Soon, All That Will Matter In High-Rank Overwatch Matches Is Whether Your Team Wins

Overwatch’s competitive mode has been a source of much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and flogging of one-tricks since its inception, and it’ll probably remain that way until the end of time. On the upside, Blizzard is taking aim at two of its biggest issues. In a new forum post, principal designer Scott Mercer announced that…

Hey, Nintendo Didn’t Delay Any Games This Year

When Nintendo unveiled its lineup of launch-year games for Switch back in January, most people had the same thought: Which of these is gonna get delayed? I mean, delaying games is what Nintendo does. So who could have suspected it would actually release everything this year? Nintendo’s 2017 sounded typically ambitious. Although Switch’s launch day…

Riding A Motorcycle In Breath of the Wild Is As Rad As It Sounds

Breath of the Wild’s Champions’ Ballad DLC has an amazing reward for anyone who bests its numerous trials. Prove yourself a champion and you’ll get to ride the Master Cycle Zero. Here’s how it looks in action. I’ve spent all day tackling The Champions’ Ballad and unlocking its secrets. After a ton of shrines and…

PUBG‘s Desert Map Makes The Game Feel New Again

The desert. Unanimously voted “the place nobody really wants to be” every year since the beginning of time, it might seem like an odd spot for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ second-ever map. Despite the oppressive conditions, however, the map is a breath of fresh air. The map, called Miramar, is more than just a reskin of PUBG’s…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for snow, one of the greatest things that exists. Also, video games. I am making all sorts of Witcher 3 progress again, delightfully. I’m also going to check out Floor Kids on my Switch, as well as the host of super-exciting changes in The Long Dark’s latest patch. So much to do! What…

Hawaii State Rep Is Drafting Bill Barring Minors From Buying Games With Loot Boxes

Imagine a 17-year-old gamer tossing a copy of the Teen-rated Star Wars Battlefront 2 onto his local GameStop’s checkout counter, only to be asked: “Sir, may I see your ID?” A Hawaii in which games with microtransactions are illegal for minors to purchase is one that state legislator Chris Lee is now hoping to realize.…

The Division’s Free 1.8 Update Is Better Than Its Paid Expansions

After numerous multiplayer-centric patches and expansions, The Division finally got a big improvement for solo players this week. The new update is shockingly large and shockingly good. It seems designed to make every type of Division player happy. Update 1.8 adds two new, enemy-filled zones called West Side Piers to the game’s Manhattan-based map, throws…

The Live-Action Alita: Battle Angel Trailer Exists And It’s Uncomfortable

The guy who produced Avatar is adapting the classic manga Battle Angel Alita to the big screen, because that’s certainly what we needed, and there’s a new trailer for it. Although Avatar writer James Cameron wrote the screenplay (argh), Robert Rodriguez, who directed Sin City, will be directing Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron has saidthat the…

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Is Pretty Darn Different In Japanese

I played a lot Xenoblade Chronicles 2 before its release. I had to wait until after its release to download the Japanese voiceover DLC. Using the in-game cutscene viewer, I rewatched every cutscene I’d seen so far in the game, in Japanese this time. I made a video cataloging some of the little differences I…

‘Dungeon Run’ Is The Single-Player Mode Hearthstone Always Needed

Hearthstone’s Kobolds and Catacombs expansion is live, and for perhaps the first time in Hearthstone history, even players who didn’t spend money have a way to enjoy the expansion: a totally free new game mode called “Dungeon Run.” It’s something Hearthstone has needed for a long, long time now. The concept should be familiar to…

I’m In Love With A Final Fantasy Trading Card Game I’ve Never Played

I can’t stop buying Final Fantasy Trading Card Game booster packs. The iconic artwork printed on high-quality card stock—I particularly love how the textured card backs feel on my fingers. And the gameplay, well… I’ve never actually played it. I’m sure it’s nice. It’s Square Enix’s fault. The company sent me a couple of starter…

Six Free PS4 Games Worth Playing

You can have a damn good time on the PS4 without spending a dime thanks to a number of free-to-play games populating the PSN store. Some of these free offerings rival what you’d expect out of a full-fledged $60 game, if not surpass them. Here are our picks for the most worthwhile F2P PS4 games.…

Nine Parchments, the pretty spell-casting action RPG set in the world of Frozenbyte’s Trine series, is coming to the PlayStation 4 on December 13. Make sure you play with other people. It’s easier to kill them that way.

A Game That Simulates Real World Riots

In 2013, Riot – Civil Unrest was announced by developer Merge Games and went on to have a successful Indiegogo campaign. Four years later the game has finally arrived on Steam Early Access. Riot is a real-time riot simulator that puts you in control of either a large group of rioters or the police. As…

Fortnite Battle Royale’s New 50 vs 50 Mode Is Awesome

Fortnite Battle Royale just got a 50 vs. 50 mode that’s everything I ever wanted a neighborhood game of Cops and Robbers to be. It encourages a hive-mind approach to a battle royale game that works surprisingly well. Fortnite is a game about building forts, shooting zombies and battling the apocalypse. In September, developer Epic…

Faker Plays With His Prey Before Eating It

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is recuperating from his heartbreaking loss at this year’s world championships by crushing lesser opponents. After tepidly accepting the 2017 Game Award for Best Esports Player, he faced off against poor Álvaro “VVvert” Miguel Martins in a one-on-one League of Legends All-Star match. League is normally a five-on-five game. One-on-one is played…

Assassin’s Creed Hippo Joins The Order

Today on Highlight Reel we have Rainbow Six plays, stealthy hippos, a frozen Link 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…

LMFAO Xur Is Selling Prometheus Lens

Destiny 2’s Curse of Osiris expansion included a bugged laser weapon that’s so powerful it’s completely ruining the balance in the competitive Crucible. So of course, Xur is selling it today. The Prometheus Lens, as it’s called, is normally a random drop. That means some players have it, but others are doomed to be fried…

Snake Eyez Stands By Street Fighter‘s Massive Bear Hug Man

Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis is one of the best Street Fighter players in the country. But he barely cracked the top-64 at last month’s North American Regional Finals Last Chance Qualifier, and he’s only ranked 20th on the Pro Tour headed into this weekend’s Capcom Cup. Why is the 2017 CEO champion going to have…

A Game About Your Phone, The Worst Part Of Modern Life

Pokedis a short game about getting too many notifications on your phone. This game was made in three days for the game jam Ludum Dare 40, which had the theme “the more you have the worse it is.” You start out having a pleasant text message conversation with a friend about a recent date, picking…