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OpinionCall Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Menus Suck
Booting up the newest Call of Duty, I was greeted by terrible-looking menus, an overwhelming amount of options, too much information, and some ugly-looking ads. It’s not a great first impression and feels like a cobbled-together mess. In other words: It bad. There was a time when I played every new Call of Duty game.…
By Zack Zwiezen -
CultureBorderlands 3‘s Next Expansion Delayed To April 8
Gearbox announced this morning that it has delayed the release of the upcoming Borderlands 3 expansion Director’s Cut almost a full month due to the severe winter storms that recently swept through its home state of Texas. The update will now launch on April 8. “Thankfully, all of our team members and their families are…
By Ian Walker -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryOddworld: New ‘N’ Tasty Guilted Me Into My First 100% Completion
I started playing Oddworld: New ‘N Tasty and oh god, I’m going to have to save all 299 of these Mudokons, aren’t I? In 2014’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, you play as the Mudokon Abe, an overworked, underpaid alien wo’rking for a company that destroys the ecosystem and drives indigenous creatures extinct—so your typical Amazon…
By Ash Parrish -
OpinionImpressionsCrash Bandicoot 4 Runs Great On PS5, Passably On Switch
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Switch tomorrow, giving us some of the most polished versions of last year’s excellent platformer alongside one that struggles a lot but gets the job done. Digital Foundry compared the PS5 and Switch versions side by side, and the differences…
By Mike Fahey -
OpinionEnough With The Social Hubs In Video Games
Here’s a radical idea: Turn every social space in a video game into a menu. Last month, Kotaku’s Zack Zweizen and I teamed up to power through the demo for Outriders, People Can Fly’s upcoming looter-shooter. Verdict: It rules. (Zack, if you’re reading this, yes, I’m speaking for you.) The shooting is airtight, some of…
By Ari Notis -
CultureA Bunch Of Bethesda Games Are Joining Xbox Game Pass Tomorrow
During today’s conversation about Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the panel announced that a grip of amazing Bethesda games will join Xbox Game Pass tomorrow. Some of the games in the above image were already available on Game Pass in some form or another, but there’s a bunch of new stuff getting added as well,…
By Ian Walker -
CultureSquare 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…
By Ian Walker -
CultureDestiny 2‘s New Boss Is Turning Players Into Reply Guys
Much of Destiny’s story exists anywhere but the main game. The version you get from playing through its campaign today is very different from the one that existed only a year ago, and it’s also very different from the one you’ll get having played Destiny for hundreds of hours, soaking up its lowkey ambient world-building…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureRoblox Goes Public, Wall Street Decides It’s Worth Six Bethesdas
The Roblox Corporation, maker of the online game creation platform Roblox, went public yesterday, selling shares in the company on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time since it was founded back in 2004. It ended the day trading at just under $70, giving it a valuation of $45 billion, or approximately six…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSTALKER 2 Might Get Mod Support On Xbox
STALKER developer GSC Game World is currently investigating the possibility of including mod support for the upcoming sequel on Xbox Series X/S. These details first came to light on Russian podcast “Не занесли,” the most recent episode of which included an interview with GSC Game World public relations manager Zakhar Bocharov. According to translations by…
By Ian Walker -
CultureWorld Of Warcraft‘s First Player-Voted Mount Is A Big Ol’ Tree You Can Get For Free
Last year Blizzard held a poll to determine what sort of ride World of Warcraft players wanted as a special community mount. We chose the Wandering Ancient, and now that choice has borne fruit, or in this case, a whole damn tree, free now for everyone who owns the Shadowlands expansion. The Wandering Ancient is…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureMarvel’s Avengers Will (Finally) Allow You To Replay The Campaign
Fans of Marvel’s Avengers want just one thing, and it’s about to become a reality. No, it’s not a meaningful loot grind, nor a newfound surplus of engaging activities. Look, fine, maybe Avengers fans want more than one thing, but a big one is landing next week: You’ll finally be able to replay the campaign.…
By Ari Notis -
CultureDozens Of Rust Servers Wiped Out In Data Center Fire
A fire that broke out overnight in Strasbourg, France destroyed one of OVHcloud’s data centers and damaged a second, Reuters reports. The French government and Centre Pompidou, which houses a public information library and modern art museum, had their data affected by the fires, as did Facepunch Studios, maker of the online survival game Rust…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureOverwatch Casually Rolls Out Xbox Series X/S Enhancements
Yesterday’s Overwatch update was all about the PachiMarchi Challenge and that hideous and/or awesome new Roadhog skin, but next-gen Xbox owners got a little something extra with the update: new graphics options for Series X/S consoles, from 4K60 to blazing-fast 120Hz. We were so busy worrying about how our Roadhogs looked we never stopped to…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureOdds and EndsDestiny 2 Players Stomp Alien Ship To Death
The Fallen Skiff never saw it coming. Destiny 2 players have been dodging laser cannon fire from Fallen ships since the series launched. But unlike every other alien thing in the game, they’re not meant to be destroyed, appearing only briefly in-between hyperspace jumps to drop off fresh fodder for the Destiny loot grind. A…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureOdds and EndsSpongeBob Players Discover Filthy Game Discs Make Speedrunning Tricks Easier
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom may be one of the most improbable video games of all time, a licensed project that turned out to be both a great game and a worthwhile challenge for the speedrunning community. But the absurdity doesn’t stop there: SpongeBob speedrunners recently discovered that smudging their Xbox discs could result…
By Ian Walker -
ReviewsToysNow You Can Play With Sonic The Hedgehog’s Pretty Head
Sega has teamed up with toymaker Tomy to give Sonic fans a 15-inch plush hedgehog head. It costs $39 and is a Target exclusive, just like a real hedgehog head. Sonic’s soft, pliable skull is the product of Tomy’s Club Mocchi- Mocchi- line of squishy plush toys, which are basically Tomy’s answer to the wildly-popular…
By Mike Fahey
