Patrick Klepek

Worth Reading: How Sega Totally Blew It With Saturn

Ahh, Friday. You’re here, I’m here, and that means Worth Reading, our weekly collection of the best games writing that’s not on Kotaku, is back. Hey, You Should Read These “Sega Saturn: how one decision destroyed PlayStation’s greatest rival” by Keith Stuart It’s wild to imagine a world where PlayStation wasn’t so dominant over Saturn,…

The folks at Oculus have announced the recommended PC specs for the Oculus Rift, in case you wanna start shopping for sales on PC graphics cards sometime in 2015. Here’s what you’ll need to get by: NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater 8GB+ RAM Windows 7 SP1…

The Amazing Bloodborne War That Lasted Two Hours

When RhoParkour decided to invade Chihaya_1996’s world in Bloodborne, little did he know it would turn into a standoff that lasted for hours, thanks to a convenient door glitch. (Apologies for the Twitch video playing automatically. There’s nothing we can do about it.) Our story begins pretty normally. RhoParkour was looking for someone to kill,…

Rock Paper Scissors Video Game Works Surprisingly Well

I never knew I wanted a Western-themed rhythm game with rock paper scissors until just now. Sifting through game jam entries can be thrilling and boring, a chance to explore an endless sea of creativity and an opportunity to drown in games with interesting ideas but poor execution. Now, however, the games have been voted…

YouTube Overrides Konami’s Video Takedown

Just days ago, Konami issued a takedown notice for a YouTube video that was critical of the company. Then, the ban was reversed. The video’s creator still isn’t quite sure what happened. George “Super Bunnyhop” Weidman published “Kojima vs. Konami: An Investigation”more than two weeks ago, in which he alleged an insider at the company…

Nintendo’s E3 Plans Include A World Championship Comeback

Nintendo has announced its E3 plans: the Nintendo World Championships are coming back after 25 years. What?! The championships are on June 14. The company will also have a “Nintendo digital event” on June 16 at 9 a.m. PDT, and their Treehouse group will return with another set of all-day livestreams. Yes, Nintendo’s event is…

Konami Gets YouTube To Take Down Critical Video

Two weeks ago, George “Super Bunnyhop” Weidman published a YouTube video alleging he had information about the ongoing tension between Konami and Hideo Kojima. Now, it’s offline. (In case you missed the drama of the last few months, Kojima and Konami appear to be in the midst of a breakup, even as Kojima finishes work…

Worth Reading: Why Is Valve Ignoring Steam Greenlight?

Welcome to another entry in Worth Reading, our weekly roundup of the week’s best games writing. There’s nothing more fun on a Friday afternoon than an angry (and accurate) rant. Hey, You Should Read These “A Red Flag For Greenlight” by Rob Fahey Kotaku didn’t write about it, but you might have heard about this…

How To Draw Pikachu

Wanna be an artist? This tutorial for Nintendo’s adorable yellow Pokémon can definitely help. As artist paperbeatscissors pointed out on Twitter this morning, drawing your own Pikachu can be accomplished by simply sketching penises over and over. It’s a simple, five-step process. Not sure you’re going to convince the Internet to stop drawing penises, but…

Spelunky World Record Speedrun Looks Like Magic

I’ve played more than 100 hours of Spelunky. Olmec? No problem. Yama? Done. Speedlunky? Did it on PC and Vita. But that didn’t stop this world record run from making me feel terrible. Spelunky God, which is an entirely appropriate name for this speedrunner, beats Olmec in one minute and 47 seconds. Speedlunky, considered a…

eBay Taking Down Auctions Selling PS4s With P.T.

You cannot download P.T. anymore, and you can’t sell a PlayStation 4 pre-loaded with the horror game, either. If you search for P.T. and PS4 on eBay right now, almost nothing comes up. A few hours ago, however, and you would have found a bunch of people hoping to capitalize on the game’s newfound scarcity,…

Dark Souls 2’s Most Annoying Bug, Finally Patched One Year Later

It’s taken From Software more than a year, but it’s addressed the durability bug that’s plagued Dark Souls 2 since its release in early 2014. A patch went live for the PC version of Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin this morning, and while there are no official patch notes, it appears to…

Splatoon Demo Available Now, But You Can Only Play At Certain Times

You know what? Splatoon is looking pretty great, and I can’t wait to try out the demo (which really sounds like a server stress test) in the next few days. As part of a Nintendo Direct for the May release, Nintendo revealed a bunch of news: Most importantly, a “global testfire” demo is available to…

Wasteland 2 is getting a slew of upgrades on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but inXile’s revealed PC, Mac, and Linux owners will get those upgrades for free. The game will be getting updated graphics, new voice overs, gameplay tweaks, and more. You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter…

Konami Sucks

The Internet’s angry at something new every day. With P.T., there’s a good god damn reason. Look, I don’t give a shit that Konami and Hideo Kojima are having a spat. I care about Konami burying an amazing piece of gaming history, and players not having any way to stop them. Here’s how I feel…

No One’s Sure Why Players Are Suddenly Getting Banned In Dark Souls II

Softbans, which traps players in a separate world of cheaters, are on the rise in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. It’s not clear why, but players have a theory: a very useful mod. Several Kotaku readers, including many reddit users, have reported being softbanned from the game. This is a problem because…

Sony has decided to renew its superhero series, Powers, for a second season, so says The Hollywood Reporter The second season will premiere sometime in 2016. You can reach the author of this post at [email protected] or on Twitter at @patrickklepek

Who Invented Let’s Play Videos?

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Thomas Edison may have invented the lightbulb (it’s up for debate). But who invented the Let’s Play video? It might be a guy known online as “slowbeef.” Thirty-six-year-old Michael “slowbeef” Sawyer may be accidentally responsible, nearly a decade ago, for kicking off the popular and profitable Let’s Play scene,…

No, Konami Isn’t Disabling Your Copy Of P.T.

Konami might have cancelled Silent Hills, but contrary to an image floating around, they’re not going to disable your already downloaded version of P.T. I checked my copy of the game, and there’s no apocalyptic countdown timer. Compare this to the image everyone’s been losing their mind over: What happened? It’s linked to when your…

Ambitious Half-Life Remake Has Entered Early Access

While fans wonder if Valve will ever continue the Half-Life series, you can download an expanded version of long-in-development fan remake of the original, Black Mesa, right now. Technically, though, it’s still not done yet! Black Mesa is now available in Early Access for $20. You can still totally download an older version of the…