In AI Dungeon 2, You Can Do Anything–Even Start A Rock Band Made Of Skeletons

Plenty of games offer players multiple solutions to problems. Fight or talk. Stick to the beaten path or explore. Stealth or charge in like a conspicuously bullet-resistant idiot. A game that lets you do anything, though? That’s harder to come by. Released yesterday, AI Dungeon 2 purports to be one such game, and for the…

Vaping Congressman Who Spent Campaign Funds On Steam Games Resigns

U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he will soon resign from Congress after pleading guilty to charges of misusing over $250,000 in campaign funds, including $1,528 that he spent on Steam games. “Shortly after the Holidays I will resign from Congress,” Hunter said in a statement today. “It has been an honor to serve the…

Minecraft Is The Top YouTube Game Of 2019, Thanks To A Boost From PewDiePie

It’s not like Minecraft ever really went anywhere. But it definitely spent the past handful of years less firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist than in the first half of the decade. Not so in 2019. The blocky game about digging holes and punching the ever-loving shit out of trees is back on top of YouTube,…

The Elder Scrolls: Legends Is Officially Dead

The Elder Scrolls: Legends isn’t shutting down, but Bethesda announced today on the game’s subreddit that the developer has ceased working on any big updates or future expansions. “We decided to put any new content development or releases on hold for the foreseeable future,” Christian Van Hoose, the game’s community manager, said on Reddit. Players…

Let’s Talk About Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Spoilers

The end of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order totally rules, and it rules even more if you don’t know anything about it. If you have beaten this game, then you’ll enjoy this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, in which we dissect the game’s take on the Force, the Jedi Order, and also that one character…

Bon Appetit‘s Test Kitchen Is The Only Good Job

Labor is a racket. You spend 40 hours a week, or more, making money for someone else, only to have to give a third of your much lower salary away to a landlord who doesn’t return your texts. Even in so-called dream jobs, you have to deal with pettiness, arguments, boredom, and workplace rivalries—all distractions…

Mario Maker 2‘s New Speedrunning Mode Looks A Lot Like A Popular Fan-Made Hack

In addition to the ability to play as Link, Super Mario Maker 2’s latest update has added a new speedrunning mode that’s remarkably similar to one rom hacker’s mod of an SNES emulator called Quantum Mario. This has raised questions about Nintendo’s relationship with the Mario homebrew community and the designers that power its Mario…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for finally fixing my endlessly running toilet, a process internet videos say is very easy but has thusfar involved me opening the toilet tank, staring in confusion, and then closing the tank again. The weekend is also for playing video games while I avoid this task. I’m excited to check out Mosaic…

The Words For Gaming In Different Languages

Like any community in the world, people who play video games have collaboratively created their own language and slang. Many of these words are international, but different languages have different ways of talking about play. This piece originally appeared 3/29/18. I’m totally fascinated by the way language influences culture and the way we think. It’s…

The Latest Paper Mario-Style Steven Universe Game Keeps It Simple

In 2015, Cartoon Network and developer Grumpyface Studios released Steven Universe: Attack the Light, a simple yet delightful turn-based mobile RPG with strong Paper Mario vibes. 2017’s console follow-up, Save the Light, beefed up the series with intricate combo attacks and free-roaming exploration. A new entry in the series recently released for Apple Arcade, Steven…

Cult Classic Game Where You Can Raise A Princess Of Hell Coming To Switch

Child raising simulator Princess Maker 3 is coming to Switch on December 23, and—no, wait, come back! I promise it’s cool. In Princess Maker 3, you schedule out your daughter’s time between various school and work activities to raise her skills. You can also take her on adventures, which are basic RPG sequences where your…

Slot Machine Logo Sure Looks Familiar

This is the logo for an upcoming slot machine called Wheel of Fortune. I’m sure I’ve seen it before. OH RIGHT. It’s not an exact copy, but there certainly are many close similarities. As pointed out on Hachima, this is from Tokyo-based pachinko and slot machine maker Kita Denshi. The logo was included in a…

Late Night Walk. Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, Japan. By Butch Smith. 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!

Halo: Reach, As Told By Steam Reviews

Halo: Reach, Bungie’s final entry in its second (of three, so far) series about armored space knights, is finally on PC. People are clearly excited, so much so that they managed to propel it to the third most-played slot on Steam earlier this week. But do they actually like the port? Yes and no. For…

RIP Gamerankings.com

Older heads might remember Gamerankings.com, a site that rounded up reviews from all over the place and gave them an overall aggregated figure out of 100, as a cornerstone of forum arguments the world over back in the day. Sadly, it’s about to close its doors. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t even aware the site…