- Culture
Awesome Games Done Quick Raises A Record Breaking $2.2 Million For Cancer Prevention
All week long, the Awesome Games Done Quick marathon has been streaming speedruns to raise money for charity, but the last day was especially dramatic thanks to robots and a ton of last minute donations. It was just after noon yesterday when AGDQ broke the $1,000,000 mark. Over the next twelve hours, however, the group…
By Ethan Gach Published January 15, 2017 - Esports
China’s 2016 World Electronic Sports Games Were Lit
China has been building ghost cities, constructing man-made islands in the Pacific, and more recently diving head-first into the world of competitive gaming. When it comes to esports, the World Electronic Sports Games are entirely next level thanks to gigantic prize pools, unusual rules, and inconsistent live streams. The WESG 2016 took place at the…
By Ethan Gach Published January 15, 2017 - Culture
Sunday Comics: Flying Monster Guy
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 10. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published January 9. Read more…
By Ethan Gach Published January 15, 2017 - Esports
Miami Heat’s Esports Partner Gets Counter-Strike Team Following Labor Dispute
The Counter-Strike players for the esports organization Team SoloMid have all left following a dispute with owners over which leagues they could play in. Instead, the squad have all joined with Misfits, an organization that just this week announced its new partnership with the Miami Heat News came by way of two announcements, first from…
By Ethan Gach Published January 14, 2017 -
CultureSpeedrunners Race Their Own Hellish Creations With Super Dram World
In the waning hours of the Awesome Games Done Quick charity marathon, player grandpoobear raced through Super Dram World, a game designed to torture speedrunners. If you weren’t aware, Super Dram World is a hacked version of Super Mario World for the SNES. It was inspired by a previous hack of the game called Kaizo…
By Ethan Gach Published January 14, 2017 - Culture
Watch The Final Day Of The Weeklong Awesome Games Done Quick Charity Marathon
It’s almost the end of the 2017 Awesome Games Done Quick at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel in Herndon, VA. Speedrunners from the far corners of the internet meet in person to raise money for charity by playing their favorite games apace. Along with its summer variant, the Awesome Games Done Quick marathon has…
By Ethan Gach Published January 14, 2017 - Esports
Counter-Strike Pro Is Godlike With His Starter USP
Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski is a beast with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s silencer pistol, and a recent match at the WESG 2016 CS:GO Finals proves it. Virtus.Pro’s Snax is routinely one of the best players currently in the game, known in part for his prowess with the USP-S, CS:GO’s version of the previous game’s USP. It’s a…
By Ethan Gach Published January 14, 2017 - Esports
The Weekend In Esports: Some Pros Are About To Get Rich In China
This weekend marks the end of the first World Electronic Sports Games finals, with several tournaments across Dota 2, Hearthstone, and more featuring giant prize pools thanks to the event’s deep-pocketed organizers. Unlike your regular esports tournament, WESG 2016 teams each represent a country, much like the World Cup. It also takes place it China,…
By Ethan Gach Published January 14, 2017 - Culture
This Week In The Business: Modest Expectations For Nintendo’s Switch
STAT | 50% – The percentage of developers who believe the Nintendo Switch can outsell the Wii U, according to a GDC survey. QUOTE | “It’s telling developers: ‘You’re on notice here. We’re going to dominate this thing. And your freedom is going to expire at some point.’ It’s a terrible precedent to set.” –…
Brendan Sinclair Published January 14, 2017 - Uncategorized
Titanfall Mobile Game Dies Before It Truly Lived
Remember the mobile collectible card game Titanfall spin-off we told you about back in September? Well, forget it. It’s dead. Titanfall: Frontline is cancelled, it’s closed beta shutting down next week. Why? Seems like it just didn’t have that Titanfall zest. Or at least that’s what it sounds like what is being said in the…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2017 -
UncategorizedLet’s Talk About Princess Zelda’s New Look
While she’s worn more than one outfit over the years, Princess Zelda’s pink dress is her most well-known sartorial choice. In the new trailer for Breath of the Wild from last night’s Nintendo Switch presentation, we got a closer look at Zelda’s outfit in the game, as well as the Amiibo accompanying the game. She’s…
By Gita Jackson Published January 13, 2017 - Uncategorized
RIP Miiverse
Miiverse, Nintendo’s special social network that debuted on the Wii U, will not be coming back for the Switch, VentureBeat reports. I’m heartbroken. Miiverse was genuinely my favorite thing about the Wii U, and I was really hoping Nintendo might revamp it for the Switch. Alas. Miiverse was too good for this world; always making…
By Patricia Hernandez Published January 13, 2017 - Culture
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
I get a long weekend! That’s three whole days to play video games! Earlier this week I solicited your advice for help finishing The Witcher 3. You all had such great stories of perseverance and how worth it the game is, so this weekend I’m putting a moratorium on Overwatch and Rocket League and Hitman…
By Riley MacLeod Published January 13, 2017 -
UncategorizedA Better Look At Snipperclips, The Switch’s Co-Op Puzzle Game
Snipperclips is a collaborative puzzle game for the Nintendo Switch where you cut up your friends to fit into shapes. [UPDATE-4:03: I thought the game was called Snipperclippers. It is actually called Snipperclips.] In Snipperclips, the aim is to solve puzzles by cutting the paper characters into shapes. By playing solo or with up to…
By Gita Jackson Published January 13, 2017 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Switch: The Size Comparison
The Nintendo Switch is slightly smaller but significantly heavier than the Wii U gamepad. The Switch’s JoyCons are tinier than a Game Boy Micro. And the whole system can fit in your back pocket… sort of. Today at the Switch event in Manhattan, Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo took a whole bunch of size comparison shots.…
By Jason Schreier Published January 13, 2017 - Culture
Ask Dr. NerdLove: I Wish I Were A Little Bit Taller
Hello, sexy munchkins of the Interwebs. Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the dating column that helps your Genji find the Mercy of his dreams. It’s one thing to take time to work on issues that make dating more difficult, but what if those issues are out of your control? Can you still date successfully when…
Harris O'Malley Published January 13, 2017 -
UncategorizedBlizzard Banning Players Who ‘Nuke’ Overwatch Matches
Overwatch cheaters on PC have a new trick up their sleeves. It’s called “nuking,” and it’s essentially a targeted form of a DDOS attack that slows matches to a crawl, sometimes to the point that players can’t even report the infraction. This form of cheating doesn’t appear to be as widespread as, say, aimbotting yet,…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 13, 2017 -
UncategorizedThe Best Quest In Dragon Age: Origins Was All About Dwarves and Politics
The Dragon Age games have captured my imagination like few other series have ever managed. Every quest is a roller coaster full of tough choices. For Origins, the best quest involved dwarven politics and a magical anvil. We take a closer look in this video. Transcript: I’m a huge fan of the Dragon Age series.…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 13, 2017 - Uncategorized
Hands On With The Nintendo Switch
The first thing you notice about the Switch, Nintendo’s sleek new portable console, is how small the controllers are. Each JoyCon (lol) is roughly four inches, or about the size of a Kotaku news editor’s palm. Compared to, say, the Wiimote, they’re downright tiny. Yet they’re also surprisingly comfortable, not just when you stick them…
By Jason Schreier Published January 13, 2017 -
UncategorizedWho’s Excited About The Return Of Bomberman?
A new Zelda at launch is nice, but I’m much more excited about the idea of going online with my Nintendo Switch and blowing the hell out of seven other players on a grid-based playfield. It’s so good to see you again, Bomberman. Launching with the Nintendo Switch on March 3, Super Bomberman R is…
By Mike Fahey Published January 13, 2017