Cecilia D'Anastasio

An American Hentai Publisher’s Journey From Piracy To Premium

The biggest English-language hentai manga publisher, Fakku, just celebrated its 10-year anniversary last December. That’s ten years of “monster girl,” “oppai,” “nakadashi,” “yaoi” and “futanari,” tags under Fakku’s clean taxonomy of hentai genres. The company’s founder Jacob Grady has a lot to celebrate. In its torrid lifespan, Fakku evolved from an underground hentai piracy operation…

Unknown Lucario Player Starred In This Month’s Best Smash 4 Set

At this weekend’s Frostbite Smash 4 tournament, competitors ZeRo and Tsu faced off in a tense grand finals match that could only be compared to the last fight between Dragon Ball Z’s Goku and Cell. Diddy Kong main ZeRo was, for two years, the top Smash 4 player in the world. He’s great at Diddy…

Meet The Woman Raising Japan’s Next Generation Of Street Fighter Champions

When I called Street Fighter pro Yuko “Chocoblanka” Momochi at 11 a.m. Japan time, her husband, the legendary Street Fighter champion Yusuke Momochi, was asleep. The husband-wife team, both Street Fighter players, had recently launched a school to train promising Japanese competitors. They’ve rented out a studio to use as a DIY classroom. They’re running…

Overwatch Wins Game Of The Year At The DICE Awards, Surprising No One

Overwatch took home peer-based voting panel DICE’s “Game of the Year” award in a move that was never going to go any other way. Also the Game Awards’ Game of the Year, Overwatch made a clean sweep of 2016 awards cycle. In DICE’s 20th year, only three games won multiple categories: Overwatch, Inside and Uncharted…

For Honor’s Anti-Cheat System Is Allegedly Banning Innocent Players

For Honor players claim they’re getting banned from the online fighting game because of a haywire, or over-sensitive, anti-cheat program. Players are getting kicked from matches after receiving the EasyAntiCheat 0006000043 error code, which means Ubisoft’s software detected “an authorized hacking program.” It’s a problem players have encountered since For Honor’s beta Following its February…

In The Wake of Marathon Streamer’s Death, Twitch Community Discusses Healthy Streaming Practices

World of Tanks streamer Brian “Poshybrid” Vigneault’s recent death during a 24-hour charity stream rattled the Twitch community. Despite his unknown cause of death, the Twitch community is reconsidering the toll sleep deprivation takes on marathon streamers. More pressingly, streamers are wondering whether 24-hour charity streams are worth the human cost. Vigneault’s charity stream last…

Smash 4‘s new tournament ruleset removed Duck Hunt’s stage from the legal stage list ahead of EVO 2017. A heated debate between pro Smash players led up to today’s decision. EVO organizer Bassem “Bear” Dahdouh told me, “Essentially there were matches where people would sit on top of the tree platforms for long periods of…

Court Throws Out Digital Homicide’s Case Against Critic Jim Sterling

Yesterday, a court dismissed game developer Digital Homicide’s $10 million case against YouTube critic Jim Sterling. Fortunately for those of us who write about video games, Sterling’s scathing critique of Digital Homicide’s game Slaughtering Grounds won’t create precedent for developers slamming critics with million-dollar lawsuits. “I’d say this should at least serve as a warning…

For Honor Gets Female Armor Right

In For Honor, it’s hard to tell you’re fighting a lady until one of you is dead. Helmets and armor are so thick and so full that pausing mid-battle long enough to discern gender clues will probably get you stabbed. Padded leather, full plate, head gear, masks and mud-soaked boots, in the style of medieval…

Claim Your Nintendo Switch Account ID

You can now claim your uniqueNintendo Account User IDforthe Switch. Users who already have Nintendo Accounts may not yet have Nintendo Account User IDs, which explains to rush to claim one. So far, there are a few Nintendo account types you can make: A Nintendo Account: The e-mail and password combination through which you access…

Watch Dogs 2 Players Discover A New Mystery Quest

After last week’s Watch Dogs 2 patch, players have unearthed a mystery quest hidden in the game. Players’ investigations have led them to turn over every rock, and even mine the game’s code, to hunt for more information on “The Shuffler.” Ubisoft added Patch 1.11 to prepare players for Watch Dogs 2‘s upcoming DLC, released…

Twenty Years Later, A Furry MMO Fights To Stay Alive

At Furcadia’s September town meeting, a hundred humanoid animals lounged on purple pillows in a lush, 32-bit meadow. Emerald Flame, Executive Producer of the oldest social MMORPG, was explaining Furcadia’s largest update since its 1996 founding to the motley pile of furry avatars, known in-game as “furres.” It was called the “Second Dreaming.” (Originally published…

The creators of Rogue Legacy just announced their upcoming game, Full Metal Furies It’s a team-based brawler slated for an Xbox One and PC release later this year.

PS VR horror game Here They Lie is receiving a PS4 and PS4 Pro release tomorrow. On PS VR, Kotaku editor-in-chief Stephen Totilo and editor-at-large Kirk Hamilton found it a little grainy, but scary.

Final Fantasy XV’s PS4 Pro update just hit. Version 1.05 brings the game’s PS4 Pro frame rate up to 60 FPS. On the Xbox One and PS4, the update increased FFXV’s level cap to 120 and added more Camera Roll storage, a portal music player for chocobo rides and limited-time hunts.

Crafty Overwatch Players Are Staying Up Late To Get Better Ranks

Overwatch players in low-density regions are allegedly gaming the competitive matchmaking system for unreal rankings and win rates. On RedditandBattle.net forums, Brazilian Overwatch players in particular are concerned about a few Masters-ranked teams whose performance ratings are through the roof. Many are among the region’s top 500 players, lingering in the top 2% of kill/death…

Portal 2’s Co-Op Was Perfect

Portal 2’s GLaDOS, the game’s coolly sadistic robot narrator, wanted me to hate my co-op partner. In corporate lingo pulled from a dystopian HR manual, she warned that Portal 2’s levels are lethal unless my teammate and I trust, respect and communicate with each other. “Naturally this will pose an interesting challenge for one of…

Since For Honor’s release on Tuesday, players who purchased the Deluxe or Gold editions have complained that their redemption codes aren’t working. Ubisoft confirmed to Kotaku that they’re working on a solution.

Overwatch’s third competitive season will end February 21st at 7PM EST.  

The Electronic Software Association is offering 30 $3,000 scholarships to woman and minority students of video game design. Its applications just opened with an April, 27th deadline.