New Xbox All Access Program Lets You Pay Monthly For An Xbox, Game Pass, And Xbox Live

Microsoft has a new monthly financing program for the Xbox One called Xbox All Access, according to a blog post over at the Xbox website. The program allows users to commit to a two-year plan where they pay monthly for either an Xbox One S or an Xbox One X and subscriptions to both Xbox…

The Week In Games: Eating Donuts On Trains With Yakuza

It’s another week in games, and we’re starting to move out of the summer doldrums and into more games than we can handle. Huzzah! Games I’m looking forward to this week include Donut County, Fear the Wolves, and Yakuza Kiwami 2. If you haven’t played the very excellent Sunless Sea, it’s coming to PS4 this…

Momoko Sakura, One Of Japan’s Most Famous Manga Creators, Has Died

Momoko Sakura, creator of Chibi Maruko-chan, has died. Born Miki Miura, Sakura passed away on August 15 from breast cancer. Her office made the news public today. Chibi Maruko-chan manga debuted in 1986 and went on to spawn one of Japan’s most beloved anime. The first Chibi Maruko-chan anime series ran from 1990 to 1992.…

Dad’s Gameplay Notes Are Wonderfully Obsessive

When you play through a game, you probably make notes to yourself—mental notes. It’s unlikely you keep notebooks like these. Maybe you do! Twitter user Ishikoro18 posted images of playthrough notes her father kept for games like Final Fantasy X-2, Siren, Ico, Silent Hill 3, Kingdom Hearts and more. Little drawings, maps, and crossed out…

For a 5-Year-Old, This Kid Seems Good At Dark Souls 3

High Lord Wolnir can be one of Dark Soul 3’s more frustrating enemies. No wonder this 5-year-old seems excited to beat him. Twitter user Nyu posted this clip of his son appearing to defeat the boss. “Daddy, I did it! Daddy! Daddy! Look! Yay!” Gotta love the kid’s reaction.

The Cutest Gundam Cosplay 

As far as official Gundam cosplay goes, this is the cutest. Here’s an adorable Char’s Zaku making the rounds at a recent hobby show in Tokyo. Just check out how the Zaku walks So cute!

Dragon. Osaka, Japan. By Pedro Szekely | Flickr 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! 

The Princess Of Power

Steffi Walthall is an illustrator and concept artist who has worked in games, film and publishing. Note that some of these images have appeared as illustrations for articles on The Tempest You can see more of Steffi’s art at her personal site Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing…

Half-Life 2 Mod Adds Mario, Titanfall Powers

The “Mobility Mod” for Half-Life 2 gives Gordon Freeman access to a range of new powers, the coolest being the ability to jump on an enemy’s head to kill them and to get up there with some very fancy wall-running. It also adds exploding bullets and some FOV sliders, but really, we’re here for the…

Nice Park

Sir, that’s not the main entrance to the parking lot… This incredibly satisfying flip was pulled off by Prek, a GTA V stunt performer as part of a new compilation vid. Here’s the full clip, which includes stuff like car parkour (carkour?) and bikes that don’t much care for the laws of gravity:

Mass Shooting At Madden Tournament In Florida [Updates: Three Confirmed Dead, Suspect Named]

A shooter opened fire today during a Madden NFL 19 tournament at the GLHF Game Bar in Jacksonville, FL. Three people are confirmed dead, including the suspected shooter, while a further 11 have been injured. During a press briefing at 4:30 PM EST, Sheriff Mike Williams made some short remarks about the incident. Jacksonville Landing,…

There Is Video Evidence Of Steve Vai Shredding On The Halo 2 Soundtrack

The guitar legend Steve Vai makes a couple appearances on the soundtrack for 2004’s Halo 2, and now we have video to confirm that he did, in fact, absolutely shred in the studio. Posted in a thread by Resetera user jambo, the video is a rip of a DVD made by Halo composer Martin O’Donnell,…

‘Shop Contest: This Is Where The Magic Happens

We experienced a new Overwatch short this week where we saw some heroic D.Va action, and our ‘Shop Contest is in response to that. I want you to show me where the magic happens. In the short, D.Va explains that “this is where the magic happens.” Does she mean inside of her garage? Is her…

What It Was Like To Work On Final Fantasy XIV During The Launch Catastrophe

When Final Fantasy XIV first launched, in 2010, it was such a disaster that publisher Square Enix made the unprecedented move of taking it offline and launching a brand new version three years later. What was it like to be there? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, who heads up the translation…

Sunday Comics: Update Troubles

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 August 20. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published August 23. Read more of Corpse Run Double XP by…

Fantasy Games Are Better When They Don’t Focus On Magic

I’ve been playing through Dust and Salt recently, and I’ve been struck with how much I enjoy a fantasy game when magic isn’t the core focus of the narrative. Dust and Salt is gritty. You start as a ten-year-old who watches his father get murdered by conscripts from the city of Murk, and after rescuing…

2016’s Doom Looks Very Silly In Third Person

There’s a new episode of Boundary Break, a YouTube series all about showing off the things in games we aren’t supposed to see, and it’s about Doom. It reveals how silly everything in that game looks when you’re not in first-person mode. While this episode is ostensibly about just showing off all kinds of strange…