Kotaku
Forspoken Fails To Credit Localizers, Quality Assurance Testers
Forspoken, the newest action-adventure romp from developer Luminous Productions, caught flack online after failing to fully list its localization and quality assurance teams.
KotakuKotakuRick And Morty Ditches Roiland, Recasting Voices Following Domestic Abuse Allegations
The main voice behind Rick and Morty won’t be returning in season seven. Adult Swim announced on Tuesday that it would cut ties with series co-creator Justin Roiland, a decision that comes just weeks after news first surfaced that he was facing two felony domestic abuse charges from 2020.
KotakuOverwatch 2's ‘Sexual Harassment Simulator’ Mode Made A Brief Return
Trigger warning: sexual assault and harassment.
KotakuThe World's Biggest Chess Site Is Popping Off So Much, Fans Can't Play
The halcyon days (if there ever were any) of the covid pandemic can still be felt today with the resurging popularity of online chess. However, the world’s largest chess website has become a victim of the king’s game’s success because its servers are struggling to meet the game’s online popularity.
KotakuWashington Post Shutting Down Gaming Section Amid Wider Layoffs
The Washington Post imposed more layoffs on Tuesday just a week after owner Jeff Bezos visited its Washington D.C. office. Among the ritual sacrifices will be Launcher, the newspaper’s burgeoning gaming section, which routinely broke important news stories, landed big interviews, and asked the tough questions.
KotakuNew AI Tech Gives Twitch Streamers Constant, Creepy Eye Contact
Nvidia’s come up with new AI-powered tech that swaps out your real eyes for digital ones that will never stop looking at your webcam. It’s very creepy, and one more sign of how unnatural you have to act online to become a popular streamer in 2023.
KotakuThe 11 Best Metroidvanias To Get Lost In Right Now
The Metroidvania is by far the most esoterically named genre of video games. A portmanteau of Metroid and Castlevania, it pretty much boils down to: non-linear platform games with ability-gated exploration. Or, you know, you explore until you reach a point that requires a skill you’ve yet to pick up.
KotakuBlizzard Boston Devs Blame Boss For Torpedoing Union
Workers at Proletariat Studio, also known as Blizzard Boston, won’t be unionizing after all. The Communications Workers of America Union announced on Tuesday that it will pull its petition for a union election, and blames Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak for treating workers’ organizing efforts as a personal betrayal and…
KotakuTwitter Keeps Sharing 'Useless' Video Game Knowledge That's Actually Amazing
It’s right there in the Bible—ask, and it will be given to you. It’s also right there on gaming Twitter, where the small gaming podcast Super Pod Saga posed an innocent question on January 15 and people showed up to respond in droves: “What is the most useless piece of video game knowledge you know?”
KotakuThe Last Of Us Show Might Be Better If It Worked More Like The Game
Though HBO’s The Last of Us largely preserves the story and lore of the original game, it rarely seems interested in adapting the actual things most players spend time doing when playing The Last of Us. In prioritizing the game’s narrative over depicting specific gameplay mechanics, there’s a tension told through the…
KotakuTwitch Streamer Plays Elden Ring Using Only Her Brain
When you tune into Twitch streamer Perrikaryal’s channel, you might see her playing FromSoftware’s role-playing game epic Elden Ring with fourteen, unfamiliar black sensors stuck to her scalp. It’s her—as she said during an informational stream earlier today—“just for fun” electroencephalogram (EEG) device, something…
KotakuLeague of Legends Source Code Hacked, Riot Refuses To Pay Blackmail
On Tuesday, Riot Games announced that the source code for both League of Legends and Team Fight Tactics was stolen, and that it would not be paying the ransom demanded by hackers to get it back. It’s the latest in a spree of data breaches at big game companies, and means both games could be increasingly vulnerable to…
KotakuThe Week In Games: Magical Parkour And Spooky Spaceships
KotakuOur Favorite Cosplay From Holiday Matsuri
Holiday Matsuri is one of the coolest cosplay shows on the North American calendar. Taking place in Florida in December, the location means that instead of shivering inside a convention centre somewhere freezing their asses off, attendees are instead free to hit the pool, and the timing means we get to see a bunch of…
KotakuBlizzard's 'Workplace Ranking' For Employees Sounds Like Hell
A story ran on Bloomberg earlier today with the headline “Blizzard Manager Departs In Protest of Employee Ranking System”. It sounds very businessy, maybe something that would land on the Linkedin news feed of a HR manager, but the stuff it’s describing is important because it sounds absolutely dystopian.
KotakuPersona 3 & 4 Translators Left Out Of Game's Credits
When Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden were released on new platforms last week, much was made of the fact that for the first time ever the latter was going to feature French, Italian, German and Spanish subtitles. That was great news for European fans, but the people most responsible for this achievement aren’t…
KotakuTop Smash Ultimate Player Throws Controller At Tournament, Sparks 'Privilege' Discourse
Genesis 9, a major fighting game tournament, took place over the weekend. There were stellar combos and massive upsets as the supermajor event for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate concluded on January 22. Unfortunately, while the tournament was underway, one of Canada’s top Kazuya players, Michael “Riddles” Kim,…
KotakuIt’s The Best Time Of Year For This Cozy, Slow Burn Game
I’m sure that indie studio Mojiken’s supernatural slice-of-life A Space for the Unbound is the perfect game to play when it’s raining outside. It’s set in a pixel-y, 1990’s Indonesia, where everything is tinged in an evocative seafoam green, flanked by a low, hot sun and pink clouds. It gives you an attractive, dry…
Kotaku10 Manga You Should Read If You Loved Chainsaw Man
The Makima simps of the world are no doubt going through rough post-season withdrawals now that Chainsaw Man Tuesdays are a thing of the past. If you’re in dire need of something to read that’s in the same wheelhouse as Tatsuki Fujimoto’s magnum opus, you’re in luck, because we’ve got a list of bizarre manga for you…
KotakuDisney Fans Are Selling Splash Mountain Water After Ride Closes
Popular Disney World ride Splash Mountain—based on animated scenes from the controversial 1960s Disney film, Song of the South—has shut down. A lot of people loved the ride, which dated back to 1992, so it makes sense that yesterday, Disney adults and superfans alike crowded the park all in an effort to ride Splash…
KotakuThe Big Ways The Last Of Us Show Changes The Game’s Lore
The Last of Us’ TV adaptation is a rare bird in terms of staying true to its source material—particularly when it comes to video games. But even a show that aims to be as authentic as HBO’s treatment of the hit PlayStation series needs to make a few changes to adapt to a different form of storytelling. After the…
KotakuMarvel’s Avengers Is Dying, But Spider-Man Remains Trapped On PlayStation
Late last week, Square Enix announced that its beleaguered2020 live-service game, Marvel’s Avengers, will no longer receive new content or major updates after March 31. And all official support for the game will end on September 30, 2023, with digital sales ending on that date too. While you’ll still be able to play…
KotakuAmerican Dictionary Buys Beloved Wordle Clone Quordle
_Quordl_e is one of the more popular and difficult Wordle clones out there. Instead of solving just one linguistic brain teaser a day, you have to solve four puzzles simultaneously. And now it’s owned by Merriam-Webster, a dictionary company that appears to increasingly be pivoting from definitions to online games.
KotakuThe PS5’s Luxe New Controller Might Be A Game Changer (If You Can Afford It)
I’ve spent about a dozen hours playing games with the new DualSense Edge. At first, all the modular PlayStation 5 controller’s new bells and whistles feel extremely superfluous to me. I‘ve been playing video games on standard controllers all my life without issue, and even the settings the controller has doesn’t feel…
KotakuPokémon Fan Says US Customs Destroyed $4,000 Classic Game
An original, sealed copy of Pokémon Yellow, reportedly worth nearly $4,000, was ruined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after its seal was not only cracked but its case broken and the front of the box sliced clean off in a wanton display of aggression against collectibles. The owner, who goes by…
KotakuForspoken Release Trailer Exploits Bogus Accolades
Everything about the leadup to the release of Forspoken, Square Enix’s big new open-world action RPG, has been a lowkey mess. But you wouldn’t know that from the launch trailer which stays upbeat on the modern-day magical adventure by taking a bunch of words out of context and spinning them into deceitful accolades.
KotakuHBO’s The Last Of Us Does Tess Dirty
The following contains spoilers for the first two episodes of HBO’s The Last of Us series.
KotakuThe Last Of Us' Second Episode Ends In Tragedy
“You get her there. You keep her alive. And you set everything right. All the shit we did. Please say yes, Joel. Please.”
KotakuThe No-Fly List Has Been Leaked, TSA Investigating 'Cybersecurity Incident'
The Transportation Security Administration’s No-Fly List is one of the most important ledgers in the United States, containing as it does the names of people who are perceived to be of such a threat to national security that they’re not allowed on airplanes. You’d have been forgiven then for thinking that list was a…
KotakuMarvel's Avengers Is Ending Development, Giving Away Cosmetics
This may come as a surprise to the players who abandoned the game long ago and assumed this time had come already, but Crystal Dynamics and publishers Square Enix have announced the impending end of online support for Marvel’s Avengers.