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CultureSplitscreenCyberpunk 2077‘s Genital Customization Options Leave A Lot To Be Desired
Cyberpunk 2077 has dicks. Cyberpunk 2077 has vagina (singular). Already, you might be getting the impression that these things were not created equal. It’s a strange imbalance, especially given the way other characters in the game end up perceiving you regardless of your choice. On this week’s episode of Splitscreen, we bring on a special…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 11, 2020 -
CultureGame AwardsAll The Big Announcements At The 2020 Game Awards
Finally, after the longest year in recorded history, we did it: We reached the light at the end of the tunnel. I speak, of course, of The Keighleys, which some of you call The Game Awards for some reason. It’s that magical time of the year when Geoff Keighley makes eye contact with Hideo Kojima…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureThe Best And Worst Choices We’ve Made In Cyberpunk 2077
After eight years of waiting and what felt like one million years of edgelord-baiting pre-release hype, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally out. The game is many things, but if nothing else, it is certainly vast. That in mind, Kotaku editor-at-large Riley Macleod, video wizard Michael Pasquariello, and I got together to talk about how we’ve approached…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 10, 2020 -
CultureTwitchProposed U.S. Law Could Slap Twitch Streamers With Felonies For Broadcasting Copyrighted Material
The United States government is, as we all know, extremely functional. It’s so functional, in fact, that it regularly struggles to pass spending bills in order to prevent itself from shutting down. The latest “must-pass” bill, like many of its predecessors, includes controversial measures that wouldn’t be able to pass on their own, negotiated with…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureTwitchNew Twitch Rules Ban The Confederate Flag, ‘Unwelcome’ Comments About Streamers’ Appearances
Today, Twitch announced a “significant” update to its harassment and hateful conduct policies. The update takes aim at multiple blind spots in Twitch’s previous rules, adding clearer language about membership in hate groups, symbols like the Confederate flag, and sexual harassment. In a blog post, Twitch outlined the impending changes, which will go into effect…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureFacebook’s New Program Pays Black Streamers To Help Them Go Full-Time
Facebook Gaming is far from the biggest video game streaming platform out there, but it has at least shown a tendency to put its money where its mouth is—a practice Twitch and other industry leaders could learn from. Today, Facebook announced a program to aid Black creators in their pursuit of full-time streaming careers. The…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 8, 2020 -
CultureMedal Of Honor Bigger
Call of Duty big. Medal of Honor bigger (depending on how you count). According to Polygon, EA VR shooter Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is 340 GB of raw bigness. It becomes less big—a mere 170 GB (giga bigs)—once you unpack and install it. For comparison’s sake, Call of Duty, the previous king of big,…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 7, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Removes ‘Blind Playthrough’ Tag After Disability Criticism
Since 2018, Twitch has had a tag system that allows streamers to categorize their broadcasts according to their content’s contents and give viewers an at-a-glance idea of what they’re about. Tags also tie into Twitch’s still-rudimentary (but increasingly prominent) recommendation system. Until very recently, “blind playthrough” was one of these official Twitch tags. Now, however,…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureSplitscreenThe Cyberpunk 2077 Hype Is Just Too Much
In less than one week, everybody in cyberpunk future year 2020 will be playing Cyberpunk 2077. Or at least, that’s the impression I get, based on the fact that it’s all anybody is talking about. Such is the nature of the hype surrounding the robo-armed role-playing sensation: Hardly anybody has played it yet, but they’re…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Stopped Working Right After Fortnite‘s Big Marvel Event
Today, Fortnite players battled Galactus, devourer of worlds, in the culmination of the game’s Marvel-flavored fourth season. With the event ending on a cliffhanger, the biggest boy in a fictional universe of very big boys did not end up going down. But Twitch sure did. In the immediate wake of the event, which millions of…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 1, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Hate That Everybody In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Can Read
As granite-hewn Viking woman Eivor, I’ve done a lot of things in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: I’ve run across boundless landscapes. I’ve raided more churches than I can count. I’ve stabbed guys and thrown their bodies at other guys, who I’ve then proceeded to stab, thus beginning anew a process I like to call The Circle…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 1, 2020 -
CultureSplitscreenVideo Games Sure Do Have A Lot Of Bad Dads
It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Your gut is heavy with leftovers, your vision blurs from the accumulated eye crust of countless naps. You find yourself wishing to engage in the greatest of all American holiday traditions: watching a sport you don’t usually care about while drifting in and out of sleep. Sports, though, are old…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 27, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Streamers Are Opening ’90s Pokémon Card Boxes Worth Thousands Of Dollars
When many of us were kids, popping open a pack of Pokémon cards and flipping to a holographic Charizard meant bragging rights or a hypothetical hundred dollars if we chose to sell it on eBay (or, in my case, if an eBay-addicted aunt could pry the card from my cold, dead hands). But now those…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 25, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryRIP To Assassin’s Creed‘s Best NPC, A Real One
In gargantuan games full of quests and characters, it’s hard for any single moment to really stand out. Ubisoft has made a career out of this, with activity-dotted landscapes that lull you into a sort of dreamy adventure haze; when you come to, you know that something happened, but you’d be hard pressed to pick…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 23, 2020 -
CultureSplitscreenWhat Even Is A Video Game Sequel Anymore?
Change is inevitable. It happens every day, bit by bit, to everything in existence—except, for a time, video games. It used to be that games came out, they were more or less static objects, and then, years later, they might get a sequel featuring an additional gun and all of that year’s football players. Now…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 20, 2020 -
CultureTwitchNew Cyberpunk 2077 Mode Will Help Streamers Avoid DMCA Takedowns
It’s been a long month for Twitch streamers, who’ve spent the past 30 days weathering an ongoing DMCA storm with few signs of reprieve. Today, CD Projekt Red announced that it’s added a new mode to Cyberpunk 2077 with this show-stopping dilemma in mind. During the latest installment of long-form Cyberpunk commercial series “Night City…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 19, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBugsnax’s Ending Is Some Wild Shit, But It Doesn’t Really Work
If we’re talkin’ ‘bout games that have come out recently, Bugsnax is an alright, though messy attempt at doing something different. But if we’re talkin’ bout’ endings, its final act ranks among the wildest of the year—even if, much like many other elements of the game, it doesn’t entirely work. Bugsnax is the Bugsnax of…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 19, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Baffled By New Twitch Option To Buy Affiliate Status
The latter portion of Twitch’s 2020 has been characterized by two seismic shifts: a big push to make money off ads and deals, and creator-unfriendly capitulation to the music industry. The company’s latest announcement, a deal with music label Monstercat that allows streamers to purchase affiliate status instead of earning it, combines both. Monstercat outlined…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 17, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch’s Digital Convention Was A Day-Long Commercial That Left Streamers Feeling Frustrated
Its location, size, and Pokimane pizza lines have varied, but since 2015, Twitch has hosted some form of convention every year. 2020 is not like other years, to put it mildly. Of all activities people could choose to perform in our pandemic-stricken nation right now, conventions might actually be the most out of the question.…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 16, 2020 -
CultureSplitscreenIt Sucks When Games Don’t Respect Players’ Time
Somehow, it’s already November. But also, good lord, it is finally November. Such is the duality of 2020, a year born from a freshly molted tuft of Satan’s black wings. Thus, this week’s episode of Splitscreen is about time. What’s its deal? Who decided it was a good idea? Also, more pertinently, which games use…
By Nathan Grayson Published November 13, 2020
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