PlayStation

Nioh’s final DLC Bloodshed’s End releases on September 26th Among the additions will be a perpetual battle mode called ‘The Abyss,” which I guess means the bloodshed isn’t really ending at all.

Ark Is Going Full-On Sci-fi In Aberration, Its Next Major Expansion [UPDATE]

Ark: Survival Evolved hasn’t even been out a week in its official Version 1.0 form but that hasn’t stopped developer Wildcard from unveiling the game’s second major expansion. Following last year’s controversial, desert-based Scorched Earth paid-DLC, which was released before the game even hit 1.0, Ark’s newest expansion is called Aberration. It’s set for release…

A Ridiculous Little Detail In Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Maybe a video game can have too much detail? The new PS4 Uncharted game Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is plenty likable, with lots of scenic vistas, exciting car chases, and all the other expected Uncharted trimmings. It’s also extremely good-looking, especially if you pay close attention. Early in the game, protagonist Chloe Frazer and her…

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy: The Kotaku Review

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is an easy video game to like in spite of its flaws. It’s buoyed by a winning cast of characters and has some of the prettiest vistas this side of an actual trip to India. It also includes one of the most entertaining hidden features I’ve ever encountered in a video…

PlayStation’s Twitter, Facebook Accounts Briefly Hacked [Update]

PlayStation had its Twitter and Facebook accounts compromised earlier today. The group OurMine appears to have been behind it, the same team that gained access to HBO and Game of Thrones’ social media accounts a few days ago. They had enough time to send out a few tweets and Facebook messages before being locked out.…

The Division’s Latest Updates Hint At How Interesting The Sequel Might Be

“More is more” must be the mantra of the makers of The Division, Ubisoft’s fun but flawed post-disaster shooter that has somehow not collapsed beneath the weight of the latest mound of content added to it. Less really would be more, and probably will be when Ubisoft gets around to releasing a sequel that starts…

Growing Up, I Bonded With My Older Brothers Through Games

As a kid, when I told people that I was the youngest in my family and had three older brothers, they would often say, “Three older brothers? Oh, you poor thing!” My brothers Bob, Mike, and Joe are 11, 10, and 7 years older than me, respectively. At first, I didn’t understand why adults thought…

The Best Start To An Assassin’s Creed Game

If I have one guilty pleasure series, it’s Assassin’s Creed. Normally, I’m not one to get excited about yearly releases, let alone broken games. But I’ve played and mostly enjoyed every game in the series. Recently, I returned to Assassin’s Creed II, and, much to my surprise, I realized just how much I’ve lowered my…

The Best Audio Logs In Horizon Zero Dawn

You’ll spend most of your time in Horizon Zero Dawn fighting giant mechanical dinosaurs. It’s the game’s most obvious strength, and it’s a fun, exciting thing to do. But I want to praise one of the game’s subtler successes: a remarkable set of audio logs that stand as some of the best background storytelling of…

No Man’s Sky Creators Say The Game Will Receive A Big Update This Week

No Man’s Sky will be getting an update this week to improve the story and add quick travel using portals. The announcement came at the end of an ongoing ARG that has been teasing changes to the game. A new memo sent by game designer Sean Murray revealed that the new update, called Atlas Rises…

Battlefield 1 Is Bringing Back Specializations

Battlefield 1 will add a new feature to the game that grants characters perks and special abilities. These specializations are live for testing and look to change the game in a big way. ‘Specializations’ have been a long-standing tradition of the Battlefield games ever since 2006’s Battlefield 2142. In games like Battlefield 4, selecting certain…

Long Lines And Sell-Outs For Dragon Quest XI In Japan 

Water is wet. Sugar is sweet. And Japan loves Dragon Quest. In the least surprising news of the weekend, the latest DQ release drew long lines. At some locations, the game sold out. Website Inside Games covered the Tokyo launch, reporting how over 200 people lined up at the Bic Camera in Ikebukuro. Another 200…

Nioh Just Added A Feature That Should Be In All Loot Games

The excellent PS4 samurai action game Nioh is overloaded with loot, but its developers may have solved one of their game’s few problems with a clever tweak in the game’s new 1.14 patch. Like many things in Nioh, the tweak is initially inscrutable. The patch notes describe it this way: -Added the option “display take”…

The PlayStation 4 has surpassed an estimated 5 million consoles sold in Japan, according to Media Create. That’s as of July 23, and with Dragon Quest XI coming to the PS4 this Saturday, expect those numbers to get a bump. 

Raiden Was The Best Thing To Happen To Metal Gear

In 2001, Hideo Kojima pissed off countless fans with a simple twist. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty did not star everyone’s favorite rugged action hero Solid Snake. Instead, players spent most of their time playing as Raiden, a whiny rookie who didn’t know his ass from his head. It was perfect and still…

Risking Scorn, Former Pro Is Trying To Make A Simpler Fighting Game

Fighting games are complicated. That’s just a simple truth. As the genre has developed over the last few decades, franchises have become inundated with mechanics that both alienate newcomers and drive divisions between players. The makers of the upcoming game Fantasy Strike are trying to change that. Developed by Sirlin Games, a studio founded by…

Heavy Rain Ended Badly 

This week, we finished streaming David Cage’s crime thriller Heavy Rain on Kotaku’s Twitch channel. It’s a game of astounding highs and disappointing lows, with intense action and awful writing. It’s not as bad as everyone says, but it’s still not very good. Heavy Rain’s core concept of a father trying to save his son…

I presented a panel on the history of the Super NES CD-ROM at the Seattle Retro Gaming Expo, and now you can watch the video! Digging for information on this unreleased add-on (and the “Nintendo PlayStation” as well) turned up a lot of surprising facts and crazy stories.

Top Pro Dominates Tournament With Street Fighter V’s Newest Character

Justin Wong is one of the greatest fighting game players of all time, and he proved that yet again by using a brand new character for the entirety of a Street Fighter V tournament in Canada this past weekend. Whileopinions have been mixed concerning Ed, who was introduced to the Street Fighter V roster on…

The Year’s Biggest-Selling Games And Hardware In Japan So Far

It’s July. We’re past the year’s halfway point, so now is a good time to take stock and see how things are doing in the Japanese game industry. Famitsu is reporting game and hardware sales data from December 26, 2016 to June 25, 2016. Here are the ten top-selling games for that period: 10. 1-2…