Strong Songs, a music podcast hosted by former Kotaku editor Kirk Hamilton, recently tackled the “World 1-1″ theme from Super Mario Bros It’s a neat look at the various pieces that make up the iconic track as well as some of its influences, like the mambo stylings of Tito Puente. Check it out!

What One Accessory Vastly Improved Your Gaming Experience?

Welcome to Ask Kotaku, a new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that…well, OK. It’s just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask Kotaku:…

Death Stranding Plays Very Well On My PCs

Death Stranding, a very, very good PlayStation 4 game from Hideo Kojima and his game-making friends, launches on PC tomorrow. I cannot say the game runs well on every gaming PC, for there are too many gaming PCs and my home is small. I have tested it on two of the gaming PCs I have…

Titanfall 2, As Told By Steam Reviews

Titanfall 2 is a masterpiece, a sublime blend of speed, fury, and mech buddy feel-good vibes. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this, because when the stompy shooter first came out, it flew uncharacteristically under the radar for something involving giant robots. Now it’s getting a second chance on Steam. While a dedicated community…

Rare Copy Of Super Mario Bros. Sells At Auction For Record-Breaking $114,000

A mint-condition sealed copy of the original Super Mario Bros. sold at auction for $114,000 on July 10, setting a new record for the sale of a single collectible video game. The previous record, a private sale for $100,150 in February 2019, was another sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. “How the heck did they…

The Week In Games: Samurai Simulator 2020

This week, Ghost of Tsushima releases. This is one of the last big PS4 exclusives left before the PS5 comes out. I’m excited to play Ghost of Tsushima, but I’m going to hold off. I’m still finishing up Last of Us Part 2 and have to deal with moving and packing over the next few…

The latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is launching on August 18 on PC. The standard edition, with 20 planes and 30 airports, will be part of Xbox Game Pass for PC. The $90 deluxe edition has 25 planes and 35 airports. The $120 premium deluxe edition has 30 planes and 40 airports. I have…

Hasbro Is Making A 26-Inch, $350 X-Men Sentinel Figure

On Friday Hasbro launched a crowdfunding campaign for one of the most requested big-budget X-Men toys ever—a large-scale version of the iconic mutant-hunting sentinel robot. The company was looking for 6,000 backers to pledge $350 each to get the 26.34-inch figure made. It was funded in a day. It took Hasbro’s HasLab crowdfunding platform several…

Looks Like Lego’s Making A Brick-Built NES That Plays Mario On A Retro TV [Update: It’s Real]

Chinese website VJ Gamer (via Resetera) has uploaded a series of photos of what looks like Lego set 71374, a 2,646 brick recreation of a Nintendo Entertainment System complete with controller, cartridge, and a retro TV set that plays Super Mario Bros. when a crank on the side is turned. I’d buy it. While there’s…

Track: Prisoners | Artist: Doves | Album: The Universal Want

The upcoming Monster Hunter movie with Milla Jovovich has been delayed from September 4 to April 23, 2021. According to Deadline, if Los Angeles shuts down again next month, the August release schedule will move to the fall and reopening theaters would take time. 

Far Cry 6 Is Set On An Island Nation Inspired By Cuba

After some leaks earlier this week, Far Cry 6 got a proper reveal during today’s Ubisoft Forward event. It stars Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian) as the main villain, Anton, who is the ruthless dictator of a fictional small-island country heavily inspired by Cuba. (It is also set in the modern day, which means…

Everything Ubisoft Announced Today During Its Not-E3 Event

Today, Ubisoft hosted its not-E3 event, “Ubisoft Forward.” Though the event was ostensibly about games, it was impossible to ignore the recent upheaval surrounding the French publisher. Last night, three high-profile figures—Serge Hascoët, Ubisoft’s chief creative officer; Cécile Cornet, the global head of human resources; and Yannis Mallat, the head of Ubisoft Canada—departed the company…

Everything We Learned About Assassin’s Creed Valhalla After Playing It

Last Tuesday, I played a preview build of this fall’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for three hours by streaming it directly from one of Ubisoft’s computers. That’s how Ubisoft is doing E3-style previews this summer. It’s useful. Three hours is a lot of time to spend with a game that’s not even out yet, but it’s…

Today, Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla will be releasing on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia on November 17. The company also confirmed that previously delayed Watch Dogs: Legion will release on the same platforms on October 29. Both will be released on next-gen consoles in the future.

Ubisoft is ready to show off the new Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and other new games. You can watch the Ubisoft Forward stream on YouTube or Twitch We’ve embedded the YouTube stream below. The preshow starts at 2:30 PM ET and the full showcase begins at 3 PM ET.