PlayStation

Valve Is Adding Native DualShock 4 Support To Steam

The DualShock 4 makes for a lovely PC gaming controller, but it doesn’t usually get the support it deserves, especially the touch pad and gyroscopic features. An update coming to Steam’s controller API will have PS4 controller configurability baked right in. The news comes from the Steam Dev Days event, from a Steam controller talk…

Battlefield 1’s Tiny Gun Is Ineffective But Glorious

Battlefield 1‘s campaign manages a somber tone but the game still manages to sneak a ridiculous pistol into the multiplayer for some laughs. It’s super small and super not deadly. Youtuber jackfrags captured footage of the dainty Kolibri pistol in a new video. Just look at that reload animation! So elegant! A true gentleman’s weapon!…

Our Favorite (And Least Favorite) PSVR Launch Games

PlayStation VR is now out for the PS4, but after spending hundreds of dollars on the headset, which games should you play? We played lots of them and have some thoughts and some favorites. BATTLEZONE Kirk Hamilton: Cool enough premise—tank wars!—but too much jank for my tastes. I felt imprecise and sloppy when I played,…

PlayStation VR: The Kotaku Review

Let’s cut to the chase: PlayStation VR should be better. At its best, Sony’s new virtual reality headset manages to conjure the astonishing, immersive wonder of modern virtual reality. Just as often it is frustratingly held back by outdated hardware that can’t quite do what’s being asked of it. This piece originally appeared 10/5/16. PlayStation…

Once Again, Japan Lines Up For The PlayStation VR

Today, the PlayStation VR went on sale. Earlier this summer when pre-orders got underway in Japan, folks lined up. And today? Those without them did exactly the same thing.  Japanese retailers only got a limited number of units for those who didn’t pre-order, so at many large shops, people actually had to line up for…

Battlefield 1‘s Opening Actually Says Something About WW1’s Pointless Carnage

I didn’t know how Battlefield 1 was going to approach the Great War, which was historically not great at all. I was worried they’d treat it like a fun game. But “Storm of Steel” doesn’t shy away from the war’s brutality. Spoiler Warning: If you want to experience this incredibly interesting and smart bit of…

The third episode of Telltale’s Batman game will be out for PC and console on October 25, the studio said today. It’s called New World Order, so hopefully there’ll be cameos by Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and that other guy.

Sports Games Dominate September PlayStation Download Charts, As No Man’s Sky Disappears

They don’t get a lot of press here on Kotaku, but sports games are still a big, big deal, especially in this fairly fallow fall gaming season where there ain’t much else for gamers to buy. Sony’s newly released charts of thetop 20 downloaded games for PS4 in America in September lead with NBA 2K,…

Blizzard Should Make Overwatch‘s Excellent New Brawl Permanent

Junkenstein’s Revenge marks the first co-op brawl in Overwatch. Fighting against waves of zombie robots and holding off the horde is some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing the game. When I first saw the trailer for Junkenstein’s Revenge, my mind recalled furious matches of Team Fortress 2‘s Mann vs. Machine mode. This…

Aragami Is A Stealth Game That Lets Players Control The Shadows

Lince Works’ new stealth game Aragami is fun but ultimately too clunky of an experience. We slice and dice in this Kotaku Plays! I really wanted to like Aragami, which is out now across all major platforms and operating systems. Stealth games are basically giant puzzle games and I’ve always loved hiding behind a corner…

An Important Part Of Video Games Happens Offscreen, In Our Imaginations

In 2008, Dear Esther asked players to do more than just press buttons on a controller. The game asked them to use their imagination to build a personal narrative. Eight years later, contemporary titles like Hitman and Mafia III are also catching on to the value of imaginative play. I don’t think the entire experience…

Rise of The Tomb Raider‘s New ‘Blood Ties’ Expansion Is A Brief, Melancholy Family Story 

The part of 2015 Xbox One game Rise of the Tomb Raider that will be new to all gamers this week is Blood Ties, an expansion being bundled with Tuesday’s PS4 release of the game and being offered as paid $10 DLC (or part of the season pass) for Xbox One and PC. It’s mostly…

World of Final Fantasy Graphics Comparison, PS4 Vs Vita

World of Final Fantasy arrives later this month, bringing piles of pint-sized creatures to two different PlayStation platforms. Square Enix has put together a pair of videos showing off differences in graphics and loading times between the PS4 and Vita versions of the game. With cross-save support and the promise of hours of tinkering with…

Darkest Dungeon Ruins Its Endgame

I love Darkest Dungeon, which is why I decided never to finish it. It’s the only reasonable response to a game whose gruesome charm fades so drastically overtime. Its cruel world and Lovecraftian savagery rival games like Sunless Sea and Don’t Starve, but stay too long and you’ll eventually see its grizzly nightmare transformed into…

New VR Mode Changes Game’s ESRB Rating, Even For Players Who Don’t Get The New Mode

Many PlayStation owners received a system notification on Thursday that the frenetic arcade-style shooter Super Stardust Ultra is getting bumped up from an ESRB rating of E to E10+. A video game’s rating doesn’t usually change after it’s been released. In this case, strangely, the rating will change even though, for some people, the game…

A Closer Look at The Witcher 3′s Most Outrageous Quest

The Witcher 3 is an astounding RPG full of countless quests. It ranges from sweeping epic battles to smaller, more intimate tales. I started playing the “Hearts of Stone” DLC recently and experienced a quest so wonderful, I had to take a deeper dive. This quest is so damn great that Kirk Hamilton also found…

Podcast: The Good And Bad Of PlayStation VR

This week, Kotaku EIC Stephen Totilo joins the Splitscreen podcast to talk about PlayStation VR. What does it do? Does it virtually create reality? Let’s find out. I reviewed PlayStation VR yesterday, and Stephen and I have been using it and discussing it for the past week. We decided that it wasn’t difficult enough to…

Watch Us Play Four PlayStation VR Games And Freak Out Over A Fifth

The screaming in our office yesterday was one of our video guys, John, trying a shark attack demo in PlayStation VR. You can see and hear that glorious moment at the tail of of our video here showcasing several of the launch PSVR games in action. The video is an archive of a livestream we…

No Man’s Sky Community Temporarily Shuts Down Due To Toxicity [Updated]

Earlier today, one of the largest No Man’s Skycommunity hubs temporarily shut down, causing a small communal panic before the subreddit was reopened under new moderation. Though brief, this incident was the latest episode in an ongoing saga of fan drama surrounding the title. According to a postby moderator R0ugeW0lf, the No Man’s Sky subreddit…

Batman Arkham VR: The Kotaku Review

The hero of Batman: Arkham VR is a little clumsy. His hands shake from time to time. He sometimes drops his Batarangs. He doesn’t drive his own Batmobile, and he spends a lot of time standing in place as other people move around him. This Batman is not the aspirational, acrobatic crusader game creators usually…