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CultureOdds and EndsXbox Series S Was Actually Revealed Back In June
Earlier this week, the folks over at Microsoft announced a lightweight alternative to the beefy Xbox Series X known as the Xbox Series S. But what if I told you that the official reveal wasn’t the first time the world caught a glimpse of the cute little console? In a cheeky bit of preemptive marketing…
By Ian Walker -
CultureTwitch Bans Smash Champion After He Admits To Having Sex With Minor
Super Smash Bros. veteran Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada has been banned from Twitch two months after admitting to engaging in a sexual relationship with a fellow competitor who was underage at the time. Quezada’s official partnership with Twitch has also been terminated. The competitive Smash community was left reeling in July when over 50 allegations of…
By Ian Walker -
CultureNew Nintendo Leak Includes Numerous Unreleased Game Boy Games
Nintendo’s official release schedule may be a little thin, but the hits keep coming in the form of data leaks. The latest batch, which some have dubbed “Gigaleak III,” involves a huge “lotcheck” dump of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games that were either finished or close to being finished and sent off to…
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CultureSteep Studio Announces Riders Republic, A Multiplayer Extreme Sports Game
Ubisoft’s “one more thing” for today’s Forward broadcast was Riders Republic, the next game from Steep developers Ubisoft Annecy. It’s heading to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Stadia, and the Epic Games Store on Febuary 25, 2021. The studio was reported to have been working on a sequel to Steep earlier…
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CulturePrince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Is Getting A Remake In 2021
During today’s Forward stream, Ubisoft announced that it is working on a remake of 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, scheduled for release in January 2021 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time rebooted the classic platforming franchise with the ability to rewind time and correct…
By Ian Walker -
Civilization Creator Shoots Down Our Memories Of A Nuke-Happy Gandhi
It’s common knowledge that you don’t mess with Gandhi in Civilization. Despite the real Indian revolutionary’s dedication to peaceful resistance, his video game counterpart’s proclivity for threatening the player with nuclear weapons is infamous. A popular theory states that this was caused by a bug in the game’s programming, but what if it was all…
By Ian Walker -
CultureSuper Mario Galaxy‘s Spin Won’t Be As Annoying In Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Super Mario Galaxy is an incredible game, but let’s be honest: the motion controls were annoying. In its appearance as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, launching on Switch on September 18, some of this inherent frustration will be removed by allowing players to use the Y button to perform the game’s all-important spin technique.…
By Ian Walker -
CultureJoy-Con Fighting Game Character Is So Accurate, It Constantly Drifts Left
Smash-like platform fighter Rivals of Aether allows players to create custom characters and put them up for download through the Steam Workshop. One such character, modeled after the Nintendo Switch’s ubiquitous Joy-Con controllers, is pretty dang accurate. So accurate, in fact, that it even drifts like a real Joy-Con. The fighter, simply named Joy Con,…
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CultureEA Sports Adds Colin Kaepernick To Madden NFL 21
Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback whose political activism made him a divisive figure, has today been added to Madden NFL 21 as a free agent after being left out of several previous iterations due to his status with the league. “Knowing that our EA Sports experiences are platforms for players to create, we want…
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CultureShenmue Is Getting The Anime Treatment
Why play Shenmue when you can watch Shenmue? Crunchyroll announced today that it will be partnering with Adult Swim to develop an anime series based on the iconic action-adventure games. Shenmue: The Animation is a 13-episode series that retells the story of video game protagonist Ryo Hazuki as he hunts down his father’s murderer. Japanese…
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CultureSorry, That PS5 Is A Cake
Last night, streaming platform Twitch held the first Chat Choice Awards, allowing viewers to vote for their favorite games live. It also teased the audience with what appeared to be a PlayStation 5, which sat in the background for two hours before finally being revealed to be an exceptionally large, elaborate cake. The teasing started…
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CultureSkullgirls Developer Lays Off Everyone Who Hadn’t Already Quit
Lab Zero Games’ controversial owner Mike “Mike Z” Zaimont fired the studio’s entire staff last week following a series of high-profile departures, leaving several full-time employees and contract workers scrambling for support. News of these mass layoffs became public yesterday thanks to former Lab Zero artist Jonathan “Persona” Kim, who helped promote fellow departee Marial…
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CultureSerious Sam 4 Devs Dropped ‘Planet Badass’ Subtitle Because It Wouldn’t Make Sense In Other Languages
The latest installment of the tongue-in-cheek Serious Sam franchise was first announced in 2018. While the game was known then as Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass, it will arrive on PC and Stadia later this month without the subtitle. Why this happened is different depending on who you ask. According to a comment on the…
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ReviewsMultiplatformTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2: The Kotaku Review
Let’s just get this out of the way: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a masterpiece. In perfectly mimicking the iconic skateboarding series’ first two outings, this remaster gives me everything I could ever want out of a game. I am dumbfounded by there somehow being something so good and pure in the world. I…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryIt’s Damn Near The Apocalypse, But At Least My Blaseball Team Is Doing Well
Shit sucks. Our government continues to expand the boundaries of its fascist power. The ostensible opposition party lacks the strength or willingness to do anything. Society continues to buckle under the weight of a preventable pandemic. The only “hope” we have is a doddering politician who promises to change nothing if he becomes president. But…
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CultureMoon Designer Credits Toby Fox With Motivating Western Release
If you’re enjoying Moon: Remix RPG Adventure’s newly released Switch port, you probably have Undertale creator Toby Fox to thank. In a recent VICE Games interview, Moon scenario writer and designer Yoshiro Kimura credits Fox with providing the “emotional motivation” necessary for the developers to finally bring the game west. “We’re from different generations, but…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryMoon Taught Me To Appreciate Its Weird World The Hard Way
Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is a niche “anti-RPG” from 1997 that last week made its way westward, for the first time ever, via Switch. While the digital manual provides some much-appreciated assistance, I recently found myself stuck in a game-ending situation that would have been entirely avoidable had I respected the game’s world. The main…
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CultureDragon Ball FighterZ Gets Harsher Penalties For Rage Quitters
The latest Dragon Ball FighterZ update includes a new system that will impose harsh penalties on those who rage quit, in an effort to stem the tide of players disconnecting from online matches. According to an in-game news bulletin, players who “deliberately disconnect” from an online match will be restricted from entering online lobbies for…
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CultureOdds and EndsI Will Never Forgive Capcom For Killing Amingo In Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Amingo was an original character introduced in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. He was part of a gentle race of plant people. He was good and he was my friend. Capcom killed Amingo in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and I will never forgive it. Despite having a huge stable of existing characters to pull from…
By Ian Walker