-
CultureWhat Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for screening attractive anime characters to determine which are friends and which are disguised aliens hell-bent on murdering all of humanity. That, and maybe some light gardening. This weekend, among other things, I’ll be playing Gnosia, the social deduction visual novel released in Japan in 2019 and out now for the Switch…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePokémon Go Holds Make Up Event For Letting In Players Without Tickets, Lets In Players Without Tickets
It’s now officially a trademark move for developer Niantic. Last month Pokémon Go players were accidentally let in for free to the ticketed Kanto Tour event. To make up for it, Niantic announced there would be a special bonus event for those who’d paid. That started today, and guess what: They let people in who…
By John Walker Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePlayers Are Farming The Heck Out Of The Outriders Demo, So The Devs Are Nerfing It
The new loot shooter Outriders hasn’t even launched yet and players are already hard at work grinding for some of its rarest gear in the game’s recent demo. According to the developers, it’s gotten so out of hand that they need to patch it to make legendary guns harder to farm, before players end up…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureDiablo II: Resurrected Will Work With Your Decades-Old Saves
Have a special Necromancer you’ve been farming Diablo II with for years? There’s good news: Diablo II Resurrected will let you import them to continue commanding armies of the dead over 20 years later. Out later this year on consoles and PC, the new remaster will still work with players’ original save files, Blizzard confirmed…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicDirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Sounded Great, At Least
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re kicking open the vault of weird-ass Final Fantasy spin-offs and unearthing Dirge of Cerberus Released in 2006 as a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) turned the…
By Ash Parrish Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePokémon Go‘s Professor Willow Is Coming To The Pokémon Card Game
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. What better way to celebrate that than sticking Professor Willow from Pokémon Go in it? This summer, which will be the fifth anniversary of Pokémon Go, the professor will appear in the card game. According to the official announcement, Professor Willow’s card will…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureNintendo Talks About The Switch’s Lifespan
The Nintendo Switch was launched on March 3, 2017. Just as the console passes the four-year point, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discusses the hardware and its lifespan in a new interview with Nikkei Business “For our company, it’s a big topic what we should do next when [a console] passes its fifth year and the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureHogwarts Legacy Developer Quits Following Backlash Over YouTube Channel [Updated]
Troy Leavitt, the game developer at the centre of a controversy last month afterit was discovered he had run “a reactionary YouTube channel focused on attacking feminism and social justice”, has resigned from his position at Avalanche Software, developers of the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy Leavitt announced his decision to “part ways” with…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Reminder That A Lot Of Big Games Exploit Overseas Labor
While most big games released have a main studio that’s often based somewhere like the United States or Canada or the UK, they also frequently make use of outsourcing studios in other countries to get their games made. Studios where, surprise, the working conditions can be not great. This is explored in the latest episode…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Time For Crusader Kings In Space
If you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been more clones of Crusader Kings, it’s because the systems that define Paradox’s game are really hard to copy! Pawley Games are going to give it a shot, though, and they’re going to do it in space. This is Star Dynasties, an upcoming strategy game that initially looks…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureSpace Jam 2 Sounds Weird
Space Jam: A New Legacy—or as I will be referring to it for the rest of this blog Space Jam 2—is coming out later this year. Thanks to a new story from Entertainment Weekly we now know what the movie is actually about and folks, it’s some wild shit involving VR, Casablanca, Don Cheadle playing…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureValve’s Card Game Is Officially Dead
Artifact has now failed twice. After a messy launch and a failed attempt to reboot it last year, Valve announced today it’s calling it quits on the beleaguered Dota 2 card game. “It’s now been about a year and a half since the current Artifact team began work on a reboot in earnest,” the game’s…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: Florida Super Nintendo World Delayed To 2025
After being delayed for nearly a year, construction on Universal Orlando’s new theme park, Epic Universe, has resumed. This new park will contain a US version of Super Nintendo World, but it won’t be open until early 2025, two years later than first expected. As reported by The Orlando Sentinel, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureSix Months LaterMarvel’s Avengers, Six Months Later
Marvel’s Avengers was as plagued by buzz as it was inertia. Before the game released, it was defined by a chaotic din of muddy messaging, sky-high expectations, and that little thing called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After launch, the conversation shifted: Would it become another success like Destiny, go the disappointing way of Anthem, or…
By Ari Notis Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureTwitchCodeMiko Is The Future Of Streaming, Unless Twitch Bans Her First
CodeMiko is nervous. I can tell because she tells me. “This is, like, my first interview ever,” she says over a Discord call. “I’m sorry, I’m a little shy.” It’s December of 2020, and Miko’s entire life is about to change. Miko does not know it yet. She is, after all, not a fortune teller,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSakurai Hides Figures Of Unreleased Smash Bros. Fighters In His Desk At Work
In his latest episode of “Mr. Sakurai Presents”, Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he often keeps figures of upcoming fighters locked away in a drawer at work while developing them. Not just Amiibo either, but the good stuff. After giving a detailed look at Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s Pyra and Mythra, who are…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureThe Avengers Grind Is About To Become More Of A Grind
On March 18, Marvel’s Avengers will receive some much-needed new content when Hawkeye joins the roster. But that’s not all. In that same update, the game’s XP system will receive a major overhaul, developer Crystal Dynamics announced today. As things currently stand, the leveling system in Avengers is structured so each character levels up in…
By Ari Notis Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThese Final Fantasy XIV Characters Ain’t Sh*t
Last night, I finished the true ending of A Realm Reborn and made it, at long last, to Heavensward. This means yes, I saw the event that was basically FF14’s equivalent of the Red Wedding (refresh your memory here), Instead of discussing my feelings regarding what the absolute flying fuck I just witnessed, I—like Cersei—choose…
By Ash Parrish Published March 4, 2021 -
CulturePyra And Mythra Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Later Today
A new presentation by direct Masahiro Sakurai provides a deeper look at the latest fighters—Pyra and Mythra—being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. Yes, they might be yet another set of sword fighters, but the duo’s complimentary move sets look like a really fun combination. You can see the video below. The Xenoblade…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: New Nintendo Switch With 4K Output, OLED Screen Will Release Before Christmas
Last year, Bloomberg reported that a new model of the Nintendo Switch would be out sometime in 2021. Today, they’re reporting some more specific details, like the size of the screen and some 4K news. The original report was very light on details, saying only that Nintendo “has looked into including more computing power and 4K…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021