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Kotaku EastJapanDitto Makes For An Excellent Pokémon Sofa
When you see that purple amorphous Pokémon blob, don’t you just want to sit on it? Good news, now you can! Ditto (aka Metamon in Japan) has been transformed into a sofa, which makes sense because it can transform into anything. The sofa looks very soft. The Ditto cover can be removed and put in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsThe Monster Hunter Movie Was Inspired By A Metal Gear Solid Collab
When the first trailer for the live-action Monster Hunter movie debut, some fans might have been surprised by the soldiers and military hardware. For director Paul W.S. Anderson, this was not out of left field. It was, he said, organic. During a recent Sony Pictures chat, filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson was asked why Milla Jovovich’s…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 4, 2020 -
CultureCross-Platform Gaming Has Been Great
While I’ve already bemoaned the lack of real technological advances in the past console generation, not every innovation of the PS4/Xbox One era had to do with visuals or framerate. One of the quieter revelations, and one of the most forward-thinking, has been the slow adoption of cross-platform gaming, aka crossplay. For as long as…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsNew Mars Game Isn’t A City-Builder, It’s A Planet-Builder
Per Aspera is a new PC game out this week that has you playing as an AI responsible for terraforming Mars. You’re tasked transforming it from a big cold rock into somewhere humans can walk their dogs outside in a grassy green park. It’s a city-builder in spirit, in so far as you build buildings…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureYou Can All Get This Ugly Suit In Arkham Knight Now
Today, Rocksteady Games announced that two obscure skins will finally be obtainable again in its five-year-old superhero adventure Batman: Arkham Knight. The suits in question are the Anime Batman suit and the Zur En Arrh suit, and starting today, after you update Arkham Knight, the suits will be unlocked and playable for free, without any…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureBioWare Studio Head, Dragon Age Producer Both Leave Studio
Casey Hudson is leaving BioWare, again. In a blog post announcing his departure, the creative director of the Mass Effect series and now former studio general manager of BioWare wrote, “I’m incredibly fortunate to have had a career where I’ve been able to work with brilliantly talented people, create entire worlds from our imaginations, and…
By Ash Parrish Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryArdenweald Is The Best Shadowlands Zone And It’s Not Even Close
My Shadowlands experience has been an interesting curve. It started poorly in Bastion, picked up in Maldraxxus, and now, in Ardenweald, I’m at the top of the curve. Everything in this zone—the story, the questing, just being in Ardenweald is WoW at its best. Of all the new zones in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, I…
By Ash Parrish Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureMarkiplier Fans Celebrate His Bowel Movement
Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach is one of the biggest YouTube stars in the world. At almost 30 million subscribers, he’s afforded a level of celebrity that can make even a mundane activity, like taking a dump, a big deal. After a recent stay in the hospital for an intestinal blockage, Markiplier updated his fans on his…
By Ian Walker Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureDemon’s Souls Was Filled With Rubber Duckies During Development
Just like the PlayStation 3 original, the Demon’s Souls remake on PlayStation 5 is a moody, atmospheric game with very little in the way of brightness or joy. But that wasn’t always the case. The staff at Bluepoint Games frequently made use of a rubber ducky model to evaluate aspects of the Demon’s Souls engine…
By Ian Walker Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureRecently Teased Division 2 Mode Won’t Happen After All, ‘A Casualty Of A Tough Year.”
Yesterday, Ubisoft confirmed that an upcoming gameplay event in The Division 2, Codename Nightmare, has been canceled and will not be released as planned this year, Yannick Banchereau, the Associate Creative Director on the game, explained the situation in the latest State of The Game livestream. Codename Nightmare was a planned upcoming special Division 2…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 3, 2020 -
ReviewsMultiplatformImmortals: Fenyx Rising: The Kotaku Review
Immortals: Fenyx Rising isn’t the game I was expecting. I was prepared for a big Ubisoft open-world action game filled with colorful vistas, Greek gods, and some elements inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild. It is all of that, but it’s not just Assassin’s Creed: Hyrule. It’s a welcome streamlining of…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 3, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsWorld Of Warcraft Shadowlands’ Alt-Leveling System Is A Refreshing Change
Unlike World of Warcraft’s Legion and Battle For Azeroth expansions, which gave players a choice on which zones to level up their characters, Shadowlands’ story campaign is very linear. Fortunately you only have to play through it once. With the new Threads of Fate mode, players who’ve reached max level can skip the story with…
By Mike Fahey Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureFortnite Leaks And Teases Suggest Major Xbox, PlayStation Characters Coming To The Game (Update: Kratos Confirmed)
Update (12/03/2020, 4:11 p.m. ET): Fortnite has officially announced Kratos. God of War items are available now across all platforms. Our original story follows below. Kratos and Master Chief could be headed to Fortnite soon based on recent tweets and leaks that hint at a major new cross-over in Epic Games’ massive battle royale game. The…
By Ethan Gach Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureSea Of Thieves Is Getting A Battle Pass
Sea of Thieves will ditch its monthly update schedule and move to a Fortnite-style seasonal model starting next year, Rare creative director Mike Chapman announced in a new update to players. “After a year of updating the game [monthly], we’re moving to a new way,” Chapman said. “So from January, seasons are coming to Sea…
By Ethan Gach Published December 3, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicNothing Takes Me Back To 1987 Like The Legend Of Zelda
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today’s object of aural inquiry requires no introduction, so what am I even writing here? Let’s get to it. Sometimes I’ll think back to a fascinating music/gaming/cultural scene and think, “damn, I wish I had been…
By Alexandra Hall Published December 3, 2020 -
Kotaku EastJapanSilent Hill and Gravity Rush Creator Keiichiro Toyama Has Left Sony
Keiichiro Toyama first made a name for himself, writing and directing the first Silent Hill while at Konami. In 1999, he joined Sony’s Japan Studio, and today he’s announced that he has left to form his own studio. While at Japan Studio, Toyama was creative force, creating both Siren and Gravity Rush. Stylistically, the games…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 3, 2020