Splitscreen

The Cyberpunk 2077 Hype Is Just Too Much

In less than one week, everybody in cyberpunk future year 2020 will be playing Cyberpunk 2077. Or at least, that’s the impression I get, based on the fact that it’s all anybody is talking about. Such is the nature of the hype surrounding the robo-armed role-playing sensation: Hardly anybody has played it yet, but they’re…

Video Games Sure Do Have A Lot Of Bad Dads

It’s the day after Thanksgiving. Your gut is heavy with leftovers, your vision blurs from the accumulated eye crust of countless naps. You find yourself wishing to engage in the greatest of all American holiday traditions: watching a sport you don’t usually care about while drifting in and out of sleep. Sports, though, are old…

What Even Is A Video Game Sequel Anymore?

Change is inevitable. It happens every day, bit by bit, to everything in existence—except, for a time, video games. It used to be that games came out, they were more or less static objects, and then, years later, they might get a sequel featuring an additional gun and all of that year’s football players. Now…

It Sucks When Games Don’t Respect Players’ Time

Somehow, it’s already November. But also, good lord, it is finally November. Such is the duality of 2020, a year born from a freshly molted tuft of Satan’s black wings. Thus, this week’s episode of Splitscreen is about time. What’s its deal? Who decided it was a good idea? Also, more pertinently, which games use…

Should You Buy A Next-Gen Console Now, Or Wait?

Can you feel it? That tremble in the wind, that sense of possibility thrumming all around you? That, friends, is the approach of relatively minute, in many ways arbitrary change. The next generation of consoles is nearly upon us, and now you have a decision to make: Buy, or wait? On this week’s episode of…

We Wrote The Greatest Horror Movie Twist Of All Time (Using Video Game Characters)

It is once again almost that time: Tomorrow, the scary day will be upon us. In light of that, we did not talk about horror games/movies on this week’s episode of Splitscreen—that would be too obvious. Instead, we made our own. (Also, we talked about things in non-horror games that terrify us and a bunch…

Our Low Down Dirty (Character Creator) Shame

This week on Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast we play god and fiddle with the fabric of creation. Whether to perfect our imperfect selves or make a creature so hideous it begs for the sweet release of death, character creators offer players the ability to express themselves with their own customized avatars. But not all character creators…

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…

We’re Rebooting Kotaku Splitscreen With An Episode About Reboots

Rising like Godzilla from Tokyo Bay after a long 1,000 year slumber, it’s Kotaku Splitscreen! Yes, Splitscreen is back with both a brand-new cast and the blessing of the old one. (And by the way, if you’re missing the old crew, check out Maddy, Kirk, and Jason’s new podcast Triple Click.) For this new iteration…

The Best Kirby Game For Non-Kirby Fans

How can anyone not like Kirby? For this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, I got my two cohosts to try out Kirby: Planet Robobot because I won a bet. Kirk has never played a Kirby game before, whereas Jason is just a skeptic. By the time they’ve beaten this game, they’ll both be dedicated Kirby…

You know what’s still good? Dragon’s Dogma On this week’s episode of Splitscreen, Kotaku video producer Paul Tamayo came on as a guest and tried to convince Kirk and I to finally check out this gem of a game. Get the MP3 here

Sometimes Beating The Quest Is Its Own Reward (Because The Reward Sucks)

This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, Kirk Hamilton and I brought on Kotaku staff writer Ethan Gach to talk about the state of Destiny 2. Players felt let down by the reward for solving the Corridors of Time puzzle, but hey, MMOs are always more about the journey than the rewards, right? Still, it’d be nice…

What’s the hardest challenge you’ve beaten in a game? On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, we talk about tough fights we’ve had in Sekiro, Gears 5, and Hollow Knight, and invite listeners to tell us theirs via [email protected]. Get the MP3 here

Our Video Game Predictions For 2020

What will 2020 bring to the world of video games? Here at Kotaku Splitscreen, we have answers. Well… we have guesses. Same thing, right? On this week’s episode of the show, we talk about some of the games we’re playing (Control! Resident Evil 2! The Witcher 3!) and some of the movies we’ve been watching…

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Is A Lot Like A Video Game

The new Star Wars movie is full of fetch quests and clearly went through some sort of development hell. Sounds a lot like a video game! On this SPOILER-FILLED bonus episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. Seriously, don’t listen or read any further until you’ve seen Rise of Skywalker! In this two-hour bonus episode, we…

Let’s Talk About Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Spoilers

The end of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order totally rules, and it rules even more if you don’t know anything about it. If you have beaten this game, then you’ll enjoy this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, in which we dissect the game’s take on the Force, the Jedi Order, and also that one character…

‘Jedi Master’ Should Really Be The Easiest Difficulty Setting

You know what video games have gotten all wrong? Difficulty setting names. This week on Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. This week we take a deep dive into Jedi Fallen Order, the great new Star Wars single-player action-adventure game from Respawn. We talk about its influences, its difficulty, and whether Uncharted and Metroid can really harmonize.…

It’s Hard To Play Death Stranding When You Have An Actual Baby

All three of us on Kotaku Splitscreen have begun to play Death Stranding, but only one of us did so with a newborn baby in the mix. Jason explained to me and Kirk this week that it’s just not cool to put your baby down for a nap and then get prompted to rock your…

On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, staff editor Natalie Degraffinried comes on to discuss the best and worst exercise games with me and Kirk, from Ring Fit Adventure (fun!) to Wii Fit (ehh) to Dance Dance Revolution (classic). Get the MP3 here

Disco Elysium Lets You Choose Your Character’s Dialogue And Also Their Thoughts

In real life, if you think over an argument you had with someone, you’ll probably come up with more ideas on what to say to them when you see them again. Video games don’t usually work this way; you get what you get when it comes to dialogue options. But in Disco Elysium, you can…