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The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the series’ free-to-play mobile spin-off, won’t come to Switch until next year, Bethesda announced today. The port was originally supposed to launch this fall, but the company said that it needed to be delayed due to work on improving the game, including an overhaul of how loot works.
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsI Never Knew Dying In Borderlands 3 Could Feel So Brutal
Sometimes you really need to kill a dude, and you just can’t, and it sucks. Borderlands 3 is not a heavy game. It’s full of bright colors, fun sounds, and jokes (even if most of them aren’t very funny). I would no more liken it to a Dark Souls game as put orange juice in…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSome Of Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Online Features Are Shutting Down In February
The Pokémon company announced overnight that its Global Link Service, which supports certain parts of online play in Pokémon Sun and Moon and their Ultra editions, will be going away on February 24, 2020. While Pokémon Sun and Moon players will still be able to trade and battle directly with one another, features related to…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureFallout 76 Players Can’t Shoot Pacifists, So They’re Nuking Them Instead
In Fallout 76, other players are only supposed to be able to kill you if you shoot back, but there are ways to game the system, the latest of which involves killing bystanders with radiation poisoning. There are so many ways to die in Fallout 76, from being blown up by Scorchbeasts to glitching through…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Future ’88 Is A Fun, Bite-Sized Cyberpunk Roguelike
Black Future ’88 is uncompromisingly hard, often repetitive, and very short, but those things haven’t stopped me from having a blast tearing through it. Released last week on PC and Switch, the game takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse engineered by the architect of a giant skyscraper. Everyone’s lost track of time…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureDestiny‘s Bad Juju Is Now In Borderlands 3
Over the weekend players discovered Good Juju, Borderlands 3’s response to Destiny’s exotic pulse rifle Bad Juju. The Legendary assault rifle was added to the game last week as part of its Maliwan Takedown update and is instantly recognizable to anyone who’s spent time with Bungie’s loot shooter. In addition to Good Juju looking an…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsThe Touryst Is A Simple But Endearing Puzzle Game On Switch
Every clubby beach bar I’ve ever been to has a sign outside with a strict dress code. No shoes? No collared shirt? No overpriced drinks for you! Inevitably there is some Jersey Shore casting-call hopeful in violation of these commandments being told to get lost by an exhausted bouncer. In The Touryst, a puzzle adventure…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBring Back Destiny’s Self-Resurrection, You Cowards
Once upon a time, Warlocks in Destiny could channel the fiery energy of distant neutron stars or however that universe’s space magic works to instantly bring themselves back to life. Then they lost all their powers in the switch over to Destiny 2. They gained a bunch of new ones, but self-reviving wasn’t among them.…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureBorderlands 3 Update Finally Makes Menus Less Sluggish
Borderlands 3 got a big update today that, among a bunch of other additions, makes the game’s menus system less hellishly slow. When Gearbox’s loot shooter came out in September, it had a lot of performance issues. Split-screen was a mess, the frame-rate frequently dropped, the inventory system would occasionally eat people’s gear, and most…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsMario Kart Tour’s Winter Update Is A Bust
Mario Kart Tour’s big winter update went live yesterday and it feels underwhelming, making me question whether or not it’s really worth it to keep subscribing to the game’s $5 monthly subscription. The game’s Winter Tour is meant to be a festive bit of seasonal fun to close out the year. It sports Mario in…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsA Day Of Trying To Stream Xbox One Games While On The Go
When Microsoft’s video game streaming service, Project xCloud, began its beta last month, there were only four games available to test. Now there are over 50. I spent a day taking the service on the road with me to see how it’s working. Currently, the service streams games from Microsoft’s servers to a smartphone or…
By Ethan Gach -
Borderlands 3 is getting a casino heist on December 19. Called Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, the update is the first of four story expansions included in the game’s season pass. Meanwhile, the game’s first new endgame activity Takedown at Maliwan’s Blacksite will go live tomorrow.
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSome People Who Pre-Ordered Stadia Say They Still Can’t Access It [Update]
In June, Google made an enticing offer for its new streaming service, Stadia—anyone who pre-ordered the Founder’s Edition would be able to lock in the usernames of their choice before anyone else could. Now, however, some people who pre-ordered the service say they haven’t even gotten in. Instead, they still find themselves waiting for an…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureActivision Blizzard’s CEO Doesn’t Think Its Games Should Be Political
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick doesn’t think his companies’ games should be used as platforms for sharing political views. He said as much an interview appearance on CNBC earlier today “We’re not the operator of the world’s town halls,” Kotick, who in 2017 made 28.6 million running the video game company behind Call of Duty…
By Ethan Gach -
I still hate Jack, Gears of War’s Pixar-like companion drone, but after hearing the inspiration behind him I appreciate why he exists. Gears 5 director Rod Fergusson said at a recent game conference that Jack was meant to give non-Gears players an approachable cooperative role similar to Mario Galaxy’s co-star mode.
By Ethan Gach