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CultureDozens Of Rust Servers Wiped Out In Data Center Fire
A fire that broke out overnight in Strasbourg, France destroyed one of OVHcloud’s data centers and damaged a second, Reuters reports. The French government and Centre Pompidou, which houses a public information library and modern art museum, had their data affected by the fires, as did Facepunch Studios, maker of the online survival game Rust…
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CultureOdds and EndsDestiny 2 Players Stomp Alien Ship To Death
The Fallen Skiff never saw it coming. Destiny 2 players have been dodging laser cannon fire from Fallen ships since the series launched. But unlike every other alien thing in the game, they’re not meant to be destroyed, appearing only briefly in-between hyperspace jumps to drop off fresh fodder for the Destiny loot grind. A…
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CultureGameStop Puts WallStreetBets’ Favorite Rich Guy In Charge Of Figuring Out How To Save It
Just a few weeks ago, it seemed like the GameStop stock frenzy was finally done and dusted. But late last month, it began to rally again and was buoyed this week by the news that former pet food website founder and hero of the WallStreetBets investment subreddit, Ryan “Papa” Cohen, will be put in charge…
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CultureMicrosoft Confirms Some Future Bethesda Games Will Be Exclusive To Xbox And PC [Update]
Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda Software parent company, Zenimax Media, is complete, the company announced today. While the full ramifications of the deal will play out in the months and years to come, Xbox boss Phil Spencer did confirm one thing: some of Bethesda’s future games will be exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms. “With the…
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Tips & GuidesTips For Playing Loop Hero
A lot of people have started playing Loop Hero. How do I know this? It hit 50,000 concurrent users on Steam over the weekend. I was one of them. I’ve now put over 25 hours into the deck-building roguelite, and I have some tips for everyone else who’s just getting started with it. At its…
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CultureRegulators Approve Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Acquisition Of Bethesda Parent Company Zenimax Media
Microsoft’s $7.5 billion purchase of Zenimax Media, parent company of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom maker Bethesda, has cleared another set of hurdles, winning approval to proceed from both the European Commission and US Securities and Exchange Commissions “The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the combined entity’s limited…
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OpinionImpressionsPyra Is My New Favorite Sword Main In Smash Bros. Ultimate
I greeted Pyra and Mythra’s announcement last month with a big sigh. Ugh, more sword fighters? It’s my preferred class in Smash Bros. Ultimate, but even I was beginning to get sick of them. After a couple hours with the new duo, however, I’m pleased to announce my initial skepticism was misplaced. Pyra and Mythra…
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CulturePlayers Are Farming The Heck Out Of The Outriders Demo, So The Devs Are Nerfing It
The new loot shooter Outriders hasn’t even launched yet and players are already hard at work grinding for some of its rarest gear in the game’s recent demo. According to the developers, it’s gotten so out of hand that they need to patch it to make legendary guns harder to farm, before players end up…
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CultureDiablo II: Resurrected Will Work With Your Decades-Old Saves
Have a special Necromancer you’ve been farming Diablo II with for years? There’s good news: Diablo II Resurrected will let you import them to continue commanding armies of the dead over 20 years later. Out later this year on consoles and PC, the new remaster will still work with players’ original save files, Blizzard confirmed…
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CultureValve’s Card Game Is Officially Dead
Artifact has now failed twice. After a messy launch and a failed attempt to reboot it last year, Valve announced today it’s calling it quits on the beleaguered Dota 2 card game. “It’s now been about a year and a half since the current Artifact team began work on a reboot in earnest,” the game’s…
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OpinionImpressionsLoop Hero Is A Wonderful New RPG About Overcoming Despair
Loop Hero is a lot of things: an RPG, a roguelite, an auto-battler, a card game, a city builder, an evocative visual novel. It’s also excellent, and I can’t stop playing it. Developed by Four Quarters (maker of 2015’s brilliant behavioral experiment Please, Don’t Touch Anything) and out today on Steam, the appropriately titled Loop…
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CultureOdds and EndsSakurai Hides Figures Of Unreleased Smash Bros. Fighters In His Desk At Work
In his latest episode of “Mr. Sakurai Presents”, Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed that he often keeps figures of upcoming fighters locked away in a drawer at work while developing them. Not just Amiibo either, but the good stuff. After giving a detailed look at Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s Pyra and Mythra, who are…
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CulturePyra And Mythra Join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Later Today
A new presentation by direct Masahiro Sakurai provides a deeper look at the latest fighters—Pyra and Mythra—being added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later today. Yes, they might be yet another set of sword fighters, but the duo’s complimentary move sets look like a really fun combination. You can see the video below. The Xenoblade…
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CultureActivision Blizzard Hires Bush-Era Torture Apologist As Chief Compliance Officer
Activision Blizzard announced yesterday that Frances F. Townsend, a former George W. Bush-era counterterrorism appointee and torture apologist, would become its new head of compliance, in charge of making sure the company doesn’t run afoul of the varying laws and regulations throughout all of the countries the Call of Duty maker does business in. According…
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CultureMorning MusicLegend Of Mana’s Grand Score Helps Me Take Its BS Seriously
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, it’s time to revisit an obscure PS1 classic from Square Soft’s JRPG heyday, which had some of the chillest city-builder tunes around. I’m talking about Legend of Mana, of course. Legend of Mana (playlist /…
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CultureFinal Fantasy Creator’s New JRPG Lets You Procrastinate With Its Random Encounters
Fantasian, the next game from Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is coming to Apple Aracde later this year. Now we’ve a new trailer finally showing off gameplay of the diorama-based JRPG, including its unique take on random encounters, called the “Dimengeon system.” In classic JRPGs, like the ones Sakaguchi made…
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CultureEpic Games Buys Fall Guys Studio
Epic Games has bought Mediatonic, maker of last year’s hit battle royale Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, the company announced today According to Epic, “gameplay isn’t changing” and the company will continue to support Fall Guys “across platforms,” including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. “Your gameplay isn’t changing and neither is our mission to bring Fall…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryBravely Default 2’s Level Up Screen Is So Satisfying
Sixty hours later I still love watching these numbers go up. Like many other JRPGs, Bravely Default II is extremely long and extremely grindy, but the game is also full of small touches that occasionally punctuate the tedium with joy. One of those is the level up screen. After killing a mob of enemies you…
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CulturePlayStation Store Will Stop Selling Movies Nobody Bought
Have you ever bought a movie or TV show through the PlayStation Store? Me neither. As a result, Sony announced today it will remove them, starting August 31, 2021. “We’ve seen tremendous growth from PlayStation fans using subscription-based and ad-based entertainment streaming services on our consoles,” Sony wrote in a post over on the PlayStation…
By Ethan Gach
Ethan Gach
I'm a senior reporter who's been writing about games and internet culture at Kotaku for almost 10 years. I cover everything from company earnings and player boycotts to emerging trends in gaming like AI, creator economies, and the changing console landscape. You can share story and news tips securely and anonymously at [email protected] or over Signal at +12673263042.
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