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CultureOdds and EndsHalo: Infinite Devs Destroyed A Piano To Create Some In-Game Sounds
As my great uncle often said, “To create art, sometimes you must destroy an old, unwanted upright piano.” He was a strange man. In the latest Inside Infinite blog, 343 Industries shared a bunch of details and information about how it’s creating the sounds in the upcoming Halo Infinite. There’s a surprisingly large amount of…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureMorning CheckpointGhost Of Tsushima Film Announced, Back 4 Blood Delayed, Xbox Live Name Change, And More
This week on Morning Checkpoint we talk about how great SonicFox is, dunk on Shinra, find out what games are now delayed, fondly remember demo discs, and say goodbye to Xbox Live and hello to Xbox Network. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week SonicFox is the best and I’m so happy to see them…
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OpinionImpressionsImmortals’ New DLC Taught Me A Lot About Chinese Mythology
It’s probably fair to say most DLC isn’t that great or memorable. That was the case with the first download for Immortals Fenyx Rising, which added a bunch of new puzzles and not much else. However, the game’s second DLC, Myths of the Eastern Realms, is a rare example of good downloadable content. In fact,…
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CultureBalan Wonderworld Gets Day One Patch To Address Seizure Risk
Square Enix has released a day one patch for Balan Wonderworld, released today, to fix issues with a late-game scene that had bright, flashing lights that the company called a “photo-sensitive epilepsy risk.” A tweet from the official Balan Wonderworld account earlier today confirmed that the day one patch would fix a bug that could…
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CultureMorning MusicDusk Makes My Head Bang And My Knees Shake
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going old school and grooving to the creepy, heavy soundscapes of modern retro-shooter Dusk I love me a good ‘90s shooter. (No you weirdos, I will not call them “boomer shooters.”) And of the…
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CultureBack 4 Blood Delayed Until October 12
Turtle Rock Studios announced today that its upcoming Left 4 Dead-like game, Back 4 Blood, has been delayed until October 12. Back 4 Blood is a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, which was co-developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. Like L4D, B4B is a co-op zombie shooter with a big focus on teamwork.…
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CultureTotal War: Rome Remastered Comes Out April 29
Rome: Total War, one of the best Total War games ever made, is getting a much-needed remastering developed by Feral Interactive. This new and improved version of the game will be released on April 29 on Steam. Announced today, Total War: Rome Remastered will improve the original classic war game that was released back in…2004?!…
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OpinionSo-Called Pirates Are Doing The Work When Publishers Fail To Preserve Their Games
Yesterday, TheGamer reported that Sony has plans to shut down the online PS3, PS Vita, and PSP stores that service those older consoles. While this has yet to be confirmed, and Sony has not responded to Kotaku’s request for comment, the internet discourse around this potentially troubling news immediately began to swirl. If these stores…
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CultureThe Week In Games: Monster Hunter Rise Arrives
Get your big sword ready, we going monster hunting this week in Monster Hunter Rise, releasing for Switch on March 26. One day I’ll play a Monster Hunter game for more than 40 minutes. Probably. They do look neat and I know loads of people who have fun with them. But none have clicked with…
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CultureOdds and Ends25 Years Later, Doom II’s Super Shotgun Is Still The Best Video Game Shotgun
Recently, I played through the newer ports of Doom and Doom II. And playing Doom II again, I was reminded of a simple fact: The super shotgun is amazing and is still the best video game shotgun ever made. Doom II’s Xbox One port was one of many Bethesda games that ended up on Game…
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CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: The Rock Edition
According to weirdos on the internet, The Rock might be in Fortnite. Maybe? Who can really say? (Besides The Rock, his PR team, and Epic.) Regardless, let’s put The Rock in some video games! Your challenge this week: Add Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to video games. It’s likely that by the time we get around…
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CultureGame Preservation Group Releases Over 700 PS2 Prototypes And Unreleased Demos
Last night video game preservation group, The Hidden Palace, released over 700 PS2 early builds, prototypes, E3, and press release demos in a massive dump the group referred to as “Project Deluge”. The Hidden Palace hosted a stream on Twitch that lasted over six hours Saturday night. During that stream, they showcased a number of…
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CultureSunday Comics: Yes, Perfect!
Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published March 18. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 15. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…
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CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Bethesda+Microsoft, Winners!
You got Halo in my Fallout! You got Doom in my Forza! Well, this is a giant mess. At least we get more Game Pass games out of it all. And a fun contest! Our winning image this week comes from…. KaputNoob! Yes, we have a back-to-back winner once again folks! Will they be able…
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CultureSpider-Man Saves People, Neither Snow Nor Rain
After a week off, Snapshots is back! We got more great screenshots this week from a bunch of games. Just a heads up: Some of these screenshots are from last week. So consider this a special, larger-than-normal edition of Snapshots! I already miss the little snow flurries we got over here in Kansas during Winter.…
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CultureOdds and EndsElites In Halo: Reach Contain A Gross Secret
I’ve played a lot of Halo: Reach. In fact, last month I played through the entire game again with my brother via the Master Chief Collection. But I had no idea that inside the playable Elites in the game lurks a somewhat disgusting little secret: Their innards…? Guts? Bones? Hard to tell. In Halo: Reach,…
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CulturePokemonClauncher Sucks At Swimming, But Packs A Powerful Water Gun
Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Clauncher! Clauncher Details Type: Water Average Height: 1′ 08″ Average Weight: 18.3 lbs. First Added In Generation VI The…
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OpinionI Can’t Handle How Many Games Turn 20 Years Old This Year
I recently noticed a favorite game of my youth, Halo, turns 20 years old this year. So I got curious and looked up what other games I loved back as a kid, to see how many are going to turn 20 in 2021. I found a lot. “What a drag it is getting old.” I…
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CultureMorning CheckpointBlack Panther Coming To Avengers, Gotham Knights Delayed, Outriders Launching On Game Pass And More
This week on Morning Checkpoint we celebrate the death of Fortnite’s Peely, learn more about upcoming Square Enix games, see who’s the next big hero coming to Avengers, eat a baby(?) and get a look at the next generation of PSVR controllers. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week I hope this grows into a…
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CultureGotham Knights Delayed Until 2022
Warner Bros. Montreal announced that Gotham Knights has been delayed until 2022. The game was announced in August of last year during a DC digital showcase event and was originally planned to come out sometime in 2021. Gotham Knights can be played alone or with a friend via co-op. It’s being developed by Warner Bros.…
By Zack Zwiezen
Zack Zwiezen
I'm a longtime staff writer at Kotaku covering everything from big industry news to small community stories. I love blogging about weird stuff or small details in games. I also do reviews, previews, and help make art for the site. You can contact me at [email protected]
Zack Zwiezen's posts