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:

Why Today’s Metroid Announcements Are Such A Big Deal

Nintendo announced two Metroid titles today: Metroid Prime 4 and a 3DS remake of the 1991 Game Boy classic Metroid II: Return of Samus, to be called Metroid: Samus Returns. Metroid superfans haven’t been waiting as long as Beyond Good & Evil fans, but this is still a coup. Best of all, the war between…

Nine Cool Things I Noticed While Playing Assassin’s Creed Origins

I played Assassin’s Creed Origins for an hour yesterday, with one of the game’s level designers at my side pointing out cool stuff. Combat is now based on hitboxes, meaning you don’t automatically close the gap when attacking… you need to close in and strike accurately. Climbing either is faster or at least feels faster.…

Here’s Destiny 2 Running At 60fps On PC 

When I played Destiny 2 last month, the most striking difference wasn’t anything about the game itself. It was how it felt to play it on PC. Today Nvidia posted a video that shows what the game looks like on PC in 4K resolution, running at 60fps. This won’t be of interest to anyone but…

E3 Day Three Podcast: Nintendo, Super Mario Odyssey

Jason and I continue our Kotaku Splitscreen E3 coverage with Nintendo’s morning announcements. Were two Metroid games enough to energize an otherwise low-key E3? Is Super Mario Odyssey as weird and ambitious as it looks? (The answer to both, basically, is yes.) Listen here: This is our third E3 episode—check out our day-one reactions to…

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga Remake Coming to 3DS

Nintendo’s not done announcing games yet at E3. On its Treehouse Live stream, it just unveiled Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions. The game will be out on October 6. The “Bowser’s Minions” part is a new storyline starring enemy characters. Nintendo describes it as: “Recruit characters to grow your own Minion army…

Crackdown 3 Impressions: So Much Chaos, So Many Orbs

Crackdown 3 tosses players into a world of delightful chaos, superhero strength, and guns that shoot black holes. I got some hands on time with a ten minute demo of the game and it’s pretty fun. If you’re looking for cool explosions, Crackdown 3 has you covered. In the Crackdown games, you play as a…

Watch Us Clear Two Strategic Battles In The New Mario + Rabbids Game 

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was one of the strangest announcements at E3 this year, and fearless Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo got a chance to play it for about 15 minutes. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this mash-up works surprisingly well! As some of you already know, this is a tactics game in…

Sea Of Thieves Is Really Fun, But A Little Clunky

There are many important roles one can occupy aboard a pirate ship. You can steer, or keep the cannons loaded, or manage sails, or navigate. Me? I was the guy who rang the bell. In peace and at war, I held my post. Until I launched myself out of a cannon and into a shark,…

Reacting To The PlayStation E3 2017 Showcase, For You

As I did yesterday with the Xbox One X E3 2017 Briefing, I recorded myself commenting over last night’s Sony PlayStation Showcase E3 2017. This time, I was in a hotel bed, wearing a Rilakkuma sweatshirt. I was very comfortable. I was also very tired. However, here’s a video of my “best” comments on this…

I Played 30 Minutes Of Super Mario Odyssey And It Sure Is Impressive

Super Mario Odyssey is a wild, ambitious game. It’s got secrets, dinosaurs, and the type of flawless jumping you’d expect from a new main Mario made by the design wizards at Nintendo. It’s less Super Mario 3D World, more Super Mario 64. And it lets you throw around Mario’s hat, which I promise is more…