No Man’s Sky consistently contributes to its quest to become one of video games’ greatest redemption stories with regular, important updates, and the next one is no exception. The upcoming Fractal Update is actually going to make Hello Games’ open-universe space sim prettier nearly seven years after its original…
Source: Kotaku – No Man’s Sky Update Boosts Graphics, Adds Cool Stuff
Competitive action RPG Dota 2 remains the second most-played game of all-time on Steam. Naturally, some of those players are cheaters. But this week Valve purged thousands of them from the platform thanks to an extremely clever little rouse: a bit of bogus game code that would only be activated by particular…
Source: Kotaku – Valve Traps And Bans 40,000 Cheaters In Ingenious Way
I know this isn’t the most pressing issue facing the video game community, but I just think it’s funny: someone at Ubisoft has finally got around to fixing a bug that has impacted one particular version of Assassin’s Creed on one specific platform that has been bugging people (or maybe just one person?) for years.
Source: Kotaku – Assassin’s Creed Bug From 2020 Is Finally Getting Fixed
It was announced earlier today that Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s 2022 Game Of The Year For Loads Of People (including most staff at this website), has sold 20 million copies worldwide since its release a year ago. That is a lot.
Source: Kotaku – Elden Ring Sells 20 Million Copies, Makes Excellent Point
For a very long time, Sega’s big arcades were a mainstay of the Akihabara skyline, and some of the main attractions for anyone making a gaming-related pilgrimage through the streets of Tokyo.
Source: Kotaku – Sega’s Iconic Akihabara Arcade is Being Taken Over By A Rival
Starting back in 1998, Grand Theft Auto has become one of the biggest, most successful, and most controversial video game franchises of all time. These open-world action games mix crime, comedy, combat, and cars into some of the most exciting digital sandboxes ever created. Add in some classic radio stations and…
Source: Kotaku – The Best And Worst Part Of Every Grand Theft Auto
Marvel Snap, the immensely popular online card game and winner of Best Mobile Game at The 2022 Game Awards, is going full furry with its latest update.
Source: Kotaku – Marvel Snap Is Going Full Furry With Its New Variant Cards
Remember Devil’s Third? Former Dead or Alive weirdo Tomonobu Itagaki’s 2015 Wii U exclusive combined elements of Gears of War and Ninja Gaiden to create something pretty janky but unlike anything else I’d played at the time. Devil’s Third ultimately flopped, but the idea of a character-action game with first-person…
Source: Kotaku – Wanted: Dead Is 2023’s Jankiest Game, And I Love It
Tohru Okada, the Japanese musician behind the distinctive sound that has accompanied the PlayStation logo in advertisements for a quarter century, has passed away.
Source: Kotaku – The Creator Of PlayStation’s Iconic Logo Sound Has Passed Away
Disturbing accusations of “grooming” and sexual abuse have recently rocked the world of professional chess. Grandmaster Alejandro Ramírez is reportedly currently under investigation by two major chess organizations, as detailed in reports from fellow chess grandmaster and advocate for women’s participation in the…
Source: Kotaku – The World Of Chess Is Having Its Own ‘Me Too’ Moment
Expansions have a way of making Destiny 2 feel like an entirely new game, and Lightfall appears to be no exception. Now less than a week away, the massive update will add lots of new content as well as overhaul the loot shooter in some pretty big ways. Here’s a roundup of everything to expect from Destiny 2: Lightfall…
Source: Kotaku – 15 Big Destiny 2 Changes Coming In Lightfall
Rovio Games announced yesterday that it will remove the paid version of the app from the Google Play Store “due to the game’s impact on our wider games portfolio” on Thursday, February 23. The studio’s other games are all free-to-play titles featuring microtransactions while the original Rovio Classics: Angry Birds…
Source: Kotaku – Angry Birds Game Pulled From Store In The Worst Way
I’m walking the hallowed halls of Hogwarts, accompanied by twinkling classical piano music and random, startling interjections from a raucous moving painting or Peeves the Poltergeist. A student materializes in front of my eyes, shimmering into existence as their Disillusionment Charm fades; the mirrors in the…
Source: Kotaku – The RPG Elements In Hogwarts Legacy Undermine Its Magic
It ain’t easy traveling across the country with folks who don’t have it all together. With the burden of succumbing to brutal violence himself, witnessing harm against folks who don’t deserve it, and remembering the echoes of normal life, the TV version of Joel is revealing something we all knew about Video Game Joel.…
Source: Kotaku – Internet Says ‘Same’ After Seeing Joel In The Last Of Us Show Have Panic Attacks
The Outbound Ghost is a charming turn-based adventure RPG that’s been garnering hype on social media thanks to its cutesy blend of The Legend of Zelda, Paper Mario, and Undertale mechanics. The paper mache game hit Steam in late 2022, but if you look for it there now, you won’t find anything because of a legal fight…
Source: Kotaku – Paper Mario-Like Game Dev Yanks Own Game Offline In Legal Fight
While they are not a hard science, and should be viewed with as much scepticism as (video) gamers would look at a site like Metacritic, it cannot be denied that the user ratings on BoardGameGeek play a huge part in helping people choose which board games to buy, play and/or argue about.
Source: Kotaku – After Five Years, Gloomhaven Loses Top Spot On BoardGameGeek’s Charts
A 16-year-old boy has been detained by Singaporean authorities under the country’s strict new terror laws, after he was found to have been playing on ‘multiple Islamic State-themed servers on Roblox’.
Source: Kotaku – Teen Detained After Playing On ISIS-Themed Roblox Servers
Earlier today, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Xbox boss Phil Spencer talked briefly to the media about its ongoing attempt to consume Activision Blizzard King, continuing once again to act like the larger spat is mostly about Call of Duty. At one point, Smith said he was carrying a contract with him that would keep…
Source: Kotaku – Microsoft President Is Carrying That Giant Sony Call of Duty Deal In Pocket, Weirdly
If you’ve been on Twitter, Steam, Tiktok, or Reddit recently, you may have come across a 3D model of a black-and-white cat. This is Maxwell, and while the cat’s become very popular among modders and gamers over the last few months, its origins date back before 2023. So why is a low-poly model of a cat from years ago…
Source: Kotaku – The Full Story Behind That Spinning Cat You’re Seeing Everywhere Now
Nearly two years after NBA player Meyers Leonard blew up his whole career after shouting an antisemitic slur during a Call of Duty: Warzone livestream, ESPN reports he has signed a 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Source: Kotaku – NBA Player Dropped Over Antisemitic Slur In CoD Gets New Contract