Grim Fandango Was Performed Live On Stage, With Jack Black, And It Was Magical

One of the absolute highlights of this year’s E3 has been the idea Double Fine had to perform classic adventure game Grim Fandango live on stage, complete with original voice actors and band. While of course they weren’t acting it out—this is E3, not Broadway—it’s still a beautiful thing to watch, with art shown behind…

Beyond Good And Evil 2‘s Plan To Crowdsource Art From Fans Prompts Backlash

Ubisoft is asking fans to contribute art and music to its upcoming game Beyond Good and Evil 2, with the promise of monetary compensation if their work is chosen. Fans are already diving in with gusto, but critics quickly pointed out the issues with asking people to do work for only the possibility of payment.…

Cyberpunk 2077 Is A Violent, Impressive Blend Of Deus Ex And The Witcher 3

The next game from the makers of The Witcher 3 is looking impressive, and perhaps most importantly, it looks like a real video game. A 50-minute behind-closed-doors E3 demo of Cyberpunk 2077 showed attendees proper gameplay, played live, that appeared like something we might actually see in the next year or two. Here’s the short…

Smash Bros. Pros Are Finally Feeling The Love From Nintendo

LOS ANGELES—Paper streamers fluttered down on Smash champion Gonzalo “Zero” Barrios in the red light of a former burlesque theater in downtown Los Angeles. Barrios, the world’s best Super Smash Bros. Wii U player, winked at the camera and flashed a peace sign. Nintendo had invited him, along with seven other pro Super Smash Bros.…

Rage 2 Plays A Lot Like Doom, And That’s Awesome

Playing Rage 2 gave me flashbacks to playing Doom (2016). And that’s a very good thing. Remember when we were lukewarm about Doom? Remember when that project was stuck in endless development hell, and the franchise’s unimpeachable heritage was left to ride on the increasingly sour taste that Doom 3 had left in our mouths?…

Monster Hunter: World is adding the massive Behemoth from Final Fantasy XIV as a special monster later this summer. Fingers cross for a solid fight and armor worth strutting around in at high ranks.

Elder Scrolls: Blades Is Impressive, But Don’t Expect Skyrim

I have a feeling that the Elder Scrolls name is going to be a bit of an albatross for The Elder Scrolls: Blades, a free-to-play RPG for mobile that Bethesda announced at E3 From the demo at the show, it’s clear that the fundamentals of the series are there: You trudge through abandoned Elven hallways…

Ubisoft’s Starlink Is Surprisingly Cool, With Or Without Star Fox

Starlink: Battle For Atlas isn’t a Star Fox game. Nintendo’s furry pilot and his famous Arwing fighter are in the Switch version and—I hope you’re sitting down—not in the Xbox One and PS4 versions. It’s not even fully a toys game, a la Skylanders or Disney Infinity, because it turns out you don’t even need…

Overcooked 2 Lets You Crash A Restaurant Into Another Restaurant

The co-op cooking game Overcooked 2 was one of the featured third-party announcements during Nintendo’s E3 presentation this year. After playing it, I understand why. While others on the Kotaku team have been praising the first Overcooked for a while, I hadn’t had the time (or, sniff, the friends) to play it. At E3, after…

Mega Man 11 Is Exactly What I Hoped It Would Be

It’s been eight years since the last Mega Man game, and after the disappointing spiritual successor Mighty No. 9, it’s fair for us all to wonder: Is Mega Man 11 actually going to be any good? The answer, from what I’ve played so far, is yes. I played two full stages of Mega Man 11…

Man And His Anime Hug Pillow Graduate From College

Graduating from school is a big moment in any student’s or hug pillow’s life. While this is making the rounds on Japanese websites, it was originally spotted by Twitter user Amanojaku Respecter, who was watching the Cal Poly Pomona commencement: Let’s see how this all went down. The two make their entrance. Both are congratulated…

Huge Chewbacca-Themed Statue In Japan

Is this the biggest Chewbacca-themed statue in the world? Today in Nagoya, a tall Chewie was unveiled. This is for Solo’s Japanese release The statue, however, is always up, but not decked out like Chewbacca. Called Nana-chan ningyou (“Nana-chan doll”), this is a huge mannequin located in front of Nagoya’s Meitetsu Department Store Since 1973,…

When Anime And Photoshop Meet The Real World

There’s something oddly haunting about putting anime characters in real-world environments. A few years back, a 4chan thread featured a slew of Photoshops showing anime characters added into real-world locations. The images ended up on numerous Japanese websites. However, most of the photos were made by the MS Insanity collective on VK.com, which is akin…

Four Arrested In Japan For Running Illicit Video Game Bars [Update]

The proprietors of four video game bars have been arrested for allegedly violating Japanese copyright law. According to Yomiuri Shimbun, these arrests are being called the first of their kind in Japan. Update June 13 – 7:30am: An earlier version of this story said there had only been one arrest. There have been four, and…

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