The More We Learn About Mario As A Character, The More He Sucks

2017 has changed Mario for me, and not just because he might be mind-controlling poor Goombas. Nintendo has told me too much about Mario, and now I can’t look at him the same way again. In the latest episode of the Favecast, Gita Jackson and I discuss how factoids like ‘Mario is no longer a…

Of Course There’s Battlegrounds ASMR

“Hopefully, I can actually win one,” YouTuber Whisper Plays breathed into his microphone before he parachuted off a plane in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. His mechanical keyboard clacked loudly as he dropped down and collected his first few items: a few packs of 9 m.m. ammo and a P1911 pistol, which actually takes .45 ammo. “I’m not…

People Are So Obsessed With Switch Icons, Now Developers Are Polling Them

Nintendo Switch owners really care about the icons that show up on their home screens, making so much noise that many developers are swapping them out. But not German indie studio Bplus. It’s asking fans to choose Puzzle Box Maker’s icon ahead of the game’s November release. In a post on the studio’s blog, Bplus…

Sega Genesis Flashback HD: The Kotaku Review

Let’s get the comparison we have to make out of the way: No, the Genesis Flashback isn’t as amazing as the SNES Classic. But it’s still pretty good, if you like the games. While Nintendo is setting the world on fire with its 90s nostalgia trip, let’s say your 16-bit desires are more unconventional. Perhaps…

Scary Movie Recommendations For Horror Game Fans

What’s a fan of horror games to do when the final boss is vanquished and the credits roll but you’re not ready to say goodbye? What if you want the scary experience but you’re too tired to hold a controller and push buttons? The answer, my friends, lies in another form of entertainment: film. If…

Blizzard Bans A Ton Of World of Warcraft Botters

Last night Blizzard brought the banhammer down on botters and scripters in World of Warcraft, passing out six- to eighteen-month suspensions for players caught using a number of popular third-party programs. Watching the programs’ forums fill up with ban reports is a hell of a thing. According to reports posted on the World of Warcraft…

Swery’s Cat Game The Good Life Moves To Kickstarter After Failed Fig Campaign

Yesterday, The Good Life, the next project by Hidetaka “SWERY” Suehiro, failed to meet its crowdfunding goal on Fig. In a letter to fans, SWERY announced the project would move to Kickstarter. The Good Life captured people’s attention for its strange premise: a reporter moving to a country village where everyone turns into cats at…

The Most Popular D&D Races And Classes

Decades of D&D fans repeating the old adage “Friends don’t let friends play half-orcs” may have had some tangible effects. Yesterday, FiveThirtyEight publisheddataon the most D&D popular classes and races and, well, half-orcs only make up about five percent of all D&D characters played between August 15 and September 15. For comparison, more than fifty…

Every Big Game Coming Out In Fall 2017

Ahh, fall. The time for pumpkin spice lattes, long walks amongst colorful autumn trees, and watching scary movies underneath the safety of your favorite blanket. It’s also the time for some big releases in video games. We’ll update this list as new release dates are announced. September 26 Nioh: Bloodshed’s End | PS4 Megaton Rainfall…

In China, Blizzard Is Suing Over Alleged Overwatch Rip Off

If you think mobile game Heroes of Warfare looks like Overwatch, you’re not alone. So does Blizzard China and NetEase, Overwatch’s Chinese operator, which is why they’re taking it to court. If you’ve never seen Heroes of Warfare, check out these screens from Hachima and My Game News Flash: Here is gameplay: This seems to be…

Pixar’s Cars Gets Real And Freaky In Japan 

This is a Suzuki Twin with a deeply disturbing “smile bumper” (スマイルバンバー or sumairu banpaa) that probably should not exist. But yet, it does. While I’ve never seen one in real-life here in Japan, these bumpers do sometimes pop up in online auctions. They appear to be made in Saitama, Japan, so for now, the…

How To Make Pokémon Coloring Books Horrifying

If you want to make Pocket Monster coloring books scary, don’t just color between the lines. Draw stuff between them. These wonderful doodles were done by Twitter user Bankokukun. They are brilliant nightmare fuel. We have seen this kind of thing before. It was frightening then, and it’s frightening now. For more of Bankokukun’s art,…

Nicolas Cage, The Japanese Snack Food [Update]

If you were a Japanese snack food maker and could put anyone on your tasty treats, who would it be? Nicolas Cage, of course! To promote Army of One’s Japanese release, the actor’s face is being plastered on the popular puffed corn snack Umaibou (or “delicious stick”). Update October 13 – 6:00am: Nicolas Cage did…

Right Before Kushima. Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. By Stefan Mildner 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! 

Rough Day At The Range

Elijah McNeal is an artist who has worked for companies like Gearbox, Epic and 20th Century Fox. You can see more of Elijah’s art at his ArtStation page (and the last time we featured him, in 2014). To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine…

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Today on Highlight Reel we have spartan lasers, Battlegrounds bonding, orcs ending it, 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 on all…