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After Outcry, Nintendo Says Paper Mario: Color Splash Doesn’t Reference ‘Hate Campaign’

Nintendo has publicly denied that joke from an E3 demo for the upcoming Wii U game Paper Mario: Color Splash is a reference to a harassment campaign that targeted game designer Zoe Quinn. The company says it’s a nod to the Watergate scandal from the 1970s. The jokes drew scrutiny yesterday as they were passed…

Grieving Fans Ask Nintendo To Name Zelda Character After Murdered Singer

Christina Grimmie, the young singer (and former The Voice contestant) who was tragically shot and killed in Orlando earlier this month, was a massive and very vocal fan of the Legend of Zelda series. In the wake of her murder, fans have been asking Nintendo to honour her in an upcoming game. As Timereport, there…

What

What. Update: Chris fixed it.

The Last Guardian‘s Designer Explains How He Stayed Motivated For Nine Years

It’s been nearly 10 years since development started on The Last Guardian, designer Fumito Ueda’s long-anticipated follow-up to Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I caught up with Ueda at E3 to talk about his lengthy journey. The last time I interviewed the 46-year-old designer was several jobs ago. I’d been sent to Japan to…

Shovel Knight Is Still Getting Tons Of Free Stuff

Two years after blowing everyone away with the buttery retro platformer Shovel Knight, the developers at Yacht Club Games just won’t stop releasing free new stuff. First there was the Plague Knight campaign, and now they’re showing offthe playable version of Specter Knight, a shadowy villain who can climb and dash in mid-air. (Both Plague…

Mighty No. 9 Tries Real Hard, But No

I’m at a convention, and across the hall I see a guy in a blue robot suit. It’s Mega Man! I make my way over to get a picture, but as I approach I see that the color’s not quite right, the helmet is rough-cut cardboard and he’s wearing blue jeans. Awkward. Well, since I’m…

An Open Letter To My Jerk Overwatch Teammate

Dear person whose name I already forgot (but it was probably something like xxShadowK1ller or BradTheMadDogBongster), we need to talk. Last night, we were on the same Overwatch team. You may not have noticed me. You seemed pretty preoccupied typing, “YOU GUYS SUCK,” “PUSH HARDER AARGH FUCK,” and “THIS IS BULLSHIT” in chat. I imagine…

Cyberpunk Bartending Game Mixes Waifus With Great Storytelling

Bartending for a delinquent cast of sci-fi characters, it turns out, is the ideal way to world-build a dystopian visual novel/game. VA-11 Hall-A, released yesterday on Steam, offers players the chance to serve up noxious drinks to the sketchy citizens of Glitch City, circa 207X A.D., the kind of place that would star as the…

How To Deal With Dragon Quest VII And Final Fantasy XV Coming Out In The Same Month

You have probably noticed, being the lovely JRPG connoisseur you are, that September is going to be busy. In just that one month we’re going to see new entries from two RPG titans: the 3DS remake of Dragon Quest VII, on September 16, and the boy band simulator Final Fantasy XV, on September 30. So…

The Best Games Patrick Played At E3 2016

Though I didn’t get a chance to play that newfangled Legend of Zelda that everyone was raving about, there was plenty to get excited about at E3. Based on scribbles into a notebook, here’s the games that stood out to me. Outlast 2 Let’s act shocked that Patrick was sucked in by a horror game,…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Death Cuddling

If you hadn’t already figured that this week’s ‘Shop Contest would somehow involve naked Norman Reedus from Hideo Kojima’s newly-announced Death Stranding, welcome to Kotaku. Update 6/22/16 — We’ve still got three days left to tuck things into Norman’s loving arms. It was really this or Dad Kratos, and we used Dad Kratos for our…

Remember that ambitious multi-vehicle extreme sports game EA showed a video for at E3 2014? The publisher tells Gamespot the project is dead, with Burnout developer Criterion shifting gears from creating its biggest game ever to helping out on Star Wars titles.

Dream Arcades Wants To Build A Very Fancy Emulator Console

Known for creating full-sized arcade cabinets packed with emulated arcade games, Dream Arcades is getting into the console business with the Dreamcade Replay, bringing arcade and console classics to anything with an HDMI port. The Dreamcade Replay is actually a series of three devices that Dream Arcades is launching on Kickstarter. First there’s the basic…

Seinfeld’s Apartment Recreated in Doom 2

You think you’ve seen everything now? So has John Romero For years now, Doom modders have been doing all sorts of amazing things. (Case in point, Sailor Moon mods.) More recently, they’ve been remaking the new Doom in old Doom games. The latest interesting Doom mod comes from Doug Keener, who has created, well, recreated…

Sony Could (But Probably Won’t) Pay Millions Over Old PS3 Lawsuit

All the way back in 2010, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Sony after the ability to run Linux on the PS3 was removed. Last week, after six years of haggling, the company agreed to pay up. As Ars Technica report, the decision was made last Friday, and—provided the judge agrees to Sony’s terms—will see…

Aww, We’ll Never Get This Benedict Cumberbatch Disney Infinity Figure

Disney Infinity is toast, because Disney manufactured way too many figures nobody wanted and not enough of the ones people did. Which means, sadly, we will never get to pay over the odds on eBay for this excellent Benedict Cumberbatch figure. Well, technically it’s a Doc Strange figure, but I’ve never seen an Infinity figure…

Cold-Blooded, Sonic

So much for love and respect among peers To recap,Mighty No. 9 has not had the smoothest launch. But as was quickly pointed out:

Mighty No. 9’s Designer Says ‘I Own All The Problems That Came With This Game’

Mighty No. 9 designer Keiji Inafune was deeply frank about his latest game’s development troubles on a stream meant to celebrate its launch. It’s not something you hear very often from typically quiet Japanese game developers. After a lengthy series of frustrating delays (and bizarre marketing), Mighty No. 9 launched today on most of the…

Limbo is free today and tomorrow on Steam. It’d be a fun one to replay in anticipation of Playdead’s extremely good follow-up Inside. But mostly: free Limbo!

The Best Games Jason Played At E3 2016

I played a lot of games at E3, an annual whirlwind of demos and announcements that can be as exhausting as it is exciting. Let’s talk about some of them, shall we? Here are brief impressions of the best games I played—not just saw, but actually played—on the show floor in Los Angeles last week.…