There’s something strange going on in Fortnite right now. Controllers are rumbling randomly, when nothing is happening. There’s something in the sky that wasn’t there before. Nobody knows what any of it means.
Saturday, 31 March 2018
Upgrade To 802.11ac With The Excellent TP-Link Archer C9, Now Cheaper Than Ever
If you still haven’t upgraded to 802.11ac, this highly rated TP-Link Archer C9 router is on sale for $70 at Amazon today. That’s the best price we’ve ever seen, and a fantastic deal on a great router for any apartment or small-to-medium-sized home.
Counter-Strike Commentator Drops Racial Slur During Birthday Stream
During a celebratory birthday stream last night, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive commentator Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett called members of his stream chat the n-word on stream, as well as telling one member of the CS:GO community to kill themself.
Kotaku 'Shop Contest: Everyone Loves Boats, Winners!
Well, you did it. You created some of the best ‘shops about putting characters on boats that I have ever seen. This is the kind of boating scenario where everyone wins.
Saturday's Best Deals: Travel Accessories, World Backup Day Sales, C.S. Lewis Ebooks, and More
Amazon’s huge luggage sale, our readers’ favorite travel pillow, a ton of discounted storage for World Backup Day, and more lead Saturday’s best deals.
This Week in the Business: No cursing like sailors on the Sea of Thieves
STAT | 2 million - Number of Sea of Thieves players in the game’s first week of release. It is Microsoft’s fastest-selling first-party original IP since the Xbox One launched in 2013.
Celebrate The Weekend's Big Holiday (World Backup Day) With This One-Day Sale On Amazon
Nestled between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is the holiest day of them all: World Backup Day. Amazon’s marking the occasion with a one-day sale on storage gear, so your own data can be resurrected.
Vandals is a turn-based graffiti game.
Vandals is a turn-based graffiti game. You sneak around cities like Tokyo and Paris while avoiding cops, dogs, and other authorities who hate it when walls look cool. The game will include works from over 40 real-life street artists and teach players how they’ve influenced culture. It’ll be out next month.
Private Internet Access Is Discounting Several VPN Plans, Just For Our Readers
VPNs have been in the news, and whether you want to get around video geoblocks, circumvent proxy filters, or just keep prying eyes out of your browsing data while using sketchy public Wi-Fi, reader-favorite Private Internet Access has a deal to fit your needs.
The Real-Life Atari Secret That Inspired Ready Player One
Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One, like the source material, is chock full of references to 80s music, movies, and video games. It also throws in a few Master Chiefs, Overwatch characters, and the Iron Giant for good measure. Usually these references are surface level and fleeting, but a few carry more…
The Original Arcade Punch-Out Plays Great On Switch
Punch-Out came out on Switch today! No, not Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Not the Wii Punch-Out, either. The one that started them all, the granddaddy of Nintendo’s boxing series: the 1984 arcade version of Punch-Out. It’s worth playing if you love the series, but just be aware that it’s pretty rough around the edges by…
CSGO Skin Traders Dumping Their Inventories After Valve Announces New Rules
Despite Valve’s crackdown on CSGO gambling sites that use Steam in 2016, there’s still an active cosmetic skin trading (and yes, sometimes gambling) scene around the game. A recent set of trade limits from Valve, though, has skin lovers selling off their collections for fear that the scene is on its deathbed.
Nintendo Reached A DLC Tipping Point This Week
It’s been a quietly unprecedented week for Nintendo, and one that should change players’ expectations for the company’s games going forward.
The Devastating Loophole That Sticks Car Buyers With Interest Rates That Would Be Otherwise Illegal
On June 19, 2015, Bronx resident Carlos Guerrero-Roa went to an auto dealer in Brooklyn to purchase a 2005 Lexus RX that was being advertised online for $6,900. Guerrero-Roa left with the car that day, only after it was financed with a loan that, according to a lawsuit he later filed, carried an interest rate “well…
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for having ordered an immersion blender at long last and spending the whole weekend, I don’t know, blending stuff. Also, video games.
Hacked Fortnite Players Say Epic's Response Is Too Slow
A torrent of hackers have been breaking into Fortnite player accounts and stealing hundreds of dollars at a time. After weeks trying to contact Epic Games about the security threat, many of them say they’re being left high and dry.
The Good and the Bad of Far Cry 5's Co-Op
I’ve played many hours of Far Cry 5 co-op, both with my partner and with colleagues. A lot of the time it’s been a blast, except when you’re trying to actually get things done.
Inside the Wild World of Shell Collecting
Picking up shells on the beach may seem like child’s play, but to elite shell collectors, it’s a hobby and a lifestyle. Unbeknownst to most non-shellers, there’s an entire culture of avid collectors who come together regularly to celebrate shells for their beauty and unlock secrets from the sea.
Fortnite Mobile Now Warns People Not To Play In Class
Fortnite mobile’s portability has proven destructive in classrooms around the world, with some teachers struggling to keep their students’ attention from the battle royale game. It seems that developer Epic has caught on, because now the game says something about this hilarious situation.
If You're A Pokémon Fan, You Should Play Detective Pikachu
Nintendo may be keeping the 3DS on life support at this point, but there are still reasons to boot up the handheld console. Detective Pikachu, released in North America last week, makes an especially compelling case for any fans of Pokémon who want to learn a bit more about the world of pocket monsters.
Two New Super Saiyans Are Shaking Up Dragon Ball FighterZ
Two new fighters, Broly and Bardock, hit Dragon Ball FighterZ this week. Bardock comes from an appropriately named TV special, Dragon Ball Z: Bardock — The Father of Goku. Broly also hails from his own special movie named after himself, Dragon Ball Z: Broly — The Legendary Super Saiyan, as well as a few other…
One Of Our Readers' Favorite Wallets Is Just $10 Today, In A Ton of Different Colors
Our readers listed these Crabby Wallets as one of their favorite front pocket wallets, and today, you can save $5 off a whole bunch of different colors and materials (click here for elastic models, and here for canvas) when you clip the on-page coupon. These wallets can hold up to 10 cards, include a ring for your…
PUBG's New Event Is Fun If You Can Find The Damn Flare Gun
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is spicing things up with special events—limited time game modes with special weapons and squad rules. The latest event, which kicked off yesterday, adds a special flare gun for calling supply drops. It’s a good idea, but the execution is too timid.
A Place Further Than The Universe Is A Wholesome Look At Female Friendship
In anime A Place Further than the Universe, a girl with long black hair drops an envelope containing 1,000,000 yen on a train platform. Unremarkable high schooler Mari Tamaki picks it up and, recognizing the girl’s uniform, tracks her down in the bathroom of her local high school. Shirase Kobuchizawa, the envelope’s…
Far Cry 5’s User Interface Does A Lot Right
Far Cry 5 is a complicated game that needs to convey a ton of information at once. Good thing it’s got a great user interface.
What We Liked (And Didn’t Like) About Ready Player One
A giant pile of nerd references masquerading as a movie, Ready Player One, premiered last night. Seung Park, Tim Rogers and I all watched it, and now they’re going to talk about it.
Friday, 30 March 2018
Frustrated Teens And Docks Bricking Switches: The Week's Hot Game Topics
We’ve got a streamer faux pas, disillusioned teens, docks bricking Switches, Carmen Sandiego, Dragon Quest, and more on Kotaku XP, our weekly video roundup of what the heck is going on with games and the people who play them. Consider it Kotaku Cliff’s Notes. Watching Gita Jackson and I talk is probably sufficient…
Burnout Paradise Remastered's Price Has Already Downshifted To $30
Hey Ubisoft, Let Far Cry 5's Dog Ride In The Car
Far Cry 5 has three pets you can befriend and enlist to help you fight enemy cultists. They’ll help you, and they’ll follow you anywhere. They just won’t ride with you in a car. I can forgive that for the cougar or the bear. In the case of the third animal, a dog, it’s borderline criminal, and Ubisoft needs to fix it.
Which is the tastiest kosher-for-Passover potato chip?
The grocery store seasonal aisle is a refreshing bastion of predictability: Valentines’ Day chocolate, Halloween chocolate, and Christmas chocolate come to mind. In some parts of the country (I live in the northern Chicago suburbs for example), a portion of the seasonal aisle is reserved for other less…
Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Papyrus Mysteries Are Some Of The Series’ Best Sidequests
Ubisoft games are understandably knocked for having a lot of filler content. Often, though, one of their gargantuan open-world epics will hide a wonderful line of sidequests. It’s taken me some time to appreciate an extraordinary set of them in Assassin’s Creed Origins, a set that helps show off areas of the game…
Friday's Best Deals: Home Networking Gold Box, OLED TVs, Amazon Dash Buttons, and More
Upgrade your home’s networking setup, binge watch on an OLED TV, grab some Dash buttons essentially for free, and find the rest of Friday’s best deals.
Lindsay Lohan Loses Yet Again In Grand Theft Auto V Lawsuit
Sure, It's Made Of The Corpses Of Your Victims. But Is It Art?
One of the most enduring character archetypes, one that adds a zesty burst of horror to any game, is the psychotic artist. You know the type: the dapper, urbane, well-spoken aesthete who values art above life and moans about critics who simply don’t understand their brilliant work. No one truly appreciates their…
LG's OLED TVs Are Down To The Best Prices We've Ever Seen
If you love inky blacks and vibrant colors—and who doesn’t?—this 55" 2017 OLED LG TV is down to $1350 today on MassDrop (about $150 less than Amazon), or an all-time low $2000 for 65" (almost $500 less!).
Rivals Intel and AMD Got Together and Made Something Beautiful for Gamers
After Intel’s very bad last few months and AMD’s very good last few months, it seemed awfully confusing that the two rival CPU makers would team up for a new chip. Sure, it was all good for AMD—which is riding high on the success of its new Ryzen CPUs and Vega GPUs—but Intel has spent the last few months in the hot…
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Some Not-So-Obvious Recommendation
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Some Not-So-Obvious Recommendations For The Switch’s Smash Bros. - Part One • Super Robot Wars V - Tactical Fanservice Fun: Review • RedStripe Loved Trax: Match Start Theme of Dragon Ball FighterZ • Persona 4's Friendships Defined Its Story
Upgrade Every Aspect Of Your Home Network With This One-Day Amazon Sale
Whether you want to make a minor upgrade to your home networking setup, or you’re replacing an 802.11g router that you bought in 2004, Amazon’s Gold Box has a deal for you today. Over a dozen routers, ethernet switches, range extenders, and more are on sale, today only.
The Reason Why Detective Pikachu Loves Coffee
While Ash’s Pikachu adores ketchup, Detective Pikachu loves coffee. In a recent interview, the game’s creators explained why.
Fetish Cosplay Comes To The Nintendo Switch
Today, Shin Den Ai: Nani ga Hoshii no? will be released on the Nintendo Switch in Japan. The download stars fetish cosplayer and model Eri Kitami. The app was apparently denied release on iOS, but it looks like Nintendo is happy to take it!
Luminous Producitons, the newly announced Square Enix studio headed up by Hajime Tabata, isn’t only
Luminous Producitons, the newly announced Square Enix studio headed up by Hajime Tabata, isn’t only doing big-time games. As you can see on this preview of an NHK program, it’s also doing CG for television. Here, the CG is used to show how humans evolved.
Track: (Fuck A) Silver Lining | Artist: Panic At The Disco | Album: Pray For The Wicked
Track: (Fuck A) Silver Lining | Artist: Panic At The Disco | Album: Pray For The Wicked
Not Tonight is a “dark comedy RPG” set in a Britain on the verge of collapse.
Not Tonight is a “dark comedy RPG” set in a Britain on the verge of collapse. You play as a bouncer exiled due to his heritage after Brexit talks fell apart. You can opt to join the resistance or keep your head down. There are elements of time management too, invoking Papers Please. It’ll be out this summer.
Your Monitor Can Do Gymnastics With This Discounted Arm
So you got yourself a nice monitor at work, and don’t have to stare at a tiny laptop screen all day. Congrats! But the effect isn’t truly complete until you mount that display to an arm that lets you move and articulate it in any direction, or even flip the screen from portrait to landscape mode. This one from…
Sea of Thieves Player Becomes First To Reach Max Rank But Not Everyone Is Impressed
Sea of Thieves is a grindy game where even high level quests can grant only a pittance of gold and reputation. One dedicated streamer has reached maximum reputation with the game’s three factions to become a pirate legend and unlock a secret hideout.
Far Cry Truck Has Achieved Liftoff
Today on Highlight Reel we have hectic Far Cry chaos, Sea of Thieves swashbuckling, Zelda trick shots and much more!
The 10 Best Deals of March 29, 2018
We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.
Waking Up to the Game Boy Super Mario Land Theme Is the Best Way to Start Your Day
The original Game Boy was the first device to push my fascination with gadgets to an obsession. I saved for months to buy one, and to this day it’s still one of my favorite gaming platforms. That explains why, despite every gadget I use having an alarm clock built-in, I now prefer waking up to this adorable Game Boy…
Fortnite Players Are Rocket-Riding New Guided Missiles For Absurd Kills
Fortnite Battle Royale’s new guided missile is absolute mayhem. Thank God it’s so rare, or Fortnite’s sky would be a buzzing death hive.