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CultureSplitscreenValheim Is Great Because It Doesn’t Care About Boring Survival Stuff Like Starving And Pooping
Survival is a term you hear a lot in video games, but what does it actually mean? For some, it’s all about crafting and base building. Or eating and sleeping. Or razing other people’s bases in the cold, cruel night. For others, it might mean a totally different genre—like survival-horror—or, curveball, The Sims. It’s a…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionMario Is Making Animal Crossing Weird For Me
Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons added Mario items on March 1, my island was a pleasant place that was not being stalked by a dead-eyed plumber cosplayer with an axe. I must admit I scoffed when Kotaku contributor John Walker posted about how wrong Animal Crossing villagers looked dressed up in Mario costumes. Surely he…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsPyra Is My New Favorite Sword Main In Smash Bros. Ultimate
I greeted Pyra and Mythra’s announcement last month with a big sigh. Ugh, more sword fighters? It’s my preferred class in Smash Bros. Ultimate, but even I was beginning to get sick of them. After a couple hours with the new duo, however, I’m pleased to announce my initial skepticism was misplaced. Pyra and Mythra…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionThank You, Persona 5 Strikers, For This Adult Who Doesn’t Suck
Persona 5 Strikers has been out for a little more than a week, so I feel pretty comfortable saying this: Thank God for Wolf! Wolf (née Zenkichi Hasegawa) is the newest and only adult member of the Phantom Thieves. There are adults who help the Phantom Thieves and keep their secret, but until Strikers, there’s…
By Ash Parrish Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureBored Fugitive Caught By Police After Venturing Out To Buy Call Of Duty
After escaping from jail last year and hiding for months, a man in the UK was arrested after leaving hiding to buy a copy of Call of Duty, only to get caught by the police in the process. According to the West Midlands Police, 36-year-old Clint Butler, an escaped prisoner in Birmingham, ventured out on…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureOf Course Ikumi Nakamura’s Rainbow Six Siege Skins Are Dope
I don’t play Rainbow Six Siege, but Ubisoft’s recent collaboration with Ikumi Nakamura might change my mind. Nakamura, the creative director who won the gaming world’s heart with her energetic GhostWire: Tokyo presentation at E3 2019, has been bouncing around the industry as a freelancer since leaving ZeniMax Media subsidiary Tango Gameworks later that year.…
By Ian Walker Published March 5, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsQueen: Rock Tour Is Packed With Great Music, Not Ads And Microtransactions
Queen: Rock Tour is a mobile game that isn’t filled with nasty microtransactions, ads, “energy” timers, or make-believe currencies. Instead, it’s a fun rhythm game that replaces that crap with a ton of classic Queen songs. Released earlier this week for Android and iOS, Queen: Rock Tour is a rhythm game in the same vein…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 5, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesYou Can Claim PlayStation Plus’ Monthly PS5 Games Before You Get A PS5
PS Plus continues to offer “free” games to subscribers, and, in recent months, has even started offering PlayStation 5 games. If you don’t have a still-impossible-to-find PS5, you’re not quite S.O.L.. You just have to claim those games through a web browser. For $10 a month (or $60 a year), PS Plus allows members to…
By Ari Notis Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureWhat Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for screening attractive anime characters to determine which are friends and which are disguised aliens hell-bent on murdering all of humanity. That, and maybe some light gardening. This weekend, among other things, I’ll be playing Gnosia, the social deduction visual novel released in Japan in 2019 and out now for the Switch…
By Mike Fahey Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePokémon Go Holds Make Up Event For Letting In Players Without Tickets, Lets In Players Without Tickets
It’s now officially a trademark move for developer Niantic. Last month Pokémon Go players were accidentally let in for free to the ticketed Kanto Tour event. To make up for it, Niantic announced there would be a special bonus event for those who’d paid. That started today, and guess what: They let people in who…
By John Walker Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePlayers Are Farming The Heck Out Of The Outriders Demo, So The Devs Are Nerfing It
The new loot shooter Outriders hasn’t even launched yet and players are already hard at work grinding for some of its rarest gear in the game’s recent demo. According to the developers, it’s gotten so out of hand that they need to patch it to make legendary guns harder to farm, before players end up…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureDiablo II: Resurrected Will Work With Your Decades-Old Saves
Have a special Necromancer you’ve been farming Diablo II with for years? There’s good news: Diablo II Resurrected will let you import them to continue commanding armies of the dead over 20 years later. Out later this year on consoles and PC, the new remaster will still work with players’ original save files, Blizzard confirmed…
By Ethan Gach Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicDirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Sounded Great, At Least
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re kicking open the vault of weird-ass Final Fantasy spin-offs and unearthing Dirge of Cerberus Released in 2006 as a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) turned the…
By Ash Parrish Published March 5, 2021 -
CulturePokémon Go‘s Professor Willow Is Coming To The Pokémon Card Game
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. What better way to celebrate that than sticking Professor Willow from Pokémon Go in it? This summer, which will be the fifth anniversary of Pokémon Go, the professor will appear in the card game. According to the official announcement, Professor Willow’s card will…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureNintendo Talks About The Switch’s Lifespan
The Nintendo Switch was launched on March 3, 2017. Just as the console passes the four-year point, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discusses the hardware and its lifespan in a new interview with Nikkei Business “For our company, it’s a big topic what we should do next when [a console] passes its fifth year and the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 5, 2021 -
AnimeHorror Manga Hellsing Getting A Live-Action Hollywood Adaptation
Derek Kolstad, best known for writing the John Wick films, is bringing Hellsing to life for Amazon Studios as a live-action feature. Created by Kouta Hirano, the Hellsing manga debuted in 1997 and ran until 2008. It was also adapted into a TV anime in 2001 (above is an image from said anime). “Ever since…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 5, 2021 -
CultureHogwarts Legacy Developer Quits Following Backlash Over YouTube Channel [Updated]
Troy Leavitt, the game developer at the centre of a controversy last month afterit was discovered he had run “a reactionary YouTube channel focused on attacking feminism and social justice”, has resigned from his position at Avalanche Software, developers of the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy Leavitt announced his decision to “part ways” with…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Reminder That A Lot Of Big Games Exploit Overseas Labor
While most big games released have a main studio that’s often based somewhere like the United States or Canada or the UK, they also frequently make use of outsourcing studios in other countries to get their games made. Studios where, surprise, the working conditions can be not great. This is explored in the latest episode…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionPerhaps I Treated You Too Harshly, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of my favourite games of the past decade, a combination of stealth, adventuring and some incredible art design. Yet when its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided hit five years later, I only spent a few hours with it before writing it off and getting on with my life. And…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Time For Crusader Kings In Space
If you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been more clones of Crusader Kings, it’s because the systems that define Paradox’s game are really hard to copy! Pawley Games are going to give it a shot, though, and they’re going to do it in space. This is Star Dynasties, an upcoming strategy game that initially looks…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021