Alyssa Mercante, Author at Kotaku

Neopets Is About To Undergo A Reinvention After 23 Years

Neopets are so back, baby. Children of the early aughts, rejoice

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 18, 2023

The 20 Best Nerdy Video Game Rap Lyrics

From Super Mario , Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter references to an old-school cheat code, we’ve got the best video game references in rap

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 18, 2023

CultureNews

Xbox Head Phil Spencer Is Probably Playing Starfield Right Now

With the Activision deal essentially settled, Spencer can focus on Todd Howard’s 1,000 planets

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 17, 2023

CultureNews

The Witcher Netflix Views Are Down, Prepare For Discourse

Henry Cavill’s final season of The Witcher is reportedly not getting as many views as the last one

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 14, 2023

CultureOdds and Ends

The Best And Worst Witcher Season 3 Looks

Who has great hair, makeup, and costumes in this season of The Witcher and who looks like a badly rendered NPC?

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 13, 2023

CultureNews

New Warzone Season Adds The Boys Characters, Breaks Game

Turns out giving your operator the ability to shoot lasers from their eyes is OP the Call of Duty battle royale

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 13, 2023

CultureNews

Racist Destiny 2 Player Fucks Around, Finds Out

Jesse James Comer harassed and doxxed a Bungie community manager, now he owes the studio nearly $500K in damages and fees

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 13, 2023

CultureNews

The Last of Us Is Sweeping Emmy Nominations This Year

The HBO series is only three nominations behind Succession for the 2023 Emmy Awards

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 12, 2023

CultureTwitch

Twitch Streamers’ Best And Weirdest Unban Requests

There’s great power in banning unruly or toxic Twitch chatters, and their requests to return to the fray can be bizarre

Steven Asarch, Patricia Hernandez, Alyssa Mercante Published July 10, 2023

OpinionCommentary

Can The Witcher Survive Henry Cavill’s Departure?

Liam Hemsworth is set to replace Cavill in The Witcher season 4, and I can’t imagine how that’ll work

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 7, 2023

OpinionCommentary

10 Things You Should Never Say To An Overwatch Player

From outright smacktalk to backhanded insults, here are the phrases you should avoid when chatting with an Overwatch 2 player

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 6, 2023

CultureNews

The Skyrim Modding Community Has Its Own Deepfake Porn Controversy

Numerous pornographic mods that use AI voice-cloning technology are available on NexusMods

By Alyssa Mercante Published July 5, 2023

CultureNews

Video Games And TikTok Are To Blame For French Riots, Says Prez

The country has seen several days of unrest after police fatally shot a 17-year-old delivery driver in Paris

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 30, 2023

CultureNews

BlizzCon 2023 Livestream Will Be Free, But IRL Tickets Are $300

Rather than charging for an all-access livestream pass, you can watch for this year's BlizzCon for free—it's in-person that will cost you

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 29, 2023

CultureOdds and Ends

The Video Game Characters That Made Us Gay

Some Mass Effect folks, a Final Fantasy baddie, and an Overwatch gamer girl are just a few that helped awaken our queer identities

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 28, 2023

OpinionCommentary

OMG, Doctor Who Is Finally Going To Be Sexy

Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T. Davies are bringing high-quality vibes to the long-running British sci-fi series

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 27, 2023

CultureCosplayGallery

What Your Cosplay Says About You: Brutal Callout Edition

Whether you're doing a Star Wars suit , a Stranger Things fit, or a Last of Us look, who you cosplay as is a serious choice

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 23, 2023

CultureNews

Players Angry That OG Call of Duty: Warzone Will Shut Down This Fall

Warzone Caldera , the holdover from the original Warzone , will die on September 21

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 22, 2023

CultureNews

Overwatch Audio Bug Sure Sounds Like This Character Is Cursing Real Bad

A change to the Overwatch 2 audio settings has made one Torbjörn line sound very intense

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 21, 2023

CultureNews

Logitech Controllers Are On Sale At A Curious Time

An Amazon sale is drawing eyes as it features the controller believed to be piloting the lost tourist submarine Titan

By Alyssa Mercante Published June 21, 2023