- Culture
Limited Edition Peeps Cereal Misses The Point Of Peeps
Fill a bowl with colored marshmallows shaped like duckies and bunnies. Done. That’s all Kellogg’s needed to do to make Limited Edition Peeps brand cereal. But no. This is an outrage, is what it is. Not a huge outrage, like when your favorite candy bar is discontinued or Burger King runs out of hamberders, but…
By Mike Fahey Published January 17, 2019 - Uncategorized
Big JRPG news: Trails of Cold Steel III is coming to PS4 in North America this fall. Here’s the twist: This one is published by NIS America rather than XSEED, which published the previous two Cold Steel games. That’s a bit worrisome, given the nuanced writing in Trails games and NISA’s previous work with Ys…
By Jason Schreier Published January 17, 2019 - Kotaku East
How Star Wars Might’ve Had a Different Darth Vader
This is the Darth Vader we all know. But the character might not have been the same if famous Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune had taken the role. The Japanese influence in Star Wars is no accident. George Lucas’ hero is acclaimed filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and he was inspired by the Japanese director’s films, such as…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 17, 2019 - Uncategorized
The Cutest Pokémon Starters According To Fans In Japan
Pokémon starters are so cute. But which ones are the cutest? In a recent poll, fans in Japan voted for the most adorable ones. Japanese polling site Goo Raking posed the question last month and 2,613 votes were cast. Here are the top 21 cutest starters. 21. Chespin – 13 votes 20. Treecko – 23…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 17, 2019 - Culture
Nintendo’s Adorable 8-Bit Robot Fighting Game Is Now Playable On Switch
As usual with Nintendo’s classic game services, Switch Online’s NES app now has more games in Japan than it does in the rest of the world. While today’s worldwide update included Blaster Master and Zelda II, Japan also got a very cool fighting game called Joy Mech Fight. Fortunately, since Switch is region-free, anyone with…
By Chris Kohler Published January 16, 2019 -
CultureBright Memory Is An Ambitious Shooter Made By One Guy
Bright Memory’s trailer first caught my attention when the game’s sci-fi soldier main character, Shelia, force-pushed a wolf monster into the air, energy-lassoed her way up alongside it, sliced it to ribbons with a sword, froze it in a time bubble, and then sliced it to more ribbons—because at that point, why not? Good news:…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
The Westworld mobile game has been removed from stores and will shutdown completely on April 16, 2019, the developers announced yesterday. Bethesda sued the publisher of the game, Warner Bros. Interactive, last year claiming it had ripped-off Fallout Shelter, but the two announced reaching an “amicable agreement” in late December.
By Ethan Gach Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Director Says ‘We Missed The Mark’ With Controversial DLC Relationship [Update]
A day after apologizing for surprising Assassin’s Creed Odyssey players with a mandatory in-game relationship that seemed to contradict the game’s pre-release promise to let players define their character’s own sexuality, the game’s creative director offered a fuller apology and explanation of what his team was trying to accomplish and what they got wrong. “Reading…
By Stephen Totilo Published January 16, 2019 -
UncategorizedZelda, Banjo Kazooie Levels Modded Into Super Mario Odyssey
Perhaps to give Odyssey that Smash Bros/Nintendo Museum feel, modder ItzSkahas been importing custom levels into the Switch platformer, like Clanker’s Cavern from Banjo Kazooie and the exterior of Wind Waker’s Dragon Roost Island. It’s not just the textures, either; both levels have custom collectables as well. Here’s Clanker’s Cavern: And here’s Dragon Roost: If…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
Artists Are Making Awesome “Paintings” In Source Filmmaker
Source Filmmaker is famous for the Saxxy Awardsand other machinima, but there’s a vibrant and fascinating scene using the program for “scenebuilding” (2D art) as well. Given the vast array of other, more popular options out there for digital painting, this might seem an odd and even counter-productive way to make art. After all, SFM…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
Valve’s Card Game Artifact Is Running Out Of Players
The collectible card game Artifact released on November 28, and had 60,740 concurrent players that day. A good start—but it was all downhill from there. Last night, its total concurrent players dipped just below 1,500 for the first time ever—a 97.5 percent drop from launch. Yes, many online games struggle to find an audience on…
By Ethan Gach Published January 16, 2019 -
UncategorizedK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Beautiful
Korea, and the world at large, seems to be going through a bit of a retro music boom these days, focusing on the 80s aesthetic with both original and cover releases. Stella Jang’s Beautiful is perhaps one of the best executions of this trend I’ve listened to yet. We’ve seen Stella before in this column,…
By Seung Park Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
Sea Of Thieves Update Will Cut Down On File Size
Sea of Thieves is a constantly evolving game with an expanding roster ofmonsters to battle and islands to explore. In a blog post yesterday, Rare announced that it’s nerfing a dangerous foe: file size. Executive Producer Joe Neate announced the changes in an official blog post. Following an update on February 6, Sea of Thieves’…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 16, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Tension Between Remakes And Originals
With the spiffy Resident Evil 2 remake right around the corner, I got to thinking about remakes versus remasters. At what point should you just go back and boot up the original? It can be interesting to see a modern take with new mechanics that retains the original soul of the source material. Then again,…
By Paul Tamayo Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
A Very Angry Capcom vs. SNK 2 Competition
Over the weekend, a monthly Capcom vs. SNK 2 tournament at Japan’s Club Sega Shinjuku held a special exhibition between three established competitors. The event had brought these three players together due to the similarities in how they play the game, particularly their use of a specific fighting style that rewards characters for getting hit…
By Ian Walker Published January 16, 2019 - Uncategorized
Final Fantasy XIV‘s New Blue Mage Class Is Limited But Fun
Final Fantasy XIV added Blue Mages to the game this week, allowing players to dress in their finest costumes and learn magical attacks from monsters. The “limited” job can’t do as many activities as others, but their addition creates fun opportunities for groups and solo players alike. Blue Mages were announced during the Final Fantasy…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 16, 2019