All The Games Jason Played At E3

I’m back from E3, and I’ve brought a truckload of video game impressions with me. You can hear them all on this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, or read some of them right here. On today’s episode, Kirk and I talk about tons and tons of games, starting with the many demos I played at E3, like…

Sunday Comics: Live Musical Performances

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published June 18. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published June 18. Read more of Corpse Run Double XP by…

An Animated Storybook Is The Best Way To Learn Dark Souls Lore

I’m a sucker for Dark Souls lore, and Dark Souls retold as a fairy tale storybook is one of the best ways to get that lore communicated in an easy, simple way. This video spoils the entirety of Dark Souls. There are spoilers. Dark Souls is often discussed as a game with an oblique story…

PUBG‘s Mannequins Are Scary As Hell

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ Sanhok map is now available to all players on PC after a few months of testing, and it has mannequins. They’re terrifying. I stayed away from Sanhok during testing, preferring to wait until the final curated experience would be released, and I haven’t been disappointed with the experience. Myself and a couple friends…

Finally, A Chart Explaining What Is In Each Assassin’s Creed Game

I count myself as a fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, but even I get a little confused about which game has what kind of stuff in it. Now there’s a chart that clears up any confusion. Sometimes, in the heat of discussion, I forget exactly what you could do in each entry of the…

We’re playing Metal Gear Solid live now on Twitch until we finish! Expect wolves, ketchup, gunfights, and sunglasses. If you think you’re up to it, come and join the chat, rookie. 

‘Shop Contest: Even More Smash Bros., Winners!

Smash Bros. is a fan favorite, and one of the reasons it is so successful is that it brings all of our favorite characters together to absolutely wreck house all over each other. I asked you to add more characters. You delivered. Adding characters to a real Smash Bros. game seems to be a serious,…

This Week In The Business: Down On The Sickness

QUOTE | “Gaming disorder is characterized by a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour, which may be online or offline, manifested by: 1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2) increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities;…

Popular Twitch Streamers Temporarily Banned For Playing Copyrighted Music

Today, more than 10 popular Twitch streamers tried to kick off their streams, only to find a nasty surprise waiting for them: they’d been kicked off Twitch for 24 hours. The reason? They played copyrighted music during their streams. Streamers xQc, Sinatraa, Daequan, Alfie, Avxry, KittyPlays, Pokelawls, Sneaky, Castro1021, Nico, Symfuhny, and Solluminati have all…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for actually cleaning the house this time, not like last weekend when you said you would and then just lay on the couch thinking, “Boy, this house is a mess!” It’s also for playing video games. The picture above, from Steam, accurately represents exactly where I’m stuck in Hollow Knight. I’m not…

Players Are Cheating The Steam Summer Sale Game, But They’re Not Sure Why

For the first time in years, the Steam summer sale has a limited-time game attached to it. It’s called Saliens, and it’s, well, not very good. That hasn’t stopped dedicated groups of Steam users from trying to exploit the gooey-green alien crap out of it, though. Saliens is, at its core, a simple tower defense…

Dota 2 Team Disqualified After Allegedly Testing Positive For Macros

When Juan “Atuun” Ochoa was accused of cheating at Dota 2, he was playing one of its most complicated heroes, a grotesque-looking gnome who can clone himself, trying to help his team win the South American qualifiers for the 2018 International. Ochoa’s actions resulted in his team being disqualified, its dreams of attending August’s $14.7…

One Rule For The Dragon Ball FighterZ Championship Is The Most Dragon Ball Thing Ever

A world championship tour for Dragon Ball Fighter Z will see qualifying competitions in seven different countries, each with its own Dragon Ball as a prize. But what if one competitor wins all seven? Announced by publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment this morning, the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour will bring structured competition to the mega-popular…

Splatoon 2‘s Octo Expansion Is Wrecking Me And I Love It

Splatoon’s campaigns have always been wacky, inventive, but rarely too difficult. They seemed designed to introduce players to the game’s different weapons and mechanics. The newly released Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 isn’t about warm welcomes. It’s about mastering all that Splatoon can throw at you and then some. The setup of the Octo Expansion…

WWE 2K19 Cover Athlete AJ Styles Has A Retro Game Hunting Show

AJ Styles, the WWE wrestler announced this week as the cover athlete for the game WWE 2K19, has an interesting game-related side project going on: He goes out hunting for classic games, filming the search and putting it on YouTube as a show called Retro Styles That Styles, currently the WWE champion, is into old…

King Togwaggle Isn’t Totally Useless Anymore

No Hearthstone card is bad on its own. Sure, some underperform in certain decks, in certain metagames, in certain pools of available cards. But time has proven that sometimes, cards that we thought were bad are actually pretty good when things align the right way. Case in point: King Togwaggle, a Kobolds and Catacombs card…

Realm Royale Mixes Wizards And Warriors With Fortnite

When hero shooter Paladins announced a battle royale mode, it felt a bit like a tacked on extra to a game struggling for identity. That battle royale mode has transformed into a standalone game, Realm Royale. While it’s still in alpha and rough around the edges, Realm Royale has a few good ideas that could…