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CultureSpace Jam 2 Sounds Weird
Space Jam: A New Legacy—or as I will be referring to it for the rest of this blog Space Jam 2—is coming out later this year. Thanks to a new story from Entertainment Weekly we now know what the movie is actually about and folks, it’s some wild shit involving VR, Casablanca, Don Cheadle playing…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureValve’s Card Game Is Officially Dead
Artifact has now failed twice. After a messy launch and a failed attempt to reboot it last year, Valve announced today it’s calling it quits on the beleaguered Dota 2 card game. “It’s now been about a year and a half since the current Artifact team began work on a reboot in earnest,” the game’s…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsLoop Hero Is A Wonderful New RPG About Overcoming Despair
Loop Hero is a lot of things: an RPG, a roguelite, an auto-battler, a card game, a city builder, an evocative visual novel. It’s also excellent, and I can’t stop playing it. Developed by Four Quarters (maker of 2015’s brilliant behavioral experiment Please, Don’t Touch Anything) and out today on Steam, the appropriately titled Loop…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionHey Nintendo, A Few More Requests For That Fancy New Switch
As the latest rumors about the Switch Pro/Super Nintendo Switch fly all about us, everyone is focused on the potential for that Samsung 7″ OLED screen, and just how well it’ll pull off its 4K resolution in docked mode . But if Mario HQ is currently piecing together components, we have a few other requests…
By John Walker Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: Florida Super Nintendo World Delayed To 2025
After being delayed for nearly a year, construction on Universal Orlando’s new theme park, Epic Universe, has resumed. This new park will contain a US version of Super Nintendo World, but it won’t be open until early 2025, two years later than first expected. As reported by The Orlando Sentinel, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureSix Months LaterMarvel’s Avengers, Six Months Later
Marvel’s Avengers was as plagued by buzz as it was inertia. Before the game released, it was defined by a chaotic din of muddy messaging, sky-high expectations, and that little thing called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After launch, the conversation shifted: Would it become another success like Destiny, go the disappointing way of Anthem, or…
By Ari Notis Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureTwitchCodeMiko Is The Future Of Streaming, Unless Twitch Bans Her First
CodeMiko is nervous. I can tell because she tells me. “This is, like, my first interview ever,” she says over a Discord call. “I’m sorry, I’m a little shy.” It’s December of 2020, and Miko’s entire life is about to change. Miko does not know it yet. She is, after all, not a fortune teller,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSakurai Hides Figures Of Unreleased Smash Bros. Fighters In His Desk At Work
In his latest episode of “Mr. Sakurai Presents”, Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he often keeps figures of upcoming fighters locked away in a drawer at work while developing them. Not just Amiibo either, but the good stuff. After giving a detailed look at Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s Pyra and Mythra, who are…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureThe Avengers Grind Is About To Become More Of A Grind
On March 18, Marvel’s Avengers will receive some much-needed new content when Hawkeye joins the roster. But that’s not all. In that same update, the game’s XP system will receive a major overhaul, developer Crystal Dynamics announced today. As things currently stand, the leveling system in Avengers is structured so each character levels up in…
By Ari Notis Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThese Final Fantasy XIV Characters Ain’t Sh*t
Last night, I finished the true ending of A Realm Reborn and made it, at long last, to Heavensward. This means yes, I saw the event that was basically FF14’s equivalent of the Red Wedding (refresh your memory here), Instead of discussing my feelings regarding what the absolute flying fuck I just witnessed, I—like Cersei—choose…
By Ash Parrish Published March 4, 2021 -
CulturePyra And Mythra Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Later Today
A new presentation by direct Masahiro Sakurai provides a deeper look at the latest fighters—Pyra and Mythra—being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. Yes, they might be yet another set of sword fighters, but the duo’s complimentary move sets look like a really fun combination. You can see the video below. The Xenoblade…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanThe PlayStation 2 Is Now 21 Years Old
Can you believe it? The PlayStation 2 was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000. The console was released in North America later that fall on October 26, and in Europe the following month. The PS2 would go on to be home to over 3,800 games, including some of the greatest of all time,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanOfficial Pokémon-Themed…Fishing Lures
The amount of Pokémon branding in Japan is intense. And with the arrival of these fishing lures, it seems the pocket monsters can be slapped on just about anything. As Go Nintendo points out, Japanese fishing equipment company Duo has teamed up with The Pokémon Company for made-in-Japan Pikachu and Kygore-themed lures. One is a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastMangaGiant Attack On Titan Manga Weighs 30 Pounds And Costs $1,400
Are you a big Attack on Titan fan? Like a really big one? Well, enjoy this enormous version of the popular manga. Kodansha is releasing a huge compilation of the first and second instalments of Attack on Titan. (Full disclosure: Kodansha International originally published my first two books.) The 96-page jumbo manga measures over 3…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: New Nintendo Switch With 4K Output, OLED Screen Will Release Before Christmas
Last year, Bloomberg reported that a new model of the Nintendo Switch would be out sometime in 2021. Today, they’re reporting some more specific details, like the size of the screen and some 4K news. The original report was very light on details, saying only that Nintendo “has looked into including more computing power and 4K…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureHell Yeah, A Coffee Shop Tycoon Game
I am an absolute sucker for specialist tycoon games, whether you’re running a football team, game studio, bus company or emergency service. So my next indulgence may well be Espresso Tycoon, a game about building some coffee shops. Espresso Tycoon looks like it’ll start small, but it also looks like this is not the kind…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureInspiring: This Valheim Player Built A Greyling Torture Factory
If you’ve played even just several seconds of Valheim, you despise Greylings. They’re awful little tree stump goblins who smack you once, then run away with an infuriating spring in their step, like they’ve stolen candy from your pockets. In the game’s early goings, they’re everywhere. One brave player has dedicated a significant amount of…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMan Charged, Banned From FIFA After Sending Racist DMs To Actual, Legendary Player
Last May Irish teenager Patrick O’Brien was playing a game of FIFA, and one of the players he was controlling was Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright. O’Brien lost that match, and so decided to jump into Wright’s DMs and send a succession of disgustingly racist attacks. Wright took screenshots of the deeply racist messages…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
OpinionBlockchain Losers Are Spending Millions On What Are Basically Useless Loot Boxes
While gamers rail against loot boxes, and governments around the world edge ever closer to regulating them, connoisseurs of blockchain bullshit are falling over themselves trying to buy digital highlights of basketball players from a platform called “NBA Top Shot”. In effect they’re spending their money on a form of loot box that is even…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSony Imagines A Future Where A Banana Is A Video Game Controller
Gamers love making weird shit into controllers, including but not limited to pomegranates, light sabers, bananas, and bread. Apparently, Sony wants to get in on that action, according to a patent recently surfaced by GamesIndustry.biz that details a method for turning household objects into controllers. Sony filed a patent for a means of detecting “a…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 3, 2021