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GTA Producer Leslie Benzies Embroiled In $150 Million Lawsuit With Rockstar

The “sabbatical” that former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies was on has proven to be far more complicated than it first appeared. When Kotaku reported that Benzies had left Rockstar North back in January, the company told us he’d been on a sabbatical for several months and had “decided not to return to work for…

The Last Minutes Of World of Warcraft‘s Shuttered Fan Server

On Sunday night, thousands of World of Warcraft players gathered to say goodbye to Nostalrius, the fan-run server that hosted a vanilla version of the iconic MMORPG until Blizzard shut it down. Nostalrius, which we profiled last year, used World of Warcraft v1.12, otherwise known as the game’s latest incarnation before 2006’s Burning Crusade expansion.…

Growing Up On The Seedy Underbelly Of The Internet

“It’s funny, I remember loading Zelda.com, and Zelda.com was definitely a porn website,” Merritt Kopas, author of Internet Murder Revenge Fantasy, recalled. “This was like, early 90’s, so I’m sure Nintendo bought it back, but [it used to be] a porn site.” It’s different in 2016, of course. Nowadays, Zelda.com dutifully tells you about all…

Dark Souls 3 PC Has Crashing Issues, But There’s A Temporary Fix

Dark Souls 3 is already difficult, but on the PC, some users have been hit with an additional frustration: it keeps crashing at the start of the game. After scouring various sources—Twitter, reddit, NeoGAF, Steam—the consensus points to crashes as early as the first bonfire. For the record, I didn’t encounter this problem during my…

Unchained χ Is A Pleasant Little Slice Of Kingdom Hearts

It may be a free-to-play mobile port of a browser-based game, but Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ crams a lot of what series fans love into a tiny space. Prounounced Kingdom Hearts Unchained Chi (Key), the newly-released in North America Android and iOS originated as a Japanese browser game in 2013. Richard Eisenbeis called it “More…

Bravely Second‘s Got Jedi Mind Tricks

In 2014’s Bravely Default, there was no real explanation for the random encounter slider, a toggle you could use to reduce or amplify the rate of invisible enemy attacks. It just kind of existed. The sequel, Bravely Second, does things a bit differently. Early in the 3DS role-playing game, which comes out on Friday, there’s…

Two New Classes Coming To Black Desert Online Next Week

And now the moment I’ve all been waiting for, Korean blade warriors Musa and Maehwa arrive in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Black Desert Online later this month, demonstrating two slightly different ways to mix short bows and swords. The Musa and Maehwa are essentially male and female versions of the same class, similar…

What A 61-Player Civilization V Map Looks Like Without The UI

Civilization Battle Royale MK II is a huge ongoing simulation, with 61 AI players on a giant Civ 5 map of Earth. We wrote about the project before, and seeing some current shots of the map, without the UI, just further proves how crazy it is. Tpangolin, the creator of the project, used a mod…

Age of Empires II Buildings, In LEGO Form

Here are some nice LEGO versions of essential medieval buildings from Age of Empires II by a group of LEGO enthusiasts. An Archery Range by Mark of Falworth and Barracks by Andrew JN above, and a few more below. Great designs (with very good rooftops!) and with the old-school minifigs added, these builds reminds me…

Yep, Unreal Engine 4 Is Still King of Digital Room Porn

Run-of-the-mill room porn is one thing, but it takes something like Unreal Engine 4 to elevate it to a whole new level. This apartment might not exist, but I still really really wanna live there. Or at least go there and stare at things. Maybe take an apple. Unreal Engine 4 apples are nice. The…

Sadly, We Never Got This Minecraft Comic

In 2013, work began on a Minecraft comic, with a theme that was basically “Dragon Ball meets Adventure Time”. It never got close to the finish line, for a variety of reasons, but we can still take a quick look at it thanks to writer Brandon Sheffield, who has shared some of the art and…

Moonlighter is a rogue-lite about a shopkeeper who dreams of becoming a hero. In it, you’ll delve into dungeons, fight monsters, and claim legendary loot… which you’ll then sell in your shop. Gotta pay those bills. It’s currently angling to receive support from Square Enix via their Collective program

What’s this? A proper transport sim with 2016-ish visuals? And it spans 150 years? Exciting

50% Of Rust Characters Are Now Women, Whether Players Want It Or Not

First announced last year, indie survival game Rust has finally starting introducing female player models to the game. And, in true Rust style, is doing so randomly. Just like it did with raceand…dick size, players are being assigned their gender based on their SteamID, which means there’s no way around it. Some of you will…

That Time A Publisher Turned A Teenage Fantasy Into Their Entire Marketing Campaign

There were good reasons for the Fear Effect games to catch your eye during the PlayStation era, including the stylish art and the mature (for the time, anyway!) storytelling. But what most remember is the crass marketing campaign that exaggerated a relationship between the two female leads. The original Fear Effect was released in 2000,…

The Rarest Animation In Super Mario Bros. 3 

Here’s a fun way to amuse yourself on this sleepy Monday afternoon: Supper Mario Broth, an old tumblr page that’s full of cool Nintendo art, screenshots, and trivia. For example: did you know that Super Mario Bros. 3 has an animation that you can only see if you get the Hammer Suit when you’re in…

LEGO Is The Perfect Medium For Telling A Nerd Love Story

LEGO animator Brotherhood Workshop is getting married this week, so he created this charming little LEGO animation to commemorate his wonderfully nerdy relationship with the future Mrs. Workshop. “Best stupid decision ever.” Awwww. How sweet! Though now that I think about it, Mr. Workshop makes these sorts of videos professionally, so it’s sort of like…

Division and Destiny Players: Which Will You Focus On Tomorrow?

For the last month, it’s been pretty easy to play both The Division and Destiny. That changes tomorrow. The Division benefitted from the fact that it launched during a low Destiny ebb. There hadn’t been much new to do in Destiny for months, and plenty of hardcore players (raises hand) had been in the midst…

Final Fantasy XV‘s New Demo Is Delightful

Nearly three years ago, while showcasing what we now know was a game that had barely even started development, the people behind Final Fantasy XV demonstrated a flashy fight between the hero Noctis and a Final Fantasy stalwart, the hulking Iron Giant. We only got bits and pieces of the battle, but what we saw…

Modders Take Ark: Survival Evolved To The Moon

Part of what’s made Ark: Survival Evolved such a big hit is the blend of Stone Age tropes and resource gathering. Players feel like they’re surviving by their wits. Would the same mechanics feel as good on the moon? A new mod aims to give players the chance. Ark: Moon Survival is a conversion mod…