Nathan Grayson

Some WoW Players Finding New Graphics Turn Old Friends Into Strangers

Over the past many months, Blizzard has been going through the painstaking process of redoing old World of Warcraft avatars, using graphical overhauls to help them get with the times. Some players, however, aren’t happy that their characters of ten years don’t look like themselves. I asked Blizzard what they plan to do about that.…

Hold X To Play This Call Of Duty Funeral Tribute

Would you believe me if I said Press E To is actually kind of powerful, even if it’s suuuper minimal and based on a goofy moment from Call of Duty? Press E To is a free PC game that emerged in part from another project creator Leo Burke was working on, and in part from,…

Blizzard Talks About The Future Of Warcraft

World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is only a couple days away. It’s a momentous occasion for sure, but more WoW is, well, more WoW. We’re used to it. What about after that? Will we ever see Warcraft IV? Or even a World of Warcraft 2? I asked Blizzard. First things first: World…

Walking Dead dev Telltale’s first Game of Thrones game is coming “soon.” The six episode series will focus on five characters from House Forrester, a family loyal to the Starks (aka Sean Bean and his extremely unlucky spawn) and will take you to places like King’s Landing and The Wall.

Fallout And Team Fortress 2 Go Together Surprisingly Well

Want to play Fallout: New Vegas as one of Team Fortress 2‘s colorful classes, all the way down to skills, motives, and possible alcoholism? Here’s how. Molkifier put together a guide on the mods and measures needed to recreate the cast of Team Fortress 2 in Fallout: New Vegas. It’s nicely detailed, with lists of…

Overwatch Has A Story, But No Single-Player

I spent the weekend at BlizzCon, aka Overwatch-And-Some-Other-Stuff Con, aka Metzcon 2014. I played a demo of the surprising team-based shooter and liked it pretty well—with some reservations—but it was only a small snippet. I asked Blizzard about what the future holds. Here’s what they told me. Will there be a single-player story?—No. While Overwatch…

The More I Played Overwatch, The More I Liked It

Blizzard’s Overwatch is, in the grand scheme of shooters, kinda simple. Each character has one weapon, levels are straightforward, and movement speed feels like everybody is a giant moon ape—not just, you know, the giant moon ape. At first I wasn’t impressed, but then I discovered how interesting its characters are. It took me a…

Diablo‘s Future? Definitely Not An MMO

Not so long ago, Blizzard voiced interest in taking Diablo to other genres post-Diablo III—up to and including an MMO. That was the goal, said then-game-director Jay Wilson: to evolve the universe to be able to “support” an MMO. Now, however, times have changed, and so has Blizzard. Speaking during an interview at BlizzCon, lead…

With Overwatch, Blizzard Is Trying To Do Women Characters Better

Blizzard lore/story/sunglasses guy Chris Metzen and his daughter were watching a cinematic scene from World of Warcraft. There were swords, spells, dragons—the usual. His daughter, however, couldn’t help but ask of the women characters, “Why are they all in swimsuits?” Metzen relayed the tale during an Overwatch press conference at BlizzCon. He also said that…

Completing Borderlands With No Guns, Only Butt Slams

One player is doing a Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel run with no guns or melee. Butt slams only. They’re challenging others to join them in this gleeful insanity. Enterprising (and fittingly named) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel player Moonswirl Butts is attempting to play through the entire game using only their character’s meteorically crashing backside, and they’re video-ing…

A Terrifying New Way To Play Mario 64

Yes, Super Mario 64 has been around for nearly 20 years. No, that doesn’t mean people have stopped coming up with new ways to play it. Introducing Mario 64: Chaos Edition. It’s the strangest, most frightening thing. Basically, Chaos Edition is true to its name: everything goes completely nuts. Mario leaps 100 feet in the…

The Crazy Journey To Save Grim Fandango

Snazzy, beloved noir adventure game Grim Fandango is getting resurrected: better graphics, new controls, new music—the works. Not so long ago, however, the game was seemingly lost to time, and Double Fine had to go on a journey involving chains of people, stolen hard drives, and lost code to save it. Originally released on PC…

Zelda And F-Zero Come To Mario Kart 8 Next Week

As part of the latest Nintendo Direct, Nintendo just announced that Mario Kart 8‘s world-colliding DLC is coming out next week. It’s coming out on November 13, specifically. It includes Link, Tanooki Mario, and Cat Peach as playable characters and eight new levels, including ones based on F-Zero and classic Mario Karts It’ll run you…

Track: Church of the Technochrist | Artist: Closure in Moscow | Album: Pink Lemonade Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Tim Schafer Dreams Of An Open-World Grim Fandango Sequel

A sequel to Tim Schafer and co’s classic skeleton noir LucasArts adventure, Grim Fandango? Be still, my non-beating heart. This is only an idea that’s been kicking around in Schafer’s skull for a while, but it’s an exciting one nonetheless. And it’s inspired by Grand Theft Auto, of all things. I recently interviewed Tim Schafer…

Not Even Car Horns Can Ruin Game Of Thrones‘ Intro Music

You thought the Grand Theft Auto car horn orchestra’s take on classic horror movieHalloween was good? You know nothing. Yeah, it’s kind of a cliche to play the Game of Thrones theme on… anything at this point, but I’ll make an exception for cars and guns singing together in glorious harmony. No, it doesn’t have…

EA Gives Up On Dawngate, Their Take On League of Legends

Dawngate, EA’s attempt at snatching the MOBA crown from League of Legends and DOTA 2, is exiting this world as quietly as it entered. Today EA abruptly announced that the game is shutting down in 90 days. Developer Waystone’s Matt Bromberg made the announcement on Dawngate‘s website: “Today, I have the unenviable task of announcing…

Conan Thinks Call Of Duty‘s Funeral Is Stupid, Too

“Hold X to pay respects? What does that mean? That’s crazy! Is there a button for, ‘I’m here because I thought I might meet somebody?'” Warning: minor Advanced Warfare campaign spoilers. Conan O’Brien’s latest “Clueless Gamer” segment is about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and it is certainly… something. Unsurprisingly, Conan is pretty taken aback…

Horror Games Aren’t The Scariest Games

I don’t find horror games anywhere near as scary as the very real terrifying things that just kind of… happen in some video games. I mean, have you seen Skyrim‘s living mannequin glitch? Heard the legend of Minecraft‘s Herobrine? Stuff is messed up. It’s also one of gaming’s greatest strengths, something no other medium can…

I Never Knew Metal Gear Solid Could Be So… Cute

Awwww, Solid Snake is so tiny. And so is Gray Fox. I sure hope nothing bad happens to either of them, ever. This interactive chibi-fied diorama of Metal Gear Solid 1 was put together by Glenatron, and it’s full of nice little touches. It nails the basic style of MGS 1 while also making everyone…