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OpinionImpressionsI Can’t Wait To Play Monster Hunter Rise With Other People
The review embargo for Monster Hunter Rise has lifted, and while I’ve been having a heck of a good time battling beasts with my AI dog and cat friends, online play is still a couple of days away. And everybody knows Monster Hunter is more fun with other people. The majority of the several days…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsModded GameCube Keyboard Is The Controller Of My Dreams
In 2002 Nintendo released a ridiculous-looking GameCube controller with a keyboard embedded in it so that Phantasy Star Online players could type to their friends. In 2021 someone’s modded it into an equally impractical but much prettier custom keyboard that I wish I could use to type all of my shitposts. “Y’all thought the gamecube…
By Ethan Gach Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureReport: Upgraded Switch Will Use New Nvidia Chip To Upscale To 4K
Outputting native 4K graphics is hard. Upscaling to 4K is a little easier. According to a Bloomberg report posted early this morning, Nintendo’s long-rumored upgraded Nintendo Switch will leverage a new Nvidia system-on-a-chip to upscale its docked graphics to 4K. The current Nintendo Switch model is powered by a Nvidia Tegra X1+ system-on-a-chip (SoC). An…
By Mike Fahey Published March 23, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanJapanese City Features Slowpoke On Postal Truck And Mail Box
Slowpoke might not exactly be the image postal carriers are going for, but in Japan, the sluggishly cute Pokémon is known as Yadon, and… well, let me explain Since the character’s Japanese name sounds like “udon,” the character has been promoting the famous noodle dish in Kagawa Prefecture since 2015. If you ever visit the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 23, 2021 -
Kotaku EastMobile Game Final Fantasy XI R Has Been Canceled [Update]
For the past few years, Square Enix has been co-developing mobile game Final Fantasy XI R with Nexon. The game was dubbed an “MMMRPG” or “Massively Multiplayer Mobile RPG.” But now, apparently, it’s no more. Originally announced in 2015 as Final Fantasy XI Mobile, the game was promised to be a mobile version of, you…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 23, 2021 -
AnimeOnline Hate Took Evangelion Creator Hideaki Anno To A Dark Place
Hideaki Anno, the creator of Evangelion, is an anime icon. He says he’s done with the series. With its fame and popularity came haters, who took him to a very dark place. At one point, twisted online comments made Anno contemplate dying by suicide. In a recently aired NHK program, Anno opened up to film…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureTrack: Train Radio | Artist: Pterodactyl Squad
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 23, 2021 -
CultureReport: Microsoft Wants To Buy Discord For “Over $10 Billion”
Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is one of several companies “in talks” to purchase chat and community platform Discord, for a price said to be in excess of $10 billion. The report says Microsoft is “in the running”, but that talks are continuing and no deal has yet been made. It’s not clear who those…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsHalf-Life & BioShock Come Together In A Very Strange Mod
Return to Rapture is a “campaign” made for Half-Life: Alyx that takes Valve’s star and drops her into the completely unrelated first-person world of 2007’s BioShock There’s a “plot” to explain this—basically, the Combine have found Rapture—but in essence you’ll be using the same controls and VR stuff you did in Alyx, against the same…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
OpinionMy New Xbox Elite Controller Has A Long Shortcoming
Having used an Elite controller on my PC almost every single day for years, it finally started showing signs of serious wear and tear, so last week I got an Elite Series 2 controller. I am mostly happy with it, but there’s one bizarre shortcoming with its interchangeable sticks that has me stumped. The original…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureA Pikmin Game Is Coming To Phones
Nintendo and Niantic, the same pair behind mobile juggernaut Pokemon Go, are going to release a new augmented reality game later this year that’s all about Pikmin It’s going to launch “globally later in 2021″, and doesn’t even have a name at this point. Indeed all we know is that it’ll use Pikmin and augmented…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureGlobal Chip Shortage, Affecting Everything From PS5s To Graphics Cards, Is Becoming A “Crisis”
While anyone reading this will know it has been hard finding a PS5 lately, loads of other markets are experiencing shortages as well, thanks to a global “crisis” affecting the supply of semiconductor chips to—well—anything that uses them. And that’s a lot of stuff. As The Guardian reports, while the supply of chips should be…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureRIP, Xbox Live (2002-2021)
The name “Xbox Live” is dead. You’ll still be able to play Xbox games online, but the suite of Xbox’s online services will now be known as “Xbox network,” Microsoft confirmed today to The Verge This morning, many Xbox users noticed a small change on the the Xbox dashboard. While uploading a screenshot to Xbox…
By Ari Notis Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryGenshin Impact Won’t Let Me Spend Money Anymore, And I’m Finally Free
I have a complicated relationship with Genshin Impact. I adore its vast, lovingly handcrafted world and charming characters. I hate how its intertwining systems whisper to me in a million different voices: “Spend money.” But there’s no denying that the system works; to date, I’ve probably spent around $60 on the technically free game. Now,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 22, 2021 -
OpinionAsk KotakuHave You Ever Successfully Returned To An Ancient Save File?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: Have you ever successfully returned to an ancient save file? Ethan Short answer: No, it’s never worked. Long answer: Last summer I tried to go back…
By Alexandra Hall Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryFinal Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Is Even More Heartbreaking In French
I do not speak a lick of French, and yet the first thing I did upon (finally) unlocking Heavensward, Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, was switch to French audio. It was a recommendation of a dear friend who’s further into her first journey through FF14 than I am. Neck-deep in Heavensward’s main story quest, (I…
By Ash Parrish Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureTekken 7’s Newest Fighter Is The Fictional Prime Minister Of Poland
The real prime minister of Poland, 53-year-old Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki, does not look like much of a fighter. Fictional Polish prime minister Lidia Sobieska, joining Tekken 7’s roster on March 23, seems a much more sensible choice. Teased seemingly forever and the subject of a recent Bandai Namco press mailing which included an official invitation…
By Mike Fahey Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureFallout 76‘s 2021 Roadmap Shows More Story Content Coming This Summer
Fallout 76 needs some new content, and based on today’s roadmap players will have to wait until the summer to get it. While welcome new gameplay features and continued quality-of-life improvements are planned throughout the rest of the year, new story quests aren’t coming to Fallout 76 until closer to July at the earliest, based…
By Ethan Gach Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureWhat’s New In Fall Guys Season Four Today
Fall Guys neon-soaked season four is officially out today. The update introduces a number of changes to the platformer royale, including seven new levels: Basketfall: Yes, Fall Guys is getting another team-based ball-tossing mini-game. Didn’t we already learn this lesson with Egg Scramble? Skyline Stumble: Earlier this month, Mediatonic showed off Skyline Stumble as the…
By Ari Notis Published March 22, 2021 -
CultureBreath Of The Wild Mod Aims To Add A Whole New Story Expansion
Breath of the Wild has gotten quite a few mods over the years, but few with the scope and ambition of Second Wind, a story-based expansion adding new characters, side-quests, and bosses. “Second Wind is a large-scale expansion for Breath of the Wild that aims to add new content to the game in a similar…
By Ethan Gach Published March 22, 2021