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CultureOdds and EndsYoshitaka Amano’s Harley Quinn Cover Is So Good I’m Gonna Cry
Stephanie Phillips, writer on DC Comics’ upcoming Harley Quinn comic series, recently shared an excellent variant cover from the first issue, provided by none other than legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano. I’m not much of a comic reader these days but, damn, if this isn’t a tempting reason to get back into them. Amano…
By Ian Walker Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureSplitscreenWhat Is Even The Point Of Giving Awards To Video Games
‘Tis the season to feel mildly embittered at basically all times. I speak, of course, of awards season, during which countless games take home trophies and plaques (or pictures of trophies and plaques), but not the ones you want to win. What, really, is the point, though? On this week’s episode of the Splitscreen podcast,…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureCyberpunk 2077 Third-Person Bug Reveals V Is A Shambling Monstrosity
Cyberpunk 2077 is a disaster that the executives at CD Projekt knew full well was going to crash and burn. That said, one of its numerous bugs has the benefit of giving players what they’ve asked for since the game’s long-ago 2012 reveal: a third-person mode. In various videos uploaded since the game’s launch on…
By Ian Walker Published December 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsHivebusters Is A Great Gears DLC And A Fantastic Xbox Series X Showcase
Hivebusters is a new single-player DLC campaign released for Gears 5. It’s also one of the best-looking games on Xbox Series X and feels like a full Gears game compressed into a bite-size experience that has me excited for the future of Gears of War. This new $20 DLC campaign, which was released on December…
By Zack Zwiezen Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureCyberpunk 2077 Refund Options Expand, With Updates From Xbox, Best Buy, And CD Projekt Itself [Update]
Update (3:03 p.m. ET, 12/18/2020): Cyberpunk 2077 refund options continue to grow for disappointed players. In addition to both Sony and Microsoft loosening their refund policies, Best Buy and even CD Projekt itself have promised to make things right for customers. According to a Best Buy social media specialist, the retailer will refund physical copies…
By Ian Walker Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureReport: Cyberpunk 2077 Developers Grill Management Over Crunch, Deadlines, And Poor Launch
Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red asked tough questions of their leadership at an all-hands video meeting on Thursday, including about mandatory overtime and far-fetched production goals, according to a new report by Bloomberg “Developers asked blunt questions about the company’s reputation, the game’s unrealistic deadlines and the relentless overtime in the months…
By Ethan Gach Published December 18, 2020 -
OpinionImpressionsCall of Duty Season One Brings Much-Needed Maps To Cold War, But Warzone‘s ‘New’ Map Doesn’t Quite Work
Call of Duty’s Season One arrived earlier this week, bringing an ambitious number of new maps and modes to Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, as well as integrating the new level progression system into last year’s Modern Warfare. New maps were sorely needed and are appreciated, but the large rollout came with some problems On…
By S.E. Doster Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureControl Comes To PS5 And Xbox Series X/S With Ray-Tracing In February
Remedy Games’ paranormal office thriller Control will come to next-gen consoles digitally on February 2, followed by a full retail release on March 2, the studio announced on Twitter this morning. The next-gen version of the game will include a performance mode to run at 60 fps on both platforms, while the standard 30 fps…
By Ethan Gach Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureDota 2 Gets New Hero And Massive Mistwoods Update
Dota 2‘s Mistwoods update dropped yesterday, making a ton of changes to the game and adding its 120th hero: a crossbow toting woodland creature named Hoodwink. Update 7.28 is Dota 2‘s fifth of the year, but arguably also its biggest, adding a completely new mechanic right before the holidays called Aghanim’s Shards: items that can…
By Ethan Gach Published December 18, 2020 -
Kotaku EastChinaMcDonald’s China Has A Spam and Oreos Burger, It Seems
Goodness. In what sounds like a dare, McDonald’s China is offering a Spam burger with crumbled cookies. As pointed out by Daniel Ahmad on Twitter, the burger will go on sale in China starting December 21 and will apparently be limited to 400,000 Spam Oreo sandwiches Do note that the fine print does mention the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 18, 2020 -
AnimeWatch The First Episode Of Mamoru Oshii’s New Anime Right Here
Mamoru Oshii is famous for influential anime feature films like Patlabor 2: The Movie and Ghost in the Shell. Prior to that, he made a name for himself directing the Urusei Yatsura TV series in the early 1980s. He’s now returned to TV anime with Vlad Love Created by Oshii and co-directed with long-time collaborator…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureTrack: Late Evening In Jersey (from Heat) | Artist: Brian Eno | Album: Film Music: Crime Pays
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 18, 2020 -
CultureA Final Goodbye To The Last Generation
For the past month we’ve been taking a look back at the winners, losers and defining trends of the PlayStation 4/Xbox One era of home video game consoles as part of a feature series called The Last Generation In that time we’ve covered Nintendo’s smooth exit from the console arms race, said goodbye to my…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureSony Pulls Cyberpunk 2077 From PlayStation Store, Says Buyers Can Get A Refund
Hopefully concluding a rollercoaster few days where PlayStation owners were told to get a refund for Cyberpunk 2077 then asked not to, Sony has confirmed that not only will the company be issuing refunds, but the game itself is being pulled from the PlayStation Store. A short statement posted on the PlayStation website reads: SIE…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureRiot Casually Announces League Of Legends MMO
League of Legends fans who would like to enjoy the universe but not keep playing the same game over and over until you die, you’re in luck. Riot just announced a new MMO set in the game’s universe in the most casual way imaginable. In this tweet exchange, Riot VP Greg Street starts off by…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureBeat (Stupid Sexy) Sephiroth In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate And Unlock Him 5 Days Early
Sephiroth officially joins the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate cast next week, but players eager to open their presents early can unlock this surprisingly shirtless Final Fantasy VII villain right now by simply kicking the crap out of him. “Sephiroth Challenge,” which can be found on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate main menu if you pre-purchase…
By Ian Walker Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureIt’s Weird How Some Games Are Now Too Big To Fail
For nearly the entire history of video games, most title’s lifespans would play out the same cruel, Darwinian way: they would come out and either live or die, sometimes with spectacular consequences. No second chances. This was true of first cartridge and then disc-based games, which would either fly off the shelf or not. But…
By Luke Plunkett Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Getting Barret, Tifa, Aerith, And Geno Mii Fighter Costumes
During today’s Sephiroth presentation, Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai showed off some of the new Mii Fighter costumes that will be added to Ultimate alongside the Final Fantasy villain. The next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate update will expand the Mii Fighter’s wardrobe with costumes based on Final Fantasy VII party members Barret, Tifa, and…
By Ian Walker Published December 17, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Flabbergasted After Twitch Partially Bans The Word ‘Simp’
It’s been yet another long 24 hours for Twitch—the latest in what’s shaped up to be an agonizingly long year for the company (and also everybody on Earth). Yesterday afternoon, Twitch held a live town hall with the goal of illuminating recent policy changes and features around DMCAs, sexual harassment, ads, and other hot-button issues.…
By Nathan Grayson Published December 17, 2020