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GamesCom Wises Up, Goes Fully Digital
5.5.2021
GamesCom 2021 will be a fully digital event this year, GamesCom officials announced in a press release today. The move is a reversal of earlier plans for a semi-live event, inadvisable given the, y’know, roiling pandemic that’s still an ever-present aspect of everyday life.Read more
Almost Twenty Years Later, Muv-Luv Characters Sure Look Different
4.5.2021
Muv-Luv debuted as a visual novel way back in 2003. Now, in 2021, it’s getting a new anime series this fall. The official site has launched, and as one would expect, the character designs have changed.Read more
Tokyo Is Getting An Esports Gym
4.5.2021
This month, an establishment calling itself “Esports Gym” will open in Tokyo. It claims to be the first in the country.Read more
Demon Slayer Tops US Box Office For First Time Since Original Pokémon Movie
4.5.2021
The Demon Slayer feature film was a box office juggernaut in Japan, surpassing Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away as the biggest earning feature film in Japan. It’s also doing very, very well in the US.Read more
It's Very Important To Nintendo That Publishers Don't Work For The Yakuza
3.5.2021
After being delayed by technical issues that resulted in a conference call full of screaming Fortnite children, the long-awaited Epic vs Apple court trial is finally underway this week. As part of the proceedings, Nintendo provided documents that include a publisher contract—though honestly...
Did You Like The New Mortal Kombat Movie?
3.5.2021
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take.Read more
Mega Man Composer Manami Matsumae Doesn't Miss The 9-6 Grind
3.5.2021
Few game music composers have as iconic a resume as Manami Matsumae. Starting at Capcom in 1987, her first major project was scoring the original Rockman, the game we know as Mega Man. The Cutman theme? That’s Matsumae. And she was just getting started, soon jumping from the Famicom into Capcom’s...
'Shop Contest: Lego Luigi, Winners!
2.5.2021
Mario’s tall and cowardly brother is back, in Lego form. To celebrate the news, we took this new, blocky Luigi and took him on some new adventures.Read more
Dragon Ball Composer Shunsuke Kikuchi Dies At 89
28.4.2021
Famed composer Shunsuke Kikuchi has died from pneumonia, Oricon reports. He was 89.Read more
Watch Anime Style Paint Jobs Bring Figures To Life
28.4.2021
Over the years, Kotaku has featured the work of artists specializing in anime-style paint jobs (here, here, and here, for example). But now let’s watch as YouTuber MA-Man shows how it’s done. Read more
Japanese Popstar Teams Up With Square Enix For Some Fancy CG
27.4.2021
Koichi Domoto, one half of the Japanese boy band Kinki Kids, has roped in Square Enix for his upcoming solo album Playful. Read more
Nice Robots
27.4.2021
Ryan Wong is an artist based in China.Read more
Despite R-Rating And Pandemic, Demon Slayer Sets Box Office Record In North America
26.4.2021
Earlier this spring, when it was announced that Demon Slayer was getting a dreaded R-rating in the US, there was concern that this could impact the movie’s performance. Those concerns, it seems, were wrong.Read more
Studio Ghibli Producer Says Hideaki Anno Wants To Make A Live-Action Nausicaä Film
26.4.2021
One of Hideaki Anno’s earliest gigs was animating the seminal God Warrior sequence in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Now, according to Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki, he’s interested in making a live-action film. Read more
Hot Tub Streams Are Waning, But Some People Still Think They’re Destroying Twitch
23.4.2021
It’s hot tub stream summer, and everybody’s got an opinion. This week, for example, the biggest streamer on Twitch, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, called hot tub streams “trash,” saying that they’re “the most pathetic thing we’ve seen on Twitch in forever” and petitioning for them to be removed from...
I Have Backlog Anxiety
23.4.2021
We at Kotaku have designated April as Backlog Month, in which we, in light of a looming dearth of new video game releases, turn our attention toward the games that we have wanted to play but missed. But unlike my colleagues, I’m having a problem—I have no idea what to do for Backlog Month, and it’s...
Listen To Gilbert Gottfried Mispronounce Some Mortal Kombat Names
23.4.2021
A couple weeks ago, video game cover band Lame Genie recorded a fantastic version of the iconic Mortal Kombat theme song. Then they slapped on videos of comedian Gilbert Gottfried in place of the vocals for some reason.Read more
Dude Gets 100% On Guitar Hero Song That Looks Physically Impossible
23.4.2021
Honestly, this is one of the most physically impressive video game feats I have ever seen.Read more
Clone Hero Is So Much Fun I Don't Mind The Carpal Tunnel
23.4.2021
As the last of the notes disappeared from the screen, I put my fake, plastic guitar down to look at my hands. They were shaking, and my fingers were curled as if they were still wrapped around the fretboard. I felt pain twisting around my wrist and creeping into my finger joints. Still, I wore...
The Olympics Gets A Virtual Sports Tie-In Event
22.4.2021
It’s not quite esports in the Olympics, but the International Olympics Committee (IOC) will host a virtual sports event May 13 to June 23, tied to the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.Read more