Stray has completely taken over the internet, with seemingly everyone on my timeline currently playing the futuristic feline adventure. But one YouTuber has taken what is, to most folks at least, a fairly chill cat game and made it much harder by figuring out a way to beat the entire game without taking any damage.
Source: Kotaku – Someone Beat Stray Without The Cute Cat Taking Any Damage
Valve’s Steam Deck has been a success so far, its (relatively) modest specs not really an issue when weighed against the size of the screen and the fact you can play it on the bus. But because it’s essentially a small PC, the temptation is always there to improve it.
Source: Kotaku – ‘The Ultimate Steam Deck’ Is Customised Overkill
For the last month or so, TikTok user Tyler Atkin (@ttptng) has been taking parts of his car—like the steering wheel—off and replacing them with Nintendo Wii accessories. Please do not try this at home.
Source: Kotaku – Guy Turns His Mazda Miata Into The Nintendo Wiiata
Over the weekend, a podcast’s rumor suggested that the recently released free-to-play Ubisoft game, Roller Champions, would be canned in the near future. Today, Ubisoft released a statement claiming that isn’t the plan, and attempted to assure people that the game, which most of you totally forgot came out in May, is…
Source: Kotaku – Ubisoft Tries Assuring Everyone Game Nobody Remembers Isn’t Canceled
If you’ve felt uncomfortable about the rice paddy hats in Stray, you aren’t the only one. Stray lifts Asian aesthetics to evoke exoticism and danger, but it doesn’t engage with the history of the city it appropriates. This is especially problematic because its real-world setting carries painful historical baggage that…
Source: Kotaku – Stray Falls Into The Usual Orientalism Pitfalls Of The Cyberpunk Genre
Into the Breach received a kaiju-sized free update last week, formally called Into the Breach: Advanced Edition. It essentially added an entire game on top of the existing base game, which was already one of the best tactical RPGs ever. In other words: RIP my social life.
Source: Kotaku – Into The Breach’s Massive Free Update Feels Like A Sequel
Crack open the door to self-described “kawaii tech creator” Celeste Fleurs’ room, and you’ll suddenly feel as if you’ve been living your life as a strawberry in some Fruity Pebbles cereal. Like countless other gamers online, Fleurs is an expert of “pastel gaming”—a term borne from Japanese kawaii aesthetics, and…
Source: Kotaku – Make The Pastel Gaming Room Of Your Dreams With These Tips From Kawaii Pros
The Xbox Series X/S already boot up incredibly fast, but it turns out they could go even faster. Microsoft is now testing a shorter startup animation to let players take advantage of that speed and get precious seconds of their life back. It’s a modest improvement in the grand scheme of things, but a perfect example…
Source: Kotaku – Booting Up Your Xbox Series X/S Just Got A Little Quicker
A wrestling show held Friday evening provided a great example of how performer demographics are rapidly shifting away from bodybuilders and models and towards nerdy kids who grew up watching them.
Source: Kotaku – Wrestler Savages Opponent With Keyblade Wrapped In Barbed Wire
When Fortnite’s newest season launched recently, I did what I’ve now done many times before: installed the game again, watched the new cutscene, dropped in for a few matches, and stopped. But a day later, something unusual happened: I returned and played some more. And then even more, and more again. And now, I’m a…
Source: Kotaku – I’m Entering My Fortnite Era In 2022, Thanks To No Build And Quests
My method for gauging a game’s popularity doesn’t hinge on parsing sales figures from NPD or concurrent player lists from SteamDB. Nope, my tell is pass-fail: whether or not my mom has texted me about it. Over the past week or so, my mother has asked me more about “the cat game” than any other game I’ve ever covered.…
Source: Kotaku – Stray’s Secret Weapon: A PR Campaign Unlike Any Other In Gaming
Last week a child was playing chess against a robot when, in the words of one official, something “of course bad” happened. According to Russian media reports and a video of the incident, the robot pinched the seven-year-old’s finger and fractured it. Not great!
Source: Kotaku – Chess Robot Breaks Seven Year Old’s Finger, Tourney Official Blames Kid
It’s certainly fair to accuse me of being a latecomer when it comes to Covid-19. Despite the pandemic being my number-one source of crippling anxiety for the last two-and-a-half years, it’s taken me this long to actually contract it all for myself. And pow, it’s taken me out hard. To which I say: Thank God for …
Source: Kotaku – PowerWash Simulator Is Getting Me Through Covid
Shortly after GameStop launched its NFT marketplace earlier this month, one creator started selling an NFT called “Falling Man” mimicking the infamous photograph from September 11, 2001. It changed hands dozens of times, eventually fetching hundreds of dollars, until GameStop quietly removed it sometime over the…
Source: Kotaku – GameStop 9/11 NFT Pulled After Selling Dozens Of Times
Urbek City Builder was released on Steam recently, and being a fan of just about any attempt at a city-building game, I was keen to check it out. What I found after playing for a few days was more surprising than I was expecting!
Source: Kotaku – New City-Building Game Is All About The Voxels
Because Stray is out on PC, there are already mods for the game, and because Stray is a game about cats, a lot of those mods are focusing on that.
Source: Kotaku – Mod Turns The Cat From Stray Into CJ From San Andreas
When Mario Kart: Double Dash was released back in 2003, a major shortcut on one of the game’s tracks—Waluigi Stadium—was discovered almost instantly. The next shortcut wouldn’t be recorded until 2018.
Source: Kotaku – The Incredible Story Of Mario Kart: Double Dash’s Hidden Shortcuts
Summer means many things, including trips to the beach, eating way too much ice cream, going out on vacation, and according to numerous digital stores, large video game sales. I don’t know when the tradition to hold big sales during summer began, but I’m not going to question all the great deals. Instead, I’ll nod…
Source: Kotaku – PlayStation’s Summer Sale Includes Big Discounts On Star Wars, Assassin’s Creed, Batman
Today, scandal-plagued former WWE CEO Vince McMahon announced his retirement from the wrestling dynasty he’s presided over for over four decades.
Source: Kotaku – Vince McMahon Finally Fires Himself, And It’s A Big Deal
