Forty Minutes Of Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Shown off during Nintendo’s Treehouse stream yesterday, here’s a solid chunk of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which looks great and is hopefully more up my alley than the first game. (I imagine the portability will help.) I’ll be talking to the developers of Xenoblade 2 tomorrow here at E3, so let me know what questions you…

Battlegrounds Makes Fan-Made Zombie Mode Official

Normally in Battlegrounds, players crouch behind bathroom doors, waiting to shoot whomever bursts in. A few weeks ago, fans riffed on that theme with Battlegrounds’ zombie mode, where instead of hiding in crevices, players gun down hordes of ravenous player-controlled zombies. It was aninstant successin the community and on Twitch. Yesterday, Battlegrounds devs announced that…

Nearly 20 Minutes of The Life Is Strange Prequel In Action

The first gameplay footage from Life Is Strange: Before The Storm tries hard to recapture the drama from the original game. If you want to ruin something, keep adding to it: this is true of cakes, outfits and most of all fiction. Chloe Price in the original Life Is Strange had a lot of secrets—it…

After a somewhat sleepy show floor in 2016, E3 is very crowded this year, maybe due to the thousands of tickets sold to the public, maybe due to bad booth design. The event opened 15 minutes early on Tuesday to reduce the crush. That’s the Nintendo booth in the photo. A rep told us to…

Lego Worlds Rockets Into Space Next Month

Now that the game save-eating bug issues seem to be behind us, it’s time for Lego Worlds to do happier things, like announcing a Switch version for the fall and a content expansion that explores one of the oldest and most beloved themes in the toy line’s history, Lego Space. Lego’s been transporting children of…

The New God of War Might Finally Make Kratos Interesting

Sony may have shown more of the new God Of War at their press conference Monday, but there’s still a lot they haven’t explained about the game. A few things are clear: Kratos is a dad, and the focus had shifted from Greek mythology to Norse myth. I sat down with the game’s director Cory…

Splatoon 2’s Competitive Scene Has A Strong Showing During E3

An invitational was hosted yesterday on Nintendo’s E3 stream for Splatoon 2, featuring four teams competing for a sweet silver squid trophy. Surprisingly, it was a strong showing for the game’s competitive aspirations. E3 has had no shortage of “esports” presentations, from Electronic Arts showing off Star Wars: Battlefront II with a commentated live match…

Undertale‘s Japanese Localization Is Causing A Fan Frenzy

American indie game Undertale is finally getting an official Japanese release. Good for all the hardcore Japanese fans the game has! Its localization is already causing quite a stir. Namely, the way laid-back skeleton character Sans refers to himself. In English, we use the personal pronoun “I” to refer to ourselves. However, Japanese has an…

New Gran Turismo Racing Wheel Only Costs $800

Thrustmaster’s forthcoming T-GT high-end racing that will be available when Gran Turismo Sport hits later this fall. It will be expensive. According to 4Gamer, GT Planet and TjrSim, the wheel is priced at US＄799.99 plus tax. You get the wheel set up, a three-pedal set, and the power supply that looks like a turbo charger.…

Gotanda Crossing. Tokyo, Japan. By Thomas Ito. 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! 

The Great Cosplay Pool Party

Every June, without fail, the tropical surrounds of the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio play host to Colossalcon, and some of the best cosplay of the year. Why Ohio, of all places? It’s got something to do with the fact Colossalcon combines thousands of cosplayers, a swimming pool, expensive cameras and the first days of…

Splatoon 2‘s Salmon Run Is A Fun Horde Mode

I splatted and swam through a quick session of Splatoon 2‘s new co-op mode today. I played in a quartet, and this might be how I play Splatoon multiplayer when the sequel launches in July. Salmon Run puts 2-4 players on a platform out in the middle of dangerous waters. Players work as a team…

Sony Has A Weak Excuse For Not Allowing Cross-Platform Play

Minecraft owners can soon play across Xbox One, Switch and PC. Rocket League owners will soon be able to play across Xbox One, Switch and PC. There’s a console missing from that equation, and Sony’s explanation for why that’s the case is not good. In an interview with Eurogamer, PlayStation global sales and marketing head…

Super Mario Odyssey’s Outfits Are A Nice Throwback

Here’s something you might not have noticed watching Super Mario Odyssey’s new trailer: many of those outfits Mario is wearing are based on his appearance in old/obscure Nintendo games. Cute touch! If you’re wondering where they’re all from, clockwise from top-left they’re Picross 2 (1996), Mario x Qix (1990, Game Boy), Yoshi’s Cookie (1993) and…

This Is Not A Drill

Garfield GO is a real video game. Here is the press release: Hello, Just wanted to let you know that our new game — Garfield GO — is now live! Garfield GO is a brand new augmented reality treasure hunt game, featuring everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving cat!  If you enjoy playing Pokemon Go, Munzee, or other…

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Getting Some Good New Stuff

Remember, as fun as it is, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still a work in progress, so lots of things are going to not just change, but be added to the game as well. Stuff like climbing, vaulting and weather. The climbing looks incredibly useful! The vaulting looks like something that is going to glitch out a…

If you missed it, Kotaku video producer Tim Rogers gave us a tour of the Nintendo E3 booth, the PlayStation E3 booth, and the Sega E3 booth. More to come tomorrow! And if you haven’t seen it yet, here is Tim’s hilarious recap of yesterday’s PlayStation conference: