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CultureKotaku Game DiaryMaquette‘s Love Story Has Already Broken My Heart
Ever listen to a song so powerful you stop, drop, and roll to frantically figure out what it is? That’s what happened to me last night while playing Maquette, a puzzle game out this week for PC, PS4, and PS5. Yes, the game’s fantastic, which we’ll get to in a moment, but first: that song.…
By Ari Notis Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsDamn You, Fortnite Butter Barn Song
This season of Fortnite has been a whirlwind of crossover skins and deranged players hoping that Epic puts Family Guy’s Peter Griffin in the game. But the latest in-demand item is a possible music track—the song “Butter Barn Hoedown.” The supposedly leaked track somehow, impossibly, rules? Fortnite’s battle pass and item shop often feature music…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureActivision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
Activision Blizzard announced yesterday that Frances F. Townsend, a former George W. Bush-era counterterrorism appointee and torture apologist, would become its new head of compliance, in charge of making sure the company doesn’t run afoul of the varying laws and regulations throughout all of the countries the Call of Duty maker does business in. According…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureHow Persona 5 Strikers Did (And Didn’t) Steal Our Hearts
At long last, the Phantom Thieves ride again as Persona 5 Strikers—the Atlus RPG turned Koei Tecmo hack and slash—is out in North America. I’m a big Persona 5 nerd and I’ve been anxiously waiting for fellow nerd Luke Plunkett to get far enough into the game that I could finally have someone with whom…
By Ash Parrish Published March 3, 2021 -
CulturePSA: The Witcher 3 Is Leaving Game Pass
The cycle of Game Pass continues unabated. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will depart Microsoft’s games-on-demand service on March 15. This is usually the point where I’d say something trite like, “If you haven’t played this tremendous open-world masterpiece, which many consider one of the best games of all time, be sure to check it…
By Ari Notis Published March 3, 2021 -
Culture5TH Cell’s Latest Is A Bite-Sized Deck-Building Game You Can Play Right Now
Launching today on Steam from Scribblenauts and Lock’s Quest creators 5TH Cell, Castlehold is a free-to-play deck-building strategy game that manages to cram a ton of strategy fun into battles that last under 10 minutes. A cataclysmic event has shattered space and time, sending champions from different eras to a mysterious realm known as The…
By Mike Fahey Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureZynga Buys Torchlight Studio Echtra Games
Echtra Games, the San Francisco-based studio founded in 2016 by Diablo and Torchlight co-creator Max Schaefer, is now owned by Zynga, the company that gave us FarmVille. Fresh off the lukewarm release of Torchlight III, Echtra Games joins Zynga to work on an unannounced cross-platform action role-playing game in partnership with Zynga’s NaturalMotion Studio. According…
By Mike Fahey Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicLegend Of Mana’s Grand Score Helps Me Take Its BS Seriously
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course. Legend of Mana (playlist /…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanStory of Seasons Producer Writes An Apology To Fans Over Bugs, Glitches, And Loading Times
When Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town was released last month in Japan, fans complained of long load times, bugs, and glitches. Producer Dai Takemura addressed these issues on the game’s official blog and offers his apology. On Twitter in Japan, the game was being described as “load hell”, with numerous load screens, some…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 3, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanSquare Enix Launches Official Final Fantasy XIV Masks
Merchandising! Square Enix loves to do it. And with lots of people wearing masks in Japan, the Tokyo-based game maker saw an opportunity. Update March 3 – 11:40am: As one Kotaku reader points out, these masks are also available through the North American website. As Famitsu reports, pre-orders for Final Fantasy XIV masks kicked off…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Only 243 Days Until Halloween
Abigail Larson is a character designer at Netflix who has also worked on books, games and even tarot cards. She’s also currently got a book up on Kickstarter called Crimson, which collects a load of her past horror-themed work in a beautiful hardcover tome. The images you’re seeing below are all taken from that book,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CulturePS2 Emulation Gets Even Nicer With Custom Textures
PCSX2 has long been a fantastic PS2 emulator, but a recent advance has made it all the more appealing for anyone playing on a PC: the ability to swap textures in games While the famous Dolphin emulator for the GameCube has long supported this feature, PCSX2 has only just brought it in, and it’ll allow…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureCrusader Kings III Is Getting Very Into Writing Poetry
Crusader Kings III has always had poetry—some romance paths would even adjust the quality depending on the skill of your pursuer—but the game is about to go all in on it, adding it as a character trait and even creating a generator that will write your ruler’s musings for you. The game’s upcoming 1.3 patch…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsAn Ode To My Favorite Flavor Texts
More than the set piece battle or the final showdown between hero and villain, it’s the quieter, smaller moments in video games that get me. In some games, those tiny moments can be a sudden expression on a character’s face or a short piece of dialogue from an inconsequential scene. But more often than not,…
By Ash Parrish Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureCosplayComic-Con 2021 Has Been Cancelled
There was no in-person Comic-Con in 2020, and there won’t be one in 2021 either after the show’s organisers announced a decision to “postpone” it until 2022. That’s…an odd use of the word, since the Comic-Con in 2022 would simply be the 2022 Comic-Con, but maybe there’s legal wrangling involved in the exact language employed…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureTwitchTwitch’s First Transparency Report Is A Start, But Streamers Want More
Today, Twitch released its first-ever transparency report, a lengthy, stat-based look at the platform’s safety initiatives over the past year. It contains some interesting, albeit granular, information about Twitch’s efforts to cut down on hateful conduct, sexual harassment, and even terrorist propaganda. But it also fails to clear the haze from the question that has…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 2, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesHow To Beat Bravely Default 2’s Brutal Boss Battles
Bravely Default 2, the new Nintendo Switch game about watching numbers go up, isn’t easy. The boss fights in particular are guaranteed to mess up your day. If you’ve been playing the game since it launched last week, you’ve likely found yourself banging your head against a wall on more than one occasion. Yes, in…
By Ari Notis Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureFinal Fantasy Creator’s New JRPG Lets You Procrastinate With Its Random Encounters
Fantasian, the next game from Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is coming to Apple Aracde later this year. Now we’ve a new trailer finally showing off gameplay of the diorama-based JRPG, including its unique take on random encounters, called the “Dimengeon system.” In classic JRPGs, like the ones Sakaguchi made…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureEpic Games Buys Fall Guys Studio
Epic Games has bought Mediatonic, maker of last year’s hit battle royale Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, the company announced today According to Epic, “gameplay isn’t changing” and the company will continue to support Fall Guys “across platforms,” including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. “Your gameplay isn’t changing and neither is our mission to bring Fall…
By Ethan Gach Published March 2, 2021
