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CultureWW2 Rebuilder Has You Fixing Cities Instead Of Blowing Them Up
WW2 Rebuilder is an upcoming PC game set after the Second World War where you’re tasked with visiting a number of devastated European cities and, with your bare hands (and some big tools), bring them back to their former glory. While the trailer focuses on London, the game’s website says you’ll also be visiting locations…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 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 -
CultureOdds and EndsPlease Enjoy Breath Of The Wild In 8K (If You Can)
A few years back I was marvelling at Breath of the Wild in 4K. Now we are all free to admire the game running in 8K, and with some (shaded) ray tracing to boot. That’s if you’ve got an 8K monitor. Since that’s almost nobody, the video here by Digital Dreams still looks incredible in…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureValheim Mod Lets You Tame Any Creature, Including Trolls
While playing Valheim the other night, a friend and I spent an ungodly amount of time digging a trench and physically pushing Greylings through it, into a house, so they could be our pets. It was fiddly, sometimes infuriating work. Also, deeply unethical. If we had this mod, it would have at least been easier.…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsGo, Fortnite Chicken, Go
Perhaps you, like me, forget which games have fall damage and which don’t. You get spoiled by the invincibility of Apex Legends, only to switch to something else and plummet to your death. At least you won’t be doing that in Fortnite anymore, if you can catch a chicken. Fortnite Season 6launched yesterday. Along with…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureXbox Gets New Suspend Feature To Help With Slow Download Speeds
Download speeds on consoles are notoriously bad, especially if your internet isn’t lightning fast to begin with. A new feature rolling out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for Xbox Insiders is aimed at improving them by making it easier to suspend existing games while downloading new ones. “Suspend in the queue will…
By Ethan Gach Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureMore Game Companies Take A Public Stand Against Anti-Asian Racism Following Atlanta Shootings
A white man entered an Atlanta, Georgia spa yesterday and opened fire, killing four people and wounding another. He then drove across town and repeated this heinous act at two more locations, killing four more people. Six of the victims were Asian women, four of them of Korean descent. These shootings came hours after Bandai…
By Ian Walker Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Star’s ‘Never-Ending’ Stream Shows No Signs Of Stopping, Despite Need To Eat, Sleep
Ludwig Ahgren, a Twitch streamer with nearly 2 million followers, has never been one to shy away from stunts. His latest is especially audacious, albeit probably not great for his long-term health: He’s running a “never-ending” marathon stream powered by subscriptions. Each subscription adds another 10 seconds to the total amount of time he’s required…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 17, 2021 -
CulturePSA: Next Week, You’ll Be Able To Claim A Bunch Of Free PlayStation Games
Earlier this month, Sony revived last year’s Play At Home initiative, a program designed to provide free games to PlayStation players in the hopes of promoting social distancing. Next week, Sony will expand the initiative by offering a whole bunch of games. Starting on March 25, you’ll be able to add the following PS4 games…
By Ari Notis Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureDisco Elysium’s Beefed-Up Director’s Cut Coming March 30
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Stadia on March 30, developer ZA/UM announced today. The cerebral adventure game, which was first released to critical acclaim in 2019, puts you in the shoes of a complete mess of a detective as he and his partner investigate a murder…
By Ian Walker Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureActivision Blizzard CEO To Get Even Bigger Bonuses While Others Get Laid Off
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick routinely gets millions in stock bonuses every year based on how the company is doing. Now he’s set to get even more, for a total payout of nearly $200 million according to CtW Investment Group, a union pension fund advocacy organization. And it’s all thanks to a clause in his…
By Ethan Gach Published March 17, 2021 -
Tips & GuidesSo, When Will You Be Able To Get A PS5?
Picture this: You pop into your neighborhood big box store, hoping to buy a PlayStation 5, and it’s just there. It’s on the shelf. You can pay for it, you can leave the store with it, and it’s yours. No need to sit at your desk refreshing browser tabs all day. Sounds pretty nice, right?…
By Ari Notis Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Short Film From Medal Of Honor Has Been Nominated For An Oscar [Update: It Won]
It’s not quite a video game winning a film award, but a short film that was part of Respawn’s 2020 VR game Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). It’s possibly the first time a video game studio has been nominated for an Oscar.…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureXbox Game Pass For PC Finally Gets EA Play Tomorrow
Planned for release late last year but delayed until now, EA Play comes to Xbox Game Pass for PC tomorrow at no additional cost to subscribers, complete with the newly-added Star Wars: Squadrons. The cycle that started with an announcement last September is finally complete. Starting tomorrow, EA Play for PC becomes part of Xbox…
By Mike Fahey 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 -
CultureDoom Eternal‘s Next DLC Comes Out Tomorrow
Hell yeah! Doom Eternal’s next and final expansion, The Ancient Gods – Part 2, will come out tomorrow, developer iD Software announced today. The expansion, which picks up after last fall’s first chapter—The Ancient Gods – Part 1—appears inspired far more by typical fantasy than by the science-fiction that characterizes the main game. Many of…
By Ari Notis Published March 17, 2021 -
CulturePlayers Aren’t Happy About Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s Transmog Tax
A couple months after release, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla finally has transmog, but not as some players had originally envisioned it. The feature falls short of how it’s been implemented in past games, and comes with a 50 silver tax on each transaction to boot, leaving a lot of us, myself included, scratching out heads. Transmog,…
By Ethan Gach Published March 17, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanEven Square Enix Is Getting Into NFTs
Square Enix is joining the NFTs fray with one-of-a-kind digital assets for their Million Arthur franchise. Please be excited. Today, Square Enix announced that it would be joining forces with Double Jump Tokyo for the endeavor. Double Jump Tokyo was founded in 2018, and the company has been at the forefront of blockchain technology in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 17, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicEternal Sonata Literally Includes Some Of The Greatest Music Of All Time
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. This morning I am totally cheating by presenting you with tracks from Eternal Sonata, the Xbox 360/PS3 Bandai Namco RPG that features music composed by 19th-century Polish classical superstar Frédéric Chopin. That’s right, come at me.…
By Mike Fahey Published March 17, 2021 -
AnimeEvangelion Train Line Comes To Japan For A Limited Time
To mark the release of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, the Aonami train line in Nagoya has been renamed the Ayanami Line. The Nagoya Rinkai Rapid Transit line will be wrapped in Rei (and Eva Unit-00) until May 31. There will also be original Ayanami Line merch, as well as a large display in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 17, 2021