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CultureThe Week In Games: I Got Friends On The Other Side
Supernatural horror game The Medium, developed by the folks behind Layers of Fear, releases later this week for Xbox Series X and S. I’ve always been a fan of creepy and scary games. I especially love when you reach that point in a scary game where you’ve learned its systems and limitations and can then…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 25, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicNier: Automata’s Soundtrack Is Real Sad-Girl Shit
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re back from our winter break, refreshed and ready to dive into Keiichi Okabe and co’s masterful soundtrack for Nier: Automata I was late to the party with Nier: Automata (playlist / longplay / VGMdb). I…
By Ash Parrish Published January 25, 2021 -
CultureThe Art Of Mike Nash
Australian artist Mike Nash, perhaps best known for his work designing robots for Horizon Zero Dawn and the film Chappie, has died. The news was announced by friends last week on social media. We first featured Nash’s work here back in 2011, and some of his more prominent creations—like the one below—have remained benchmarks for…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Wants To Build Chatbots Out Of Dead People’s Data
Black Mirror is satire. I thought we were all on the same page with this. As The Independent reports, Microsoft has been granted a patent on some tech that would allow the company to use people’s (or even fictional people’s) online footprint, looking for stuff like “images, voice data, social media posts [and] electronic messages,”…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureCounter-Strike Pros Just Keep Getting Banned For Gambling
Only a few months after a number of professional Counter-Strike players received bans for betting on their own matches, the Esports Integrity Commission has issued sanctions “against 35 players for betting related offences.” These offences took place in Australia, North America and Europe, and the ESIC are working with police in each territory, particularly in…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureSpeedrunners Are Beating Hitman 3‘s Dubai Level In Under 10 Seconds
Hitman 3’s opening level, set in a large tower in Dubai, is made up of various floors, rooms, and security measures. It’s a tricky stage for many players. But if you are quick, have a steady hand, and some luck, you can beat the whole thing in about nine seconds. As spotted by PCGamesN, some…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Say Hello To Muncher
The internet was obsessed this past week with Bernie Sanders. But that’s old news and it’s been done to death already. So we are zigging instead of zagging. Say hello to Muncher, a new ghost from the new upcoming Ghostbusters film. Your challenge this week: Get Muncher in more things. Spread the word. I won’t…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 24, 2021 -
CulturePlayers Unlock A New Secret Weapon In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla After Hitting A Pile Of Rocks
Players have discovered a new hidden and powerful bow in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. All you have to do is find a specific pile of rocks and hit it a few times and reload your save. Though, this isn’t the intended way to get the weapon. Players have discovered that a small, unremarkable pile of rocks…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureSunday Comics: Four Weeks Ago
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 Jan. 18. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Jan. 18. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 24, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Potato CEO, Winners!
Earlier this month, Taco Bell revealed that the company is run by a sentient potato. Because the world is always on fire these days, most folks didn’t notice. But I noticed and asked you all to spread the potato CEO. Our winning image this week comes from MightyM who creates an image that looks like…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 23, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsCapcom Is Still Hiding Ethan’s Face In Resident Evil Village
While Ethan Winters may be the new face of the Resident Evil series, we still haven’t seen his actual face. And it doesn’t look like that’s going to change when Resident Evil Village launches on May 7. 2017’s Resident Evil 7 Biohazard marked a dramatic change for Capcom’s long-running survival horror franchise. Rather than controlling…
By Ian Walker Published January 23, 2021 -
CultureMorning CheckpointChess Looks Wild In 2021
This week we figure out how tall the very big lady from Resident Evil Village is, flip out a Bernie chair, learn what games will be free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers this month, buy 900lbs of PlayStation consoles and check in on chess YouTube in 2021. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week I…
By Zack Zwiezen Published January 23, 2021 -
CultureMicrosoft Reverses Course On Xbox Live Price Increase
Following widespread customer backlash, Microsoft released a statement walking back its Friday morning announcement of sweeping price increases for the Xbox Live Gold subscription service. According to the details outlined in this morning’s announcement, the minimum yearly cost of Xbox Live Gold would have soared from $60 to $120. But at 11:52 p.m. ET, Microsoft…
By Alexandra Hall Published January 23, 2021 -
CultureReport: Vicarious Visions Is Working On A Diablo II Remake
Earlier today, Activision announced Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 developer Vicarious Visions had been absorbed by Blizzard to provide support on future projects. A few hours later, we now know that one of those projects is a Diablo II remake. According to Bloomberg, Vicarious Visions has been supporting Blizzard’s Team 3—which is also responsible for the upcoming…
By Ian Walker Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryToo Fast Too Fantasy XV: Late, Broke, And Bodied By A Behemoth
In my push to finish Final Fantasy XV before it leaves Xbox Game Pass I had hoped to make up for lost time. Doing the math, I figured I’ll need to cover an average of five hours a day. But after Day Two I only have a grand total of seven hours clocked on my…
By Ash Parrish Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureCyberpunk 2077’s First Major Patch Is Finally Out For All Platforms
Like the federal government, CD Projekt Red dropped a major update at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The first major patch for Cyberpunk 2077 is officially out, nine days after the developer apologized for the state of the game’s console release and promised a major patch within ten days. Patch 1.1 addresses a slate of…
By Ari Notis Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsI Hate This
VFX artist Hoolopee, who previously created wonderful demake videos for Halo Infinite and Death Stranding, today unleashed on the world this horrific 3D animation of Morshu from Philips CD-i abomination Link: The Faces of Evil It’s a scary good recreation of this, in case you were wondering: I don’t think anything else needs to be…
By Ian Walker Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryImmortals Fenyx Rising Lets Its Bad Dad Off The Hook Too Easily
Video games have a dad problem. My colleagues broached the topic a few months ago on an episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, where they dished on some of the worst dads in video game history. (What’s up, Kratos and Joel?) Now I’d like to nominate another member to the hall of fame of bad dads: Zeus,…
By Ari Notis Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsModder Forms Amazing Custom PC Out Of ’80s Voltron Toy Castle
When ‘80s kid Robdp82 found a relatively rare 1984 Voltron “Castle of Lions” playset in his mother’s attic, he did what any nostalgia-loving computer builder would do—he transformed it into a lovely Voltron-themed custom PC, complete with five color-coded lion SSDs. Instead of cashing out on eBay, where the 1984 Castle of Lions playset can…
By Mike Fahey Published January 22, 2021 -
CultureGameStop’s Stock Price Soars To New Records Because Capitalism Is A Shell Game
Struggling retailer GameStop’s stock curiously hit an all time high today. But it’s not because Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo suddenly decided to stop selling their games digitally. And it’s not because a new set of Funko Pops has taken the internet’s imagination by storm. No, the stock price jumped to an all-time high because some…
By Ethan Gach Published January 22, 2021