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CultureGameStop Puts WallStreetBets’ Favorite Rich Guy In Charge Of Figuring Out How To Save It
Just a few weeks ago, it seemed like the GameStop stock frenzy was finally done and dusted. But late last month, it began to rally again and was buoyed this week by the news that former pet food website founder and hero of the WallStreetBets investment subreddit, Ryan “Papa” Cohen, will be put in charge…
By Ethan Gach Published March 9, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Confirms Some Future Bethesda Games Will Be Exclusive To Xbox And PC [Update]
Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda Software parent company, Zenimax Media, is complete, the company announced today. While the full ramifications of the deal will play out in the months and years to come, Xbox boss Phil Spencer did confirm one thing: some of Bethesda’s future games will be exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms. “With the…
By Ethan Gach Published March 9, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesTips For Playing Loop Hero
A lot of people have started playing Loop Hero. How do I know this? It hit 50,000 concurrent users on Steam over the weekend. I was one of them. I’ve now put over 25 hours into the deck-building roguelite, and I have some tips for everyone else who’s just getting started with it. At its…
By Ethan Gach Published March 8, 2021 -
CultureRegulators Approve Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Acquisition Of Bethesda Parent Company Zenimax Media
Microsoft’s $7.5 billion purchase of Zenimax Media, parent company of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom maker Bethesda, has cleared another set of hurdles, winning approval to proceed from both the European Commission and US Securities and Exchange Commissions “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s limited…
By Ethan Gach Published March 8, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsPyra Is My New Favorite Sword Main In Smash Bros. Ultimate
I greeted Pyra and Mythra’s announcement last month with a big sigh. Ugh, more sword fighters? It’s my preferred class in Smash Bros. Ultimate, but even I was beginning to get sick of them. After a couple hours with the new duo, however, I’m pleased to announce my initial skepticism was misplaced. Pyra and Mythra…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePlayers Are Farming The Heck Out Of The Outriders Demo, So The Devs Are Nerfing It
The new loot shooter Outriders hasn’t even launched yet and players are already hard at work grinding for some of its rarest gear in the game’s recent demo. According to the developers, it’s gotten so out of hand that they need to patch it to make legendary guns harder to farm, before players end up…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureDiablo II: Resurrected Will Work With Your Decades-Old Saves
Have a special Necromancer you’ve been farming Diablo II with for years? There’s good news: Diablo II Resurrected will let you import them to continue commanding armies of the dead over 20 years later. Out later this year on consoles and PC, the new remaster will still work with players’ original save files, Blizzard confirmed…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureValve’s Card Game Is Officially Dead
Artifact has now failed twice. After a messy launch and a failed attempt to reboot it last year, Valve announced today it’s calling it quits on the beleaguered Dota 2 card game. “It’s now been about a year and a half since the current Artifact team began work on a reboot in earnest,” the game’s…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsLoop Hero Is A Wonderful New RPG About Overcoming Despair
Loop Hero is a lot of things: an RPG, a roguelite, an auto-battler, a card game, a city builder, an evocative visual novel. It’s also excellent, and I can’t stop playing it. Developed by Four Quarters (maker of 2015’s brilliant behavioral experiment Please, Don’t Touch Anything) and out today on Steam, the appropriately titled Loop…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSakurai Hides Figures Of Unreleased Smash Bros. Fighters In His Desk At Work
In his latest episode of “Mr. Sakurai Presents”, Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he often keeps figures of upcoming fighters locked away in a drawer at work while developing them. Not just Amiibo either, but the good stuff. After giving a detailed look at Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s Pyra and Mythra, who are…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CulturePyra And Mythra Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Later Today
A new presentation by direct Masahiro Sakurai provides a deeper look at the latest fighters—Pyra and Mythra—being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. Yes, they might be yet another set of sword fighters, but the duo’s complimentary move sets look like a really fun combination. You can see the video below. The Xenoblade…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureActivision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
Activision Blizzard announced yesterday that Frances F. Townsend, a former George W. Bush-era counterterrorism appointee and torture apologist, would become its new head of compliance, in charge of making sure the company doesn’t run afoul of the varying laws and regulations throughout all of the countries the Call of Duty maker does business in. According…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicLegend Of Mana’s Grand Score Helps Me Take Its BS Seriously
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course. Legend of Mana (playlist /…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureFinal Fantasy Creator’s New JRPG Lets You Procrastinate With Its Random Encounters
Fantasian, the next game from Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is coming to Apple Aracde later this year. Now we’ve a new trailer finally showing off gameplay of the diorama-based JRPG, including its unique take on random encounters, called the “Dimengeon system.” In classic JRPGs, like the ones Sakaguchi made…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureEpic Games Buys Fall Guys Studio
Epic Games has bought Mediatonic, maker of last year’s hit battle royale Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, the company announced today According to Epic, “gameplay isn’t changing” and the company will continue to support Fall Guys “across platforms,” including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. “Your gameplay isn’t changing and neither is our mission to bring Fall…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBravely Default 2’s Level Up Screen Is So Satisfying
Sixty hours later I still love watching these numbers go up. Like many other JRPGs, Bravely Default II is extremely long and extremely grindy, but the game is also full of small touches that occasionally punctuate the tedium with joy. One of those is the level up screen. After killing a mob of enemies you…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021 -
CulturePlayStation Store Will Stop Selling Movies Nobody Bought
Have you ever bought a movie or TV show through the PlayStation Store? Me neither. As a result, Sony announced today it will remove them, starting August 31, 2021. “We’ve seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles,” Sony wrote in a post over on the PlayStation…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureNavy’s ‘Women Of Warzone‘ Twitch Stream Spammed With Bomb Emotes
The Navy turned off text chat for today’s ‘Women of Warzone’ boot camp Twitch stream, so some viewers took to spamming the chat with bomb and fire emojis instead The boot camp sessions were in preparation for a $10,000 prize pool Call of Duty Warzone tournament, open to the public, that the Navy will be…
By Ethan Gach Published March 1, 2021 -
CultureDestiny 2 Glitch Lets You Launch 12-Player Raid Parties [Update]
Destiny 2 fireteams are usually capped at six, but players have recently discovered a glitch to bump up the size and are using the exploit to take on game’s raids in massive groups. Twelve-player parties might be chump change for a traditional MMO, but in Destiny it can transform even the deepest, darkest stone crypt…
By Ethan Gach Published March 1, 2021 -
CultureReport: Elden Ring Has Pages
Fans of Elden Ring, the joint collaboration between Dark Souls maker FromSoftware and Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin, have been desperate for confirmation that the game is still real and will eventually come out. It now sounds like they have an answer: according to a new report by VGC, trailer footage of…
By Ethan Gach Published March 1, 2021
Ethan Gach
I'm a senior reporter who's been writing about games and internet culture at Kotaku for almost 10 years. I cover everything from company earnings and player boycotts to emerging trends in gaming like AI, creator economies, and the changing console landscape. You can share story and news tips securely and anonymously at [email protected] or over Signal at +12673263042.
Ethan Gach's posts