Eric Van Allen

Two Commentators Fall For Oldest Donation Prank In The Book

Like Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons, two commentators at this weekend’s Smash The Record bit down hard on some wordplay bait from donors. Phil “EE” Visu and Daniel “DC” Coke were on desk duty last night for Smash The Record, a multi-game charity event raising funds for St. Jude Play Live. Much like Games Done…

Battleborn’s Creative Director Says Fall Update Will Be Its Last

Gearbox Software’s Battleborn shifts into the twilight years of its lifespan, as the developer announced today that there is no planned content after the upcoming fall update. Creative director Randy Varnell wrote in a letter today that many folks, himself included, are moving on to a “highly anticipated” unannounced project at Gearbox. Meanwhile, the last…

Two more Overwatch characters are joining Heroes of the Storm. Ana and Junkrat will join the roster, alongside new map Volskaya Foundry and several new skins, on an unannounced release date.

Tooth and Tail Makes Strategy Games Approachable 

Rodents roar across the plains. Ferrets launch mortars into farms. In the distance, cobras slither closer, ready to tear down a freshly-built bunker. Tooth and Tail is a real-time strategy game that puts you in the commander’s chair of a gunpowder-era Redwall war while trying to avoid pitfalls that keep newcomers from experiencing that splendor.…

League of Legends champion Yorick is getting a new skin, his first since June 2011. The new skin is Arclight, and changes the look of most of his abilities and ghost minions.

The Week In Games: Metroid Is Back

In the year 2017, we are blessed with a new Metroid game—kinda. Samus Returns is really more of a remake, a rekindling of the Metroid fire. I’m excited, though maybe not ecstatic. My personal love for the series began with Prime, which is possibly the most millennial statement I’ve made this week. It seems really…

Destiny 2 Gun Has Call Back To Original iPhone Keynote

One of Destiny 2‘s exotic weapons has a nice reference to Steve Jobs’ keynote for the original iPhone. **Spoilers for Destiny 2 lore, if you’re mindful of them.** The Hard Light auto-rifle looks pretty sweet, and packs a punch too. But one mindful redditor noticed that the weapon’s lore was eerily similar to a famous…

Polish Witcher Documentary Shows Journey From Books To Game

Geralt’s trip from the pages of Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels to the games we know today was not an easy one. Polish gaming site Arhn.eu published a documentary today titled on YouTube as “The Witcher’s video game history,” telling the story of the first Witcher game’s development. (Update 4:50 ET: a commenter has translated the…

Morph Girl Is An Indie FMV Game Inspired By Japanese Horror

Scan lines and VHS winding noises greet you when you boot up Morph Girl. Inspired by Japanese horror and games like Firewatch, Morph Girl is a very interesting indie FMV game. As FMV, or full-motion video, has come back into vogue with games like Contradiction: Spot the Liar, Obduction, and the re-release of Night Trap,…

Track: Accident Prone (Jawbreaker cover) | Artist: Julien Baker | Album: N/A

Sunday Comics: A New Recipe

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics that usually occurs on Sunday except when it doesn’t. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published September 8. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published September 4. Read more…

Splatoon 2 Patch Makes The Stingray Way More Awesome

When Splatoon 2 launched, the Stingray was a special that sounded neat on paper. A giant blast of paint, firing across the map, dousing all in sight. In practice, not so much. But the most recent patch to Splatoon 2 has added some oomph back to the Stingray, and it’s becoming a new favorite of…

Track: Holy Books | Artist: Death From Above | Album: Outrage! Is Now Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Binding Of Isaac Mod Team Is Moving On Due To Lack Of Support

Team Alpha are the makers of Alphabirth, one of many mod packs for The Binding Of Isaac. Despite releasing their third pack just this week, the team’s head coordinator took to their blog to say that, for now, work on more Isaac content has been put on indefinite hiatus. Since the release of Afterbirth+, the…

Windjammers Is Still Just As Good 23 Years Later

This week, I booted up Windjammers for the first time on a PlayStation 4. A Neo Geo cult classic, I never had the chance to play it when I was young. I suspect many picking it up now didn’t either. As Neo Geo games find new life on platforms like the Nintendo Switch and the…

The Weekend In Esports: A West Side Story

It’s a global weekend for esports as Montreal, California, and Manila are all hosting big events across the competitive gaming spectrum. CS:GO is back in full swing, with the Eleague Premier kicking off its group stage and two other tournaments on deck as well. Smash is showing California some love, Rocket League is hitting the…

Arms Will Get Customizable Controls In Next Patch

Arms’ guard button and other controls have been an issue for players, but that might turn around in a coming patch. Today, Nintendo tweetedthat in the upcoming Arms Version 3 patch, players will be able to remap their controls. This could mean guard is no longer on the left-stick click, or L3, which should make…

North American League Team Overcomes Deficit And Water Spillage To Win Finals

A new record has been set for North American League of Legends. Team SoloMid has been a longstanding force in the North American League Championship Series, taking home many trophies, and now winning titles at an unprecedented rate. In a 3-1 victory over Immortals, TSM is the first team to win both the spring and…

Kid Solves Rubik’s Cube In Under Five Seconds, Sets New Record

15-year-old Patrick Ponce has set a new 3×3 Rubik’s Cube world record at 4.69 seconds.  The previous best was 4.73, held by Feliks Zemdeg, who set several records at this year’s World Championship Ponce’s other record placings include 11th in the world at 4x4x4 cubes and 10th at 5x5x5. At the Rally In The Valley…

Pro Doomfist Has Clutch Reaction To Tracer Ultimate

Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb, but you can still try to give it back to the Tracer who threw it. In yesterday’s Overwatch Contenders match between EnVyUs and Kungarna, Michael “mykL” Padilla stuck Kim “Effect” Hyeon with Tracer’s Pulse Bomb, all but ensuring Kim’s imminent demise. Rather than share the…