Kotaku
Donkey Kong Bananza is a 3D action platformer where you can dig holes, build bridges, and experiment in other ways as you burrow through various whimsical worlds on your way toward the planet core. Nintendo was so happy with its deformation tech that it decided to spin it off into an entirely separate artist mode.…
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One of the best aspects of any cozy farming game, even one with JRPG combat and adventuring elements, isn’t the gradual progression of building up a settlement or farmland as you rake in the cash, but the friends you make along the way. Right? No, just me? Well, I enjoy marrying virtual characters in-game, but I…
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FromSoftware has always been a prolific studio, pumping out new spin-offs and sequels at blistering rate without slipping on quality. So, it wouldn’t be a complete shock to hear the studio’s next unannounced game is closer than we think. According to one new report, it’s codenamed “FMC” and releasing before the end of…
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Nintendo has announced a second round of its super-top-secret Playtest Program “related to a service for Nintendo Switch Online.” This time there’s room for four times as many applicants, a total of 40,000, for the playtest taking place from July 28 to August 10. If it’s anything like last year, those spots will be…
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Nintendo made it very clear in 2023 that mobile game Mario Kart Tour would receive no more updates. As part of the company’s mass move away from mobile gaming, the four-year-old app had had its day. But now, almost two years later, the game is receiving a surprise new campaign to celebrate the recent arrival of Switch…
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RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business is a newly released standalone expansion to 2023's surprisingly excellent and charming RoboCop: Rogue City. And while this new RoboCop game is built on the foundation of Rogue City, it lacks a lot of what made the first game so compelling. Still, it is fun to walk into a room…
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The vast majority of esports players use a handle when competing rather than their real name. You probably hear the name SonicFox and immediately think of the professional fighting game player, but might not recognize their real name, Dominique McLean. The practice is probably good for brand awareness, as a lot of…
Kotaku
Months later, Civilization 7 still isn’t quite where it needs to be. It’s getting new updates all the time, but it’s still getting panned by fans for lacking features and feeling incomplete by the 4X strategy series’ standards. Fortunately, Civilization 6 is currently free to claim on Epic games as part of its big…
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I’ll never get to see the Beatles live. I’ll never get to watch a T-Rex run through the jungle. And now I can add one more entry to my list of “Cool shit I missed out on.” I’ll never get a chance to order and then eat McDonald’s mega fries. The universe is cruel.
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The first official trailer for Tron: Ares is here, and it looks like a different but possibly very cool installment in Disney’s cult classic sci-fi franchise. Seeing Tron vehicles and characters enter the real world is neat and—Oh damn it, I totally forgot Jared Leto is, like, the main star of this new Tron movie.
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Rematch is developer Sloclap’s (Sifu, Absolver) latest game. It’s a soccer game (or football for you Europeans)currently in early access. It’s a surprisingly authentic soccer game that takes some creative liberties, such as placing a barrier on the edges of the field so the ball can’t go out of bounds.
Kotaku
Fretless - The Wrath of Riffson is the kind of genre-blending mismatch that’s just crazy enough to work. A turn-based deck-building rhythm game clearly made by musicians with a care for the craft scratches an itch for me that a lot of more straightforward rhythm games don’t. Like Hi-Fi Rush before it, Fretless’…
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When it comes to romance in most cozy video games, you usually wind up dating and marrying someone from town. Maybe they’re nice, but also a little plain. Attractive, but not hot. . Well, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma shakes up this stale formula by letting you romance literal gods of seasons, like Matsuri, the…
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Persona 5: The Phantom X has faced a sudden barrage of criticism in the wake of its western launch. The team at Black Wings Game Studio was met with backlash after it was announced the gacha game would be accelerating its story rollout to catch up to the original Chinese version, and fans discovered they’d been…
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Helldivers 2's latest battle pass rewards went live today and they include some really neat tech. In addition to new laser turrets and electrical grenades, the new Control Group Warbond lets players unlock a dark matter-powered jetpack that lets them blink around the battlefield like Overwatch’s Tracer. It turns out…
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I was recently digging through the PlayStation Store’s upcoming games section when I spotted a clearly AI-generated image of a shark in shoes. “Strange,” I thought to myself. And then I saw another. And then three more. And then even more. That’s when I realized AI slop has fully infested the PSN Store.
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Mortal Kombat II, the second film in Warner Bros. live-action reboot of the fighting game adaptation, got its first trailer today, and I hope you like Johnny Cage, because it looks like he’s the star of the show this time. That’s not terribly surprising, I suppose, given Cage’s love of the spotlight. If nothing else,…
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We’re getting flooded with TV adaptations of popular video game franchises these days, but Assassin’s Creed is a better fit than most. Announced over three years ago, the Netflix show based on the long-running Ubisoft series is finally moving forward, the companies announced today, though the actual release is…
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As is being discussed over on Resetera, a LinkedIn post from Naughty Dog co-founder and lead programmer on the original Crash Bandicoot from 1996, Andrew (Andy) Gavin, dives into a critical difference between the original box-bashing bandicoot experience and Vicarious Visions’ 2017 remakes, which many of us who grew…
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The OneXSugar Sugar 1 was announced earlier this year and is one of the wildest modern gaming handhelds out of China I’ve ever seen. It has multiple screens and a bunch of swinging arms that make it look like a Transformer that spans multiple generations of portable Nintendo hardware. A crowdfunding campaign goes live…
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Part of the original inspiration for Pokémon Go was about getting people out into the real world walking, exploring, and meeting one another as they collect, battle, and raid fictional gyms. But times have changed. There was a whole pandemic. Walking around your neighborhood to endlessly grind for new rewards has lost…
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The Pokémon Company announced back in February that Mega Evolutions, the super-powered form changes introduced in Pokémon X and Y, are coming to the Trading Card Game this year. Now, we know these Pokémon are the stars of one of the next card sets launching in September, simply titled Mega Evolution, and we may have…
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As a Constant Reader of Stephen King’s works, I also find myself a Constant Viewer of the many new television adaptations of his stories. And boy have I been treated of late, with the incredible Mr. Mercedes, the pleasingly chilling Castle Rock, and HBO’s too-quickly-abandoned The Outsider. Now MGM+ has delivered the…
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When the three-year era of Sword & Shield came to an end in January 2023, it went out with a bang. Crown Zenith was a set so great that it spoiled the next year of the hobby, with its stunning pull rates, incredible art, and fan-favorite pocket monsters. For reasons that are impossible to fathom, The Pokémon Company…
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The battlefield just got a whole lot bigger. Off The Grid officially launched on Steam today, meaning players of the cyberpunk battle royale game can now compete across devices to be the last avatar standing.
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Obsidian’s gorgeous fantasy RPG Avowed just got a new patch, promising the usual list of bug fixes and some new features. The game is also now “Verified” for Steam Deck. What’s it like in a portable form factor? Well, it certainly boots up. It’s certainly playable, hitting a semi-decent 30 FPS that doesn’t necessarily…
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Perhaps Pixar has another chance to prove itself with an original movie, before it’s fully relegated to sequels for the rest of time. Next year’s Hoppers has just released its first trailer, and it shows what looks like a delightful talk-to-the-animals movie. But will it be enough to rescue the studio after Elio’s box…
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A retro gaming YouTuber in Italy claims he might end up in court and could even face possible jail time for reviewing Android-powered handheld gaming devices that sometimes come pre-loaded with old games.
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Chess.com is one of the biggest digital chess platforms in the world, with over 100 million members. But as the site has grown and become more popular, it has also attracted naughty players who break the rules and don’t play fair. And these days, according to the site’s Fair Play team, over 100,000 accounts are closed…
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Legendary actor John Malkovich was confirmed to star in Fantastic Four: First Steps months ago and even appeared in the film’s first trailer back in February. Now, it sounds like that is the only time we’re going to see him in the MCU, at least for now, because his role as Red Ghost has been cut from the film.