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There is still no release date for Assassin’s Creed Origins’ first expansion. It’s just “January,” as Ubisoft reiterated today in a post that also reveals that the publisher is finally going to add Origins’ pricy paid DLC items, released weeks ago, to the rotation of items found in the game’s free Heka Chest lootboxes
By Stephen Totilo Published January 8, 2018 -
Here’s January’s Xbox Live Games With Gold Lineup
January’s Xbox Live Games with Gold features a lot of different genres, which could be nice if you’re looking for something new to play after the holidays. As ever, these games are only “free” if you have an Xbox Live Games with Gold subscription. January’s Xbox Live Games with Gold are: Xbox One The Incredible…
By Riley MacLeod Published December 22, 2017 -
The Division’s latest global event changes the rules yet again for Ubisoft’s shooter. In Strike, which runs for five more days, a downed enemy drops an exploding grenade that hurts nearby enemies. A more advanced Strike setting applies similar detonation chain reactions to players who take lots of damage. A fun tweak!
By Stephen Totilo Published December 13, 2017 -
Assassin’s Creed Origins Patch Changes Hideous Blue Box Into Lovely Gold Box
Assassin’s Creed Origins got a horde mode this week, along with a really good improvement to its difficulty system. Who cares! The headline here is that they changed a blue box into a gold one. Origins’ Tuesday patch re-colored the “tools” slot of the game’s inventory page in a move aimed at pleasing one of…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 13, 2017 -
On Xbox, Battlegrounds Is More Of The Janky, Troubled Game I Love
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ is on Xbox today. The console’s more casual feel benefits players who prefer a more strategic, slow-moving pace, but that’s in part because the game’s signature jankiness is significantly jankier here—it’s hard to play ambitiously when everything from switching weapons to jumping off the airplane is just a little more finicky. If you…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published December 12, 2017 -
The Division’s Free 1.8 Update Is Better Than Its Paid Expansions
After numerous multiplayer-centric patches and expansions, The Division finally got a big improvement for solo players this week. The new update is shockingly large and shockingly good. It seems designed to make every type of Division player happy. Update 1.8 adds two new, enemy-filled zones called West Side Piers to the game’s Manhattan-based map, throws…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 8, 2017 -
Shadow of War‘s New Online Mode Makes It Clear: They Want You To Play This Game Forever
Five of my orcs died in Shadow of War yesterday. I callously dropped them, one by one, into the game’s new online fight pits. They didn’t make it out. Rash Skull Bow, a feral marksman with little skulls for shoulder pads, got killed in 20 seconds after Ghash The Bloated struck him in the stomach…
By Stephen Totilo Published December 6, 2017 -
Deciding to go up against Destiny 2‘s first expansion for some reason, The Division’s huge and excellent-sounding free 1.8 update will be out tomorrow. Check out detailed patch notes (including radical changes to Underground). The game and its DLC will be free this weekend.
By Stephen Totilo Published December 4, 2017 -
The Division’s free, ambitious 1.8 update will hit the game next week, date TBD (likely Tuesday). It will expand the map with a new region that adds twists to the game’s PvE. It will also offer a horde mode called Resistance and a PvP mode called Skirmish. Oh, and it’ll overhaul the rogue system in…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 30, 2017 -
Many Assassin’s Creed Origins Players Aren’t Ready For The Game’s First Post-Release Boss Battles
A couple times over the past few weeks, a giant Egyptian deity has sprung up in Assassin’s Creed Origins for players to fight. In early November, it was Anubis, god of the dead. Around Thanksgiving it was Sobek, the crocodile god. The gods weren’t accessible when the game launched in late October and they each…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 29, 2017 -
CultureNew Evidence Suggests Super Meat Boy Speedrunners Cheated
Super Meat Boy’s challenging platforming and hidden secrets have turned it into a popular game for speedrunning. A new method for detecting cheaters now suggests that some famous runs might not be what they appear to be. There are two kinds of Super Meat Boy speedruns: real-time attacks, which show the entire game without interruption,…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 28, 2017 -
I Love This Unrealistic Assassin’s Creed Origins Boat
I play a lot of video games, but I don’t see many great glitches. Say what you will about modern gaming’s abundance of patches, but major glitches are still fairly rare. I fall through the floor of a third-person action game maybe once every two years. I played all of Red Dead Redemption and never…
By Stephen Totilo Published November 17, 2017 -
The L.A. Noire Remaster’s New Dialogue System Isn’t Specific Enough
L.A. Noire’s remaster brings the cult detective story back for another round of sleuthing. A change to the dialog system meant to fix the original game’s flaws makes interrogations more difficult than before. In L.A. Noire, Detective Cole Phelps investigates various crimes before getting swept up in a city-wide conspiracy. A major component of the…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 16, 2017 -
CultureSplitscreen
The Xbox One X Is A Tough Sell
The Xbox One X does exactly what it’s meant to do, but who is it for? Is it worth buying the most powerful game console ever? Let’s discuss on today’s Kotaku Splitscreen First Kirk and I talk about World of Warcraft Classic, the end of Miiverse, and whether the video game industry is really unsustainable.…
By Jason Schreier Published November 12, 2017 -
What Is The Plural Of Xbox One X? [Update]
Look, I’m not suggesting that many people are going to buy more than one Xbox One X console. But if you did… how would you say that? The question of how to pluralize “Xbox One X” came up today in Kotaku’s work Slack. I asked Microsoft PR for their official stance, though I haven’t yet…
By Kirk Hamilton Published November 7, 2017 -
Fans Unhappy As Some Amazon Xbox One X Pre-Orders Miss Launch Day
Some frustrated Amazon customers are complaining that their Xbox One X pre-orders aren’t scheduled to arrive today, which is the launch day for the spanking new console. Fans rushed to pre-order the “world’s most powerful console” months ago so they’d be able to scale 4K pyramids in Assassin’s Creed Origins moments after getting home from…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published November 7, 2017 -
The Reason Why The Xbox One X Is Selling Out In Japan
Early this morning, a sign went up in front of the Yodobashi Camera in Tokyo’s Akihabara. It read 完売 (kanbai), which means “sold out.” This is just one of several stores across Japan that have sold through their stock. There is a reason for that, and that reason is that they’re only selling preorders. As…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 7, 2017 -
Cuphead Developers Talk Cut Bosses And What’s In The Cups
Designing a game that manages to be both tough and fun is a difficult task, but Cuphead designers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, along with the rest of StudioMDHR, managed to pull it off. I spoke with the two brothers over the phone to learn about boss design, cut concepts, and life after a successful indie…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 3, 2017