Kotaku
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have exploded in popularity in 2021. This sucks. NFTs use blockchain technology to allow artists and creators to sell a “special type of cryptographic token which represents sgomething unique”, so each _token_is one-of-a-kind. Though to be clear: only the token itself is certified as unique. …
Kotaku
At the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, Bethesda’s creative director Todd Howard told an audience that upcoming space-faring RPG _Starfield_will have more than 150,000 lines of dialogue. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. In response to the announcement, some developers at other AAA studios expressed shock at…
Kotaku
Whenever I think about theStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins E3 trailer, the lasting impression of the game isn’t the fact that it is a Final Fantasy game or even its admittedly cool combat. No, the only thing that comes to mind is how the protagonist just _really_wants to kill chaos. But after seeing the…
Kotaku
Yesterday, Twitch announced it will test a new feature that allows streamers and their audiences to pay for heightened visibility. Currently, only a select number of accounts participating in Twitch’s research initiative have access to the feature. Despite this, streamers are, unsurprisingly, not very happy about this…
Kotaku
Amazon’s colonialist resource extraction MMO, New World, is currently the hottest new game on Steam, quite literally in some instances. More than a few players are reporting loud fans and high graphics card temperatures while running the game, and occasionally even just while queueing for it. And then there are the…
Kotaku
Though it’s been barely a month since its official release, Netmarble’s multiverse-spanning mobile Marvel Comics MMO just received its first major update, giving players a new mystical realm to explore, 10 more experience levels to gain, and a dread ruler of the Dark Dimension to smack down for gear and glory.
Kotaku
There’s a scene near the start of the first episode of Korean Netflix phenomenon Squid Game where main character, Seong Gi-hun, is repeatedly trying and failing to get a prize from a claw machine. He’s just been beaten up, lost gambling winnings he’d only possessed for a few minutes, and he’s trying to win a…
Kotaku
The Touryst, first released on Switch in 2019 and Xbox in 2020, has finally made its way over to PS4 and PS5. But the PS5 port of this tropical, adventure-filled puzzler carries a special distinction: It’s the first 8K/60 FPS console game ever officially released. But don’t go rushing out to buy an 8K TV just yet.
Kotaku
“You are a little mouse with a sword! And you really hate crystals!” Is how I would pitch Beast Breaker if I were in a loud bar and a mysterious stranger asked me for a game recommendation. This has not happened to me yet, but maybe it will someday.
Kotaku
Today is World Sake Day. October 1 has traditionally been the start of the brewing season, and Japan marks the day as Nihonshu no Hi (日本酒の日) or, literally, “Sake Day.”
Kotaku
In 2005, Bandai and Namco merged, and the following year, Bandai Namco was born. To mark the new conglomerate, the company got a yellow, red, and orange logo with the company’s name in white font. It’s not a bad look, and stands out among Japanese game companies. But next year, Bandai Namco is getting a redesigned…
Kotaku
Today, in advance of the release of _Battlefield 2042_this November, EA announced the Battlefield Community Charter, a set of guidelines developed with the stated aim of “ensuring Battlefield remains a welcoming experience that encourages Positive Play.” Positive Play is EA’s set of initiatives which aim to “help keep…
Kotaku
Konami’s long-running football simulation series underwent a name change this year, going from PES to eFootball. But this rebranding didn’t cover up the development deficiencies, as evidenced by frustrated Steam fans who are sharing their frustrations for what many say is “the worst football game” ever released.
KotakuI didn’t pay much attention to the anime fighting game Melty Blood: Type Lumina until just yesterday, when the developers made the official announcement that Saber, Fate/Stay Night protagonist and the “King of Knights” herself, would be joining the new game’s roster. After seeing her video gameplay debut, I…
Kotaku
Almost a year after the PS5 and Xbox Series X came out they’re still incredibly hard to find, and expensive, including at Amazon where the monopolistic retailer appears to be selling at least a few Microsoft consoles for roughly $1,000, or twice what they’re actually supposed to cost.
Kotaku
I have a boring ritual. Every few weeks, I make sure to check out the Prime Gaming Rewards page to see what free games are available. Most of the time it’s nothing too exciting, maybe a few good, smaller games along with some totally forgettable things I’ll never play. But October is different. This time Amazon is…
Kotaku
One of the best things about massively multiplayer online role-playing games is that everyone gets to play their own way, using their personal experience to create a story that is uniquely their own. Right now, in Amazon’s New World, my character’s story is all about finding a steady source of salt so I can craft…
Kotaku
It turns out that not only are the Five Nights at Freddy’s creator’s politics problematic, it sounds like he might also be a touch difficult to work with. The film based on the series has lost its director, possibly because Scott Cawthon has a “final cut” mentality to the movie-making process, whatever that means.
Kotaku
Christopher Judge, the voice actor for Kratos in 2018’s God of War, stated that a number of surgeries he required in 2019 resulted in God of War Ragnarok being delayed. In a short, heartwarming series of tweets, he expressed gratitude to Sony Santa Monica, the studio behind the game, for its unwavering support…
Kotaku
Welcome to my mind palace. I was just playing the recent-ish fighting game Guilty Gear Strive, and couldn’t stop noticing how all of the character portraits look like Tinder profiles. So, of course, I have chosen to sit down and create my own tier list, based on how successful and/or good I think these characters…
Kotaku
Bluepoint Games is joining the PlayStation family. For real this time. Three months after Sony let the news slip in a rapidly deleted tweet, the PS5 maker has made it official.
Kotaku
Last month, we reported that Rockstar Games was planning to release a collection of remastered versions of some classic Grand Theft Auto titles later this year. Now it appears that the (still unofficially announced) collection has received an age rating in Korea. This lines up with new information _Kotaku_has heard…
Kotaku
Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced yesterday that the studio behind genre-defining franchises like Halo_and_Destiny would be getting rid of mandatory arbitration clauses in its developer contracts moving forward. The news comes as the anti-worker policies face renewed criticism across the games industry in light of a…
Kotaku
Avid Game Pass users know that new titles come and go on a weekly basis. We took the undertaking upon ourselves to play every new title on Game Pass this month, and three games really stood out from the rest. Check out the video above to see our picks for the best ways to make the most of your monthly subscription.
Kotaku
Free-to-play game Genshin Impact made $2 billion on the Google Play and Apple App stores in its first year. That makes _Genshin Impact_the third most financially successful mobile game in the world, sitting comfortably behind Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile. Excluding sales figures from China, Genshin Impact is the…
Kotaku
“Too many games” season is officially upon us. I’ve been spending more time than usual looking at the video game release calendar lately and marveling at how many of them I’ll be playing on Switch. It’s rarely a bad (or normal) time to be a Nintendo fan, but fall 2021 is shaping up to be a lot better than I had…
Kotaku
As _Kotaku_reported earlier this spring, Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno is writing and directing a new Kamen Rider feature film. It’s called Shin Kamen Rider, and the movie’s first teasers give us a good look at how Anno is bringing the character to life.
Kotaku
Kurtis Lau Wai-kin, better known as “Toyz,” has been arrested in Taipei on suspicion of trafficking marijuana. In Taiwan, marijuana is a class 2 illegal drug, and it carries a severe prison sentence and heavy fines.
While marijuana might be seen as a “soft” drug in the U.S., in Taiwan, it’s not and is classified with…
Kotaku
Giant-bug shoot’em-up game Earth Defense Force 6 has been delayed. Last summer, the PlayStation Blog announced that the game would go on sale this year. On Thursday, it was revealed that the game has been pushed back to 2022.
Kotaku
This 2021 Tokyo Game Show, like last year’s, is an online affair. There is a teeny tiny in-person area with miniscule booths. The public is not allowed in, and even Sony doesn’t have a booth. But you know who does? Ikea.