- Culture
Game Of Thrones Has Some Beautiful Paintings In The Background
Game of Thrones is shot in some pretty exotic locations, and also has some great CG work, but not everything you see on the screen is a mix of real life and computer wizardry. There’s still room for good old-fashioned matte painting when it comes to the scenic backdrops. Artist Simone De Salvatore has shared…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 20, 2017 - Kotaku East
As you get off the train for Tokyo Game Show, you’re greeted by the main characters of every Final Fantasy. It’s an ad for a 30th anniversary art exhibition starting in January here in Tokyo. I went up and down stairs until I found Terra and Bartz. (Well, Tina and Butz.)
By Chris Kohler Published September 20, 2017 -
CultureTotal RecallWorking For Nintendo Used To Be Hell, But At Least We Got Cool Music Out Of It
Super Metroid has one of the most famous themes in video games. If you’ve ever wondered where it came from, you’ve got the nightmarish working conditions of 1990s video game development (and some impromptu one-man karaoke) to thank for it. In an interview on Nintendo’s site, Composer Kenji Yamamoto remembers that during the development of…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 20, 2017 - Uncategorized
Just A Giant Conga Line Of Dishonored 2 Bodies
The real joy of the Dishonored games isn’t in sneaking around. It’s in messing with the game’s systems to do dumb shit like spending four hours lining up every body you could find in a level just…because you can. PCChris95 explains that this is 83 bodies, but not all of them are dead, with around…
By Luke Plunkett Published September 20, 2017 - Uncategorized
Immigration Game Tries To Tell An Important Story, Falls Short
Four Horsemen is a game about immigrants and refugees, and also kinda sorta the apocalypse. It’s a compelling game, written from a place of deep empathy about a topic that is important to consider in our current political climate. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite come together. Things are ending for the four friends you follow in…
By Gita Jackson Published September 20, 2017 -
UncategorizedWin Or Lose, Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite Multiplayer Battles Are A Good Time
The story side of Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite stumbles in trying to achieve a semblance of order amidst the clashing of discordant fictional worlds, but the multiplayer action is just as intense and chaotic as it’s ever been, with spectacular battles that are enjoyable no matter which side comes out on top. While I played…
By Mike Fahey Published September 20, 2017 - Culture
XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen, As Told By Steam Reviews
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is a turn-based Shakespearean tragedy generator, and also there are aliens. Steam users have been sharing their tales of devastation, woe, and, every once in a while, victory. I was expecting to enjoy the expansion, but I had no idea just how much Shadow of Mordor-like personality it would…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 20, 2017 - Uncategorized
Games Are Finally Getting The Part Of Me That Grew Up Online
What nostalgia looks like in 2017 isn’t what it looked like at the dawn of video games. The virtual worlds in which we play have long hinged on callbacks to outdoor things, countryside adventures, wooded escapes or play-fighting in the grass. Yes, many of our childhoods were spent in backyard kid gangs, dreaming of brotherly…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published September 20, 2017 - Uncategorized
A Possible Explanation For Half-Life PS2’s Mysterious Moving File Cabinet
Weird fact: there was a PlayStation 2 version of the original Half-Life. Weirder fact: it contained a file cabinet that would move to face you if you approached it. People have posted videos of this file cabinet for years. The exact cause of it remains unknown, but there have been some compelling lines of speculation,…
By Nathan Grayson Published September 20, 2017 - Esports
Overwatch League has finalized all 12 teams and announced the start-date for its inaugural season: January 10, 2018. We’ll get to see the teams in action before then. Starting on December 6, the Blizzard Arena in LA will host a series of preseason exhibition matches.
By Maddy Myers Published September 20, 2017 -
UncategorizedEcho Is A Terrifying Game Where You Teach Enemies How To Kill You
In the new stealth video game Echo I’m surrounded by copies of myself, menacingly filling the hallway. There’s a door at my back, but I don’t want to open it. I raise my gun, but I know better than to shoot. I think, If only the lights would go off. The enemies close in. There…
By Riley MacLeod Published September 20, 2017 - Uncategorized
The Five Best Guns In Destiny 2
There are a bunch of interesting weapons in Destiny 2. Auto rifles, rocket launchers, swords, and weirdo reverse-tractor beams. But which guns are best? Here’s our list of the top five. 5. MIDA Multi-Tool The exotic scout rifle MIDA Multi-Tool is pretty easy to get. It probably has the least stringent requirements of any of…
By Kirk Hamilton Published September 20, 2017 -
UncategorizedMinecraft’s “Better Together” update launches today It allows players on Xbox, mobile, VR, and Windows 10 to play together. It also adds a host of new features like new host options, game start rules, and parrots (!!!). The Nintendo Switch version, unfortunately, isn’t ready yet, but Mojang says it’ll be out this winter.
By Nathan Grayson Published September 20, 2017 -
UncategorizedHackers Say Nintendo Switch Contains A Game That Unlocks On The Date Of Satoru Iwata’s Death
When a Switch owner named Setery told a gaming forum about how NES Golf randomly appeared on her Switch’s screen, commenters accused her console of being haunted. Switch hackers’ subsequent race to unearth NES Golf now indicates that there’s a hidden game on the console and, actually, it appears to be a heartwarming tribute to…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published September 20, 2017 -
UncategorizedUbisoft’s New Game About Size Is Just Too Small
Ubisoft Reflections, the studio behind Grow Home and Grow Up, continues its growth spurt with the release of Atomega on Steam. It’s a blocky competitive first-person shooter in which players battle over mass, attempting to out-grow and overpower the competition. It’s a cool little game that could use some serious expansion. Atomega is a combination…
By Mike Fahey Published September 20, 2017