At E3, SoulCalibur‘s Objectified Women Felt Like A Relic Of The Past

In SoulCalibur 6, Ivy Valentine will be as she always was: wrapped in stringy cloth, balloon-breasted, mostly naked. She wields a snake sword that extends into a whip, a dominatrix’s weapon that’s helped land her in innumerable knock-off porn videos and pin-up images. As one the Soul series’ most recognizable fighters, Ivy has always looked…

The Director Of Deus Ex And Epic Mickey Has Plenty More Wild Video Game Ideas

After his time producing and directing immersive simulators like System Shock and Deus Ex, legendary designer Warren Spector made waves when he announced Epic Mickey, a game about a certain famous mouse. What other ideas does Spector have rattling around his brain? On Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. Last week at E3 in Los Angeles, I sat…

Last Night’s HQ Trivia Was Kind Of A Mess

John Mayer joined regular host Scott Rogowsky on HQ last night for a special Father’s Day game. Things got a little wild. Over one million players tuned in to Sunday’s HQ, a live trivia game show app, for a shot at the $25,000 prize and to see musician John Mayer just kind of shoot the…

Jurassic World Evolution Is A Clumsy But Fun Park Builder

Movie tie-ins are a gamble that usually ends with a lackluster game. For every Spider-Man 2, there’s a dozen games that are clunky and not worth your time. Jurassic World Evolution falls somewhere in between. It’s not the most detailed park-building sim, but if you embrace some of its clumsiness, you’ll find yourself lost in…

All The Games Ethan Played At E3 2018

I managed to survive E3 2018, my first one in fact, and I can even remember most of the games I saw and played. There’s too many to name them all, but below are the most notable ones I got a chance to check out. I’ve written about some of them already on Kotaku, but…

Ghost Of Tsushima‘s Director On The Risks Of Making Something New

In an room in need of air conditioning in the Los Angeles Convention Center last week, game developer Nate Fox held out his left hand, palm down, paused and then slapped the top of it with his right. “Do you know—[slap]—that?” he asked. He wasn’t sure the name of the playground game he was referencing,…

Why Cyberpunk 2077 Is Taking So Long

Developer CD Projekt Red first teased Cyberpunk 2077 five years ago, but we hadn’t heard another word about the game until this past E3. Why’d it take so long? One of the studio’s top executives joins Kotaku Splitscreento explain. Marcin Iwiński, co-founder and co-CEO of CD Projekt Red, sat down with me in Los Angeles…

I Love Monster Hunter Even More After Teaching It To My Girlfriend

My girlfriend recently bought a PlayStation 4 and a copy of Monster Hunter: World. We’ve been spending a lot of time in the game together, and helping her learn the ins and outs of hunting has turned me into something of a coach. It’s been an exciting new way to experience one of my favorite…

With E3 now open to the public, the show has a lot more things in it for people to buy. The most conspicuous were all the carboard boxes people carried around. These boxes contained mysterious amounts of loot and were all the rage. Plenty of comparisons and contrasts to be drawn about that. 

Pokémon Go Will Finally Get A ‘Friends’ Feature And Trading

Two years after release, publisher Niantic finally announced that trading and friends lists will be coming to Pokémon Go. It’s a feature players sorely missed from the main Pokémon series, which has traditionally let two players exchange Pokémon. Back in July, 2016, Niantic CEO John Hanke told Business Insider that “it’s kind of a core element.”…

The Week In Games: Grab That Racket 

Mario Tennis Aces week is upon us. Like many, I want to see my favorite Mushroom Kingdom friends absolutely annihilate a world tour of tennis players. But it’s not the only great thing coming out. The time after E3 is always strange, and this year is no different. We’re getting some interesting releases like The…

Nintendo Switch RPG Octopath Traveler Won’t Have DLC Because It’s ‘A Finished Product’

Octopath Traveler, the Nintendo Switch exclusive from the team behind Bravely Default, will not have any DLC. Why? Because it’s already a complete game, says Square Enix. In an interview with Dengeki Online, Square Enix producer Masashi Takahashi said that it should take about fifty to sixty hours to complete the main story. “It took…

Panic Buying In Osaka After Today’s Earthquake

This morning, Osaka was rocked by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake. There have been at least three casualties, including a 9-year-old girl who was killed while walking to school, and according to The Guardian, hundreds of people were injured in the quake. Below are clips of Osaka and Kyoto when the earthquake hit In Osaka Prefecture and…

Johana Hikiyama Matsuri. Nanto-shi, Toyama, Japan. By Judd Abramson. 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!   

Overwatch League Team Completes Glorious 0-40 Season, Is Possibly Shittiest Pro Sports Team In World History

The first 12 team slots in the Overwatch League cost, reportedly, $20 million each. This was mostly because at least a dozen rich people were willing to give that much money to Blizzard, but was also at least in part to avoid situations like the ongoing disgrace that is the Miami Marlins, where a cash-poor…

Never let anyone tell you cosplay isn’t art. arcanekani is Will, hakizzle91 is Jazz. Photo by troysdecoy