If Microsoft is serious about PC games, Xbox One should be the real Steam Machine. Here’s some interesting reading fromVG247 on how Valve’s living room centric Steam Machine plot failed, and how Microsoft—fresh off a years-long stint of pretending PC gaming doesn’t exist—could partner with Steam and pick up where they left off. The gist:…

The Top 50 Smash Bros. Plays of Last Year

The Smash Bros. community has seen a lot of hype in the last year, culminating in a lot of excellent plays. Now that 2014 is over, let’s look back at some of the best moments in competitive Smash Bros. plays. EvenMatchupGaming has been counting down the best plays of 2014 this entire week, and their…

Sometimes, All Your World Of Warcraft Opponents Are Bots

If you’ve played World of Warcraft for any long span of time, you’ve likely encountered a bot, a player character controlled by a third-party program. Maybe it was mindlessly thwacking the loot out of some small woodland creature, or maybe it was just staring at a wall. Whatever happened, it probably wasn’t this bad. In…

Destiny’s Best Rocket Launcher Doesn’t Need Advertising

Destiny players sure love the Gjallarhorn—and it’s created a hilarious culture around the weapon. Mr. Fruit Gaming Channel pretends to be a Gjallarhorn salesman here, and in doing so, jabs at all the silly things surrounding the Gjallarhorn, and the people that use it, including: How everyone wants the rocket launcher And yet, people don’t…

Nekopara Vol. 1, As Told By Steam Reviews

When a game features catgirls, it’s probably not surprising to hear that people are reacting to it in funny ways. Especially since, in this case, the catgirl game is of the ‘sexy’ variety. While we talked about how Nekopara Vol. 1 is censored on Steam earlier this week, we didn’t really talk about what the…

The Fallout Vaults That Performed Messed Up Cloning Experiments

Vaults in Fallout are no strangers to horrific experiment—according to the lore, that’s why vaults exist in the first place. Vaults were constructed for social experiments, the likes of which couldn’t be carried out in any other circumstance. A few vaults in particular happened to mess with cloning technology. One vault, for example, arbitrarily decided…

​If You Had A PSN Account In 2011, Here’s How To Get Free Stuff Now

More than three years ago, a crippling internet attack brought down Sony’s PlayStation Network and interrupted service for more than a month. Legal showdowns ensued and today, people in the U.S. who used the company’s online services can begin the process of getting their share of a $15 million settlement. Here’s how. E-mails have started…

The Future Of Random Encounters

Hi. Welcome to Random Encounters. It’s, uh, been a while. When I first started this column, back in 2012, the JRPG genre was in a strange place. It felt like a lot of Japanese game developers were going through transitional phases as we all watched to see what would happen with next-gen consoles. Final Fantasy…

What’s Your Favorite MOBA?

MOBAs are all the rage these days. But the hybrid part-action, part-RTS, part-turret defense genre is also so new still that there haven’t been that many great ones yet. So which is your favorite? Are you a League of Legends loyalist? Have you been won over by Smite already? Do you prefer Awesomenauts, the wild…

Bulbasaur Isn’t Neccesarily The First Pokémon

Trivia time! Which Pokémon came first? The answer may not be what you think. According to the Pokedex, the answer seems clear-cut: Bulbasaur, the cabbage-like Pokémon, is number one. So it’s gotta be the Pokemon that comes first, right? No, actually. The “first Pokémon” varies depending on how you look at it, and what criteria…

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected Sale, Minecraft LEGO, and More Deals

If you pick up the newly-released Saints Row IV: Re-Elected + GAT Out Of Hell pack for PS4 or Xbox One today, Best Buy will toss in a free $10 gift card. [Saints Row IV: Re-Elected + GAT Out of Hell [PS4/One], $50 plus $10 Best Buy gift card] If you’d prefer a cash discount,…

Square Sure Put A Lot Of Work Into Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Here, for your enjoyment, is an official Square Enix comparison video that shows how they’ve transformed Final Fantasy Type-0 from a dark ugly PSP game to a GORGEOUS new-gen console game. Well, OK, it’s not that gorgeous. Everything looks a touch too glossy, and a lot of the textures are clearly carried over from the…

A Classy Way To Settle A Dispute In League Of Legends

Figuring out who’s going to do what before a League of Legends battle officially begins is as crucial a process as it is a rushed one. Tensions can run very high as a result. Three players had a wonderful way to pre-empt any name-calling when a potential conflict suddenly reared its head recently: with rock,…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: What Zelda Items would improve other video games? • Protonstorm’s Fall 2014 Anime Music Awards • Game of the Week—The Pointed Finger of Justice [Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney] • We Need To Talk About Yanmega TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.