Doublelift’s Team Liquid Wins Major League Of Legends Title Just A Week After His Brother Was Arrested For Murdering Their Mother

Three different teams with Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng on them have now won major North American League of Legends titles. The third, Team Liquid, instantly became the most memorable last night with a 3-0 sweep over 100 Thieves. Just a week after his brother was arrested and charged with murdering their mother, Doublelift opted to travel…

Decades After I Last Turned It On, My Atari Lynx Still Works

I was cleaning out my childhood bedroom yesterday and discovered my first handheld gaming system, the Atari Lynx. I plugged it in and, to my surprise, was immediately playing California Games again. I selected California Games’s BMX challenge but had forgotten how to backflip. Oh, yeah, press B. This morning I tried some surfing and…

The Simpsons Pokes Fun At Documentary That Criticized Apu

On last night’s Simpsons, the show’s creators poked fun at comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary, The Problem With Apu, which critiqued the show’s portrayal of its primary Indian character. The Problem With Apu, which aired on TruTV in November of last year, explored Kondabolu’s relationship to The Simpsons, a show he loves, as well as the…

The Week In Games: Beware Virtual Rick

We spent a minute playing games last week, but this week we’ve got some new JRPGs to explore, VR experiences to stumble through, and sacrifices to make. Also, Owlboy This week is dominated by games coming to platforms they’ve not yet been to. Earthlock, Hellblade, Owlboy, and a few others are finally branching out, giving…

Legendary Tokyo Game Shop Closes 

On April 8, legendary video game retailer Games Maya closed, bringing to a close a 35-year history. Some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming paid their respects. Games Maya wasn’t a mega-corporate chain retailer, but a mom and pop operation. Frequented by game industry types, the shop was known for its impressive stock, fair…

YouTube Trend In Japan: Let’s Study And Do Homework Clips 

A Japanese morning show recently did a report on how some kids are doing their homework while playing clips of YouTubers studying. The show featured a clip by Hajime Shacho, one of Japan’s most famous YouTubers. The clip dates from fall 2016 and has racked up over three million views. While this wasn’t a first,…

How To Make Super Cheap Cosplay

Last year, Kotaku profiled Japanese cosplayer Takaya. His creations aren’t only clever, but also super cheap. He’s been showing off his creative process. Each tweet begins with the character Takaya hopes to bring to life. That’s followed by household items, snacks and cheap creativity. Takaya is a low-cost cosplay genius. For more, follow him on…

Night Pink. Hinokicho Park, Tokyo, Japan. By Ernst de Jong. 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! 

Overwatch League Player Suspended After Being Accused Of Sexually Preying On Teen [UPDATE]

Overwatch League team Boston Uprising has suspended star player Jonathan “DreamKazper” Sanchez, 21, following allegations that he pursued a romantic and potentially sexual relationship with someone he believed to be a 14- or 15-year-old girl. [Update 4/9/2018, 2:47 PM: The Uprising cut Sanchez today after a second woman accused him of similar behavior. The original article…

The Queen Of The Forest

Remember last year, how we did a Fine Art post on a former Blizzard guy’s collection of fantasy sketches, having done one per day for 366 days? Only the first volume was released in 2017. The second one is coming out soon. Tegn: Book Two is the second of three collections, which include not just…

Overwatch Characters, Only They’re Cars

There’s a line of Rocket League car toys, but reader Kim has decided to branch them out a little and customise them into cars based on everything from Breath of the Wild to Overwatch to Spyro Most of them are Overwatch, and what’s cool about these is that despite them being based on existing models,…

Go1 Lands A Punishing Reflect In Dragon Ball FighterZ Match

Goichi “Go1″ Kishida and William Peter “Leffen” Hjelte matched up today in Dragon Ball FighterZ at the Brussels Challenge in Belgium. During the match, a quick exchange of blows reminded everyone just how good Go1 is at this game, especially on defense In a winner’s side match, Leffen was down his Android 21 and fishing…

Soul Reaver‘s Intro Still Holds Up Almost 20 Years Later

Although it was released almost 20 years ago, the opening cinematic of The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is still some of the most exciting weird fantasy storytelling in games. I missed the Legacy of Kain games when they originally released. Other than a playthrough of Blood Omen back on release, I haven’t ever touched…

Fnatic Sweeps European League Of Legends Spring Finals

The 2018 League Championship series spring split comes to a close today. In Europe, the grand finals hosted Fnatic and G2. It was the former who put on a convincing display, cruising to a 3-0 win and putting on one of the better showings of any League of Legends finals in recent memory. G2’s young-gun…

A Fan-Made Trailer Perfectly Captures Why I Love PUBG

I’ve been playing Battlegrounds longer and with more consistency that I have played any other multiplayer game, and this cinematic fan-made trailer helps express why. PUBG has been a game that I haven’t burned out on, and I’m always down to play a couple fast games. If I’m not playing it, it’s because I’m pressed…

‘Shop Contest: Celebrating Our Favorite Witcher

This week contained the 10th Anniversary of The Witcher series of video games, and I think it’s appropriate that we celebrate Geralt, the lovable protagonist of those games. Personally, I think that Geralt might be one of the best characters in contemporary games. He’s often conflicted about his choices, has a sense of humor about…

Tekken Player Jumps For Joy After Closing Out The Upset

Tekken 7 pro Choi “Saint” Jin Woo is one of the top players in the game. He took second at both Evo 2017 and last year’s Tekken World Tour finals. So when fellow pro Tanukana eliminated him from Beast Arena in Hong Kong this morning, you can imagine how exciting that must have felt. In…

Does Spending More Money On A Game Make You Feel Obligated To Play It?

Do you feel more obligated to play the games you buy for $60 than the ones you snag during Steam sales? On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, let’s discuss. First, Kirk and I talk about the news of the week on Lindsay Lohan, Shadow of War, and Todd Howard. Then we talk about Far Cry 5‘s…