The 100 Most Popular Kotaku Posts Of 2016

In 2016, Kotaku readers liked reading about Pokémon. And… Pokémon. And Pokémon. As is annual tradition, here were our most popular 100 stories of 2016, sorted not by quality but by traffic (on Google Analytics), brought to you by our wonderful data team. Fun fact: Fifty—50!—of these articles cover Pokémon in some way. Three are…

Dota 2 Player Compiles 4,000-Word List Of Bugs After Huge Patch

Dota 2‘s massive December 11th patch added a new hero, an HUD redesign and, apparently, loads of bugs. On Reddit yesterday, Dota 2 player DimitrijaT published nearly 200 bugs he personally encountered or learned of on the Dota 2 subreddit, PC Games News reports The post totals about 4,000 words and includes bugs like “neutral…

Ariana Grande Final Fantasy Remix Is Weird, But Not Bad

As if adding Ariana Grande’s likeness to Square Enix’s free to play mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius wasn’t strange enough, her song “Touch It,” will also be given a fully orchestrated remix for the game. It’s kind of ….good? Music producer Nick Wood from SYN Productions, a music studio he co-founded with Simon LeBon…

Vlambeer’s Giant Book Is Fantastic

Vlambeer are best known for their video games like Luftrausers, Nuclear Throne and Ridiculous Fishing. I’ve been enjoying something else they’ve done recently, though, and it’s something a bit more tangible: this big book all about the team and their history. At 152 over-sized pages, it’s really two books in one: there’s a massive collection…

Razer’s Latest CES Showstopper Is A Laptop With Three Screens

It’s too bad Razer already used the name Switchblade for its CES 2011 micro laptop concept, as it’s would have been perfect for Project Valerie, a gaming laptop that expands from one to three displays with the press of a button. Multi-monitor desktop gaming is easy, but setting up a pair of additional screens to…

Ciri by Lyz Brickley. Photo by beethy

Fuck This Touchpad

This is Samsung’s Notebook Odyssey, “designed specifically with gamers in mind”. It can take that off-kilter touchpad and get the fuck out of here. It also comes in white. White is worse.

Super Mario Adventure: The Kotaku Review

This is a Mario game, but it’s not a Mario video game. It’s a ball puzzle/game/thing I got for my kid for Christmas, and we haven’t been able to stop playing it since. We spotted it on Amazon trawling for Mario merch (kid is nuts for Nintendo stuff), and figured that because the box was…

If Force Awakens’ BB-8 Was A Bad Guy

We’ve seen what a lumbering killing machine looks like when it works for the Empire, but this is what cute lil’ BB-8 would look like if he was in the service of space fascists. It’s by George Damiani, a 3D artist from Brazil, and combines a few elements from Rogue One (the colour scheme of…

Someone made a coaster planet in Planet Coaster. “Wrapping itself around a sphere no larger than the average asteroid, Planet Coaster launches itself up to speeds surpassing 100 km/h,” writes creator Silvarret. Props to them for this truly inspired goof.

Diablo III‘s Riff On The First Diablo Is More Homage Than Remake

Diablo III’s 2.3.4 update has hit the public test realm, giving PC players a chance to play through a 16-level retro dungeon packed with bosses from the 1996 original. It’s not quite a remake, but it hits all the right notes. Update: 2.3.4 is now live on PC, Xbox One and PS4. Originally run on…

World Of Warcraft Now Has A Secret Cow Level

The cow level has been ensconced in gaming lore since the hoary old days of Diablo, when it was a ridiculous rumor, and Diablo II, when Blizzard gave it life. It’s a gag that evolved into a rallying cry, a reminder of good times long-passed. Now, as part of Diablo’s 20th anniversary, it’s been added…

The Top Five Overwatch ‘Panic Ults’

If you play Overwatch, you’ve had the experience of being backed into a corner with three health and no teammates in sight. The big, blue button that unleashes your ultimate ability is glowing. It could save you, or more importantly, your whole team. Fuck it, you think, before desperately hitting Q, Y or Triangle. “Panic…

California Has Become An Unstoppable Force In Let It Die‘s Multiplayer

Let It Die is full of tough enemies. Climbing the game’s massive tower is a dangerous affair. But thanks to the game’s multiplayer, there’s one monster that reigns above the rest: California. In Let It Die, players never fight each other directly. Instead, they are able to raid each other’s home base by riding the…

Horror Game Explores A Corrupted, Glitchy Video Game

When I was a child I had an inexplicable fear of opening games on my family computer. They were often my brother’s games, and I was terrified of him finding out. But also, in the brief moment of blackness before a pre-rendered video or pixelated graphic filled the screen, it wasn’t just that I feared…

The Roguelike Platformer Where Anyone Can Lose A Limb

Catacomb Kids is a mix between a roguelike and a platformer, with equal parts magic potions and goomba stomps. You can also chop body parts off pretty much everything. It’s one heck of a challenge and a damn Cool Indie Game. Game designer Tyriq Plummer wanted to do many things with Catacomb Kids. He wanted…