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The Biggest Gaming Disappointments Of 2023

Good job folks, that’s another year down. This year, like so many recent years, was a mess as we continued to deal with the ongoing effects of the pandemic while governments and businesses around the world pretended everything is better now. And now, I can’t even complain about it on Twitter because the site sucks, is…

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What Hacked Files Tell Us About The Studio Behind Spider-Man 2

Insomniac Games quickly established itself as one of the most prolific studios within PlayStation after Sony acquired it for what seems like a bargain at $229 million four years ago. 2020's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, 2021's Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and this year’s Spider-Man 2 showed that the studio could keep…

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Bobby Kotick’s Goodbye Letter Calls Xbox ‘The World’s Most Admired Company’

We knew that Activision Blizzard’s longtime CEO, Bobby Kotick, would be stepping down at the end of this year following Microsoft’s historic acquisition of his company—but we didn’t know that he’d officially leave on the last workday of 2023, technically two days before the end of the year. This tidbit was one of…

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How To View (And Share) Your 2023 Steam Year In Review

Eager to show off just just how much time you spend playing video games? If you use Steam, then you might already know that Valve compiles everyone’s many hours spent in digital realms into a “Steam Year in Review,” which breaks down how many games you’ve played, the percentage of your top games, and other cool stats…

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Steam Keys For This Gaming Disaster Are Being Sold For Hundreds Of Dollars

You thought we were done with The Day Before shenanigans? Think again. Currently, Steam keys for the troubled zombie game are being listed on unauthorized third-party key reseller sites for more than $300. Suffice it to say, you should not spend this much money on this game (or maybe any game?).

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Kenneth Shepard’s Top 10 Games Of 2023

Damn, what a year 2023 was, huh?

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2023's Biggest Video Game Leaks, From Wolverine To GTA

2023 is nearly a wrap. As we close the books on what was an outstanding year of video games, we also note that 2023 was a year rife with something else: leaked information about video games. Oftentimes very big leaks. This year was lousy with them.

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Sad News: Zack Snyder Willing To Direct Live-Action Fortnite Movie

Zack Snyder, Film director and guy-who-spells-Zack-correctly, is out promoting his new Netflix film, Rebel Moon. But because he’s talked about Epic’s popular battle royale shooter Fortnite in the past, people keep asking him about the game and recently, someone wondered if he would be willing to direct a movie based…

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Kotaku Readers Share Their Most Anticipated 2024 Games

We recently asked you, dear Kotaku readers, what your most anticipated games of 2024 might be. The list y’all presented mirrors some of the titles I’m stoked about, but you also shared a bunch of games that weren’t yet on my radar. Thank you for that. Most of all, there appears to be one game we all—myself…

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Xbox Series X Hits All-Time Low Price At Best Buy (You Gotta Hurry)

What if I suggested that you download the Best Buy app? Okay, please don’t close this tab, because you should do so if you want to save almost $60 on the recently discounted Xbox Series X for either you or someone you love—and you have to act fast.

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This Cyberpunk Shooter Makes Bullet-Time Feel Incredible

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Hideo Kojima Is 'Too Tired And Exhausted These Days'

The last few years have been pretty tough both within the game industry and beyond it. Between the pandemic, ongoing wars, greedy corporations squeezing money out of us all, politicians becoming even more vile, and a general sense that things aren’t getting better, it’s hard to stay positive. All of this has led to a…

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X-Men Games Will Be Sony Exclusives For More Than A Decade, Leak Reveals

If you haven’t heard, over 1.3 million internal documents from Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games were leaked after Sony didn’t meet ransomware group Rhysida’s demands for $2 million worth of Bitcoin. The documents include early footage of the team’s Wolverine game, the studio’s roadmap for the…

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Massive Hack Reveals New Venom And X-Men Games Coming By 2030

The 1.3 million files leaked as part of the recent ransomware attack on Insomniac Games contain tons of confidential information, including Sony’s projected plans for all of the studio’s upcoming games on PlayStation 5 and beyond. Those alleged roadmaps include a standalone Venom game, a Ratchet and Clank sequel,…

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Wolverine PS5 Gameplay Leaks After Unprecedented Insomniac Games Hack

Well, they’ve done it. The hacker group that breached Sony subsidiary Insomniac Games on December 12, demanding $2 million for the terabytes of data it stole, has published almost all of it online now that Sony has refused to open its wallet. This unprecedented hack contains all kinds of internal documents about the Sp…

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Pokémon Scarlet And Violet’s Legacy Is Squandered Potential

Entire generations of Pokémon history often feel defined by a single game. As wide-ranging as this franchise is—games, anime, trading cards, lifestyle merchandise—Game Freak’s video games provide the single creative wellspring from which everything else springs forth. As such, games like Scarlet and Violet often…

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Pornhub's Most Popular Video Game Character In 2023 Was Chun-Li From... Fortnite?

It shouldn’t be surprising in 2023 that a lot of people watch porn involving video game characters, but exactly who tops the list and why might indeed be unexpected.

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Kotaku Asks: What Are Your Most Anticipated Games Of 2024?

2024 is shaping up to be a stacked year for games. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Tekken 8, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League are all coming out in the first two months of next year. So, Kotaku’s got a question for you, dear reader: what…

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PSA: You Have Another Year To Convert Your Dead Stadia Controller To Bluetooth

Game streaming service Google Stadia (why are you laughing?) shutdown in 2022, leaving behind one mark on the physical realm: its not-too-shabby looking gamepads. Originally intended for Wi-Fi-only connection, after shutting down the Stadia service, Google made sure you could convert the controllers to be used via…

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God Of War: Valhalla DLC Just Got Harder, With One Big Exception

Valhalla, the setting of God of War Ragnarök’s new, free roguelike expansion, is full of tough challenges and fights. And unfortunately, the going’s only going to get tougher as developer Santa Monica Studio just dropped a new patch that tweaks the difficulty of certain encounters—though there is one change that may…

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The State Of Xbox And Game Pass In 2023

On paper, Microsoft did what it needed to do in 2023 to improve on a quiet, somewhat empty 2022. But it also enacted layoffs and took some public beatings in court as it tried to become even bigger.

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The Week In Games: The Best Resident Evil Goes VR And More New Releases

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The 10 Biggest Kotaku Stories Of 2023

What were you loyal Kotaku readers most interested in this year? Despite 2023 offering us scammers in Congress, a megolomaniac destroying one of the most popular social media websites of all time, and a pop star dating an NFL football hero, gamers remained laser-focused on the things that matter most to them as a…

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God of War: Valhalla Ending Is A Hopeful Clue About The Series’ Future

God of War: Ragnarok’s Valhalla DLC packs a lot of story into Kratos and Mimir’s roguelike journey through the titular hall of heroes. With Santa Monica Studio framing the sequel as the end of the series’ Norse mythology arc, there’s been a lingering question of what’s next for Kratos, his son Atreus, and the God of…

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Alan Wake 2, Max Payne Voice Actor James McCaffery Has Passed Away

Today we mourn the loss of another iconic and irreplaceable talent. James McCaffrey, actor and the voice of the titular character Max Payne in the beloved neo-noir shooter games, has passed away. He was 65.

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The 9 Best Games To Play With Family This Holiday

There are so many good reasons to play video games with your family. From just having a great time with invading relatives, to bonding with your children, it’s a boundary-breaking, age-gap traversing activity. Also, it’s an excellent way to fill up the aching stretch of endless Sundays in the back half of December. So…

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Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 Million Bunker Sounds Right Out Of A Video Game

Mark Zuckerberg is worth over $100 billion. What does the world’s sixth-richest person do with all that money, besides lighting lots of it on fire to try to bring a Ready Player One-style metaverse to life? Apparently, he builds a sprawling mansion complex with a massive underground bunker that sounds like a cross…

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Tears Of The Kingdom Devs Reveal The One Zelda Spin-Off They’d Never Make

Though it didn’t snag the GOTY at this year’s Game Awards, there’s no doubting that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one of 2023’s many gaming highlights. Featuring an intuitive and versatile crafting system, players are free to accomplish tasks in the open-world RPG in wild, unexpected ways. But in a…

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Xbox’s Biggest Flop Was A Decade Ahead Of Its Time

The Xbox One stumbled out of the gate when it launched back in 2013. But in the decade since, it’s become a bit easier to appreciate Microsoft’s ambitions and foresight with its third console. It combined a console, streaming device, and Blu-Ray player into the original all-in-one media player. But like Marty McFly…

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The Week's Biggest Game Reviews, From God of War To Pokémon

On the heels of The Game Awards, this week saw the launch of two expansions for fan-fave games: God of War Ragnarok and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. We also took a meaty deep dive into Analogue’s latest and greatest new retro console and did a year-three rundown on the state of the PS5.

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