Nathan Grayson

EA Removing Gender Boundaries From The Sims 4

While The Sims has always been a sandbox of possibility, up to and including misguided romantic affairs with Death, it’s still drawn lines in more traditional places. Now, though, EA and Maxis are erasing a few of them. Previously, Sims games (including the most recent installment, Sims 4) restricted some clothes, hairstyles, and other options…

Overwatch Doesn’t Do Enough For Its Support Heroes

In team-based games like League of Legends and Team Fortress 2, and MMOs like World of Warcraft, support classes—medics, buffers, debuffers, etc—are a necessary element of victory. However, they’re under-appreciated and sometimes under-played. Overwatch addresses that problem in some smart ways, but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. Whether in single or multiplayer games, support…

GOG Now Offering Steam Users DRM-Free Copies Of Their Games

GOG is a service that sells PC games and offers a client with community and update features, much like Steam. Difference is, GOG focuses on DRM-free games, which allowed them to come up with a scheme to lure Steam users over to their side of the online galaxy. Today GOG announced GOG Connect. It’s a…

Overwatch has a ghost window. Why is it there? What does it mean? No one knows. (Somebody on the dev team probably goofed.) Here’s the full video, courtesy of Punished Dartjuk

Doom‘s Soundtrack Hides A Satanic Easter Egg

The new Doom is a surprise on multiple levels. Foremost, it remains surprising that it’s, you know, good. Actually, it’s not just good; it’s excellent. It’s also loaded with secrets, ones that are remarkably compelling to dig out of Mars’ demonic loam and fist bump. But Doom’s secrets aren’t strictly inside the game. Turns out,…

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine: The Kotaku Review

I’ve spent more than 100 hours in The Witcher 3 over the past year. It’s become the background of my gaming life, a boundless, monster-ridden home I can always return to. As the last Witcher (for now), The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine is a grand goodbye, a final series of stories that sends Geralt…

Goat Simulator Is Still Around, Now Making Fun Of Star Citizen

Against all odds, Goat Simulator came out in 2014. Against more odds, it continues to exist as a real video game that’s very dumb, but pretty fun for a couple hours. Last year, it got an expansion that made fun of zombie games. Now it’s taking aim at Star Citizen, of all things. Star Citizen…

Pro Counter-Strike Team Faze Leaves World Esports Association, Cites Lack Of Transparency

On paper, the World Esports Association isn’t the worst idea ever. Essentially, it wants to function as a regulatory body for eSports, an independent third-party that can moderate and create rules where needed. Problem is, its internal structure is a mess—a potentially very biased one. WESA is half-owned by the ESL, the world’s largest eSports…

Modders Are Recreating The New Doom In Old Doom Games

I suppose we should’ve seen this coming. Doom’s modding community has been around for decades, recreating everything from Sailor Moon to the concept of piracy. Someday, you and everything you love will be replaced by a Doom mod. First, though, the new Doom’s out, and dutiful modders are plucking out its insides and inserting them…

Overwatch‘s Low Tick Rate Can Be A Problem

Overwatch has a lot going for it. Interesting heroes, a great feel, beer—the list goes on. It’s crazy to think that this is Blizzard’s first FPS. It is, however, conspicuously lacking in one area. It’s called “tick rate,” and it has an impact on the game’s responsiveness. What you’re seeing/doing and what the server in…

Peek-a-boo. Today’s shockingly viable Counter-Strike strat? The pyramid scheme, courtesy of ahmadyar17

The Sound Of A Hit In Overwatch Is Made By… Beer

Overwatch is to big-budget release bonanzas what eclipses are to the rest of the sky. It’s a multi-million dollar production fueled by laser-targeted marketing. Even Game of Throneshad to glom onto its underbelly to avoid being unceremoniously forgotten. Anyway one of its most crucial sounds was made by a beer can. I’m talking about the…

YouTubers Play A Game About Being A YouTuber

If you were just unfrozen from a massive block of ice ala Chris Evans in Captain America or Bill Clinton in real life, here’s what you need to know: people make money playing video games on YouTube now, and the latest game they’re into is one about playing video games to make money on YouTube.…

Inside The Surprisingly Big Overwatch Porn Scene

Angel-winged Mercy having sex with the devilish Reaper. Spunky mech pilot D.Va pleasuring herself in front of a webcam. Blindingly speedy Tracer caught in Widowmaker’s web. Overwatch porn has been all over the Internet for months, though the game’s creators at Blizzard don’t seem to eye it too favorably. (Warning: Definitely NSFW.) Users of the…

Overwatch Fans Are So Desperate, They’re Role-Playing Overwatch In Other Games

You think you’re into Overwatch? Are you dedicated enough to role-play your favorite characters in another game, even if that means pretending to be a turret? While the world holds its breath for Overwatch’s impending launch, eNinja and friends decided to do something productive with the longing in their fingers and maybe also loins. Well,…

Doom’s SnapMap Tool Is Cool, But It’s No Substitute For Real Mods

Doom’s single-player campaign might be getting all the praise, but that’s only half its appeal. The other side of the coin isn’t multiplayer (which is kinda boring), but rather SnapMap, a tool that lets players make their own maps and modes quickly and easily. Naturally, somebody’s already made a farming game. In Doom In the…

Ilios is a sidescrolling action-adventure that mixes Castlevania and Bayonetta. I imagine there’s a little God of War in there, too. It’s based on Homeric epics, and it’s got impressively robust counter-based combat. If it makes it through Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight, it’ll be out next year.

This Is Not An Overwatch Glitch

Overwatch’s characters ooze personality. Sometimes, they literally ooze it. It might look all wrong, but it’s 100 percent intentional, a byproduct of some very particular animation techniques. If you’re a frequenter (oh hey I guess that’s a real word) of Overwatch-obsessed portions of the Internet, you might have seen the occasional still of McCree looking…

Overwatch Players Create ‘The Leaning Tower Of D.Va’

This is certainly some sort of accomplishment. During Overwatch’s beta, the Squadron, um, squadron decided to try and build the tallest “structure” possible in all of Overwatch. The result? 12 D.Vas stacked on top of each other on Lijang Tower. Interestingly, other maps couldn’t sustain this mechanical human centipede because they have a 10 or…

Someone Is Making A Game Based On The Steam Summer Sale

If rumors from a person who’s usually not wrong are to be believed, the Steam Summer Sale starts on June 23 and ends on July 4. But does it have to end? Ever? Does it really? SwagPaladin has put together an admittedly rudimentary looking game that is, well, the Steam Summer Sale. It’s currently on…