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CultureGigaleak Suggests Animal Crossing Could Have Been ‘Human Crossing’
Was Animal Crossing almost Human Crossing? Files unearthed in the massive Nintendo “Gigaleak” suggest that homo sapiens were once intended to appear in the first entry of the popular life-sim series, a Japan-only release called Animal Forest Some background: Animal Forest—or Dōbutsu no Mori, in Japanese—released in 2001 on the N64. Later that year, it…
By Ari Notis Published July 30, 2020 -
AnimeThe Cowboy Bebop Soundtracks Just Hit Spotify So Excuse Me While I Freak Out
OK. I need to take a deep breath and steady myself, because what I’m about to tell y’all has me vibrating with excitement. The vast majority of Cowboy Bebop soundtracks just hit Spotify That’s a lot of Bebop music. Of course Spotify has your staple soundtracks—Cowboy Bebop, Blue, Future Blues. But! And god bless whomever…
By Ash Parrish Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureSplinter Cell Is Getting An Anime Adaptation On Netflix
Ubisoft and Netflix have partnered to develop a Splinter Cell anime with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad as writer and executive producer, a representative for Ubisoft has confirmed to Kotaku According to earlier reporting by Variety, the Splinter Cell anime has already received a two-season, 16-episode order from Netflix. In speaking to Kotaku, Ubisoft would…
By Ian Walker Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureTwitchStreamers Are Misusing Twitch’s ‘Just Chatting’ Section, But It’s A Symptom Of A Larger Problem
Of all of Twitch’s non-gaming categories, “Just Chatting” seems to have the most clearly defined purpose. It’s for chatting. That’s it. And yet, after the platform dissolved its ill-defined “IRL” section into 13 different non-gaming categories in 2018, Just Chatting became its catch-all successor. Now it’s a juggernaut—Twitch’s top category. But it’s also clear evidence…
By Nathan Grayson Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureAnimal Crossing Characters Can Hilariously Eat Shit Again
While the latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons update mostly focuses on fun summertime diversions, it’s time we give it up for the greatest addition to the island getaway simulator: tripping. Previous games in the Animal Crossing series included a hidden luck mechanic that would influence things like how much money dropped from trees, the rate…
By Ian Walker Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureOffbeat ’90s RPG Moon Finally Heads West August 27
The official English translation for “anti-RPG” Moon: Remix RPG Adventure will come out for Nintendo Switch on August 27, almost 23 years after it launched on the original PlayStation. Moon was the brainchild of the now-defunct Japanese studio Love-de-Lic, which was founded by a team of developers who had previously worked on games like Chrono…
By Ian Walker Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureHow’s It Going?: Future Edition
It’s Thursday already, woo! Welcome back to our daily open thread. A friend and I were talking over Zoom about the future earlier this week, namely the near future of America’s November elections. Given how grim everything is these days, I tend to panic when I think too hard about what’s going to happen, which…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 30, 2020 -
Kotaku EastJapanGhost of Tsushima‘s Kurosawa Tribute Is More Than Skin Deep
Ghost of Tsushima’s Kurosawa Mode is a black and white cinema-style filter that pays homage to the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. While it might seem like a surface-level nod to the Kurosawa films that inspired the game, the game reflects the famed filmmaker’s sensibility in more than just visual cues. Note: This article contains spoilers. Traditionally,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 30, 2020 -
CultureAnimal Crossing: New Horizons Camera Glitch Is Back As An Official Feature
Players can once again show off their islands in clutter-free videos thanks to a new feature that dropped in last night’s Animal Crossing update which makes it possible to turn off the game’s HUD while using the in-game camera. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ in-game camera makes it easy to automatically gets rid of these annoying…
By Ethan Gach Published July 30, 2020 -
Culture2K’s New NFL Games Will Feature Real-Life Players
2K Games announced today that it’s struck a deal to be able to include the names, numbers, and likenesses of actual NFL pros in its upcoming football games. “We’re thrilled to be working with the NFLPA and OneTeam to bring the biggest and best stars in football to the games we’re working on,” the company’s…
By Ethan Gach Published July 30, 2020 -
Tips & GuidesGrounded‘s Arachnophobia Slider Turns Spiders Into Cute Floating Blobs
We learned back in April that Grounded, the new miniaturized survival game from Obsidian Entertainment, would include an “arachnophobia mode” for players with an aversion to spiders. Let’s take a look at how this accessibility option works now that the game is out in the wild. Upon booting up Grounded for the first time, the…
By Ian Walker Published July 29, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsNew Nikes Are A “Gamer” Tribute
While modern sneaker collabs tend to be focused on contemporary games and series, this upcoming Blazer ‘77 by Nike is instead going in the opposite direction. Rather than being an exercise in marketing/branding for a particular company, this one is just a simple shout-out to video games, with a heavily pixellated swoosh and a colour…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 29, 2020 -
CultureEight Years Into Development, Star Citizen Fans Are Increasingly Upset That Star Citizen Is Still Being Star Citizen
While the wider world has accepted that Star Citizen (and its singleplayer spin-off Squadron 42 campaign) are perhaps never coming out, those who paid for the game back in 2012—and have either paid or kept paying since—are growing increasingly unhappy at developer Cloud Imperium Games’ lack of apparent progress and communication. The latest bout of…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 29, 2020 -
OpinionIsrael Wants To Use Xbox Controllers In Its Tanks, Which Is Horrifying
Israel is currently testing a new armored vehicle prototype that uses a wide array of modern technology, most notably an Xbox controller that allows soldiers to perform combat functions as if they were playing a video game. According to The Washington Post, the tank was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which employed the feedback…
By Ian Walker Published July 29, 2020 -
CultureOdds and EndsOh God, Fortnite Made Peely Worse
Fortnite’s terrible banana has a new summer look, as part of yesterday’s Summer Legends cosmetic pack. It raises some questions, mainly: Dear God, why? This isn’t the first time Peely’s gotten a new skin. We’ve seen him dressed as 007 and as a half-rotten monster full of—oh my god—bones. He had his peel in those…
By Riley MacLeod Published July 29, 2020 -
CultureNoah Cyrus Made A New Video For ‘July’ In Dreams
Dreams players have been making a lot of creative things in the PlayStation 4 sandbox, including Mario games and a recreation of Adam Jensen’s swanky pad. Now, the biggest musicians in the world are getting in on the action. Yesterday, Noah Cyrus dropped a music video for her smash hit “July,” entirely created in Dreams…
By Ari Notis Published July 29, 2020 -
CultureSekiro Getting Boss Rush, New Costumes, and Message System In Free October Update
From Software’s excellent shinobi adventure Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is getting a free update on October 29 to coincide with the game’s arrival on Stadia, publisher Activision announced this morning The update will add an official boss rush mode to Sekiro (modders already did this last July), as well as brand new outfits for the…
By Ian Walker Published July 29, 2020