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CulturePC Case That Could Burst Into Flames Officially Recalled
As we reported earlier this month, NZXT’s (admittedly lovely) H1 case had an issue where at a certain point it could literally burst into flames. The company reluctantly apologised, but that process has now progressed into a full “recall” for over 30,000 of the cases. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a full…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsFinal Fantasy VII Has Been Upscaled To HD Using AI
If you want to play Final Fantasy VII in HD on your PC you could wait for the remake to get ported, or you could play the original game using this mod that employs artificial intelligence to upscale its visuals. While I’ve written about witchcrafty efforts like this previously—with this game, even!—this latest effort by…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Princess Charm Game Would Be Great, Thanks
During yesterday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, Mario Kart Live developer Velan Studios revealed its next game, Knockout City. But all I really care about is the spunky (and wholly unrelated) little princess that was used to market it. Knockout City publisher EA decided to fill the multiplayer dodgeball game’s reveal trailer with clichéd CG characters that…
By Ian Walker Published February 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’s New River Raids Ain’t It
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the last game that needed any extra content right now, but this week it got some anyway, and since I’m still fresh on the game I thought I’d jump back in and check it out. That content arrived in the form of “River Raids”, a new game mode that adds three…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsRed Dead Online’s New Solo Missions Are Pretty Good
The latest Red Dead Online update, released earlier this week, added a few new missions to the game. These new telegram missions are short and simple but are also built to be played alone, another sign that Rockstar is willing to give players more single-player content even in ostensibly online games. While Red Dead Online…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsYep, Splatoon Is Set After A Climate Apocalypse
Splatoon 3’s reveal yesterday took many folks by surprise, both because there was little indication beforehand that the aquatic shooter would get a third installment and because of the presence of an upside-down Eiffel Tower in the trailer. No, your eyes weren’t deceiving you: Splatoon is set on Earth, thousands of years after the world…
By Ian Walker Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureMister DeepFuckingValue Goes To Washington
History was made today when Reddit user DeepFuckingValue, who goes by Roaring Kitty on YouTube, opened his Congressional testimony in a hearing about GameStop stock by specifying, for the literal record, that he is not actually a cat. “A few things I am not,” the meme stock icon, whose real name is Keith Gill, said…
By Ethan Gach Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureSaudi Arabia Acquires $3.3 Billion Stake In EA, Take-Two, Activision Blizzard
Saudi Arabia has utilized its Public Investment Fund to invest over $3.3 billion (that’s $3,300,000,000 for the more visual learners out there) in Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and Activision Blizzard, Al Jazeera reported (h/t Eurogamer). This move, undertaken by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (known colloquially as MBS), equates to millions of shares in…
By Ian Walker Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsIn Bugsnax, Grumpuses Used To Be Frogs With Thicc Butts
Bugsnax developer Young Horses shared some early design concepts for its what-if-we-ate-the-Pokémon-instead, body-horror game, and they are as out there as you’re probably hoping. Starting on the more mild but technically ambitious front, the developers original experimented with making the Grumpus’ relationships more dynamic and fungible: Procedurally generated relationships between Grumpuses could’ve been interesting! It…
By Ash Parrish Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureShovel Knight Is Coming To Sma–Er, For Honor
Finally, after years of waiting, Shovel Knight is coming to the popular fighting game… For Honor. Oh…that’s fine I guess. I mean, who can think of any other game that needs Shovel Knight? Ubisoft Announced today that new Shovel Knight-inspired outfits, emotes and executions are available in the online fight ‘em up For Honor until…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsXbox’s New ‘FPS Boost’ Feature Is The Real Deal
Yesterday Microsoft released FPS Boost, a new backward-compatibility feature for the Xbox Series X and S. FPS Boost will…well boost the framerate dramatically in specific, older games when you play them on a next-gen Xbox. After playing around with FPS Boost a bit I’m excited and impressed. This could be a big change in the…
By Zack Zwiezen Published February 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsProject Triangle Strategy Just Became One Of My Most Anticipated Games
Think back to the last argument you had. Did you sway the other person to your side? How much effort did that take? That tug-of-war—the fraught nature of persuasion, and the notion that you don’t initially know if you’ve pulled it off—is the unexpected crux of Project Triangle Strategy, an upcoming tactical game from Square…
By Ari Notis Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureThe New Mortal Kombat Movie Might Just Be A Good Mortal Kombat Movie
In the first 30 seconds of the first trailer for April’s Mortal Kombat movie reboot, Mehcad Brooks’ Jax loses both his arms to the icy grip of Joe Taslim’s Sub-Zero. Then things get violent. In theaters and on HBO Max on April 16, the new Mortal Kombat movie looks to be using every iota of…
By Mike Fahey Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureYou Can Finally Import Your Owned Levels Into Hitman 3 On PC
Hitman 3 PC players who own Hitman 1 or 2 can finally import their owned levels for free, developer IO Interactive announced today. “PC players who own Hitman 1 or Hitman 2 are now able to import locations from those games into Hitman 3 at no additional cost,” the developer wrote in a blog post.…
By Riley MacLeod Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureThe Makers Of Minit Are Back With A Clever New Spin-Off
Minit took the sense of exploration and discovery from a classic Zelda and recreated it in 60-second black and white chunks. The result was fantastic, so it’s not surprising its creators are returning to that world in their latest game: Minit Fun Racer The new side-scrolling racing game, which publisher Devolver Digital describes as a…
By Ethan Gach Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureBravely Default II‘s Developers Don’t Want It To Be Just Another RPG About Making The Numbers Go Up
Final Fantasy I is a game about about four warriors of light collecting ancient and powerful crystals to restore peace and balance to the world. Over three decades later, Square Enix is still telling that story same story, and this time it’s Bravely Default II’s turn, an old-school-feeling JRPG tasked with walking the tightrope between…
By Ethan Gach Published February 18, 2021 -
CultureFinal Fantasy XIV Could Go At Least Five More Years, Director Says
Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida recently spoke about the future of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game with The Washington Post, saying that at its current growth rate, users can expect the online world to continue expanding with new content for at least five more years, if not indefinitely. “Even now, [Square Enix CEO…
By Ian Walker Published February 18, 2021 -
AnimeBroken In An Earthquake? Company Offers To Repair Anime Figures For Free
Whenever there’s an earthquake in Japan, inevitably on Twitter come photos of people’s anime statues knocked off shelves. Now one company is saying they’ll fix their ones for free! Recently, north-eastern Japan was rocked by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake. No doubt anime figures were jostled about during the quake, which is why, as J-Cast News (via…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 18, 2021 -
AnimeFirst Look At Mamoru Hosoda’s New Anime Film Belle
Announced last December, Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and the Beast) has a new animated feature coming out this year. As previously reported, the movie is called Belle and tells the story of a young woman in modern-day Japan as she enters a massive virtual world. Below is the brand new…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 18, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanNintendo Announced A Lovely Looking Summer Game For Japan
During the Japanese version of this week’s Nintendo Direct, a pleasant surprise was announced: a summertime game with everyone’s favorite anime five-year-old from Crayon Shin-chan Called Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi (Crayon Shin-chan: My Summer Vacation With The Professor), the game lets players enjoy summertime in a small town in Kyushu, Japan. This…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 18, 2021