Ethan Gach

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Autumn Game Harvest, Winners!

Everything’s falling, from the leaves to the President’s approval ratings, and even Assassins! If you live in the Northeast, autumn hit hard this week. Monday it was shorts and a t-shirt in the most humid 80s I can remember for the end of summer. By Friday I was closing windows and raking leaves after temps…

The Norwood Suite Is A Very Different Kind Of Music Game

Don’t expect high scores or top 40 hits in this jazz-fueled adventure. Music games tend to be fast-paced and twitch driven. Songs or techno rythms play in the background while your fingers or feet punch in buttons in intricate patterns dictated by what scrolls past on the TV screen. That’s the premise of games like…

Speedrunner Speculates About The Best Possible Super Mario Bros. 3 Time Humans Can Achieve 

Kirua recently broke the world record for glitching through to the end of the game and now believes the best possible time is only a few seconds away. Two years ago, the speedrunner set a personal best time for completing the game at just under four minutes. Earlier this week, he came in at 3:05.633.…

Track: E=MC2 | Artist: Big Audio Dynamite | Album: This Is Big Audio Dynamite Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Weekend In Esports: Smash Bros. Lights Up The Utah Jazz’s Arena 

Pro Smash Bros. gets some big prize pools and an even bigger venue with the GameTyrant Expo 2017. This weekend League takes a break ahead of the Worlds 2017 group stage. While things are mostly quiet across Dota, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike as well, big tournaments in Smash Bros. and Street Fighter are here to fill…

Splatoon Toilet Paper Joke Becomes Splatfest Reality

Next weekend, European Splatoon 2 players will have the chance to weigh in on how toilet paper should be loaded. Front roll or back roll? It’s a question that could only be asked by someone who’s never wiped their ass before. The event runs from 4:00PM CEST on October 7 to the same time on…

The Week In Games: Back To The Pitch 

Another year. Another Pro Evolution Soccer. Another FIFA. The leaves are falling and soccer balls are in the air. Where most sports games have their sub-genre locked up (when’s the last time Madden had to compete with anything but its younger self?) soccer is one of the few where there’s still competition. That means fans…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Autumn Game Harvest

It’s that time of year again. With the first day of autumn having come and gone earlier this week, it’s time to get into the spirit of the season with some epic mashups. Whether it’s apples, pumpkins, or blockbuster video games, it’s time to move from cultivating and growing to harvesting. To celebrate the changing…

The Studio Behind Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture Is ‘Going Dark’

The Chinese Room released the ambient exploration game Dear Esther in 2012. Five years and several games later, co-founder Dan Pinchbeck says the studio will be pausing operations for the time being. Pinchbeck announced the news via a post over at the company’s blog filed earlier today. In it he writes, “There’s an interview coming…

Hellblade‘s Fenrir Encounter Belongs In The Pantheon Of Great Boss Fights

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has been lauded for mind-bending cinematics and top-notch voice acting, but it’s worth remembering one fight in particular that shows the game operating at the peak of its potential. Ninja Theory’s third-person action game can be frustrating. In some moments that works, but there were plenty of times I got snagged on…

Cosplayer Has A Nintendo Switch For A Head, Plays Arms On It

Gaming on the go like you’ve never seen it before. Shared on Reddit by user Kurobiii who encountered the Switch-headed Mario cosplayer at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, I’m not sure what’s more impressive, the person keeping their head balanced or the K.O. they manage by the end. It’s also a little creepy, like the…

Track: Dear God | Artist: Monsters of Folk | Album: Monsters of Folk Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Code Vein doubles-down on the vampire Dark Souls vibes in its latest trailer from Tokyo Game Show. Revealed in May and aiming for a 2018 release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, the game features real-time action and medieval gas masks. It also all takes place in an apocalyptic wasteland for safe measure.

Sunday Comics: The New Batch 

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 22. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published September 18. Read more…

Cremating A Dog Is When Death Of The Outsider Gets Special

As a standalone DLC that picks up where Dishonored 2 left off, Death of the Outsider involves a lot of sneaking around and pawning old spools of copper wire for spare money. In the very first mission, it also asks you to cremate a dog. The islands of Dunwall and Karnaca are rife with seedy…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Bad Dudes Revival, Winners!

It was the baddest of times, it was the dudest of times. This past week’s ‘Shop Contest was a tribute to gaming meme that had long been an excuse for some of the not altogether inspired entries from the contests of yesteryear. In keeping with tradition than, this week’s haul was a perfect tribute to…

The Story Behind The Open World Pilotwings That Never Happened 

Pilotwings used to be a dependable B-tier flight-sim series for Nintendo consoles but the last one came out over six years ago. That game was Pilotwings Resort on the 3DS. It was almost something very different, however. Factor 5, the studio that worked on the Rogue Squadron series and also created the tragically flawed Lair,…

Track: Yeoman | Artist: Baths | Album: Romaplasm  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Finally, A Use For All Of Those Donkey Kong Country Returns Banana Cases 

Your Joy-Con controllers will fit in here. That’s what Reddit user Zefipalu discovered when they decided to try and answer the immortal question, “Hey, would my Nintendo Switch Joy-Con fit in here?” The limited edition banana holder was released around the time of Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii (which was later ported to…

The Weekend In Esports: The 2017 League World Championship Arrives 

The nearly month long, biggest esporting event of the year is upon us. League of Legends teams kicked off the play-in stage earlier today with matches set to continue throughout the rest of the weekend. Elsewhere there’s the SoCal Regionals for tournaments in games from around the fighting games community as well as qualifiers for…