Alexandra Hall

What Is Your Single Favorite Piece Of Video Game Music?

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our times. Sometimes they’re serious, sometimes they’re less so, but mostly it’s just another excuse for us to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask Kotaku, to…

Axelay Honed SNES Music To Technical Perfection

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Every weekday at 8 a.m. ET you can look forward to hearing (and discussing!) a bit of game music that’s beautiful, rousing, technically interesting, or that we just think is worth a listen. Sometimes a…

Just How Lethal Is Ghost Of Tsushima’s ‘Lethal’ Difficulty?

The devs bill it as more difficult than Hard, but in practice it’s more a gameplay tweak.

Do You Miss E3?

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our times. Sometimes they’re serious, sometimes they’re less so, but mostly it’s just another excuse for us to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask Kotaku: Do…

Do You Play Games On The Hardest Difficulty?

Welcome to Ask Kotaku, the new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that…well, OK. It’s just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask Kotaku:…

What Are Your Top 3 Platformers Of All Time?

Welcome to Ask Kotaku, the new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that…well, OK. This is just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask…

What One Accessory Vastly Improved Your Gaming Experience?

Welcome to Ask Kotaku, a new weekly feature in which Kotaku’s rank and file weigh in on the burning questions of our time. Each query is a crucible on which nerds and giants clash, monumental contests of wit, that…well, OK. It’s just another excuse to talk vidya games. You down? This week on Ask Kotaku:…

Amazon Game Studios’ MMORPG New World has slipped to spring 2021. In a blog post, studio director Rich Lawrence explained that a desire to build more middle- and end-game content required delaying its previous launch date of Aug. 25. Recently, the studio also decided to pull and retool its team-based shooter, Crucible

Amazing Emulator Turns 2D NES Games Into Fully 3D Worlds

A strange new product appeared on Steam last week: a Nintendo Entertainment System emulator that translates the 2D pixel graphics of classic 8-bit games into 3D worlds built with voxels. It’s called 3dSen, it has standard and standard+VR versions, and it lets you experience a select slice of the NES library from unusual new perspectives.…

Our Favorite Smaller Games From Today’s PS5 Reveal Event

Sony’s finally revealed the PlayStation 5, along with a pleasant selection of launch-window games. Between massive reveals like Demon’s Souls remake, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Resident Evil 8: Village, Gran Turismo 7, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart came smaller but no less intriguing surprises. Here are some of our favorites. Ian Walker — Pragmata I…

New Phantasy Star English Patch Was 14 Years In The Making

In 2006 a small group of ROM hackers released a much-improved English translation for Phantasy Star, Sega’s groundbreaking Sega Master System RPG Now, nearly 14 years later, the same group updated their patch to version 2.0, complete with a revised script and huge quality-of-life upgrades. Yeah, Phantasy Star. One of the very first console RPGs…

Insignia Project Aims To Resurrect Xbox Live For The Original Xbox

Word emerged Wednesday of a new project, called Insignia, that aims to recreate the original Xbox Live service, potentially restoring online play to many dozens of classic Xbox games that fell offline when the original Xbox Live service (hereafter, “Xbox Live”) closed on April 15, 2010. The project’s announcement on the r/originalxbox subreddit came from…

Switch’s Panzer Dragoon: Remake just got a long-awaited patch that seeks to fix key issues that’ve plagued it since launch. Easier aiming, faster turning, a 60 fps mode, gyro controls, the list goes on. Full details on Twitter. Pity that it launched in such a state, but glad the devs are trying to make good.

Cult 1998 PlayStation Game LSD: Dream Emulator Is Finally Playable In English

Obscure game lovers got a surprising treat this past week.

In a lovely video Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano dishes on his distinctive art. Confessing a love for Western fantasy, he traces his creative evolution from anime to fine art and explains why inspiration is never in short supply. A truly serene watch, just long enough to enjoy with a cup of tea.

Huh, SNK just released Gals’ Fighter on Switch Neo Geo Pocket Color’s cool clicky stick let it host some strangely good fighters, and this was the cutest. Nice to see NGPC games reappearing, and $7.99 is a lot easier to swallow than the $450 a U.S. copy of Gals’ Fighter recently fetched.

How A Modder Got Bloodborne Running At 60 FPS

From Software’s 2015 PS4 hit Bloodborne captivated at least as much as it frustrated (which is to say a lot). Its main drawback was a mere technical blemish: The game’s framerate meandered around 30, and often felt lower due to poor frame pacing. Enter noted Bloodborne archaeologist Lance McDonald, who just hacked Bloodborne to run…