Culture

Demon’s Souls Speedrunner Opens Remake’s Mysterious Door

The hidden door in the Demon’s Souls remake has been opened. And what was behind it? A way to fix the sixth archstone? A vague Bloodborne connection? A hint about the next Bluepoint Games project? Nope, just a set of armor. Cool armor, to be sure, but yeah. Armor. I spent most of the work…

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Just Got a New Achievement, Because Gabe Newell Is Shooting A Gnome Into Space

That’s a headline. In case you weren’t already aware, Valve Software boss Gabe Newell has been hunkered down in New Zealand for most of the year after the country closed its borders to help stop the spread of Covid. While there, he’s been working, but also doing other stuff. The latest of which is teaming…

Nintendo Shuts Down Smash Tournament Over Some Absurd Bullshit

This year’s installment of The Big House, one of the most important tournaments in the Super Smash Bros. community, has been shut down by Nintendo over its use of a fan-developed mod meant to improve online play in Super Smash Bros. Melee “The Big House is heartbroken to share we’ve received a cease and desist…

Dear Microsoft, Here’s Our Xbox Series X (And S) Wishlist

Microsoft didn’t break new ground with its two new consoles, the Xbox Series X and S. The individual boxes look new, sure, but both share a near-identical operating system with their predecessor, the Xbox One. In other words, these two new machines don’t bring much new to the table. Rather, it’s the same dish, except…

New 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…

Dragon Age: Inquisition Saved My Life

Yesterday was Dragon Age: Inquisition’s sixth anniversary. To mark the occasion, instead of opining on Dragon Age 4 or loading up the game for another playthrough (which I’ll probably still do anyway), I sent a tweet to a couple of my friends marking our sixth(ish) friendship-iversary. I say “ish” because we all met some indeterminate…

GeForce Now Will Bring Fortnite Back To iOS, Sort Of

Nvidia’s game steaming service, GeForce Now, is in beta on iOS Safari starting today. In the future, users will be able to stream Fortnite to their iPhones, bringing the game—sort of—back to iOS. Rumors of this workaround first started swirling earlier this month, but Nvidia announced the beta today. “Alongside the amazing team at Epic…

PS5 Demon’s Souls Players Are Ransacking Boletaria In Search Of New Coins

Rolling through breakable environmental objects is one of the Souls community’s favorite pastimes. But in the new Demon’s Souls remake for PlayStation 5, this might actually be the secret to deciphering some of the game’s lingering mysteries. Late last night, Demon’s Souls discussion exploded with the discovery of a brand-new item, a Ceramic Coin that…

Google Is Bringing Stadia To iOS

Google announced today that public testing for a web app version of Stadia on iOS will begin rolling out in the next several weeks. Launched a year ago, Google’s video game streaming service is currently available on any desktop or laptop with a Chrome browser, most Android phones and tablets, and TVs using the Chromecast…

Avengers Gets Its First New Hero, Kate Bishop, On December 8

Not that we’ll ever truly get tired of Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Thor, Iron Man, and The Hulk, but it’s nice to see some new blood on the way. Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop joins the roster of Marvel’s Avengers on December 8, bringing with her a whole new story arc and a quiver full…

Rockstar Teases GTA Online Expansion That Will Add To Game’s Map

Today, Rockstar Games revealed the first look at a new map expansion for Grand Theft Auto Online that will be out later this year. This will be the first major map expansion for GTA Online since the game’s release in 2013. In a short video teaser, Rockstar showcased new locations that aren’t currently in GTA…

Bugsnax’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…

Nintendo Continues Cracking Down On People Selling Switch Hacks

Nintendo filed a lawsuit Wednesday against an Amazon Marketplace user who was allegedly selling devices called RCM loaders. Used to help people jailbreak their Switch, shutting these down is the latest in the company’s efforts to stop players from pirating its games. As first reported by Polygon, the lawsuit against reseller Le Hoang Minh seeks…

The Makers Of Hitman Are Working On A New James Bond Game

IO Interactive, the Danish video game studio behind the stealth series Hitman, announced today they’re working on a James Bond game currently titled Project 007 Here’s the teaser: It doesn’t reveal much. Over on IO Interactive’s website, the studio says this game will be an original Bond origin story where players work to achieve Bond’s…

Sinistar’s Roars Were So Terrifying They Still Inspire Songs

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re talking about Sinistar, the antagonist of which likely gave nightmares to a generation of kids with its howling banshee shrieks. Sinistar (longplay), released to arcades by Williams Electronics in 1983, is a simple game.…

Track: The Emergency | Artist: BT | Album: These Hopeful Machines 

Nintendo To Companies/Groups: Please Refrain From Bringing Politics Into Animal Crossing

Because Animal Crossing has been used a lot by companiesand organisations lately, from politiciansto furniture stores to talk shows, Nintendo has decided to lay down some rules for what kind of content these groups can and can’t use in their game. This being Nintendo, there are some catches. The full breakdown can be read here—Animal…

Maybe The PS4 Pro And Xbox One X Were A Bad Idea

I know they’ve sold a lot of units—big techy launch things always have and always will—but there was no avoiding the fact that this month’s next-gen console launches felt a little…muted. Sure, you could blame some (or even more than some!) of that on a global pandemic and associated economic downturn, a little on an…

Sunset Overdrive Was Good

The last console generation saw the release of approximately one metric bazillion games. Some were great, some not so great. Some were unforgettably remarkable, some remarkably forgettable. Some were Fortnite. We can debate such things until the heat death of the universe, and likely will. But one case is inarguable: Sunset Overdrive was awesome. Insomniac’s…

Wait, Demon’s Souls On PS5 Could Have Had An “Easy” Mode?

The sOUlS gAMeS aRe tOo HArD argument is an endless one, but that timelessness is built on the premise that nobody seriously expects these games to ever not be hard. So it’s wild hearing that for the Demon’s Souls remake on the PS5, the developers actually considered implementing an “easy mode”. Just so we’re clear,…