Alongside news that Microsoft is preparing to acquire Activision Blizzard for $70 billion, the Xbox console maker has confirmed that games from the recently troubled Call of Duty and Warcraft publisher will make their way to Xbox Game Pass.
Source: Kotaku – Microsoft Is Bringing Activision Blizzard Games To Game Pass
The NPD Group released its annual tally of gaming sales for 2021 today, pretty much at the very second Microsoft announced it would buy mega-publisher Activision Blizzard for approximately the GDP of Luxembourg. The top-selling console game for 2021 was the same as it is as it is nearly every year: the latest Call of…
Source: Kotaku – PlayStation’s Best-Selling Series Of 2021 Could Become Xbox-Exclusive
Undertale Yellow is a fan-made prequel to the indie RPG that tells the story of Clover, the seventh human who falls into the game’s Underground. Given the go-ahead by Undertale creator Toby Fox back in February 2016, the labor of love is close to achieving its final form, with a new animated teaser trumpeting (or…
Source: Kotaku – Undertale Fan Prequel Six Years In The Making Almost Done, Looks Fantastic
Microsoft revealed a bombshell today: it’s buying embattled Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in the largest gaming industry acquisition ever. That means a lot of things, including that the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, will soon be veteran CEO Bobby Kotick’s new boss. But what that means for the man currently…
Source: Kotaku – Head Of Microsoft Says He’s ‘Grateful’ For Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s ‘Commitment to Real Change’
Japanese actor and pop star Takuya Kimura made his video game debut with Judgment and its sequel Lost Judgment. Apparently, there are unconfirmed plans to adapt the budding franchise into a live-action TV series.
Kimura was previously in a boy band called Smap, but has also been one of Japan’s biggest TV celebs,…
Source: Kotaku – Report: Live-Action Lost Judgment TV Series In The Works
Kazushige Nojima is one of video game’s most famous story and scenario writers. Some of his past credits include Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts I and II, and even Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Adventure Mode, among many others. Recent credits include Final Fantasy VII Remake, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin,…
Source: Kotaku – Final Fantasy VII Writer Doesn’t Want To Talk About His Games On Twitter
Sasha Beliaev is a veteran concept and matte artist who has 25 years of experience in movies, games and even opera, something I don’t think I’ve ever typed out in 10+ years of running this feature.
Source: Kotaku – Hold! Hold!
Back in 2019, in the Before Times, Ukraine-based illustrator Kutty Sark celebrated Inktober with a range of Sailor Moon images that depicted the girls as straight-up witches (this is not the blog to be entertaining discussions on whether using wands and magic means Sailor Moon is already a witch, thank you).
Source: Kotaku – Sailor Moon Becomes Sailor Witches
While Red Bull’s Max Verstappen enjoyed a successful end to his actual racing season, when he claimed the F1 crown in controversial circumstances, his appearance over the weekend in a virtual Le Mans 24 hour race didn’t go quite so well.
Source: Kotaku – F1 Champion Max Verstappen Crashes In Virtual Car Race
You know how everything is awful? Well, wait! This isn’t! Wordle, the super-simple Mastermind-like word game that has taken over planet Earth, seems to create goodwill in its wake—the latest being that of Steven Cravotta, whose five-year-old app with the same name has found itself at the top of the mobile charts.…
Source: Kotaku – Wordle Brings Accidental Windfall To Another Dev, Who Gives It All To Charity
You know how you can’t even get past the first area of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice without crying? Well, this guy can play the entire game, in under two hours, blindfolded.
Source: Kotaku – Watch A Guy Beat Sekiro In Two Hours, Blindfolded
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that not only has Activision Blizzard fired dozens of staff in the last few months, but that CEO Bobby Kotick has been hiding that information from the public. Because it might look bad…
Source: Kotaku – Report: Bobby Kotick Is Still Trying To Hide The Scale Of Activision’s Problems
Starting tomorrow, Halo Infinite begins its third major even since launch, called Cyber Showdown. And things might be getting ‘80s, Tron-style.
Source: Kotaku – Halo Infinite Goes Cyberpunk In Tomorrow’s Cyber Showdown Event
In an extraordinary turn of events, Microsoft is getting near to a deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the Wall Street Journal reported today. This would not only be one of the most major shake-ups in the gaming industry in years but could also finally spell out the end for its horrendous CEO, Bobby Kotick.
Source: Kotaku – Microsoft Closing In On Billion Deal To Buy Activision Blizzard
Award-winning manga artist Shinji Mizushima passed away due to pneumonia on January 10 in a Tokyo hospital, reports ANN News. He was 82.
Source: Kotaku – Shinji Mizushima, One Of Japan’s Most Prolific Manga Artists, Dies At 82
A crane game filled with raisins was left in the monkey pen at Japanese zoo Nagasaki Bio Park to see if the animals could figure out how to use the redemption game to get snacks.
Source: Kotaku – Monkeys Figure Out How To Play Crane Games
I had never noticed or heard this during a game before, so it took a column from the excellent Zach Lowe for me to learn this, but every time Cleveland big man Jarrett Allen scores at home he gets a cute little Zelda sound effect played over the stadium’s speakers.
Source: Kotaku – NBA Player Gets Zelda Sound Played Every Time He Scores
Earlier today a group calling themselves Spice DAO tweeted that they were the proud owners of an original Jodorowsky’s Dune book, the compendium of concept art and notes that comprised filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s doomed attempts to get a Dune movie made in the 1970s.
Source: Kotaku – Crypto Losers Buy Copy Of Jodorowsky’s Dune, Have Played Themselves
Foxhole is a top-down shooter where players can take on various roles in huge battles, one of those roles being logistical, which involves crafting the weapons used in the fight. A group of those players are currently on strike, saying “we believe that Foxhole should not have a gameplay experience that causes its…
Source: Kotaku – Foxhole Players Are Striking Over ‘Increased Stress And Responsibility’
Remember last week, when a Left 4 Dead-like shooter released? The Anacrusis. Well, guess what, this week sees another take on the very popular co-op shooter formula releasing for multiple platforms. This time it’s Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Extraction which looks… fine.
Source: Kotaku – The Week In Games: Another Week, Another Co-Op Shooter