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ReviewsYear in ReviewAsh Parrish’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
Ahh! My first “Top 10 Games” post for Kotaku, so exciting! Arriving here has fundamentally changed my relationship with gaming. I have a lot more time to play a lot more brand-spankin’ new games, versus the slow arrival to already well-beloved titles that was typical of my pre-Kotaku life. So if you see some non-2020…
By Ash Parrish Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureHere’s January 2021’s Xbox Live Games With Gold
Writing “2021” in a headline is giving me more feelings than I expected, so thanks for that, Xbox. January’s Games with Gold lineup is a mix of horror and fighting games; as always, these games are only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold Subscription. January’s Games with Gold are: Little Nightmares (Jan…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureThe PS5 Now Warns You If You’re About To Play The Last-Gen Version Of A Game
After a month of some players accidently playing the older version of new games on their PS5, Sony’s next-gen console now has a feature that fires off a warning if you’re about to load up the PS4 version of a PS5 game. Originally spotted by VGC, the console now asks players to “confirm game version”…
By Ethan Gach Published December 22, 2020 -
Culture7 Games To Play With Your Kids Over Christmas
For parents, the Christmas vacation is, at its best, a fortnight of Sundays. No school, but also everything else is closed, too, and everyone you know is busy seeing family. 2020’s holiday break is, as is only proper for 2020, all of that but even harder. Two weeks of being at home, unable to go…
By John Walker Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsCyberpunk 1997
Wake the fuck up, Samurai. We have a city to burn. An original PlayStation-era city, courtesy of game developer Anders Lundbjörk’s completely accurate demake of Cyberpunk 2077. We’ve already seen a PS1 demake of Cyberpunk 2077 made in Dreams, but that one was too clean, too sharp, and too functional. I prefer Lundbjörk’s vision of…
By Mike Fahey Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureEVE Online Players Are Calling A Christmas Truce
Two of EVE Online’s biggest factions have been engaged in open war for the last six months, fighting for their continued existence on the server. Tensions are high, and players on both sides of the conflict are starting to show signs of wear and tear. What better way to provide those players a small breather…
By Lee Yancy Published December 22, 2020 -
CultureSource: GameStop Now Accepting Returns Of ‘Defective’ Cyberpunk 2077
GameStop has joined the growing number of retailers that are fully refunding customers who bought Cyberpunk 2077, according to an internal memo acquired by Kotaku The memo instructs GameStop employees to accept Cyberpunk 2077 returns on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, even if the game has been opened, and label the games as “Defective” before…
By Ian Walker Published December 21, 2020 -
CultureTwitchCovid Relief Bill Still Includes Felony Streaming Act, But Twitch Streamers Are Probably Safe
Earlier this month, Republican senator Thom Tillis managed to graft an act that would turn streaming copyrighted material into a felony onto the much-debated omnibus spending bill, which also includes a paltry second covid relief check, among many other things. After even more debate (and many concessions), Congress is poised to pass the bill this…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 21, 2020 -
CultureStardew Valley Just Got Another Massive Update [Update: And It’s Also Out On Console Now]
Pixelated farming sim Stardew Valley continues to grow, this time with a big 1.5 update for PC that adds a bunch of new stuff, including a beach farm map where veteran green thumbs can try their hand at growing crops in the sand. “This update adds some significant ‘late-game’ content to Stardew Valley,” developer Eric…
By Ethan Gach Published December 21, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewLuke Plunkett’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
It has been a bad year. A bad year with, mercifully, some very good video games. Last year I remember struggling to scrape together even 10 games for my list, so sparse had my good times been, but in 2020 I’ve had no such trouble. And no, it’s not because I’ve been stuck inside all…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 21, 2020 -
EsportsAn Esports Team Signed An 8 Year Old, But Nobody Is Sure If It’s Legal
If nothing else, Team 33 certainly made a splash when it arrived on the esports scene earlier this month. In a press release, the previously unknown organization boasted of a Hollywood team house that had already played host to big names like Janelle Monáe, Post Malone, and Drake. But it wasn’t glitz and glamour that…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 21, 2020 -
OpinionAsk KotakuWhat’s The Best (Or Worst) Gaming Gift You’ve Ever Received?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: What’s the best (or worst) gaming gift you’ve ever received? Fahey This one’s easy. For years my family has been conditioned to the fact that if…
By Alexandra Hall Published December 21, 2020 -
CultureAll The Big Games Coming Out In Winter 2021
We made it, everyone. It’s winter 2020, which is really just a couple of weeks of 2020, with the vast majority of game releases coming in the year 2021. What will we be playing as we put the year of hell behind us and move on to what’s hopefully not just more of the same?…
By Mike Fahey Published December 21, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of The PS4 And PS5 In 2020
Despite the harrowing circumstances impacting the world, 2020 was a stand-out year for PlayStation. Over the course of 2020, Sony published more than half a dozen top-shelf games, a huge step up from last year’s scant offerings. Beyond that, the company pushed out two models of an ambitious gaming console, and boosted support for the…
By Ari Notis Published December 21, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of The Nintendo Switch In 2020
It’s hard to imagine what the state of the Nintendo Switch would look like right now if 2020 hadn’t been so horrible. What could have been one of the hardware’s more stagnant years turned into one of its most memorable, when the soothing escapism of Animal Crossing met a world desperately in need of a…
By Mike Fahey Published December 21, 2020 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe State Of Xbox In 2020
This time last year, Microsoft’s current flagship console was little more than a swanky video spot aired during a swanky awards show. Now, it’s the capstone to one of the biggest years for Xbox in recent memory. Time sure works in funny ways. Yes, it’s been almost one year to the day since Microsoft officially…
By Ari Notis Published December 21, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicThis Incredible Link’s Awakening Song Is Actually From Its Commercial
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s frequent hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s column is all about a reinvigorating classic that didn’t actually make it into the game it was used to promote. Link’s Awakening (playlist /longplay /VGMdb) is one of the greatest games in the Legend of…
By Ian Walker Published December 21, 2020 -
CultureThe Week In Games: Meat Boy Is Back
A decade is a long time to wait for a sequel, but Super Meat Boy Forever is almost here after some delays and hiccups. I wanted to like the first Meat Boy game but it just wasn’t for me. However, I know some folks who dug the hell out of that quirky platformer and they…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 20, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsFIFA 21 Has Some Good Looking Hair
I don’t play sports games. I don’t even watch sports. But I’m always impressed by some good looking, next-gen hair. And the latest FIFA game on next-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X has some damn fine hair. I know nothing about soccer games, so it’s possible FIFA 21 is a terrible game filled with…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 20, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Strange Game That Lets You Create A Digital Art Gallery About Anything
Art galleries can be cool. But they are hard to create, so we don’t get as many galleries as we deserve. For example? Where are the galleries and museums for things like broken extension cords? Or people like Keanu Reeves? Well, thankfully, with The Anything Gallery, you can create a gallery about whatever you want.…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 20, 2020