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The Game Boy’s Most Valuable Games
Back before the days of glasses-free 3D and touch screens, there was a Nintendo handheld that conquered the globe. The Game Boy was introduced to the world in 1989 and the battery-powered brick quickly grew to become one of Nintendo’s greatest successes. Throughout its lifespan and various iterations no other handheld system came close to…
By Ben Bertoli Published April 28, 2018 -
UncategorizedFinal Fantasy VII’s Cosmo Canyon Sequence Is A Meditation On Family, Sacrifice, And Existence Itself
My favorite Final Fantasy game is VII. But it’d been over a decade since I last played FFVII and I wondered how it would hold up. I downloaded the PS4 version and played through the entire game again. This time, Square gave players endless limit breaks, the option to avoid random battles, and the ability…
By Peter Tieryas Published April 28, 2018 - Esports
Attack Torbjörn Makes A Surprise Appearance In The Overwatch League
During last night’s Overwatch League matches, Houston’s Jake Lyon backed off after his team took the first point to switch out his hero. Turns out it wasn’t to Sombra or maybe his signature Junkrat; it was Torbjörn. A momentous moment for Torb mains, and a horrific omen for everyone else. While this isn’t the first-ever…
By Eric Van Allen Published April 28, 2018 -
UncategorizedMonster Hunter: World‘s Music Is Fantastic And Sometimes A Little Weird
Monster Hunter: World is chock full of fun given its potential for multiplayer shenanigans. Yes, its battles are epic—hunting down fearsome monsters takes patience and discipline. But you know what else is great? The music which scores its brilliantly strange world, and its collection of crazy monsters’ theme songs. Monster Hunter: World is my latest…
By Narelle Ho Sang Published April 28, 2018 - Uncategorized
Shining Force’s Brilliant Use Of Geography And Tactics In The Battle Against The Laser Eye
Shining Force was the game that made me fall in love with tactical JRPGs. Everything from its anime visuals to its catchy music and its grid-based battle system had me hooked. My love for tactical games back in the 90s was limited to traditional PC style strategy games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with…
By Peter Tieryas Published April 28, 2018 - Uncategorized
The Jaw-Dropping Battles of Asura’s Wrath
Asura’s Wrath is cathartic. One moment, you feel like the most powerful being in the universe. The next, smaller than an ant in a hurricane about to get crushed. Then you come back stronger than ever, overcoming the odds to gain your vengeance. Released in 2012 and published by Capcom, it’s a uniquely blistering experience…
By Peter Tieryas Published April 28, 2018 - Esports
The Weekend In Esports: Conquest!
The windy city will host the start of a new tournament series today across three different fighting games. The Red Bull Conquest series is made up of local tournaments across North America, in Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Guilty Gear. The whole idea is to feature each region’s best, to determine which home crowd…
By Eric Van Allen Published April 28, 2018 -
UncategorizedCraig of the Creek Is Refreshingly Real
For the past decade there have been various animated hits that have brought viewers into sprawling fantasy and sci-fi worlds, introducing them to overly absurd characters and storylines. Craig of the Creek bucks this trend with some heartfelt, down-to-earth adventures. Growing up in the ‘90s I was exposed to loads of classic cartoon offerings. There…
By Ben Bertoli Published April 28, 2018 - Uncategorized
We’re Back, Baby!
Hot diggity daffodil! Ben, Narelle, and Peter have returned to run Kotaku for another weekend. We are all definitely qualified for this job and confident that nothing at all will go worng. Let’s see now. What do we have for you fine folks over the next two days… There’s some lovely retrospectives from Peter, interesting…
Ben Bertoli & Narelle Ho Sang & Peter Tieryas Published April 28, 2018 - Culture
This Week In The Business: Mostly PR Nightmares
QUOTE | “Inappropriate conduct or practices have no place at Quantic Dream. We have taken and always will take such grievances very seriously. We value every single person who works at QuanticDream. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for…
Brendan Sinclair Published April 28, 2018 - Uncategorized
Monster Hunter: World‘s Devil May Cry Gear Is Worth The Grind
Monster Hunter: World’s wild crossover events are now ten times more stylish with the arrival of a quest to unlock armor and weapons from the pizza eating simulator Devil May Cry. The limited-time event quest has players fight some of the game’s best monsters and grants amazing gear that’s absolutely worth grinding for. Hunters looking…
By Heather Alexandra Published April 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
Slay The Spire’s New Character Is Great
Months after it first hit Steam Early Access I still enjoy dropping into Slay the Spire to see what cards I’m dealt in its procedurally generated dungeon runs. With the addition of its newest character, The Defect, I can see myself returning a lot more often. Developer Mega Crit Games has been working on Slay…
By Ethan Gach Published April 27, 2018 - Esports
Seoul-Philly Was Some Sloppy, Weird Overwatch
Last night’s showdown between slumping juggernaut Seoul Dynasty and season-long punchers-above-their-weight Philadelphia Fusion might have been the first match of its kind in this first Overwatch League season. On their best nights, both of these teams can be extraordinarily good. Seoul slowly but surely dissects its opponents, while Philly’s aggression is fueled by wild moments…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
The Switch’s eShop Is A Mess
Every week, a ton of games come out for the Nintendo Switch. While it’s great to have so many options to choose from, sorting through these titles on the digital storefront really sucks. It’s hard to find what you want, or what you should be interested in. Discoverability is a tough issue that seemingly nobody…
By Patricia Hernandez Published April 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
I Have Had It Up To Here With Voidlord
There is no objective way to measure whether something in a game is fun or not. But in the context of competitive online gaming, where empowerment for one player sometimes translates into abject misery for another, it’s much more common to encounter a mechanic so demoralizing, so soul-crushingly boring, that you simply know in your…
By Joshua Calixto Published April 27, 2018 - Culture
What Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for binge-watching a PBS Masterpiece Theater show about a WWI department store, because you’re just that cool. It’s also for playing video games. I’m still playing Frostpunk, because I can’t resist restarting when things go pear-shaped (or, well, being forced to restart when my populace overthrows me). I’m also still working my…
By Riley MacLeod Published April 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
Far Cry 5, One Month Later
Far Cry 5 has been out for a month. Its big open world based in a fictional Montana has been picked clean by millions of people. Collectively they’ve caught lots of fish, thrown millions of sticks of dynamite, and been sprayed by a lot of sneaky skunks. Publisher Ubisoft has been contributing weekly live events,…
By Ethan Gach Published April 27, 2018 - Uncategorized
New Sanrio Netflix Anime Shows The Anger and Despair of Working A Shitty Job
Aggretsuko, the anime about a red panda who hates her office job so much she sings metal karaoke after work as an outlet for her anger, is almost crushingly real. Retsuko the red panda is one of the new Sanrio characters, introduced in 2016. Unlike the other sickly sweet characters like Hello Kitty and Kero…
By Gita Jackson Published April 27, 2018 - Culture
Steam Spy Is Back, But Not As Accurate As Before
Steam Spy, the PC gaming sales-tracking mainstay loved by some developers and loathed by others, was recently presumed dead by its creator, Sergey Galyonkin, after an update to Steam’s privacy defaults. It is now coming back, but it’ll be different. The old Steam Spy estimated a PC game’s sales by sweeping publicly viewable Steam profiles…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 27, 2018 - CultureSix Months Later
Assassin’s Creed Origins, Six Months Later
Half a year ago, Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Origins. It was in some ways the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed game ever made, and in other ways noticeably less ambitious than its predecessors. In the months since then, Origins has become considerably more interesting. Join me now as we climb into the Animus and travel back…
By Kirk Hamilton Published April 27, 2018