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OpinionI Can’t Handle How Many Games Turn 20 Years Old This Year
I recently noticed a favorite game of my youth, Halo, turns 20 years old this year. So I got curious and looked up what other games I loved back as a kid, to see how many are going to turn 20 in 2021. I found a lot. “What a drag it is getting old.” I…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
OpinionXbox Smart Delivery Turned Out To Be A Pretty Big Deal
When Microsoft started slipping the made-up phrase “Smart Delivery” into all of its Xbox Series X/S marketing last year, it seemed like just another pair of empty buzzwords. Surely all games would just simply work after you installed them on your expensive new hardware, whether they supported Microsoft’s catchphrase or not. Not quite! Nothing has…
By Ethan Gach Published March 19, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsHawkeye Can’t Save Marvel’s Avengers
Like a sexy civilian in a superhero movie, Marvel’s Avengers needs saving. Someone, or something, needs to swoop in with panache and 11th-hour heroics. And the hero up at bat is…Hawkeye? Really? Him? Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, joined the Avengers roster yesterday as part of the action game’s biggest update yet. First, those long-awaited next-gen…
By Ari Notis Published March 19, 2021 -
OpinionIt’s Nice Being Able To Play Console Exclusives On A PC
I was playing Forza Horizon 4 on my PC earlier this week and at one point after a race I put the controller down and just…smiled. Everything about what I was doing in that moment was lovely. Partly because of the game, which is great, but also just because of the fact I was able…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsMagic: Legends Makes Diablo-Style Combat Feel Like, Well, Magic
In the past, every month or so my partner and I would follow the instructions on the box and “gather” with our friends to play Magic: The Gathering. We’d have a casual sealed draft of whatever the latest set was, and at the end of the (at times very long) night, the winner walked home…
By Ash Parrish Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionI Feel You, Life Is Strange Teen
I haven’t played any of the Life is Strange games, because I have no nostalgia for my teenage years. Today’s trailer for the next installment in the series, True Colors, with its moody acoustic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” has only reaffirmed my desire to leave my past in the past. How were any of us…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionAmid Covid And Unemployment, Gaming Was My Happy Place
I remember feeling so optimistic on New Year’s 2020. It’s hard to say when, exactly, that optimism was shattered due to the pandemic. Like many with the privilege to do so, I started working from home as much as possible weeks before it became mandatory. Maybe unlike others (or more like other journalists), I consumed…
By Lisa Marie Segarra Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionSo, It’s Been A Year, Huh
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the growing outbreak of covid-19 a pandemic. In the year since, over 120 million people have been infected by the virus worldwide, and 2.5 million people have died because of covid-19. Life has forever been changed. We wear masks. Avoid crowds. Businesses have shut down, and…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionGaming Didn’t Get Me Through It
Before lockdown started, I had another job with a company that made what became the world’s most sought-after product: hand sanitizer. Working there before everything shut down was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Every day, my coworkers would whisper about the spread of the virus, retelling news stories about so many new…
By Ash Parrish Published March 18, 2021 -
OpinionDying Light 2‘s Developers Are Indulging Toxic Gamers
As promised, Polish developer Techland put out a video today updating the world on the state of zombie parkour thriller Dying Light 2. It’s actually an extremely concise look at one of the most toxic cycles underlying the video game industry. In the first half of the roughly three-minute video, various Techland developers read expletive-filled…
By Ethan Gach Published March 17, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsThe New Mortal Kombat Movie Starts Off Strong
The new Mortal Kombat film, the first theatrical release based on the fighting games since 1997’s Mortal Kombat Annihilation, opens with a scene that should be quite familiar to fans. Hanzo Hasashi, the man fated to become the vengeful Scorpion, enjoys a quiet moment with his family in their ancestral home. It’s a quiet moment…
By Mike Fahey Published March 17, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsDark Alliance Is A Spiritual Successor To Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance In Name Only
I went into my recent Dark Alliance demo with development studio Tuque Games expecting to briefly relive the grim, bloody hack and slash glory of the original Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games. The new game, while pitched as a spiritual successor, feels very different, however. Not bad, just different Dark Alliance, priced at $40 and…
By Ethan Gach Published March 16, 2021 -
OpinionAsk KotakuHow Has Your Relationship With Gaming Changed Since Covid Began?
It’s Monday and time for Ask Kotaku, the weekly feature in which Kotaku-ites deliberate on a single burning question. Then, we ask your take. This week we Ask Kotaku: How has your relationship with gaming changed since covid began? Ari This is an impossible question that I’ll nonetheless try my best to address. I started…
By Alexandra Hall Published March 15, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsStubbs The Zombie Remaster Retains That Classic Jank
Zombies have been a big part of video games for a long time now. Mostly we kill them in droves. But back in 2005, Stubbs The Zombie shook things up and let you take on the role of a zombie devouring people in a futuristic city. That game is back on modern consoles via a…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 15, 2021 -
Opinion“We Just Despise The Police”: Persona 5 Strikers Is OK
If you’ve played Persona 5 you’ll know that, aside from a few notable exceptions, Tokyo’s cops are kid-torturing assholes. So it’s little wonder that in the game’s kinda-sequel, the Phantom Thieves have no time for them. By virtue of the original game’s youthful, rebellious themes, the police are framed throughout Persona 5 as authoritative villains,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 14, 2021 -
OpinionThe PS5 Is Back In Stock
Ooops, sorry you just missed it.
By Ethan Gach Published March 12, 2021 -
OpinionPokemon Go‘s Eggs Aren’t Lootboxes, They’re Fun Presents
Pokémon Go developer Niantic is testing a feature that lets players see what might be inside the game’s eggs before they walk the many miles to hatch them. It appears this is a response to the argument that the game’s eggs are akin to lootboxes. There is an awful lot that could be better about…
By John Walker Published March 12, 2021 -
OpinionCall Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Menus Suck
Booting up the newest Call of Duty, I was greeted by terrible-looking menus, an overwhelming amount of options, too much information, and some ugly-looking ads. It’s not a great first impression and feels like a cobbled-together mess. In other words: It bad. There was a time when I played every new Call of Duty game.…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 11, 2021 -
OpinionImpressionsCrash Bandicoot 4 Runs Great On PS5, Passably On Switch
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Switch tomorrow, giving us some of the most polished versions of last year’s excellent platformer alongside one that struggles a lot but gets the job done. Digital Foundry compared the PS5 and Switch versions side by side, and the differences…
By Mike Fahey Published March 11, 2021 -
OpinionEnough With The Social Hubs In Video Games
Here’s a radical idea: Turn every social space in a video game into a menu. Last month, Kotaku’s Zack Zweizen and I teamed up to power through the demo for Outriders, People Can Fly’s upcoming looter-shooter. Verdict: It rules. (Zack, if you’re reading this, yes, I’m speaking for you.) The shooting is airtight, some of…
By Ari Notis Published March 11, 2021