Here’s July’s Xbox Live Games With Gold Lineup

There’s nothing too exciting in July’s Xbox Live Games With Gold. I will confess a deep fondness for Splinter Cell Conviction because when it came out in 2010 I’d never seen a game that projected the objective text into the world, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I still kinda think that.…

With Its Massive Cast, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Desperately Needs A Tournament Mode

When it arrives in December, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will feature over 60 playable characters from the franchise’s 20-year history. While this caters to both the nostalgia-minded and completionist alike, it has the potential to be a nightmare for anyone looking to host competitive events. As the Smash cast has grown over the years, so…

Overwatch‘s Latest Hero Is Wrecking Ball, A Hamster In A Mech [Update]

It looks like Overwatch’s newest hero might be who—but not what—we thought. Fans speculated that the first-person shooter’s 28th hero could be Hammond, a monkey companion to the genetically-engineered gorilla Winston. So it came as a surprise that Overwatch just released Hammond the hamster, who goes by “Wrecking Ball,” onto the game’s public test realm…

Appealing To Old Anime Fans In Japan

As Japan continues to gray, one thing is inevitable: anime fans are also getting older. That’s why Bandai is teaming up with an elderly goods maker for anime-themed canes Via website 1up Jouhoukyoku, have a look: In the coming years, products like these won’t be anomalies Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture,…

First Look At Bleach Creator’s New One-Shot Manga

Tite Kubo, best known for Bleach, has a new manga. It’s one-shot comedy manga called Burn the Witch In Japanese, the teaser site has the words “witch,” “dragon” and “reverse London.” That last one could also mean “rebirth London” as リバース (ribaasu) refers to “reverse” or its secondary meaning “rebirth.” Bleach, which debuted in 2001,…

Ikoma Plateau. Kobayashi, Miyazaki. By Michael Markofski. 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! 

Slave II

Pablo Carpio is an artist based in Spain who has worked with companies like Pixar, Ubisoft, Marvel and Wizards of the Coast. We actually featured him back in 2015 if you want to see some more very cool shit You can see more of Pablo’s work at his ArtStation page Fine Art is a celebration…

Capcom Ditches Guns N’ Roses Boss Names For Mega Man X Collection

In a new trailer intended to show off Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 and 2’s challenge mode where players can choose to fight two Maverick bosses at the same time, Capcom inadvertently revealed something even more important: the bosses in Mega Man X5 will no longer be named after the members of Guns N’…

Wreckfest Is Murder Disguised As A Racing Game

I first wrote about Wreckfest back in 2014, before it even had a name. Four years of Early Access later it’s actually out, and I’m happy to say the wait has been worth it. Having not played it for a few years, I’d left Wreckfest as a fun little oddity, a physics-based game where you…

Overwatch’s Trolls Are Losing

Overwatch players needed something to incentivize good sportsmanship and, yesterday, they got it. Blizzard’s latest Overwatch patch is toning down the hierarchy of skill and introducing a hierarchy of decency. It’s a masterstroke of features, all interacting to reward civility and cleanse the game of antisocial behavior. At its heart is a new “endorsement” system…

Gamers from the Class of 2018 Graduated in Style With These Graduation Caps

The practice of decorating graduation caps is often seen as a rite of passage for incoming graduates of colleges and (now, increasingly) high schools. Students often spend months contemplating what they will include on their graduation caps, which on graduation day. This year, many chose to adorn their caps with inspiring quotes, memes, and song…

Fortnite Player Destroys Tilted Towers In A Single Shot

Fortnite’s notorious Tilted Towers—a high-risk, high-reward landing spot once described as “tryhard central” by erstwhile Kotaku editor/genius Patricia Hernandez—have been a target of players’ grimmest imaginings ever since rumors that they’d be obliterated by a comet started swirling in March. But still they stand. So one player took matters into their own hands. A Fortnite…

PUBG Is Struggling To Find Its Place In A Battle Royale World

A declining player base. Multiple public-relations gaffes. And gameplay that still feels unfinished. Can PUBG turn its fortunes around, or will the game that launched a whole genre be remembered as just a flash in the frying pan? Last year, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds single-handedly caused the “battle royale” genre to explode in popularity. But Fortnite overtook…

Overwatch Players Have Made Their Own Ways To Celebrate Pride Month

Even though Overwatch’s mascot character is an out lesbian, the game didn’t offer any Pride-themed events or costumes this month. So players have found their own ways to celebrate. When Blizzard released a holiday comic that showed the Overwatch mascot character, Tracer, celebrating Christmas with her girlfriend, fans were ecstatic. They’d already been writing fic…