- Esports
Popular Twitch Mod Is Sorry For All The Revenge Porn [UPDATE]
This past Wednesday, a former moderator for Overwatch League’s Twitch channel who goes by the handle Uncleswagg posted about having been unceremoniously demoted from his duties with no explanation from Blizzard. On Thursday, former Blizzard employee and World of Warcraft streamer Cher Scarlett came forward to say that Uncleswagg had non-consensually posted naked photographs of…
By Maddy Myers Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
All The Times Valve Has Said Vague Things About Making Games In The Past Decade
Valve is back in the news again for a presentation it recently gave about its new Dota-inspired card game Artifact and its plans for the future. In addition to explaining how the new game will work, CEO Gabe Newell said the company is definitely still making games, adding to a litany of past statements about…
By Ethan Gach Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Dragon Ball Super Action Figures Play Well With Others
Bandai America’s Dragon Ball Super Dragon Stars action figures have been flying off the shelves since the release of Dragon Ball FighterZ earlier this year, as fans and collectors scramble to pick up their favorite characters. I got hold of the first three waves, tore them open, and made them do stuff. Fun stuff. The…
By Mike Fahey Published March 9, 2018 - Culture
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for bribing yourself to do laundry by promising yourself cookies. Also, video games. Snowy battle royale game The Darwin Project is in early access now, which means I can play it whenever I want! I’m pretty excited to lose terribly but hilariously. To my great shame, I have yet to play Gwent’s…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Magic: The Gathering Is Getting Some Big Changes
As Magic: The Gathering approaches its 25th anniversary, head designer Mark Rosewater is perched at a crucial point between past and future. The game’s next set of cards will reprise Magic’s classic Dominaria setting, with the game’s original creator Richard Garfield tag-teaming design with Rosewater. But while it looks back, it will also look forward,…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published March 9, 2018 - Esports
A Quick Roundup Of The Overwatch League’s Latest Punishments
Overwatch League just announced a couple of punishments for several players, including two of Dallas Fuel’s notorious troublemakers. Timo “Taimou” Kettunen has received a $1,000 fine for calling another player a “fucking faggot kid” on his personal Twitch channel this past January. Félix “xQc” Lengyel has gotten hit with a $4,000 fine and a four-match…
By Maddy Myers Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
How Fortnite Streamer Ninja Suddenly Took Over Twitch
When Tyler “Ninja” Blevins hit 100,000 subscribers on Twitch, he could barely form words. The streamer, sporting his trademark yellow headband, broke out into a fit of incredulous laughter before howling at the top of his lungs. But he had every right to lose his shit: after all, he’d just broken the all-time overall subscriber…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Nintendo’s New Rewards Program Is Actually Pretty Good
This week Nintendo finally rolled out its new rewards program. After a year of only letting players redeem coins for discounts on Wii U and 3DS games, people can finally start leveraging their purchases to save money on Switch games. Compared to the rewards programs elsewhere in gaming, it’s actually pretty good. The updated version…
By Ethan Gach Published March 9, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformSecret Of Mana: The Kotaku Review
Secret of Mana is a broken game that I will always love. Playing through the recent remake forced me to reckon with why that is. Originally released by Square in 1993 on the Super Nintendo, Secret of Mana is the textbook example of the “action role-playing game.” Like any RPG, the damage you do to…
By Chris Kohler Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Google Maps Gets Its Very Own Mario Kart
Google’s already tossed Pac Man into its maps—now it’s Mario’s turn to shine. To celebrate Mario Day, users of the Google Maps phone app can now send their favorite plumber karting around their neighborhood. Leading into March 10th–whose abbreviation Mar. 10 looks like the most l33t spelling of Mario ever–anyone using the Google Maps app…
By Heather Alexandra Published March 9, 2018 -
EsportsThe NBA 2K League’s Combine Probably Wasn’t Rigged, But Didn’t Do Itself Any Favors Either
In a more open approach than most franchised esports leagues, the draft process for the NBA 2K League was open to any and all challengers who met a small set of requirements. Win 50 games in January’s online qualifiers, and you move on to phase 2: the combine. That combine then whittled 72,000 applicants down…
By Eric Van Allen Published March 9, 2018 -
UncategorizedKotaku XP: Nintendo Direct, Call of Duty, The Division 2
Last week we started a new weekly series called Kotaku XP. Being the first episode, it technically wasn’t “weekly” yet. Well, it’s exactly one week later. Surprise! It’s the second episode. We are officially weekly. In Kotaku XP, Gita Jackson and I discuss 10 Kotaku stories for around 30 seconds each. This week, we got…
By Tim Rogers Published March 9, 2018 -
UncategorizedFortnite Seems To Be Overtaking PUBG
For a long time, the love affair between PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Twitch looked like it was meant to last. The blockbuster survival shooter captured the hearts of Twitch’s biggest streamers all through 2017, and, in August, finallydethroned Twitch mainstay League of Legends in the “most hours watched” category (73.7 million to 71.9). Now, Battlegrounds is…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
The Endless Appeal of a Good Video Game Character Creator
Earlier this month, a hentai game blew up. It wasn’t the sex, though: people were talking about the game because of the incredibly detailed character creator. It’s not the first time a game has exploded largely due to a character creator. Remember Black Desert Online, the MMO that eventually released a standalone just so players…
By Patricia Hernandez Published March 9, 2018 - Esports
BlazBlue Producer Is Wrong About Why Japanese Players Dominate His Games
During a recent press event, Arc System Works chief development officer Toshimichi Mori sat down to discuss his team’s next fighting game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. The upcoming release’s simple controls, he said, are a way to make the game more accessible to newcomers as well as Western competitors who can’t keep up with their…
By Ian Walker Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Here’s What We Know About Artifact, Valve’s New Card Game
Valve demoed its upcoming card game Artifact recently at its Seattle office and the details have begun pouring in. While Valve founder Gabe Newell reportedly called Blizzard’s Hearthstone the “benchmark” for online card games, Artifact sounds like it will be very different. Previously, all we knew was that the game was inspired by Dota and…
By Ethan Gach Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
Mike Dies Keeps Finding Exciting New Ways To Kill Me
If Spaceman Mike stands completely inside a portal, he’s transported to another place. If even a tiny bit of him remains outside, he dies. Developer Psydra Games does so much with such a simple mechanic in the disturbingly-named Mike Dies. Mike Dies, available on Steam, has many things going for it. It’s a Metroidvania-style puzzle…
By Mike Fahey Published March 9, 2018 - Esports
Battlegrounds Team Gets DQ’d, Loses $12,000 For Using See-Through Wall Glitch
OpTic Gaming has been stripped of its second-place finish in a PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tournament after officials ruled that one of its players, Ian “Bahawaka” Crowe, abused a glitch allowing him to see through walls. During game eight at the PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice, Crowe moved next to a wall in a very specific way…
By Eric Van Allen Published March 9, 2018 - Uncategorized
A Peek Inside Final Fantasy‘s Ultimania Art Book, Now In English
In 2012, Square Enix Japan published a trio of Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania books collecting art, developer commentary and background information on the first 14 numbered Final Fantasy games. Now Dark Horse is publishing the books in English, with the first 336 page volume arriving in July. We got samples. Wanna see? Square Enix…
By Mike Fahey Published March 9, 2018