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OpinionGaming Didn’t Get Me Through It
Before lockdown started, I had another job with a company that made what became the world’s most sought-after product: hand sanitizer. Working there before everything shut down was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Every day, my coworkers would whisper about the spread of the virus, retelling news stories about so many new…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureAnimal Crossing Horror Short Getting Full-Length Feature
Don’t Peek, a six-minute horror movie about a monster trying to escape from Animal Crossing into the real world, premiered this week at SXSW Online and will soon be coming to a theater near you in full-length form. Reported in Deadline, Don’t Peek, directed by Julian Terry and uploaded to YouTube back in October before…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureActivision Blizzard Esports Announces Layoffs [Update]
Activision Blizzard Esports will lay off around 50 employees, according to a report released today by Sports Business Journal. UPDATE: Reports suggest the total figure of laid-off employees is actually closer to 190. The layoffs come as a cost-saving and restructuring measure, according to the company. While the company emphasized the pandemic as a cause…
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CultureReport: Alienware Ends League Of Legends Sponsorship Over Riot CEO’s Sexual Harassment Investigation
According to a report in Dot Esports, Alienware, the high-performance gaming PC brand owned by Dell, has severed ties with Riot Games over Riot CEO Nicolo Laurent’s ongoing sexual harassment investigation and other public relations concerns. The deal, originally scheduled to end in January 2022, seems to have been terminated early amid concerns regarding Riot’s…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryFeels From Heals: Healing In Final Fantasy XIV Is Super Rewarding
The first thing I did upon setting foot in Foundation, the hub world central to Final Fantasy XIV’s Heavensward expansion, was sign up for the Astrologian and Dark Knight job class. This is extremely out of character for me because I only play damage dealers in MMOs, and Astrolgian and Dark Knight are healer and…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryOddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty Guilted Me Into My First 100% Completion
I started playing Oddworld: New ‘N Tasty and oh god, I’m going to have to save all 299 of these Mudokons, aren’t I? In 2014’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, you play as the Mudokon Abe, an overworked, underpaid alien wo’rking for a company that destroys the ecosystem and drives indigenous creatures extinct—so your typical Amazon…
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CultureFormer Overwatch League MVP Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won Suspended Over Sexual Assault Allegations
Former Overwatch League MVP and current Valorant pro Jay “Sinatraa” Won was suspended from his team Sentinels today after being accused of sexual assault by a former girlfriend. In a Google Doc posted late last night to Twitter, Cleo Hernandez detailed emotional and sexual abuse allegations, including instances of coerced sex. In a nine page…
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CultureFans Can’t Decide Whether New Overwatch Skin Is Cute Or Horrifying
Today, Overwatch announced the PachiMarchi Challenge, the newest event celebrating the game’s weird half-onion, half-octopus mascot Pachimari. Starting today, players who win games in Quick Play, Arcade, or Competitive mode can win Pachimari-themed cosmetics, including a Pachimari Roadhog skin that is, depending on your inclination, either very cute or extremely unsettling. Watching the trailer feels…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionHades Almost Starred Theseus, Which Would’ve Been Boring AF
Imagine playing Hades, working to escape the underworld, fighting, and succumbing to swarms of relentless enemies. Every time your character perishes, you hear the low, sinister chuckle of the King of the Dead in your ear, mocking you for your weakness. Until finally, after countless attempts, you stand before Hades, preparing for the final confrontation,…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryAfter Almost Three Years Away, Returning To Overwatch Feels Amazing
I have a confession to make: Despite being Kotaku’s number one Overwatch fan, I haven’t played it myself in two years. But buffeted by my optimism for Overwatch 2 and being unable to get my Overwatch fix because Overwatch League won’t be back for another month, I decided to play again, hoping to recapture what…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionThank You, Persona 5 Strikers, For This Adult Who Doesn’t Suck
Persona 5 Strikers has been out for a little more than a week, so I feel pretty comfortable saying this: Thank God for Wolf! Wolf (née Zenkichi Hasegawa) is the newest and only adult member of the Phantom Thieves. There are adults who help the Phantom Thieves and keep their secret, but until Strikers, there’s…
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CultureMorning MusicDirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Sounded Great, At Least
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re kicking open the vault of weird-ass Final Fantasy spin-offs and unearthing Dirge of Cerberus Released in 2006 as a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) turned the…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryThese Final Fantasy XIV Characters Ain’t Sh*t
Last night, I finished the true ending of A Realm Reborn and made it, at long last, to Heavensward. This means yes, I saw the event that was basically FF14’s equivalent of the Red Wedding (refresh your memory here), Instead of discussing my feelings regarding what the absolute flying fuck I just witnessed, I—like Cersei—choose…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureHow Persona 5 Strikers Did (And Didn’t) Steal Our Hearts
At long last, the Phantom Thieves ride again as Persona 5 Strikers—the Atlus RPG turned Koei Tecmo hack and slash—is out in North America. I’m a big Persona 5 nerd and I’ve been anxiously waiting for fellow nerd Luke Plunkett to get far enough into the game that I could finally have someone with whom…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsAn Ode To My Favorite Flavor Texts
More than the set piece battle or the final showdown between hero and villain, it’s the quieter, smaller moments in video games that get me. In some games, those tiny moments can be a sudden expression on a character’s face or a short piece of dialogue from an inconsequential scene. But more often than not,…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryA Realm Reborn‘s Ending Was Kind Of A Letdown
I rolled credits on A Realm Reborn a couple of days ago, ushering in the new Seventh Astral Era, and yet I feel kinda hollow. Compared to my gut-wrenching experience toward the middle of my journey, the end of A Realm Reborn’s storyline feels like a huge-ass letdown. I’ve said before how I love when…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionNow That’s How You Do A Damn Game Reveal
After being utterly underwhelmed by BlizzCon, last week’s Nintendo Direct, and yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play, I wasn’t expecting much out of today’s Pokémon 25th Anniversary presentation. But it feels like The Pokémon Company took a good look at the competition and said, “Alright, now watch a master work.” No shade at all to those…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureOdds and EndsDeathloop’s Sultry ‘Déjà Vu’ Will Be My Summer Anthem
Outside of Square Enix announcing a new story DLC for Final Fantasy VII Remake, yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play event was kinda a dud. But there was a notable exception: Deathloop’s new original song “Déjà Vu.” Deathloop, an upcoming game from Prey developers Arkane Studios, is Hitman meets Groundhog’s Day in which you play Colt,…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureAfter Anthem‘s Failure, Dragon Age 4 Will Reportedly Be Single-Player Only
We praise dancing in the Chantry y’all! According to a report from Bloomberg, EA is allowing BioWare to ditch “all multiplayer components” originally planned for the latest game in the Dragon Age series. EA is a company known for its dogged insistence on adding multiplayer and microtransactions to every one of its games, pushing its…
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CultureReport: Chat Logs Reveal Pervasive Racism In Top World of Warcraft Raiding Guilds
Two raiding guilds in the upper tiers of World of Warcraft’s North American ladder, Clout Gang and Instant Dollars, have come under fire for using racial and homophobic slurs. First reported by PC Gamer, an Imgur album containing screenshots of Clout Gang’s Discord and in-game chats was posted in the r/WoW subreddit showing members using…
By Ash Parrish
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