I’m barely a minute into the premiere episode of HBO’s TV treatment for The Last of Us and I’m already uncomfortable. No one’s died yet, and no one’s speaking in a cringe-worthy Texas accent, but as two experts chat about the threats to human society from airborne illnesses, I realize that I’m not quite sure if I’m in…
Source: Kotaku – The Last Of Us Makes For Good TV, But It’s A Tough Watch After A Real Pandemic
Following rumors earlier this week from Sky News, tech giant Microsoft has announced a slew of layoffs affecting 10,000 workers, some within its game studios, blaming slowing e-commerce sales and a potential economic recession. Kotaku has confirmed that a number of developers at 343 Industries, The Coalition, and…
Source: Kotaku – Microsoft Slashes 10K Jobs, Including At Xbox And Halo Studios
Last month, Fortnite’s newest season, Chapter 4 Season 1, started. With it came some big changes, fresh content, and a new island to explore. Most of the new stuff this season has been great! But one change to how quests work has frustrated some players, myself included, and while Epic’s recent attempts to fix this…
Source: Kotaku – Fortnite’s New Weekly Quest System Sucks, Even With Changes
Action games are often like rock music: it’s hard to pinpoint one definable essence, and most borrow liberally from other genres. That said, the genre is often at its best when you don’t have too many mechanics to memorize, and can mostly rely on your wits and your reaction time to get through each challenge.
Source: Kotaku – 16 Of The Best Action Games You Can Play In 2023
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot faced tough questions from some exhausted and fed-up staff about recent missteps and future plans in a company-wide Q&A session on Wednesday. The meeting comes just a week after the Assassin’s Creed publisher announced new cancellations, delays, and cost-cutting measures, and told employees…
Source: Kotaku – Ubisoft Devs Grill Boss On Shifting Blame And Chasing Trends
Yesterday, Blizzard announced the latest event for Overwatch 2. In celebration of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rabbit seasonal event brings some holiday-themed stylings across maps, and some returning game modes. But a lack of compelling and earnable skins and cosmetics has fans disappointed, pining for the…
Source: Kotaku – Overwatch 2’s Year Of The Rabbit Event Is Already Disappointing Fans
The original Mass Effect is coming up on its 16th anniversary this year, but even now, new secrets are being revealed about BioWare’s science fiction RPG. That’s because Series Director Casey Hudson has confirmed the first game’s iconic text intro is actually an homage to the 1986 movie Top Gun.
Source: Kotaku – It’s Taken 16 Years For Us To Realize Mass Effect’s Intro Is Literally Top Gun
As Google prepares to kill off its Stadia streaming service for good, there have been a few parting gifts to emerge from its demise. Users got a final game, along with the ability to unlock the Bluetooth capabilities of their controllers (even if that was something they should have been able to do from day one), but…
Source: Kotaku – Dead Stadia Game Lives On Through Sneaky Steam Update
Over the past few years, the minimum amount of RAM you’d need to play the latest games on PC has been somewhere around the 8-16GB ballpark. Unless, that is, you’re talking about some very weird outliers, both of which are also games from, or appearing on, the PlayStation 5.
Source: Kotaku – The Specs For Some PC Games Are Getting Out Of Control
The decade-old PlayStation 4, released all the way back in 2013, has continued to receive big, new exclusives from Sony, even if those old-gen ports feel outdated or inferior. But now, it finally seems like Sony is ready to move on and leave the aging PS4 behind. Well, almost ready…
Source: Kotaku – Sony Might Finally Be Ready To Focus On PS5 Games (And Ditch PS4)
Ubisoft hasn’t had the best couple of years. A string of flops and disappointments means the company isn’t in the best shape as it heads into 2023, so in an attempt to get everyone firing last week CEO Yves Guillemot sent an email to staff telling them “The ball is in your court”. It did not go down well.
Source: Kotaku – Ubisoft Employees Asked To Strike Over CEO’s Comments, Pay Demands
In the down moments of playing a distressingly long Mario Party 2 game this weekend—my friends get a garbage truck full of NES and Super NES games with their Nintendo Switch Online membership—I started wondering what other retro games were only a download away on publishers’ official storefronts.
Source: Kotaku – 5 Classic Retro Games You Can Play For Free
Like Charizard and Cinderace before it, Greninja is coming to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet through a seven-star tera raid at the end of the month. The limited time event will give you and your friends a chance to catch the Kalos water starter, but it will be a tough battle. While we still don’t know what Greninja’s…
Source: Kotaku – The Best Way To Get Pokémon Scarlet And Violet’s Only Greninja
The upcoming Rainbow Six film from Paramount, starring Michael B. Jordan, has a director: Chad Stahelski. He’s best known for his work on the popular John Wick films and will produce the movie alongside Jordan, who stars as John Clark, a popular character from Tom Clancy’s books.
Source: Kotaku – Rainbow Six Film In Works From John Wick Director And Michael B. Jordan
Now that 2022 is over (thank God), the NPD group has done its thing, collecting and processing all the resulting sales data. Now we can look back at the last 12 months and see what games and consoles sold best, and how much money people spent on this stuff. Shocking nobody, Nintendo had another successful year while …
Source: Kotaku – Switch Dominated 2022 Sales, And Modern Warfare 2 Beat Elden Ring
It’s not possible to play every game. Over 25 years of games criticism, I’ve played a frightening number, although there will always be big-name gaps. But when it comes to The Last of Us, it was a very deliberate choice on my part.
Source: Kotaku – The Last Of Us’ Famous Intro Is Handled So Much Better In The TV Show
Fire Emblem Three Houses was adored by many for its detailed characters, intricate relationship building, and consequential story choices. The series’ strategy combat was still there, but hardly the main attraction. Based on early reviews, it sounds like Fire Emblem Engage flips the tables, rewarding fans of the…
Source: Kotaku – Fire Emblem Engage May Be The Meaty Tactical RPG Fans Are Hungry For
We’re only two episodes deep into A-1 Pictures’ anime adaptation of Nier: Automata and it’s already got viewers putting on their thinking caps and deciphering secret coded messages.
Source: Kotaku – The Nier: Automata Anime Has Secret Codes In It Because Of Course It Does
