Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Menus Suck

Booting up the newest Call of Duty, I was greeted by terrible-looking menus, an overwhelming amount of options, too much information, and some ugly-looking ads. It’s not a great first impression and feels like a cobbled-together mess. In other words: It bad. There was a time when I played every new Call of Duty game.…

Borderlands 3‘s Next Expansion Delayed To April 8

Gearbox announced this morning that it has delayed the release of the upcoming Borderlands 3 expansion Director’s Cut almost a full month due to the severe winter storms that recently swept through its home state of Texas. The update will now launch on April 8. “Thankfully, all of our team members and their families are…

PSA: Surviving Mars and Metro 2033 Are Currently Free On PC

Each week, the Epic Games Store puts up a free game, which you can add to your library no strings attached. This week’s offering is Surviving Mars, the space-faring city-builder game about…surviving on Mars. It’ll be available until March 18. Surviving Mars, if you haven’t played it, is more or less exactly what you picture…

Oddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty Guilted Me Into My First 100% Completion

I started playing Oddworld: New ‘N Tasty and oh god, I’m going to have to save all 299 of these Mudokons, aren’t I? In 2014’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, you play as the Mudokon Abe, an overworked, underpaid alien wo’rking for a company that destroys the ecosystem and drives indigenous creatures extinct—so your typical Amazon…

Crash Bandicoot 4 Runs Great On PS5, Passably On Switch

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Switch tomorrow, giving us some of the most polished versions of last year’s excellent platformer alongside one that struggles a lot but gets the job done. Digital Foundry compared the PS5 and Switch versions side by side, and the differences…

Enough With The Social Hubs In Video Games

Here’s a radical idea: Turn every social space in a video game into a menu. Last month, Kotaku’s Zack Zweizen and I teamed up to power through the demo for Outriders, People Can Fly’s upcoming looter-shooter. Verdict: It rules. (Zack, if you’re reading this, yes, I’m speaking for you.) The shooting is airtight, some of…

A Bunch Of Bethesda Games Are Joining Xbox Game Pass Tomorrow

During today’s conversation about Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the panel announced that a grip of amazing Bethesda games will join Xbox Game Pass tomorrow. Some of the games in the above image were already available on Game Pass in some form or another, but there’s a bunch of new stuff getting added as well,…

Square Enix Will Reveal New Life Is Strange During Digital Event Next Week

Square Enix announced it will debut the first episode of its very own Nintendo Direct-style digital event, known as “Square Enix Presents,” next Thursday, March 18. Among other things, the studio plans to officially reveal the next game in the Life is Strange series, with “an all-new protagonist wielding an exciting new power.” A new…

Destiny 2‘s New Boss Is Turning Players Into Reply Guys

Much of Destiny’s story exists anywhere but the main game. The version you get from playing through its campaign today is very different from the one that existed only a year ago, and it’s also very different from the one you’ll get having played Destiny for hundreds of hours, soaking up its lowkey ambient world-building…

Roblox Goes Public, Wall Street Decides It’s Worth Six Bethesdas

The Roblox Corporation, maker of the online game creation platform Roblox, went public yesterday, selling shares in the company on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time since it was founded back in 2004. It ended the day trading at just under $70, giving it a valuation of $45 billion, or approximately six…

Gordon Hall, Rockstar Leeds Founder, Dies At 51

Gordon Hall, one of the founders of Rockstar Leeds, has died, Games Industry reports. He was 51. While at Rockstar Leeds, the studio developed Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars. The studio was originally Möbius Entertainment and was acquired by Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, in 2004. The studio…

Fan Reimagines The Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remakes

Earlier this year, Game Freak announced Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. These remakes use a chibi-3D art style, but still kept the top-down point of view while exploring the Sinnoh region. Some liked the art style, while others were less thrilled. You can see how the remakes compare with the original Diamond and Pearl.…

Track: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night | Artist: Iggy Pop | Album: Free

Crypto Art Belongs In The Trash

The blockchain, at best a scam and at worst an impending environmental disaster, has lately been upending everything from currency exchange to basketball collectibles. But one area it’s had a particularly sudden—and divisive—impact is the world of art. While some artists began dipping their toes tentatively in the world of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) artwork last…

STALKER 2 Might Get Mod Support On Xbox

STALKER developer GSC Game World is currently investigating the possibility of including mod support for the upcoming sequel on Xbox Series X/S. These details first came to light on Russian podcast “Не занесли,” the most recent episode of which included an interview with GSC Game World public relations manager Zakhar Bocharov. According to translations by…