Ethan Gach

Smash Bros. Melee Tournaments Are Shrines To Old TVs

At DreamHack Winter 2016 in Sweden this weekend, hundreds prayed at a competitive gaming altar consisting of a few dozen old cathode ray tube televisions. They were participating in a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament, and the results were beautiful looking. Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a lot of people are probably buying new…

Street Fighter V Mod Lets You Play As Sombra From Overwatch

It was surely only a matter of time before Overwatch’s latest hacker hero got spliced into Street Fighter V The mash-up comes from THEJAMK, who’s no stranger to messing with the character models in Capcom’s latest fighting game. Using Street Fighter’s Laura as the foundation, THEJAMK tweaked her design here and there to transform her…

San Francisco Hack Feels Straight Out Of Watch Dogs 2

The San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni for short, appears to have been hacked on Saturday after reports surfaced that terminals throughout various stations were displaying “You hacked. All data encrypted.” Payment machines weren’t working as a result, forcing the public transportation service to give passengers free rides. According to the San Francisco Examiner, Muni’s…

Sunday Comics: No Man’s Update

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published November 26. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published November 21. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Watch Pokémon, Winners!

Week three of the ‘shop contest 3.0 has come and gone, so here I am to announce the winners. I asked you to hack some Pokémon into Watch Dogs 2‘s San Francisco and here we are, awash in elemental critters and over-exposed cityscapes. Of course, the winning ‘shop turned out to be Ace Stanning’s! You might…

VOLLEYGON Is An Arcade Cabinet That Wants To Bring People Together 

Imagine Pong but with weird, ever changing physics and colorful shapes that can move freely through the space rather than being tied to either edge of the screen. On the surface, that’s what VOLLEYGON is. There’s a lot more going on with the game beyond that simple conceit, however. Nick Santaniello, the game’s creator, says…

Lucio Player Puts Together Ultimate Boops Remix

It’s hard to hate Overwatch’s Lucio. No matter how many times he blasts you off a ledge or drops down unexpectedly from the side of a wall, he’s just too upbeat to get angry at. That’s why Thomas Turbado’s latest video highlighting the DJ’s mechanics is so full of good vibes, whether you like playing…

Speedrunner Wants To Change How People Think About Dota 2

By now, it’s become increasingly common knowledge that certain players like to race through video games to see who can complete them the fastest. A small niche of players even hold records for speedrunning MOBAs. The first Super Mario Bros. has been beaten in under five minutes. Dishonored 2, which came out earlier this month,…

Pixel Artist Imagines Mega Man X Getting Smashed By Chrono

If you’ve ever wondered who would win in a fight between Mega Man X and an Ice Sword attack from Chrono and Marle, well, now you know. The mashup comes via artist Daniel Oliver who has a knack for taking beloved characters and recreating them in gorgeous pixel form. Apparently it’s part of a collaboration…

Plays Like This Are How You Go Undefeated In A Dota 2 Tournament

Team Liquid just went undefeated on every map in the DreamLeauge Season 6 tournament hosted at DreamHack Winter 2016. People have been waiting for the talent on the team to coalesce into something very special, and we might be on the verge of finally seeing that happen. While everyone on the team, from Lasse “MATUBAMAN”…

Track: Imeruat | Album: IMERUAT | Artist: IMERUAT (featuring Masashi Hamauzu and Mina) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series is free on the Windows Store this weekend. After that, it goes back to its normal price of $5.00. While the most recent episode stalled out a bit, the series up to that point has been full of twists and turns and is definitely worth checking out.

The Weekend In Esports: Unleash The Gears Of War

It’s almost as if the gods of competitive gaming knew we’d all be sitting around this weekend and so made sure it was jam packed with tournaments to check out. DreamHack Winter 2016 is of course going on over in Sweden at the moment, featuring competitions in almost every game under the sun. There’s also…

Roadhog Player Destroys Mei In The Most Cathartic Way Possible

Sometimes it’s worth unloading an entire Roadhog ultimate to make sure Mei is 100% dead. That’s what Reddit user xTheManOfSteelx did in an Overwatch clip he posted earlier today. “This Mei had been annoying me the entire game and we almost had the point capped anyway, so it was worth it,” he wrote. Usually Mei’s…

Happy Birthday To The Original Xbox’s First Unofficial Mascot 

Azurik: Rise of Perathia came out within two weeks of the first Xbox’s launch back in November of 2001. It was supposed to be Microsoft’s interpretation of Mario meets Zelda, showing off what the new system could do and creating a iconic dynasty in the process. Instead, the blue-skinned stud rocking Goku hair and goggles…

Track: Kame House | Album: Dragonball Wave | Artist: MAITRO Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Watch Pokémon

What will happen when Pokémon discover how to hack our Roombas, our security systems, or the means of production? Why would these adorable little pocket monsters even try to? Perhaps this week’s Photoshop contest can shed some light on the matter. Update 11/25/16 — We’ve got just inside of 24 hours to see how much…

No Man’s Sky Developers Break Long Silence, Promise Update This Week

Nine weeks after No Man’s Sky’s 1.09 patch, Hello Games has announced that it will be releasing an update to the game “this week,” with “detailed patch notes” to follow “soon.” The post on the game’s website states, “Hello, This week Hello Games will be releasing an update to No Man’s Sky. We’re calling it…

Playdead’s Inside now has a demo you can download and try for free on Steam. It popped up yesterday with little fanfare and is about 1.2GB in size. As the studio’s follow up to Limbo and one of the year’s most superb games, you owe it to yourself to see what makes Inside’s haunting, industrial…

Watch Smash Bros. Melee Players Compete For One Of The Biggest Cash Prizes In The Game’s 15 Year History

This is what it looks like when one incredible Melee player shows no mercy. DreamHack Winter 2016 is going on right now at the Elmia Convention Center in Jönköping, Sweden, meaning that in addition to tournaments for everything ranging from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to Hearthstone, you can also catch some of the best Smash Bros.…