The Endless Appeal of a Good Video Game Character Creator

Earlier this month, a hentai game blew up. It wasn’t the sex, though: people were talking about the game because of the incredibly detailed character creator. It’s not the first time a game has exploded largely due to a character creator. Remember Black Desert Online, the MMO that eventually released a standalone just so players…

BlazBlue Producer Is Wrong About Why Japanese Players Dominate His Games

During a recent press event, Arc System Works chief development officer Toshimichi Mori sat down to discuss his team’s next fighting game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. The upcoming release’s simple controls, he said, are a way to make the game more accessible to newcomers as well as Western competitors who can’t keep up with their…

Here’s What We Know About Artifact, Valve’s New Card Game

Valve demoed its upcoming card game Artifact recently at its Seattle office and the details have begun pouring in. While Valve founder Gabe Newell reportedly called Blizzard’s Hearthstone the “benchmark” for online card games, Artifact sounds like it will be very different. Previously, all we knew was that the game was inspired by Dota and…

Mike Dies Keeps Finding Exciting New Ways To Kill Me

If Spaceman Mike stands completely inside a portal, he’s transported to another place. If even a tiny bit of him remains outside, he dies. Developer Psydra Games does so much with such a simple mechanic in the disturbingly-named Mike Dies. Mike Dies, available on Steam, has many things going for it. It’s a Metroidvania-style puzzle…

Battlegrounds Team Gets DQ’d, Loses $12,000 For Using See-Through Wall Glitch

OpTic Gaming has been stripped of its second-place finish in a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tournament after officials ruled that one of its players, Ian “Bahawaka” Crowe, abused a glitch allowing him to see through walls. During game eight at the PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice, Crowe moved next to a wall in a very specific way…

A Peek Inside Final Fantasy‘s Ultimania Art Book, Now In English

In 2012, Square Enix Japan published a trio of Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania books collecting art, developer commentary and background information on the first 14 numbered Final Fantasy games. Now Dark Horse is publishing the books in English, with the first 336 page volume arriving in July. We got samples. Wanna see? Square Enix…

You Are Not Looking At A Manga Drawing Of Cars

This isn’t an Initial D drawing. It’s not a page from the manga. You are looking at model cars painted like manga or anime art. Incredible, no? This is the work of a talented Twitter user named Shinga, who says he painted them in the style of Initial D creator Shuichi Shigeno. Here’s a look…

Why People Keep Saying “Perfect Body” In This Twitch Streamer’s Comments

Actor Kane Kosugi recently started streaming League of Legends on Twitch. His comments section filled up with people saying “Perfect Body.” On Twitter, “Perfect Body” even started trending in Japan. The US-born Kosugi has starred in an array of films, including Godzilla: Final Wars, the live-action Terraformars, DOA: Dead or Alive and Tekken: Kazuya’s Revenge.…

Spoilers Leak About Dragon Ball Super‘s Last Episode

On March 25, Dragon Ball Super’s last episode will air, bringing to an end the series which debuted in June 2015. Warning: This article has spoilers. According to an Animage magazine scan, which was linked by Hachima but which Kotaku hasn’t confirmed firsthand, the episode’s title is apparently “A Miraculous Conclusion! Farewell Goku! Until The…

Stripes. Tokyo, Japan. By Willis Lai | Instagram  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! 

Overwatch League’s Dallas Fuel Is Not Having A Good Time Right Now

It’s been a rough past few days of a rough month of a rough first season for Dallas Fuel, the Overwatch League’s most star-studded team. Today alone, one member, Timo “Taimou” Kettunen, finally apologized for using a homophobic slur on stream, while another, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, said he might quit the team entirely. Taimou used…

Yes, Give Mercy Two Guns

I used to main Mercy. Now I don’t even play Overwatch. Partly because the growing obsession with the game’s meta among friends was poison to my casual Overwatch habits, but also because Mercy only had one gun. As a Battle Mercy guy, healing always came secondary to the accuracy and range of her pistol, and…

Do Not Call Yourself ‘Fuck,’ Spider-Man Doesn’t Like It

As long as there have been video games that let you enter text, there have been people using rude words. Many just let you use them, others will block them, but Spider-Man on the PS1 did something a bit different. At the player name entry screen, it would detect naughty words and as voice actor…

Fortnite Is Coming To Mobile, Will Support Cross-Platform Play

Epic just announced that Fortnite: Battle Royale is coming to Android and iOS. It’s not a weird conversion, or downsized experience either. Epic says “Fortnite is the same 100-player game you know from PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac. Same gameplay, same map, same content, same weekly updates.” There’s even talk of letting mobile…

The Internet Reacts To Smash Bros. For Switch

Super Smash Bros. is finally coming to the Switch and the announcement is blowing minds. We all knew it was inevitable, but still: Smash Bros.! On the Switch! The race to comb through footage for some clue about who will be in the game has begun. Nintendo Directs these days always elicit lots of reactions,…

Nightmare Man, You Take The Right Flank

Today on Highlight Reel we have Rainbow Six nightmares, touch of death combos, stab trains, and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Catch up…