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Is Detective Pikachu A Cop? Kotaku Investigates

Detective Pikachu Returns is out October 6 on Nintendo Switch (Amazon), and it brings a new mystery for the titular Pokémon investigator to solve. But it also dredges up an old mystery that has plagued the character since his debut in 2016: is Detective Pikachu a cop? Well, the only way to solve a mystery is to look…

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Police Seize 1,000 Cards In Pokémon Counterfeiting Bust

The crackdown on counterfeit Pikachus and Charizards continues. Earlier this week, an investigation by police in Annaka City, Japan led them to a haul of 1,000 cards believed to be fake, including Pokémon trading card game products. The 21-year-old suspect they allegedly belonged to had been caught selling a few of…

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Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 8 Intriguing Games To Greet October With

Happy October. We’re in spooky month territory at long last, even if it has felt a little warm for Fall. Many of us are also looking forward to a three-day weekend here in the States, so that means a nice long chunk of time to get some gaming in—and you can pair it with a pumpkin spice latte!

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CD Projekt Red Spent Over $120 Million Saving Cyberpunk 2077’s Reputation

Cyberpunk 2077’s highly acclaimed and massive expansion, Phantom Liberty, almost feels like its own game. That’s probably because the developers behind the expansion spent over $60 million on developing Phantom Liberty and $21 million on marketing it, bringing the total cost of producing the DLC to about half of…

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The Top 10 Most-Played Games On Steam Deck: September 2023 Edition

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Everybody Hates This YouTube Channel’s AI-Filtered Video Game Faces

Remember Corridor Digital, the Los Angeles-based production studio that made waves a few months back with its AI-generated “Rock Paper Scissors” anime video and the team’s claims that the tech could “democratize” the animation industry? That video wound up pissing off professionals who felt it was effectively just…

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17 Things I Wish I Knew Before Playing Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Ubisoft’s latest entry in the long-running franchise, is out now across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. And unlike recent games in the series, Mirage isn’t some giant 200-hour RPG. Instead, most players will be able to wrap up the main story and most side content in the game in under 25 hours.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel In Early Development, Likely Years Away

Cyberpunk 2077’s first (and only) DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, was just recently released for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. But developer CD Projekt Red is already sharing more details about Cyberpunk 2077’s big-budget sequel, currently known as Project Orion. However, it sounds like it’s still years and…

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Metal Gear Solid Paid Voice Actor Jennifer Hale Only $1,200

Voice actor Jennifer Hale needs little introduction, having gained fame playing characters like Metroid Prime’s Samus Aran, Bastila Shan from Knights of the Old Republic, and of course Mass Effect’s one true Commander Shepard. She’s also known for Konami’s Metal Gear Solid series, in which she’s played the shifty…

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Sony Suffers Two Hacks In Four Months, Thousands Of Employees' Info Exposed

A week after an extortion group called Ransomed.vc claimed to have hacked into Sony’s systems and stolen 3.14GB of data, the company has admitted to a second security breach. This one occurred back in May and involved the personal data of nearly 6,791 current and former employees.

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Your First Look At Multiplayer In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Today’s Call of Duty Next event gave us a solid look at what’s around the corner for the ongoing milsim franchise. Modern Warfare III launches on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Windows on November 10. PlayStation gamers who’ve pre-ordered the game will be able to participate in a multiplayer beta this…

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Diablo IV's Next Season Promises Easier Level Grinding To Win Back Players

Diablo IV’s Season of Blood goes live October 17, and it’s aiming to inject some life back into the loot RPG with blood-sucking foes and quality-of-life fixes. The game’s developers promise players will level up 40 percent more quickly than last season, potentially paving the way for more fun and less grinding.

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Sony Adding Free Movies To Most Expensive Versions Of PlayStation Plus

Today, Sony announced a new app coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles that’ll offer PlayStation Plus Premium and Deluxe members access to a bunch of Sony Pictures Entertainment films.

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Nintendo Confirms Lego Animal Crossing Collab

Nintendo confirmed a rumored Animal Crossing and Lego collaboration in an October 5 teaser trailer.

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New Pokémon Live-Action Drama Gets First Trailer

A Pokémon live-action series is coming to Japan, but it’s not of the Detective Pikachu variety. No, the next Pokémon live-action project will be a drama about a woman trying to find adventure in her life through playing Pokémon, rather than it being set in the Pokémon universe.

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Every Change In Cyberpunk 2077's New 2.01 Patch

CD Projekt Red said it plans to move on from Cyberpunk 2077 now that its big Phantom Liberty DLC and 2.0 systems overhaul are out, but it still has a few things left to patch. A new 2.01 update that went live on October 5 fixed corrupted save issues on PlayStation 5 and a bunch of other issues, including a wrecked cop…

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Dragon Age And Mass Effect Studio Lays Off 50 Devs, Claims Games Are Unaffected [Update]

Storied RPG developer BioWare is downsizing. The studio announced on August 23 that it will cut 50 roles as it continues production on both Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 4, telling fans it needed to take a more “agile and focused” approach to game development.

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Report: Sega Just Canceled Its Most Expensive Game Ever

A new report claims that Sega’s recently canceled online extraction shooter, Hyenas, was the publisher’s most expensive game production ever, beating out even Sega AM2’s historically pricey adventure game Shenmue, which famously cost $70 million in turn-of-the-century dollars to develop.

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Amazon MMO Finally Adds Horses, Skyrockets In Popularity

New World, Amazon Games’ fantasy MMO, has finally added horses to its previously horseless (and entirely mountless) setting of Aeternum. First released in 2021, New World has had players clamoring for rideable critters ever since, and although the privilege of straddling a horse, lion, or other mount, available only…

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Ex-Dragon Age Devs Sue BioWare Over Denying Full Severance

BioWare laid off 50 employees at the end of August. Mary Kirby was one of them. A 17-year veteran of the studio beloved for its story-driven RPGs, Kirby has worked on every Dragon Age game, and her contributions have shown up in some of the series’ most memorable characters and questlines. The franchise is estimated…

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WWE’s Randy Orton Paid Someone $1,000 To Level Up His Elden Ring Character

It’s no secret that the crossover between video games and professional wrestling, be it through the hilarious signs fans bring to events or the intricate wardrobes stars wear into the ring, is a strong one. As such, it’s hardly surprising to learn that WWE’s Randy Orton is an avid gamer who plays Elden Ring on his…

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Diablo IV Is Coming To Steam In 2 Weeks

Today, during Blizzard’s Diablo IV Developer Update livestream, members of the game’s dev team dove right into the myriad changes expected to arrive with the game’s next big update: Season of Blood. But tweaks to loot drops and XP rewards won’t be the only new experience for PC players, as the game is now confirmed to…

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Forza Motorsport Feels So Damn Good

I love racing games, but I’m not really a racing game kind of guy. What that means is I enjoy getting beyond the wheel of a flashy car, whether it’s a half-million-dollar Ferrari or a souped-up Subaru hatchback, and trying to hug turns while grazing past the competition. What I don’t particularly care about is getting…

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Gearbox Is Reviving A Dead Hero Shooter For 3 Days (No, Not Battleborn)

You remember Gigantic, don’t you? The hero shooter from Motiga that was released in 2017 and, uh, died a year later? Well no worries if not, because Gearbox is bringing the ill-fated hero shooter back for a limited-time event from October 5 to 7, 2023.

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Microsoft Bing AI Generates Images Of Kirby Doing 9/11

Microsoft’s Bing Image Creator creator has been around since March, using “AI” technology to generate images based on whatever the user types. You never know where this sort of thing might lead, though, and in recent weeks users have been using the tool to create images of Kirby and other popular characters flying…

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Manga Plus' New Two-Plan Subscription Service Has More Pros Than Cons

Much like TV- and movie-streaming apps with sliding scale price plans, manga-reading services have slowly integrated payment tiers with varying benefits and limitations. Manga Plus by Shueisha, a previously free-to-read manga website with a rather annoying caveat (we’ll get there), is the latest to launch a new…

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Phantom Liberty's New Ending Is The Perfect Coda To Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077’s first and only expansion, Phantom Liberty, introduces a new ending to CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi RPG, and it’s one I have a hard time reconciling with the game as it already exists. Sure, it’s certainly definitive and ends the story in a pretty profound, subversive way, but it also reflects so directly…

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Sombra’s New Overwatch 2 Rework Is Here, And I Hate It

Sombra, Overwatch 2’s hacking, harassing, stealthy damage hero, has been one of my favorite characters on the hero shooter’s roster since I started playing in 2019. Her cloaking and hack-based kit is distinct, and even after her rework leading into Overwatch 2, I’ve still had a lot of fun with her hit-and-run style.…

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Nintendo Will Stop Supporting 3DS And Wii U Online In April 2024

Nintendo will discontinue online service for 3DS and Wii U consoles in April 2024, the company announced in a recent blog. After this point, the 3DS Pokémon storage app Pokémon Bank will be the only software accessible online.

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Red Dead Redemption Can Now Run At 60 Frames Per Second (On PS5)

While the rerelease of Red Dead Redemption via a new port on August 17 of 2023 was great news for fans of the original and those who missed out when the game originally shipped 13 years ago, it was missing some desirable features. At $50 bucks with no option to run at a more modern 60 frames per second, the rerelease…

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