This is going up late, so let me just get right into it. My top five Kotaku posts from last week are...
- The Joystick Is Back. Long Live The Joystick.| As editor Luke Plunkett writes, "This post is talking about the traditional definition of a joystick: a single stick that you grab, with the buttons on it." And they're making a comeback!
- Rust Chooses Players' Race For Them, Things Get Messy | A chronicle of an unusual game decision, the thinking behind it and the ways players reacted. Very good reporting here by Nathan Grayson.
- Destiny Players Are Trying To See The Future—And Bungie's Pushing Back | Senior writer Patricia Hernandez once again digs into what's going in the community of a major video game, this time reporting about the back-and-forth between gamers who dig into the code for Destiny and the people who make the game.
- New Jersey Game Store Swatting Takes An Uglier Turn | Not a fun read by reporter Mike Fahey, but an important one in our efforts to chronicle the dangerous act of Swatting.
- Your Worst PC Gaming Stories | A round-up of amazing PC gaming tales of woe, submitted by our readers and assembled by features editor Kirk Hamilton.
Wait, that's five already! Damn. I wanted to plug Evan Narcisse's arched eyebrow of an essay about Stan Lee's recent creative output, Yannick LeJacq's sharp analysis of why League of Legends may enable some of the toxic player behavior that the game's developers are constantly fighting, and, if I can throw one of my own in (I can!) this not-very-easy-to-write recounting of my own odd and revealing experiences inside police cars. Oh yeah, I also really dug freelancer GB Burford's praise for Doom, a game he just played for the first time. and thank goodness for reporter Patrick Klepek's brave journeying through Bloodborne. That review is coming this week!
Got thoughts about what we published last week or about stories you'd like to see on the site? Let me know.
To contact the author of this post, write to stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter@stephentotilo. Top illustration originally appeared on Yannick's League of Legends toxicity post.