Amazing Mario 3 Speedrun Is Full Of Setbacks And Sportsmanship

Last night, the top two Super Mario Bros 3 speedrunners faced off for a race that ran into problems—including game crashes. Despite the hurdles, speedrunners Mitchflowerpower and GrandPOObear bounced back and showed sportsmanship and skill under stress. In their “All Forts” run at Summer Games Done Quick 2018, the pair sped through the game and…

We Talk About Queerness In Games, From Overwatch Ships To E3 Smooches

We celebrated Pride this week at Kotaku with stories from queer staffers about Street Fighter ships, queer fandoms in Overwatch and in K-Pop, and our desire to see queer characters survive and thrive in the games we play. Before we take down the beautiful rainbow logos that festooned the site this week in celebration, we…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: How Can I Trust The Men I Work With?

Hello all you death monkies of the noosphere, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column with a battle royale mode. This week, we’re talking about trust and judgement. How can you trust that someone actually likes and respects you instead of just trying to get into your pants? And for that…

Custom D&D Character Sheets Are A Critical Hit

Cartoonist and self-described Dungeons & Dragons nerd Luke Howard hand-crafted a convincing argument in favor of pen-and-paper role-playing: custom character sheets for D&D It’s not unusual for players to print their character sheets off D&D’s website or type their stats into a digital document. But that can feel a little impersonal. Howard’s character books are…

Tips For Playing Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is finally out for Nintendo Switch, which means a lot more people are playing it than when it hit PC last year. People like me! I’ve put almost 40 hours into the game, and I have some tips for anyone starting out. For the most part, Hollow Knight is straightforward. Explore the buried…

What’s So Great About Banjo-Kazooie

People poured money into a Kickstarter for a spiritual successor to the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie. Why? Because Banjo-Kazooie was a wonderful game and no mere Mario 64 me-too, as some detractors claim. This post originally appeared 5/11/15. We’ve bumped it up for the 20th anniversary of Banjo-Kazooie. To properly appreciate the greatness of…

Riot Accidentally Sends A ‘Few’ League of Legends Players Other People’s Personal Info

Some League of Legends players received sensitive private information that belonged to other people earlier this week due to errors by Riot, makers of the internationally acclaimed multiplayer game. Instead of getting access to their own requested account info, several received phone numbers, email addresses, and detailed player histories of other people. A Riot representative…

Shape Of The World Is A Gorgeous Exploration Game

Shape of the World is an exploration game that weaves colors into breathtaking landscapes. The shifting pastel horizons create one of the best game worlds I’ve ever explored, capturing both the thrill of hiking and the colors of a solid psilocybin trip Shape of the World invites comparison to 2013’s exploration game Proteus, but while…

Here Is Pixar’s Dory Fighting Crime

I had many possible topics in mind for today’s Kotaku Game Diary: The slew of wonderful Metroid-like games I’ve been playing on the Switch. An analysis of a vexing Nioh boss. A meditation on the lack of playable denouements in video games. All will be covered in due time. Today? I am too short on…

To Eliminate Match-Fixing In Esports, Pay The Players More

Spend an afternoon at a Top 8 Finals of any fighting game tournament, and you will find there is a robust side-betting culture in esports. Pseudo-gambling activities like “skin wagers” in Counter-Strike have been a part of esports culture from the beginning, and fringe sites like XLBet have included StarCraft games next to MLB games.…

Cosplayer Job Site Launches In Japan

It’s called “Cos Job,” and the new recruitment site is aimed at cosplayers and the businesses that want to hire them. As Anime Anime notes, the site is run by cosplay social-networking site Cosplay Archive, Cos Job lists help wanted ads for cosplay models as well as event companions and staff. There are also listings…

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Please Don’t Kill Hammond, Overwatch’s New Hero

Hammond, Overwatch’s newest hero, can be killed just like everyone else. But while it looks like he simply disappears in the blast as his mech explodes, the reality is more horrifying. Please don’t kill Hammond.