Japan, Where the PS Vita Won’t Die

This week, the biggest selling video game in Japan is for the PS Vita. While the handheld seems to be on its last legs in the west, here in Japan, it’s doing pretty well. According to the latest Weekly Famitsu, the PS Vita version of the enhanced remake Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, which launched on January…

Melon soda and donuts. Mister Donut in Japan. By Michael Chen Shaffer. 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!

Noragami Aragoto Is An Action Anime in a World of Gods and Spirits

When I reviewed the first season of Noragami a few years back, I had mixed feelings about it. However, that was only because I felt it could be great once it got past its opening missteps. Noragami Aragoto was all I hoped for and more. Much of Aragoto is spent focusing on the god Bishamon.…

Fantasy Scene #1, by photographer Danny Passarella (whose work we’ve covered previously). You can get it here

You Look Rough, Darth

Riyahd Cassiem is a freelance artist from South Africa who has worked in both film and video games. Below you’ll see a collection of his killer digital sculpts. You can see more of Riyadh’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big…

AI Learns To Beat Master Of Ancient Chinese Board Game

Go is a board game from China that’s over 2000 years old. It’s complex as hell: there are more possible positions in the game than there are atoms in the universe. So news that a Google AI has beaten a human master at the game is fascinating/terrifying. AI has been beating humans at chess for…

Lupe Fiasco Wants To Fight Daigo At EVO

Hold onto your potatoes. Earlier today, a fan asked Lupe about EVO: Next thing you know Mad Catz is on the scent: And just like that, Lupe was in, Note this hasn’t been confirmed; Twitch and Mad Catz (who sponsor Daigo) are merely working on it. Though really, who’s going to say no to this…

Sony Tried To Trademark ‘Let’s Play,’ Got Smacked Down

Last year, Sony quietly tried to trademark the term “Let’s Play”, which they want to use for marketing, but which everyone else associates with videos of people playing games on the internet. Thankfully, the USPTO is having none of it. A law firm involved in disputing Sony’s application filed a letter of protest a couple…

Blade & Soul MMO Log One: I Know Kung Fu

Technically I know advanced assassination techniques, but it’s all a sort of Kung Fu as far as NCsoft’s latest Korean import is concerned. Check out my impressions after one week of that sort of fighting—you know, the one everyone is doing. As with any massively multiplayer online role-playing game, we like to put between two…

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Can Really Push Your PC (But It’s Worth It)

Sometimes you just want to play a really pretty PC game, and in walks the PC port of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I already played through the enjoyably acronymed “ROTTR” on Xbox One last fall, and at the time was struck by how gorgeous the game could be. It stands to reason that it’d…

Here’s What Happened After A DayZ Player Gave Complete Strangers A Loaded Gun

DayZ social experiments continue to delight and amaze me. The set-up for this one is straightforward. Cyborg Lizard decided to gift other players a new gun, no strings attached. What would these armed players do in response? Would they be kind? Or would they stab Cyborg Lizard in the back? I know what you’re thinking.…

Tips For Playing The Witness

I’d rather not spoil anything. I’d rather you figure out everything in The Witness yourself. But if you need some general advice, here goes. Keep A Notebook Nearby You’re going to start this game drawing lines through easy puzzles and you’ll wonder why in the world people said this game was difficult. Then you’ll get…

Player Beats Notorious Mario Maker Creator’s Latest Gauntlet With Impressive Cape Trick

PangaeaPanga is a brutal Mario Maker creator; it can take weeks for people to figure out how to beat his stages. PangaeaPanga spent than 20 hours making Cape Escape, which he uploaded on January 17. Less than two weeks later, Grand POOBear cracked it. Cape Escape is built upon a particular trick with shells in…

How Not To Play Diablo III

You might think that there’s no “wrong” way to play a game like Diablo III. This is incorrect. Somehow, I figured out how to pull it off. Last weekend, while trapped in my apartment during Snowpocalypse 2016, Kirk and I marathoned the PS4 version of Blizzard’s latest hack-n-slash adventure game, which I had been meaning…

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers: The Kotaku Review

As a movie-based LEGO game, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers doesn’t go far off script. As a Marvel Comics fan service vehicle it’s absolutely nuts. If you’re new to licensed LEGO action-adventure games both movie-based and otherwise, then congratulations—you’ve somehow managed not to play any of the 17 games released prior to LEGO Marvel’s Avengers. These include:…

Gotham City’s Newest Joker Is an 18-Year-Old Kid

The newest Clown Prince of Crime in Batman’s hometown isn’t insane. He didn’t fall into a vat of chemicals. Honestly, he’s just kind of a dick. That’s what’s most scary about him. For the better part of the last year, Gotham City’s been recovering from a near-extinction-level attack by the Joker. The climax of that…

Colorblind And Hearing-Impaired Players Won’t Be Able To Do All The Puzzles In The Witness

A small number of puzzles in The Witness will be difficult or impossible for some color-blind and hearing-impaired players to solve, though those puzzles are optional and the game can be completed without them. The puzzles in question comprise just a fraction of the many challenges in The Witness, which came out yesterday for PS4…