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VOLLEYGON Is An Arcade Cabinet That Wants To Bring People Together 

Imagine Pong but with weird, ever changing physics and colorful shapes that can move freely through the space rather than being tied to either edge of the screen. On the surface, that’s what VOLLEYGON is. There’s a lot more going on with the game beyond that simple conceit, however. Nick Santaniello, the game’s creator, says…

Lucio Player Puts Together Ultimate Boops Remix

It’s hard to hate Overwatch’s Lucio. No matter how many times he blasts you off a ledge or drops down unexpectedly from the side of a wall, he’s just too upbeat to get angry at. That’s why Thomas Turbado’s latest video highlighting the DJ’s mechanics is so full of good vibes, whether you like playing…

Pixel Artist Imagines Mega Man X Getting Smashed By Chrono

If you’ve ever wondered who would win in a fight between Mega Man X and an Ice Sword attack from Chrono and Marle, well, now you know. The mashup comes via artist Daniel Oliver who has a knack for taking beloved characters and recreating them in gorgeous pixel form. Apparently it’s part of a collaboration…

The first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series is free on the Windows Store this weekend. After that, it goes back to its normal price of $5.00. While the most recent episode stalled out a bit, the series up to that point has been full of twists and turns and is definitely worth checking out.

Happy Birthday To The Original Xbox’s First Unofficial Mascot 

Azurik: Rise of Perathia came out within two weeks of the first Xbox’s launch back in November of 2001. It was supposed to be Microsoft’s interpretation of Mario meets Zelda, showing off what the new system could do and creating a iconic dynasty in the process. Instead, the blue-skinned stud rocking Goku hair and goggles…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Watch Pokémon

What will happen when Pokémon discover how to hack our Roombas, our security systems, or the means of production? Why would these adorable little pocket monsters even try to? Perhaps this week’s Photoshop contest can shed some light on the matter. Update 11/25/16 — We’ve got just inside of 24 hours to see how much…

Endless Space 2’s Communists Have A 5000-Year Plan

Endless Space 2 is a promising 4x game that’s still in Early Access. I played it a few months ago and liked what I saw, and I’ll be dipping back in soon now that the game has got its first major update. A new faction, The United Empire, has been added, and I liked this…

No Man’s Sky Developers Break Long Silence, Promise Update This Week

Nine weeks after No Man’s Sky’s 1.09 patch, Hello Games has announced that it will be releasing an update to the game “this week,” with “detailed patch notes” to follow “soon.” The post on the game’s website states, “Hello, This week Hello Games will be releasing an update to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it…

Playdead’s Inside now has a demo you can download and try for free on Steam. It popped up yesterday with little fanfare and is about 1.2GB in size. As the studio’s follow up to Limbo and one of the year’s most superb games, you owe it to yourself to see what makes Inside’s haunting, industrial…

Mimikyu Is Terrifying In The Pokémon Sun and Moon Anime

Fans felt sympathy for Mimikyu in Pokémon Sun and Moon because of a tragic backstory which claims that it dresses up in Pikachu rags because it, too, wants to be loved like the icon. That’s NOT how Mimikyu feels in the anime, though. The latest episode of the Pokémon anime aired in Japan recently, and…

Custom Titanfall 2 Screenshots Look Absolutely Beautiful

Screenshot artist Berduuis to thank for these gorgeous snaps of Titanfall 2, which go way beyond what we’re capable of grabbing by mashing a button in Steam or Fraps. If you’ve ever wanted to try this kind of thing yourself, the shots were taken using this camera tool You can see more of Berduu’s work…

The Unexpected Joy Of Repetition In Video Games

Video games send us to exotic locales, charging us to do countless tasks. Amidst what can feel like a jumbled mess of quests, goals, and waypoints, finding something consistent can be a treat. Let’s look at the ways in which finding something we can do repeatedly in a game can provide a welcome relief from…

‘The Last Game I Make Before I Die’: Fighting Cancer By Making A Video Game

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Crashlands, a mash-up of Diablo, Pokemon, and Don’t Starve lobbed at Steam’s collective face with unfettered glee. It’s ambitious, funny, and fun. Turns out, it was conceived when its creator found out he had cancer. This post originally ran on 2/10/16. Sam Coster is the co-founder of Butterscotch…

Doing Thanksgiving In The Sims 4 Is Like Herding Cats

I’m not going home for Thanksgiving, and I’m too busy packing my apartment to celebrate with friends. This year, I decided to recognize the holiday in a different way: with my sims. There aren’t really holidays in The Sims, but you can have parties, so that would have to do. To start getting ready for…

Smash Bros. Mod Adds Playable Pokémon Sun and Moon Characters

Much of Sun and Moon is spent with Lillie bemoaning that she’s not strong enough to be a trainer. Yet here she is, kickin’ literal butt with the help of a little cutie called Cosmog. Over at modding community GameBanana, SunSpirit has uploaded a skin that replaces the standard Rosalina model with Lillie, of the…

Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s Some Kotaku Merch.

Did you know we have a store? We have a store. You can buy hoodies, stickers and now this new t-shirt as well. It’s $24, and comes in a variety of colours. You can check out all the stuff available here

Why Some Overwatch Cheaters Are So Hard To Catch

Not everyone plays fair in Overwatch. Some people choose to download hacks that improve their aim, ruining the game for everyone else. Here’s how some of the most insidious Overwatch cheats work. YouTube user Chuck Norris has a quick, informative video that shows you just how sneaky Overwatch cheats can be. Contrary to popular belief,…

In A Twist, Game Update Drops Denuvo Anti-Piracy Tech On Steam

Nowadays, most talk of DRM revolves around titles that add the “anti-tamper” tech known as Denuvo, thus preventing piracy of those games.  That’s what makes the latest update to side-scrolling puzzle game Inside so unusual: the developers have chosen to do away with Denuvo. The latest patch notes for Inside on Steam state that the…

Ubisoft says Watch Dogs 2‘s seamless multiplayer modes will finally be fully live in the game at 11:30am ET today. The publisher had held them back from launch last week for technical reason and has been rolling them out gradually. According to Ubisoft, the additional options for seamless multiplayer that are being turned on allow…

All The Ways I Tried To Murder People In Planet Coaster

Contrary to how most people play RollerCoaster Tycoon, crashes aren’t my first preference. Too much indiscriminate death and destruction. I like to mete out my fury in teaspoons, slipped to my guests one by one. Individual tragedy lets you enjoy the subtleties of suffering, and forces your subject to wonder what they did to deserve…