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CultureKotaku Game DiaryI’m Determined To Build A Tiny House For My Sims
I’m home for the holidays, and my parents love the interior-design focused TV station HGTV. That means a lot of Property Brothers, House Hunters, and Tiny House, Big Living. Although I have my own obsession with House Hunters (how do they keep finding such horrible people?), I also have a soft spot for the tiny…
By Gita Jackson Published December 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
PlayStation Classic Gets Huge Price Cut, Which Says A Lot
One month after the NES Classic launched, it was impossible to find. One month after the SNES Classic launched, it was the hottest console on the market. And one month after the PlayStation Classic launched, it’s been marked down from $100 to $60 at every store on the internet. This 40% price drop, which went…
By Jason Schreier Published December 27, 2018 -
UncategorizedPlayer Collects Every Unique Moon In Mario Odyssey Without Taking Damage
The idea behind the challenge is simple: collect all 880 unique moons in Mario Odyssey without getting hurt or dying. The execution, however, is hard, which is why it took speedrunner Timpani over 10 hours to be the first to do it, finishing in the early hours of Christmas day. Timpani’s run is amazing to…
By Ethan Gach Published December 26, 2018 - Uncategorized
Thank Goodness PT Transferred To My PS4 Pro
I received a PlayStation 4 Pro for Christmas, taking a glorious step into a high definition world that I’ve sometimes felt guilty about wanting to enjoy. Sitting down to set up the console this afternoon, I was filled with apprehension. Would all my data transfer over? What about that copy of P.T. I had on…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 26, 2018 -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Year In Video Game Sex, 2018
Sex in video games and fandom this year flourished but, in some cases, that flourishing was suppressed. It’s a tale as old as time: no matter how hard you try to stop them, people are just gonna be horny. Steam And Sex The Steam store has always had inconsistently applied rules when it comes to…
By Gita Jackson Published December 26, 2018 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Posts Tutorial On How To Find Smash Ultimate‘s Tutorial
Yo dawg, we heard you like tutorials. Today, Nintendo of Europe posted a Smash Ultimate tutorial for how to find Smash Ultimate’s tutorial (via ResetEra user PsychoHydro). Since the game’s December 7 launch, players have complained that Smash doesn’t give them basic pointers on how to play. Weird, right? Especially considering how beginner-friendly Smash is.…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published December 26, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
Ethan Gach’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
I played more games in 2018 than in any prior year, which makes sense given it was also my first year as a full time staff writer at this illustrious website. There were so many that were so good, and yet I still didn’t manage to play as much of some of the year’s biggest…
By Ethan Gach Published December 26, 2018 - Culture
What Gaming Gear Did You Get (Or Gift) This Holiday Season?
Every year, once the Christmas dust settles, I pose to our dear readers the same question: What glorious gaming gear did you give and/or receive this holiday season? I’ll start. Behold my beautiful limited edition translucent pink Hello Kitty Dreamcast. I own a perfectly functional plain white Dreamcast, but the special Hello Kitty edition of…
By Mike Fahey Published December 26, 2018 -
Tips & GuidesTips For Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [UPDATED]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has it all, and whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie coming in blind, “it all” is a lot. Every fighter from every prior Smash game is available, plus over 100 stages, a lot of wily items, a slew of quality-of-life updates and a somewhat perplexing collectables system called “Spirits.”…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published December 26, 2018 - CultureKotaku Game Diary
I Feel Guilty Accepting Help In Final Fantasy XIV
It’s the holiday season, which means I’ve been unwinding with my secret favorite game of 2018, Final Fantasy XIV, and leveling up character classes. I started leveling Blacksmith in order to make a friend a holiday gift, but I found myself propelled to higher levels thanks to unprompted charity from peers. It’s made me wonder:…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 26, 2018 -
CultureHere’s January 2019’s PlayStation Plus Lineup
I fell in love with Steep after getting obsessed with the winter Olympics, so I’m excited to see it on January’s PlayStation Plus lineup. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership. January’s PS Plus games are: PlayStation 4 Steep Portal Knights PlayStation 3 Zone of the Enders…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 26, 2018 - Uncategorized
One Of The Switch’s Top Sellers Is A Bad Game That Costs $0.01
This morning, people across the country will unwrap brand new Nintendo Switches. Maybe they’ll open up the eShop and look at the Top Sellers, where they’ll see a selection of the usual suspects: Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, Stardew Valley. And then they’ll see Bouncy Bob Bouncy Bob is an unremarkable arcade game in which…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 -
UncategorizedLost NES Version Of SimCity Emerges After 27 Years
In January of 1991, a prototype for an NES version of SimCity appeared at an electronics show. It was never seen again—and the iconic city-building game would come out solely on the Super Nintendo several months later—but video game historians have tracked down a previously undiscovered version, and uploaded it on the internet for all…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 -
UncategorizedNew Destiny 2 Plot Twist Leaves Players Wondering What’s Next
When Destiny first launched, its story was a punchline, a string of proper nouns that was barely coherent, let alone engaging. Over the past four years, the developers at Bungie have worked very hard to change that, and the game’s latest plot twist makes for strong evidence that they’ve succeeded. To go see this new…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
Jason Schreier’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
It’s been a wonderful year for video games both big and small. The games that appealed to me most were games that moved me, that challenged me, that gave me interesting tools and then allowed me to decide what to do with them. Also, the ones that were on Switch. Here are my 10 favorite…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 - Uncategorized
Eight Of Your Weirdest Smash Ultimate Rule Sets
It’s fun enough to play regular old timed or stock matches in Smash, but players have also been making their own weird, super-hard, or just plain wacky rule sets for years. Smash Ultimate allows players to codify their rule sets as saved settings. I asked readers to tell me their Ultimate rule sets, and here…
By Gita Jackson Published December 24, 2018 - Uncategorized
What’s The Next Great Vaporware Game?
Next month, Kingdom Hearts III will finally come out, which is great news for video game fans, but bad news for people who need to write punchlines about video games that never come out. It raises an interesting question: What’s the next great vaporware game? Vaporware, a name coined for software that’s announced but never…
By Jason Schreier Published December 24, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
Riley’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
Another year, another feast of games to devour. Here are my 10 favorite games of 2018. Vampyr Vampyr was a charming, ambitious game, despite its clumsy combat and sometimes tedious navigation. Getting to know its London’s residents and tending to them as a doctor would, only to feast on them when I needed the XP,…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 24, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
The Year In JRPGs, 2018
After a tremendous 2017, Japanese role-playing games were due for some regression, and that’s exactly what happened this year. There were no all-time classics like Persona 5 or Nier Automata in 2018. Yet it was a decent year for the genre, and we got some JRPGs that I enjoyed quite a bit. As is annual…
By Jason Schreier Published December 24, 2018