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CultureOdds and EndsReturnal Weapons, Ranked
Returnal, a new PS5-exclusive action game, is tough as nails. But, as with many games that feature roguelike elements, all sorts of weapons can turn up on your runs. Each one can help you, with various degrees of efficacy, on your quest of “not dying.” Here, according to the tried-and-true scientific method of our long-running…
By Ari Notis Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Met A Very Immature Serial Killer In The Elder Scrolls Online
A few nights ago I was minding my own business in Elder Scrolls Online when I stumbled upon a bunch of corpses laid out in a shape. Confused, I zoomed out and saw the bodies were part of that video game mainstay, a giant penis—a piece of art created by one player. I wasn’t the…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsStreet Fighter V Competitor Wins Tournament Accidentally
During last night’s Next Level Battle Circuit, a weekly fighting game tournament for online competitors on the east coast, top Street Fighter V player Brian “Brian_F” Foster got away with murder. Ahead by a score of 2-0 in grand finals, Foster was a hair away from winning the whole tournament. His last Balrog combo had…
By Ian Walker Published May 6, 2021 -
ReviewsToysScorbunny Is The Build-A-Bear Pokémon I’ve Been Waiting For
After a seemingly endless parade of less palatable Pokémon, Scorbunny’s fluffy white bunny butt has finally shown up at Build-A-Bear. I’m a little mad it took so long, but incredibly pleased with his little jammies, so it balances out. Despite being a fire Pokémon, Scorbunny is the coolest of the Sword and Shield starters. Grookey…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesSo, Is It Safe To Play Returnal Now?
Over the past 24 hours, Returnal, the PS5-exclusive action game about getting repeatedly bullied by space tentacle monsters, has weathered a serious patch of turbulence. Two patches in 12 hours. Myriad reports of corrupted save data. Me, getting killed over and over again by an irritating boss. Okay, fine, maybe that last one’s not Returnal’s…
By Ari Notis Published May 6, 2021 -
UncategorizedWorld Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic Goes Live June 1
The Dark Portal opens all over again on June 1 with the worldwide launch of World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic. Players eager to revisit the old school version of levels 60 through 70, with the endless riding through Outland’s sprawling purple, orange, and green zones, will soon have their chance with the relaunch of…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureA New Free-To-Play Division Game Is Coming
Ubisoft announced today that the next installment in The Division franchise, Heartland, will be out between 2021 and 2022. The Division Heartland will be a new free-to-play standalone game set in the same universe as The Division and The Division 2 Ubisoft detailed the future for The Division franchise in a blog post, including information…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 6, 2021 -
AnimeYasuke Is A Full-Circle Moment For Black Anime Fans
Watching the first episode of Yasuke, Netflix’s new fantastical animated show about the life of a Black samurai, I started to cry. I remembered how it felt to be a 16-year-old girl watching anime in the nighttime darkness of my living room. Watching Yasuke, with its titular Black character kicking ass to a soundtrack by…
By Ash Parrish Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureBaldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Returns To Consoles Tomorrow
While fans of hack-and-slash RPGs await the June 22 release of the all-new Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, Interplay’s releasing the 2001 classic that started it all. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance will be available for PlayStations, Xboxes, and Switch tomorrow, complete with support for 4K scaling on capable consoles. Released two decades ago for the…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsAn Ode To Google Chrome’s Dinosaur Game
This morning, I faced a problem you can probably relate to: my internet went out. As many of us working from home would, I scrambled to let my co-workers know and restarted my router hopefully. But, just as my heartbeat started racing, I was met with a familiar dinosaur friend. As you might know, when…
By Lisa Marie Segarra Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureThese Are Your 2021 World Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees
After sifting through a field of finalists including classics like Guitar Hero, Pole Position, Portal, and…FarmVille, the Strong National Museum of Play has announced the 2021 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Let’s hear it for StarCraft, Animal Crossing, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Microsoft Flight Simulator Each year…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureThe Nintendo Download: Lo-Fi Skateboarding And Pretty Girls Poker
It’s Nintendo Download day, the day when we get a look at the *checks list* 30 new games coming to the Switch eShop over the coming week. This week’s activities include chilling on a skateboard and playing poker with those boom anime babes that make you think the wrong thing. My personal highlight of this…
By Mike Fahey Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureLast Year Was Nintendo’s Most Profitable Ever
In 2020, Nintendo saw huge profits, likely boosted by people quarantined at home, playing video games. According to the company’s newly released financials, which cover the period between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, Nintendo saw a 34.4 percent increase in sales to 1.76 trillion yen ($16.1 billion) and an 85.7 percent spike in net…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureSony Sued For Restricting Its Digital Game Sales To PlayStation Store
Two years ago, Sony stopped selling digital download codes for its games through retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. And now the gaming giant has been hit with a class-action lawsuit. Bloomberg reports that the proposed suit—Caccuri v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC in a San Francisco U.S. District Court—alleges that limiting the digital purchase…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 6, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanMade In Abyss Game Gets Slapped With Adults-Only Rating In Japan
Surprised to see the game based on Made In Abyss receiving an adults-only rating? If you’ve seen the anime, you might not be. The video game adaptation has just been given a CERO-Z. That’s Japan’s adults-only, 18-years-old-and-up rating. While the screenshots look fairly cute, the original anime does have its share of blood and gore—a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureIllumination Founder And Despicable Me Producer Joining Nintendo Board
Today, Nintendo announced that Chris Meledandri will join the Nintendo board as an Outside Director as of June 29. This, the company adds, will become effective dependent on approval at the upcoming shareholders meeting that same date. Previously, Meledandri produced CG movies including Ice Age and Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who! before founding Illumination…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 6, 2021 -
CultureSuper Mario 64 On PC Looks Like An Entirely Different Game
We’ve taken a glance at Super Mario 64’s PC port before, as recently as February, but this very extensive look by Digital Foundry shows just how damn good the thing can look when given the right amount of love and attention. Everything difference from the original game you see here is thanks mostly to two…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 5, 2021 -
CultureOutriders Is Finally Giving Some Players Back Their Lost Gear
Of all the many (many) issues to plague Outriders since its early April launch, few have caused more pain than the insidious inventory-deletion bug. As of today, affected players should start to see lost gear return, developer People Can Fly announced via the game’s subreddit. Shortly after the loot-shooter launched for basically all the platforms,…
By Ari Notis Published May 5, 2021 -
CultureHuh, The New Fable Runs On The Forza Engine
The next installment in the Fable franchise is being built with the ForzaTech engine, which as the name implies, is the foundation beneath Xbox’s popular Forza racing games. This detail was first spotted by IGN in a Microsoft job listing for Turn 10 Studios, the Xbox Game Studios subsidiary that’s developed the core Forza series…
By Ian Walker Published May 5, 2021 -
CultureApple To Epic: What’s A Kotaku?
Today, as part of the ongoing Epic v. Apple court case, Apple counsel Rich Doren, while cross examining Epic engineer Andrew Grant about a Minecraft Earth-related email chain between Epic employees, asked a very important question. “Are you familiar with that website?” Doren asked in reference to a confusingly named website called Kotaku, from which…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 5, 2021