- Culture
What Gaming Gear Did You Get (Or Gift) This Holiday Season?
Every year, once the Christmas dust settles, I pose to our dear readers the same question: What glorious gaming gear did you give and/or receive this holiday season? I’ll start. Behold my beautiful limited edition translucent pink Hello Kitty Dreamcast. I own a perfectly functional plain white Dreamcast, but the special Hello Kitty edition of…
By Mike Fahey Published December 26, 2018 -
Tips & GuidesTips For Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [UPDATED]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has it all, and whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie coming in blind, “it all” is a lot. Every fighter from every prior Smash game is available, plus over 100 stages, a lot of wily items, a slew of quality-of-life updates and a somewhat perplexing collectables system called “Spirits.”…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published December 26, 2018 - CultureKotaku Game Diary
I Feel Guilty Accepting Help In Final Fantasy XIV
It’s the holiday season, which means I’ve been unwinding with my secret favorite game of 2018, Final Fantasy XIV, and leveling up character classes. I started leveling Blacksmith in order to make a friend a holiday gift, but I found myself propelled to higher levels thanks to unprompted charity from peers. It’s made me wonder:…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 26, 2018 -
CultureHere’s January 2019’s PlayStation Plus Lineup
I fell in love with Steep after getting obsessed with the winter Olympics, so I’m excited to see it on January’s PlayStation Plus lineup. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership. January’s PS Plus games are: PlayStation 4 Steep Portal Knights PlayStation 3 Zone of the Enders…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 26, 2018 - Uncategorized
One Of The Switch’s Top Sellers Is A Bad Game That Costs $0.01
This morning, people across the country will unwrap brand new Nintendo Switches. Maybe they’ll open up the eShop and look at the Top Sellers, where they’ll see a selection of the usual suspects: Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, Stardew Valley. And then they’ll see Bouncy Bob Bouncy Bob is an unremarkable arcade game in which…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 -
UncategorizedLost NES Version Of SimCity Emerges After 27 Years
In January of 1991, a prototype for an NES version of SimCity appeared at an electronics show. It was never seen again—and the iconic city-building game would come out solely on the Super Nintendo several months later—but video game historians have tracked down a previously undiscovered version, and uploaded it on the internet for all…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 -
UncategorizedNew Destiny 2 Plot Twist Leaves Players Wondering What’s Next
When Destiny first launched, its story was a punchline, a string of proper nouns that was barely coherent, let alone engaging. Over the past four years, the developers at Bungie have worked very hard to change that, and the game’s latest plot twist makes for strong evidence that they’ve succeeded. To go see this new…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
Jason Schreier’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
It’s been a wonderful year for video games both big and small. The games that appealed to me most were games that moved me, that challenged me, that gave me interesting tools and then allowed me to decide what to do with them. Also, the ones that were on Switch. Here are my 10 favorite…
By Jason Schreier Published December 25, 2018 - Uncategorized
Eight Of Your Weirdest Smash Ultimate Rule Sets
It’s fun enough to play regular old timed or stock matches in Smash, but players have also been making their own weird, super-hard, or just plain wacky rule sets for years. Smash Ultimate allows players to codify their rule sets as saved settings. I asked readers to tell me their Ultimate rule sets, and here…
By Gita Jackson Published December 24, 2018 - Uncategorized
What’s The Next Great Vaporware Game?
Next month, Kingdom Hearts III will finally come out, which is great news for video game fans, but bad news for people who need to write punchlines about video games that never come out. It raises an interesting question: What’s the next great vaporware game? Vaporware, a name coined for software that’s announced but never…
By Jason Schreier Published December 24, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
Riley’s Top 10 Games Of 2018
Another year, another feast of games to devour. Here are my 10 favorite games of 2018. Vampyr Vampyr was a charming, ambitious game, despite its clumsy combat and sometimes tedious navigation. Getting to know its London’s residents and tending to them as a doctor would, only to feast on them when I needed the XP,…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 24, 2018 - ReviewsYear in Review
The Year In JRPGs, 2018
After a tremendous 2017, Japanese role-playing games were due for some regression, and that’s exactly what happened this year. There were no all-time classics like Persona 5 or Nier Automata in 2018. Yet it was a decent year for the genre, and we got some JRPGs that I enjoyed quite a bit. As is annual…
By Jason Schreier Published December 24, 2018 - Uncategorized
Looking Back On My Former Life In Star Wars: The Old Republic
I started playing Star Wars: the Old Republic at launch on December 20th, 2011. In the six years to follow, BioWare’s narrative-focused online RPG became a constant in my life, bringing me new friends, dear personal partners, and amazing adventures. I canceled my subscription on March 13th, 2017. It’s been a little less than two…
By Heather Alexandra Published December 24, 2018 -
UncategorizedAfter A Year Of Free Updates, The Switch’s Kirby Game Is Finally Very Good
Kirby Star Allies launched on Switch in March, and it was decent, but a significant drop in quality from 2016’s Kirby: Planet Robobot. Since then, Nintendo has given the game several significant updates. Combined, they have made Star Allies a vastly better game. Unlike most Kirby games, Star Allies revolves not just around Kirby but…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 24, 2018 - Culture
The Week In Games: Dynasty Core
It’s the last full week of the year, so there are a slim number of releases. Most of them are on the Switch. Like every year, a lot of games have released this year. I imagine that you, like me, have a dozen or so games that you’ve been meaning to get to that you…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published December 23, 2018 -
CultureBlindfolded Speedrunner Demolishes Outlast
I don’t care for first-person games that are heavy on jumpscares, and so speedrunner AcrohTheBeast’s 10:24 blindfolded run seems like the perfect way to play the game. While the actual time of the run would put it somewhere above 100th place in the official speedrun rankings of the game, I have a lot of respect…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published December 23, 2018 -
UncategorizedA Classic Christmas Song Interpreted Through Rollercoaster Tycoon
It’s the holiday season, and that means it is the time to listen to holiday songs. They’re universally terrible, so making “new” versions with pop culture objects is just fine by my book. And now we have “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” with Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic parks. A YouTuber with the simple name of “Stu”…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published December 23, 2018 - CultureShop Contest
‘Shop Contest: Everyone Is Santa
Christmas is coming, and that means Santa Claus. I want you to make all of the video game characters into Santa. For those who celebrate it, Christmas can be stressful. Families get together, travel is involved, and it can swing from wildly pleasant to incredibly bad. However, I think that most of us can agree…
By Cameron Kunzelman Published December 23, 2018