The producer of the gorgeous upcoming Switch game Octopath Traveler made waves this week with a quote in which he said that mechanically it was a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy VI. Other people have made similar comparisons. But Octopath is nothing like Final Fantasy VI—it’s more like a SaGa game, with some experimental ideas…
At E3 last month, publisher Electronic Arts showed an abridged version of Anthem, saving the full demo for behind closed doors. Now you can finally see it all. BioWare’s upcoming online shooter, which comes out February 22 for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, feels great to play. You probably can’t discern that from this new 20-minute video,…
If you think you know just about everything there is to know about the seminal role-playing game Final Fantasy VI, watch this beautiful speedrun and prepare to be proven wrong. I didn’t have much time to watch last week’s Summer Games Done Quick, but I did carve out a chunk of yesterday for the finale, which…
In 2013, Sony handily won the war of words against Microsoft’s customer-unfriendly policies, but in 2018, we’re seeing a role reversal. On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, let’s discuss. First, Kirk and I talk weddings, Westworld, and Switch gaming before digging into the news of the week on lawsuits and PS4’s lack of cross-play. Then we…
Over the past few months, the wildest rumors in video game industry circles haven’t involved the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Two. The most interesting chatter has centered on a tech company that’s been quietly making moves to tackle video games in a big way: Google, the conglomerate that operates our email, our internet browsers, and…
Right now, if you download Minecraft on Switch, you can play with any of your friends who are on PC. You can play with any of your friends who are on Xbox, or even on their phones. There’s just one glaring omission on this list, and it ain’t the Ouya. Sony, whose PlayStation 4 is…
One of Final Fantasy XIV’s most memorable bosses is Good King Moggle Mog, a giant demonic moogle whose Tim Burton-inspired theme song has been haunting players since the game’s earliest days. As it turns out, the king of the Moogles has an unlikely origin: one of Japan’s biggest natural disasters. At E3 in Los Angeles…
I’m back from E3, and I’ve brought a truckload of video game impressions with me. You can hear them all on this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, or read some of them right here. On today’s episode, Kirk and I talk about tons and tons of games, starting with the many demos I played at E3, like…
Naoki Yoshida has become an icon to Final Fantasy XIV fans. When he logs into the game, his character gets mobbed. One of the reasons for his popularity is his willingness to get candid about all of the issues his game faces. Last week at E3 in Los Angeles, I spoke to Yoshida about some…
Ever wanted to play games you could also eat? A new Kickstarter for the Edible Games Cookbook, by Jenn Sandercock, could provide some tasty options. Kirk and I played one of Sandercock’s games at GDC earlier this year and had a blast eating pastries and solving riddles.
If you have ever wanted to play a tennis game in which you have a better chance of breaking your racket than hitting the ball out of bounds, then Mario Tennis Aces is for you. Just get ready for some frustrating matches. This new Mario Tennis, which comes out Friday for Nintendo Switch, is yet…
At E3 in Los Angeles last week, we recorded a lot of episodes of Kotaku Splitscreen. For your convenience, here’s a roundup of all of them. Of course, you don’t need a roundup if you subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your other favorite podcast feed. Which I assume you do. But…
After his time producing and directing immersive simulators like System Shock and Deus Ex, legendary designer Warren Spector made waves when he announced Epic Mickey, a game about a certain famous mouse. What other ideas does Spector have rattling around his brain? On Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. Last week at E3 in Los Angeles, I sat…
Developer CD Projekt Red first teased Cyberpunk 2077 five years ago, but we hadn’t heard another word about the game until this past E3. Why’d it take so long? One of the studio’s top executives joins Kotaku Splitscreento explain. Marcin Iwiński, co-founder and co-CEO of CD Projekt Red, sat down with me in Los Angeles…
Yesterday at E3 in Los Angeles, I went to Square Enix’s booth for an interview with Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida and found him in the middle of a session of his own game. As it turns out, he had been chatting with fans during his interview breaks. And getting mobbed. As his team…
The next game from the makers of The Witcher 3 is looking impressive, and perhaps most importantly, it looks like a real video game. A 50-minute behind-closed-doors E3 demo of Cyberpunk 2077 showed attendees proper gameplay, played live, that appeared like something we might actually see in the next year or two. Here’s the short…
It’s been eight years since the last Mega Man game, and after the disappointing spiritual successor Mighty No. 9, it’s fair for us all to wonder: Is Mega Man 11 actually going to be any good? The answer, from what I’ve played so far, is yes. I played two full stages of Mega Man 11…
One of E3’s highlights so far is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the next game by From Software, makers of Bloodborne and Dark Souls. With Souls-style combat and a grappling hook that lets the player zip around like a goddamned ninja, this game looks impressive so far. In an Activision hotel suite on Sunday, I watched…
One of the highlights of Destiny 2‘s upcoming fall expansion is Gambit, a competitive PvE and PvP mode that asks two teams of four players to fight each other in a very different fashion. I played a few rounds of Gambit at an Activision event in Los Angeles and am pleased to say that it’s…
Expectations were high for the first E3 presser from Square Enix in three years. The publisher has a lot of exciting upcoming projects that we haven’t heard much about, including Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Naturally, Square Enix showed absolutely none of them. “That’s it?” was the resounding reaction…
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