I’ve written about a lot of different video game hardware over the years, from new consoles to retro gadgets to whatever you want to call the Playdate. But I can’t remember ever being perpetually sore from testing a device; such are the joys of the Virtual Boy. Nintendo has turned its biggest flop into an…

Four years after its release, Valve’s Steam Deck is still the most popular handheld PC around and for good reason. The portable gaming device is easy to use, can play most 2D games you install on it with ease, handles 3D games fairly well, and can even be modded and tweaked if you so desire.…

Nintendo is obsessed with this talking flower. The sousaphone-faced flora first came on the scene in 2023 with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and since then it’s infiltrated other Mario family titles like Super Mario Party Jamboree. It’s set to referee (and repeatedly antagonize) players in the upcoming Mario Tennis Fever as well. Now, the $35…

Microsoft has a big year ahead for Xbox as it marks its 25-year milestone. After the tough decision to release more Xbox games on rival consoles two years ago, 2026 is a chance to refocus on the platform and celebrate some of Xbox’s biggest franchises. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft to define its vision…

Though the Virtual Boy was both a commercial and critical failure, the console’s infamy is part of what has made it such a fascinating piece of Nintendo’s history. Original units are still going for hundreds of dollars on bidding sites, and hobbyists have spent years keeping the Virtual Boy alive through emulation and homebrew games.…

Walk the rows of the farmers market in a small, nondescript Texas town about an hour away from Austin, and you might stumble across something unexpected: In between booths selling fresh, local pickles and pies, there’s a table piled high with generic-looking streaming boxes, promising free access to NFL games, UFC fights, and any cable…

Strap in, because the next PlayStation event is going to be a long one. Sony’s latest State of Play — a showcase event for upcoming PS5 games — kicks off on February 12th at 5PM ET and it’ll last more than an hour.We don’t know what exactly will be shown. Sony says that the event…

Media caption, Arsenal held by Brentford as they miss chance to restore six-point leadByArsenal reporter at Gtech Community StadiumThe pressure in the title race was always going to come for Arsenal, and maybe after the 1-1 draw at Brentford this is where it turns up a notch for Mikel Arteta’s side. It must be pointed…

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more news about video game industry’s pushback against generative AI, follow Jay Peters. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.Long before the generative AI explosion, video game developers made…

73% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months). Now only $3.49/month See more details Want to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics? You Can Stream the Games Without Cable When to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics How to watch the 2026 Winter Olympics in the US without cable How to watch the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics…

When a video game series goes on for a long time, it raises a question for newcomers: Just where is the best place to jump in? In the case of Dragon Quest, there are nearly a dozen mainline titles, not to mention copious spinoffs and ports that span four decades of history. Of late, though,…

What’s better, a roundup of several $500-$1,000 arcade machines or a single, ultra-expensive XR headset? Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro with its striking 4K micro OLED displays seems like the perfect candidate to finally determine if a virtual arcade can ever match a bare ounce of a real arcade’s glory. That’s why the upcoming Apple Arcade…

Enthusiast gaming keyboard tech has made the jump to gaming mice — well, to one gaming mouse so far. The $179.99 Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike is the first to feature analog sensors that use induction to register clicks faster than microswitches used in many mice.Those sensors allow for a host of cool features beyond…

When Netflix first acquired cozy game developer Spry Fox in 2022, it made a lot of sense. The studio had been around for over a decade and had several hits with mobile games like Triple Town and Alphabear. That approachable style of puzzle game seemed like a good fit for Netflix’s mobile-first strategy, and, as…

Media caption, Click above to watch this week’s episode of The Whole 10 YardsByPaul HighamBBC Sport journalistAfter yet more enthralling finishes in the Divisional Round, four teams remain with just one final hurdle to overcome to reach Super Bowl 60.And for the first time since 2011 is four new teams from last year.The Seattle Seahawks…

It’s no secret that Cassette Boy is inspired by the classics. It’s a top-down adventure game in the vein of a retro Legend of Zelda, while your home base is a small town like in an older Pokémon game, complete with a mom who is constantly wishing you well. The game’s blocky 3D graphics evoke…

It can be tempting, in an era where there are simply way too many great games coming out every month, to give into list inflation. Top 10s become top 25s. Top 25s become top 50s. By 2030, we might even see our first top 100 GOTY list. Kotaku has not been immune to the ebb…

This year, we may finally see if PC gaming can become the de facto mode for play. Valve’s long-promised Steam Machine is ready to make landfall early this year. Yes, we still don’t know how much it will cost (and judging by current RAM prices, we don’t imagine it will be cheap). We doubt it…

This year’s Winter Olympics will showcase some of the world’s best athletes across 116 different events in eight sports, attempting to ski, skate, snowboard, curl and sleigh their way to a gold medal. But you may be disappointed by the lack of options to catch all of the Olympic action this winter if you don’t…

2026 is shaping up to be another big year for video games. The next 12 months are set to bring massive sequels like Forza Horizon 6, Resident Evil Requiem, and Gears of War: E-Day. There are also some smaller games we’re excited to get our hands on, like Bubsy 4D, Mouse: P.I. for Hire, and…

The latest of Steam’s creative weekly sales has just gone live, and this time it’s a Detective Fest. But rather than become entangled in red string as you try to pin all the available games to your enormous pinboard, we’ve inspected the selection through our microscope, whittled down the suspects, and then performed yet another…

After years of corporate shuffling and various adaptations getting announced and coming out, everyone’s favorite Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, is finally returning to video games with two titles. At last week’s Game Awards, Crystal Dynamics revealed Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst. The former is a remake (or “reimagining”) of the original…

Tom RichardsonBBC NewsbeatRockstarA long wait: Grand Theft Auto 6 might finally arrive in 2026The video games industry is unpredictable.If you’d told us this time last year that a previously unknown French studio would claim game of the year, Battlefield 6 would knock Call of Duty off the top of the annual charts and that Saudi…

….And we’re back. Sorry about last year. Our previous owners, G/O Media, were a pack of idiots with more money than brains, who decided to stop anyone at Kotaku from writing personal top ten lists. Why? Pretty simple, really: They had no idea what they were doing and nearly destroyed this place. Anyway, they’re all…