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Australian Court Fines Valve $2.1 Million Over Refund Policy

In a hearing earlier this afternoon, the Federal Court has fined Valve AUD$3 million (USD$2.16 million) over breaches of Australian consumer law for their lack of an advertised refund policy on Steam from 2011 to 2014. In the judgement published online, Justice Edelman ruled that Valve “engaged in conduct which was misleading or deceptive or…

Krunch From Diddy Kong Racing Is Real, Lives In Florida

A Florida woman has won a battle which will allow her to keep her pet alligator. An alligator which wears a jacket, rides an ATV and looks a lot like Diddy Kong Racing’s Krunch. The alligator, which is named Rambo, was the focus of a disagreement between its owner, Mary Thorn, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife…

The Nier: Automata PS4 Demo Is Live, And It’s Awesome

Christmas comes a couple days early for PlayStation 4 owners with a playable demo of Nier: Automata. It’s a half-hour packed with slick hack and slash action, novel camera angles, a little drama and massive boss battles, and it’s so good. Platinum Games’ hack-and-slash follow-up to 2010’s Nier, follows combat android 2B, her companion 9S…

Streamer Faces The Challenges Of Coming Out As Transgender On Twitch

When DistractedElf decided to transition, she worried that it could be the end of her stream. It was a big change, and she figured a lot of her audience would be pissed. But she couldn’t deny who she was. “I can’t pretend I’m not trans,” she said. DistractedElf first started streaming on Twitch after she…

Ask Kotaku‘s Staff Anything: Holiday Edition

It’s almost Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, and, perhaps most importantly, The End Of 2016. Come chat with the staff of Kotaku as we prepare to move on from this horrible year (and into what will inevitably be a worse one). You can ask us whatever you’d like.

You Can Now Play Pokémon Go On An Apple Watch—But Not Catch Pokémon

Viral rat-hunting mobile game Pokémon Go is now on the Apple Watch. Starting today, you can find rats, some of which now have Christmas hats, on your $270 wrist-bound iPhone. Fans expected Niantic to release an associated Pokémon Go app closer to September, or at least, before the end of the year. A rumorrecently spread…

What Did You Think Of The Yuri On Ice Finale?

Queer ice skating anime Yuri!!! on Ice closed out its first season yesterday with enough fanfare to crash streaming site Crunchyroll. Twelve episodes of triple axels, dashing costumes and raw male-on-male emotions made this cloying sports show a sensation. Some questions were answered, and more were asked—did the anime bait viewers with promises of explicit…

Five-Year-Old Makes Millions To Play With Toys

Ryan of Ryan ToysReview is a five year old YouTube star, playing with toys for an audience of millions. But, as reported in the Verge,his popularity and financial success raises new questions about the ethics of child stardom. To be fair, it seems like Ryan’s parents have a good head on their shoulders. As they…

World of Warcraft Guild Forgets To Screenshot Raid Boss Kill, Starts Drawing Them In MS Paint

When European World of Warcraft guild Wiping with Enthusiasm missed capturing a screen of its Elerethe Renferal kill during the Mythic Emerald Nightmare raid, their guild leader started documenting their progress using MS Paint. And that is how art is born. Looking through the comments onKordusain’s Reddit post showing off Wiping’s non-wiping moments, capturing key…

Heather Alexandra’s Top Ten Games Of 2016

If there’s one thing I do for this site, it’s play a ton of games. 2016 was an amazing year and offered some of the best video games in recent memory. I sat down to list my personal favorites for our year in review. 10. Tyranny Obsidian’s latest RPG is compelling and prescient given today’s…

Secretlab Brings Its Comfy Gaming Chairs Stateside

After taking a tour of Australia last year, Singaporean company Secretlab is making its line of premium gaming chairs available in the U.S. This includes the Titan, a bigger gaming chair for larger-than-man-sized people. As a half-giant, I am pretty excited. Being a largish person (6’6″ and upwards of 300 pounds), I do horrible things…

The Legend Of Zelda Was Planned On These Sheets Of Paper

There’s something about analog development materials. Take, for example, these Legend of Zelda original design documents. Hand drawn on paper, they are still a sight to see. Nintendo UKrecently uploaded a host of these originals on its official site. Here is Takashi Tezuka’s skull room drawing, with a comparison to how it appeared in game.…

Rua Reidh Lighthouse. Melvaig, Scotland, UK. By Nicolas Gustafson. 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!

Pokémon Players Branded Cheaters Over Paperwork Mistake

Several competitors at a European Pokémon tournament earlier this month say they were penalized by show organizers for making innocent mistakes that were flagged during an effort to round up cheaters. The players say that tournament organizers used team sheets, documents normally used as a reference for commentators, to assess the legitimacy of players’ teams…

Killer Instinct‘s Thunder Gets A More Culturally Accurate Outfit

Despite working with members of the Nez Percé tribe during the development of the Killer Instinct reboot, developers didn’t get the details of Native American warrior Thunder’s costume quite right. Today’s free Legends of Thunder costume fixes that. According to a post by Killer Instinct senior marketing manager Nicole Fawcette on Xbox Wire, the rush…

Sounds like Overwatch is gonna get some cool additions next year. Jeff Kaplan said multiple new heroes and maps are in the works for 2017, as are a custom game server browser, esports features, and custom spray/emote wheels. Blizzard still hasn’t confirmed that every hero is gay, but I think it’s only a matter of…

Australian Animals That Won’t Kill You, Ranked

I am Australian. I have noticed online that people who are not Australian seem to work under the assumption that this is an island of death, where every step you take you run the risk of being bitten, stung, impaled or eaten alive by a murderous wild creature. I am here today to tell you…

Our Favorite Things About Overwatch‘s Big Winter Update

This week on our semi-regular Overwatch show, Cecilia, Heather, and I discuss the big Winter Wonderland update. Come for a surprisingly heated debate about Roadhog’s holiday skin, and stay for in-depth talk and tips for Mei’s Snowball Offensive and nu-Symmetra. Are you digging the new update? What do you think of Mei’s Snowball Offensive? How…

The Internet Reacts To Tracer And Her Girlfriend

Yesterday, Blizzard released an Overwatch comic for the winter holidays that revealed something important about the character Tracer: she doesn’t need to wear her chronal accelerator at all times! Oh, also she has a girlfriend. If you haven’t read the comic, here’s a brief recap: If you’re still not getting it, Tumblr user greatlordfluffernutter has…

Why Is The 3DS So Hard To Find Right Now?

Tiny Tim or Little Timmy might not get their Nintendo 3DS for Christmas this year. The handheld console is facing a shortage in brick and mortar stores across the country and online. At Best Buy, GameStop and Target, the console is low-stock or unavailable in stores throughout and proximate to America’s six most populous cities.…