Golden Tee 2014 ‘s Big News: We Got Cigars

Alongside fighting games, longtime dive bar staple Golden Tee is one of the last viable arcade cabinets. Arcade titles aren’t rated by the ESRB, so if Golden Tee wants to put a big ol’ telephone pole cigar in its players’ mouths, it can without being called out for “tobacco use.” And it will, because Golden…

The Pokémon World Championships are underway at Vancouver Convention Centre, but it appears the livestream won’t begin until featured events commence at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT. Check back here then.

First ‘Internationally Recognized’ Athlete Visa Awarded to Pro Gamer

A month ago, Riot Games said it had gotten the U.S. government to include eSports contestants under the visa policy that allows professional athletes from other countries to visit for purposes of competition. The first such visa has been awarded, to a Canadian League of Legends star. Danny “Shiphtur” Le, of Edmonton, got the visa,…

Why Wait for Saints Row IV? Get Your Dubstep Gun in Grand Theft Auto

Saints Row has taken a good share of crap for supposedly copying Grand Theft Auto, but at long last, the tables have turned. Saints Row IV isn’t even out yet and modders have already put the game’s infamous Dubstep Gun into GTA IV This script is by JulioNIB, he of the awesome Incredible Hulk mod.…

This Week in the Business: The Customer Isn’t Always Right

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “There’s one mistake that they all make, and that mistake is listening to their customers.”—Jesse Schell, noted game designer, on why Microsoft and other big companies can have a hard time introducing new technology QUOTE | “Who knows if there’ll be…

There’s going to be a lot of eSports action today: the Pokémon World Championships at 1 p.m. EDT, the International (Dota‘s largest tournament) resumes at 3 p.m., and the StarCraft World Championship Series (America region) at 4 p.m. (Europe region is already underway here). We’ll be carrying livestreams of them all.

The Best of Kotaku, The Week Of August 5th

Um, animal donuts. That’s kind of all I need to say about this week. But if you want to see the rest of this week’s best content, head over to Kotaku Selects There are also a ton of tournaments going on this weekend that Owen will tune you into later. Sharks are one of the…

Wow, Look At All The Things You Can Point To In Battlefield 4

Shooting people? Destroying skyscrapers? Team work? Meh. Let’s talk about all the things you can point to in Battlefield 4! Yes, pointing. jackfrags has the right idea. Watch him point at all the things in Battlefield like a pro. Man. If Call of Duty doesn’t get in on this pointing action, I reckon that franchise…

Have you heard of Salty Bet? It’s a site where people can bet fake money on bouts between randomly generated, computer controlled characters from fighting games, anime and comic books—these are the types of bewildering crossovers that make Super Smash Bros. look boring. You can read more about it at Gameological.

The King of Cannabis And The Search For Rare Marijuana Strains

Arjan Roskam. Don’t know who he is? He’s behind a number of famous marijuana strains, like White Widow and Super Silver Haze—and behind the huge Green House Seed Company, which makes millions of dollars every year, all around an empire of weed. If you smoke pot, chances are, you’re familiar with this guy’s product without…

An Awesome Look At The Early Days of Two The Legend of Korra Heroes

Next month is the month: The Legend of Korra comes back for Season two. In the meantime, Nick has released a mini-series called “Republic City Hustle,” and it follows Mako and Bolin as they try to make it out on the streets. Pretty good, right? This is just part one, so sit tight until part…

One Of The Few Mega Evolved Pokemon I Would Care About. And You?

To be clear, this isn’t a Mega evolved version of Bidoof, although it should be. It’s just a meme that was created by That Splicing Adventure; Bidoof mashed with every (other?) legendary in the Pokemon games. Glorious, yes, but probably not something Game Freak would ever make a reality. Unfortunately! Still, now that we know…

These Are The 13 Types Of People You Meet At Gamestop

Even though it’s rare for me to go into a Gamestop nowadays thanks to digital downloads and online stores, this funny compendium of characters you’ll likely see at the store by Dorkly seems spot-on, no? Heck…back when I didn’t know any better, I’d be the speechless person who just got nothing in exchange for a…

A Game That Lets You Navigate Your Character’s Wildest Dreams

Video games are perfect for exploring our dreams, aren’t they? After all, games are already awfully dream-like—a new, stranger reality with different rules than our own, which we explore for a time before waking. So I’m very intrigued by Dream, a game that was greenlit on Steam about a year ago, but which I finally…

Two of the world’s most addictive mobile games, Taito’s Groove Coaster Zero and GungHo Online’s Puzzles & Dragons, are crossing-over August 12-24. There’ll be special Groove Coaster Zero-themed dungeons and creatures popping up in the puzzler, while a special P&D song pack will be available in the rhythm game for $4.99. This is dangerous.

Kerbal Space Program Is All Fun And Games, Until The Moon Explodes

Squad’s sandbox space exploration game, Kerbal Space Program, is about constructing space-worthy vehicles and exploring the stars. Thanks to a healthy modding community, it’s also about blowing things up with lasers. Yay, modding community! Give humanity the tools to better itself, and it builds better weapons. While Kerbal Space Program only joined Steam’s Early Access…

Xbox One Ditches One Of Xbox Live’s More Annoying Limitations

Good news: Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service is going to undergo some noteworthy changes for the Xbox One, and will do away with at least one of the current system’s more annoying limitations. If you’ve ever tried to play a “Games for Windows Live” PC game while your roommate watches Netflix on your Xbox 360,…

You Can Ditch Microsoft Points After The Next Xbox 360 Update

Microsoft Points are going away very soon. Like, as soon as the next Xbox 360 system update. You’ll be able to turn all your meaningless points into real money whenever that happens. Microsoft’s Xbox Wire blog has got the news: Earlier this year, we announced that we are bringing local currency to Xbox 360 and…

I Would Play More Call of Duty If More Call of Duty Looked Like This

It’s not just the giant robot. It’s the old warplanes. It’s the rain. It’s the Weird War Tales-style oddness of it all. This is a real Call of Duty scene from an upcoming zombies-mode addition to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. But it’s just that. I’d go for a full game. Find out more…

How Do I Make My Tween Sister Understand The Dangers Of Social Media?

Youngins aren’t the only ones at risk partaking in social media platforms—just look at some of the controversies that transpired over Twitter that resulted in people being let go from their jobs—but they’re perhaps the most naive to it. On this week’s Ask Kotaku, I address that concern and more. Be sure to email me…