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CulturePAX Cancels Controversial Hosts’ Live Podcast, Won’t Say Why [Update]
The Seattle gaming convention PAX West has canceled a planned live recording of the “Sacred Symbols” gaming podcast, hosted by politically controversial commentators Colin Moriarty and Chris “Ray Gun” Maldonado, that was set to take place at the show on September 2. It hasn’t yet given a reason for the cancellation, which has caused a…
By Ethan Gach -
The beautiful blocky destruction game Riverbond is getting ported to Switch later this year. Like so many interesting games that get overshadowed on other platforms, Riverbond’s arcade-y four-player dungeoneering feels perfect for Switch. Plus, it’ll arrive alongside some new DLC world.
By Ethan Gach -
CultureDestiny 2 Players Are Having Fun Punching Raid Bosses To Death
Destiny 2’s raid boss fights are supposed to be brutal, drawn-out affairs. They take a while to complete even for stronger players. Over the weekend, though, Destiny players discovered a character build that can be used to kill any raid boss with just a few punches. The build is by Gladd, who we’ve reported on…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureTwitch Uses Mario Reference To Let Viewers Know Ninja Left
Last Thursday, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins announced he was leaving Twitch to stream exclusively on Mixer. Twitch has subsequently added a tongue-in-cheek reference to the original Super Mario Bros. at the top of his channel to mark the popular streamer’s departure. “The Ninja you’re looking for is in another castle,” a banner at the top of…
By Ethan Gach -
EsportsSmash Bros. Takes Center Stage At The Biggest Fighting Game Event Of The Year
For the first time since it was released in 2016, Street Fighter V won’t be the final headlining event that concludes the Evolution Championship Series this weekend. Instead, that honor goes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is the first time in the history of the series that it’s ever received top-billing at the event.…
By Ethan Gach -
Eliza is a visual novel from Zachtronics, developer of Opus Magnum and EXAPUNKS, coming to Steam August 12. If you’re familiar with Zachtronics’ games, you know they always have a weird twist, and sure enough Eliza revolves around an AI-powerd counseling app and the human forced to be a proxy for it.
By Ethan Gach -
CultureGameStop Lays Off Dozens Of Regional Managers As It Searches For A Future
On Tuesday, several GameStop employees took to Reddit to report that their regional sales supervisors had been laid off. These anecdotal reports, combined with tips to Kotaku about some layoffs, have since been bolstered by an email from GameStop management, whose authenticity Kotaku has confirmed, that surfaced stating more than 50 people had been let…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureThe Original Diablo Is Now Playable In Your Browser
The sanctity of this place has been fouled! Released back in 1996, the original Diablo has never gotten as much attention as its successors. That’s one of the reasons a group of programmers took it upon themselves to reverse engineer the game’s source code to make it possible for others to port it to web…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureElectronic Arts Says Its Customers Just Aren’t That Interested In Switch Versions
The Sims on Switch seems like a no-brainer. It’s a chill game about managing the daily life of virtual human beings where high-end graphics and framerate don’t really matter. In a recent earnings call, however, the head of Electronic Arts explained why the publisher sees things differently, and why it hasn’t brought The Sims—or much…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Didn’t Think The Surge Was For Me Until I Saw It In A Netflix Show
I had no intention of ever playing The Surge. It looked boring, overly familiar, and mostly desolate, like a dozen other third-person action games by studios I’d never really heard of in which some dude, always some dude, is on a mission to wreck shit up because that’s what’s supposed to make for a cool…
By Ethan Gach -
EsportsRick Fox Accuses Fellow Esports Organization Investor Of Trying To ‘Engineer A Firesale’
In a new interview with The Richard Lewis Show, Rick Fox accused fellow Team Echo Fox investor Amit Raizada of being a “bully,” “self-dealing,” and holding the company “hostage.” “For me, unfortunately, two years in I discover the nature of who he is, and shame on me for not going to Google,” Fox said during the…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsTactical Strategy Game Mutant Year Zero Looks Like A PS2 Game On Switch [Update]
What the duck am I looking at? Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden was one of last year’s surprise delights. Now it’s out on Switch, which should be a great thing. There’s just one problem: It looks really bad. [Update – 10:23, July 31]: The Switch version of Mutant Year Zero got a patch yesterday…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsVivid Painting Adventure Concrete Genie Will Release On PS4 In October
After being delayed earlier this year, Sony’s painterly puzzle platformer Concrete Genie will finally come to PS4 on October 8 for $30. Kotaku first previewed Concrete Genie, created by one of Sony’s tiniest first-party studios, PixelOpus, back at E3 2017. At the time, the game’s creative director Dominic Robilliard said the idea was originally born…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureTwo Years Later, Minecraft Still Doesn’t Have Its Xbox One X Graphics Enhancements
The Super Duper Graphics Pack for Minecraft was announced at E3 2017. Just over two years later, it’s still never been released, and there has been little news about the update’s progress. Back in 2017, the team sounded optimistic. “Today we’re revealing a new look for Minecraft that we’re super duper excited for you to…
By Ethan Gach