Culture

The Political Donations Of Top Video Game Execs

An elderly man contest is happening today. It is the product not of a functioning democracy, but a system fueled by corporate lobbying, vast fortunes, and the whims of the wealthy. So let’s have a look at what some video game executives have been up to recently. (This information was obtained using OpenSecrets.org, a database…

Nintendo Switch Emulator Adds Online Support, Quickly Regrets It

Yuzu, a popular Switch emulator, earlier this week decided to add limited online multiplayer support for its games. A decision it swiftly reversed.

Apex Legends Gets A New Map (And A New Season) Tomorrow

Apex Legends’ new season launches tomorrow, alongside the game’s arrival on Steam. I’ll admit this hellscape of a year has given me little time for Titanfall developer Respawn’s battle royale, but the upcoming season’s changes could entice me back in—at least until I fall off the game’s new map too many times, which I undoubtedly…

As Destiny 2‘s Commander Zavala, Lance Reddick Finally Gets To Be The Good Cop

I am a lapsed Destiny 2 player. In anticipation of the Beyond Light expansion coming out November 10th, I thought I’d reacquaint myself with the game which I hadn’t touched in years. Even though I probably should have waited for Beyond Light and its promise of a revamped and heavily streamlined new player experience, one…

Pokimane’s New $5 Donation Cap Sends Ripples Through The Twitch Community

Giving money to streamers can be weird. It makes sense when a streamer is a scrappy up-and-comer for whom even a few coins in the cup can make a difference, but we live in an era in which big streamers are millionaires with exclusive contracts and brand deals. While popular streamers have expressed awareness of…

RIP Destiny 2’s Useless Spicy Ramen Coupon

A bunch of old items are vanishing from Destiny 2 players’ inventories next week when its expansion Beyond Light launches, including an expired ramen coupon handed out years ago. Now players are celebrating the memento before it disappears, and its creator says he had originally hoped to do more with it. As first spotted by…

The Head Of Xbox Says The Gaming Industry Needs More Black Leaders

Time passes strangely these days, so it is easy to forget things that happened or were said or were pledged just five months ago. But it was indeed in June 2020 that institutions around the world, including video game companies, vowed to do better by their Black customers and Black workers for the cause of…

Watch Dogs Legion’s Podcasts Are Great When They Aren’t Constantly Restarting

I love listening to podcasts while I drive because I am sick in the head, so naturally I do the same thing when driving around in Watch Dogs Legion. Unfortunately, I spent my first few hours cruising the game’s London in a stolen hatchback while the same podcast reset over and over every time I…

11 Real Chinese Foods In Genshin Impact

My favorite part of Genshin Impact isn’t the exploration, or the combat, or the characters. It’s the food. I love entering new areas in the fictionalized world of Teyvat and discovering ingredients and recipes. The various dishes in the game are consumables that can be used to restore health, stamina, or increase combat stats. You…

Dawn Of The Final Day

While doomscrolling through Twitter the past few days, I noticed a lot of people making the same Majora’s Mask joke. Today does feel like the Final Day, doesn’t it? Either the moon will crash into the Earth, or the clock will reset and Americans will have another chance to maybe get it right this time.…

Alundra, My Big Beautiful Elven Son, Play Us Some Songs

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re listening to the soundtrack from Alundra, a 1998 PlayStation game in which you invade people’s nightmares and solve Zelda-like dungeons to help them wake up. Alundra’s a weird one (playlist /longplay /VGMdb). It was…

Old School Runescape Just Broke Its Concurrent Player Record

Hi, yes, the 2013 version of Old School Runescape (which is actually from 2007), which you may not have played or even thought about for a decade, is now as popular as ever thanks to some recent changes made by the development team. It was announced yesterday that 157,445 people were playing the game at…

Oh No, Watch Dogs: Legion

The biggest selling point of Watch Dogs: Legion is the vast array of randomized characters you can recruit to your underground army of revolutionary activists. But sometimes NPC professions and backgrounds line up in unfortunate ways. A pediatrician. Who recently ended a personal relationship with a patient. Okay, yeah, maybe don’t invite Shannon Dickey to…

My Heart Is Fully Open For The Nanny & Married With Children Cosplay

Look, I deeply admire the craft and ingenuity that goes into serious, elaborate cosplay, but I have a very special place in my heart for stuff like this. This isLadee Danger—who you might recognise as Ciri in the banner post for this sub—absolutely nailing Halloween as both The Nanny and Peggy from Married with Children…

Tearing Open A PS5 Controller To Feast On Its Insides

Wait, no, it’s just to take a look at how the new DualSense controller works, and how it all came together. Sorry, these teardown videos always get me feeling a little carnivorous. This great video by TronicsFix opens up the pad, very gently, and pokes around at all the components and pieces, partly so we…

When Even Mourning Is Live: What Happens To A Famous Twitch Streamer’s Channel After Death

Tuning into Byron “Reckful” Bernstein’s recent daily Twitch streams, you wouldn’t immediately suspect something’s amiss. He’s front and center, playing World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, League of Legends, or any number of other games. Fans frequently make playful remarks, use emotes, and laugh at or with him. But the illusion doesn’t last long, nor is it…

From Software Reminds Everyone Elden Ring Still Exists

A developer tweeting about an upcoming video game isn’t usually a big deal, but in the case of From Software’s Elden Ring, I’m willing to make an exception. “We also greatly appreciate all the enthusiasm and support shown for Elden Ring, our next Dark Fantasy Action RPG,” the official From Software account on Twitter wrote…

PC Mod Finally Gives Silent Hill 2 Thick, PS2-Style Fog

A mod for the PC port of Silent Hill 2 recently got a big update that adds new features, improves graphics, and most importantly makes the fog look just as dense and spooky as in the original PlayStation 2 version of the game. The mod Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition first came out in 2018…

The Steam version of Guild Wars 2 has been put on hold indefinitely, ArenaNet recently announced. The studio is instead focusing entirely on its next expansion, Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor will lose all of its online features on December 31. This includes vendetta missions where you can hunt down your friends’ nemeses as well as the forge which lets you transfer nemeses to the sequel, Shadow of War.