Cecilia D'Anastasio

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Kotaku Review

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the very best of the Smash Bros. series. If you’ve got 20 years of accumulated Smash memories, from the button-mashing neighbor kid suggesting you play Kirby in grade school to drunkenly playing a round of all Bowser, Poké Balls only in college, you’ll find that they are done great justice…

The U.S. Army Has A New Plan To Recruit Gamers

In a burnt-out, four-story shopping mall on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, one room blared with the raucous sounds of the ‘70s and ‘80s—Metallica, Boston, Blue Oyster Cult. American troops had occupied the Sha’ab Central Market, then known as the Forward Operating Base Callahan, in 2007, and from there, American soldiers were taking in…

Wow, that new Super Smash Bros. game looks great! Big thanks to the YouTuber Dunkey for….. whatever this is

The Paradox Of Online Games’ Group-Finders

One of the great online gaming paradoxes is the group-finder, a feature intended to bring people together that often does the opposite. It’s a mainstay in online games, a one-size-fits-all solution to the ever-present social gaming problem of “How do I meet people and progress?” Functional, accessible and a little impersonal, the group-finder makes connecting…

Full Copy Of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Leaks Two Weeks Before Launch

Leaked copies of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are circulating two weeks ahead of its highly-anticipated release. Over the weekend, details about the game’s adventure mode, musical soundtrack and Spirits system have spread across YouTube, 4Chan and Reddit. As of now, the leak’s origin is unknown. Over the years, Smash leaks have become kind of a…

The Singular Life Of Twitch’s Most Foul-Mouthed Streamer

To hear her tell the story, Twitch streamer Sweet_Anita has lived a fascinating and unusual life. Here’s what you might learn watching her stream the first-person shooter Overwatch: Anita takes care of 35 animals, including rabbits, rats, and chinchillas, although in the past, that number has swelled to 200. Her mother contracted an illness from…

Pokémon Let’s Go‘s Leveling System Raises Some Morbid Questions

If Pokémon Let’s Go is banking on my nostalgia, it’s working, but it’s also bringing to mind some disturbing questions about the nature of Pokémon. ’90s kids’ idle fantasies of weed-whacking our way through forests alongside some loyal, sweet Pokémon companion are realized in the latest Pokémon game, which even lets you pet and play…

KeyForge Is A Whole New Kind Of Card Game

KeyForge is a card game for people who would love Magic: The Gathering, but who run screaming into Mommy’s arms upon hearing the words “deck building.” It’s a game for the most doe-eyed of card-game beginners and the most seasoned fans alike, in part because of its winning gimmick: There’s no booster packs, drafting, or…

The much-anticipated Harry Potter augmented reality game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has been delayed until 2019, co-developers Niantic and WB Games indicated today in a new trailer. It was slated to come out this year. The mobile game will capitalize on the success of Pokemon Go’s tech, although details on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’s gameplay…

Fatal Call Of Duty Swatter Pleads Guilty To 51 Charges [UPDATE]

Swatter Tyler Barriss, 26, pled guilty yesterday to the crimes that led police to forcibly enter the home of Wichita resident Andrew Finch, who diedfrom an officer’s gunshot wound. Barriss originally pled not guilty to this fatal instance of swatting, which occurred over a dispute in Call of Duty in 2017. The Associated Press reportsthat…

Ambient ocean exploration game Abzu is coming to the Switch November 29, publisher 505 Games announcedtoday. It is chill as heck and beautiful through and through.

Haunted House Board Game Betrayal Legacy Takes 13 Thrilling Hours To Play

The haunted-mansion horror game Betrayal at House on the Hill is an easy, irresistible pitch for board gamers: You explore a mansion, creepy stuff happens, you unearth possessed items, then somebody turns evil and y’all have to kill them or something. Last week, publisher Avalon Hill released Betrayal Legacy, a “campaign” style variant of the…

Current And Former Employees Sue Riot Games For Gender Discrimination

Yesterday, one current and one former employee of Riot Games filed a class action lawsuit against the League of Legends publisher, accusing it of endemic gender-based discrimination and fostering a “men-first” environment. The lawsuit comes three months after a Kotaku investigation into the sexist culture at Riot Games. The lawsuit alleges that, “like many of…

NPR Is Very Worried That Gaming Is Going To Turn Kids Into Nazis

In journalism, no two things are more often and easily confused than “this wild thing is happening” and “this wild thing is happening, widely.” When the wild thing is, say, mad cow disease—an immediate threat to life— the problem of weighing particulars against a greater sense of scale is critical. Readers can gauge their threat…

Today, Nintendo released its new GameCube-style controller for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, out on the Switch December 7. Playing Smash 4 with it today alongside my crappy $15 knockoff GameCube controller, the new official controller has a significantly longer cord and tighter trigger action. Its analog sticks are springy and delightful, too.

Overwatch‘s Next Hero Is Ashe, Leader of the Deadlock Gang

At BlizzCon today, Blizzard announced Overwatch’s latest hero, Ashe, a stern and strict gang leader who looks absolutely killer. Introduced in the animated short “Reunion,” Ashe stands off against Overwatch’s bounty hunter Jesse McCree in a fight worthy of Red Dead Redemption 2 (only with robots): She’s the leader of the Deadlock Gang, a group…

Diablo III On Switch Is Great But Keeps One Of The Console Version’s Most Annoying Features

Diablo III is basically Gauntlet on steroids and with better menus, which both helps and hurts its newest iteration on the Switch. The much-anticipated Switch port, which will be released November 2, teases at being the go-to couch multiplayer game Diablo III was always meant to be, and in some cases, succeeds at it. Yet…

Mario’s Real-Life Namesake, Mario Segale, Dies At 84

Mario Segale, the namesake for Nintendo’s Mario character and a successful American real estate developer, passed away on October 27, Kotaku has learned. Segale was surrounded by his family in Tukwila, Washington. He was 84. Segale developed office buildings and malls in Washington state and, in 1998, sold his construction services company to an Irish…

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s ‘Spirits’ Mode Detailed, And It’s A Whole Lot

Nintendo announced today that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is getting a wild, weird new system called Spirits. Players will be able to assign spirits—cameo characters from other games—to their Smash fighters that will help buff them in battle. Its mechanics are a lot to take in and it’s easy to imagine that, like Smash’s trophy…

Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches Is A Delightful Overwatch Dating Sim

Overwatch dating simulator Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches is asking the important questions: “Will you date your teammates? Will you stay on the payload? Will you teleport everyone off the map and throw all your games?” Mostly, it’s focused on that first one. And the answer is resoundingly “yes.” Symmetra’s Qualifying Matches is a silly, riotously funny…