A Quake Tournament Where Nobody Knew How To Play Quake

The longer a competitive game’s around, the less its high-level matches resemble matches between typical players. Pros begin whipping out plays that blur the line between technique and exploit. So what happens if you press the reset button on all of that? Some people consider Quake III and its spin-offs to be the forgotten rulers…

Here Comes Final Fantasy XIV‘s Most Entertaining Update Yet

Final Fantasy XIV‘s servers go down tonight at midnight Eastern time. When they come back one of the MMO’s most anticipated features comes with them. Are you ready for the Chocobo races, Triple Triad and mini-games of the Manderville Gold Saucer? Leveling a character and experiencing the story of the game is nice and all,…

Show Us Your Horrible Mess Of Video Game Cables

Electronic gadgets are cool. Knotted, tangled cables are not. Yet rarely will you find the one without t’other. Maybe you’ve done a good job of hiding your cable mess. But it’s still there, slumbering in the dark, flexing slowly of its own volition, using the long weeks and months to turn in on itself until…

A War Game Where You’re A Housekeeper Instead of A Soldier

Last week, I had a chance to play a war game unlike any other I’ve played. Called Sunset, the game puts you in the shoes of a housekeeper. You clean up after a rich bachelor who seems to be a part of a revolution—and you seem keen on being a part of it, too. What…

A Guide To Resident Evil‘s Endless Lore

Many stories have been told in the Resident Evil universe since the t-virus, Umbrella Corporation, and Raccoon City debuted in 1996. The Resident Evil lore hole is deep and maddening. The episodic Resident Evil: Revelations 2 starts tomorrow, and no one would blame you being confused! Let’s clear things up. First of all, Revelations 2…

Why Riot Is Pissed Off At A League of Legends Streamer

If you’re a popular League of Legends eSports player, who actually owns the streams of your matches? That’s a complicated question, but in the case of ultra-popular pro Sanghyuk “Faker” Lee, the answer seems clear cut. Another streamer, however, found a loophole that’s thrown it all into question. And controversy. Twitch streamer StarLordLucian runs a…

An Endless Runner Without All The Crap

Years of iteration and mainstream popularity have taken their toll on the endless runner genre, rendering it tired and worn despite its young age. Endless snowboarder Alto’s Adventure defies that notion, stripping away layers of gaudy mobile paint to rediscover the genre’s elegant core. The average endless runner can be a great deal of fun,…

It Took Three Years To Beat The ‘Hardest Super Mario World Level Ever’

“Item Abuse 3” is not a Super Mario World level that messes around. The player-created level is so hardcore, it might very well be impossible for most to beat it under normal means. But recently, someone managed to beat it. While this run of an incredibly difficult Super Mario World level is done with the…

My Five Favorite Kotaku Stories From Last Week

We publish hundreds of stories per week, and I like quite a few of them. Here are my five favorites from last week: A Chronicle Of Buggy, Broken Telltale Games, 2012-2015 | Kotaku featured a semi-intentional theme about quality control in gaming last week. We kicked it off with this horrifically thorough rundown by Kirk…

Five Things I Didn’t Get About Making Video Games (Until I Did It)

Before I joined Gearbox Software, I worked at Destructoid as a features editor. I worked there from 2006 to 2010 and specialized in highlighting indie games and spewing vitriol at big-budget games I didn’t like. It turns out there were a shitload of things I didn’t know about games development. Back in the day, I…

Salvaging Games From A Broken 3DS Is Surprisingly Easy

My 3DS bit the dust a few months back. Rather than pay for Nintendo to fix it, I waited for the New 3DS. Unfortunately, most of my games were purchased digitally, and you can’t just insert an old SD card into a New 3DS. On Nintendo platforms, games are tied to the hardware. Dumb? Yes.…

Giving Yourself Hacked Pokémon Just Got Way Easier

UPDATE 3/4: Unfortunately, this has now been patched out on the 3DS! You can still do it if you don’t update, but it means not being able to play online. Original article follows: Normally, Pokémon cheaters have to use devices like Action Replay to get rare (but hacked) Pokémon. But recently, Pokemon players found an…

The Pallet Town Theme, Played In Majora’s Mask

You nailed it, Hollows. For those of you interested in recreating this tune: Up R, R, Up L, L, Down(A,X), Up Y, Down(XY).. Down(L,L), L, Up L, R.. Up L, L, Down L, L, Up L, L.. Up R, R, Up L, L, Down(A,X), Up Y, Down(XY).. Down(L,L), L, Up L, R, Up L, L,…

If you think you’ve heard Mega Man music covered in every possible way, let me point you to this rendition of Spark Mandrill’s theme from Mega Man X performed by eight floppy drives. For comparisons sake, here’s the original version from the SNES classic. Not bad. You can reach the author of this post at…

Scammer Is Selling Fake Games On The Windows Store

Darkest Dungeon has been one of the hottest, hardest games to see release in the new year. Despite being an Early Access title, the dungeon-crawler debuted as one of the top-selling games on Steam and has stayed there since its debut. That must be why a scammer has a shady $3.99 listing up on the…

Razer Sale on Woot, Crazy Console Bundles, and More Deals

Need some new PC gaming gear? Woot is having a great deal on a variety of refurbished Razer products today. [refurb Razer Sale at Woot] With these bundle deals, it might be time to finally pick up a new gaming console. Sony PlayStation 4 500GB w/ The Last of Us Remastered and PlayStation TV ($400)…

Halo: Master Chief Collection Has Been Broken For 100+ Days Now

It’s been four months since Halo: The Master Chief Collection came out for Xbox One, and unbelievably, the game is still broken. The matchmaking and lobby systems somehow still don’t work properly. For a complete, startling look at just how bad things have been, check out this full timeline (at Team Beyond) of problems, patches,…

Dead Or Alive 5 Is The Latest Big Game Shipping With Too Many Glitches

The official Twitter account for Team Ninja, developers of the recently released Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, is a complete trainwreck right now. In a variety of languages, nearly every tweet is warning players of some bug or glitch currently plaguing the fighting game. Where do we begin? As reported on Friday, the game’s…