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CultureThese Are Your 2021 World Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees
After sifting through a field of finalists including classics like Guitar Hero, Pole Position, Portal, and…FarmVille, the Strong National Museum of Play has announced the 2021 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Let’s hear it for StarCraft, Animal Crossing, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Microsoft Flight Simulator Each year…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureHuh, The New Fable Runs On The Forza Engine
The next installment in the Fable franchise is being built with the ForzaTech engine, which as the name implies, is the foundation beneath Xbox’s popular Forza racing games. This detail was first spotted by IGN in a Microsoft job listing for Turn 10 Studios, the Xbox Game Studios subsidiary that’s developed the core Forza series…
By Ian Walker -
CultureSony Plans To ‘Integrate’ Discord With PlayStation
Sony Interactive Entertainment has invested a minority stake in the popular communication app Discord, SIE president Jim Ryan announced today in a blog post. The companies plan to “bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year.” Sony didn’t detail much about what it plans to do with…
By Ari Notis -
CultureOver 70 More Games Just Got FPS Boost On Xbox Series X/S
Microsoft added its FPS Boost to over 70 additional games today, letting players on Xbox Series X or S enjoy dramatically better performance in older Xbox One titles like Yakuza 6, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Alien Isolation, Far Cry 5, and Mad Max. FPS Boost is a feature found on Xbox Series X and S consoles…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureMicrosoft Looked Into Reducing Its Xbox Store Cut From 30% To 12% [Update]
According to internal documents filed in the ongoing Epic Games vs Apple case, Microsoft has plans to reduce its cut on digital downloads on the Xbox console store from 30% to 12%. Found in court documents, first spotted by The Verge, Microsoft shares various information and data about its digital storefronts on Windows 10 and…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureCD Projekt Refunded Only 30,000 Copies Of Cyberpunk 2077
Only a tiny fraction of the overall Cyberpunk 2077 sales resulted in refunds, CFO Piotr Nielubowicz told investors during an earnings call earlier today. Out of the 13.7 million copies sold, the Polish developer apparently issued just 30,000 refunds. As for the monetary impact, the “Help Me Refund” program CD Projekt set up to handle…
By Ian Walker -
CultureHades Wins Game Of The Year At The 2021 DICE Awards
Beloved indie game Hades scored the most wins at this year’s DICE Awards. Supergiant’s excellent roguelike action game ultimately won five awards, including “Game of the Year.” While Hades had a great showing, it was Sony’s stable of PlayStation exclusives that swept the awards, winning nine awards across five games. Ghost of Tsushima grabbed four…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureGearbox Threatens To ‘Expand Outside’ Texas Over Anti-Trans Bill
During a committee hearing held yesterday in the Texas House of Representatives, Gearbox exec David Najjab testified against Texas House Bill 4042, which would force transgender athletes in public schools to compete in sports according to the gender they were assigned at birth. “I’m a Texan,” said Najjab, who has worked as Borderlands developer Gearbox’s…
By Ian Walker -
CultureMicrosoft Adds FPS Boost To 13 More Xbox Games
Microsoft announced today that 13 EA Play games now support FPS Boost on Xbox Series X/S consoles. A bunch of these FPS-boosted titles support 120Hz including Star Wars: Battlefront, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare, Titanfall 2, Battlefield V, and more. The vast majority of these newly boosted games originally ran at 60fps on Xbox One…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureReport: Microsoft No Longer In Talks To Buy Discord
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft was in exclusive talks to acquire Discord. Today, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, those talks are off. Microsoft initially considered buying the popular chat and community platform for a figure north of $10 billion, but it wasn’t the only interested buyer. Per the Journal’s sources,…
By Ari Notis -
Xbox Cloud Gaming For Windows 10 And iOS Launches Limited Beta Tomorrow
As promised back in December, a browser-based version of the Xbox Cloud Gaming service for Windows 10, iPhones, and iPads is kicking off tomorrow, with a limited number of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers invited to stream and play games directly through Edge, Google Chrome, or the Safari browser. The streaming action will take place…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureMuslim Civil Rights Group Calls For Microsoft, Sony, And Valve To Deplatform Six Days In Fallujah
Calling the controversial first-person shooter that aims to recreate the events of the Second Battle of Fallujah an “Arab murder simulator,” Muslim civil rights and advocacy group CAIR, the Council on American–Islamic Relations, is requesting that Microsoft, Sony, and Valve avoid hosting or distributing Six Days in Fallujah No matter how developer Highwire Games and…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionWhile Xbox Game Pass Gets Better, PS Now Gets…Avengers
Outriders came out last week on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It also immediately came to Microsoft’s Game Pass, adding yet another big new game to the subscription service’s already-impressive library. Meanwhile, PS Now users can get excited to play last year’s mediocre Avengers game, and just for a few months.…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureMorning CheckpointMLB The Show Coming To Game Pass, LEGO Star Wars Delayed Again, Sony Closing PS3 Store In July, And More
This week on Morning Checkpoint we watch a very rich person forget to pay their bills, learn how valuable your old Pokemon cards might be, find out which games will be free on PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold next month, and learn about more delays. Great Kotaku Stories From The Past Week Oh no,…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureXbox Cloud Gaming Adds A Bunch Of Older Xbox Games
Starting today, you’ll be able to play more than a dozen Xbox and Xbox 360 games via cloud streaming, Microsoft announced in a blog post. As with other game streaming, the perk is only available to members of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Cloud streaming first became available last September with an initial launch slate of…
By Ari Notis
