The Top Streamers On Twitch Now That Ninja’s Gone

Last week, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, much like his namesake, crept out of the figurative building—flanked on all sides by fanfare, cascading grey-blue mountains of Red Bull, and ill-considered jokes. Soon, he made his presence known under a different roof: Mixer, Microsoft’s competitor to Twitch. Blevins has left behind a void. The question is, who will…

Jumbling The Rules Of Chess, Eight Different Ways

Chess is a game of seemingly endless complexity, each new match expanding into an intricate weave of strategies, gambits, and countermoves. It only gets stranger if you decide to throw out the rulebook. Chesses is a new browser-based game that does just that, with game modes that pack the board to the brim with pieces…

Origin PC’s EVO16-S Is A Wonderful Little Laptop And Mine Has A Unicorn On It

When Origin PC approached me about reviewing its EVO16-S gaming laptop, the representative asked me if I wanted anything printed on the top laptop panel. “A pink unicorn,” I said. “Like a majestic unicorn on the side of a van.” A few weeks later arrived the most beautiful laptop I’ve ever used. The EVO16-S is…

Clever Player Creates First-Person Dungeon-Crawler In Mario Maker 2

The Mario Maker series offers creators an expansive suite of tools with which to build punishing, unique, or thought-provoking levels. A recent level uses these tools to meticulously recreate the first-person adventure style of old-school dungeon-crawlers like Ultima and Might and Magic in Super Mario Maker 2 Uploaded last week by Japanese creator Negitendo, “3D Maze…

Fortnite Is All About The Kids (And The Aesthetics)

The Fortnite World Cup was packed with young faces, both attendees and competitors. Unlike many other esport events, this one had a kid-friendly, earnest vibe that dovetailed well with the chaotic playground atmosphere of Fortnite. Kotaku editor-at-large Riley MacLeod came on Kotaku Splitscreen this week to talk about his coverage of the Fortnite World Cup…

Modern Warfare‘s Lack Of A Mini-Map Will Change How People Play Call Of Duty

Last week, Activision revealed the multiplayer mode for the softly-rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. 2019’s Duty is dropping the iconic mini-map to add more “realism” to multiplayer, and it’s the design decision that’s caused the most consternation in the Call of Duty community so far. Call of Duty’s mini-map has been a feature of the…

Speedrunners Baffled By Mysterious Stranger Sending Silent Hill 2 Puzzle Solutions

One of the challenges of speedrunning Silent Hill 2 is getting past the game’s puzzles. Puzzles are semi-randomly generated and will change on each playthrough. In the past week, a mysterious stranger has been slipping into speedrunners’ Twitch chats and revealing future puzzle solutions to them. It wasn’t clear how this stranger was getting that…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: Is It Selfish To Want More Attention From My Girlfriend?

Hello you terrible skinsacks of the noosphere, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the dating advice column that charges into your love problems like 30-50 feral hogs. This week we’re tackling communication problems and how to not create new problems while trying to solve existing ones. How do you help your partner when their depression…

It Is Surprisingly Hard To Create An Incompetent Ass-Clown In Dungeons & Dragons

The great escapist fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons is that you are not a salaryperson shoveling handfuls of gummy bears into your mouth and rolling 20-sided dice. Rather, you are a singularly important hero with a singular capacity to disarm some impending plot bomb. It’s a time-tried formula, one that basically spawned an entire industry…

Lego’s Friends Central Perk Set Is An Impressive Collection Of Tiny White People

Not only is there an official Lego set based on classic sitcom Friends hitting stores on September 1, the set comes with the actual actors from the show. Oh wait, no. Those are generic Lego minifigures. Honest mistake. This set is the latest from the Lego Ideas program. Fan creators submit their builds to the…

Wolfenstein‘s Best Hidden Feature Is All The Fascist-Friendly Pop Songs

It’s kind of funny that video games still have collectibles. As their worlds become more detailed and awe-inspiring, it can seem tedious to still be reminded to turn around so you can gather more digital widgets. But the Wolfenstein series does collectibles well, using them to flesh out the game’s worlds in deft ways. If…

Anthem’s Cataclysm Update Wasn’t Worth The Wait

A massive storm rages overhead. Spend too much time in it and you’ll die. Enemies stalk a handful of ancient ruins scattered around a rocky beach. Take too long trying to kill them and the mission comes to an end, booting you back to the overworld map. At nearly every turn, Anthem’s new limited-time, score-based…

Beware Of Fake Retro Games

While fake retro games are certainly not new, now is a good a time as any for a reminder to watch out when shopping. In the past few years, more and more retro games have been sold in Japan via e-commerce sites Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions. Twitter user Jabberlooper cautioned that many phony versions of…

Digital Arts Museum. Kyoto, Japan. By Thomas Carney JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!