For A Bootleg Pokémon Game, This Looked Pretty Good

This week, a bootleg Pokémon game called Pocket Trainer DX was finally pulled from the Google Play store. It featured Pokémon characters and art, and for a totally unofficial app, it didn’t look too shabby. The Korean language game, created by one Fanya Game Ltd, was released on January 6 and featured art from the…

Sunrise in South Texas. Ranchito Los Coyotillos, Starr Co., Texas. By Chris Lopez | Instagram | Flickr 

ASUS’ CES Showcase Is A Free Steam Game

Due to the ongoing global pandemic, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is a completely online affair. Gaming hardware maker ASUS takes the show’s digital format to the extreme with ROG Citadel XV, a free download on Steam that’s one (small) part first-person shooter, one part fancy virtual hardware showroom. ROG stands for Republic of Gamers,…

Fighting Game Players Create Community-Wide Code Of Conduct

Members of the fighting game community recently unveiled a code of conduct for the competitive scene. Much like a similar (and, as of December 2020, disbanded) project in the Smash community, the document is a list of common-sense rules that includes a firm stance against several forms of abuse and harassment, hygiene standards, and procedures…

Several former GameXplain contributors—including former Kotaku TAY writer Steve Bowling—have spoken to VICE Games about their time there. The story focuses on allegations of extreme overwork and general issues with crunch in gaming media.

Ubisoft Pushes Riders Republic To ‘Later This Year’, Adding To Wave Of Game Delays

Riders Republic, the next game from the team behind Steep, has been delayed until “later this year.” The delay adds to a growing number of games that have been pushed back recently, including Hogwarts Legacy and Outriders Riders Republic was originally scheduled to be released on February 25 but now has no specific date. Ubisoft…

Big Game Publishers Are Retreating Into The Safety Of Hollywood’s Back Catalog

This week, the video game industry got a fresh infusion of boomer energy with the announcement of a new Indiana Jones game. Meanwhile, there’s also a James Bond game in the works, and Ubisoft announced it’s working on an open world Star Wars game—the first in a possible flood of new games taking place in…

Bethesda Delays Elder Scrolls Online Reveal To Get Out Of The Way Of Presidential Inauguration

The US Capitol was attacked and overrun by a right-wing and neo-confederate mob last week, and according to the FBI, groups loyal to President Trump are threatening to try to do it again during next week’s inauguration where President-Elect Joe Biden will be sworn in. Nerves are frayed, people are on edge, and so at…

New Pokémon Snap Is Out On Switch In April

Photography game New Pokémon Snap will be out on Switch on April 30, Nintendo announced today. Announced last year, New Pokémon Snap is a spiritual successor to the Nintendo 64 game about exploring Pokémon in their natural habitats and snapping beautiful pictures of them. The new game will take place in a region called Lental,…

One Piece Editor Accidentally Clicked On Pirated Manga Site, Says Publisher

To mark One Piece reaching 1,000 chapters, there was YouTube live-stream earlier this week with the staff at the Weekly Jump offices. The editor of One Piece showed his smartphone screen. On it, viewers could see his browsing history. Oh dear. Most of it was rather pedestrian—Yahoo! Japan, One Piece sites, etc.—but one entry was for a…

Animator Inspired By Daigo Vs. Justin Wong Street Fighter Match

One of the most famous moments in esports history is the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike semifinal match from 2004. With only a pixel of health left, Daigo Umehara parried a slew of attacks from Justin Wong before mounting an incredible comeback. The fight will never cease to be remarkable. Professional animator Alain Vu, who…

Fighting Games Have Come A Long Way

It’s common knowledge that fighting game sprites have grown larger and more refined as technology has improved, at least in those rare few games that still use them. But I never truly appreciated how big of a difference there is between the classics and their modern counterparts before now. Modder X68000555 has spent the last…

Abandoned MF DOOM Game Sounded Cool

News of MF DOOM’s death a couple of weeks ago led to an outpouring of tributes from artists around the world, from movie-makers to his peers and fans in the rap game. One that caught my eye in particular was this project by Chafomon, an abandoned fan project for the Game Boy called MF Doom:…

Fans Finally Crack Made-Up Assassin’s Creed Language

Assassin’s Creed is a neverending series of mysteries and puzzles, the most enduring of which is the Isu language. While it was first introduced in 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II, it wasn’t until last year’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla provided substantial clues that fans were finally able to crack the dead tongue. In a video released on…