Jason Schreier

A Look At Minecraft‘s Official New Mario World

This Minecraft statue of Mario is different than other Minecraft statues of Mario. Because this one is official. This week, Nintendo launched a brand new Mario world for Minecraft on Wii U, and it’s really intricate, full of big Mario statues, explorable pipes, and a soundtrack that loops through a bunch of iconic tracks from…

A Great Thing Final Fantasy IX Did

It’s Friday, which is still Kotaku JRPG Day in my heart. So here’s an interesting thought on what made old Final Fantasy games special, from two veteran designers who have plenty of insight on what it’s like to make video games. First, some context: designers Brett Douville (LucasArts, Bethesda) and Tim Longo Jr. (LucasArts, 343…

Leaked Poster Reveals Destiny‘s Next Expansion, Rise of Iron 

Destiny’s next expansion is called Rise of Iron, according to leaked marketing materials that popped up on Reddit last night. The expansion, which is expected in September, should be officially revealed at E3. Two sources familiar with Bungie confirmed the authenticity of this poster to Kotaku last night. The Rise of Iron expansion will feature…

Bungie Cancels This Weekend’s Trials of Osiris Due To Unlimited Rocket Glitch

Don’t expect to play Trials of Osiris this weekend, Destiny fans. Thanks to a glitch involving weapon perks and an unlimited supply of heavy ammo, Bungie has cancelled it. The glitch, which was discovered earlier this week, allows players to use raid weapons with the Cocoon perk to trigger Clown Cartridge on rocket launchers, which…

The Witcher 3‘s New Expansion Sure Looks Good

Here, courtesy of developer CD Projekt Red, is a new trailer for The Witcher 3‘s upcoming Blood and Wine expansion. Really, all they had to do was say “look, more Witcher 3.” But this is cool too. If you’re anything like me and have only spent like 40 hours with The Witcher 3 so you’re…

Podcast: Charting Uncharted 4

Kirk takes a sabbatical from his sabbatical to join us for this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, where we’re talking about Uncharted 4, Doom, and much more. Some food for thought: Uncharted 4 is incredible-looking, obviously, but does the story live up to expectations? Isn’t it remarkable that Doom is so excellent after such a torturous development…

Sike, That’s The Wrong Engram

This incredible SupahotDestiny animation was made by Matt Oishi, an animator whose work you can find on his Tumblr page He’s not a rapper, though. Another one of my favorites by Oishi:

Let’s Watch Bungie Take On A Destiny Raid

How long will it take Bungie’s raiders to defeat Oryx? Will they get stuck on that one jumping section? How many times will they wipe? These questions and more will be answered today starting at 2pm, as a group of Bungie employees takes on the King’s Fall raid. Designer Brendan Thorne and writer Jill Scharr…

EA Says Star Wars Battlefront Didn’t Have A Campaign Because Of The Force Awakens

If you thought Star Wars Battlefront was insubstantial, you’re not alone. The folks running EA agree, and they say they plan to add more content when the next one comes along. Yesterday during EA’s annual investors day, executive vice president Patrick Soderlund explained that they chose to develop Battlefront without a single-player campaign so they…

Valkyria Chronicles Holds Up Pretty Well

Today, Valkyria Chronicles comes to PS4, and if you’re looking for a new strategy-RPG, you could do far, far worse. Although the folks at Sega haven’t added anything to this new remastered version of the 2008 PS3 game, they didn’t really need to. Thanks to some fantastic art direction and a really cool battle system,…

Call of Duty: Black Ops Is Now Backwards Compatible On Xbox One

Maybe this will please some fans who are still mad about Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare—the Xbox 360 version of Black Ops is now compatible with Xbox One, Microsoft said today. Call of Duty: Black Ops was one of the most-requested backwards-compatibility games, along with Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, and Black Ops II. It’s on…

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Announced, Coming This Year

Last year’s Dragon Ball Xenoverse is getting a sequel. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 will arrive this year on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, publisher Bandai Namco said today. Bandai says we’ll see more from the new DBZ game at E3 in June. Here’s the full press release: SANTA CLARA, Calif., (May 17, 2016) – BANDAI…

Leaked Footage Shows The Cancelled Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Game For PSP [UPDATE: Lawyered]

This morning brings us a rare gem: footage of the cancelled Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game for PSP, which was due to be part of the Elder Scrolls Travels series before it was axed. Game preservation channel PtoPOnline brings us a few new videos, showing off what an Elder Scrolls game on PSP might have…

Xbox Live Is Freeing Up A Million Gamertags

This week, Microsoft will release close to a million Xbox Live gamertags to the public, the company said today. These handles, which Microsoft says have been inactive since the original Xbox era, will start going free on May 18 at 2pm ET. Microsoftwon’t give the full list, so you’ll have to use trial and error…

Reviewer Targeted For Giving Uncharted 4 Negative Review

“Your Washington post for Christ’s Sake , not a 12-year-old’s diary,” reads a recent internet petition about Uncharted 4. “Treat the game with professionalism and respect.” This petition has over 4,000 supporters and has even been signed and tweeted by the popular voice actor Troy Baker, who co-stars in the newest Uncharted. Its goal is…

Podcast: ‘Censorship’ And Localization

When does video game localization become ‘censorship’? And how often are localization decisions just made for business reasons? Originally published 5/12/16 Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, former XSEED editor Jessica Chavez joins the show to talk about her experiences bringing games from Japan to U.S. shores. She’s got plenty of stories from the trenches of localization,…

Microsoft Kills Project Spark

Project Spark is no more. Microsoft announced Friday afternoon—prime news-burying hour!—that their online game creator is no longer for sale as of today. Online services will end in August. “For existing users of Project Spark, online services will be unavailable after 8/12/16,” community manager Thomas Gratz wrote on their website. “Without services, players will no…

The ESL today announced the formation of the World Esports Association, an organization that’s designed to professionalize esports through regular structure and standardized schedules. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

Nine Underappreciated JRPGs That Are Worth Your Time

You’ve heard of Final Fantasy VII. Everyone’s already told you to play Chrono Trigger. But what about the lesser-known JRPGs? What about the gems that don’t get discussed all that much? Today we’re highlighting some underappreciated gems from the past few decades, across all consoles. I’m sticking to games that don’t get discussed very often,…

This Final Fantasy XV Interview Is Incredible

Hironobu Sakaguchi was the first director of Final Fantasy. Hajime Tabata is the latest director of Final Fantasy. When they get together, the results are surprisingly hilarious. Today Famitsu Magazine published an English transcript of a recent interview they held with both Final Fantasy luminaries, and it’s full of incredible moments. Sakaguchi’s comments are blunt,…