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Blizzard Is Quietly Making Huge Changes To StarCraft II
Did you know that Blizzard is playing around with totally removing the major macro mechanics from StarCraft II? And that future multiplayer matches might no longer feature Chrono Boost, MULEs, or manual Larva Spawn? Since StarCraft II first came out way back in 2010, all three races have had specific macro abilities that players have…
By Jason Schreier Published August 8, 2015 - Uncategorized
Here Is What Happens Every Time I Try To Play The Witcher 3
Let me tell you a story in pictures. That’s essentially what’s happened every time I’ve tried to play The Witcher 3 over the past month. I start the game, all excited to continue hunting for Ciri, then I open up my list of quests and just freeze, scrolling down for a few minutes before I…
By Jason Schreier Published August 8, 2015 - Uncategorized
Check Out This Sweet Suikoden II Collage
I’m running Kotaku this weekend, which means there’s nobody around to stop me from posting only about Suikoden II for 48 hours straight. Heh heh heh. Back in January, Kotaku reader and artist Benjamin Schwarz sent me this collage of Suikoden II characters that he made a few years ago. This sluggish August weekend feels…
By Jason Schreier Published August 8, 2015 - Uncategorized
Metacritic Matters: How Review Scores Hurt Video Games
Bugs in Fallout: New Vegas might have eaten your save file. Maybe they took away a few hours of progress, or forced you to reset a couple of quests. Maybe game-crashing bugs pissed you off to the point where you wished you could get your $60 back. But they probably didn’t cost you a million…
By Jason Schreier Published August 8, 2015 - The Bests
The Best JRPG City
Here is a fact: There are a lot of incredible cities in Japanese role-playing games. From the simplicity of Pallet Town to the squalor of Midgar, JRPG cities are usually interesting, memorable, and full of dressers to crack open. But when we’re determining the BEST JRPG city—and determining THE BEST THINGS is what we do…
By Jason Schreier Published August 8, 2015 - Uncategorized
This Week In The Business: Giant Metal Moon Boots
QUOTE | “If Gears was realistic you wouldn’t be running around in giant metal moon boots right?” – The Coalition head Rod Fergusson, talking about getting a new team up to speed on Gears of War as they remake the original and prepare Gears of War 4 QUOTE | “Easy – my brother Jared and…
Steve Peterson Published August 8, 2015 - Uncategorized
Watch Me Try Splatoon’s New Stuff, Live [Done!]
The big August update is here! Hell, Splatfest is (almost) here! Let’s experience it together, shall we? I’ll be livestreaming some matches of Splatoon for your viewing pleasure starting around 5:35 PST. If you’ll join me on Twitch, I’d love to chat about pretty much anything—be it Splatoon, other games, or life in general. And…
By Patricia Hernandez Published August 7, 2015 - Culture
Valve Offers Unconditional Refunds On Sketchy Steam Game
Journey of the Light was billed as “one of the hardest games on Steam.” Turns out, its first level was unbeatable and the rest were nowhere to be found. The purposefully obtuse puzzler has been available for purchase on Steam since May. Players—lured in by the promise of a challenge that’d leave their brains looking…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 7, 2015 -
UncategorizedStar Citizen Shows New Demos, Some Cool, Some Not
Today Chris Roberts showed off three portions of his space game to be/end all space games, Star Citizen. Portions of the demo were definitely impressive, but the game’s still got a ways to go. You can view the entire obscenely lengthy presentation—complete with a cosplay showcase and a raffle to win Chris Roberts’ jacket for…
By Nathan Grayson Published August 7, 2015 -
CultureDon’t Mind The NPC Humping That Pole Over There
Today on Highlight Reel we have creepy Witcher 3 NPCs, magic medics, incongruous replays, dumb metal hats and much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. Destiny – Nice bubbles, bro…
By Chris Person Published August 7, 2015 - Uncategorized
A Book That Tries to Explain Why Some People Die Playing Video Games
I own a lot of books about video games. I paid almost $125 for a used copy of Invasion of the Space Invaders, Martin Amis’s out-of-print confessional/tips-and-tricks book about the arcade age. I recently bought another out-of-print book from the 1980s, David Sudnow’s Pilgrim in the Microworld, which is a fascinating account of a pianist’s…
By Chris Suellentrop Published August 7, 2015 - Uncategorized
New Witcher 3 Patch Fixes Accidentally Armorless Geralt
Along with the many small improvements offered by The Witcher 3’s most recent big patch, at least one problem slipped in: It was possible for Geralt to wind up stranded in the wilderness without a shred of armor to wear. See, the 1.07 patch raised the level requirements for some of the game’s gear. That…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 7, 2015 -
Culture10 Former Internet Trolls Explain Why They Quit Being Jerks
For some people, the internet is like the wild west: a lawless play-pen where they can get away with being an asshole to anyone they’d like. You know—trolling. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve collected stories from people who have, at some point during their lives, been trolls. They’ve made it their mission to…
By Patricia Hernandez Published August 7, 2015 - Uncategorized
The Story Behind Mighty No. 9‘s Shady Delay
Mighty No. 9, an upcoming video game about a blue robot who fights against evil robot masters and collects their powers, was recently delayed until next year. This would not be an issue—video games get delayed!—if everything around it wasn’t so damn shady. Take, for example, the timeline. On Thursday, July 23, retail listings for…
By Jason Schreier Published August 7, 2015 - Uncategorized
One Man’s Defense of The Order: 1886
Tom Bissell is the author of my favorite book on video games, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, which I called “the finest account yet of what it feels like to be a video game player” when I reviewed it in The New York Times. These days, he is a writer for video games like…
By Chris Suellentrop Published August 7, 2015 -
UncategorizedStarCraft’s Medic Is Joining Heroes Of The Storm
It’s seemed like as natural a fit as there possibly could be, but Heroes of the Storm fans haven’t known for sure if Blizzard was going to transform the Terran Medic unit from StarCraft into a full-fledged MOBA character. Now, they do. Blizzard revealed the Medic as the latest confirmed character addition for HOTS today…
By Yannick LeJacq Published August 7, 2015 -
UncategorizedHow Endless Respawns Can Make Death In Games Feel Meaningless
As the week nears its conclusion, it’s time for another installment in Worth Reading, our regular roundup of the best video game writing from the last week or so. Hey, You Should Read These “On the much hated and woefully overlooked codec radio” by Stephen Beirne I have such mixed emotions about Metal Gear Solid—I’m…
By Patrick Klepek Published August 7, 2015