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CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: The Rock Edition
According to weirdos on the internet, The Rock might be in Fortnite. Maybe? Who can really say? (Besides The Rock, his PR team, and Epic.) Regardless, let’s put The Rock in some video games! Your challenge this week: Add Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to video games. It’s likely that by the time we get around…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureGame Preservation Group Releases Over 700 PS2 Prototypes And Unreleased Demos
Last night video game preservation group, The Hidden Palace, released over 700 PS2 early builds, prototypes, E3, and press release demos in a massive dump the group referred to as “Project Deluge”. The Hidden Palace hosted a stream on Twitch that lasted over six hours Saturday night. During that stream, they showcased a number of…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureSunday Comics: Yes, Perfect!
Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published March 18. Read more of Corpse Run Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 15. Read more of Awkward Zombie Clueless Hero by…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 21, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanFinal Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Had A Dedicated Team of Lighting Experts
When Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade was announced earlier this year, Square Enix detailed how it changed the textures and lighting, as well as added fog effects. Some changes were more subtle. During today’s Sony online event, Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase ran through the changes in the PS5 version. Most of the information was…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 21, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanSize Comparison For Resident Evil Village‘s Tall Vampire With Real People
Lady Dimitrescu is one tall lady—to be exact, 2.9m tall (that is, 9’6″). But what does that look like next to actual humans? Let’s find out! During today’s online PlayStation event, the character was compared with celebrity hosts Hatsune Matsushima and Kayo Satoh. Matsushima is 5’2″ tall (161cm), while Satoh is 5’6″ (172cm). Lady Dimitrescu…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 21, 2021 -
CultureShop Contest‘Shop Contest: Bethesda+Microsoft, Winners!
You got Halo in my Fallout! You got Doom in my Forza! Well, this is a giant mess. At least we get more Game Pass games out of it all. And a fun contest! Our winning image this week comes from…. KaputNoob! Yes, we have a back-to-back winner once again folks! Will they be able…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CultureSpider-Man Saves People, Neither Snow Nor Rain
After a week off, Snapshots is back! We got more great screenshots this week from a bunch of games. Just a heads up: Some of these screenshots are from last week. So consider this a special, larger-than-normal edition of Snapshots! I already miss the little snow flurries we got over here in Kansas during Winter.…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsElites In Halo: Reach Contain A Gross Secret
I’ve played a lot of Halo: Reach. In fact, last month I played through the entire game again with my brother via the Master Chief Collection. But I had no idea that inside the playable Elites in the game lurks a somewhat disgusting little secret: Their innards…? Guts? Bones? Hard to tell. In Halo: Reach,…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CulturePokemonClauncher Sucks At Swimming, But Packs A Powerful Water Gun
Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Clauncher! Clauncher Details Type: Water Average Height: 1′ 08″ Average Weight: 18.3 lbs. First Added In Generation VI The…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
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 -
CultureMorning CheckpointBlack Panther Coming To Avengers, Gotham Knights Delayed, Outriders Launching On Game Pass And More
This week on Morning Checkpoint we celebrate the death of Fortnite’s Peely, learn more about upcoming Square Enix games, see who’s the next big hero coming to Avengers, eat a baby(?) and get a look at the next generation of PSVR controllers. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week I hope this grows into a…
By Zack Zwiezen Published March 20, 2021 -
CultureSplitscreenNFTs? No Fucking Thank You
Video games are expensive. They have been expensive for a very long time, and they keep getting more expensive. To an extent, it makes sense: Game developers need to eat! But after a certain point, it gets excessive. Loot boxes, gacha, and now NFTs are signs of that excess. On this week’s Splitscreen, we talk…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 19, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsFortnite Players Are Getting Weird Again, This Time About The Rock
Fortnite fans have been speculating on who voiced The Foundation, a character who appeared in the cinematic and in-game event that started the game’s season 6. The going theory is that it’s Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but there are competing ideas too. None of this matters much, but it’s Fortnite players doing what they do…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 19, 2021 -
CultureShin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster Finally Heads West On May 25
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster launches in North America this spring, developer Atlus announced today. It will be available on May 25 for PlayStation 4, Switch, and Steam, almost seven months after its Japanese release. Those who purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition will be able to play four days earlier on May 21.…
By Ian Walker Published March 19, 2021 -
CultureReport: More Layoffs Loom As Activision Blizzard Moves To Close European Publishing Offices
Activision Blizzard is planning to close its publishing offices in Europe and lay off even more employees in the process, according to a new report byGamesIndustry.biz In a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, an Activision Blizzard rep explained that the move comes as a result of players “increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally.” “We…
By Ian Walker Published March 19, 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 -
CultureOdds and EndsIt Takes Less Than 20 Minutes To Eat A Baby In Fallout 3
File this one under Answers to Questions No One Asked: It apparently only takes 18 minutes and 51 seconds to go from the beginning of Fallout 3 to eating a baby in one of the expansions. Speedrunners, folks. Tomatoanus is a well-known Fallout speedrunner with several records under his belt, but he also spends time…
By Ian Walker 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 -
CultureOdds and EndsSome Good-Ass Video Game Smoke
Look at that smoke! Holy smokes, that’s some good smoke. This smoke—some of the best I’ve seen in a game—is brought to you by Teardown, a heist game where everything is destructible. It rules. Yesterday on Twitter, developer Dennis Gustafsson trotted out his intangible Mona Lisa like it was no big deal. “A lot of…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 19, 2021 -
CultureNext Big Cyberpunk 2077 Patch Will Fix Cops And Cars
CD Projekt Red released a weird update on Cyberpunk 2077‘s next big patch today, including a brief explanation of changes coming to how its open world works, delivered by an in-universe news broadcaster. *Sigh*. You can listen to Night City news anchor Gillean Jordan cryptically tease these changes in a series of videos that show…
By Ethan Gach Published March 19, 2021