Culture

All These Studios Are Making Xbox Series X Games

During today’s Inside Xbox broadcast, Microsoft revealed a whole host of studios making games for Xbox Series X. Some of the bigger names featured include Crystal Dynamics, Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Capcom, Epic, From Software, Sega, Square Enix, and WB Games. Sarah Bond, head of Xbox partnerships, said that players can look forward to “hundreds”…

This Is What Xbox Series X Graphics Look Like

Here’s what Playism’s Bright Memory: Infinite looks like running on the Xbox Series X, or at least in-game footage representative of Xbox Series X performance. Not too shabby. The first game shown during Microsoft’s Xbox Series X gameplay reveal event was this first-person shooter from developer FYQD-Studio. Note that the official stream version carried a…

Watch The Xbox Series X Gameplay Reveal Live Right Here

This morning Microsoft is giving us our first look at next-generation gameplay on the Xbox Series X, including Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in action. Let’s watch. It should be an interesting show, full of footage from games looking slightly to significantly better than they would on standard Xbox One hardware. Many of the games coming to…

How’s It Going?: Family Edition

It’s Thursday! Time for an Xbox briefing, as well as our daily open thread. Last night, my sister told me my oldest niece wants to become a vegetarian. I stopped eating meat around her age and stuck with it for about 16 years, eventually giving it up when some folks I was staying with out…

HyperX And Ducky Made A Keyboard Baby Together

Taiwanese keyboard maker Ducky and Kingston gaming division HyperX have joined forces to create the HyperX x Ducky One 2 Mini mechanical gaming keyboard, a limited-edition version of one of the most popular mechs on the market. Ducky’s 60 percent One 2 Mini is a ridiculously popular keyboard. Online keyboard shops in the U.S. were…

In Nintendo’s most recent financial statement, the company listed “TBA” for the release of Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel. This shouldn’t be too surprising, but just in case you were wondering, now you know!

Over 11 Million Units Of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sold In Just 11 Days

On March 20, Animal Crossing: New Horizons went on sale. The game moved 1.88 million copies in Japan at launch, surpassing the country’s previous biggest-selling Switch hit at launch, Pokémon Sword and Shield. Worldwide, the game was also a smash—a massive one. According to Nintendo, there have been 11.77 million units of Animal Crossing: New…

RIP EVA-01

Arson Liu is an artist from China. You can see more of Liu’s stuff at his ArtStation page

I Still Can’t Believe We Got Tony Hawk (And Jet Set Radio) On The Game Boy Advance, And They Ruled

These days we’re used to ports on weaker systems featuring a few trimmed edges, maybe some muddier textures, some longer loading times. Like, say, The Witcher 3 on Switch. But in the Game Boy Advance days, when games could get nowhere near GameCube (or even N64) visuals, ports had to get inventive. And few got…

Mario Bros. Masters Set New Arcade High Score While Stuck At Home

Steven Kleisath and Stephen Boyer are no slouches when it comes to Nintendo’s original Mario Bros. platformer. Recently they achieved something truly spectacular, reaching a high score of 1,280,550 while playing the game cooperatively over long distance. Unlike its linear and better known successor Super Mario Bros., 1983’s Mario Bros. is an arcade game where…

That Prince Of Persia Redemption Footage Came From A Real, Canceled Game

A video surfaced online this morning purporting to show footage of an unreleased Prince of Persia game. Bearing the subtitle Redemption, the game appears to feature all the hallmarks of the series’ modern installments, like time-warping shenanigans and creepy sand enemies. Kotaku has learned that Prince of Persia Redemption was indeed a real project at…

Stadia’s Wireless Controllers Can Finally Connect To PC Wirelessly

Google Stadia launched back in November with a wireless controller that could only connect wirelessly to a Chromecast Ultra. Playing on a PC or laptop required a USB connection. An update to the controllers rolled out this week, allowing them to connect wirelessly to any browser-based Stadia client. The Stadia controller is an odd beast.…

How’s It Going?: Spring Edition

We’re halfway to Friday! Welcome back to our daily open thread. I got ramps in my CSA yesterday. Ramps are a much-hyped vegetable that have a really short spring season. I’d only heard about them being a big deal at the farmer’s market, but I’d never actually seen them, much less eaten them—despite my deepest…

PGA Tour 2K21 is in the works. Today Take-Two revealed a teaser for the officially licensed game, developed by HB Studios, makers of The Golf Club 2019. More news is coming May 14. Until then, hooray for golf video games. 

Mortal Kombat 11′s Story Mode Kontinues On May 26, With RoboCop

Great news for fans of Mortal Kombat 11‘s single-player narrative this morning, as Netherrealm Studios revealed Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, an all-new $40 expansion the continues the game’s story and adds new fighters, including returning favorites Fujin and Sheeva and a certain half-man, half-machine, all cop. As Liu Kang prepares to reshape history as his…

Animal Crossing Would Be So Much Better With This Fan-Crafted Quality-Of-Life Update

Wouldn’t Animal Crossing: New Horizons be so much better with the ability to craft multiple items at once, skip repeated dialogue, or open up to visitors from anywhere on your island? YouTuber Nick Ha has put together a trailer for the ultimate Animal Crossing quality-of-life update. If only it were real. Working with a trio…

Track: Here’s Where The Story Ends | Artist: The Sundays | Album: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic 

Big Brain Detective

Aleksander Rostov is art director at ZA/UM, the developers of Disco Elysium You can see more of Aleksander’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Stop Saying “Weed” When You’re Talking About Animal Crossing On Facebook

Facebook is owned by humans but run by machines, and those machines are unable to differentiate between a “weed”, a thing that grows in the ground in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing (and, I guess, in real life), and the other “weed”. As Polygon report, numerous private Facebook groups have begun warning users to avoid using the…

Wind Waker’s Ending Was Incredibly Badass

My kids have started playing Wind Waker recently—for the record, my favourite game of all time—and it’s been a joy seeing them encounter everything for the first time. Gasping at Aryll’s abduction, laughing at the Killer Bees, screaming “this stealth level is the worst I hate it”. I wonder, though, what they’ll make of the…