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ReviewsBoxBoxBoy: The Kotaku Review
How to improve a game like BoxBoy? How to create a sequel to a game that was simply perfect, flawless in both idea and execution? Easy: you add another box. Meet BoxBoxBoy, the wonderful successor to last year’s surprise 3DS gem. It’s got the same core concept as BoxBoy and it reuses many of the…
By Jason Schreier Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Pokémon Go Players Love Catching Monsters On Their Toilets
Pokémon Go is a game that dares you to go outside and explore the world, and yet some of the most popular screenshots of the app in use is people literally pooping while capturing Pokémon. This should be no surprise: people love using their phones while in the bathroom. But in this particular case, playing…
By Patricia Hernandez Published July 6, 2016 -
UncategorizedWhat Makes Shigeru Miyamoto Tick
Shigeru Miyamoto, esteemed creator of Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda, usually does interviews to hype big new Nintendo game releases. A new Mario game is coming out? He’ll talk about that. New Star Fox? He’s down to talk Star Fox. But when most of Nintendo’s games upcoming games are secret? That was the situation last…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 6, 2016 -
CultureTeam Fortress 2 Finally Getting Competitive Mode Update
Team Fortress 2‘s last big update came in December, but now, finally, Valve is about to shake things up again. Much like TF2’s biggest inspiration, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Valve’s undying team shooter is adding a competitive mode. The Meet Your Match update, which will likely launch sometime this week, adds a ranked competitive mode to the…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Star Trek Online Throws Temporal Physics Out The Airlock
Sending players on a mission to save the future by killing the past, or saving the past in the future? Days of future past? It’s all very confusing, but that’s what happened when Star Trek Online released its Agents of Yesterday expansion seven years ago. Or today. Stupid time. Bringing elements of The Original Series…
By Mike Fahey Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
The First Five PC Games I Use To Test A New Graphics Card
First, you spend too much on a new graphics card. Then, you fire up your chewiest, toughest PC games and make them beg for mercy. For one brief moment, your exorbitant purchase feels completely reasonable. Last week I bought a new top-of-the-line GTX 1080, a purchase I rationalized by telling myself I should get it…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 6, 2016 - Culture
Go Home, Krampus, It’s July
Nick De Spain is a concept artist at Turtle Rock, the developers of games like Evolve and the original Left 4 Dead You can see more of Nick’s work at his ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Finding A Magikarp In Pokémon Go Is Hilarious
Yes, the GOAT is in the newly released Pokémon Go, and boy, is he turning up in some pretty unexpected places. As you may already know, Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game that lets you catch Pokémon located in the real world. (We wrote our impressions here, if you’re curious.) Right now, Pokémon Go…
By Patricia Hernandez Published July 6, 2016 -
UncategorizedDoom‘s New Photo Mode Is A Beautiful Nightmare Factory
As part of Doom’s first major post-release update last week, id Software added a photo mode, and people are already doing amazing things with it. Here’s what it looks like when the photo mode kicks into gear: You spend much of Doom running ‘n gunning, not really paying attention to the details unfolding around you.…
By Patrick Klepek Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Hearthstone‘s Most Ridiculous Card Reignites Debate Over Randomization
Is Yogg-Saron broken? Hearthstone’s most ridiculous new card is reigniting debates over one of the game’s core principles and a tenet that Blizzard has stood by for years now: RNG. RNG, a colloquial video game acronym that stands for “random number generation” and is used to refer to any outcome that’s determined by randomized decisions…
By Jason Schreier Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
VR Has Its Roots In Ancient Rome
Probably my favorite virtual reality experience was unearthed around 1863 in the Roman suburb of Prima Porta. Well, it’s not a virtual reality experience as much as it’s an illusionistic fresco on four walls, but bear with me. In the villa of Livia Drusilla (58 BCE-29 CE), the wife of the first emperor of Rome,…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published July 6, 2016 -
UncategorizedWatch This Excellent Speedrunner Power Through Zelda: Link’s Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is one of the best—maybe even the best Zelda game, so it’s a treat to watch speedrunner ZorlaxSeven blaze through it all in just under an hour and a half. Performed earlier this week at SGDQ, this Link’s Awakening run is really fun to watch thanks to some great…
By Jason Schreier Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Pokémon GO Players Are Saying the Game Kills Battery Life
In what should surprise no one, Pokémon GO seems to drain phones. Pokémon GO has been rolled out in Australia and New Zealand (check out these microtransactions). The game sounds fun, but one common comment seems to be that the game uses a whole bunch of battery life. Website CyberShack notes that the game’s heavy…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 6, 2016 -
Kotaku EastTokyo Trains Get The Dragon Quest Theme
Like, actual trains departing the station to actual Dragon Quest music. Only in Japan! As pointed out on Kuma News, when trains on the Tokyu Toyoko Line depart Shibuya Station, they are sent off with the Dragon Quest Overture. Other train stations in Tokyo have jingles or play melodies (Ebisu Station, for example, has the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 6, 2016 - Kotaku East
Japanese Politician Campaigns With A Cat
It’s not that cats are important in Japanese politics. Cats are important. Full stop. This is Satoshi Shima. He previously worked at mobile carrier Softbank, and before that, he was a member of Japanese Parliament. He’s now running to represent the Mikawa region in Aichi Prefecture in the upcoming election. During Japanese elections, candidates plaster…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 6, 2016 - Uncategorized
Here Are Pokémon GO’s Microtransactions
The full, final version of Pokémon GO was released in Australia and New Zealand today. And while the game itself is free, loads of stuff inside it most certainly is not. You start the game with a decent number of Pokéballs and some Incense (to attract Pokémon). You can get more through play (I got…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 6, 2016 - CultureCosplay
Overwatch’s Bring Your Daughter To Work Day
Overwatch cosplay is quicklymoving past literal recreation into the world of…more fanciful things. Here, for example, are Soldier: 76 and D.Va. Who are probably pausing for a photo on their way to McDonalds D.Va is Vanessa Wedge, Soldier: 76 is Auzzie L Epilogue: She got McDonalds.
By Luke Plunkett Published July 5, 2016 -
UncategorizedIkenfell is an RPG that takes place at a school for witches and wizards. Interestingly, the main character, Maritte, does not have magical powers. The game is inspired by everything from Paper Mario to Harry Potter, and it’s got a soundtrack by folks who’ve worked on Steven Universe. It’s on Kickstarter
By Nathan Grayson Published July 5, 2016