Ian Walker

Demon’s Souls Was Filled With Rubber Duckies During Development

Just like the PlayStation 3 original, the Demon’s Souls remake on PlayStation 5 is a moody, atmospheric game with very little in the way of brightness or joy. But that wasn’t always the case. The staff at Bluepoint Games frequently made use of a rubber ducky model to evaluate aspects of the Demon’s Souls engine…

PlayStation Vita’s Store Isn’t Working For Some Reason (Update: It’s Back)

Update (12/03/2020, 5:06 p.m. ET): According to several users, the Vita store is working again. Our own testing confirms this as well. Kotaku has still received no word from Sony on the matter. Our original story follows below. Widespread issues with PlayStation Network on PlayStation Vita have kept players from downloading or transferring games to the…

Genshin Impact’s Mobile Haul Is Nearly $400 Million (And Counting)

Open-world adventure game Genshin Impact has made its developer miHoYo around $393 million in revenue since launching in late September, according to mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower. The wild part? That number only accounts for the game’s mobile income. Genshin Impact found near-instant worldwide success when it arrived on PlayStation 4, PC, iOS, and Android…

Mask Of The Rose Is A Romantic Visual Novel Set In, Uh, Fallen London

Failbetter Games introduced players to the Fallen London universe, in which the English capital has been transported underground by mysterious forces, through an eponymous browser game and gothic survival sequels Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies. But the studio’s next project aims to be a more intimate take on the Unterzee. Mask of the Rose is…

There’s Still Hope If You, A Dummy, Didn’t Pick The Providential Ring In Demon’s Souls

Did you start the Demon’s Souls remake without choosing the new Providential Ring as your starting gift? Well, first off, you really should have read my beginner’s tips! Lucky for you, the Souls community has discovered a way to snag this helpful piece of jewelry further into the game. It’s just going to take a…

Yakuza: Like A Dragon‘s Crowded Pharmacy Really Stresses Me Out

In addition to battling randos and dodging traffic in the streets of Japan, I’ve spent a lot of time in Yakuza: Like a Dragon browsing the wares of various pharmacies and convenience stores. But one store is always so crowded that it’s impossible to navigate without shoving my fellow patrons out of the way, which…

Yakuza: Like A Dragon Patch Adds Major Feature I Didn’t Even Know Was Missing

Unbeknownst to me, Yakuza: Like a Dragon somehow left Japan bereft of one key feature: in-battle weakness indicators. But today, almost three weeks after its Western launch, a patch has added this game-changing mechanic to the wacky gangster RPG. As in any good role-playing game, the characters of Yakuza: Like a Dragon bring their own…

Swery’s Cat Game The Good Life Finally Finds A Publisher

The Good Life, the next game from designer Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro, has finally found a publisher in The Irregular Corporation. It’s scheduled to launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC in summer 2021. Swery has had a hell of a time getting The Good Life out the door since its initial reveal in…

Demon’s Souls Invader Destroyed By Game’s Worst Attack

While a neat concept, getting invaded by other players in the Demon’s Souls remake can be super frustrating. Sometimes it feels impossible to land a single hit due to the typical online latency. But a notable Souls player recently managed to banish an invader from his world with the worst and most unwieldy attack in…

Why Do Demon’s Souls Players Keep Falling Off This Ledge?

There are a lot of ways to die in the Demon’s Souls remake. Believe me, the transition to PlayStation 5 has not made this game any more forgiving. But I can’t help but wonder what’s up with this one ledge in the Tower of Latria from which players can’t stop tumbling. I first happened upon…

Fallout 76 Camps Get Wheelchairs, Following Player’s Request

Almost two months ago, a Fallout 76 player who uses a wheelchair made a post on the game’s unofficial subreddit asking for the mobility aids to be added to the camp customization options. The latest Fallout 76 update, released today, honors that request. “It would make me so happy to have that little piece of…

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Update Adds 60 FPS Option To All Next-Gen Consoles

The next Assassin’s Creed Valhalla update, dropping tomorrow, introduces an option to play the game in 60 fps across all next-gen platforms. While the game was already nearing that mark on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the Xbox Series S previously hovered around 30 fps, making this a pretty big deal for the budget…

Cuphead expansion The Delicious Last Course has been pushed back again, this time to 2021. An official letter from Studio MDHR cites the ongoing covid-19 as prompting the second delay in as many years

Watch Dogs: Legion‘s Online Mode Delayed As Team Focuses On Fixing Bugs

It’s no secret that Watch Dog: Legion has been pretty buggy since it launched late last month, but Ubisoft sounds dedicated to tracking down these experience-ruining glitches and getting them sorted out. So dedicated, in fact, that the game’s planned online mode has been delayed to next year to give the team more time to…

Demon’s Souls Demons, Ranked

Demon’s Souls gets pretty creative with its bosses compared to the games that came after it, both in terms of gameplay and aesthetics, so here’s how I think they rank from best to worst based on various criteria: Old Monk Storm King Adjudicator Flamelurker Dragon God Maiden Astraea Old Hero Fool’s Idol Old King Allant…

Speedrunner Beats PS5 Demon’s Souls In Less Than 20 Minutes

It took me 20 hours to beat the Demon’s Souls remake on PlayStation 5, but speedrunners have already discovered a massive bug that lets them beat it in less than 20 minutes. The set-up, known as “wrong-warping” or “force quit,” takes some explanation. Demon’s Souls is made up of checkpoints known as archstones, which are…

It’s official: Mortal Kombat 11 today received skins based on the 1995 movie And not only does this DLC change the way Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Raiden look, they also give them new voices recorded by the film’s cast. See ya, Ronda Rousey!

Super Mario Bros. 3 Cartridge Sells For $156,000

A rare copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES is the new king of video game auctions, selling last Friday for an incredible $156,000. While a lot of that price is wrapped up in the sealed game’s near-perfect quality grading, this copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 also comes from an early production run…

Demon’s Souls Speedrunner Opens Remake’s Mysterious Door

The hidden door in the Demon’s Souls remake has been opened. And what was behind it? A way to fix the sixth archstone? A vague Bloodborne connection? A hint about the next Bluepoint Games project? Nope, just a set of armor. Cool armor, to be sure, but yeah. Armor. I spent most of the work…

Nintendo Shuts Down Smash Tournament Over Some Absurd Bullshit

This year’s installment of The Big House, one of the most important tournaments in the Super Smash Bros. community, has been shut down by Nintendo over its use of a fan-developed mod meant to improve online play in Super Smash Bros. Melee “The Big House is heartbroken to share we’ve received a cease and desist…