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CultureReport: Alienware Ends League Of Legends Sponsorship Over Riot CEO’s Sexual Harassment Investigation
According to a report in Dot Esports, Alienware, the high-performance gaming PC brand owned by Dell, has severed ties with Riot Games over Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent’s ongoing sexual harassment investigation and other public relations concerns. The deal, originally scheduled to end in January 2022, seems to have been terminated early amid concerns regarding Riot’s…
By Ash Parrish Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Streamer Banned Twice In Two Days For Harassing Himself, Somehow
It might be an understatement to say that popular Minecraft YouTuber and streamer George “GeorgeNotFound’’ Davidson had a weird weekend. Within two days, he got banned from Twitch, possibly un-banned, definitely banned again, and unbanned (again?). Why? “Harassment via username,” according to Twitch. Problem is, the only person he could have possibly been harassing was…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureUndertale Makes Its Xbox Debut Via Game Pass Tomorrow
Undertale, the quirky 2015 role-playing game from indie dev Toby Fox, finally heads to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S tomorrow, and it will be free for everyone with an active Game Pass subscription on console. After debuting on PC several years ago, Undertale was ported to several additional platforms, including PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita,…
By Ian Walker Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsWarren Spector Thinks Deus Ex Is Too Real For 2021
The Game Developers Conference kicked off today as a week of virtual talks. In a live chat alongside a rebroadcast of his 2017 GDC talk, Deus Ex designer Warren Spector talked about why he wouldn’t make the game today. “I’m constantly amazed at how accurate our view of the world ended up being. Frankly it…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureAssassin’s Creed Valhalla Gets Transmog And More Cats In Next Big Update
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s 1.2 update arrives tomorrow and adds transmog so that players can finally wear whatever they want without hurting their stats while murdering the English countryside. Transmog, or what Ubisoft is calling “Change Appearance,” will let you customize the look of each piece of your gear at the Blacksmith Gunnar for a nominal…
By Ethan Gach Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureDestiny 2‘s Trials Of Osiris Still Offline Following Match Fixing Scandal
It’s been a rough year for Destiny 2‘s high stakes competitive mode. Trials of Osiris has been plagued by cheating, glitch exploits, and lopsided matchmaking. Now it’s a hotbed of match fixing, as players try to game the system to get its coveted rewards without actually putting in the work, and Bungie’s decided to take…
By Ethan Gach Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureOutriders Is Officially Coming To Xbox Game Pass
It’s official: Outriders, the hotly anticipated looter-shooter from People Can Fly, is coming to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft confirmed in a blog post today. It’ll be available starting April 1. Last week, the ever-so-cheeky Xbox Game Pass Twitter account posted another “leaked” email from “Melissa McGamepass,” hinting at the news. On Friday, a bunch of…
By Ari Notis Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureFall Guys Season 4 Kicks Off March 22
Not even time can erode the irrepressible cheer of face-planting beans. The futuristic fourth season of Fall Guys kicks off on March 22, developer Mediatonic announced today. Set in 4041—which totally explains the absence of humans—the new season will introduce seven new rounds to the platformer royale. One of them, Skyline Stumble, will have anti-gravity…
By Ari Notis Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureSevered Steel Is A First-Person Shooter With A One-Armed Protagonist
Announced this morning on the PlayStation Blog, Greylock Studio’s Severed Steel (formerly known as Impact) is a first-person shooter starring a character who can’t reload because she only has one arm. Her name is Steel, and before the game starts she loses her arm in an accident caused by megacorporation EdenSys. When the company abandons…
By Mike Fahey Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureThe Week In Games: Eat Some Brains All Over Again
The loveable (and a bit decayed) Stubbs the zombie returns in… Stubs The Zombie, a remastered port of the cult classic game releasing later this week on Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC. I was a big fan of the original game back in the day. This new remaster seems cool, but what I really…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicNine Inch Nails’ Ambient, Droning Quake Soundtrack Massages My Brain
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, lull yourself into productivity with the sound of nightmares. (Hmm, Ima keep workshopping that.) Angsty Nine Inch Nails fan though I was back in 1996, and curious to hear how Trent Reznor and co had…
By Alexandra Hall Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureControversial Taiwanese Horror Game Devotion Is Back And Available For Sale
After disappearing from Steam in early 2019—after upsetting Chinese gamers with a Winnie The Pooh joke—and then returning before disappearing again last year, Taiwanese horror game Devotion is now finally on sale to basically anyone who wants a copy. After running into nothing but trouble on other people’s platforms, the game’s developers have decided to…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 15, 2021 -
CultureStreamers Suspended After Call Of Duty Actor & Community Catch Them Cheating
Streamer Alex Zedra—the face behind an actual character in Call of Duty—was hosting some Warzone the other day, when she and her community noticed some pretty suspect behaviour on display from the two people they were watching. People who’ve since had their Twitch channels suspended for cheating. As PC Gamer report, Zedra was hosting Sarah…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsExpert Doom Players Continue To Complete Challenges Once Thought Impossible
Classic Doom players are continuing to pick away at some of the hardest remaining community challenges left, beating missions without attacking a single enemy in some of the hardest retail Doom levels ever released. In the early 90s, shortly after the release of Doom II, some of the best Doom players in the world joined…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureOdds and Ends14 Years Ago Rockstar Ran Weird TV Ads Of Just A Clock Counting Down
Back in 2007, Rockstar Games teased Grand Theft Auto IV with a series of late-night ads that appeared on channels like FX. All the ads amounted to were 30 minutes of watching a clock tick down, with every second punctuated by a gunshot. Young Zack, ever the sucker, fell for the hype hard. Yes, cast…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Bethesda+Microsoft
It’s official. Microsoft has completed its purchase of Bethesda. They had a whole roundtable discussion about it and everything. (More importantly, it was officially approved by regulators.) Let’s have some fun with these two companies now stapled together like some hideous mega-beast. Your challenge this week: Mix Xbox and Bethesda together. Feel free to mix…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsPeeled Pokémon Are Disturbing, But I Can’t Stop Looking
Nothing really prepares you for stumbling upon a Lopunny that has had parts of its fur and flesh peeled off it, leaving a smooth monstrosity. And yet, that happened to me one day on Twitter. Now I can’t stop looking at all the other peeled Pokémon. (Peeled Pokémon gave me permission to share their artwork…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureSunday Comics: How Could You Tell?
Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published March 11. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 8. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 14, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: The Artifact Imps, Winners!
Remember Artifact, that card game Valve made? No…? Well, it was killed last week. It also had two imps who helped in-game and now they need work. That’s why last week I asked for your help. Our winning image this week comes from Kaput Noob, who gives the imps a pretty terrible new job, all…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 13, 2021 -
CultureParadox Interactive Announces A New Digital Event During A Digital Event
Paradox Interactive’s annual fan event, PDXCON, is going digital this year. This announcement came today during PDX Insider, a different digital event. Due to covid-19, PDXCON is going digital. The new event is officially called PDXCON Remixed. PDXCON is an annual fan showcase that Paradox Interactive has been hosting since 2017. They usually announce some…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 13, 2021