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Natalie Degraffinried

Natalie Degraffinried's posts

Natalie Degraffinried

Natalie Degraffinried's posts

Posts
Natalie Degraffinried
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Natalie Degraffinried is a staff editor for Kotaku.

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Speedrunning

Speedrunner Smashes A Computer-Assisted Super Mario Bros. Record By A Single Frame

Natalie Degraffinried
5/01/19 5:37pm
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A tool-assisted Super Mario Bros. speedrun category that had seen no significant improvements for years may be getting a second wind after a single-frame improvement submitted by runner Maru370.

YouTube

I Went Down A Sekiro Rabbit Hole. Here Are Some Cool Videos I Found

Natalie Degraffinried
4/26/19 3:30pm
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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a fun game with excellent combat and an infamous difficulty curve, so it stands to reason that there’s lots of content about it online. There are a whole bunch of guides and showcase videos that do great work to explain which tools and techs are useful. There are playthroughs and reaction…

Kotaku Game Diary

I Can't Stop Myself From Telling People To Play Phoenix Wright

Natalie Degraffinried
4/09/19 12:00pm
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When I talk to people about the Phoenix Wright series, I often find myself adopting the idiosyncrasies of a crazed motivational speaker. “What are you waiting for?” I implore people, insistent that it’s for their own good. When will you take control of your life? I slink into the brazenly annoying behavior of someone…

Kotaku Game Diary

What I Know About Surviving In Sekiro I Learned On The Volleyball Court

Natalie Degraffinried
4/05/19 12:12pm
221
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The spectral foe towered over me, her sheer size outmatched only by her overwhelming poise. The pole arm she held in one hand was twice the size of my character, and the loose robes and prayer beads draped over her hulking figure only served to make her more intimidating. With a grace that only made her enormous size…

Speedrunning

Sekiro Speedrunners Discover Wild Techniques To Beat The Game In 40 Minutes

Natalie Degraffinried
4/01/19 2:00pm
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Since Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice came out, speedrunners have been attacking the game at full force, ripping through the game’s early routes and finding ways to go fast in a game full of difficulty walls. Last week, speedrunner Danflesh managed to knock out the game’s shortest route in 50 minutes. Since then, the record…

Review

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: The Kotaku Review

Natalie Degraffinried
3/26/19 3:00pm
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In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the thread between life and death is tenuous. As the One-Armed Wolf, a loyal shinobi seeking to save a young noble with a cursed bloodline, you traverse a feudal Japan so saturated with the remnants of war that the idea of mortality becomes fickle: dead bodies blending in with the local…

Tips

Tips For Playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Natalie Degraffinried
3/22/19 2:32pm
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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is fun and also challenging. There’s a lot to take in, both in and out of combat, and several aspects of the game require real concentration and attention to detail. I’m here with some tips to help you learn better and faster.

Impressions

30 Hours With Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Natalie Degraffinried
3/21/19 9:00am
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Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the latest game from Dark Souls and Bloodborne development studio FromSoftware, is out tomorrow. After 30 hours of fighting and struggling and strategizing and getting good, I can say I’ve been having an absolute blast.

Kotaku Game Diary

Trying To Solo Overcooked Perfectly Was A Mistake

Natalie Degraffinried
3/08/19 12:00pm
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Here’s what I knew about Overcooked when I started playing it for the first time yesterday: It’s primarily meant to be a multiplayer game, it can be stressful as hell, and solo play requires controlling two quirky little chefs plucked straight out of a claymation exposé on failed health inspections. All this to say: I…

YouTube

The New Queer Tropes In Video Games Series Is Tired, But Sadly, Still Relevant

Natalie Degraffinried
3/05/19 11:00am
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For the sake of making their games more realistic, video game developers have done extensive research on all sorts of random or mundane things: parasitic fungi, game theory, gun sounds, paleobotany, and breast physics are just a few. Some of these subjects no doubt required expert commentary, academic research, and a…

Kotaku Game Diary

Etrian Odyssey Nexus Is Busting My Balls And It’s Totally My Fault

Natalie Degraffinried
2/22/19 12:00pm
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I consider myself a veteran Etrian Odyssey player. I’ve hand-drawn dozens of maps across the role-playing game series, meticulously crawled floors for every treasure chest and scripted event, and gotten hundreds of monsters in my codex—conditional drops and all. So I came to the latest title in the series, Etrian…

Education

Bennett College President Gives Heartwarming Thanks After Donors Give $8.2 Million to Save School

Natalie Degraffinried
2/08/19 12:01pm
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After facing financial issues that threatened its status as an accredited school, Bennett College may be saved following a strong social media push for its fundraising campaign.

Crime

Arizona Nurse Accused of Raping Incapacitated Patient Formally Indicted

Natalie Degraffinried
2/01/19 2:46pm
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Former Hacienda Healthcare nurse Nathan Sutherland has been formally indicted after he was accused of raping and impregnating an incapacitated patient under his care.

Politics

Jersey’s in the Building: Cory Booker Announces 2020 Presidential Run to Kick Off Black History Month

Natalie Degraffinried
2/01/19 9:17am
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As presidential announcements continue to roll out, another prospect has finally made official his aspirations for office: Cory Booker.

Wypipo

Maybe We Need Tighter Sword Control Laws: Anchorage Man Reportedly Brings Knife to a Sword Fight

Natalie Degraffinried
1/28/19 1:30pm
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En garde, bitch! I imagine that’s how a sword fight starts in 2019.

Police Brutality

Video Surfaces of Cop Apparently Kicking Man in Head; Officer Cleared by Internal Investigation

Natalie Degraffinried
1/25/19 11:53am
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Video from May 2017 has surfaced showing what appears to be an officer kicking a robbery suspect in the face as he kneeled and spread his hands out on the ground in front of police.

News

Nurse’s DNA Tied to Incapacitated Woman's Baby; Lawyer Says ‘No Proof’ Suspect Raped Victim

Natalie Degraffinried
1/24/19 1:16pm
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A nurse has been arrested and charged with sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult in connection with the horrifying case of a woman with limited mobility and mental capacity unexpectedly giving birth in December at a Phoenix, Ariz., specialized care center.

News

Black Grad Student Accused of Stealing His Own Car and Beaten by Police Gets $1.25 Million Settlement

Natalie Degraffinried
1/23/19 11:57am
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The police tackled him for “stealing” a car that was his—now they may have to run him his money for the trouble to the tune of over a million dollars.

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