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CultureThe Avengers Grind Is About To Become More Of A Grind
On March 18, Marvel’s Avengers will receive some much-needed new content when Hawkeye joins the roster. But that’s not all. In that same update, the game’s XP system will receive a major overhaul, developer Crystal Dynamics announced today. As things currently stand, the leveling system in Avengers is structured so each character levels up in…
By Ari Notis Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThese Final Fantasy XIV Characters Ain’t Sh*t
Last night, I finished the true ending of A Realm Reborn and made it, at long last, to Heavensward. This means yes, I saw the event that was basically FF14’s equivalent of the Red Wedding (refresh your memory here), Instead of discussing my feelings regarding what the absolute flying fuck I just witnessed, I—like Cersei—choose…
By Ash Parrish Published March 4, 2021 -
CulturePyra And Mythra Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Later Today
A new presentation by direct Masahiro Sakurai provides a deeper look at the latest fighters—Pyra and Mythra—being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. Yes, they might be yet another set of sword fighters, but the duo’s complimentary move sets look like a really fun combination. You can see the video below. The Xenoblade…
By Ethan Gach Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanThe PlayStation 2 Is Now 21 Years Old
Can you believe it? The PlayStation 2 was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000. The console was released in North America later that fall on October 26, and in Europe the following month. The PS2 would go on to be home to over 3,800 games, including some of the greatest of all time,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastJapanOfficial Pokémon-Themed…Fishing Lures
The amount of Pokémon branding in Japan is intense. And with the arrival of these fishing lures, it seems the pocket monsters can be slapped on just about anything. As Go Nintendo points out, Japanese fishing equipment company Duo has teamed up with The Pokémon Company for made-in-Japan Pikachu and Kygore-themed lures. One is a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
Kotaku EastMangaGiant Attack On Titan Manga Weighs 30 Pounds And Costs $1,400
Are you a big Attack on Titan fan? Like a really big one? Well, enjoy this enormous version of the popular manga. Kodansha is releasing a huge compilation of the first and second instalments of Attack on Titan. (Full disclosure: Kodansha International originally published my first two books.) The 96-page jumbo manga measures over 3…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: New Nintendo Switch With 4K Output, OLED Screen Will Release Before Christmas
Last year, Bloomberg reported that a new model of the Nintendo Switch would be out sometime in 2021. Today, they’re reporting some more specific details, like the size of the screen and some 4K news. The original report was very light on details, saying only that Nintendo “has looked into including more computing power and 4K…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureHell Yeah, A Coffee Shop Tycoon Game
I am an absolute sucker for specialist tycoon games, whether you’re running a football team, game studio, bus company or emergency service. So my next indulgence may well be Espresso Tycoon, a game about building some coffee shops. Espresso Tycoon looks like it’ll start small, but it also looks like this is not the kind…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureInspiring: This Valheim Player Built A Greyling Torture Factory
If you’ve played even just several seconds of Valheim, you despise Greylings. They’re awful little tree stump goblins who smack you once, then run away with an infuriating spring in their step, like they’ve stolen candy from your pockets. In the game’s early goings, they’re everywhere. One brave player has dedicated a significant amount of…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMan Charged, Banned From FIFA After Sending Racist DMs To Actual, Legendary Player
Last May Irish teenager Patrick O’Brien was playing a game of FIFA, and one of the players he was controlling was Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright. O’Brien lost that match, and so decided to jump into Wright’s DMs and send a succession of disgustingly racist attacks. Wright took screenshots of the deeply racist messages…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
OpinionBlockchain Losers Are Spending Millions On What Are Basically Useless Loot Boxes
While gamers rail against loot boxes, and governments around the world edge ever closer to regulating them, connoisseurs of blockchain bullshit are falling over themselves trying to buy digital highlights of basketball players from a platform called “NBA Top Shot”. In effect they’re spending their money on a form of loot box that is even…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSony Imagines A Future Where A Banana Is A Video Game Controller
Gamers love making weird shit into controllers, including but not limited to pomegranates, light sabers, bananas, and bread. Apparently, Sony wants to get in on that action, according to a patent recently surfaced by GamesIndustry.biz that details a method for turning household objects into controllers. Sony filed a patent for a means of detecting “a…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryMaquette‘s Love Story Has Already Broken My Heart
Ever listen to a song so powerful you stop, drop, and roll to frantically figure out what it is? That’s what happened to me last night while playing Maquette, a puzzle game out this week for PC, PS4, and PS5. Yes, the game’s fantastic, which we’ll get to in a moment, but first: that song.…
By Ari Notis Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsDamn You, Fortnite Butter Barn Song
This season of Fortnite has been a whirlwind of crossover skins and deranged players hoping that Epic puts Family Guy’s Peter Griffin in the game. But the latest in-demand item is a possible music track—the song “Butter Barn Hoedown.” The supposedly leaked track somehow, impossibly, rules? Fortnite’s battle pass and item shop often feature music…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureActivision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
Activision Blizzard announced yesterday that Frances F. Townsend, a former George W. Bush-era counterterrorism appointee and torture apologist, would become its new head of compliance, in charge of making sure the company doesn’t run afoul of the varying laws and regulations throughout all of the countries the Call of Duty maker does business in. According…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureHow Persona 5 Strikers Did (And Didn’t) Steal Our Hearts
At long last, the Phantom Thieves ride again as Persona 5 Strikers—the Atlus RPG turned Koei Tecmo hack and slash—is out in North America. I’m a big Persona 5 nerd and I’ve been anxiously waiting for fellow nerd Luke Plunkett to get far enough into the game that I could finally have someone with whom…
By Ash Parrish Published March 3, 2021 -
CulturePSA: The Witcher 3 Is Leaving Game Pass
The cycle of Game Pass continues unabated. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will depart Microsoft’s games-on-demand service on March 15. This is usually the point where I’d say something trite like, “If you haven’t played this tremendous open-world masterpiece, which many consider one of the best games of all time, be sure to check it…
By Ari Notis Published March 3, 2021 -
Culture5TH Cell’s Latest Is A Bite-Sized Deck-Building Game You Can Play Right Now
Launching today on Steam from Scribblenauts and Lock’s Quest creators 5TH Cell, Castlehold is a free-to-play deck-building strategy game that manages to cram a ton of strategy fun into battles that last under 10 minutes. A cataclysmic event has shattered space and time, sending champions from different eras to a mysterious realm known as The…
By Mike Fahey Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureZynga Buys Torchlight Studio Echtra Games
Echtra Games, the San Francisco-based studio founded in 2016 by Diablo and Torchlight co-creator Max Schaefer, is now owned by Zynga, the company that gave us FarmVille. Fresh off the lukewarm release of Torchlight III, Echtra Games joins Zynga to work on an unannounced cross-platform action role-playing game in partnership with Zynga’s NaturalMotion Studio. According…
By Mike Fahey Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMorning MusicLegend Of Mana’s Grand Score Helps Me Take Its BS Seriously
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course. Legend of Mana (playlist /…
By Ethan Gach Published March 3, 2021