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CulturePlayers Say No Man’s Sky Beyond Is Crashing, And Developers Promise A Fix Soon
No Man’s Sky players are saying that Beyond is running poorly on console, with frequent crashes. Hello Games says they’re aware of the issue and are working on a fix. This morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. eager to start playing No Man’s Sky Beyond. After my download finally finished a few hours later,…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Broke My Brain Designing Randomly Generated Sims Buildings
I build a lot in The Sims, but like a lot of Simmers, I end up building the same house over and over. No matter how hard I try, they look like the houses in the neighborhood I grew up in. They’re suburban houses with two stories, vaguely Georgian architecture, two beds, and one bathroom.…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureA Mural In Fire Emblem: Three Houses Is Cleverly Hiding The Main Character’s Crest
Fans have been using an image seen in an early Fire Emblem: Three Houses trailer to puzzle out information about the characters’ Crests, which are symbols of a powerful bloodline that gives them special powers. In addition to a few that aren’t seen in the game, all the crests you encounter are represented in this…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureNo Man’s Sky Creator On New Multiplayer Features, Taming Animals, And More
When No Man’s Sky Beyond was announced in March, Hello Games called it “three major updates rolled into one larger free release.” Out August 14, the first will be a new approach to multiplayer, and the second is VR. Since that blog post, No Man’s Sky players have been waiting to hear what the third…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureFire Emblem: Three Houses Made Claude’s Voice Actor Reminisce About Military Academy
Joe Zieja’s path to voicing the English-language version of Fire Emblem: Three Houses lead Claude von Reigan was a circuitous one. Zieja said over the phone that he only realized what a huge role Claude was while he was recording. He told me that the director for the English voice actors, Patrick Seitz, broke the…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureNo Man’s Sky Beyond Is Coming In Two Weeks
Interlopers, rejoice. No Man’s Sky Beyond is coming on August 14. No Man’s Sky fans have been anticipating the latest in a string of massive, free updates, titled Beyond since it was announced in March. Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray said at the time that the update would be “three major updates rolled into one…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureThe Outer Worlds Is Just As Screwed Up As Real Life
Before one of the designers of The Outer Worlds talked to me about the game he worked on, he commented on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer patch on the back of my denim vest. Brian Heins, senior designer at Obsidian Entertainment, liked the patch. We’re both big Buffy fans, it turned out. My mother and…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureMonster Prom Team Says Papa Roach Stole Game Art For Tour Poster
This past week, the video game Monster Prom had its promotional art reused without permission by the band Papa Roach for a tour poster. In case you forgot who Papa Roach are, which is understandable, they had this hit song in the year 2000: Right now, developers of the game Monster Prom say that they…
By Gita Jackson -
OpinionImpressionsFire Emblem Is Slowly Improving Its Same-Sex Romance Options
The newer Fire Emblem games have placed an emphasis on romance and dating, though the series has been slow to make same-sex romance a viable option. Fire Emblem: Three Houses does allow you to experience same-sex romance—and it is explicitly romantic, and accessible for both male and female main characters. However, the female main character…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryHaving Someone To Pass The Controller To Makes Single-Player Games Better
I don’t play a ton of shooters, but after getting super obsessed with Apex Legends, I wanted to try Titanfall 2. I also wanted my boyfriend to try Titanfall 2, but I’d always rather play with someone sitting on the couch than online. Me and my boyfriend live about 10 minutes from each other—it would…
By Gita Jackson -
ReviewsSwitchFire Emblem: Three Houses: The Kotaku Review
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a game for interesting times. At the start, none of the future rulers of Fódlan, the fantasy continent where Three Houses takes place, know that the regions they will lead are on the brink of war. Edelgard, the successor to the Adrestian Empire, is the only one who seems to…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureThe Internet Reacts To Overwatch‘s Sigma (And His Feet)
So the new Overwatch character is a scientist? And he got feet? The fact that Sigma, the new mad scientist of Overwatch, is not wearing shoes did not escape anyone’s notice. In fact, the internet is talking about it a lot. Meanwhile, a Blizzard character artist’s explanation that Sigma is barefoot to “sell the ‘asylum’…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureNintendo Responds To Sufferers Of Joy-Con Drift
Although it’s been an issue for some players since shortly after launch, recently more and more Switch owners have been talking about their issues with “Joy-Con drift,” a condition where the joystick on a controller detects movement even though you’re not touching it. In response to players’ Joy-Con woes, Nintendo advises Switch owners experiencing Joy-Con…
By Gita Jackson -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Sims 4 Stories Feature Has Me Making Sims I’d Never Create On My Own
Making Sims can take a long time. You have to hand-pick their personality traits and lifetime ambitions, which means you actually have to sit down and think about a particular character to play. That can take a while, and when I’m feeling particular, it’s taken at least an hour. It can be really easy to…
By Gita Jackson -
AnimeFinal Rebuild Of Evangelion Movie Gets A Freaky Trailer
The first Rebuild of Evangelion movie came out in 2007, when I was in high school. Over a decade later, after many delays, the last movie in the series, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 finally has a teaser trailer, and will hit theaters in Japan in June of 2020. The Rebuild of Evangelion movies are reinterpretations…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureThe Fraught History Of The Sims Introducing Same-Sex Romance Options
In design documents for the very first Sims game, renowned programmer Don Hopkins wrote that anyone offended by the game having same-sex romance needs to “needs to grow up and get a life.” According to a New Yorker article, programmer Patrick J. Barrett III added same-sex romance to the game without much input from anyone…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureJoy-Con Drift Is Becoming A Real Problem On The Switch
For months, Nintendo Switch users have been plagued by what’s become known as “Joy-Con drift.” Although they’re not touching the joystick on their Nintendo Switch controller, the console still thinks it’s moving. With no permanent fix being offered by Nintendo, they’re just sick of it. Recently I’ve been doing nothing but playing the upcoming Switch…
By Gita Jackson -
OpinionImpressionsThe Fire Emblem: Three Houses Battle System Is Elegant In Its Complexity
At its best, combat in Fire Emblem games is like an elegant game of chess. At its worst, it’s a morass of numbers that don’t feel like they mean anything. Three Houses leans more closely to the former than the latter, though it’s also easy to get lost in statistics and variables. Allow me to…
By Gita Jackson -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryAfter Years Of Confusion, I Finally Understand How To Play Bridge
This weekend I faced my oldest nemesis: the card game Bridge. I don’t remember the first time my mom tried to make me play Bridge with her. In my memory, this cursed card game has been the bane of my existence since I was old enough to hold cards in my hand. I’ve never been…
By Gita Jackson