Here’s What New Gwent Will Be And Why It’s Exciting

Big things are just over the horizon for Gwent, the collectible card game based on the Witcher series that has been playable for two years but is only officially coming out in the coming months. Anyone who has been confused about the long beta, the shifting release dates or the whereabouts of any single player…

Tom Nook Needs To Get With The Times

Animal Crossing’s landlord Tom Nook is a thorn in many players’ sides. When you first arrive in your new small town inhabited by animal folks, he forces you into an exorbitant loan, which you can then pay down by doing odd jobs. He’s not evil, though. He’s just the product of an evil system—capitalism—whose time…

Cowboy Bebop Wasn’t Afraid To Let Its Heroes Fail

1998’s classic anime Cowboy Bebop is well known for its fusion of jazz confidence and Eastern melodrama. While it’s easy to remember the characters’ stylistic flair, what really allowed the series to endure was how often it showed its core cast to making mistakes and failing spectacularly. Cowboy Bebop follows two bounty hunters, Spike Spiegel…

Blackout Beta Brought Death By Basketballs And Zombies

Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode’s week-long beta just ended, and players were able to score some pretty impressive or unique battle royale wins. Available from September 10-17, Call of Duty’s first leap into the battle royale genre was a success with the community. Blackout delivered Call of Duty’s over-the-top action style, and the beta ran…

YouTube Is Closing YouTube Gaming 

YouTube is getting rid of its dedicated gaming app after it failed to find a big enough audience, the company announced today in a blog post. Instead, gaming-specific content and features will have a new, dedicated home within the main YouTube site. YouTube Gaming originally launched in 2015 after the video game streaming platform Twitch…

Dead Rising Studio Capcom Vancouver Shuts Down

Capcom’s main western studio is being shut down, the publisher confirmed today. Employees at Capcom Vancouver, which was primarily known for the Dead Rising series and was already hit by layoffs earlier this year, were told today that the studio is closing. In a statement to Kotaku, a company rep noted that “as a result…

Avatar: The Last Airbender Is One Of The Greatest TV Shows Of All Time

When people talk about the current golden age of TV, they’re usually referring to big, serious dramas like Breaking Bad or The Wire. I am here today to tell you that Avatar: The Last Airbender, an animated show about a group of magical kids who ride around on a flying buffalo, deserves to be counted…

Max Payne 2‘s Revamped Bullet-Time Showed a New Side Of Max

I recently started a playthrough of Max Payne on Kotaku’s Twitch channeland was pleased to find that its stylish gunplay still holds up. I’ve not finished yet, but I snuck ahead to Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne last night. The sequel contains one small change to bullet time that completely alters how…

Bungie says it’s aware of reports that Destiny 2‘s Sleeper Simulant “feels too strong in Gambit,” and that the laser rifle might get tweaked to reduce its dominance. Bungie’s Josh Hamrick added that they’re avoiding nerfs whenever possible in favor of other methods of tweaking the game, and promised to be judicious in applying nerfs when…

This Bootleg Game Changed Street Fighter History

Walking up and down the floors of the massive multi-level arcades in Akihabara can trigger some unexpected nostalgic responses, but I certainly wasn’t expecting this one. “Whoa, look at that title screen!” I said to Brian Ashcraft as we walked past. “It’s Rainbow Edition!” “It’s what?” “Here, I’m gonna play this, but get ready to…

Many Big Games Now Have Two Release Dates, And The Earlier One Will Cost You

What’s an extra day of playing a hot new game early worth to you? What’s the worth of two days? It’s become more and more common for video game publishers to charge players for the chance to play games early. Or maybe they’re just sticking everyone else who pays a meager $60 with a later…

The End Of The Tsukiji Fish Market 

Last Friday, the Tsukiji Market held its final auction. The 83-year-old exchange and major Tokyo tourist attraction is moving to a new waterfront location in Toyosu. Soon, the Tsukiji Market will be gone. Nobody seemed to tell the throng of tourists flooding out of Tsukiji Station earlier this morning. With the auctions over, I wondered…

Stormy Daniels Says Donald Trump Has “A Dick Like The Mushroom Character From Mario Kart“

Stormy Daniels, the adult performer at the centre of one of President Donald Trump’s larger personal scandals, has a new book out next month, and somehow there is room for an excellent Nintendo/dick reference in it. An early copy of the book—called Full Disclosure—has been obtained by The Guardian, and amidst all the other details…

This very rare, very early Japanese game history book published in 1988 is currently for sale in Akihabara for about $200. Check out that young Miyamoto mugshot!