Square Enix

Warren Spector Thinks Deus Ex Is Too Real For 2021

The Game Developers Conference kicked off today as a week of virtual talks. In a live chat alongside a rebroadcast of his 2017 GDC talk, Deus Ex designer Warren Spector talked about why he wouldn’t make the game today. “I’m constantly amazed at how accurate our view of the world ended up being. Frankly it…

PSA: Game Pass Members, Cancel Your Outriders Pre-Order

It was true nine years ago and it’s true today: Stop pre-ordering games. The latest case in point comes by way of Outriders, the upcoming looter-shooter from developer People Can Fly. Earlier today, Microsoft confirmed that Outriders will be part of the Xbox Game Pass library when it releases next month for pretty much everything…

Square Enix Will Reveal New Life Is Strange During Digital Event Next Week

Square Enix announced it will debut the first episode of its very own Nintendo Direct-style digital event, known as “Square Enix Presents,” next Thursday, March 18. Among other things, the studio plans to officially reveal the next game in the Life is Strange series, with “an all-new protagonist wielding an exciting new power.” A new…

Report: Despite Covid Emergency, Capcom Made Employees Work At Office After Cyber Attack [Update]

In early January, with Japan posting some of its highest covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for a number of prefectures, including Osaka. As part of this declaration, the government asked corporate employees to work from home or limit the number of staff in the office. According to Business Journal,…

Over 5,000 Final Fantasy XIV Players Were Banned For Using Or Advertising Real Money Trading

Square Enix announced earlier this week that over 5,000 Final Fantasy XIV players were banned after they were caught using or advertising real money in-game. As spotted by PCGamesN, on March 4 FFXIV publisher Square Enix revealed via a news post on the FFXIV website that 5851 players had been banned for their involvement with…

Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Sounded Great, At Least

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re kicking open the vault of weird-ass Final Fantasy spin-offs and unearthing Dirge of Cerberus Released in 2006 as a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) turned the…

Perhaps I Treated You Too Harshly, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of my favourite games of the past decade, a combination of stealth, adventuring and some incredible art design. Yet when its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided hit five years later, I only spent a few hours with it before writing it off and getting on with my life. And…

Marvel’s Avengers, Six Months Later

Marvel’s Avengers was as plagued by buzz as it was inertia. Before the game released, it was defined by a chaotic din of muddy messaging, sky-high expectations, and that little thing called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After launch, the conversation shifted: Would it become another success like Destiny, go the disappointing way of Anthem, or…

The Avengers Grind Is About To Become More Of A Grind

On March 18, Marvel’s Avengers will receive some much-needed new content when Hawkeye joins the roster. But that’s not all. In that same update, the game’s XP system will receive a major overhaul, developer Crystal Dynamics announced today. As things currently stand, the leveling system in Avengers is structured so each character levels up in…

Legend Of Mana’s Grand Score Helps Me Take Its BS Seriously

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course. Legend of Mana (playlist /…

Square Enix Launches Official Final Fantasy XIV Masks

Merchandising! Square Enix loves to do it. And with lots of people wearing masks in Japan, the Tokyo-based game maker saw an opportunity. Update March 3 – 11:40am: As one Kotaku reader points out, these masks are also available through the North American website. As Famitsu reports, pre-orders for Final Fantasy XIV masks kicked off…

Final Fantasy Creator’s New JRPG Lets You Procrastinate With Its Random Encounters

Fantasian, the next game from Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is coming to Apple Aracde later this year. Now we’ve a new trailer finally showing off gameplay of the diorama-based JRPG, including its unique take on random encounters, called the “Dimengeon system.” In classic JRPGs, like the ones Sakaguchi made…

New Pokemon Games, New Final Fantasy VII Spin-Offs, Anthem Is Done, Call Of Duty Is Way Too Big, And More

This week on Morning Checkpoint we learn about the next terrible thing involving Cyberpunk 2077, learn the future of Anthem, check out a new trailer for more Hot Wheels in Forza, talk about some good dads and watch Destiny 2 players jump off a cliff over and over. Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week…

Deathloop’s Sultry ‘Déjà Vu’ Will Be My Summer Anthem

Outside of Square Enix announcing a new story DLC for Final Fantasy VII Remake, yesterday’s PlayStation State of Play event was kinda a dud. But there was a notable exception: Deathloop’s new original song “Déjà Vu.” Deathloop, an upcoming game from Prey developers Arkane Studios, is Hitman meets Groundhog’s Day in which you play Colt,…

Square Enix Is Finally Making The Final Fantasy VII Cinematic Universe Playable

Yesterday’s most important Final Fantasy news wasn’t delivered at the end of Sony’s lackluster State of Play livestream presentation but was instead casually tweeted out afterward: a new mobile game called Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is coming. This latest FFVII remix will tell the story not just of the original game but also of…

Another Man Arrested For Sending Death Threats To Square Enix

A resident of Saitama, Japan is in police custody after sending death threats to Square Enix. A suspect named Toshiyuki Kan sent thirty-seven of them to the game maker last November. Sadly, this isn’t a first for Square Enix. A 25-year-old man was arrested in spring 2019 for threatening to kill Square Enix employees. “I…

Square Enix Announces Two More Final Fantasy VII Games

Just after wrapping up Sony’s media show this evening with some Final Fantasy VII x PS5 news, Square Enix announced that there are two more Final Fantasy games coming, both based on the Final Fantasy VII universe. First up is Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, which is a “battle royale game set in Midgar…

Marvel’s Avengers Adds ‘What Am I Doing With My Life’ Armor

Square Enix’s weekly Marvel’s Avengers blog post went live this morning. That said, there isn’t much to talk about besides the game’s silly new Iron Man outfit, so let’s do that. Seriously, just look at this thing. I wouldn’t bat an eye if someone told me Tony skinned a Furby for the helmet. It looks…

We Gotta Talk About This Main Story Quest In A Realm Reborn

My journey through Final Fantasy XIV continues apace. My bard and black mage are now at level 46, and I’m currently questing through the icy Coerthas, which seems oddly French with all the names ending in -x and -eau. When I first started playing, my circle of FF14-playing friends all told me to be patient.…

Another arcade is closing in Tokyo. Taito Station Shinjuku West Exit, which opened in 2018, will shutter on March 21. With fewer customers, and tourists banned, arcades are hurting.