Uncategorized

The Challenge Of Designing Two Of Persona 5’s Best Characters

Persona 5’s art book, now available in English, has some…interesting things to say about the design of a couple of the game’s best characters, Takemi and Kawakami. The book—which is incredible, by the way—is full of developer commentary, explaining the design process behind everything from the Phantom Thieves to the game’s boss battles. A lot…

The ‘Free’ CS:GO Skin Industry Is Booming, Following Gambling Crackdown

Gambling for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins is so 2016. Now, there’s a burgeoning new industry giving them out to players for free. Well: “free.” For years, CS:GO players have bought and sold virtual weapon skins in Steam’s marketplace. They’re cosmetic finishes players can paste on top of guns. As time went on, rarer skins’ market…

IGN Staff Walk Out After Former Employee’s Sexual Harassment Claims [UPDATE]

Prominent staff at the gaming site IGN say they’ve walked out today in the wake of allegations late last week that a former editor sexually harassed two women at the company. “There won’t be a Daily Fix today because a large group of IGN employees have refused to work until the company issues a statement/apology…

EA Cuts Star Wars Battlefront II Hero Costs After Widespread Anger

Star Wars Battlefront II’s heroes were a little expensive to unlock. Responding to widespread criticism, a new blog post from EA outlines a major reduction in cost for unlocking the franchise’s iconic characters. One of the major appeals of Star Wars Battlefront II is the chance to participate in massive battles from the films and…

Overwatch Players Are Sick Of Ult Interruptions

“That’s a nice ult you’ve got there,” Blizzard essentially said when it changed the way Overwatch ult interruptions work last month. “It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.” Ever since the big Halloween update on October 10, Overwatch’s ults have worked a little differently than they used to. Prior to the…

After Two Patches, Call of Duty: WWII Is Still A Mess

Call of Duty: WWII’s release on November 3 marked a welcome return from outer space and back to classic historical warfare, but the joy of returning to the trenches has been marred by a boatload of issues. At launch, the game had constant server issues that took the game offline at various times and across…

Clever New Battle Royale Game Lets One Player Serve As A Master Of Ceremonies

As the seconds counted down in a round of the unusual game The Darwin Project this past weekend, I was aware of three other players still involved in the match. One was my opponent, who, like me, had managed to outlast eight other players in this mix of cold-weather survival and competitive murder. Another was…

A History Of Cool And Quirky Fighting Game Cameos

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2! Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis in Tekken 7! Fighting games have a history of enhancing their rosters with guest characters from comics, cartoons, movies and unrelated video games. Here are some of our favorites. “Who would win in a fight?” is a question that’s launched a million schoolyard, comic…

Wolfenstein 2 Reminds Us What Heroes Look Like

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is about injury. From crippled heroes to resistance leaders grappling with PTSD, the game’s cast of heroes bears deep wounds that recall the all-too-real injuries of war veterans, victims, and those who would ignore them. At the start of The New Colossus, barely awake from a months-long coma and hardly…

Sims Players’ New Pets Are Just The Worst

The latest expansion for the Sims 4, Cats & Dogs, hit last Friday and players have already found a way to shitpost with it. The Create A Pet options for Cats & Dogs are truly incredible. Touchingly, some players are using it to create their own pets, and others are being extremely self indulgent and…

EA Defense Of Star Wars Battlefront II Becomes Most Downvoted Reddit Comment Ever

We’re four days away from the first Star Wars video game story since Star Wars Kinect, but few people are talking about what Star Wars Battlefront II’s campaign might look like. Instead, the internet discourse has been all about microtransactions, and players feel so ripped off that they’ve granted publisher EA the award for most…

There’s Even More Kotaku On Instagram

Hello, hello, hello. There’s been a lot going on on our Instagram, and there’s more to come. So if you enjoy chill vibes… …passionate rants… …or featured fan art… …there’s something for you! So follow us!

Noctis From Final Fantasy XV Is Coming To Tekken 7

First Injustice 2 gets the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now Tekken 7 is getting Final Fantasy XV’s Prince Charming. Noctis Lucis Caelum joins the King of Iron Fist Tournament this spring. Originally published 11/12/2018 Judging by the announcement video, which debuted at the Tekken World Tour Finals earlier today, not only are we getting…

Billionaire Jack Ma Stars In A Martial Arts Short Film

Worth over $47 billion, Jack Ma is therichest man in Asia. He’s the 18th richest one in the world. He’s also making his martial arts movie debut. Titled Gong Shou Dao (The Art of Attack and Defence), the 20-plus minute short film is being shown in full for free online. As Asia One points out,…

Snoopy Themed Japanese Tea Houses

Like Peanuts? What about green tea? If you’re in Japan, be sure to visit one of the Snoopy teahouses. Called Snoopy cha-ya (茶屋), which means “teahouse,” there are locations in Ise, Yufu, and Kyoto. They serve Japanese food and drinks with a Snoopy spin. How wonderful. Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture,…

Sega launched a teaser site that reads “Valkyria Project Nov. 20 Coming Soon.” There’s no other info, but the background is snowy. 

The Loneliness Of Japan In Retro-Style GIFs

Big cities can feel lonely. The likes of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are no exception. Pixel artist Motocross-Saito captures that loneliness in retro-style GIFs. Motocross-Saito’s work is somewhat reminiscent of these retro-style GIFs Kotaku previously posted, but there’s something more isolating and alienated about them.  The following GIFs are from Motocross-Saito’s Tumblr You can follow…

Godafoss Waterfall. Bárðardalur, Iceland. By Russell Eck. 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! 

There’s A Hot Ryu Action Figure

Shirtless, bearded Ryu, one of the best Street Fighter skins of all time, is now also one of the best Street Fighter figures of all time. Made by Storm Collectibles, he features…no shirt and a beard. And some fireball effects for his hands, if you want to clip them on to detract in some small…

The New Wave Of Indie Arcade Cabinets Continues To Look Beautiful

Fewer and fewer new releases find their way into arcades these days. Even the latest version of Street Fighter, a series synonymous with the scene, ended up forgoing an official arcade cabinet having settled instead solely on the virtual arena of online multiplayer. Fortunately, there are still people trying to preserve the feeling of local…