Culture

Tomorrow’s PS5 Beta Is A Great Reason To Get Into Final Fantasy XIV

Intrigued by how much players love Final Fantasy XIV but unsure how to get started? The game’s open beta for the PlayStation 5 starts tomorrow, promising sharper graphics, faster frame rates, and shorter loading times than the PlayStation 4 version. All that plus a generous free trial makes this week a good time to get…

The Week In Games: Shadow Man Remastered

A remastered port of the cult classic N64/PS1 action-adventure game Shadow Man drops later this week on PC. I only have vague memories of Shadow Man so I’m curious to check it out via this newly remastered edition. But beyond that, there isn’t much else coming out this week. We are in the middle of…

RIP Enzio Sciotti, Badass 80s Movie Poster Artist

Enzo Sciotti is an absolute legend, and anyone who spent time in a video rental place looking at posters and VHS covers—especially in the horror and “shitty action movie” sections—will instantly be able to recognise his work, even if they never knew him by name. Born in 1944 in Italy, and with a career spanning…

Outriders Bug Is Still Costing Players Dozens Of Hours Of Lost Progress

Outriders had a few bugs at launch, like most online games do, but the worst was one that simply wiped player’s inventories, robbing them of hours of progress. A big patch went live over the weekend to fix the game and…that bug is still there, only now it’s costing players a lot more progress since…

Witcher 3 Fans Build A New Quest With Perfect Geralt Voice Acting

A Night to Remember is a brand new, fan-made quest for The Witcher 3, set after the events of Blood & Wine, and while I’m keen to check out new writing and new battles, I’m also interested in the AI tech being used here to simulate the trademark sounds of Doug Cockle, Geralt’s voice actor.…

A Very Short, Very Wholesome Zelda Song (By The Dude From The Mountain Goats)

Imagine being a kid, sitting down to play some Zelda, and instead of kicking back with the game’s instrumental score getting an improvised soundtrack from your dad. Who is… John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats. My new life goal is to get someone doing this while I play Total War, and by “someone” I mean…

Track: Something About Us| Artist: Daft Punk| Album: Discovery 

‘Shop Contest: More Donald Ducks!

One Donald Duck ain’t enough for my colleague Ian Walker. So let’s give him more Donalds! Your challenge this week: Give me more Donalds! I’m not sure why Ian didn’t just ask us to give him more Donald Ducks. That’s right in our wheelhouse. But when I read his blog about a cool mod and…

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney Is Very Excited About The Epic Games Store Losing A Ton Of Money

Epic is going to lose at least $330 million as a result of all those Epic Game Store exclusives and free games. But on Twitter, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney considers this an investment and seems surprisingly excited about losing hundreds of millions of dollars. This information was spotted and reported by PC Gamer from new…

Sunday Comics: Two Games!

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 April 8. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published April 5. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…

‘Shop Contest: Easter Sunday 2021, Winners!

Easter is over and so too is Kotaku’s yearly Easter-themed ‘Shop Contest. We had some fun, now let’s figure out who won. Our winning image this week comes from Badonkagronk! Look at this thing. I want to print it off and go to some of my very religious family members’ homes, so I can replace…

I Want To Go On Vacation In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

This week on Snapshots, some empty areas, a few bits of urban sprawl, a nice looking car, a superhero shot, and a lovely landscape from Assassin’s Creed. I mean, once I’m fully vaccinated and I’m allowed to leave the United States. And I get the money saved up. I also guess I have to figure…

A Well Hidden Halo 5 Easter Egg Was Finally Found After A Dev Shared Some Hints

Halo 5: Guardians was released back in 2015. But it was only a few days ago that finally, after six years, players found a secret race involving mongoose four-wheelers. All it took to find this Easter egg was a little help from the developer who added it to the game. On Easter Sunday, game developer…

Poliwhirl Is Covered In Mucus And Smooth Like A Shark

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 Poliwhirl! Poliwhirl Details Type: Water Average Height: 3′ 03″ Average Weight: 44.1 lbs. First Added In Generation I Poliwhirl…

More Donald Ducks In Kingdom Hearts, Please

With the arrival of the Kingdom Hearts series on PC last week, enterprising players can now tinker with the games in ways that were either too difficult or downright impossible to achieve on consoles. Naturally, this has resulted in a mod that lets folks spawn (among other things) hundreds of Donald Ducks “You thought having…

Korean Overwatch League Player Shares His Experience With Anti-Asian Racism In America

As opening day for the fourth season of the Overwatch League looms, Korean players on North American teams are dealing with the precipitous rise in anti-Asian racism. On April 5, Eui-Seok “Fearless” Lee, main tank for the Dallas Fuel, talked about his experience being Korean and living in America on his Twitch channel. “Being Asian…

In 2007, Video Game Memes Took A Dark Turn

Memes. These days, they’re everywhere. They are the pillars upon which internet culture—and by extension, pop culture—stands. But once upon a time, memes dwelled in the internet’s dankest sewers, traded in the darkness by geeks, nerds, and outcasts. On this week’s Splitscreen podcast, we examine how video games helped propel memes into the mainstream consciousness—and…

Someone Recovered The Code To Unlock A Full Version Of Timesplitters 2 In Homefront: The Revolution

Back in 2016 players of Dambusters Studio’s Homefront: The Revolution easily found an Easter egg featuring two levels from 2002’s Timesplitters 2. Now a code until recently thought lost has been recovered that unlocks a complete playable port of the time-traveling first-person shooter. Responding to an April 4 Twitter thread asking developers the best Easter…

The NFT Bubble Might Be Bursting, But Streamers And Esports Orgs Are Still Getting In On It

As of last month, the age of NFTs was officially upon us. As of this month, it might be on its way out. Average prices have declined by as much as 70% since a peak in February, according to Bloomberg. That, however, has not stopped big-name streaming and esports figures from announcing their own NFT…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for playing a 20-year-old action RPG classic with a substantial glow-up. Unless you’re not in the Diablo II: Resurrected alpha test. Then you should probably play something else. I’ve been fiddling with Diablo II: Resurrected’s alpha since yesterday and shall continue to do so over the weekend. So far I’m quite pleased.…