Ethan Gach

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is out this week on Steam and worth checking out, especially for anyone who loves great music and moody, PS2-era JRPG vibes. Kotaku’s Heather Alexandra loved the game when it was in Early Access and I’ve been having a similarly splendid time with the full release.

Nintendo Is Cracking Down On Popular YouTube Music Channels

A popular YouTube channel dedicated to sharing video game music was recently hit with over a hundred copyright claims, the latest to fall under intense scrutiny as Nintendo appears to be ramping up efforts to prevent the illicit distribution of its music. “Game over,” the YouTube channel GilvaSunner, which has over 300,000 subscribers, wrote on…

It Only Took Five Hours To Beat Super Mario Odyssey Blindfolded

The best speedrunners in the world can beat the Nintendo Switch game Super Mario Odyssey in under an hour. On Monday, it took speedrunner Katun24 just over five. It would have been a pretty bad performance if not for the fact that he was wearing a blindfold. His final time, now a world record for…

Video Game Consoles Won’t Get Pricier In America, At Least For Now

A 10 percent tax on video game consoles and other consumer electronics has been delayed until December 15, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced today. According to President Trump, the purpose of the delay is to prevent the tariffs from hurting the holiday shopping season. The next round of tariffs in…

New Glitch Leads To Fastest Mario Kart 7 Track Time

Did you know Daisy has a cruise ship? And also that it’s full of holes? Nearly eight years after the game’s release, Mario Kart 7 players have found a new way to glitch through the vessel’s hull and complete the course in under a minute. That’s the shortest time of any track in all of…

Fallout 76 Player Uses Glitches To Build Her Own World Under The Map

Fallout 76 player MrsP123 has a campsite in a location uniquely suited to fending off intruders. Recently, a player character in a skeleton mask holding an assault rifle tried to rampage through her campsite. The interloper tried to fight her, but she didn’t fight back. Instead of initiating a duel, she subjected the masked intruder…

Long-Promised Minecraft Graphical Overhaul Is Canceled

Today, Mojang announced that it has ceased development on Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics Pack, citing technical difficulties. It’s been just over two years since the feature was announced on stage at E3 2017, “Some of you might remember us announcing the Super Duper Graphics Pack during E3 2017,” the studio announced on its website today.…

Knights and Bikes finally has a release date and it’s coming to PS4 and Steam on August 27. Originally Kickstarted in 2016, its from a group of former Media Molecule developers and looks like it has plenty in common with games like Tearaway 

An improved version of System Shock 2 is in the works. Nightdive Studios, which is currently working on remastering the first System Shock, announced it’s also working on System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition during a Twitch stream last night celebrating the game’s 20th anniversary

Finally, A Nintendo 64 That Can Breathe Fire

This modded Nintendo 64 looks more like a botched entry for Robot Wars than a nice retro gaming console for people to gather around and play classics like Banjo-Kazooie. But it still works as a console—flamethrowers and all. It was spotted by Attract Mode and created by retro gaming YouTuber BitHead1000 He built a heavy-duty…

Anthem’s Cataclysm Update Wasn’t Worth The Wait

A massive storm rages overhead. Spend too much time in it and you’ll die. Enemies stalk a handful of ancient ruins scattered around a rocky beach. Take too long trying to kill them and the mission comes to an end, booting you back to the overworld map. At nearly every turn, Anthem’s new limited-time, score-based…

Fallout 76’s Meat Week Lets You Grind For Loot By Barbecuing

Live games have come up with all sorts of creative ways to repackage the grind of killing things over and over again in the hopes of earning rare loot. Fallout 76’s Meat Week cookouts are by far some of the strangest I’ve seen, and I absolutely love them. Fallout 76 is often criticized for not…

The Last Spell had me at Final Fantasy Tactics meets Dynasty Warriors Whether it eventually delivers on that combination when it comes out next year on PC, the trailer has me pining for more tactical beat’em ups against giant They Are Billions-looking hordes.

ESA Says Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo Will Start Disclosing Loot Box Odds

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony will be required to implement new policies requiring the disclosure of all loot box odds for games on their platforms. “I’m pleased to announce this morning that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have indicated to ESA a commitment to new platform policies with respect…

Rocket League Is Ditching Loot Boxes

Psyonix announced in a blog today that its car soccer game Rocket League will be leaving loot boxes behind in a move aimed at “creating the best possible experience for our players all over the world.” The change will happen sometime before the end of the year with a new system coming in to replace…

After Months Of Delay, Anthem’s Cataclysm Event Is Finally Live

Without any fanfare, today BioWare dropped Anthem’s biggest update since the game was released in February. Update 1.3 adds a bunch of new loot, a guild system, and the game’s long-awaited Cataclysm event, which was originally due out in May After a rough launch, BioWare announced a series of updates that would be coming to…

Pokémon Card Requiring Players To Speak Banned To Prevent Linguistic Confusion

The Pokémon Company announced late yesterday that it’s banning one of the Pokémon trading card game’s newest cards at this year’s World Championship. That’s because this card introduces some potential language barrier issues between international players that would, overall, make it a huge pain in the ass if anyone decided to actually try and use…

Grandia HD Collection, featuring the first two games in the series, is coming to Switch August 16. It’s the first time both games will appear on a Nintendo console. If you don’t have a Switch or can’t stand to wait another week an HD version of Grandia II is currently on Steam.

PAX Cancels Controversial Hosts’ Live Podcast, Won’t Say Why [Update]

The Seattle gaming convention PAX West has canceled a planned live recording of the “Sacred Symbols” gaming podcast, hosted by politically controversial commentators Colin Moriarty and Chris “Ray Gun” Maldonado, that was set to take place at the show on September 2. It hasn’t yet given a reason for the cancellation, which has caused a…

The beautiful blocky destruction game Riverbond is getting ported to Switch later this year. Like so many interesting games that get overshadowed on other platforms, Riverbond’s arcade-y four-player dungeoneering feels perfect for Switch. Plus, it’ll arrive alongside some new DLC world.