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The Year In Ships, 2017

In fandom, the rules of fiction don’t matter, or at least matter a lot less. This is what allows shipping to exist, where fans write fanfiction, draw fanart, and get enthusiastic by a couple that may never happen in the game’s canon. Fandoms for video games this year were enthusiastic and loud, and sometimes cropped…

The Switch Gets An Excellent 2D Zelda Clone Today

Nintendo has not yet released a two-dimensional Zelda game for the Switch, but Blossom Tales is as close as you’re gonna get. If you’re looking for a new action-adventure to scratch that Link to the Past itch, this one’s for you. Blossom Tales, which came out for Steam earlier this year but is now on…

The Biggest Video Game Disappointments Of 2017

This year, some things were unexpectedly good. But a lot of things sucked, too. Let’s put all those sucky things into a big list. As we do every year at Kotaku, it’s time to take a look back on the highs and lows of the last 12 months. Today, we’ll focus on the lows. (See:…

Virtual reality just lost another big exclusive. Ubisoft’s cross-platform starship simulator Star Trek Bridge Crew, one of my favorite games of the year, has been patched to be playable without VR. That’s great news for Star Trek fans without virtual reality headsets, not-so-great news for VR in general.

Five Things That Are Still Broken In Battlegrounds Even After ‘Launch’

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is finally, officially released. After such a rich life in early access—a life haunted by glitches and server outages—I bet you’re wondering how Battlegrounds is holding up after its 1.0 debut. Well, Battlegrounds in 1.0 is still the glitchy, adrenaline-filled, totally random game that has seduced millions. I love this game as much…

Nintendo Power Comes Back In Podcast Form

Nintendo Power magazine ceased publishing at the end of 2012. It was a nostalgic time full of sad goodbyes and fond memories. Its last cover was even a call-back to the first issue, where Mario pounds his fist triumphantly into the air while standing on a mushroom. But today, on the five-year anniversary of its…

Breath Of The Wild iMessage Stickers Make Texting An Adventure

There is nothing you have to say that cannot be said with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s new animated iMessage stickers. Released today on iTunes for $1.99, the official Breath of the Wild sticker set features 24 animations to use in place of ponderous words while texting with your friends or loved…

Apple Says Apps Must Now Disclose Odds For Loot Boxes

Apple announced a sweeping revision to the guidelines for its App Store yesterday, which now includes a provision that loot boxes must be transparent about their odds. “Apps offering ‘loot boxes’ or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to…

One of Fallout 4‘s most popular mods is getting an expansion. Sim Settlements, which has been downloaded over a million times, lets you direct settlers in the construction of their own unique, living towns that they, not you, build. The expansion will add more personality and variety to that system. It looks so good that…

Please Bring Back Star Wars Space Shooters

Hello. Are you a Disney executive, passing a few minutes downtime between acquisitions and layoffs? Maybe you work at EA, and are trying to work out how to salvage your brand’s Star Wars efforts after the disaster that is Battlefront II. Here’s a free idea: make another space shooter. If you’re new to this concept—maybe…

The Story Of Dwarf Fortress’ Loneliest Necromancer

Dwarf Fortress is an incredible, absurd game. Sometimes the funniest parts of your game are buried somewhere you’ll never see. Last night, for example, I discovered a tale of the world’s loneliest dwarf necromancer. When you start a game of Dwarf Fortress, you must first create a new world. You set parameters like how big…

Hori’s PS4 Fighting Edge Controller Is A Beauty

Back in 2012 we reviewed Hori’s Fighting Edge for the PlayStation 3, a mighty beast of an arcade fighting controller with a fancy programmable touch panel. The PS4 version of the Fighting Edge is still a beast, but it trades the gimmicky touchscreen for brushed aluminum. It looks good. It feels even better. Being only…

Closers Is A Fine Beat ‘Em Up

Free-to-play episodic PC action MMO Closers is a complicated game, filled with complicated menus and all sorts of management minutia, but its core appeal is easy to summarize. Anime teens with psychokinetic powers battle an alien invasion. The rest can be sorted out later. In Closers, a popular Korean game that’s now in open beta…

Woohooing In The Sims Is Actually Horrifying

Woohoo is what sims do in The Sims series instead of having sex. But what is it? You will regret asking that question. In the first Sims game, woohoo didn’t exist. Instead, in a later expansion pack, you could place a vibrating bed, have both sims relax on it, and then have them “play” on…

The More I Play Call of Duty: WWII Zombies, The Less I Like It

I enjoyed Call of Duty: WWII’s Zombies mode when it launched. But now, having dumped over a dozen hours into it, I’m feeling differently. I originallypraised Sledgehammer Games for its scary and gory take on Zombies. There was something really satisfying about returning to the World War II setting with Nazi zombies, ripe for the…

The Best Video Game Surprises Of 2017

This year, a lot of things sucked. But a lot of things were also unexpectedly good! Let’s celebrate those latter things with a big list. As we do every year at Kotaku, it’s time to take a look back on the highs and lows of the last 12 months. (See: the biggest surprises of 2012,…

Enter The Gungeon Is More Forgiving On The Nintendo Switch

Enter The Gungeon released on the Nintendo Switch last week, and they go great together. Despite a few bugs and some little niggling issues with the controls (which are 100% remappable) the overall experience is great. It’s also the most approachable version of the game thanks to some balancing tweaks that haven’t yet hit the…

Heather Alexandra’s Top Ten Games Of 2017

I’ve played approximately two billion video games this year. Narrowing that list down to 10 was a painful and bloody process, but I finally managed to choose my favorite games from one of the most exciting years in recent memory. 10. Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy Getting Over It is the closest we’ll ever…

The Witcher 3 Now Officially Runs At 60 FPS On The Xbox One X

When the Xbox One X launched in November, players discovered the console could run a completely un-patched disc version of The Witcher 3 at 60 frames per second. The Xbox One X update for the game dropped today, giving players a choice of 60 FPS performance or 30 FPS at 4K. Players who download the…

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Finally Comes Out For Real

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the glitchy but charismatic survival shooter that has averaged over one million players in early access, is finally seeing a full release. It’s been a long, wild ride for the genre-defining hit, and with Battlegrounds updating to 1.0 at 2 am ET tomorrow, that ride’s not even close to over. The last-man-standing game…