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Valve’s Marc Laidlaw, who helped write the Half-Life series and the original Portal, has left the company after 18 years. The news originally broke on the Half-Life subreddit, and Laidlaw later confirmed the news to us. Why’d he leave? He wanted a “break from the collaborative chaos of game production.” You can reach the author…

Stepmania Played At Super Speed Is Just Not Human

“So this is very, very stamina-intense,” said a commentator watching the Stepmania run at Awesome Games Done Quick 2016 yesterday. “On really hard songs… you actually become mentally tired as well. It’s not just your hands. You actually get tired.” What followed was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen someone do with a…

Just Cause 3 Is Perfect For Playing Jenga

Giant cargo containers, silly physics and a grappling hook. The perfect tools for a Just Cause 3 version of Jenga. The rules are the same in teamcream’s video. You build a tower and take one block from any level of the tower (except the one below an incomplete level) and place it on the topmost…

Latest Simpsons Couch Gag Is A Homage To 80s Action Shows

The couch gag on The Simpsons will be little bit special (and longer) this week. It’s an 80s-themed one, filled with neon lights and a beefy Homer. It might be boring to see another clip with all these well-known, over-the-top 80s references, but the redesigned Simpsons characters (especially Flanders) make the whole thing pretty good.…

Four Years Later, Crusader Kings II Keeps Getting More Stuff

Crusader Kings II was released in 2012, and promptly became my Game Of The Year. And that was in its paltry vanilla state! In the years since, it’s gotten so much new content and so many big expansions that it’s practically become its own sequel. The latest is called Conclave, and unlike the expansions which…

Look At This Legend Of Zelda Action Figure

For over three years, Figma’s Skyward Sword effort has been the best Zelda figure you could buy. In 2016, there’s a new challenger approaching. This new Figma figure for classic Link (specifically, his Link Between Worlds version) looks incredible. For the hair and the outift and the boots, yes, but also those accessories. He even…

Fallout 4’s Graphics Cranked So Hard It Becomes A Cartoon

There are already a number of mods out there which alter the appearance of Fallout 4, but they don’t go quite as far as this tweak, which makes the game look like it came from Telltale (or Gearbox) instead of Bethesda. It’s not a standalone mod; as Reddit_is_wrong (who made the screenshots) explains, they’re the…

Rainbow Six Siege just got a big update. 1.2 is not meant to fix all top issues, but it does improve hit registration (again), server tick rate, and matchmaking. Basically, if the game pissed you off with server issues or lopsided matchmaking (hi, that’s me), it might be time to give it another shot.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Is A Beautiful Video Game

A lot of very nice words have (surprisingly, given Unity’s qualities) been written about the latest Assassin’s Creed game, but there’s one thing a lot of them overlook: just how pretty this video game is. Yes, technically speaking, the “graphics” are nice. When it’s not giving off a weird shimmering effect or an AI routine…

Just Cause 3 Mod Gives You An Infinite Grappling Hook

In the Just Cause series, your grappling hook is love, life, and all that jazz, but it does have limits. Making it infinite turns the game into (even more of) a demented, goddamn wonderful cartoon. There are actually a couple grappling hook mods for Just Cause 3, but the first and most versatile is Qub1’s…

Final Fantasy XIV Voice Actress Found Murdered

London police today confirmed that voice actress Sian Blake, who played the character Yugiri in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, was found dead with her two children in their home this week. Blake, 43, had been reported missing last month, as the BBC reports. Police say they found signs that someone had attempted to hide the…

A Useful Tool Checks If Your PC Is Ready For Oculus Rift

Let’s say you’re interested in Oculus Rift. Maybe you’re like me, and you pre-ordered one to be safe. (You can cancel before it ships!) Thing is, Oculus Rift requires a beefy PC to work, but there’s a tool to let you know if you’re set. The tool is readily available on the Oculus Rift pre-order…

Descent Designer Says Interplay Owes Him Tens Of Thousands In Royalties

The original designers of Descent and Descent 2 are considering pursuing legal action against publisher Interplay for failing to pay royalties, they tell Kotaku Descent’s creators say Interplay owes them at least “tens of thousands of dollars” in royalties from sales of the two games. Because of this dispute, the online marketplace GOG.com has removed…

Fan’s Animated Bloodborne Comic Is Perfect

The Master of the League is the latest comic from Lordran & Beyond, a website devoted to telling stories inspired by the various Souls games by From Software. I’m not going to include more than one of the images in this post, so just read the whole lovely thing right here. Lordran & Beyond is…

Player Pulls Off Absurd Spelunky Run, Makes It Look Easy

What you’re seeing above shouldn’t be possible, but krille71 somehow pulled it off. Here’s how. During the Spelunky section of Awesome Games Done Quick, creator Derek Yu idly wondered aloud if anyone had tried pulling off a pacifist no gold run run. Not 24 hours later, krille71 published a video doing exactly that. It’s ridiculous.…

Fake Minecraft Sequel Tops iTunes Charts [UPDATE]

The Apple Store has long been full of apps that make money through cloning, copyright infringement, and other scammy techniques. Sometimes, thanks to Apple’s never-ending vigilance, these scams can even make it to the top of the iTunes charts. Take Minecraft: Pocket Edition 2, for example. Although this $7 app advertises itself as a sequel…

EA’s throwing a Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 multiplayer beta event starting next Thursday, on January 14. The beta, which ends on January 18, will be freely available on PS4 and Xbox One. Check out the GW2 beta page for more info, and eventual download links, if your interest’s piqued.

Fan Improves Pokémon Cards With Stunning Custom Backgrounds

Pretty nice alternates for Pokémon cards that normally had boring plain backgrounds. Artist Lunambra extended the tiny pics on the original cards with some custom paintings. Gotta love the ones with combined backgrounds. To contact the author of this post, write to: [email protected]

When Artificial Intelligence Guesses Your Age And Attractiveness

BlinQ is a dating app that has developed a new feature recently. With the help of an AI developed by the University of Zürich, the app now can rank photos by attractiveness on a six-point scale. It’s really generous with the ranks. The worst one is simply “Hmm…” and the best is “Godlike”. But let’s…

Oculus Founder Tries Explaining That $600 Price Tag

The Oculus Rift will cost $600. That’s a lot of money, especially when Oculus founder and designer Palmer Luckey had previously mentioned a $350 ballpark for the target gamer audience. Luckey addressed that in a new Reddit AMA. Well, sorta I appreciate when the person at the top (or, at least, near the top), steps…