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The People Behind Lawbreakers Are Looking To Rebound With A Battle Royale Game
Just days after publishing a blog post announcing a shift away from its struggling first-person shooter, LawBreakers, Cliff Bleszinski’s studio Boss Key Productions has announced a new Battle Royale-style game called Radical Heights. In Early Access starting tomorrow, April 10, the free-to-play online shooter looks like a mashup of The Running Man and an 80s…
By Ethan Gach -
The Story Of Two Games That Took Forever To Make
Earlier this week, Chasm, the years-in-development action-adventure platformer inspired by games like Super Castlevania IV, finally got a release window of summer 2018. Below got similar news last month when its developers announced that the long-awaited roguelike would be out before the end of the year. It’s been a long road for both games, but…
By Ethan Gach -
Rainbow Six Siege Pro Pulls Off Unlikely 1 vs 4 WinÂ
Twitch reflexes and impeccable aim are important in Rainbow Six Siege, but so is being incredibly patient and choosing the right moment to strike. Yesterday, pro player Martin “Spark” Eberhard came out on top of a one vs. four situation with an impressive display of patience. In the highlight, posted on the game’s subreddit, his…
By Ethan Gach -
Farmer Uses Stardew Valley As An Escape
Tim is a farmer in Northern California who spends a lot of time on tractors. Thanks to auto-steering, that means he also has plenty of time to check in on his other farm, the one on his Switch port of Stardew Valley Tim posted the picture of his setup to the Stardew Valley subreddit yesterday…
By Ethan Gach -
Women Earn Significantly Less Money Than Men At Rockstar North, Among Other Gaming CompaniesÂ
A number of gaming companies in the UK employ women in roles which, on average, pay less than the ones their male colleagues are in according to a new UK government database. At Grand Theft Auto makers Rockstar North, the gap is particularly large. At the studio based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the average hourly rate…
By Ethan Gach -
The New Ways Rainbow Six Siege Is Going To Get Rid Of Jerk Players
Toxic interactions have long been a problem in Rainbow Six Siege. As the game has grown in popularity, so has the amount of trolling and harassment. As part of an ongoing effort to try to clean up this aspect of the game, today Ubisoft laid out some new changes coming to the game in year…
By Ethan Gach -
Far Cry 5’s First Live Event Is A Letdown
Far Cry 5’s first piece of post-launch content went live yesterday. It’s called “Well Done” and it’s about setting animals on fire. Don’t let the name fool you, though. The game’s first live event is way undercooked. Well Done isn’t a new mission or side activity so much as an additional perk challenge. Like the…
By Ethan Gach -
A Brief History Of Steam Machines [UPDATE]
Remember Steam Machines? Valve’s console-style gaming PC rigs meant for the living room felt like they might revolutionize gaming when they were first announced. A few years later, they’re mostly forgotten. Even Valve is ready to turn the page on that chapter: It recently removed them from the front page of Steam. Since it seems…
By Ethan Gach -
Ghost Recon Wildlands will get a Special Operations update on April 10. It’s one of four free updates coming in year two that include story missions, PvP modes, and additional features. The first adds Sabotage multiplayer and five maps along with the ability to customize AI teammates in the campaign.
By Ethan Gach -
Far Cry 5 Players Are Looking For BigfootÂ
It started with an abandoned cabin on the western edge of Far Cry 5’s fictional setting of Hope County, Montana. There, players found clues to what they now believe are possible Bigfoot locations. They’ve since set off scouring the world for more clues, desperate to see their belief in the supernatural vindicated. Who was Dansky?…
By Ethan Gach -
Into The Breach Tells Its Story Through Its Characters
Into the Breach depicts a conflict between human civilization and giant alien bugs. Dialogue is scant and world building is pretty minimal. The game is primarily interested in throwing puzzles and tactical obstacles your way. But the game’s mechanics often intersect with its characterizations in interesting ways, and I wouldn’t think about Into the Breach…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKotaku Game Diary
I Try To Play Super Mario Bros. 2 Once A Year
I try to play Super Mario Bros. 2 every spring. The game’s bright colors, whimsical level design, and obsession with weeding make it feel right at home around the time of the the vernal equinox, and it’s also one of the easiest to pick up and play. It’s not as challenging as the original Super…
By Ethan Gach -
The Real-Life Atari Secret That Inspired Ready Player One
Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One, like the source material, is chock full of references to 80s music, movies, and video games. It also throws in a few Master Chiefs, Overwatch characters, and the Iron Giant for good measure. Usually these references are surface level and fleeting, but a few carry more weight—like the…
By Ethan Gach -
Hey Ubisoft, Let Far Cry 5‘s Dog Ride In The Car
Far Cry 5 has three pets you can befriend and enlist to help you fight enemy cultists. They’ll help you, and they’ll follow you anywhere. They just won’t ride with you in a car. I can forgive that for the cougar or the bear. In the case of the third animal, a dog, it’s borderline…
By Ethan Gach -
Players Are Obsessed With Far Cry 5‘s Shovels
Far Cry 5 has lots of weapons, ranging from throwing knives to heavy machine guns, but none have captured players’ imaginations quite like its shovels. Can you dig it? Just a few days after release, Far Cry 5 has managed to elevate the handling of a gardening tool from a chore into an Olympic sport…
By Ethan Gach -
Red Faction Guerrilla is getting a remaster due out sometime in the second quarter of 2018 according to THQ Nordic. The new version of the Mars-based shooter will have reworked graphics, shadows, and lighting, as well as support native 4K, so its destructible open world should look that much prettier.
By Ethan Gach -
Far Cry 5 NPC Talks About How Hard It Is To Make Far Cry Games
The fictional movie director of the not-real film Blood Dragon 3 is under a lot of stress in Far Cry 5. He told me so himself when I stumbled onto his movie set in the eastern part of Ubisoft’s huge new first-person shooter. If his next project is a flop he says he’ll be forced…
By Ethan Gach
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.
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