-
CultureValorant Temporarily Jettisons Omen After Accidentally Making Him Godlike
Team-based shooters like Valorant regularly add new heroes, but they’re not generally in the business of banishing them. Unfortunately, after a recent update, Valorant’s shadow-dwelling Reaper riff, Omen, transcended the game’s figurative and literal boundaries, which forced Riot to give him the (temporary) boot. This week, a Valorant patch not intended to make Omen briefly…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsNintendo Just Threw Super Mario Galaxy 2 Down The Memory Hole
One of the best mainline Mario games ever was nowhere to be found during today’s Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct Nintendo celebrated 35 years of Super Mario Bros. today by announcing that a number of the most beloved games in the series would finally make their way onto Switch, including Super Mario All-Stars, Super…
By Ethan Gach Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsHalo 3 Mod Turns Everybody Into Rats
Halo 3 has a rat. It looks like what would happen if you genetically modified a potato to give it legs. So of course, the rat is beloved by the Halo community. Now, thanks to the magic of modding, you can play Halo 3 as the Halo 3 rat. Originally just a background prop in…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureSerious Sam 4 Devs Dropped ‘Planet Badass’ Subtitle Because It Wouldn’t Make Sense In Other Languages
The latest installment of the tongue-in-cheek Serious Sam franchise was first announced in 2018. While the game was known then as Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass, it will arrive on PC and Stadia later this month without the subtitle. Why this happened is different depending on who you ask. According to a comment on the…
By Ian Walker Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureSchool’s Out In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Due To Covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned schools into a very different place, with numerous countries closing schools or adding new safety measures and rules for children and teachers. These changes are a part of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2’s reimagined School level. The new Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game, out tomorrow, takes all the levels from…
By Zack Zwiezen Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureNintendo’s New Mario Games Have A Purchase-By Deadline, And It Sucks
No one does things more strangely than Nintendo. In an ambush Mario Direct this morning, the 35th birthday of the world’s worst plumber was celebrated with all manner of surprise announcements. The most surprising feature of all being that two of the products would be time limited. Both the triple-pack of remastered Super Mario 3D…
By John Walker Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureEverything Nintendo Just Announced In Its Mario Showcase
In celebration of Mario’s 35th anniversary, Nintendo released a Super Mario Bros. Direct stuffed with all Mario everything. Here’s a look at all the goodies the company announced. A New Novelty Handheld Coming November 13, 2020 is a new Game & Watch-style handheld loaded with the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost…
Ethan Gach & Ash Parrish Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureMario Kart Live: Home Circuit Turns Mario Kart Into An AR Game With Real Toys
For some time, Mario Kart has famously been playable in virtual reality, which you can do at the VR Zone, in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Now, Nintendo’s long-running racing series is getting the augmented reality treatment. Announced today during a Mario-themed video presentation, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will bring Mario Kart to the entire living room.…
By Ari Notis Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureMario Is Getting A Battle Royale Game Called Super Mario Bros. 35
Mario is finally getting the battle royal treatment in an online multiplayer game called Super Mario Bros. 35 that’s coming to Switch on October 1. In it you’ll battle against 34 other players across what look like levels from the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Defeat enemies and they’ll be transported to other…
By Ethan Gach Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureNintendo Finally Announces 3D Mario Collection For The Switch, Out This Month
Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and other classic 3D Mario games are coming to the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo confirmed today. The collection has been rumored for months and now looks to be the Switch’s premiere release for the fall season. The collection, called Super Mario 3D All-Stars is out for Switch on September 18…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicVVVVVV’s Old-School Chiptunes Are Flippin’ Fantastic
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s new, daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. VVVVVV was one of the top indie games of 2010, and its tremendous soundtrack played no small part in elevating the already-great material. VVVVVV (longplay / VGMdb) is hard to pronounce, but easy to play:…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 3, 2020 -
CultureThe Division 2 Is Getting A 100-Story Skyscraper Mode
One of the most common criticisms of The Division 2—at least in terms of its game design—is its lack of a repeatable but varied endgame mode. That would be something that players of the urban third-person shooter could keep returning to for a fresh experience. The first Division had been expanded to offer two of…
By Stephen Totilo Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsVideo Game “Walk Cycles” Are Just The Best
A “walk cycle” is the part of video game animation that covers the most basic, default movement of your character. It’s maybe the thing you see the most in a game alongside a HUD, and as such might also be something you take for granted! Today, let’s not take them for granted. Louis Brooks has…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsNintendo x Puma Have Some Super Mario Bros. Sneakers Coming
Just in time for the series’ 35th anniversary, Puma is about to release an official Super Mario Bros. shoe. It’s a version of the company’s RS Dreamer silhouette, with a very Mario Bros. colour scheme, a Super Mario logo on the tongue, and a star on the heel. Perfect if you’re 11 years old! Maybe…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsHe Comin’: Fall Guys Devs Tease The Arrival Of The Big Yeetus
Fall Guys developer Mediatonic hinted today on Twitter to the addition of a new element to maps called the Big Yeetus. The tweet features a gif of a Fall Guy being yeeted (yeet · ed verb to be thrown, punched, or otherwise flung over a great distance) by a big rotating hammer toward the Dizzy…
By Ash Parrish Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureHere’s The Not-E3 2020 Press Conference Schedule
Just because E3 2020 is canceled doesn’t mean everything developers were going to show there has suddenly disappeared. While no digital version of E3 is in the works, other companies and organizations have stepped up with their own virtual events to deliver news on their latest plans and upcoming games. This article was originally published…
By Ethan Gach Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureUpcoming Indie Game Nour: Play With Your Food Wants To Make You Hungry
At the elementary school lunch table, after I was finished with my chicken nuggets or whatever else the cafeteria had served up for the day, my friends and I would mix all our leftovers together. We’d use empty milk cartons as the vessel for our alchemical experiments, throwing in whatever we weren’t eating anymore to…
By Ash Parrish Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureCrusader Kings III, As Told By Steam Reviews
If you want to know if a game is good or bad, you read its Steam reviews—except in the case of Crusader Kings III. If you want to hear a whooooooooole lot about incest within dynastic families, then you read Steam reviews of Crusader Kings III Crusader Kings III, the long-awaited sequel to one of…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 2, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryMore Games Could Use Invincibility Modes Like Control’s
Control’s latest update added an assist mode that makes protagonist Jesse into a paranormal killing machine with the click of a button. It’s an option I wish more games had. While many games launch with multiple difficulty modes ranging from chill strolls to brutal death marches, Control only had one when it came out last…
By Ethan Gach Published September 2, 2020
