Epic Removed A Popular Fortnite Mechanic Because It Made People Play Less

Epic has finally addressed Fortnite’s controversial 8.20 patch, which removed a popular mechanic from the main game by which players would get health and shields when they eliminated opponents. According to Epic, the mechanic, called “siphoning,” made players avoid the main battle royale mode. In a competitive update today, Epic reiterated their initial reason for…

The Overwatch League Goes To Texas This Weekend

I normally try to zero in on one particular esports event or theme around it each weekend for this post, but this time there is just too much god damn high-level, mouse-clicking, button-mashing, card-dropping, play-calling competitive gaming action going on not to run through all of it. First up we have the Overwatch League. Week…

Valve Is Finally Replacing Its Ugly Dota 2 Statue With A Better One

Back in 2017, some of the most dedicated Dota 2 players spent hundreds of dollars on microtransactions to win a special collectible statue. The versions that Valve shipped out were so ugly, and so poorly received, that Valve said it would make replacements. Yesterday, it said that it was finally ready to ship them out.…

Well, That About Wraps It Up For 3DS

Nintendo’s not willing to call the 3DS “dead” yet, but the company’s latest briefing has made the whole thing feel like Weekend At Bernie’s One year ago today, Nintendo held a briefing for investors at which it said it would “continue the 3DS business” and that it was “preparing new software for release in 2019…

I Want To Be Like Tony Hawk’s Twitter Account

Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk tweets about a lot of stuff. He tweets about his kid. He tweets about skateboarding. He tweets about his skateboarding video games. And he tweets about people being surprised he’s Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk, who’s 50 now, is famous for his prodigious skateboarding career. In 1999, Activision released Tony Hawk’s Pro…

Avengers: Endgame Is Excellent

Avengers: Endgame, the big send-off to the current crop of money-printers known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, hits theaters this week. Two of Kotaku’s hero-worshippers, Joshua Rivera and Seung Park, have thoughts about this conclusion (or is it?) to the franchise. We do spoil the movie, so if you’re planning to watch it, steer clear…

PlayStation Now Has Gotten A Lot Better

PlayStation Now used to be a pricey way to stream the PlayStation’s back catalogue of games, which was only useful for people with good internet and no bandwidth caps. Last September the company added an option to download certain games directly, allowing users to play them offline. PlayStation Now is now a lot more like…

I Went Down A Sekiro Rabbit Hole. Here Are Some Cool Videos I Found

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a fun game with excellent combat and an infamous difficulty curve, so it stands to reason that there’s lots of content about it online. There are a whole bunch of guides and showcase videos that do great work to explain which tools and techs are useful. There are playthroughs and…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for going to buy some of those mesh bags you put produce in so you can feel like you’re doing something for the environment. It’s also for playing video games. Subnautica: Below Zero got some new items and areas I’m excited to check out. For a survival game about the cold, I…

15 Years Later, The Sims 2 Still Has Its Diehard Fans

Although The Sims 2 came out nearly 15 years ago, it still has a dedicated fanbase that insist that it’s the best game in the series. These diehards say that Sims 2 is more alive than its antecedents, and that as long as it continues to run on their computers, they’ll continue to play it.…

Riot Files Motions To Block Current Employees From Taking Legal Action

Months after five current and former employees filed lawsuits last fall and earlier this year alleging gender discrimination against League of Legends publisher Riot Games, Riot yesterday made motions to force two of those women into private arbitration, which would prevent them from taking legal action. Riot’s argument is simple: Those women waived their rights…

If the crossover between Nintendo’s two big mobile role-playing games gives us nothing else, we’ll always have Dragalia Lost’s kick-ass J-pop version of the Fire Emblem theme. It’s like turntable-based tactics up in here. 

Players Are Creating Amazing Things With Overwatch’s New Workshop Tools

Earlier this week, Blizzard added a Workshop to Overwatch that makes it possible to modify in-game scripts to create all sorts of new custom modes. Players have wasted no time in doing some really cool stuff with it. When Blizzard announced the Overwatch Workshop on Wednesday, it led with the example of a level inspired…

New Visitors Are Shaking Up My Once-Exclusive Final Fantasy XIV Server

As of Tuesday, Final Fantasy XIV’s World Visit service is live, allowing players to zip between servers and check in on other worlds. The result has been a wonderful sort of chaos. New friendships, massive economy shakeups, and a few troublemakers trying to stir up the pot. Once closed-off servers have now been opened, and…

Archivist Elysiana Is A Fun Hearthstone Card When Your Opponent Isn’t Using It

Up until the launch of this month’s “Rise of Shadows” expansion, Hearthstone was ruled by a few select cards that provide what fans call “infinite” value: Once you played them, you could benefit from their effects for the rest of the game. Deathstalker Rexxar, for example, provided infinite value by letting you add a powerful…

Red Dead Redemption 2, Six Months Later

Red Dead Redemption 2 launched six months ago today. In those past six months, developer Rockstar faced criticisms over crunch, the main game released to great reviews, Red Dead Online launched and grew, and a country-trap hybrid hit song used the game in a music video. Here’s what’s happened in the last six months. In…

Game Of Thrones Recap Podcast: And We’re Back

Game of Thrones has returned, and with it, so has Kotaku Splitscreen’s weekly recap of all things Westeros. This week we’re hitting episodes one and two of season eight, Winterfell and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms We spoil the episode in its entirety, and also talk about differences between the show and the books.…