Actually, It’s Good When Video Games Start With Your Character Waking Up

A whole lot of video games begin with your character waking up. It’s one of those things that you can’t stop noticing once you start. Most Zelda games start this way, as well as any number of classic role-playing games like Chrono Trigger. The awakening scene in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a popular meme.…

In Defense Of Hop, The Unlucky Pokémon Rival

I will not hear any more slander about Hop, your rival in Pokémon Sword and Shield Your rivals in the more recent Pokémon games have trended more towards “childhood pal” than the “bigtime assholes” you had to trounce in the older ones. I have strong memories of wanting to just beat the shit out of…

Goodbye

Three years after anime fan Dr. Steve Brule told me in a Kotaku comment to “fuck off” after I wrote the blog “Girls Fight With Their Butts And Boobs In This Wretched New Anime,” finally, I am taking his advice. Thanks, Doc. Today is my last day at Kotaku. I never once imagined that I…

Rocket League Replaces Loot Boxes With Pricey Item Shop [Update]

Rocket League players will no longer have to worry about grinding for new crates and the keys that unlock them in order to get the custom skins they want. But the new alternative will hurt their wallets. Yesterday, Rocket League’s Blueprint update went live, kicking off season 12 and adding a new item shop where…

The State Of PC Gaming In 2019

Sometimes, as borders erode, new fissures form in their wake. In 2019, more games flowed between PC and other platforms than ever before, but a single major division cracked the PC gaming landscape in half. This year’s central throughline was undoubtedly the titanic clash between Valve and Epic, with Epic snatching up every high-profile exclusive…

Alien: Isolation Is Too Frustrating On The Switch’s Small Screen

It’s a meme at this point to say that any given game is better on the Nintendo Switch. It’s often true: Having great games on the go means players can enjoy cult classics and new releases wherever they want. Alien: Isolation is a fantastic horror game, frightening and atmospheric—but it’s an exception to this rule.…

Square Enix Announces Ninja Theme Park, Reveals New Innovative Digital Attractions

Square Enix has announced its first large-scale theme park. It’s called Ninja Tower Tokyo and will open next year in Tokyo Tower. The landmark might seem like an unlikely spot for such an attraction, but in 2015 a One Piece theme park opened in Tokyo Tower. This past April, Square Enix established a “Live Interactive…

Glorious Morning. Kyoto, Japan. By Brian Ashcraft | Twitter 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!

On December 12 another wave of classic games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. From the SNES there’ll be Star Fox 2, Super Punch-Out!!, Kirby Super Star and Breath of Fire II, while for the NES there’s Journey to Silius and Crystalis

Me? Oh, You Know, I’ve Just Been Working And Stuff, Just Trying To Get By, How About You?

Mintautas Šukys is an illustrator and artist who works at Goodname, an outsourcing company in Lithuania that handles stuff like concept art for video games. You can see more of Šukys’ stuff at his ArtStation page.

The Division 2‘s next apparel event will give players access to darker, more serious tactical gear, a response from the developers to backlash against earlier, goofier apparel events that offered things like Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops. It launches along with the goofier holiday event “Situation: Snowball” and a permadeath beta mode on December 10.

New PlayStation Commercial Rips Off Loads Of Artists

A big new commercial for PlayStation Japan, pitched as a music video featuring all the platform’s big holiday games, has a lot of cool animation throughout. Pity, then, that loads of it is copied—down to the smallest detail—from other people’s work. Here’s the trailer in question: Ian Jones-Quartey, creator of OK K.O.! (who has also…

Nazi ‘Joke’ Gets Legendary Player Removed From FIFA 20

Holland’s Marco van Basten, one of the greatest players of the 20th century, has been removed from FIFA 20 after being caught on camera making what he called a Nazi “joke.” Van Basten works as a commentator for Fox in the Netherlands, and was in the booth following a game in the Dutch league on…