Riley MacLeod

Fortnite‘s Season 6 Is Wilderness Themed

Fortnite’s Season 6 is here, following a solo event rather than a multiplayer one. Called “Primal,” it features a forest area, weapons crafting, and wildlife. While most Fortnite seasons start with multiplayer events, Season 6’s event was a solo one, playable the first time players boot up the game. Without spoiling too much for those…

Warren Spector Thinks Deus Ex Is Too Real For 2021

The Game Developers Conference kicked off today as a week of virtual talks. In a live chat alongside a rebroadcast of his 2017 GDC talk, Deus Ex designer Warren Spector talked about why he wouldn’t make the game today. “I’m constantly amazed at how accurate our view of the world ended up being. Frankly it…

Sony Imagines A Future Where A Banana Is A Video Game Controller

Gamers love making weird shit into controllers, including but not limited to pomegranates, light sabers, bananas, and bread. Apparently, Sony wants to get in on that action, according to a patent recently surfaced by GamesIndustry.biz that details a method for turning household objects into controllers. Sony filed a patent for a means of detecting “a…

Damn You, Fortnite Butter Barn Song

This season of Fortnite has been a whirlwind of crossover skins and deranged players hoping that Epic puts Family Guy’s Peter Griffin in the game. But the latest in-demand item is a possible music track—the song “Butter Barn Hoedown.” The supposedly leaked track somehow, impossibly, rules? Fortnite’s battle pass and item shop often feature music…

Trans Inclusion Means More Than Just Adding Potential Gender Options To Hogwarts Legacy

Upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy will feature some customization options related to gender, according to a report by Bloomberg. It’s a step toward trans inclusion in a game mired in controversy, even if it still shows the limitations of video games’ handling of trans people. Hogwarts Legacy players will reportedly be able to choose…

Here’s March 2021’s Xbox Live Games With Gold

It’s going to be March again, or it’s still March—it’s hard to say, but you can mark the impossible passage of time with a new batch of Xbox Live Games with Gold games. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold membership. March’s Games with Gold are: Xbox…

Epic Settles Real Lawsuit With Fake Money

Fortnite players who purchased one of Save The World’s randomized Loot Llamas will receive 1000 V-Bucks, developer Epic announced today. The move comes as part of a preliminary class action settlement regarding loot boxes. “Whether you were a fan of random item Loot Llamas or not, with preliminary approval for a class action settlement, we’re…

It Would’ve Been OK To Skip This One, Blizzard

Tonight’s keynote for BlizzConline, Blizzard’s virtual showcase, was a tepid hour of previously leaked reveals for World of Warcraft and Diablo, some Hearthstone news, a passing mention of Diablo Immortal, and no Overwatch 2. As we’re fond of saying these days, it could have been an email. To be clear: I get it. 2020 was an…

You Can Finally Import Your Owned Levels Into Hitman 3 On PC

Hitman 3 PC players who own Hitman 1 or 2 can finally import their owned levels for free, developer IO Interactive announced today. “PC players who own Hitman 1 or Hitman 2 are now able to import locations from those games into Hitman 3 at no additional cost,” the developer wrote in a blog post.…

Fortnite is getting a short film festival this Saturday at 2pm ET. The movies will play at the big screen on the Party Royale island and will repeat for 24 hours.

Report: Epic Games Is Behind North Dakota App Store Bill

Lobbyists for Epic Games and other members of the Coalition for App Fairness drafted legislation that will be heard in North Dakota this week, attempting to bar app stores owned by the likes of Apple and Google from taking a cut of app sales, according to a report over the weekend by The New York…

Epic Games Settles Lawsuit Against 14-Year-Old Fortnite Player

Epic Games has settled a 2017 lawsuit against a 14-year-old Fortnite player who allegedly made YouTube videos of himself using cheating software. As noted by PC Gamer, the court documents don’t contain the details of the settlement. Epic first sued the 14-year-old in 2017, claiming he had downloaded and used cheating software and showed other…

Here’s February 2021’s PlayStation Plus Lineup

February’s PlayStation Plus games are great. You get Destruction AllStars for PS5, and the storied Control: Ultimate Edition as either the PS4 version or PS5 version As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership. February’s PS Plus games are: PS5 Destruction AllStars PS4 Control: Ultimate Edition (also available…

A report from GamesIndustry.biz details an abusive work environment at Montreal-based Scavengers Studio, developers of The Darwin Project and the upcoming Season. Sources for the story speak out about sexual harassment, a “‘boy’s club’ culture,” and a lack of action from management.

To Get Into Hitman Games, Try Starting With Hitman 2

Hitman 3 is out today. And while it’s pretty different from previous games in the rebooted trilogy, it’s still a lot of fun. If you’re new to the series or coming back from a while away, should you jump right into 3 or start with the earlier games? Personally, I’d say you’d be fine just…

Hitman 3: The Kotaku Review

Hitman 3 made me care more about its plot than crafting the perfect murder. The narrative, which I usually see as a flimsy excuse to play dress-up and cause globe-spanning mayhem, bleeds into the structure of its levels and creates some unexpected moments of emotion and vulnerability. Its dark story plays with the lie at…

Hitman 3‘s Dubai Shows Agent 47 At His Murderous Best

Hitman 3, which releases January 20, is the last in the trilogy of Hitman reboots that started in 2016. What I played of it in a preview this week felt as tense and exciting as ever, with a glamorous new location to infiltrate and powerful figures to track down. While there are a few new…

The 12 Best Video Games Of 2020

2020 is over, which is great, even if it doesn’t mean everything terrible about this year is now in our collective rearview mirror. Video games played a bigger role in many of our lives than they have in years past, which made picking Kotaku’s top games pretty tricky. But, as always, here are our favorite…

Here’s January 2021’s PlayStation Plus Lineup

January’s PlayStation Plus games are looking pretty good, and I can’t complain about getting three games instead of two. As ever, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership. January’s PS Plus games are: PS5 Maneater PS4 Shadow of the Tomb Raider Greedfall

The Week In Games: Birds

It’s a pretty quiet week for game releases. Look at it as a chance to catch up on your backlog. Monday, December 28 Quell Reflect | Switch Cube Raiders | Switch Void Source | Switch Professor Lupo: Ocean | Switch Dungeon Limbus | Switch Hell Sports | Switch Tuesday, December 29 Wingspan | Switch Back…