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CultureTwitchProposed U.S. Law Could Slap Twitch Streamers With Felonies For Broadcasting Copyrighted Material
The United States government is, as we all know, extremely functional. It’s so functional, in fact, that it regularly struggles to pass spending bills in order to prevent itself from shutting down. The latest “must-pass” bill, like many of its predecessors, includes controversial measures that wouldn’t be able to pass on their own, negotiated with…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureWith Flash Games On The Chopping Block, One Popular Site Turns To Emulation
Armor Games, one of the largest repositories of Adobe Flash-based games on the internet, is choosing to shift to emulation next year as a way to mitigate Adobe’s planned phasing out of Flash after December 2020. “Given our large catalog of Flash games, we would like to continue to offer these games to our players…
By Ian Walker Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureThe PS5’s Limited Controller Support Is An Issue For Gamers Who Need Accessibility Options
The PlayStation 5 is in many ways a fantastic machine, but it’s far from perfect. Games take up more space than indicated, the dashboard’s newsfeed can get needlessly cluttered, and the simplest way to power the thing down is a departure from the hold-the-big-center-button norm. Beyond that, nearly a month after launch, Sony’s latest console…
By Ari Notis Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureSpeaking From The Chest: Streamer Receives Death Threats After Holding Console Makers To Account
Back in May, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, the juggernauts of the gaming industry issued statements in solidarity with Black Lives Matter while stating the need to do more to support their Black fans, creators and employees. Xbox tweeted, “Xbox stands together with our fans, creators, colleagues, friends, and the entire African American…
By Ash Parrish Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureMicrosoft’s 2021 Release Calendar Doesn’t Include Many First-Party Games
A month into the launch of the Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft has given a rundown of what people can expect to play on the new machines in 2021. There are a lot of games, but very few of them are from Microsoft’s own studios. A new post over on the Xbox Wire blog outlines some…
By Ethan Gach Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureTwitchNew Twitch Rules Ban The Confederate Flag, ‘Unwelcome’ Comments About Streamers’ Appearances
Today, Twitch announced a “significant” update to its harassment and hateful conduct policies. The update takes aim at multiple blind spots in Twitch’s previous rules, adding clearer language about membership in hate groups, symbols like the Confederate flag, and sexual harassment. In a blog post, Twitch outlined the impending changes, which will go into effect…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureXbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Windows PC and iOS devices this spring. Available now for Android devices as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft today announced an official release window for PC and iOS (via web browser), furthering the value divide between regular and Ultimate Game Pass subscribers.
By Mike Fahey Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureSome People Are Playing Cyberpunk 2077 A Day Early On Xbox By Switching Time Zones
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t officially release until 12:01 a.m. on December 10, but Xbox owners are already playing the game by manipulating their console’s time and location data. As Video Game Chronicle’s Andy Robinson pointed out on Twitter overnight, players can simply change the location on an Xbox One or Series X/S to New Zealand, where…
By Ethan Gach Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureScuf Gaming Is Making Headsets Now
Atlanta-based Scuf Gaming makes some of the best high-end controllers for the Xbox and PlayStation 4. Now the company makes a gaming headset to match. The Scuf H1 is an adorable set of hearing cups that can be configured with different cushions, colors, cables, mics, and around 30 different speaker tag designs. As with Scuf’s…
By Mike Fahey Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicYakuza: Like A Dragon’s Best Boss Theme Makes Me Wanna Break Stuff (In A Good Way)
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, we’re looking at what I think is the best boss battle theme in modern history. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (playlist /longplay) is an incredible game that arguably improves on its beloved predecessors shifting to a…
By Ian Walker Published December 9, 2020 -
AnimeOnce Again, Hikaru Utada Is Singing The Rebuild of Evangelion Theme
Next January, the fourth and final film in the Rebuild of Evangelion series will hit Japanese movie theaters. And of course, Hikaru Utada will once again sing the theme. The theme for Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time will be Utada’s “One Last Kiss.” Previously, she sang the themes for the earlier three films in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureSake Brewery Teams Up With Japanese Burger Chain For Alcohol-Free Milkshake
Dassai, one of Japan’s most famous brands, is joining forces with Mos Burger, Japan’s best burger chain, for a non-alcoholic milkshake. As Asahi Shuzo, the makers of Dassai, point out, this is the first time Mos Burger has ever collaborated with a sake brewer. It’s based on the fast-food chain’s vanilla shake, but with a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureTrack: All Things Must Pass (2020 Mix / Audio) | Artist: George Harrison | Album: All Things Must Pass
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 9, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsMaking Battle For Middle Earth Sounded Terrible
If you think the conditions developers are working under now are bad, imagine what they were like 16 years ago. Actually, don’t imagine it, you could just read this account of what it was like making the classic Battle For Middle Earth instead. EA’s RTS is one of the best licensed games of the last…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 8, 2020 -
Culture‘Free’ Gears 5 Expansion Highlights Growing Divide For Game Pass Subscribers
Gears 5 is getting a new campaign expansion next week. It’ll be available at no extra cost for members of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a $15-monthly subscription. Everyone else will have to pay up. It’s just one more perk suggesting a growing gulf between the entry-level and premium tiers of Microsoft’s games-on-demand service. The new…
By Ari Notis Published December 8, 2020 -
CultureA Lot Happened In Destiny Today
New content, upgrades for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and new information about long-awaited features coming in future seasons: Destiny 2 had a big day today, so let’s break it all down. First, the big one: Destiny 2: Beyond Light has now been optimized for next-gen consoles. I’ve played dozens of hours of Destiny 2…
By Ethan Gach Published December 8, 2020 -
CultureHalo Infinite Isn’t Coming Out Until Fall 2021 At The Earliest
343 Studios just announced that Halo Infinite—a game that was supposed to launch alongside the Xbox Series X last month—now won’t be released until at least Fall 2021. The lengthy delay was made in a long post on the studio’s site, and while it goes into all kinds of detail on features being added to…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 8, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformYakuza: Like A Dragon: The Kotaku Review
After an exhausting run of seven main games, some spinoffs and the sandwiched-but-excellent Judgment, the Yakuza series entered a new era in 2020 with the release of Like a Dragon, which is trying to be something completely new, only it’s also not. It sure seems new. The star of Yakuzas 0-6, Kazuma Kiryu, snuck off…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 8, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsKate Bishop Makes Avengers Exciting Again, At Least For A Few Hours
The Kate Bishop version of Hawkeye has arrived as a new playable character for Marvel’s Avengers, bringing with her three or four hours of fresh single-player content to Square Enix’s stale co-op superhero game. To be fair, any new playable character would have had the same effect, but Kate is pretty damn great. Following the…
By Mike Fahey Published December 8, 2020