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Fortnite Rocket Launches, Cracks The Sky

The rocket that has been counting down in Fortnite finally launched at 1:30 EDT today, and what happened afterward was a little weirder than anyone was expecting. When I logged into the game, I could hear a klaxon blaring every few seconds, and before long the ground started to shake with only what I can…

We’re finishing Nier: Automata right now on Twitch. That’s routes B, C, D, and E all for the price of one stream. Come join the chat and enjoy one of 2017’s best games.

Overwatch Is Getting Wackier, And That’s Great

Yesterday, Overwatch added a hamster. The hamster’s name is Hammond, or Hammy for short. In a game about cyborg ninjas, strained mother-daughter relationships, and terrorist groups with edgy-ass names like Talon, here’s Hammy the Hamster. It’s just one more example of how Overwatch is embracing its wacky side. I’m not sure if Overwatch ever fell…

Warring EVE Factions Take A Break To Remember A Fallen Friend

EVE Online factions have been at each others’ throats for ages, but they do occasionally do nice things for each other. Recently, one of these rare awwwww moments happened: the donation of a memorial to player Sean “Vile Rat” Smith, who lost his life in the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. The player-controlled…

Fan Calculations About Fortnite‘s Big Missile Event Were Off By A Day

Fortnite is no stranger to countdowns and theatrics, but this weekend’s mysterious (though probably missile-related) event is a little different. It’s happening just once. Fans thought they’d pinned down exactly when, but today Epic announced the actual date: one day before fans had calculated. This much is certain: Something is about to happen. In-game TVs…

Ultimate Custom Night Will Keep Five Nights At Freddy’s Fans On Their Toes

After an hour of playing Ultimate Custom Night, I was nursing a throbbing headache. I had spent that time clicking through rooms, winding up music boxes, and taking on and off a Freddy Fazbear head, all while I braced myself for the imminent jump scares. Even after the ordeal I put myself through, I wanted…

I Hated Until Dawn‘s Emily, Until We Were Fighting For Our Lives

Until Dawn is one of gaming’s greatest love letters to horror movies. It conforms to and subverts the slasher paradigm so well that it often feels like playing through a long-lost classic film from the sub-genre’s early-80s heyday. It’s creepy, atmospheric, gory, and occasionally goofy. The game is at its most shocking, however, when it…

Tim Rogers and Bennett Foddy are playing Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom over at our YouTube channel. Check it out!

We Talk About Queerness In Games, From Overwatch Ships To E3 Smooches

We celebrated Pride this week at Kotaku with stories from queer staffers about Street Fighter ships, queer fandoms in Overwatch and in K-Pop, and our desire to see queer characters survive and thrive in the games we play. Before we take down the beautiful rainbow logos that festooned the site this week in celebration, we…

Custom D&D Character Sheets Are A Critical Hit

Cartoonist and self-described Dungeons & Dragons nerd Luke Howard hand-crafted a convincing argument in favor of pen-and-paper role-playing: custom character sheets for D&D It’s not unusual for players to print their character sheets off D&D’s website or type their stats into a digital document. But that can feel a little impersonal. Howard’s character books are…

Tips For Playing Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is finally out for Nintendo Switch, which means a lot more people are playing it than when it hit PC last year. People like me! I’ve put almost 40 hours into the game, and I have some tips for anyone starting out. For the most part, Hollow Knight is straightforward. Explore the buried…

Mario Tennis Aces’ 1.1.1 Update went live today, tweaking the difficulty of some of the matches in Adventure Mode and adding player ratings for the online mode starting July 1. In addition, a new trailer for the game revealed that Diddy Kong, Koopa Paratroopa, and Birdo will be added this fall.

Riot Accidentally Sends A ‘Few’ League of Legends Players Other People’s Personal Info

Some League of Legends players received sensitive private information that belonged to other people earlier this week due to errors by Riot, makers of the internationally acclaimed multiplayer game. Instead of getting access to their own requested account info, several received phone numbers, email addresses, and detailed player histories of other people. A Riot representative…

Here Is Pixar’s Dory Fighting Crime

I had many possible topics in mind for today’s Kotaku Game Diary: The slew of wonderful Metroid-like games I’ve been playing on the Switch. An analysis of a vexing Nioh boss. A meditation on the lack of playable denouements in video games. All will be covered in due time. Today? I am too short on…

Japan’s Video Game Bars Are In Danger

A string of arrests has put the future of Japan’s popular “video game bars” into serious doubt. I press record. “Just by doing this interview,” I say, “to a certain degree you’re really putting a target on your back.” It’s important Matt Bloch understands this before we proceed, especially after the recent video game bar…

As revealed earlier this year, the Famicom Mini is going back into production. And now we know when it’s hitting store shelves. This week! Sales resumed of the little Famicom resumed yesterday in Japan.

Cosplayer Job Site Launches In Japan

It’s called “Cos Job,” and the new recruitment site is aimed at cosplayers and the businesses that want to hire them. As Anime Anime notes, the site is run by cosplay social-networking site Cosplay Archive, Cos Job lists help wanted ads for cosplay models as well as event companions and staff. There are also listings…

Tea Fields. Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture. By Tugi | Instagram | Twitter JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line! 

Please Don’t Kill Hammond, Overwatch’s New Hero

Hammond, Overwatch’s newest hero, can be killed just like everyone else. But while it looks like he simply disappears in the blast as his mech explodes, the reality is more horrifying. Please don’t kill Hammond.

1998 Arcade Game Is Very World Cup

It may not have been the official game of the tournament, but this 1998 Japanese arcade game knew better than any football game on earth how special and exciting the World Cup can be. During Tecmo World Cup 98’s attract mode, in between shots of on-field action, passers-by are treated to flashes of text like…