Ethan Gach

Destiny 2 Is Getting Snow Storms

Bungie announced yesterday that dynamic blizzards will be waging across the Jupiter’s frosty moon of Europa, and they’ll be so bad at times you might need a new thermal scope to keep enemies at bay. “We were brainstorming and Ed Brennan [Europa World Art Lead] proposed the idea of a blizzard to help sell the…

Xbox Series X Expandable Storage Costs $219.99

The price for 1TB of expandable storage on Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and S consoles has finally been revealed and it’s a whopping $219.99. That’s based on a listing that recently went up over at Best Buy and was first spotted by The Verge. (Update – 11:34 a.m., 9/24/20: Microsoft confirmed the price over on…

Endless Space’s Alien Music Makes Spreadsheet Management Feel Transcendent

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today I’m here to sing the praises of Endless Space’s lowkey ode to micromanagement, which featured the only game soundtrack that’s ever made me feel equal parts noble and enlightened for spending hours fiddling with resource…

Destiny 2 Honors Deceased Developer With Moving Piece Of In-Game Lore

When players log onto Destiny 2 this week they’ll be asked to go investigate some lost Golden Age tech on Mars as part of a special tribute to Matt Helsom, an artist at Vicarious Visions who passed away last year. Touching down on Mars there’s no objective marker for where to begin the Signal Intercepted…

Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Beta Delayed A Week

Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t make its early access debut on PC and Stadia at the end of this month after all. Instead, it’s been pushed back to October 6. Larian Studios announced the delay on Twitter today, citing some issues with stability and hold-ups around the game translation into various languages. “We’re nearly there but…

The 2020 Game Awards will take place on December 10, host Geoff Keighley announced today. Unlike in years past there won’t be any live audience and the event itself will be split across studios in Tokyo, London, and LA due to the ongoing pandemic.

Ubisoft Apologizes For Excluding Women From Assassin’s Creed Sizzle Reel

Ubisoft, which has spent much of the summer dealing with widespread reports of sexism, harassment, and misconduct at the company, put out a short video on Twitter yesterday highlighting all of the Assassin’s Creed protagonists who have mastered the hidden blade. Somehow it left out all of the women. “The blade is back,” Ubisoft’s Assassin’s…

Xbox Series X Pre-Orders Have Been A Debacle So Far [Update]

Despite advance notice, a set time, and links set up for all of the retailers who would be selling the Xbox Series X and Series S today, trying to pre-order Microsoft’s next-gen console has been a massive headache. Pre-orders in the U.S. were set to start at 11:00 a.m., which is also about the time…

Destiny 2 Teases The Return Of Variks

“Destroy mines, yessss?” Long-time Destiny players have those words and other morsels of dry sarcasm etched into their brains from spending dozens upon dozens of hours fighting enemy mobs in the first game’s Prison of Elders. Now, that jail’s warden, Fallen scholar Variks, The Loyal, appears set to make a fresh appearance in the game…

Elden Ring Fans Trolled By Fake Instagram Post Promising News About The Game

Over the weekend, Bandai Namco’s information page for upcoming game Elden Ring briefly redirected to a fake Instagram account. The account said more news about the long-silent game was “coming soon,” as if Elden Ring’s most devoted fans haven’t suffered enough. The Instagram account, called “bandainamcoenteurope,” has a couple hundred followers and three posts that,…

Future Bethesda Games Will Come To Other Consoles ‘On A Case-By-Case Basis,’ Microsoft Says

Following the announcement that Microsoft is buying Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, Xbox boss Phil Spencer opened up the possibility that some of the newly acquired publisher’s future games could become exclusives. In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said that upcoming Bethesda games like its single-player sci-fi RPG Starfield will come to Xbox, PC, and…

The Legend of Dragoon’s Sprawling Soundtrack Is What Every Epic JRPG Deserves

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s tracks come from The Legend of Dragoon, Sony’s attempt to emulate the prestige JRPG adventures of the late ‘90s. Surprisingly, for all its faults, The Legend of Dragoon (longplay, VGMdb) nailed both depth and…

Dune 2000 Is A Good Soundtrack For The Coming Spice Wars

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. The year is 2000. Dune 2000 to be exact, and space gangs are fighting to the death while snare drums and ominous synth basslines blare in the distance. Won’t you join me? Good morning. Today’s…

Everything Sony Announced In Today’s PS5 Event

At long last we have the PlayStation 5’s release date, price, and teases for the next God of War and Final Fantasy XVI. Sony’s second PS5 showcase gave us most of the answers we didn’t get the first time around, including that the next-gen console will be out November 12 and cost $500. Today’s 40-minute…

Star Renegades Is A Gorgeous Turn-Based RPG Caught In Its Own Time Loop

There’s a ton to love in the beautifully pixelated RPG roguelite Star Renegades. I just wish all of its ambitious ideas came together as elegantly as its art style. In Star Renegades, the latest Steam game from Massive Damage, makers of the excellent Halcyon 6, you assemble a squad of charming cliches—the roguish bounty hunter,…

Gods & Monsters Isn’t The First Time Monster Energy Has Been Annoying About Naming Rights

Monster Beverage tried to stop Ubisoft from trademarking the name “Gods & Monsters” earlier this year to prevent confusion between its brand of highly caffeinated sodas and the upcoming action adventure game. It turns out this is the sort of thing Monster does a lot. Monster routinely challenges “monster”-related trademarks, including, tactical gear, ice cream,…

Rocket League is going free-to-play next week on September 23. That’s also when the game will move to the Epic Games Store and no longer be for sale on Steam. The game’s seasons will reboot then as well, starting back at one.

Nintendo Switch Bans Nicknames Like ‘ACAB’, ‘Nazi’, And ‘Covid’ In Latest Update

A 'bad word' list has expanded based on recent events

EA Is Killing Off The Origin Name Entirely

After nine anticlimactic years the Origin name is no more. Going forward, EA will simply refer to its PC gaming client as the “EA desktop app.” The video game publisher announced the move inan interview with GamesIndustry.biz, saying the name change is part of a larger overhaul of the platform intended to “to create a…

Pop-Up Ad For Sex During Magic Tournament Shows Why The Game Needs A Spectator Mode

A porn spam bot was the icing on the cake during a Magic: The Gathering Arena tournament this weekend, in an event whose technical problems reminded us all that the digital card game’s client desperately needs a spectator mode. “Hi, I’m looking for sex with a stranger,” a fake DM from a no doubt very…