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Mario In Unreal Engine 4 Just Ain’t Right

Would you look at that. Turns out the uncanny valley works both ways. YouTube’s Aryoksini , the guy behind the Blender version of Super Mario 64 from last year, demonstrates why we like our Mario games in colorful cartoon kingdoms and not realistic office buildings, kitchenettes and museums. Aryoksini rebuilt the Mario animations from scratch…

Batman: Arkham Knight PC Benchmarks, For What They’re Worth

Although I didn’t spend much time playing Batman: Arkham Origins, I remember the game rather well after testing it on no less than 30 graphics cards and 20 CPUs. Arkham Origins appeared to take full advantage of Unreal Engine 3, it ran smoothly on affordable GPUs, though it’s worth remembering that Origins was developed for…

The New Persona 5 Trailer is More Anime Than Gameplay

The Persona 4 dancing game came out in Japan this past Thursday. A new trailer for Persona 5 came with it. Sure, more than a bit of the footage in this new trailer is also in the old one, but I for one am excited for each and every glimpse I get at this game.…

Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward Log One: Finally

I’m trying to write my initial Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward expansion MMO log in such a way as to minimize my time away from Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. This is a good sign. Early access for the first major expansion pack to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launched on Friday, June 19. I finally…

Even In Borderlands, Telltale Makes Choices Agonizing

Tales from the Borderlands episode three is out, and it’s good. Really good. As we did with Telltale’s Game of Thrones a while back, I feel like a choice breakdown is in order. Telltale’s games are, after all, largely about choice—even if not every choice has earth-shattering ramifications. But first, some general impressions: I plan…

A Brief History Of Gay Marriage In Video Games

The supreme court wasn’t just copying Fire Emblem when it ruled in favor of same-sex marriage today. Gay unions have been around for quite some time in video games. Let’s look back at marriage equality’s rich history in the virtual world. Fallout 2 Widely regarded as the first video game to allow full-blown gay marriage,…

Worth Reading: An Oral History Of Deus Ex

It’s nearly the weekend, y’all. Grab some coffee—or a beer!—and snuggle up with the games writing from the past week ‘n change. (We skipped an installment because of E3. Sorry about that.) Hey, You Should Read This “Developing Deus Ex – an oral history” by Alex Wawro Depending on the day, my favorite game of…

Shigeru Miyamoto Has Good News For Amiibo Skeptics Like Me

I’m optimistic about many things in gaming, but I’m a confirmed Amiibo skeptic. I fear the day a Zelda dungeon or Smash Bros. character is locked out for those who didn’t purchase the right $13 Amiibo figure. Well, at least I don’t need to fret about the new Star Fox’s use of Amiibos. “In terms…

Bungie Answers (And Avoids) Our Questions On The Future Of Destiny

This past week, there was a lot of controversy surrounding Destiny, a video game in which players travel through space collecting unique resources such as Spinmetal, Helium Filaments, and Red Bull. But before the firestorm started, most Destiny fans were pretty damn stoked about how the game has been evolving. House of Wolves, the latest…

I Played 15 Minutes Of No Man’s Sky

Last Friday, the people who are making No Man’s Sky told me they’d been late to a meeting with Steven Spielberg. The legendary director waited, though, because he—like millions of other people across the world—was fiending to play No Man’s Sky. No pressure, right? The reason Hello Games’ away team was late showing their space…

Civil War Game Pulled From Apple Store Now Doing Great On Steam

Yesterday, Apple pulled a number of games that contained the U.S. Confederate flag from the app store without warning. Today, one of those games is highlighted on Steam’s front page—and players are rallying around it. If you visit Steam store right now, you should be able to see this: Fun fact: Ultimate General: Gettysburg, a…

Kotaku Asks: Monkey Island Designer Ron Gilbert [Q&A Over]

Look behind you, a three-headed monkey! No, wait, that’s just Ron Gilbert, here to answer your questions on Kotaku today. Gilbert, a veteran game designer who helped create some of the greatest adventure games ever—Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, etc.—has been working in video games for over 30 years now, bouncing around…

Sony Games Boss’ Bonus Bloodborne Strategy: E-mailing The Devs For Help

Power can give you an advantage in life. Let’s say, for example, you’re Shuhei Yoshida, avid gamer who happens to also be the head of Sony’s PlayStation game development studios worldwide. And say you’re stuck in a particularly difficult game. Maybe the PS4-exclusive Bloodborne. What to do? You could study the famously-challenging game for clues,…

Heroes Of The Storm Inspired A Character Change In Diablo III

Heroes of the Storm is a Smash Bros.-style mascot brawler for Blizzard’s iconic PC games, meaning the rockstar PC developer borrowed tons of ideas from its other games when crafting HOTS characters. The latest patch for Diablo III shows that creative inspiration works in the opposite direction too. Datamining experts that they are, Blizzard fans…

U.S. Copies Fire Emblem

Paul Krugman Will Punch Your Fucking Teeth In

I wish all articles on economics had Street Fighter style GIFs. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman gets turned into retro-style arcade animations in a sharp-looking Bloomberg piece. Walter Newton did the illustrations—the amazing, amazing illustrations. I have to agree with Boing Boing’s Rob Beschizza, because I just ended up staring at them slack-jawed. [GIF: Bloomberg]…

Why It’s Hard To Be The Leader of Pokémon‘s Team Rocket

There are huge issues in Pokémon’s villainous group Team Rocket’s internal communication as Dorkly’s recent comic shows. And you might’ve thought Jesse and James were stupid… To contact the author of this post, write to: [email protected]

Wargaming has issued a statement in response to the Humble Bundle/World of Warships screw-up that left fans angry. You can see the statement in the updated story here

The Truth About World of Warcraft‘s End Game

Disorganized raid groups, an empty PvP zone, and the ever-growing need for Apexis Crystals. Mooclucking’s funny guide to fresh max level characters seems about right. Patch 6.2 is out for a few days now so we’ll see how things change. Fingers crossed for a fixed Ashran full of people doing PvP! To contact the author…

Humble Bundle Confusion Leads To World Of Warships Anger [Update]

Earlier this month, those helping test the upcoming World of Warships were offered a sweet deal: pay a few bucks for a Humble Bundle and they’d get some swag for the game, including one of its better ships. Loads of fans jumped on the chance. Ten days later, though, the deal has been altered. UPDATE:…