-
Culture
Rocket League Adding Crates, Skipping Steam Market Features To Avoid Gambling Issues
If you were a human with functional Internet access last week, you probably heard about the big Counter-Strike gambling scandal. Despite a secondary market’s potential to help bring in big bucks, Rocket League’s developers don’t want a slice of that increasingly tainted pie. In a post confirming that, yes, loot crates are coming to Soccer…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 11, 2016 -
Culture
Valve Making Changes To Team Fortress 2‘s New Casual Mode After Widespread Criticism
Last week, Valve launched Team Fortress 2‘s big competitive mode update and, with it, a new casual mode that took the place of classic quick play. So far, people… don’t exactly love it. The new 12 vs 12 unranked matchmaking mode has players angrily spitting out their sandviches for quite a few reasons, most prominent…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 11, 2016 -
Culture
Robot Samurai
Georgi Simeonov was one of the main artists responsible for the look of ADAM, that incredible short film that was put together recently on the Unity Engine In a blog post over on Unity’s site, Simeonov—who has worked on games like Brink and Batman: Arkham Origins—outlines the design work and processes that went into creating…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 11, 2016 -
CultureSpeedrunner Crushes Super Mario World Without Using A Single Power-Up
There were some remarkable speedruns at Summer Games Done Quick 2016, but this might be the most impressive: Rezephos blazing through Super Mario World without getting a single mushroom, fire flower, cape, star, or Yoshi. You can watch the astounding run here (starts at 7:50): Those shell jumping tricks are just out of this world.…
By Jason Schreier Published July 11, 2016 -
CultureCosplayNobody Stop This Awesome Mask Cosplay
This is Simon Fontaine (The Mask) and Michele Paul (Tina) at the Montreal Comiccon, which went down in Canada over the weekend. We see a lot of guns and swords and rocket launchers in cosplay. What we don’t see is enough dancing, especially when it goes to the trouble of recreating the entire routine from…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 11, 2016 -
CultureThe Week In Games: Somewhat Afraid Of The Ghostbusters Game
Early reviews for the new Ghostbusters movies are pretty good! Early reviews for the new Ghostbusters game are pretty much nonexistent, which is scary. Did you know there was a new Ghostbusters game coming out this week? You might have missed the announcement trailer from two months ago due to no one really caring all…
By Mike Fahey Published July 10, 2016 -
CultureRobot Finishes Super Mario Bros. 3 In Two Seconds
Yesterday’s tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) block at Summer Games Done Quick ended with a Super Mario Bros. 3 run that lasted barely longer than a blink. The ridiculously rapid run is the result of a newfound glitch discovered by TAS speddrunner ais523, which basically involves pressing buttons at an extremely fast rate—some 6,000 times a second.…
By Mike Fahey Published July 10, 2016 -
Culture
Sunday Comics: We Need A Tank
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 July 7. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich didn’t update this week. Here’s one from the archives, published August 2013. Read more…
By Mike Fahey Published July 10, 2016 -
Culture
Weird Al’s My Little Pony Figure Comes With A Tank
Just because it has the word “party” in front of it doesn’t make what the Weird Al Yankovic-voiced Cheese Sandwich is riding on any less of a tank. The upcoming Guardians of Harmony line of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic toys turns the normally immobile plastic statues into battle-ready articulated action figures. Hasbro is…
By Mike Fahey Published July 9, 2016 -
Culture
Watch The Final Day Of The Summer Games Done Quick Speedrun Marathon
The seven-day Summer Games Done Quick charity speedrun marathon comes to a close today, but not before runs of Diablo II, Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid and Super Mario RPG are finished. Several great games remain to be run in Summer Games Done Quick, which has so far raised nearly $800,000 forDoctors Without Borders. Can…
By Mike Fahey Published July 9, 2016 -
Culture
Evolve Cracks Steam’s Top 20 After Going Free To Play
It’s the year 2016, and people are actually playing Evolve. What a world. Yesterday, Turtle Rock released Evolve Stage 2, a free-to-play, you know, evolution of the 4v1 multiplayer monster mash. Stage 2 also refreshes the game with a new progression system and mechanics. For now, it’s only on PC. This has resulted in an…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 8, 2016 -
Culture
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
Weekend! Get your weekend here! Fresh from the oven, only a dollar! Hey, it’s Friday. Tomorrow’s Saturday, and after that comes Sunday. What a wonderful time to play some games! I’ll level with you: I’m going to be traveling this weekend so my gaming time is pretty limited. Before I go, I’ll probably play some…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 8, 2016 -
Culture
The Counter-Strike Gambling Scandal, Explained
The past week has seen the world of online games rocked by a major gambling scandal. Two YouTubers with millions of subscribers, Trevor ‘TmarTn’ Martin and Tom ‘ProSyndicate’ Cassell, were revealed to be owners of a site they repeatedly promoted sans overt disclosure. The potential ramifications are not pretty. Roll the bones This is not…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 8, 2016 -
Culture
The Plan One Guy Used To Get The World’s Highest Steam Level Overnight
The PalmDesert dynasty is, at least for now, over. As of today, a new guy has the world’s highest Steam level, and he managed it almost over night. His handle? St4ck. As for how he did it, well, it’s quite a story. St4ck’s current Steam level is 1,113, making it officially the highest in the…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 8, 2016 -
Culture
Why, It’s Concept Art, My Dear Watson
Evgeniy Musienko, Andrey Roscha and Anna Bulavina are the three artists who worked on The Devil’s Daughter, the latest game in Frogware’s Sherlock Holmes series. Below you’ll see some examples of work from the game. It’s like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, only with less murders. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 8, 2016 -
Culture
Today Is Terrible, So Let’s Distract Ourselves By Watching People Play Video Games Really Fast
If you’re feeling miserable after a week full of horrifying news, you’re not alone. Why not distract yourself a little by watching people play video games? The Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon has been going on since Sunday, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch. The quality of both play and commentary…
By Jason Schreier Published July 8, 2016
