The Week In Games: Back To The Dynasty Wars

Everyone’s favorite button-mashing historical figures are back. The release of another Dynasty Warriors game might seem like an ordinary event. After all, there have been eight so far, and this upcoming one is only the ninth installment if you don’t count all of the offshoots, spin-offs, and re-issues. It is, however, the first Dynasty Warriors…

Borderlands 2‘s Opening Area Was Beautifully Sparse 

Borderlands 2 opens on a car full of post-apocalyptic freaks that gets run over by a train. Even people who didn’t play the game remember this scene and the song that went with it. After that it pivots to the game’s heroes and their bombastic attempts to escape death aboard a locomotive which ultimately self…

Players Are Still Doing Amazing Stuff In Dark Souls III

Released just shy of two years ago, people have committed no shortage of amazing feats in Dark Souls III. Recently though, two players have hit new heights showing just how far top-tier Souls play has come. First there was Squillakilla’s zero damage, all bosses plus DLC run he accomplished this weekend. The streamer has been…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Shadow Of The Tingle, Winners! 

The first ‘Shop Contest in many months gave us a ton of good entries, but unfortunately they couldn’t all be Bill Gibbons of ZZ Top. Thanks to everyone who made this week’s call to ‘shopping arms a success, but especially TheRetroGamer whose winning entry was a masterpiece in both conception and execution. I would not…

Making A New Game For The Original Sega Genesis Isn’t Easy

Matt Phillips has been working on Tanglewood, a new game for the Sega Genesis, for a few years now. Set to release sometime this year, the project has been a challenging endeavor but one which hasn’t dissuaded its creator from doing the same thing for his next game. Tanglewood is a retro platformer that Big…

Commentator Just Straight Up Drops Smash Player’s First Trophy

Last night, Brian “Cosmos” Kalu won his first-ever trophy for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, and then almost lost it. Kalu and his doubles partner Rei “komorikiri” Furukawa won the two-on-two bracket last night at Frostbite 2018. In the post-game interview, commentator Richard “Keitaro” King Jr. almost gave new meaning to the term “Smash…

Divinity: Original Sin 2‘s Director Wants The Game To Kick Players’ Asses

Today on Kotaku Splitscreen we’re talking to the director of Divinity: Original Sin 2, one of the best role-playing games we’ve ever played First, Kirk and I talk about Nintendo Labo and The Leftovers before getting into the news of the week (18:37) on Counter-Strike’s co-creator getting charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor,…

London Win Overwatch Stage 1 Playoffs In Reverse Sweep

After a long, almost 12-hour day of competition, the London Spitfire emerged victorious last night in the first stage playoffs of the Overwatch League. After dropping two maps to the New York Excelsior, the Spitfire surged back and took three straight to reverse-sweep the finals and win the playoff bonus. Though the stage playoffs have…

Sunday Comics: Behold The Power 

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics that usually occurs on Sunday except when it doesn’t. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published February 11. Read more of Nerf NOW!!  Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published February 5. Read more…

Of course there’ll be Pearl and Marina Amiibo. Figures of Splatoon 2‘s premier performers were announced at the end of the game’s Koshien event in Japan earlier today, along with a new stage and a pair of Tetra Dualies. Isn’t one of them perfect, and if so, which?

Houston Makes Overwatch Stage 1 Playoffs After Do-Or-Die Final Round

The second of today’s matches would determine who would continue on to tonight’s playoffs, so of course, it went the distance. The Houston Outlaws and the Boston Uprising seemed to match each other blow-for-blow, all the way to map five, round three, each determined to shape the playoffs to come. Because of tiebreaker rules, Boston…

People Have Thoughts About The Monsters, Inc. Version Of Goofy

Kingdom Hearts III got a new trailer last night and by all accounts it’s going to release sometime this year. But what we really need to talk about is the wonderful abomination that is the Monsters, Inc. version of Goofy. For anyone unfamiliar with the games, Kingdom Hearts is about Donald Duck, Goofy, and a…

Cloud9 Talk Over Their Boston Counter-Strike Major Win

Cloud9’s win at the Eleague Boston Major was a huge one, for the team and North American Counter-Strike in general. Broadcast house Beyond The Summit sat the team down, less than a month later, to rewatch a reel of its finest moments and talk over them. It’s really cool any time you get a peek…

Splatoon‘s Tradition Of Annual Hologram Concerts Continues

Pearl and Marina showed up at this year’s Niconico Tokaigi Smash Bros. tournament in Japan for the latest in a series of hologram concerts dating back to the first Splatoon. Taking over for the Squid Sisters from the first game, the two characters sang songs for an audience of adoring, human fans. Not to be…

TinyBuild Announces Six New Ports For The Nintendo Switch

During a livestream today, indie publisher Tinybuild announced six more games that will be heading to Switch later this year. All of the games have been out for a few years now and are available on PC and other consoles, but the magic of the Switch so far has mostly been showing that that doesn’t…

Watch A Crowd Lose Its Mind Over Dramatic Fortnite Finish 

It’s not every day you get to see a battle royale match come down to the wire. With the storm that constricts players having closed in as much as possible and only two players left, the would-be victor had few options at their disposal. Hundreds of feet above their opponent, they did the only thing…

Scarlett Is Currently Dominating StarCraft, One Match At A Time

Earlier this week, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn made StarCraft history at IEM Pyeongchang 2018, defeating two-time world champion sOs. Last night, she chalked up more wins against the world’s best. Scarlett is shaking up the modern StarCraft scene one game at a time, and shows no sign of slowing down. Defeating Joo “Zest” Sung Wook and…