10 Years Later, Team Fortress 2 Heads For The Jungle

As discussed previously on Kotaku.com, Valve’s Orange Box is 10 years old this month. Half-Life is celebrating by no longer existing, while Team Fortress 2 is leaving “a decade of dustbowls and gravel pits” behind to head for the jungle with new maps, weapons and banjos. It’s all part of the Jungle Inferno update, which…

LEGO PlayStations Are About As Small As They Can Get

While some LEGO builders like to go big, others like to challenge themselves by building as small as possible. Like SUU2100 has here, with some PlayStation models that would be unrecognisable if they used any less bricks. He has shown great restraint to not put googly eyes on them then tuck them into tiny little…

Civilization VI’s Next Faction Is An Old Favourite

After skipping Civ V, the Khmer are returning to the series in an update for Civilization VI They’re led by King Jayavarman VII, and their perks include a religion bomb (their temples will claim adjacent land) and war elephants The Khmer are coming soon as paid DLC (unless you got the digital deluxe version of…

Sometimes It’s Nice To Just Walk Around An Open World Game

In most open world video games, from Grand Theft Auto to Skyrim, we tend to spend our time racing from point to point, rarely slowing down to appreciate the finer details in everything around us. A big part of that is down to game design, because open world games are built upon the idea of…

John Cena Meets His Greatest Foe: A Couch

Today on Highlight Reel we have football headshots, leg locks, inappropriate Nier driving 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…

Former Naughty Dog Employee Says He Was Fired After Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint

A former employee of the highly-regarded video game development studio Naughty Dog has accused the company of terminating him after he says he filed a complaint that he was sexually harassed by someone else at the studio. In a statement, Naughty Dog says it has no record of these allegations. In conversations with Kotaku, current…

What The Controversial Return of Mega Evolution Means For Competitive Pokémon

Earlier this month, The Pokémon Company International announced the rules for the next Video Game Championship Series format, bringing the controversial mega evolution and a much wider selection of Pokémon back into tournament play. With updated mega evolutions, Z-moves and a slew of competitive staples returning to the fold, 2018 will give players more room…

Puerto Rican Overwatch Player Isn’t Letting Hurricane Irma Derail His Career

It was the day after hurricane Irma had hit Puerto Rico, and Luis Galarza Figueroa was left without options. Walking outside of his family’s home in Barceloneta after the storm subsided, he could see trees and cables on the ground. The power, something Figueora needed for many things including his burgeoning competitive gaming career, was…

Last year, curated art project Back to Bits made its 8-bit debut, capturing the games of the NES era in a series of 43 outstanding animated GIFs. Today the second wave of Back to Bits, Super 16, takes on the Super Nintendo era in 40 moving images. Check it out.

Witcher 3 Developer Puts Out Vague Statement About Studio Morale

Last month, rumors spread about the Polish company CD Projekt Red, mostly based on negative Glassdoor reviews complaining of mismanagement and low morale. This morning, CD Projekt Red released a statement in response, saying that its “approach to making games is not for everyone” and that the studio is taking its time on its next…

On the left, wallpaper from The Evil Within 2. On the right, the infamous carpet from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Coincidence or homage? You decide.

Angry Birds Meets Iron Maiden For Some Reason

Angry Birds Evolution, the odd adult-aimed offshoot of the series that spawned an animated kids film, gets a little bit stranger on October 18, when a bird based on the undead mascot of venerable metal band Iron Maiden arrives in the game. Huh. I suppose there are stranger places to go for a Halloween event…

Bungie Pulls Destiny 2 Emote After Players Discover Wall Glitch

Sometimes even the best-intentioned jokes go awry. Over the weekend, enterprising Destiny 2 players figured out that a Monty Python-inspired emote allowed them to glitch through walls. Bungie has since pulled the emote from the in-game store, though if you bought it, you can still use it. In Destiny 2, you can purchase emotes like…

One Of 2017’s Best Games Is About Being A Mortician

There are songs about death. There are movies about death, books about death, games about death. And yet, the $20 billion industry surrounding how we handle our dead is often invisible. It’s an industry that exists deep in funeral home basements or cramped offices, one that people only talk about reluctantly and in the worst…

Artist Shows Off Canceled Pitch For Halo Wars 3

A new collection of concept art reveals details of a Halo Wars 3 pitch that featured space battles and XCOM-esque base management. Halo Wars 2 managed to capture the feeling of Bungie’s famous franchise but wasn’t that intense of a strategy game. A handful of art, shared by Creative Assembly concept artist Brad Wright, offers…

Only Two Of the Current Top 10 Most-Downloaded Games On Switch Were Made By Nintendo

Indie games are selling phenomenally on the Switch’s eShop—better even than Nintendo’s games. That Stardew Valley is the current best seller on the Switch eShop shouldn’t surprise anyone. Switch owners have been clamoring for the game since it was announced that it would launch on the platform last year. What is more interesting is that…

On Friday Atlus Japan teased a side-scrolling 2D Castlevania-style game starring Jack Frost and Jack O’Lantern of Shin Megami Tensei fame. Called Shin Megami Tensei: Synchronicity Prologue, it’s a real game PC gamers can download and play for free right now. It’s lovely.

How Final Fantasy XIV‘s New Raid Brings Final Fantasy Tactics To a New World

Last week’s “The Legend Returns” patch for Final Fantasy XIV gives players a taste of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII in a special 24-person raid event called “The Royal City Of Rabanastre.” If you’re a fan of the Ivalice setting but not an MMO player, here’s what you’re missing. The adventure, penned by…