Culture

Malfunctioning Controls, Gross Noises, And Other Personal Video Game Hells

Only two episodes in, the new Kotaku Splitscreen has already gone to hell. It was bound to happen, but I never thought we’d get there so fast. This week, we journey to the heart of hell and perform a dissection, picking apart the vaunted warm place’s past and present as it pertains to games. Do…

In Baldur’s Gate 3, Some Of The Simplest Abilities Are The Most Powerful

I’m new to Baldur’s Gate, so the concept of video games based on Dungeons & Dragons mechanics is completely foreign to me. As I navigated the game I encountered a number of occasions where I’d get my tiefling’s well-crafted ass handed to me in battles because I was too underleveled or too unlucky with my…

Xbox Boss Phil Spencer On Series X Launch, Halo Infinite & Bethesda

There’s nothing normal about interviewing Xbox chief Phil Spencer these days. First, there’s the location. We’re in a pandemic, of course, so our latest interview wasn’t at a gaming trade show, nor did we do a call from our work offices. On Wednesday afternoon, I logged into a Microsoft Teams video call from my home.…

Next-Gen Versions Of Marvel’s Avengers Delayed As Studio Works To Improve Game

Last week, developer Crystal Dynamics told Kotaku that future updates to Marvel’s Avengers were en route. Yesterday’s 1.3.3 patch added some quality-of-life fixes and extra content—including a new base, an astonishingly entertaining new moveable chair, and a new type of high-level mission—to the game. But, according to a blog post published today by publisher Square…

Retro Experts Analogue Making A New TurboGrafx and PC Engine Console

Analogue is well known for creating some incredible high-end, high-definition retro consoles based on classic machines like the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. The company’s latest focus is NEC systems, like the TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine, announcing today the new Analogue Duo. It will be out next year for $200 and like previous Analogue consoles,…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend is for playing video games. All weekends are for playing video games. I don’t know why past curators of “What are you playing?” pretended there was anything else to do. Let’s goooooooooo! This particular weekend I am playing a game based on the latest version of one of my favorite childhood toys, the…

Decades Later, Final Fantasy VIII Is Getting A Physical Release On PS4

Last year’s surprise remaster of Final Fantasy VIII is getting a physical version on PS4 in Europe and a few other countries, because it’s 2020 and there are no rules. Square Enix announced the unusual collector’s item on Twitter earlier today with a price tag of €19.99. In addition to Europe, it’ll also be available…

Resogun’s EDM Is An Ode To The Parties We Missed This Year

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool sounds they make. Today, as we rapidly approach the launch of a new mainline PlayStation, let’s take a trip back in time and celebrate a game that anchored the launch of the last mainline PlayStation: Resogun, the ostensible alien…

Let’s Watch Hayao Miyazaki Have An Ice Cream Float

Earlier this year, the Ghibli Museum was temporarily shuttered due to coronavirus concerns. In July it opened at reduced capacity, and regular ticket sales resumed last month. The museum also decided to revamp its café Hayao Miyazaki and producer Toshio Ghibli recently checked out the renewed Mugiwara Boushi Café. It’s been turned into a self-service…

Track: Teen Age Riot | Artist: Sonic Youth | Album: Daydream Youth 

Nintendo Goes After Zelda Fan Game For Violating Copyright

The Missing Link, a new Zelda fan game made by a team led by prominent Mario modder Kaze Emanuar, has had its website and trailers taken down by Nintendo. We wrote about the game back in July 2020, which was actually 37 months ago, and it looked great! Made using mostly recycled assets from both…

Japanese Farm Hides One Hell Of A Video Game Collection

I have seen some impressive game collections in my time, but few that can match either the scale or presentation of this one, which is basically sitting in the middle of some farm fields in Japan. In this episode of Collector’s Quest (via former Kotaku editor Chris Kohler), Nintendo super-fan and author of the incredible…

The Story Of Crow 64, A Game That Did Not Exist

Earlier today, filmmaker Adam Butcher uploaded a new video to YouTube detailing the history of Catastrophe Crow, a forgotten Nintendo 64 game whose mysterious creator went missing before the game was completed. A few simple Google searches will reveal that the game and its developer are fake, of course, but that doesn’t keep “What Happened…

Miles Morales Has Lost His Air Jordan 1s, Which Sucks

So one of the best things about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and really about Miles Morales in general, is that he’s an extremely relatable kid. That was true of his personality and exploits, sure, but it even went as far as his shoes In Spider-Verse, one of the things that most grounds Miles is the…

Sega Releases Unfinished, Troubled Golden Axe Demo That Was Cancelled Years Ago

A long time ago, in a far away country, a team of Sega developers started work on a collection of 2.5D remakes of some of the company’s classic series. The project was cancelled and never released, but Sega this week just decided fuck it, and released the Golden Axe one on Steam anyway. Called Golden…

Dear Video Games, I’m Begging You: Cut It Out With The Spiders

Torchlight III, an action role-playing game that came out this week, starts innocuously enough. You choose from a cadre of traditional fantasy roles (mage, archer, soldier, or person with mountainous biceps and a murder train) and go on your merry way killing goblins. In short order, you’re sent into a dungeon that’s loaded up with…

Revamped PlayStation Store Ditches PS3, Vita, PSP Content

An email being sent to PlayStation users today announced that Sony will be introducing a new PlayStation Store on web and mobile later this month. The benefits are unclear, but several features will be removed, including the ability to buy legacy content and build a personal wishlist. Starting on October 21, the new PlayStation Store…

Destiny 2‘s next raid will go live November 21, a week an change after Beyond Light launches. We don’t know anything else about it yet, but Bungie says the Power Cap for those competing in Contest Mode will be 1230.

Speedrunner Beats Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Early Access Version In 7 Minutes

According to Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Steam page, the long-awaited RPG’s early access version consists of “approximately 25 hours of self-contained content,” but you can tackle it pretty much any way you want. Most diehard fans take a completionist tack, trying to stretch the still-incomplete game as far as it will go. Not Cary “Professor Palmer”…

Viral Dance Video Recreated In Disco Elysium

Back in May of 2019, a video was uploaded to the internet. The video, titled “Get tf out of my way type way,” was perfect. It became popular, racked up millions of views, and went viral on Twitter and elsewhere. And now, that amazing video has been recreated in Disco Elysium by a developer who…