Conker’s Bad Fur Day Was Once A Very Different Game

One of the filthiest games released on a Nintendo console was originally going to be just another kiddified 3D platformer. Check out some never-before-seen footage of the game that would become Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Long before Conker became an alcoholic shit-battler, Rare’s squirrel hero was something much more kid-friendly. After a debut as a…

The League Of Legends World Championship’s YouTube Chat Is Flooded With Dicks

It just keeps going on like this. Warning: NSFW imagery ahead. Going on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: …and on: You can watch the 2015 League of Legends World Championship on YouTube via the live-stream below: Contact the author at…

The Keyboard Is Your Mightiest Weapon In Epistory

The only thing more powerful than the written word is the muse that stirs those words in the mind of the writer. That’s the player’s role in Flying Cactus’ Epistory. Released earlier this week on Steam Early Access, Epistory is essentially the tale of an author and her muse—a young girl riding on a three-tailed…

This Week In The Business: Too Successful To Succeed 

QUOTE | “We weren’t expecting this many people would buy a PlayStation 4.” – Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida, head of worldwide studios, talking about why DriveClub didn’t have enough resources because Sony didn’t expect as many players as they got Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “Disc-based games will be around forever.”…

Steam Customer Service Is Still Terrible

This is getting ridiculous. In March of this year, I spoke with Valve business development authority Erik Johnson about Steam’s dubious reputation for customer support. He did not disagree with general sentiment: Valve badly needs to step up their game. Among other things, Johnson said: “We think customers are right. When they say our support’s…

That Time Sony Threw A God of War Party With A Dead Goat

The headline says it all, really. Public relations departments have a tough job: get people talking about your game. Some companies stick to the well-worn forms of getting things done—TV advertisements, billboards, sending out copies to press—while others decide to roll the dice and see what happens. This isn’t exclusive to games, mind you, but…

Tips For Playing Destiny: The Taken King

Destiny is both refreshingly simple and terrifyingly complicated. It’s mostly about shooting aliens in the head… but it’s also about mastering a complex system of currencies, equipment, reward tiers, and experience points. I’m here to help. Over the past year, I played more than 700 hours of Destiny. Since The Taken King expansion came out…

I’ve played 999 games of Heroes of the Storm. Staying true to MOBA tradition, I asked the HOTS developers if they would play my 1,000th game with me, and they said yes! We will live stream the festivities next week on Thursday, October 8th, beginning at 4:00 pm EDT. So clear your schedules, because this’ll…

Archie + Betty + Veronica Isn’t a Love Triangle Anymore. It’s a Hate Triangle.

Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper aren’t going out anymore. And Veronica Lodge isn’t really feeling comics’ most famous ginger teen like that. But there they are, getting all entwined in each others’ lives. There’s no romance at all yet, and that’s pretty great. Three issues into Archie Comics’ reboot of its flagship title and none…

The Future That Nintendo Tried to Predict With Wii U

Welcome back, Friday! Welcome back, Worth Reading! As another week draws to a close, our regular guide to the best games writing around is here to help out. Hey, You Should Read These “Year Walk and the future Nintendo predicted” by Rich Stanton With games like Super Mario Maker, Nintendo’s seemingly discovered Wii U’s potential…

Else Heartbreak Is One Of The Most Interesting Steam Games I’ve Played In Ages

Else Heartbreak is an ambitious game about hacking, parties, and blowing it with cute girls. It also refuses to hold your hand. Else Heartbreak is a new Steam hacker adventure about a young man named Sebastian making his way in a surprisingly hip backwater town. Its first five hours had me hearkening back to the…

My attempts to contact Xur from hotel Wi-Fi—I need to buy some three of coins, dammit—have not gone well so far. [UPDATE: Success!] Contact the author at [email protected]

The Beginner’s Guide Tackles The Fears We Don’t Talk About

Wanna meet at the bar after work? Because The Beginner’s Guide, the latest from The Stanley Parable co-creator Davey Wreden, is the kind of game you wanna talk about over several drinks. If The Stanley Parable was a game about games, The Beginner’s Guide is a game about game development. In The Stanley Parable, players…

The Most Popular PS4 Communities Are Hilarious (And Sometimes Awful)

PS4 players now have the power to form groups for all their favorite games. Almost immediately, people used this power to make all sorts of ridiculous, hilarious, WTF, and sometimes horrible communities. Here are some of the best (and worst) that I’ve found. At first glance, PS4 communities seem fairly normal. Here are the top…

Kotaku Reader Sends Perfect E-Mail

Back in 2013, I wrote a Kotaku article about two Jeopardy contestants who got dinged for answering “Zelda” instead of “The Legend of Zelda.” They were robbed, I wrote. Two years later, a loyal reader has sent me an e-mail response that’s so perfect, I have to print it here. In its entirety: Hmmm… “[What…

Stephen Colbert Interviews Pewdiepie, Nails It

YouTube’s biggest star was on the Late Show last night—and the segment was actually pretty good. Really, I’d say that Colbert gaveJimmy Kimmela master class in how to cover the phenomenon that is Let’s Plays. Going in, Colbert immediately poked fun at television, calling it a “steam-powered medium”—and Pewdiepie talked about how, personally, he never…

Video Games Should Have Fewer Achievements

SOMA is a standout game, and one of the many ways it distinguishes itself is through its restrained use of achievements. There are 10 on Steam (or 10 trophies on PlayStation), and each is nothing more than a progress marker. They come infrequently and unexpectedly. I wasn’t sure when one would pop up or why.…