Culture

OutRun’s Composer Rewrote Sega’s Sound Drivers So Sword Of Vermilion Could Rock

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re diving into the sounds of Sword of Vermilion, a middling RPG for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive with music that is anything but. Upon the 16-bit Mega Drive’s 1988 debut, Sega of Japan redirected as…

The Art Of Degenesis, A “Primal Punk” RPG

We’ve featured the design work of studio SIXMOREVODKA a ton of times here on Fine Art, but tonight let’s look at something they’ve made for themselves, instead of for somebody else. (They’ve worked with companies like Riot, Guerrilla Games, EA, Nike and Activision Blizzard.) Degenesis is a free-to-play RPG (a tabletop one, not a video…

Japanese-Inspired Nintendo Switch Is A Work Of Art

When Canadian artist Carmina Castillo isn’t making cool stuff like this, she’s turning a Nintendo Switch into something so exquisite I would never play it, but simply put it on a shelf and look at it for the rest of my days. It’s made by applying some wood-style Joy-Con covers and a piece of very fancy…

Borderlands Movie Outdoes Itself, Casts Kevin Hart As Roland

Jumanji star and comedian Kevin Hart has been signed to play Roland in the upcoming Borderlands movie according to The Hollywood Reporter. Yeah, I don’t get it either. Borderlands is being directed by horror maestro Eli Roth based on a screenplay by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss…

Too Fast Too Fantasy XV: Planes, Trains, And Wrecked Automobiles

In my epic quest to finish Final Fantasy XV by Friday, I am literally and figuratively on a train that is barrelling toward the final stop. I am in FF15’s endgame—a section of short, brutal chapters that no longer allow you to freely roam the open roads of Eos. Even if I somehow could return…

Hitman Studio’s Project 007 Will Feature A New James Bond

When Hitman developer IO Interactive’s James Bond game (working title Project 007) hits the scene, it will do so with an entirely new James Bond, studio head Hakan Abrak told the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (h/t TheGamer). Project 007 will follow James Bond in his early days as a British Secret Service agent, portraying the events…

Gollum Game Delayed To 2022

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, currently in development by German studio Daedalic Entertainment, has had its release date pushed back a year to 2022. The delay was shared alongside the announcement that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be published by Nacon. It’s planned for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox…

Holy Crap, Babu Frik Is Playable In The Next Lego Star Wars Game

The Rise of Skywalker was a freaking nightmare, but it had one bright spot: a tiny Anzellan droidsmith named Babu Frik. And now the cute little guy will be making the jump to Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga when it launches later this year. “I think fans of the new trilogy will be pleased…

Age of Empires II Is Still Getting New Civilizations, More Than 21 Years Later

The classic real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings just keeps growing, and growing, and growing. Its latest expansion, decades after the game was originally released in 1999, is calledLords of the West and adds three more campaigns and two completely new civilizations: Burgundians and Sicilians. Out today on PC, Lords…

Two Developers Are Turning Bloodborne Into A Playable PS1 Game

PS1-style demakes are in right now. From Cyberpunk 2077 to Untitled Goose Game, idle developers have been creating low-poly homages to Sony’s first gaming console, warping modern aesthetics and sensibilities into late ‘90s jank. Bloodborne PSX is another project in that vein, but unlike lots of other demakes, its creators want to make the retro…

Long-Awaited Biomutant Launches May 25

Biomutant, the post-apocalyptic furry RPG that was first revealed in 2017, is heading to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on May 25, publisher THQ Nordic announced this morning. The first major project from Swedish studio Experiment 101, Biomutant turned heads due to its lush graphics and unique setting, not to mention an extensive character…

Final Fantasy XV’s Photo Mode Captures Everything I Can’t

I’m going through Final Fantasy XV before it leaves Xbox Game Pass this Friday. It’s a game about having adventures with your best friends all while on a road-trip to, inevitably, save the world. Playing FF15, in addition to servicing my goal of finally completing beloved games I’ve left half-done, has become therapeutic. The game…

Animal Crossing‘s January 28 Update Sets The Stage For Festivale

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ latest free update drops on January 28, delivering special Valentine’s Day, Game Day, and Groundhog Day items leading up to February 15’s Festivale extravaganza. Who is ready to dance? Pavé the peacock is certainly ready to dance. He’s the ambassador of Festivale, the colorful Animal Crossing holiday that’s basically Mardi Gras…

Track: We’re Gonna Get There In The End (Demo) | Artist: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds | Album: N/A

Here’s A Long Sega Saturn

Take a look at this Sega Saturn. It’s very long. Apparently, this Sega Saturn Address Checker was a development unit that made sure games weren’t violating Sega’s guidelines on memory usage. Anupgraded model had a row of several dozen LEDs mounted on its surface to indicate potential problems. Other than that, the Address Checker functioned…

Celeste Classic Gets A Free Sequel

The incredible (and incredibly introspective) Celeste graced our home consoles in 2018, sending us all on a journey of air-dashing, strawberry gathering, and self-reflection. Now, three years to the day, the team at Extremely OK Games have released a sequel…of sorts. Before Celeste was Celeste, it was Celeste, a more simplistic game built in the…

Too Fast Too Fantasy XV: Chocobros Vs. The Volcano

Stop the Regalia, I want to get out. In my quest to finish Final Fantasy XV before this Friday, when it disappears from both Xbox Game Pass and my Series S, I’ve reached the point in the game I’ve been dreading. It’s the moment when the story takes a 180-degree turn from lighthearted road-trip romp…

GameStop Has Another Record-Shattering Day On Wall Street [Update: And Another One]

Update – 6:28 p.m. ET, 1/26/21: Closing over $145 after another record day, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas reports that GameStop was the most traded equity in the world today. It’s even continued to rise in after hours trading, bobbling over $200. DeepFuckingValue, the Redditor instrumental to starting this whole thing, reported he’s now up $22…

Tevinter Is Nice, But I Hope Dragon Age 4 Visits Rivain, Too

It wasn’t hard to guess that Dragon Age 4 might take place in the Tevinter Imperium. After all, at the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition you stab a big knife through your lovely map table right where the Tevinter Imperium is. Today,Eurogamer wrote that BioWare’s book BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game…

Ninja Sounds Fed Up

Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, still the streaming world’s best-known crossover sensation even years after the peak of his relevance, sounds like he’s getting a little tired of his every action being hyper-scrutinized by millions of people all the time. In a new profile by The New York Times that, of course, opened with the requisite reference…