Hello! Today we watch Sonic tap his foot, cheer on a mini-Shrek, crash some Xbox consoles, skin some nuggets and ignore the yelling. It’s Morning Checkpoint!
Great Kotaku Contest From The Past Week
Like most weeks, Kotaku was filled with some great stories. Here are a few of my favorites!
I always love that moment in a game where a character takes control when I give it up and shows me who they are. Wonderful post from Heather.
This is something I never really thought about before and now I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t imagine what years of looking at gore and death will do to your brain.
I love how Treyarch is teasing out the story for Black Ops 4, though it does make me sad we didn’t get a true campaign.
Tweets!
Shrek is magical.
I will never get tired of internet assholes getting in trouble with their moms. It is the best.
Humanity has really hit rock bottom.
News
- Over 150 Riot Employees Walk Out To Protest Forced Arbitration And Sexist Culture
- The Final Fantasy VII Remake Finally Re-Emerges
- YouTuber ProJared Accused Of Sexually Soliciting Fans
- Ubisoft Announces Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, A Sequel to Wildlands
- Fortnite’s New Season Gives Tilted Towers A Cyberpunk Overhaul
- U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions
Some Good Comments
I can believe it. Back in the 360 days, my friends and I were playing MTG on live. One of them used a card that put a 1/1 pegasus creature down for every point of hp he had.
He had 211.
All four of our Xboxes crashed simultaneously.
-Hotaru99 from “Magic: The Gathering Is So Complex It Could Stump A Computer”
Crashing four Xbox 360 consoles is the ultimate victory.
SO a few years ago, I went on a family vacation from hell. Trump had just been elected, and my uncle-in-law had voted for him. Everyone else in the house was a bleeding heart liberal (my FiL’s initial career trajectory was to die overthrowing the government in the ‘70s through a communist uprising - he’s now in printing), so things were... let’s go with tense.
We got through the majority of the trip fine - only a few microbursts here and there - until two nights before we had to leave. I made salmon burgers for everyone, and just as I was pulling them off the grill my MiL gets into a red-faced, spittle-flying rage-match with UiL, eventually sucking in the rest of the family into an hours-long maelstrom of viscera and ad-hominem attacks.
Except for me. I was still outside, watching the rest of the food. Outside - outside was beer, food, and relative quiet.
And then I had a Thought.
Outside also had a door that led to mine and Wife’s bedroom, where I had hooked up my Wii U. Outside had outlets near the grill. Inside, the fracas swelled and rolled and ended with everyone else sobbing and getting ice cream after spreading grandma’s ashes at the beach. Outside, though, outside was just a sunset and several hours of Mega Man X.
And I have you to thank for that, Stephen, for showing me that I could make my Wii U portable. You saved me from murdering half my family that day.
-Stoncils from “A personal note: This month marks my 10th anniversary at Kotaku..”
Games can sometimes help us escape the terrible moments of our lives and this sounds like a great moment to escape. Thanks to Kotaku and Stephen for helping this person in their time of need.
Following your example, I used the WiiU as a portable console to make a special Mario Maker level for my wife on her wedding day. The process failed spectacularly and damaged my WiiU. Happy anniversary Stephen!
-Vwtifuljoe from “A personal not: This month marks my 10th anniversary at Kotaku...”
Kotaku gives and Kotaku takes.
Trailers & Videos You May Have Missed
I want to be excited about this, but why does the gameplay look so bad? It seems to be running at a terrible framerate and feels clunky.
A new Overwatch map means it’s time for my semi-annual return to the game. I’ll play a few matches, enjoy myself, promise to play more and then not return for months.
Doc Ock himself is returning to Elder Scrolls Online. Sadly, no Spider-Man.
Did you know Steep is still being updated and worked on? I didn’t! Wow, Ubisoft really is committed to games these days.
Morning Checkpoint is all about catching you up on the past week, getting you ready for the next week, answering some questions, sharing stories and having a good time. You can email me anything you want or drop a comment below. Suggest tweets, comments, ideas, new sections and more for next week and thanks for reading!