Xbox

The Problem With The Post-Bungie Halo Campaigns

Halo used to mean quality. Its campaigns were all heroic military sci-fi, full of brilliantly-designed levels and enemies. The multiplayer was some of gaming’s best, supplying pulse-pounding firefights and thrilling victories. There was a time when a new Halo game was a guarantee of greatness. Since developer Bungie moved on and custom Halo house 343…

I Finally Like My Xbox One

I didn’t realize I hated my Xbox One until I loaded Fallout 3 on it and felt all warm and fuzzy when I saw the Xbox 360 logo and heard the Xbox 360 theme. It was Thursday, and it was the first time my Xbox One has ever made me feel warm and fuzzy. All…

It’s Time To Buy A Modern Video Game Console

Hey, you. Gal or guy who’s interested in video games but still doesn’t have a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One (or, of course, the PC equivalent). Now is the time to buy one. In November of 2013, when Sony and Microsoft first launched their video game boxes, it was hard to recommend either of them…

Star Wars Battlefront Impressions: Skimpy Singleplayer, Fun Multiplayer

What is Star Wars Battlefront actually made of? The heavily hyped multiplayer game from the makers got an early release for EA Access subscribers on Xbox One. I dove in on Thursday to see what the game is all about. Battlefront is, not surprisingly, a multiplayer-centric game. Everyone figured that, given that that’s pretty much…

The Xbox One’s New Calendar App Is Surprisingly Useful [UPDATE]

Now here’s a thing I didn’t realize I wanted: an event calendar on my console. There’s a new(ish) Community Calendar app on the Xbox One that is good and could be great. Like so many Xbox One things, this is an app you’ll have to download, then load up from the console’s app directory. It…

Touring Boston’s Freedom Trail in Fallout 4

Approaching Fallout 4 like a tourist isn’t easy. There aren’t as many Bostonians around as there are in present-day Massachusetts, and there are more Super Mutants and feral dogs. (I’m not saying it’s worse in the 23rd century.) Still, there is a sightseeing tour. A version of Boston’s red-brick Freedom Trail is in the game,…

Twenty Hours With Fallout 4

I’m 20 hours into Fallout 4, and I still don’t know whether I like it. That’s a testament to the game’s virtues as well as the game’s failings. I have no plans to stop playing. I’d rather be playing Fallout 4 than typing these words. Yet I still haven’t forgiven the game for taking so…

A Ford-Inspired Xbox Controller Is Actually Pretty Sweet

This isn’t an actual controller, it’s just a marketing stunt by Ford and Microsoft. But, uh, Ford….I would maybe buy this It’s a mock-up for an Elite controller(via Windows Central) that has some specific changes made for driving games, like a custom driving thumbstick, and some racing pedals for triggers. Other touches include a carbon…

Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 will be out on February 23. Popcap’s sequel to its plant-and-zombie-based third-person shooter, which is coming to current-gen consoles and PC, will feature a total of 8 new classes, along with a single-player mode and multiple new multiplayer modes.

New Steampunk Outfits For Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Are Nearly 1GB Each To Download

Here’s a modern day video game mystery we haven’t been able to solve: Why are the download files for new Assassin’s Creed Syndicate outfits so enormous? A new free download that gives players a single Steampunk outfit for Syndicate’s twin protagonist Evie Frye is an 820MB download on Xbox One. The PS4 lists it at…

Halo 5: Guardians: The Kotaku Review

Halo 5: Guardians is the first time I haven’t loved a Halo game. Though, thankfully, the latest chapter in the sci-fi shooter universe has a few things going for it. Development studio 343’s second Halo game since taking on the mantle of responsibility from Bungie three years ago tries to tell the story of a…

What the New Assassin’s Creed Gets Wrong (and Right), According to a Historian

Bob Whitaker, a historian of modern Britain at Louisiana Tech and the host of the YouTube series History Respawned, recommends Assassin’s CreedSyndicate, the entertaining new Ubisoft game set in Victorian London. He likes the way it successfully captures the feel of the British capital in the 19th century, and he particularly likes the way the…

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate‘s DLC Missions Range From Terrible To Great

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s various add-on missions, given to those who preordered the game or who bought it on a specific platform, are wildly uneven in quality. The worst were even advertised in misleading fashion. The best should make Xbox One fans temporarily jealous of PS4 owners. Let’s break this down: The Terrible We’ll get the…

What Halo 5‘s Grunts Talk About When You’re Not Shooting Them

Covenant Grunts have always said silly things in Halo games. Usually they’re chattering away during gunfights. But in their downtime? Halo 5 has answers. In one of the Halo 5 campaign’s non-combat levels, you can eavesdrop on a grunt’s conversation with an Elite. Enjoy that chatter in the clip here: There are a few other…

Nice Brawling Animations, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

Last year I was impressed with a state of the art Assassin’s Creed kiss. This year? The latest Assassin’s Creed team has upped their game with combat animations. Enjoy some ass-kicking and some bone-crunching, folks, especially the finishing animations at the end of each of these clips: Some of the combat animations outside of the…

Xbox Elite Wireless Controller: The Kotaku Review

The first thing you’ll see upon cracking open the box containing Microsoft’s new $150 premium modular Xbox One controller is a carrying case. You’re going to want to keep that. The care and handling of video game controllers in the Fahey household generally involves trying not to leave it on the floor. Packaging is torn…

Halo 5 Day Zero Impressions: Mediocre Campaign, Promising Multiplayer

Halo 5 is beautiful, at times a lot of fun, and at times disappointing. It’s also not yet officially released and is dependent on its multiplayer working well on a large scale. So we’re holding off on a review until well after the game’s October 27 launch. For now, some impressions of one of the…

Our incredibly efficient pals at Lifehacker have posted a wonderfully-detailed comparison of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, to help people decide which to buy. Spoiler: They say you can’t go wrong with either.

Three Minutes of Fighting Over a Half-Naked Man in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

Where is a guy supposed to dump a body around here? Here is a three-minute video—taken from a late-game mission but devoid of spoilers—from Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, a game I quite like. The setup: Jacob Frye, the assassin I’m controlling, has just knocked out a British royal guardsman and stolen his uniform. Next, he’s (we’re?)…

New Assassin’s Creed Changes Series’ Signature Message About Diversity

Since the first Assassin’s Creed in 2007, games in Ubisoft’s history-hopscotching series have always begun with an on-screen message about the diversity of the people who made the game. You see it as the game boots up, before you can play anything. For this year’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the 10th major release in the series,…