one would want her handcrafted, sharp-edged, custom gaming dice. A day later, more than 12,000 backers have pledged over $1.5 million toward her dazzling gemlike creations. Turns out people like shiny, pretty things. A lot. According…

Track: The Sun & The Moon (in London) | Artist: Sheena Ringo & Hikaru Utada | Album: Apple of Universal Gravity

Shuhei Yoshida Isn’t Sony’s Head Of Worldwide Studios Anymore

Since 2008, Shuhei Yoshida has been the president of SCE Worldwide Studios. Today, Sony announced that Yoshida will be stepping down to focus on a new initiative to nurture independent developers. In his place, Guerrilla Games co-founder Hermen Hulst will take over as SCE Worldwide Studios head. In an official release, Sony announced that this…

The City Below. Tokyo, Japan. By Patrick Lehrmann | Flickr 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!

Hippety Hoppety

Julian Holm is a freelance artist from Norway. You can see more of Julian’s work at his ArtStation page