Overwatch League Commissioner Leaves Blizzard For Epic

The Overwatch League’s founding commissioner, Nate Nanzer, announced on Friday night that he is leaving one of the most-hyped pro esports leagues in the world. The news was first broken by ESPN, which reported that Nanzer is leaving the league for the team-based shooter to join Epic Games to work on competitive Fortnite “This has…

These Rage 2 Characters Have Amazing Names But No Backstories, So I Made Some Up

I’ve met some real characters during my time playing Rage 2. And by characters, I mean glorified quest dispensers. There’s old guy, cool lady, and of course—who could forget?—third main story person. These folks get functional speaking parts, but I honestly can’t remember a word they’ve said. They’re bland potato people in a perfunctory post-apocalyptic…

Dauntless Struggled With Online Issues In Its First Week, But Things Are Finally Improving

Dauntless, an online multiplayer game inspired by Monster Hunter that officially released earlier this week, has been slammed with matchmaking issues and server problems in its opening days, but its developers say things will get better. After launching in alpha in 2017, Dauntless finally came out of Early Access on May 21, arriving for the…

It’s A Very Fighting Game Weekend

It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means either chaining hot dogs, hamburgers and handfuls of chips or jab, jab, uppercut, jab, throw, special. Or both. Fighting game tournament Combo Breaker roils on all weekend in Illinois, where top competitors from titles ranging from Mortal Kombat 11 to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will vie to be their…

Our Gameplay Data Should Be Harder To Sell

Video game developers can collect our data, and for now, they can sell it to advertisers. But that may not be as easy in the future due to California’s new data privacy law. On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, we do a follow-up episode after last week’s analysis of the state of gameplay data and privacy.…

Black Ops 4‘s Long-Promised Zombies ‘Factions’ Feature Is Still Missing

Black Ops 4’s Zombies still doesn’t have all the content that Activision promised prior to its launch last year. In fact, the undead survival mode hasn’t really seen a proper content flow or substantial rewards. Seven months since Black Ops 4’s launch, and the Zombies community is still left speculating about the Factions feature that…

Adorable Little Discord Bot Is Actually A Devious Game In Disguise

When my Discord server first added Smilebot, everything seemed normal. It was a little widget that spewed emojis and told you what your mood was. When I returned to my Discord after a plane flight, competing corporate factions in our sever were at war with each other in a competition to craft materials and please…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for a three-day weekend, the best form of weekend. That’s so much time to do so many things and play video games. It’s still The Witcher 3, again. I’d also like to finish Katana Zero and play some Apex Legends, but there’s all that Witcher 3 to get through (again)… What about…

Reigns: Game Of Thrones Is Giving Me New And Better Ways To Kill Everyone

After the end of Game of Thrones, I was mostly OK with how things went down. Like many fans, though, I still had complaints. After I’d run my course tweeting about them, I decided to open up Reigns: Game of Thrones and try my hand at sitting on the Iron Throne. Reigns: Game of Thrones,…

Missing Game Dead Island 2 Is Still In Development, Publisher Says

In the zombie apocalypse, no corpse is ever truly lifeless, and the same is apparently true of zombie video games. Dead Island 2, the long-missing sequel to Polish studio Techland’s 2011 zombie survival game, has seemingly stumbled back to its decayed, undead feet. In a THQ Nordic interim report first spotted by PC Gamer, Dead…

Anti-Trump Resistance Figures Who Got Banned From Twitter Were Also Big Ouya Advocates

Yesterday, prolific tweeters Brian and Ed Krassenstein were banned for life from the platform for allegedly operating fake accounts and trying to buy clout. The two brothers then took to The Hill Reporter to plead their innocence and mount a defense, which relied in part on their past enthusiasm for the Ouya. The Ouya was…

I Both Love And Feel Embarrassed About All The Video Game Music On My Phone

An eight-hour road trip I recently took with a friend quickly turned into a musical deep dive. As we flew through conversations about bachata, gospel, R&B, soul, house, and more, my friend mentioned that ’90s music made up a significant portion of his palate. “You know, there’s a lot of anime and video game music…

Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Delayed To 2020 To Fix Sonic’s Look

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been delayed from November 2019 to February 14, 2020 in order to tweak the design of the CG Sonic character, according to a tweet from director Jeff Fowler. Fans were unhappy with Sonic’s design in the movie’s trailer released in April, which prompted Fowler to respond earlier this month.…

The Next Call of Duty Is Called Modern Warfare (Yep, Really)

The first Modern Warfare was called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, so it’s only natural that the fourth Modern Warfare is called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Confused yet? That’s video games for you. News of this year’s strangely named Call of Duty leaked out via YouTuber LongSensation this morning. Activision has been showing…

Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida outlined tons of game changes last night in a Twitch broadcast Among other things, TP is getting removed and tanks will only have one (enmity generating) stance. I played a sneak peek of Shadowbringers this week and will have more information on Wednesday.

McDonald’s Japan Fined For Its Fake Roast Beef Burgers

Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency has fined McDonald’s after breaking the law and misrepresenting the Tokyo Roast Beef Burger sold in summer 2017. According to NicoNico, the fine is 21.7 million yen (nearly $200,000) and must be paid by December 25 of this year. The original “Tokyo Roast Beef Burger” ads featured what looked like real…

Man Arrested For Allegedly Stealing 80 Copies Of Detective Conan Manga In Japan

In Mie Prefecture, a 26-year-old man has been arrested for suspected theft after security camera footage showed the man stealing volumes of the Detective Conan manga. In total, eighty copies were stolen, and the suspect has confessed. According to Tokai TV, the alleged thefts occurred on three separate occasions with the suspect, 26-year-old Aoi Hattori,…