Overwatch’s Trolls Are Losing

Overwatch players needed something to incentivize good sportsmanship and, yesterday, they got it. Blizzard’s latest Overwatch patch is toning down the hierarchy of skill and introducing a hierarchy of decency. It’s a masterstroke of features, all interacting to reward civility and cleanse the game of antisocial behavior. At its heart is a new “endorsement” system…

Gamers from the Class of 2018 Graduated in Style With These Graduation Caps

The practice of decorating graduation caps is often seen as a rite of passage for incoming graduates of colleges and (now, increasingly) high schools. Students often spend months contemplating what they will include on their graduation caps, which on graduation day. This year, many chose to adorn their caps with inspiring quotes, memes, and song…

Fortnite Player Destroys Tilted Towers In A Single Shot

Fortnite’s notorious Tilted Towers—a high-risk, high-reward landing spot once described as “tryhard central” by erstwhile Kotaku editor/genius Patricia Hernandez—have been a target of players’ grimmest imaginings ever since rumors that they’d be obliterated by a comet started swirling in March. But still they stand. So one player took matters into their own hands. A Fortnite…

PUBG Is Struggling To Find Its Place In A Battle Royale World

A declining player base. Multiple public-relations gaffes. And gameplay that still feels unfinished. Can PUBG turn its fortunes around, or will the game that launched a whole genre be remembered as just a flash in the frying pan? Last year, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds single-handedly caused the “battle royale” genre to explode in popularity. But Fortnite overtook…

Overwatch Players Have Made Their Own Ways To Celebrate Pride Month

Even though Overwatch’s mascot character is an out lesbian, the game didn’t offer any Pride-themed events or costumes this month. So players have found their own ways to celebrate. When Blizzard released a holiday comic that showed the Overwatch mascot character, Tracer, celebrating Christmas with her girlfriend, fans were ecstatic. They’d already been writing fic…

The Sorry State Of PS4 Cross-Play

Right now, if you download Minecraft on Switch, you can play with any of your friends who are on PC. You can play with any of your friends who are on Xbox, or even on their phones. There’s just one glaring omission on this list, and it ain’t the Ouya. Sony, whose PlayStation 4 is…

Smash Bros., Ghost of Tsushima And 27 Other Mostly-Interesting Games I Saw At E3

E3, a show in which the future of gaming pretends to be in the present, is in the past. Those demos that may or may not represent the final quality of the games they preview? All locked up. The previews and round-ups by writers who hit reasonable deadlines? Published. And then there’s me, straggling along.…

Winter Pool Parties Less Dangerous For Your Sims, And Other Patch Notes

With every new Sims expansion, there comes new bug fixes. Just before the Seasons expansion launched last week, The Sims’ team pushed through some fixes. Turns out that the expansion itself made a few more bugs, which they’ve fixed yesterday. Some of these patch notes are pretty funny. Here are my favorites. Sims were hosting…

Someone Made A Pachinko Machine In No Man’s Sky

One No Man’s Sky player made a base that’s a working pachinko machine, just in case you wanted to play a game while you game. No Man’s Sky players are mostly twiddling their thumbs while they wait for the huge update that’s bringing true multiplayer next month. Some of them are still finding ways to…

My First Hours With The Crew 2 Were Mostly Forgettable

Last night in The Crew 2 I drove from New Orleans to Manhattan in about 20 minutes. Behind the wheel of the free, workmanlike 2016 Mazda MX-5 the gamegave me to start, I zig-zagged between other cars because one, I was going 150 miles an hour and they were not; and two, narrowly avoiding collisions…

Heavy Rain Headlines July’s PlayStation Plus Lineup

I’ve never actually played a David Cage game; I end up watching them on YouTube since they’re already so cinematic. Could Heavy Rain’s inclusion in July’s PS Plus lineup change my trend? (Probably not.) As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription. July’s PlayStation Plus lineup is: PlayStation 4…

Fortnite‘s New Playground Mode Is Live And Here’s How It Works (Update: It’s Back Up)

Fortnite’s long-awaited “Playground” mode is finally live this morning. It’s a freeform, Minecraft-like practice mode that will feel crucial to players who want a less chaotic environment in which to git gud. As Kotaku posts this, Fortnitejust announcedthe mode is down for repairs while they “investigate some issues with our matchmaking services.” [Update—9:00 am ET,…

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Creators Drop Lawsuit Over Fortnite

Last month, Kotaku reported that South Korea’s PUBG Corp., the studio behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, was suing Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, for copyright infringement. PUBG Corp. has now withdrawn its lawsuit. Earlier this week, PUBG Corp. sent a withdrawal letter to Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite. According to Bloomberg, the court case is…

An Abandoned Village. 田舎, Japan. By Lee Chapman | Tokyo Times 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!   

David Hayter Returns To Metal Gear For A Bomberman Game

Super Bomberman R kinda came and went last year, but Konami have since decided to go the Smash Bros. route with the game and start hyping up post-release guest appearances like wrestler Xavier Woods and some guys from Metal Gear, including Snake, who will be voiced be series stalwart David Hayter. Hayter—synonymous with the role,…