Culture

Everything Blizzard Announced During BlizzConline’s Opening Ceremony

It sure as heck isn’t BlizzCon, but until we can safely gather together again in the stew of scents and juices that is a convention hall (so maybe never?), BlizzConline will have to do. Blizzard kicked off the online version of its annual convention today with a handful of announcements that were…less exciting than typical…

Diablo II Remaster Coming To All Major Platforms In 2021

Blizzard kicked off BlizzConline (a portmanteau I whole-heartedly protest) with the announcement everyone has been waiting for: remasters of Diablo II and its Lord of Destruction expansion are coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC this year, all of which will support cross-progression with the others. In…

The Rogue Returns As Diablo IV‘s Latest Class

Having peaced-out at the end of the 1996 original, the bow-wielding rogue hasn’t shown their face around Sanctuary for nearly a quarter of a century. Consider their stealth-imposed exile over—the rogue returns in Diablo IV Announced today during the BlizzCon 2021 keynote, Diablo IV’s rogue is a highly-customizable class that can fight with a bow…

The Blizzard Arcade Collection Bundles Three Classics For $20

Available now for PlayStations, Xboxes, Switch, and PC, the Blizzard Arcade Collection bundles together The Lost Vikings, Rock n’ Roll Racing, and Blackthorne, those early games Blizzard made before the days of Diablo, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft Were it a normal BlizzCon weekend, these three games would be featured in the Blizzard Arcade booth…

World Of Warcraft Leak Includes Showdown With Sylvanas, Burning Crusade Classic [UPDATE: Confirmed]

[Update 5:20 p.m. February 19: During Blizzconline’s opening ceremony, Blizzard debuted the newest story trailer for Shadowlands and a trailer for Burning Crusade Classic confirming some of the information leaked a day prior. Original story follows.] A leak surfacing the day before Blizzconline’s opening ceremonies revealed possible details of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’s first major…

Video Game Studios Across Texas Have Temporarily Closed Due To Winter Storms And Power Outages

Texas, a state whose leadership has long espoused a hyper-individualistic Mad Max apocalypse sort of ethos, has spent the past week putting those ideals to the test. It has not fared well. A record-breaking winter storm led to power outages across the state, as well as food and water shortages. Millions of Texas residents are…

Watch The BlizzCon 2021 Keynote Here

BlizzCon 2021 begins today at 5:00 p.m. ET and according to Blizzard will be about an hour long. This is just the first event of many that Blizzard has planned for BlizzCon 2021. Or as the company calls it, “BlizzConline,” which is a very clunky, silly name. Due to covid-19, Blizzard announced back in September…

Dysfunctional Game Development Comedy Mythic Quest Returns In May

Mythic Quest, the dark workplace comedy about pouring your heart and soul into a creative project only to be undermined by everyone around you, comes back to Apple TV+ for its second season starting May 7, Apple announced today. While the first season saw a game studio fall into chaos as it tried to ship…

Fortnite Gets Street Fighter Crossover [Update]

Update (02/20/2020, 9:05 p.m. ET): Epic Games has confirmed that Fortnite’s next crossover is with the Street Fighter franchise alongside a new trailer. Starting today, this collaboration includes Ryu and Chun-Li player skins, an E. Honda glider, two pickaxe skins, and a bunch of emotes. Our original story follows below. Fortnite has absorbed just about…

Apple Wants Valve To Hand Over A Bunch Of Steam Info For Its Fight With Epic

Epic Games’ legal battle against Apple over App Store fees continues to drag on into ever weirder and more esoteric fronts. The latest development? Apple is actively trying to subpoena years of in-depth sales information from Valve about all of the games listed on Steam, in order to show that Epic has plenty of other…

Strixhaven, Magic: The Gathering’s Newest Set, Is Hogwarts Without The Terf

Do you still love the Harry Potter franchise but absolutely cannot abide supporting its terfy author? If so, Magic: The Gathering’s latest card set, Strixhaven: School of Mages, might be for you. More than being a simple card game played to demoralize your friends, Magic: The Gathering has its own story, with each new card…

Why Do We Call The Hardest Video Game Enemies ‘Bosses,’ Anyway?

In real life, if you encounter a large being hell-bent on beating the crap out of you, you call them “an asshole” or “a fully grown polar bear, but in my backyard, like in those nightmares I have.” In a video game, you call them “a boss.” That’s weird! Plenty of people want to fight…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for angling the monitor away from prying eyes while you attempt to use the power of gem-matching to get snarky anime women to agree to participate in group sex. That, or maybe playing Animal Crossing. In case you missed it or were purposefully avoiding it, HuniePop 2: Double Date came out on…

Bungie Is Looking To Expand The Destiny 2 Universe

Yesterday, Bungie announced some big plans over the next few years, including new offices, new games, and a new leadership team seemingly in charge of branching out the the Destiny 2 universe into other media. “[O]ne of the primary drivers of Bungie’s expansion is to increase the commitment to the long-term development of Destiny 2,…

‘Seven Rings In Hand’ Is The Best Song From One Of Sonic’s Worst Games

Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s ongoing hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to enjoy a song that rocks much harder than the 2007 side-story it sprang from, Sonic and the Secret Rings. No wait, come back. Part of what’s now called the Storybook Series alongside…

Track: Country Road (cover) | Artist: Goose House | Album: N/A 

New Subscription Service Is JUST For Crusader Kings II

While you may be increasingly used to paying a monthly fee to get access to a lot of games, Paradox is trialling a new subscription service where you pay to play just one. Which sounds slightly mad until you realise that one game is Crusader Kings II For $5 a month, you’ll be able to…

Streamer Beats Hades With A Literal Pomegranate

In Hades, the pomegranate is a key item, one that grants you very real power by buffing your abilities. The pomegranate also grants unimaginable power in the real world, at least if you’re the streamer Dylan “Rudeism” Beck. He harnessed the power of ancient fruit to beat the game’s final boss not with a controller…

PC Case That Could Burst Into Flames Officially Recalled

As we reported earlier this month, NZXT’s (admittedly lovely) H1 case had an issue where at a certain point it could literally burst into flames. The company reluctantly apologised, but that process has now progressed into a full “recall” for over 30,000 of the cases. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a full…

Final Fantasy VII Has Been Upscaled To HD Using AI

If you want to play Final Fantasy VII in HD on your PC you could wait for the remake to get ported, or you could play the original game using this mod that employs artificial intelligence to upscale its visuals. While I’ve written about witchcrafty efforts like this previously—with this game, even!—this latest effort by…