Jason Schreier

Hearthstone‘s New Adventure Is One Big Party

Late last night Blizzard revealed the newest Hearthstone adventure pack: One Night in Karazhan. It’s… well… it’s basically a dance party. The premise: the wizard Medivh has invited you to a night of festivities at his magical tower, but when you arrive, you find that he’s missing, and things have gotten a bit wild. To…

What An EA Video Game Contract Looked Like In 1986

Here’s a fun little relic from the earliest days of game development: the original contract for the IBM port of Wasteland, made by Interplay, which cost EA just $28,000. Interplay founder Brian Fargo posted one section of the old contract today on Twitter, and it’s an interesting look at ‘80s game development life: Add a…

Steam Game Delayed Because Publisher Forgot To Press The Release Button

Sometimes video games are delayed because a team’s schedule was too ambitious, or because they need some extra time for polish. Other times, it’s because they forgot to press the button. This Is The Police, a new strategy game, was supposed to come out today on PC but is now scheduled for Tuesday, August 2.…

New Adventure Game Starts You Off At The Final Boss Of An RPG

The scene: Your RPG hero is standing before the evil Overlord, the final boss of the game. As they start to battle, your hero suddenly forgets everything—why he’s fighting, who his friends are, and what he’s doing there in the first place. That’s the premise of The Longest 5 Minutes, a Japanese game published by…

Lots Of Destiny Devs Have Left Bungie Recently To Make Indie Games

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a fascinating trend out of Seattle: developers leaving Bungie to make their own games. This shift is not uncommon in the video game industry, of course. The grind of AAA game development has led many people to go independent as they try to get away from the…

What Nintendo’s Offices Looked Like In The 90s

If you’ve ever wondered what Nintendo’s offices looked like back in the Super Nintendo days, check out this French documentary, released in 1994 and uncovered recently by the YouTube channel Game Escape(h/t Dan Owsen). Don’t miss the interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, who even then was trying to strike the proper balance between creativity and management.

Kotaku Staff Here. Ask Us Anything [UPDATE: Q&A Over]

Hi! We’re the staff of Kotaku, and we’ll be answering your questions for the next hour or two. Fire away.

All The Current Options For Buying An Xbox One S

The sleek-looking Xbox One S starts shipping next week, but if you want one, you may want to hold off. More options will be available later in the month thanks to a new set of bundles Microsoft announced today Here’s a quick breakdown: 2TB hard-drive ($400) – This is the highest-end version, available August 2.…

Report: Nintendo NX Is A Portable Console With Detachable Controllers

As Sony and Microsoft battle over who has the most teraflops, Nintendo’s hardware makers may be taking a different approach. The next Nintendo console, code-named NX, is a portable system with detachable controllers and a docking station for TV gaming, according to a new report from Eurogamer Many observers have expected the NX to fuse…

South Park: The Fractured But Whole Got Its Title Because They Couldn’t Use ‘Butthole’

The next South Park video game was originally called ‘The Butthole Of Time,’ series creator Trey Parker says in a recent dev diary for the game. But they just couldn’t pull it off. See, when Parker and co-creator Matt Stone took this potential title up the chain of Ubisoft decision-makers, word came down that retailers…

The Eight Games You’d Bring To A Desert Island

Hypothetical situation. You’re about to be sent to a deserted island, where you’ll be stranded, cut off from all human contact for the rest of your life. What eight games do you bring? That’s the premise for the Final Games podcast, a show by freelancer Liam Edwards that brings on various guests from throughout the…

Nintendo Stock Skyrockets, Then Plummets Because Investors Were Confused

Nintendo stock went for a wild ride this month after the launch of Pokémon Go, leaping and then falling not because of the game’s actual profitability but because stockholders are skittish and prone to assumption. On July 6, the day Pokémon Go started rolling out in the West, Nintendo shares were trading at 14,380 yen.…

Podcast: What Makes A Classic JRPG?

Just what makes games like Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger so special? What sort of attributes would a game like I Am Setsuna need in order to live up to JRPG classics? Let’s discuss! Originally published 7/22/2016 Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, Kirk and I dig into all the elements that comprise a classic JRPG:…

Final Fantasy III Retrospective: Hope You Like Losing Progress

If you were to ask a Final Fantasy fan to describe the iconic Square series, they might rattle off a series of terms: crystals, classes, chocobos. Flying airships. Summoned monsters with mythological titles like Ifrit and Shiva. Somebody named Cid. In other words, Final Fantasy III This is part three of Kotaku’s Final Fantasy Retrospective,…

No Man’s Sky And The Patented ‘Superformula’

With just under three weeks before the launch of No Man’s Sky—which I personally delayed back in May—a new potential controversy has emerged, this one revolving around a Dutch scientist’s patent. In order to generate the geology of its billions of procedurally generated planets, No Man’s Sky relies upon a mathematical equation called the Superformula…

Men Who Brought Guns To Pokémon World Championships Sent To Prison For Two Years

Two Iowan men who were arrested in August of 2015 for apparent gun threats at the Pokémon World Championships were sentenced to two years in prison today in a Boston court. James Stumbo and Kevin Norton each pled guilty to charges that they’d brought a shotgun, a rifle, and ammunition to the competitive Pokémon card…

Here’s a look at A King’s Tale: Final Fantasy XV, the sidescrolling beat’em’up that’ll launch alongside FFXV in September. It’s a GameStop pre-order bonus right now, though it’s a safe guess that you’ll be able to get it separately later.

‘Now You’re Playing With Power’: NES Classic Brings Back Nintendo’s Best Slogan

Nintendo is going full nostalgia with their new NES Classic, aka the mini-NES, which fits into your palm and will play 30 pre-installed Nintendo games. (The whole thing costs $60.) Now they just need to bring back the Power Glove. It’s so bad.

People Are Doing Remarkable Things With Zelda: A Link to the Past

Picture, if you will, the opening scene of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It’s storming outside. The princess is sending you telepathic messages asking if you’ll come save her. Your uncle leaves the house, telling you to stay put, and you go open the chest in your living room, expecting to…

Destiny Player Wins 1v3 Match Without Firing A Shot

Behold: the power of Titan bubbles. In this incredible video (via Reddit), watch Destiny player fimi_sheikh take out an entire Trials team without firing his gun. Because fimi_sheikh was on the checkpoint and would have won if his opponents had let him keep standing there, the other team didn’t have many options. But maybe they…