The Week In Games: Dragon Balls And Monster Hunters 

The release calandar is ramping up with two of 2018’s most anticipated games dropping this week: Dragon Ball FighterZ and Monster Hunter World. I honestly can’t even begin to explain why a ridiculous anime adapted from a manga that originated decades ago about alien ape-men beating the crap out of one another and other progressively…

A Good Look At Official Post-Final Fantasy X-2 Character Art 

Square Enix just kicked off a Final Fantasy 30th anniversary exhibit in Tokyo. Among the displays was this Tidus and Yuna character art. The art might look familiar, because black and white versions of these Tetsuya Nomura character designs, as well as ones for Chuami and Kurgum, were included in the Final Fantasy X |…

Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Controllers Make Excellent Grasshopper Legs

If Nintendo is short on Labo ideas, which I doubt, here’s one from Twitter user Colonel Odonger: a cardboard grasshopper. I have no idea what kind of game could be made with it, but putting those Joy-Cons in the grasshopper’s legs is neat. The building level, though, looks high Colonel Odonger has already been running…

Former Sonic Team Head Yuji Naka Has Joined Square Enix

Yuji Naka is not only best known for programming and producing classic Sonic games but also for heading up titles like Nights into Dreams, Samba de Amigo, and Phantasy Star Online while at Sega. He’s recently joined Square Enix. In 2006, he left Sega to start up his own studio, called Probe, which released Let’s…

Pop Team Epic Anime Fans React Accordingly 

If these were any other anime fans, sticking their middle fingers in their air would be considered rude. But these are Pop Team Epic anime fans, so this seems about right. Pop Team Epic’s main characters are famous for flipping the bird. Explaining why these cosplayers are making the gesture. This weekend in Tokyo’s Akihabara,…

Stanley Theatre Backstage. Utica, NY. By Justin Knaperek. 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! 

A Quick Look Behind The Scenes On That Blizzard Anime Short

That Blizzard anime from last week was one of the coolest video game clips I have ever seen, but it turns out it wasn’t the work of the company’s in-house cinematics team. Instead, it was made by two British studios, with help from some of the best video game artists in the business. The Line…

Tight Controls Define This Retro Homage To Ninja Gaiden 

At first glance, The Messenger looks like any number of pixel-art projects trying to recreate the magic of decades-old games. Beneath the nostalgic presentation, however, lies an action platformer focused on not just reliving the past but also improving on it. Sabotage Studio, located in Quebec City, is developing it based on the Ninja Gaiden…

NBA Star Has PlayStation Sneakers, And They’re Not Terrible

I used this video games platform to call Paul George’s first signature shoe (the PG1) “trash” last year, so it’s only fair I return in 2018 to say his second is “not trash”. George launched the revised PG2 sneaker over the weekend in the Thunder’s game against the Cavs, with a special PlayStation model of…

Chun-Li Cosplayer Is 70 Years Old 

Imagine yourself at 70. Then imagine yourself doing deadlifts to keep in shape so you can keep cosplaying. At 70. Shirley Chua is a treasure. The Singaporean, a former beauty pageant contestant, has found a contemporary way to get back to her modelling days by cosplaying, and talks all about it in this interview with…

The Directors Of Monster Hunter World Try To Explain Why It’s Not Coming To The Nintendo Switch 

Monster Hunter World is due out January 26 on PS4 and Xbox One but not the Switch. According to the game’s directors that’s because it was in development well before Nintendo’s handheld had been revealed. The Monster Hunter series is a familiar sight on portable consoles, including Nintendo’s starting with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on…

So There Are Now PlayStation Figures Called ‘Totaku’

The PlayStation-licensed line of Amiibo-looking toys comes by way of ThinkGeek, the merchandise outfit owned by GameStop, and are due to launch on March 23. There are a total of seven different figures including God of War’s Kratos, Tekken’s Heihachi, Bloodborne’s hunter, Wipeout’s Feisar FX 350, LittleBigPlanet’s Sackboy, PaRappa the Rapper and Crash Brandicoot. Called…

Which One Was The Confetti Button Again?

Looks like the Hawaiian emergency alert operator found a new job at Blizzard. During a tense grand finals between Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang and Chen “tom60229″ Wi Lin at the Hearthstone World Championships today, someone seemed to bump the winner’s confetti button. Chen would go on to win in a reverse sweep against Zhang’s Jade Druid…

Evil Geniuses Fall In A Sweep At Former Dota 2 Major

This weekend was another shot for the new look of Evil Geniuses to prove itself. While the team’s run up to the grand finals seemed steady, a devastating three-and-done series showed the lineup hasn’t found its footing yet. Since the shuffle that brought on Rasmus “Misery” Filipsen as the new captain and cut long-time offlaner…

If The Rock’s Jumanji Were A Retro Beat ‘Em Up

It might look something like this. Created by artist Castpixel, the screenshots show what the recent movie might have looked like if it were translated into the style of a 90s arcade game. Destructoid, which spotted the lovely renders, pointed out that it wasn’t so long ago games like this would have actually been made…

Why The Last of Us‘s Game Director Left Naughty Dog

The Last of Us and Uncharted director Bruce Straley joins today’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen to talk about burning out, how he feels about not directing The Last of Us 2, and why he left Naughty Dog after 17 years. First, Kirk and I talk about news of the week (5:46) on Quantic Dream’s toxicity,…

Splatoon Player Clinches Win With The Most Satisfying Dunk

Most players might just use Splatoon 2‘s high-flying super jump to get back into the action after you’ve respawned. Saffron Rice’s DNerd found a different use: to sink the game-winning clam. During yesterday’s Splatoon 2 tournament at Genesis 5, Saffron was down in a game of Clam Blitz that had gone into overtime. Their opponents,…