Custom Controller Lets You Rage-Quit By Literally Pouring Salt

A very wise man who wore a hood and whose skin was practically melting off his bones once said, “Good! Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you.” Probably, he was talking to a gamer about video games. Competitive games make people mad. There’s no getting around it, so you might as…

Split Screen Was Quietly Removed From Black Ops 4, But It’ll Be Back This Month

Last week, as part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s June 25 update, Treyarch quietly removed split screen co-op play from the game’s battle royale mode, Blackout. At first, no one was sure what was going on, but today, Treyarch said the feature will return on July 9. “Split screen Duos in Blackout was…

Everything That’s New In Apex Legends Season Two

Apex Legends Season 2 arrived today. While players have known a lot of what it would contain for a while, it’s exciting to finally see the new character, weapons, and locations in action. As video producer Paul Tamayo and I discuss in the video above, the most notable Season 2 change is new character Wattson.…

Role-Locking Could Resuscitate The Overwatch League

“Can I say anything I want?” asked Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park after a particularly satisfying victory for his Overwatch League team, the New York Excelsior, last year. His translator nodded. Park’s eyes lit up. “I’m the best Tracer in the world.” He stuck his tongue out. Park was referring to the Overwatch hero Tracer, a zippy…

I Could Watch Final Fantasy XIV’s New Big-Headed Cactuars Trying To Pose All Day

With their distinctive cactus appearance and signature pose, Cactuars are one of Final Fantasy’s most iconic creatures. The top-heavy Gigantender, introduced in Final Fantasy XIV’s latest expansion, is doing the best it can to live up to that legacy, bless its giant plant heart. Cactuar are called Sabotenders in Final Fantasy XIV, using the Japanese…

Fighting Game Tournament Has Too Much Actual Fighting

Community Effort Orlando has grown to become one of the biggest fighting game tournaments in the world, putting it just below the Evolution Championship Series in terms of both size and importance. The event’s 13 different fighting games were exciting to watch, but in a few cases, the excitement got to be a bit much.…

Stop Calling Games ‘Metroidvania’

Let’s talk about one of my least favorite words in the video game lexicon: metroidvania. A portmanteau combining the video game titles Metroid and Castlevania, it takes two made-up video game titles that are pretty cool and evocative on their own and inelegantly mashes them into something worse. And now, that word is one we…

Cuphead Developers Delay DLC, Cite Desire To Make Games In A Healthier Way

Fans of tough-as-nails animated shoot-’em-up Cuphead have been waiting since 2018 for Delicious Last Course, a DLC expansion with a whiff of finality about it. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to wait a little longer, because it’s been delayed to 2020. The developers offered a commitment to quality and a focus on sustainable development practices…

The Division 2 Is Testing Some Much-Requested Features

There’s going to be a lot less to complain about regarding The Division 2 if a batch of features going live in a test build this week make it into the proper game later this month. Ubisoft’s impressive but contentious shooter appears to be getting flashlights (much requested!), badly needed buffs for gadget skills, and…

Seeing A Video Game Instruction Manual In 2019 Makes Me So Happy

No matter how good or bad sexy pinball game Senran Kagura Peach Ball turns out, I will always remember it for the kindness of providing me a tiny manual in these days of physical video game instruction scarcity. My love of video game manuals is well-documented. Years ago, during the launch of the Wii U,…

The Randomly Generated Art Made By My Dwarf Fortress Dwarves Is Terrible

One of my favorite parts of playing Dwarf Fortress is the randomly generated legendary artifacts that my dwarves make. Usually, they’re epic pieces of armor or furniture or crafts that are decorated in brilliant gems and images from the dwarves’ memories. In the game I was playing yesterday, the dwarves kept giving me dumb pieces…

WILL: A Wonderful World: The Kotaku Review

When I booted up the Switch port of WILL: A Wonderful World, the game told me about its autosave function. Then I saw this, set next to a red megaphone icon: “This game includes occasional **** plots. When shocked or surprised please scream loudly and disturb your neighbors.” The stars could refer to anything—botched assassinations,…

Greed Is Good In Gwent‘s New Novigrad Expansion

Gwent’s latest expansion, Novigrad, launched on Friday, and I’ve been playing almost nonstop since. After months away from the Witcher 3-inspired card game, I’ve fallen for Gwent all over again. The Novigrad expansion adds a new theme and mechanics that draw on what I love about the source material, and it also helps the game…

Shenmue III Developers Offer Refunds To Kickstarter Backers Angry About Epic Store Exclusivity

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Fans are upset that an upcoming new game is an Epic Games Store exclusive, and the developers have to react. This time it’s Shenmue III, whose creators said today that any Kickstarter backers displeased with the state of things will be able to get a refund. Last…

Super Mario Maker 2 Creation Tips From A Nintendo Icon And A Level Design Guru

Need advice for Super Mario Maker 2? The game’s producer Takashi Tezuka has five helpful tips, and Chris Totten, the author of An Architectural Approach to Level Design, has ten more. Here are Tezuka’s tips, straight from the guy who produced Super Mario Maker 2 as well as had a hand in so many iconic…

Dotombori. Osaka, Japan. By Jeremy Weiss. 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!