Watch The First Day Of The Weeklong Awesome Games Done Quick Charity Marathon

The annual Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon kicks off today at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel in Herndon, VA. Speedrunners from tons of different games will be talking spectators through all of their tricks while demoing their best runs in real time while donations are taken for the Prevent Cancer Foundation The event…

Sunday Comics: Machine Spirit

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 January 6. Read more of Nerf NOW!!  Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published January 1. Read more…

What Are Your Favorite Games To Lose In?

Nobody likes to lose. We hardly ever set out to intentionally fail. But just because it wasn’t the goal doesn’t mean losing is always bad. Often seeing the dreaded “Game Over” screen a number of times makes finally winning all that much better. And on rare occasions losing is what makes a game so much…

Dragon Age‘s Varric Is Getting His Famous Book Published For Real 

Varric Tethras is Dragon Age’s wry but poetic dwarf. Making his first appearance in Dragon Age 2, he’s not just a resourceful hunter and trap layer but also a famous writer. His novel “Hard in Hightown” is a best seller in the continent of Thedas and, it turns out, soon to be published in the…

Overwatch APEX Tournament Series Is Over

Ahead of the kickoff week of Blizzard’s Overwatch League, South Korean cable network OGN announced that its long-running Overwatch APEX league is over. A statement from OGN went into the specifics: We did our best and agreed to most of Blizzard’s conditions on continuing the competition, but we were notified that Blizzard was preparing a…

3rd Strike Is Alive And Well This Weekend At Cooperation Cup

While the biggest events host the latest games, it’s always nice to revisit classics. In Japan, love for Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike never waned, thanks to a vibrant arcade scene. This weekend’s Cooperation Cup highlights the best of the best, in a game almost 20 years old. Cooperation Cup pits teams of Street Fighter…

GOG’s Mysterious Curation Process Rejected Opus Magnum [UPDATE]

Zachtronics, the developer behind the elegant puzzle game Opus Magnum, recently stated on Twitter that the reason it wasn’t available to buy on Good Old Games (GOG) was because the digital distribution service had rejected it during the review process. [Update – 11:00am, 2/1/2018] GOG has now tweeted that it will accept Opus Magnum after…

Staff Writer Heather Alexandra (that’s me!) is starting up a playthrough of Skyrim live on Twitch. I’m exploring it to take a closer look at what works and what doesn’t. Join me in chat for adventures and glitches.

Dota 2 Escape Plan Fails, Thanks To One Push

In yesterday’s Captains Draft 4.0 match, Evil Geniuses were pushing high ground when the fight started to go the wrong way. Clinton “Fear” Loomis hit the escape button, but thanks to a tiny, very Dota interaction, the rest of his teammates didn’t come with him. Loomis was playing Underlord, a beefy fella who can root…

Time Is Running Out For One Talented League of Legends Free Agent To Find A Home

The start of the 2018 League of Legends Championship Series is just two weeks away, and the ink on team rosters is starting to dry. As the best talent in North America falls into place, one name keeps coming up among the jobless: Marcin “Selfie” Wolski. Wolski was signed to Cloud9’s roster in November 2017,…

The Weekend In Esports: Smite And Paladins Crown Champions 

The new year is off to a big start in the world of competitive gaming thanks to both the Smite and Paladins World Championships going on right now. In addition to both of those tournaments, there’s also some StarCraft II play in Europe and Korea as well as a descent Dota 2 tournament in Captain’s…

This Week In The Business: Hooked On Games

QUOTE | “The World Health Organization knows that common sense and objective research prove video games are not addictive. And, putting that official label on them recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder, which deserve treatment and the full attention of the medical community.” – The Entertainment Software Association trade…

Blizzard Can’t Leave Mercy Alone

All of the support players in Overwatch League will have a tough time during the first competitive season, slated to start next Wednesday night, and it’s all because of the character Mercy. The angelic healer has undergone multiple makeovers in the past few months, all with the intent to balance her most controversial ability: the…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for it being my birthday! All the more reason to play video games. Readers, last weekend I finished the storyline of The Witcher 3‘s last DLC. While there are more question marks than I know what to do with, I have technically finished the game. What will I do now? Play other…

In GTA Online, The Rich Are Ruining Games With Expensive Nukes

A group of GTA Online players are all gathered together near an auto shop in downtown Los Santos. They’re here for a car meet meant to show off fancy vehicles within the community. Suddenly, and without any warning, a giant explosion goes off. Everyone is killed, and the hot rods are destroyed. Another orbital cannon…

Mankind’s Newest Invention: The Anime Bomb

Today on Highlight Reel we have VRChat anime bombs, headless dudes, doorway defenses and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! Catch up on all…

There’s A Website Dedicated To Stealing Furry Porn From Patreon Artists

A horde of pirates is undermining Patreon’s financial structure, reposting paywalled pornographic images on an illicit website for free. The makers of these images are furious that internet denizens are putting their livelihoods in jeopardy to score free porn. Yiff.Party has been around since July, 2015, but has picked up speed exponentially in recent weeks.…