Nintendo Games Still Don’t Feel Right On Mobile

So far, Nintendo’s mobile offerings have been pretty good. They’re also frustrating. Nintendo resisted mobile games for a long time, but finally relented in 2016 when they released the app Miitomo. Though I deleted it long ago, I still have fond memories of it. You’d dress up a little Mii avatar, set a greeting, and…

Frustration Simulator Getting Over It Climbs Steam Best Sellers List

Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy is a nonsensical game that challenges players to climb a mountain with a hammer. The silly premise and highly animated reactions from streamers who take a tumble have launched it right to the heights of Steam’s best seller list one day after its release on the platform. It looks…

Twitch Man Plays Super Mario World Theme With His Nose, Says He Has Perfect Pitch

Jason Yang is a musician and composer who live streams on Twitch, taking song requests to play on his violin, keyboard, and nose. Pulling up a Super Mario World video, Yang nose-whistles the game’s overworld theme. You can compare Yang’s version to the original Super Nintendo classic While that clip gained traction, what happened immediately…

New Hearthstone Card Looks Suspiciously Familiar To Magic Players

Hearthstone’s latest expansion Kobolds and Catacombs launched today, featuring 135 new cards. One of them is called Violet Wurm, and as some players have noticed, it’s almost exactly like a Magic: The Gathering card that came out 17 years ago. Here’s the tale of the tape: Violet Wurm is a new Hearthstone card, a minion…

Overwatch Gets Yeti Boss Fight

The holidays are upon us, and you know what that means: new Overwatch stuff. And also family and celebration or whatever, I guess. In a new video update, game director Jeff “It’s Beginning To Feel A Lot Like” Kaplan announced that the game’s Mei-focused holiday event is returning. It’ll include everything from last year—skins, the…

Reigns: Her Majesty: The Kotaku Review

In my time as queen in Reigns: Her Majesty, I was torn apart by my subjects, eaten by wolves, and burned at the stake. I had affairs with pagan women, barbarian queens from other lands, and rakish explorers of new worlds. I was coronated again and again, born anew to rule once more. You’re always…

My Splatoon 2 Match Became A Dance Party

Last night, during a match of Splatoon 2, everyone got fed up with our senseless land war. We all laid down our arms and came together for the one thing that matters most: having a kickass party. Last evening, I streamed Splatoon 2 on my personal Twitch channeland leapt into a turf war match on…

South Park: The Fractured But Whole Uses Little Details To Make Its Characters Human

South Park: The Fractured But Whole has sentiment. This might be a surprise given the television show’s notoriety for crass, irreverent humor. Shock humor can grab an audience’s attention, but it can’t maintain it, and that’s why The Fractured But Whole uses small details to give its bawdy cast of nine-year-olds humanity. It’s difficult to…

Ubisoft Says It Won’t Remove Russia From Its 2018 Olympics Game

Earlier this week the International Olympic Committee announced Russia was banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Despite that news, Russia is going to remain in the winter sports sim Steep Road to the Olympics, at least for now. Road to the Olympics is a new expansion to the 2016 winter sports…

After A Decade Away, 31-Year-Old Tekken Pro Is Back On Top

Ten years ago, Byeong-mun “Qudans” Son was one of the strongest Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection players on the planet. But professional esports was different then, and in 2007, Qudans largely stepped away from competition as he pursued an education and satisfied South Korea’s requirement of mandatory military service. It wasn’t until…

GTA Online’s Doomsday Heists Takes Players Inside Mount Chilliad (With Jetpacks)

Jet packs, flying cars, underwater cars and a trip inside the mysterious Mount Chilliad—all that and more look like they’ll be part of The Doomsday Heist, a surprise “epic new online adventure” Rockstar announced today for Grand Theft Auto Online. It’ll be out on December 12. GTA Online players have spent years trying to unravel the…

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero adds a whole new adventure on December 12 with the $7.99 Friends to the End DLC. Players swap between three of Shantae’s pals—Sky, Bolo and Rottytops—as they travel through remixed game levels to save the half-genie from dark magic.

Japanese Role-Playing Game Trend: Big Sister Characters

Have you noticed? Some of the biggest recent Japanese role-playing games feature older sister type characters instead of predominately kid sister ones popular in years past. Big sister characters aren’t necessarily related to the protagonists, but they are often surrogate older sisters, even if they are portrayed as fetching or become a romantic interest. A…

Danny DeVito Fans React To Detective Pikachu Announcement 

When it was originally announced that a Great Detective Pikachu movie got the greenlight, fans thought Danny DeVito would be the perfect choice for the character. Hollywood, however, had someone else in mind. See? DeVito is perfect! As just announced, Ryan Reynolds will play Detective Pikachu when production starts in London early next year. Some…