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Tag: Kotaku

  • How To Explain This Whole Dr Disrespect Situation To The Normal People In Your Life

    How To Explain This Whole Dr Disrespect Situation To The Normal People In Your Life

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    Over the last few days, people have been talking a lot about Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm, the once-popular Twitch streamer who was permanently banned from the site in 2020 for mysterious reasons, shifted to YouTube, and who has now come under fire for reportedly sending inappropriate text messages to a minor. These recent allegations have led to the streamer losing fans and sponsors, and forced him to issue a lengthy (and somewhat vague) statement about what he did.

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    Given that you’re reading this article here on Kotaku.com, you probably know what’s happening, have kept up with the news, and understand what a Twitch streamer is and how popular they can be in 2024.

    But for the rest of the world, including some of your friends, family, and spouses, this all might seem incomprehensible. So, this guide should help you provide fairly concise, easy-to-understand answers for all the Dr Disrespect questions you might be receiving from people close to you.

    “Who is Dr Disrespect?”

    Herschel Guy Beahm is a 42-year-old video game streamer who previously worked with Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games from 2011 to 2015.

    He began streaming full-time after leaving the studio and became famous for his “toxic gamer” character known as Dr Disrespect. As “the doc,” he would often yell a lot, insulting other players, and act overly confident while playing battle royale titles like PUBG and H1Z1.

    “Wait… so he was famous for yelling a lot and playing video games?”

    Well, when you put it like that it does sound really silly, but yes, that’s basically what turned Dr Disrespect into a popular streamer with millions of subscribers and fans around the world. He was also pretty good at shooters like Call of Duty, which helped build his audience, too.

    “Why does he uh…look like that?”

    It’s part of his schtick. Dr Disrespect is supposed to be a parody of toxic gamers mixed together with an action-hero persona, hence the headphones, sunglasses, ‘80s mullet, and red tactical vest. However, depending on who you ask, Dr Disrespect might have essentially become the very thing he parodied as he became more comfortable spreading conspiracy theories and insulting people’s accents.

    “I saw something about a bathroom incident?”

    In June 2019, Dr Disrespect was invited to E3—a large gaming trade show—and streamed live from the convention floor. At one point, he entered a men’s restroom which had other people in it, and had his camera operator follow him in and stream his bathroom break.

    He was temporarily banned from Twitch for doing this, but this ended up making him even more famous. I don’t really have an answer for that part, sorry.

    “I’m confused, is this a character or really him?”

    That’s a great question! It’s hard to say. While it’s clear that he’s still putting on a wig and fake mustache and all the other parts of the costume, it’s become increasingly difficult to figure out where Dr Disrespect ends and Beahm begins.

    We are jumping ahead a bit here, but in a recent statement about all the shit going on, he decided to write it in character. I’m not sure if this was a choice he made on purpose or just the latest example of his inability to separate reality from his popular creation.

    “Did he really cheat on his wife?”

    According to the man himself in 2017, he was indeed “unfaithful” to his wife.

    “I’m going to take some time off to focus on stupid fuckin’ mistakes,” Beahm said, “I’m going to take time off to focus on my family.” This message, it should be noted, was delivered on video out of character.

    “So why did he get banned from Twitch in 2020?”

    Well, for a long time very few people knew what actually happened. On June 26, Dr Disrespect was permanently banned from Twitch. The streamer had 4 million subscribers and was one of the biggest names on the platform. But that didn’t matter. At the time, Dr Disrespect said he didn’t know why he had been banned.

    In 2021 he filed a lawsuit against Twitch after claiming he learned why he was banned. That lawsuit was settled in 2022. “I have resolved my legal dispute with Twitch,” Dr Disrespect said in a message posted to Twitter. “No party admits to any wrongdoing.” That was all we knew until this past weekend.

    “But now we do know because…”

    Cody Conners, a former higher-up at Twitch, broke his silence on June 21, claiming on Twitter that Dr Disrespect got banned because he “got caught sexting a minor” and trying to “meet up with her at TwitchCon.” As you might expect, this led to a firestorm online and reporters began digging and talking to sources, with The Verge corroborating Conners’ claim on June 23 after speaking to another Twitch employee with information about the situation.

    “Okay, so what has he said about all this?”

    At first, Dr Disrespect seemed to be trying to move on and hoping all this would blow over. However, as more reports came in and more people began talking about the situation, it became clear this wasn’t going away.

    On June 24, the game studio he had helped create cut ties with him after it investigated the claims itself. The news of him being removed from the studio was reportedly sent to him during an Elden Ring stream on Monday, and in a clip near the end of that stream you can see him reacting negatively to a message on his phone.

    On June 25, Dr Disrespect finally broke his silence and issued a lengthy statement on Twitter confirming that in 2017 he’d exchanged text messages with a minor that sometimes “leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more.”

    “Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not,” added the streamer. He said he didn’t send any pictures or videos and he claimed no criminal charges were ever filed.

    “Now what happens?”

    Well, I’m not sure! It’s possible that YouTube, where Dr Disrespect currently streams, might remove the content creator from the platform. It’s also possible he’s able to stick around. During his most recent stream, he claimed to be taking an “extended vacation” and said he was burned out by streaming and being online.

    So perhaps he just vanishes into the ether. Or he comes roaring back in a few weeks on a new platform. For now, we don’t know. We’ll just have to wait to find out.

    “Well, what about other streamers and content creators? They aren’t controversial right?”

    lol. Just don’t worry about it and enjoy your life living in peaceful bliss if you don’t know what a Ninja or a Nickmercs is. You are truly blessed.

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • An Underrated Mashup Of Zelda 2 And Mega Man Is Finally Getting The Multiplatform Love It Deserves

    An Underrated Mashup Of Zelda 2 And Mega Man Is Finally Getting The Multiplatform Love It Deserves

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    Some games make my heart bubble up with joy. They remind me of thumbing through tiny, beautiful booklets and tag-teaming tough bosses with friends. Not everyone’s childhood was easy, simple, or happy, but all of us have moments in our lives we look back fondly on and games that briefly bring them back to us. Panzer Paladin is one of those for me, and the retro action platformer is finally getting a second chance on PlayStation and Xbox.

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    It was made by Tribute Games, the indie team behind 2022 GOTY contender Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Before that, they were best known for the puzzle RPG Wizorb and the run-and-gun side-scroller Mercenary Kings. All of the studio’s projects have showcased top-tier pixel-art and a flare for turning the fundamentals of old genre classics into homages that looked great and felt novel. Following 2017’s Flint Hook, described early on as “Spider-Man with a gun,” Tribute released Panzer Paladin, a 2D platformer where you pilot a mech and collect giant medieval weapons.

    It’s structured like Mega Man with a stage select screen and boss fights at the end of each level. It borrows from Blaster Master in that you can exit your mech to navigate parts of the levels as tiny pilot with a grappling hook. It plays like Zelda II, Nintendo’s one-off side-scrolling experiment that threw Link into tense 2D duels against armored knights. What Panzer Paladin has that those games don’t is a sophisticated breakable weapon system where you collect swords, spears, axes and other deadly tools as you play, even crafting your own and sharing them online with other players.

    There’s plenty of spike pits but no Castlevania-style knockback hitting you into them, and every level has optional checkpoints. The combat is crunchy, the levels are imaginative, and the art is oozing with love, respect, and appreciation for the 8-bit era. But the boss fights are tough, and there are definitely some controller-throwing platforming sections. The warm fuzzy feeling you get from the retro nostalgia does not stop Panzer Paladin from being, all things considered, a pretty hardcore throwback.

    Gif: Tribute Games / Kotaku

    Its development also followed a now uncommon trajectory. Announced in early 2019, Panzer Paladin was made in just over a year and came out in the summer of 2020, months into an unprecedented pandemic nobody saw coming. It launched exclusively on PC and Switch, with a free content update in the fall that added a leaderboard and challenge levels. At the time, Tribute said there were no plans to bring the game to PlayStation or Xbox, leaving retro enthusiasts on those platforms out of luck.

    With Shredder’s Revenge done and its DLC out last year, the timing finally lined up to bring Panzer Paladin to other platforms. If porting was as easy as copying and pasting some code, it might have happened a lot sooner, but Tribute works with a proprietary game engine and had to bring on outside programming help, as well as navigate a byzantine platform certification process that included making sure server support for the game’s user-generated content—its player-crafted weapons—didn’t break on PlayStation or Xbox.

    “You go through certification and you get bug reports for some things and there’s always the temptation to go, ‘Oh, we could correct this in a specific way, or we could add a feature to this,” Ray, a producer who helped coordinate the process, told me in a recent video interview. “But there’s also that little voice that says we need to keep it as simple as possible, so we get through certification and we introduce less risk of something breaking because we changed something else.”

    With that complete, Tribute can now focus on its next project. Will it be a one-game studio or is there room for another Panzer Paladin-sized experiment in its future? “Right now we have multiple projects in the pipeline including some ports,” publishing manager Eric Lafontaine told me (several of the studio’s older games like Wizorb aren’t on modern consoles). He added that the team is currently growing, a reassuring sign at a time when lots of other indie studios are facing extinction.

    In the meantime, Panzer Paladin is ripe for re-discovery like a long-lost NES cartridge juiced up on modern tech. There’s no shortage of gorgeous looking retro games on PC and console these days, but it only takes a few minutes with Panzer Paladin to see there’s much more to it than just another incredibly GIF-able pixel art game. And one of the things I now love most about it is the way it’s brain-wormed its way into my own nostalgia for the summer of its original release. 2020 was an absolute shit year in so many ways. Playing Panzer Paladin offered brief moments of retro respite I still haven’t forgotten. And now it’s back with a Platinum Trophy on PS4.

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Players Are Already Having A Blast Imagining Zelda’s New Copy Ability In Action

    Players Are Already Having A Blast Imagining Zelda’s New Copy Ability In Action

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    Since the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, fans of the series have been expressing their excitement over Zelda’s unique gameplay. Chiefly, they are overjoyed about her ability to copy (or echo) items in the environment and use them against her enemies in battle.

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    Echoes of Wisdom finally drops players into a mainline entry of the series as the titular princess. When Link goes missing just as he rescues her from Ganon, dark rifts begin to tear apart Hyrule, and Zelda just barely escapes them. With Hyrule’s typical savior out of the picture, it falls on Zelda to save her land and people, and she accomplishes this with the help of Tri, a fairy she encounters as all is falling apart. Tri grants Zelda the Tri Rod, which allows her to copy objects and other creatures in the world in order to navigate environments, solve puzzles, and carry out battles, and it looks great, and indeed poised for numerous jokes and in-game hilarity.

    It all started when a clip of the game’s debut trailer showed Zelda copying a boulder, lifting it and throwing it at an enemy. Many fans noted the fact that in most Zelda games, Link has needed a bracelet that allows him a similar ability, and claimed that Zelda had been quietly getting stronger than her stalwart protector and savior.

    Eventually, the memes about Echoes of Wisdom’s new copy ability got progressively out of hand. Many of the ones I saw within a few hours of the announcement poked fun at how Zelda might use a table or a chair in battle, akin to a professional wrestler. By comparison, Link has largely used more typical weaponry like the Master Sword, as well as a bow and arrow or bombs. The emphasis on furniture has spawned its own series of posts about domesticity and interior decoration. From there, things spiraled out of control until we hit the natural conclusion that the internet always escalates to: giving Zelda a glock.

    But if I had to pick favorites, these final three are the pinnacle of the posts I saw. Sometimes, the internet can be a really funny place.

    It’s actually been really joyous to see communities getting excited for what appears, on its face, to be a novel take on the beloved series. I feel my own fervor for Echoes of Wisdom being stoked with every bit of fanart or memes that I see folks posting online, so please keep it coming. This is the kind of energy I can get behind any day of the week. And yes, you’re all right, we should absolutely give Zelda a gun.

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    Moises Taveras

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  • Street Fighter VI Devs Talk About Monetization, M. Bison, And The Series’ First-Ever Guest Fighter

    Street Fighter VI Devs Talk About Monetization, M. Bison, And The Series’ First-Ever Guest Fighter

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    It’s hard to believe that the most famous franchise in fighting game history has never had a guest character before. God of War’s Kratos has been in Mortal Kombat. Yoda was in Soul Calibur. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s roster is now home to more characters from outside the series than from within it. But Fatal Fury’s upbeat denim-clad, city-slicker Terry Bogard (who is also in Smash) will mark the first time someone from another franchise has been playable inside Street Fighter.

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    The news was announced at the Summer Game Fest showcase as part of Street Fighter VI’s season 2 reveal. In addition to the return of Street Fighter III’s Elena and series villain M. Bison, the game’s second year will also see Terry Bogart and the ninja Mai Shiranui join as well, the result of a collaboration with SNK that first got underway at back at Evo 2022, the fighting game event’s in-person return following the covid-19 pandemic. Fighting game illustrators Toshiaki “ Shinkiro” Mori and Eisuke Ogura created a crossover “welcome back” sign made up of characters from both Street Fighter and Fatal Fury.

    “It was a big hit and it was really exciting,” Street Fighter 6 director, Takayuki Nakayama, and producer, Shuhei Matsumoto, who are now the faces of the franchise, told me in an interview at Summer Game Fest conducted via a translator. Teams from both companies kept talking in the years that followed and it eventually culminated in the decision to bring Terry, essentially SNK’s Ken, to the rival franchise. What’s it like remaking an outside character inside the Street Fighter universe?

    “When incorporating non-Capcom or non-Street Fighter guest characters into this game, obviously [we] have to respect the IP and the characters and make sure that fans of those characters will appreciate it,” they said. While Terry and Mai will follow the same rules as the existing roster, the whole point of the collaboration in the first place is to also bring along their unique personalities and fighting game flair.

    Screenshot: Capcom / Kotaku

    Nakayama and Matsumoto demurred when I asked for specifics of what that might mean for their styles and move-sets, but stressed the team has some ideas it’s excited about. “Fatal Fury is a long running series for SNK. Characters like Terry also appeared in other games like King of Fighters, which is also a very long running series. The team who work on Street Fighter 6 are all big fans of fighting games in general, including games like Fatal Fury and King of Fighters. They have a lot of things that they want to incorporate, that people, that they think, that fans of Terry and Mai will like, and that’s something that they’re really putting a lot of energy into.”

    But before Terry and Mai arrive later in the year, players will get their hands on M. Bison, the crime syndicate boss who’s been a fan-favorite since Street Fighter II. Ryu killed him at the end of Street Fighter V, but as everyone suspected he’s back and looking weirder than ever. His new grizzled, tattered alt costume, a striking contrast with his traditional imperial uniform, has earned him the nickname “homeless Bison” from some, and a revamped arsenal of moves looks borderline broken.

    “In terms of his story and why he looks this way, this is something that you’ll get to learn more [about] when you play arcade mode and see him in World Tour when he’s out,” Nakayama and Matsumoto said. While it’s his comeback to the series, M. Bison’s new kit also marks the return of some old abilities in new forms. One of those is his ultra combo from Street Fighter IV which is now a super art in Street Fighter 6. Other moves play off the story and the crime boss’ new level of deviousness. That includes a back fist combo which plants a psycho mine on the opponent that explodes if M. Bison doesn’t get hit for a while.

    “It kind of adds this mind game-type aspect to his gameplay, and kind of forces the opponent to play in a certain way when that happens,” they said. The psycho mine also changes some of the effects and combos of M. Bison’s attacks while it’s active, changing the rhythm of the match as well. He’s also a hybrid charge and command input fighter, meaning some of his abilities require holding inputs while others are just simple sequences. His iconic Double Knee Press attack will now just be a “fireball motion” attack, for example, potentially making him a lot more appealing to more players.

    It’s poised to be another neat addition to a game that still feels like it’s in a honeymoon phase with fans. Following the disappointing launch of Street Fighter V, which was marred by numerous complaints and incomplete modes, Street Fighter 6 was a return to form for both the fundamentals and positive mood among fans. Despite being a fighting game rooted in a rich history of arcades and in-person competition, modern Street Fighter is as much a live-service platform as anything else. In May, Akuma arrived in the game by way of an event that was part Twitch Plays Pokémon and part MMO boss fight.

    Nakayama and Matsumoto pointed to all of the data they collect from players and the new ways they’re experimenting with online events to help the game evolve. ”We released this infographic that shows something like 20 billion matches that have happened over this past year, which is very surprising,” they said. “When we did the raid boss event with Akuma in the battle hub that was a big hit. That just made [us] realize there should be more opportunities to get people excited about events like that, that’s something [we] want to explore in the near future.”

    When they told me it’s easier than ever to see what players do and don’t like, I asked them if it ever felt like there was too much data and they wished they could go back to days when developers were more walled off from community feedback and behavior. “Honestly, not really,” they said laughing. “It’s really exciting to see everyone really have fun and play the game and seeing what what people are interested in.”

    One thing at least some players still aren’t always having fun with is Street Fighter’s aggressive microtransaction model. Every once in a while outrage bubbles up when Capcom asks players to pay for something they feel is particularly egregious, like color variants for costumes. There’s also no way to pay exact amounts for lots of the in-game purchases since players first have to buy arbitrary amounts of Fighter Coins that often leave them with left-over premium currency. Is the team happy with the current monetization?

    Giant Akuma appears in the battle hub.

    Screenshot: Capcom / Kotaku

    “I mean people seem to be very interested in purchasable content especially that associates with the actual characters in the Fighting Ground Mode,” they said. “And we see a lot of interest towards that so it’s something that we will continue looking into and seeing if there’s any new stuff that we can just…but in terms of the system it’s probably going to be as is.”

    Reading between the lines, it certainly seems like a version of what you hear from a lot of companies,which is that while lots of people complain about microtransactions, just as many if not more, grudgingly or even happily pony up the money for them. Perhaps the sea of player data the Street Fighter 6 devs have access to was also helpful in bearing that out.

    Despite containing just four new characters, the season 2 fighter pass is $30, half the price of the full game. But to sweeten the deal, the full game is currently 50 percent off to celebrate its one-year anniversary. M. Bison, meanwhile, arrives over the summer. But the most important part of Street Fighter 6’s legacy, and its potential future, may lie in more community experiments like the Akuma online event.

    “Street Fighter 6 gave [us] an opportunity to try out a lot of new things that [we’d] never done before in any other fighting game,” Nakayama and Matsumoto said. “With Street Fighter 6 [we] feel like [we] were able to see a resurgence of younger audiences who became interested in the game through alternate areas outside of just the fighting.” Hopefully that means more live events are planned for year two. The social experience of arcades was central to how many people fell in love with fighting games to begin with. Finding more ways to recreate that online could be the key to maintaining them.

               

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    Ethan Gach

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  • How To Prep For Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree And More Of The Week’s Gaming Tips

    How To Prep For Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree And More Of The Week’s Gaming Tips

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    Illustration: FromSoftware

    Elden Ring’s first and only expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, features an exciting new storyline with dozens of hours of gameplay to experience—but accessing it isn’t a walk in the park, and data suggests that there are crucial steps many players haven’t yet taken. If you want to see what the challenging new DLC has to offer, you’ll have to find your way to a well-hidden section of the main game and defeat multiple optional bosses, including one of the toughest in the game: Mohg, Lord of Blood. – Billy Givens Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • FromSoftware’s Miyazaki On A Bloodborne PC Port: ‘I’d Love More Players To Be Able To Enjoy It’

    FromSoftware’s Miyazaki On A Bloodborne PC Port: ‘I’d Love More Players To Be Able To Enjoy It’

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    For years now, Bloodborne fans have wanted the popular PS4-exclusive RPG ported to PC, hopefully with performance improvements and graphical options. And while FromSoftware’s president Hidetaka Miyazaki didn’t confirm that such a port is happening, he did say he’s not opposed to it and suggested that many people at the studio want a PC port to happen.

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    Released nearly a decade ago in 2017 exclusively for PlayStation 4, Bloodborne is one of FromSoftware’s (Dark Souls, Elden Ring) most popular and beloved games. Like many of its other games, Bloodborne is a tough-as-nails action RPG featuring intense boss battles and many secrets. However, unlike many of FromSoftware’s RPGs, Bloodborne has never been ported to other platforms. It remains stuck on PS4. That’s led to people asking over and over again for the Sony-owned Bloodborne to get a PC port. And it sounds like, while Miyazaki doesn’t have anything to announce, he seems into the idea of this fan-favorite RPG finally being playable on something other than a PS4.

    In an interview with Miyazaki, PC Gamer asked the president if he would personally like to see Bloodborne ported to PC one day.

    “I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port,” said Miyazaki in reference to FromSoftware staff sitting with him during the interview. However, he quickly added that if he says he wants a port he’ll “get in trouble” but that he’s not “opposed” to a PC version.

    “Obviously, as one of the creators of Bloodborne, my personal, pure honest opinion is I’d love more players to be able to enjoy it,” said Miyazaki. “Especially as a game that is now coming of age, one of those games of the past that gets lost on older hardware—I think any game like that, it’d be nice to have an opportunity for more players to be able to experience that and relive this relic of the past. So as far as I’m concerned, that’s definitely not something I’d be opposed to.”

    Of course, while it’s nice to hear that the president of FromSoftware wants a Bloodborne PC port, it doesn’t mean one is happening. Remember, FromSoftware doesn’t own the Bloodborne IP, Sony does. And until Sony decides to fund a port, remaster, or remake, all FromSoftware can do is vaguely go “Yeah, we want one, too!” and that’s it.

    Hopefully, as we near the game’s 10th anniversary next year, Sony will realize that they have a literal goldmine on their hands and all the company has to do is post a teaser for Bloodborne on Steam and it will be flooded with pre-orders before it even shares a trailer. At the very least, we know everyone at FromSoftware is down for a port. Now we wait to see what Sony wants…

    .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • This Was The Best Xbox Showcase In Years (And The Hardest To Root For)

    This Was The Best Xbox Showcase In Years (And The Hardest To Root For)

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    A Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign that looks like Mission: Impossible by way of an Adam Curtis documentary, a Gears of War prequel that shows fans E-Day and the birth of the series’ iconic “Lancer” chainsaw gun, and a trailer that showed Perfect Dark isn’t just still alive, it’s potentially thriving. Microsoft’s 2024 summer showcase was the best that Xbox has looked going back to the Xbox One years. But it’s come at a huge price, and one the company doesn’t seem ready to acknowledge publicly.

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    Insiders had been hyping the showcase for days, in part due to the fact that its full list of reveals and announcements had already leaked to some in the media and beyond. Fans have been burned before, expecting Xbox to finally turn a corner only to have the football pulled once again and realize the platform is still in another one of its inescapable “rebuilding” years. The proof is always in the games themselves, and how successful they are can only really be determined once they get into players’ hands. For now, though, the showcase delivered.

    There was over sixty minutes of games big and small, offering everything from zombie survival to nostalgic teen hangout, punctuated by massive first-party franchises and third-party teases. If you own an Xbox Series X/S there will be plenty to play this year and next. Xbox game studios head Matt Booty’s perennial promise for a steady cadence of quarterly Xbox games worth showing up for might finally come true. The only thing missing from the event was any accountability for what, and who, Microsoft has sacrificed to get here.

    It’s been just over a month since the company announced it’s shutting down three studios and reshuffling a fourth. One of the casualties, Tango Gameworks, and its 2023 hit Hi-Fi Rush, seemed to symbolize the best of Xbox in the Game Pass era: a hyper-stylized passion project from a newer team that wowed critics and won awards and wouldn’t have been possible without the “let a thousand flowers bloom” strategy behind the platform’s pivot to a Netflix-like subscription library. In a crushing reversal, however, the deep-pocketed tech giant cut the team, along with storied immersive sim makers Arkane Austin and others. According to internal comments from Booty and the head of parent company Zenimax, there just wasn’t enough bandwidth for one of the three most valuable companies in the world to manage so many studios.

    The bad news and bullshit explanation might not have gone down like a lead balloon if Microsoft hadn’t announced mass layoffs just months earlier across several departments, including newly acquired Activision Blizzard. The cuts hit everyone from the Overwatch 2 team to Call of Duty makers Sledgehammer Games, and included the cancellation of Odyssey, a survival crafting fantasy game that might have become the first new franchise from Blizzard in nearly a decade. Microsoft spent $69 billion on the acquisition, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer toured the Activision Blizzard King offices shortly after the deal was finalized last fall, and then in early 2024 the mask came off.

    Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer blamed the heel turn on a combination of investor pressure and the stagnation of the console gaming market in interviews with Game File and Polygon. In other words: capitalism. But the complete closure of Tango Gameworks, originally founded by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami to train a new generation of creatives, seemed especially capricious. The Xbox team didn’t mention the developers it’s laid off and their contributions in its remarks to a live audience ahead of the showcase today, or during the pre-recorded event itself. (Even after learning its fate, Arkane Austin worked hard to push out Redfall’s much-needed final update.)

    Instead, Spencer opened the showcase by promoting Black Ops 6 and the company’s desire to bring one of the most popular franchises to even more players through the power of a $17-a-month subscription. It maybe wasn’t surprising given the billions Microsoft paid to acquire the series, but the choice to open the show this way underscored the new reality of an Xbox brand that now needs to make a return worthy of all of those investments. “I haven’t been talking publicly about this, because right now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals,” Spencer told IGN later in the day, away from the hundreds of thousands of fans tunning into the showcase.

    He continued:

    It’s obviously a decision that’s very hard on them, and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we’re doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It’s not about my PR, it’s not about Xbox PR. It’s about those teams. In the end, I’ve said over and over, I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make.

    The showcase, meanwhile, didn’t even clear the bar set days prior by Geoff Keighley at the Game Awards host’s own showcase. Xbox president Sarah Bond, who responded with corpo word salad when asked about studio closures last month, closed out the Xbox showcase by pointing to the future instead of dwelling on the recent past. “It’s our mission to make Xbox the best place to play, by including our own studios’ games on Game Pass at launch, by bringing your games into the future with our commitment to game preservation, by pushing the boundaries in our future hardware, and to empower you to play your games wherever you want on Xbox console, PC, and cloud,” she said. “This is what defines Xbox today and in the future, and we’re hard at work on the next generation.”

    It was a commitment aimed at reassuring fans still recovering from the shock of the brand’s recent pivots. But the future is built on the past, and every shiny new Xbox game now comes with the question of what will happen to the teams Microsoft has purchased or partnered with, once it no longer feels like they serve its bottom line.

    Update 6/9/2024 9:10 p.m. ET: Added comments from Spencer’s post-show interview with IGN.

     

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    Ethan Gach

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  • One Of The Best Superhero Games Ever Is Free Right Now

    One Of The Best Superhero Games Ever Is Free Right Now

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    Image: Marvel / Firaxis

    The Epic Games Store is once again handing out a very good game for free. This time around it’s Marvel’s Midnight Suns, one of the best games of 2022 and one of my favorite superhero adventures out there.

    How Alan Wake 2 Builds Upon The ‘Remedy-Verse’

    Marvel’s Midnight Suns, in case you missed it, is a turn-based tactical RPG that blends some light life-sim-like elements—like romance and dates—with fantastic tactical combat on par with XCOM and Fire Emblem. But, unlike those games, Midnight Suns lets you kick cars at classic Marvel villains like Venom and Sabretooth. And right now, you can kick cars at Venom for free via the Epic Games Store.

    Marvel

    Don’t get it twisted, though; Midnight Suns is more than just fun gameplay and cool combat. The game also features a compelling narrative that plays out unlike anything seen in the MCU or most other superhero games. I mean, how many superhero movies or games let you spend time with Blade in a book club?

    And don’t let its card-based action scare you away, as the game isn’t a deck builder or anything like that. It just uses cards to represent powers and moves you can use during each turn. However, game director Jake Solomon did express regret about using cards, suggesting that might have been the reason why the game didn’t sell as well as expected.

    “I think cards were a major problem,” Solomon told VGC. “I think it was a good design solution, but I think I was naive about what people would think when they saw the mechanic was cards. Not everyone on my team was behind the idea, but they trusted me.”

    Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a fantastic game and currently available to download for free until June 13 via the Epic Games Store on PC. In case you didn’t realize, this is me saying you should play it. Even if you don’t like the MCU or superhero stuff! But first, turn off the 2K Launcher. It sucks.

    .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • Hades 2’s Biggest Early Access Patch Yet Just Made A Bunch Of Weapons Stronger

    Hades 2’s Biggest Early Access Patch Yet Just Made A Bunch Of Weapons Stronger

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    Just a month into Hades 2‘s Early Access launch, the acclaimed action-RPG is already getting its second update, and it’s a major one. Patch 2 is full of dozens of buffs and bug fixes, as well one change that reduces how often final boss Chronos is “patently unfair.”

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    Developer Supergiant Games wrote in the Hades 2 patch notes that all of the changes were driven by community feedback. “Among the improvements in this patch, look for many new UI icons as well as weapon-related balance changes aimed at enhancing core combat and related choices,” the team wrote. “Your feedback and volunteered gameplay data help inspire our changes, so thank you for playing!”

    Top-level changes include players now encountering one additional Olympian each night as they did in Hades 1, which means more Boons for you. Ash and Psyche rewards have been improved in Oceanus and the Rift of Thessaly, and fishing points have become more predictable. Death Defiance invulnerability lasts longer now as well, and Selene’s Boon is cheaper to buy from Charon’s Shop.

    On the weapon-balancing front, lots of equipment just got stronger. That includes Melinoë’s Nocturnal Arms and their abilities: Witch’s Staff, Sister Blades, Umbral Flames, Moonstone Axe, and Argent Skull. Several of their Aspects, which upgrade and enhance each weapon in different ways, were reworked too. Argent Skull now earns Glory faster when using Omega Cast and has a much more responsive Omega Special. There’s also a long list of Daedalus Hammer upgrades that have been changed or completely replaced.

    Read More: Hades 2 Is An Unbelievable Sequel To One Of The Best Games Ever

    Perhaps most importantly for players still working on their first successful run of the Early Access version, Chronos should be slightly easier to beat now. One of his huge AOE attacks will no longer hit Melinoë when she’s seemingly in a safe zone, along with other “various fixes and adjustments.”

    Infernal Cerberus received minor adjustments, while Polyphemus’s Mutant Sheep attack was made weaker. Eris’ grenade attacks should be less chaotic and the Hippo self-destruct is less likely to randomly kill you. But my favorite patch note of all is the following: “While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossroads, you may now snap out of it sooner.”

    Here are all the latest Hades 2 patch notes:

    Hades 2 Early Access Patch 2 Notes

    General Gameplay

    • You now can encounter up to one additional Olympian each night (as in the previous game)
    • You now are likely to find one more Boon or other major reward while in ErebusIncreased invulnerability duration after your Death Defiance effects activate
    • Improved rewards of Ash and Psyche can now be found in Oceanus and the Rift of Thessaly
    • You now can press-and-hold to harvest repeatedly from Crescent Pick Outcroppings
    • Toula should now stay closer to you in Encounters, especially in the Fields of Mourning
    • Nemesis no longer offers Death Defiance items if you do not need to refill the effect
    • Reduced Gold cost of Selene’s Boon when available in Charon’s Shop
    • Minor adjustments to the order in which Olympians may first appear early on
    • Normalized chances of finding Fishing Points in various regions

    Nocturnal Arms & Abilities

    • Witch’s Staff: Special knocks foes away, but is slightly slower; Omega Special is faster
    • Sister Blades: Special staggers standard foes longer; Attack visual FX better match the hitbox
    • Umbral Flames: Attacks are stronger and faster; Omega Attack channels faster and uses less magick; Special gives a speed boost, but has reduced damage; Omega Special can be channeled while moving
    • Moonstone Axe: reworked Special provides a lingering barrier; Omega Attack channels slightly faster; Omega Special channels faster
    • Argent Skull: Omega Attack channels faster and hits a larger area

    Aspects of the Nocturnal Arms

    • Witch’s Staff (Circe): adjusted activation and duration of Serenity effect; Serenity now adds Omega bonus damage that scales with this Aspect’s rank
    • Witch’s Staff (Momus): reworked; each of your Omega Moves automatically fires several times in succession from where you use them
    • Sister Blades (Artemis): you will Block again if the effect recharges while you are channeling; Block now takes priority over Dodge and similar effects
    • Umbral Flames (Eos): reworked; Omega Attack now fires a slow shot that occasionally creates damage blasts and also copies your Specials
    • Moonstone Axe (Melinoë): reworked; now adds Power and Max Life
    • Moonstone Axe (Thanatos): reworked; faster Attack adds Critical chance to Omega moves
    • Argent Skull (Persephone): you now earn Glory much faster, but only by using your Omega Cast; improved control responsiveness during Omega Special

    Keepsakes

    • Moon Beam (Selene): increased bonus to Path of Stars upgrades

    Daedalus Hammer Upgrades

    • ·Marauder Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
    • ·Rapid Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks become faster
    • ·Double Wallop (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
    • Wicked Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks gain bonus Power
    • Double Cataclysm (Staff): cut from game; replaced with…
    • Mirrored Thrasher (Staff): new! All your Attacks hit twice, but you take more damage
    • Rapid Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special
    • Dual Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special; reduced range; renamed from Double Moonshot
    • Shimmering Moonshot (Staff): also affects Omega Special
    • Aetheric Moonburst (Staff): increased Magick restoration from Power Shots
    • Concentrated Flurry (Blades): cut from game; replaced with…
    • Melting Dart (Blades): new! Your Special destroys a large percentage of a foe’s Armor
    • Flick Knives (Blades): new! Your Dash-Strike also fires several Special knives in a fan pattern
    • Rapid Onslaught (Blades): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder Slice
    • Hook Knives (Blades): slightly reduced speed of knives returning to you
    • Furious Fire (Flames): cut from game; replaced with…
    • Mega Spark (Flames): new! All your Attacks travel farther and deal more damage
    • Inverted Spark (Flames): new! Dash to make shots from Attacks reverse direction and hit foes again
    • Leaden Spark (Flames): new! Your Attacks knock foes away and have bonus Power
    • Sustained Spark (Flames): also increases move speed, instead of reducing; formerly Sustained Fire
    • Melting Coil (Flames): no longer fires straight; also affects Omega Special; formerly Melting Comet
    • Origin Coil (Flames): also affects Omega Special
    • Rapid Slash (Axe): reworked to also affect Omega Attack; renamed from Marauder Slash
    • Giga Cleaver (Axe): removed two-stage channeling (it always double-fires but uses more Magick)
    • Dashing Heave (Axe): removed damage bonus; instead, it now hits twice
    • Sidelong Crash (Skull): cut from game; replaced with…
    • Mega Driver (Skull): new! Your Specials travel farther and you take less damage while using them
    • Colossus Driver (Skull): also affects Omega Special

    Hexes of Selene

    • Wolf Howl: reduced Magick-spend requirement
    • Twilight Curse: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced foes afflicted; reduced cast time
    • Night Bloom: reduced Magick-spend requirement, effect duration, bonus damage, and cast time
    • Lunar Ray: greatly reduced Magick-spend requirement; reduced damage; reduced cast time
    • Moon Water: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement; slightly reduced healing
    • Dark Side: slightly increased Magick-spend requirement

    Foes & Encounters

    • Chronos: various fixes and adjustments; there should be fewer cases where he’s patently unfair
    • Infernal Cerberus: minor adjustments to some attack patterns in the first phase
    • Eris: grenade attacks no longer wildly bounce around
    • Polyphemus: reduced effectiveness of
    • Goldwrath: reduced accuracy and tracking of beam attack
    • Queen Lamia: slightly increased Armor; increased speed; other minor changes
    • Reed-Stalker: increased projectile speed and target distance; reduced rotation speed
    • Mourner: slightly increased rotation speed; slightly increased speed while attacking
    • Lamia: slightly increased life and Elite armor
    • Dire Shambler: reduced tracking speed between attacks
    • Hippo: self-destruct area should more closely match the visuals

    Level Design & Environments

    • Burning Oil Slicks in the will extinguish after Encounters, though may be reignited
    • Adjusted Oil Slicks in some locations in the
    • Minor fixes to several locations

    Fated List of Minor Prophecies

    • Clearing Original Sins no longer requires choosing the very rare Barren curse from

    Chaos Trials

    • Trial of Heartache: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changes
    • Trial of Haste: reduced difficulty and adjusted based on Aspect changes

    Oath of the Unseen

    • Vow of Forsaking: no longer helps ensure you quickly get Duo and Legendary Boons

    Menus & UI

    • Added many new UI icons for Keepsakes, Weapons, Well of Charon offerings, and more
    • Insight Into Offerings (Cauldron) now also lets you check each Olympian’s list of offerings in the Book of Shadows while choosing their Boons (or the equivalent with other characters)
    • With the prior change, adjusted default key binding for Rarify; some custom bindings have been reset
    • Added a warning when you are down to your last use of Death Defiance
    • Opening the Book of Shadows should show entries for nearby characters more reliably
    • Removed the Unused Grasp notification when exiting the Altar of Ashes while at a high Grasp limit
    • Updated Pitch-Black Stone screen to use Aspect-specific icons
    • Adjusted input action bar layout at the bottom of the Boon Screen and similar
    • Added borders to icons for Selene Hexes on the Gifts of the Moon screen
    • Added informational pop-up when using F10 to report bugs
    • Other minor changes

    Art & Visual FX

    • Reduced some full-screen flashing or strobing, such as from time-slow effects

    Music & SFX

    • Added SFX for when certain active abilities such as Serenity are ready to use
    • Updated placeholder SFX for various Keepsakes
    • Updated SFX for projectile collisions with Umbral Flames (Moros)

    Voice & Narrative

    • Unique voice lines should play more reliably when certain incantations are revealed in the Cauldron
    • ·Added voice lines when using Phase Shift (Selene) vs. (or trying to…)
    • More voice lines should play when confiding in Frinos in certain contexts

    Miscellaneous

    • While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossroads, you may now snap out of it sooner
    • You now can fully control the game using keyboard only if you rebind Attack and Special
    • All timers now pause while in the presence of Charon
    • An Anvil of Fates will no longer be offered in if you have not found a Daedalus Hammer
    • In the Flashback, adjusted timing of hint for players who don’t realize they are in control
    • Reduced requirements for the incantation Power to Pause and Reflect to be revealed
    • Melinoë now respawns in the center of her magick circle near her tent (she was a bit off before…)
    • Improved compatibility with more types of controllers
    • Updated text for various upgrades and abilities

    Bug Fixes

    • Fixed Double Up (Poseidon) sometimes doubling Mystery Boons; clarified description
    • Fixed Nightmare resources dropping unexpectedly in Chaos Trials
    • Fixed Omega moves occasionally becoming unresponsive after being chomped on by
    • Fixed deadliest attack of occasionally hitting when Melinoë was in a supposedly safe point
    • Fixed Umbral Flames Attack preventing Magick regeneration before channeling Omega Attack
    • Fixed The Queen and Judgment (Arcana) appearing active while no others Arcana are active
    • Fixed Hearth Gain (Hestia) no longer restoring Magick if chosen as a Sacrifice Boon
    • Fixed certain later Oath Testaments for the Sister Blades sometimes not appearing as expected
    • Fixed cases where you could go out of bounds using the Argent Skull in the battle vs.
    • Fixed more cases of some visual effects vs. lingering between phases or after the fight
    • Fixed Toula unceremoniously vanishing after you vanquish Chronos
    • Fixed additional issues with Sun Worshiper (Apollo)
    • Fixed additional issues with Dark Side (Selene)
    • Fixed additional issues with Twilight Curse (Selene)
    • Fixed a visual issue where could appear to slide after snared by your Cast
    • Fixed Spark of Ixion (Charon) causing a to appear in
    • Fixed Golden Boughs sometimes not marking all available rewards in the
    • Fixed several narrative events that could play out of sequence
    • Fixed Odysseus rather rudely walking away while in conversation with Nemesis
    • Fixed sometimes leaping away forever
    • Fixed Melinoë’s voice reverting during her return sequence despite certain enchantments
    • Fixed incorrect portrait in the Book of Shadows
    • Fixed incorrect music playing in some Chaos Trials, or not playing as intended in some instances
    • Fixed rare cases of a looping sound playing indefinitely
    • Fixed a rare instance when objectives in the Training Grounds could overlap
    • Fixed several minor issues on the Victory Screen that shows when you prevail
    • Fixed additional miscellaneous issues when playing in ultrawide resolutions
    • Fixed a rare crash in which the effect of Winter Harvest (Demeter) could repeat forever
    • Fixed various other rare crashes
    • Fixed several text errors
    • Other minor fixes

    It’s clear Super Giant Games is meticulously monitoring every aspect of the game ahead of its full launch on PC and console in 2025. The studio said the next update will re-balance Boons. Until then, there’s plenty for players to dig into and begin testing with Patch 2. 

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    Ethan Gach

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  • A Stunning Zelda Lego Set, A Rocky Return For MultiVersus, And More Of The Week’s Top News

    A Stunning Zelda Lego Set, A Rocky Return For MultiVersus, And More Of The Week’s Top News

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    Image: Warner Bros.

    Multiversus, the Warner Bros. crossover platform fighter starring Batman, Shaggy, Arya Stark and more, is out for real this time after going into a year-long hibernation. Now that it’s back and out of beta, the fighting game community is assessing if it could have the longevity of fighting games like Super Smash Bros. And some have already realized that smaller local tournaments, which often keep the game’s scene alive, could have trouble running Multiversus. That’s because, one significant change to the free-to-play model may make it prohibitively expensive to host Multiversus tournaments. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • Summer Game Fest Plans, Hades 2 Tips, And More

    Summer Game Fest Plans, Hades 2 Tips, And More

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    Photo: The Game Awards / Summer Game Fest / Kotaku (Getty Images), Image: Bungie / Sony, Supergiant Games, Screenshot: Ninja Theory / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

    It’s summer, but just because it’s nice out doesn’t mean we stop playing games. It’s almost time for Not-E3/Summer Game Fest, and several major studios are planning showcases and reveals during the upcoming week. We break down what you can expect.

    We also help you beat the final boss in Hades 2, and find all of the totems, or lorestangir, in Hellblade 2. You’re welcome.

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • Everything We Saw At PlayStation’s May 2024 State Of Play

    Everything We Saw At PlayStation’s May 2024 State Of Play

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    On May 30, 2024, Sony treated PlayStation fans to a brief-yet-packed showing of some games it has around the corner. Some of these titles are expected to arrive this year on PS5 (as well as PC), while a few others are likely to arrive next year.

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    So let’s dive into everything Sony showed off today.

    Concord

    PlayStation

    Concord, the upcoming online first-person hero shooter, got its debut showing today with a highlight on its unique characters as well as in-engine gameplay. It’s definitely giving some witty banter, sci-fi, Marvel-esque vibes to my ears and eyes. Concord comes out on August 23, 2024.

    God of War Ragnarok comes to PC on September 19, 2024

    PlayStation

    God of War Ragnarok is coming to PC! I’m sure you already suspected that, but we got a look at daddy Kratos smashing up baddies with some previews of its PC features, such as ultrawide support and all the major super sampling tech, and it comes with the game’s great Valhalla DLC too! Kratos’ latest adventure arrives on PC on September 19, 2024.

    Dynasty Warriors Origins

    DYNASTY WARRIORS: Origins – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

    With epic melee weapon skirmishes against massive amounts of foes, Dynasty Warriors Origins looks like it’s going all in on totally unrealistic yet fully badass combat.

    Infinity Nikki

    Infinity Nikki – Gameplay Trailer | PS5 Games

    Are you ready to walk the path of a stylist? That’s what Infinity Nikki promises, with cute outfits, fantasy vistas, platforming, and the ability to shoot little cats out of cannons!

    Ballad of Antara

    Ballad of Antara – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

    With moody color themes, epic dark fantasy vibes, and some very satisfying melee weapon sound effects, Ballad of Antara is definitely worth keeping an eye on if you’re into brawls against mythic creatures in a magical realm. Ballad of Antara is expected to arrive in 2025.

    Skydance’s Behemoth

    Skydance’s BEHEMOTH – First Gameplay | PS VR 2 Games

    Hey, remember the PS VR2? Sorry, but hey, it’s nice to see some new games coming out for Sony’s somewhat struggling headset. With both first-person sword battles and some neat mechanics with a rope weapon you can use to pull enemies and weapons around, this could prove to be a very satisfying VR experience.

    Alien Rogue Incursion

    Alien Rogue Incursion – First Gameplay | PS VR 2 Games

    Alien Rogue Incursion aims to bring its HR Giger-inspired horror vibes to a PlayStation VR headset near you…you know, if you feel you won’t die of absolute fraking terror.

    Marvel Rivals

    Marvel Rivals – PlayStation Closed Beta Announce Trailer | PS5 Games

    It’s like third-person Overwatch but you know, with a Marvel license or something! Joking aside, Rivals may set itself apart with its third-person action and good use of its source material.

    Where Winds Meet

    Where Winds Meet – Announce Trailer | PS5 Games

    With a trailer focusing on some tense and speedy-lookin’ one-on-one showdowns, Where Winds Meet is currently in development for PS5.

    Until Dawn

    Until Dawn – Gameplay Trailer | PS5 Games

    Supermassive’s 2015 interactive teen horror movie is being rebuilt and upgraded for current hardware. Until Dawn’s PS5 and PC trailer at this month’s State of Play wasn’t short on gruesome contraptions and hellish ways to see its characters murdered.

    Path of Exile 2

    Path of Exile 2 – Console Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

    Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile 2 is set to arrive on PS5 in 2024. Cast into a dark fantasy world tortured by monsters and disease, players will have to take on the role of fearless warriors seeking victory and, of course, better and better loot. Keep this one on your radar if Diablo 4 hasn’t been doing it for you. Path of Exile 2 arrives on PS5 via Early Access in late 2024.

    Silent Hill 2

    Silent Hill 2 – Release Date Trailer | PS5 Games

    Today we got a closer look at the upcoming remake of horror classic Silent Hill 2. Complete with a very Resident Evil 4-inspired camera set up and gruesome beasts, time will tell if this remake lives up to the hype when it launches on October 8, 2024.

    Monster Hunter Wilds

    Monster Hunter Wilds – 1st Trailer | PS5 Games

    We finally got a real look at the next entry in the beloved Monster Hunter franchise. Yes, there are cute Palicos as well as menacing beasts. Tonight’s trailer showed off some of the game’s world too, which sports sandstorms and plenty of open space to engage in battle with creatures while riding aboard your bird mount. The game is expected to arrive in 2025.

    Astro Bot

    ASTRO BOT – Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games

    Hope you weren’t tired of our pal Astro! Looking far more ambitious and elaborate than the delightful PS5 pack-in game Astro’s Playroom and absolutely packed with cameos from throughout PlayStation history to trigger your brand nostalgia, this definitely looks like it’ll rise above the status of novelty to be something rather interesting. Astro Bot arrives on September 6.

    And that wraps everything we saw at tonight’s State of Play. It was a short but sweet showing of some neat-looking games coming to the PS5.

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    Claire Jackson

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  • A Decade Later, Mario Kart 8 Is Still Impossible To Top

    A Decade Later, Mario Kart 8 Is Still Impossible To Top

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    My best friends and I have a typical rotation of games we play on game nights. These are often competitive shooters or cooperative survival games, which lend themselves particularly well to our needs. However, one night about two years back, we came to an impasse until one of us jokingly tossed out, “Let’s just play Mario Kart.” Within minutes, we had all grabbed our Nintendo Switches, jumped in a call, and booted up the game. We didn’t set it down for about another five hours.

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    Stories about Mario Kart 8 tend to follow that formula. It is either the first or last game a group will settle on playing, but because it’s so reliably great, it’s just about the only game any group needs once it’s been decided upon. I’ve found Mario Kart 8 endlessly rewarding as both a participant and a spectator since it launched ten years ago, and I reckon it’s still got another ten years in it if we’re being honest.

    When it was released in 2014, Mario Kart 8 was the biggest deal on the least incredible platform. Gravity-defying tracks melted folks’ brains back in the day, and the breakout meme of Luigi’s death stare is timeless, but above all, what distinguished Mario Kart 8 was that it’s polished to a tee. New items like the boomerang and the super horn were crowd-pleasing additions, and Mario Kart 8 even adapted to the times and threw in DLC, and a lot of it. By the time its servers were shut down on the Wii U, Mario Kart 8 had become the best-selling game on the console, topping out at about 8.5 million copies sold. Despite the numerous laps it made there, though, it would shine even brighter a few years later as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, where it has also gone on to become the console’s best-selling game, moving an astonishing 61.97 million copies and counting.

    In the ten years since it first released, Mario Kart 8 has taken over the damn world.

    Every now and then, a game breaks containment. You know a game is big when people who don’t typically play or follow games know about it and play it. Mario Kart 8 is one such game. Hell, it’s arguably a cultural touchstone. If I’m at a party, there’s a good chance the host has a Switch set up with MK8D ready to go. For the first several years of the Switch’s lifetime, anywhere that gamers gathered, you were bound to see clusters of people crowded around a Switch or two playing MK8D. I never actually played my Switch on the move (as was often touted in Switch commercials) but when I first got my hands on MK8D, you’re damn right I played it everywhere I went.

    MK8D isn’t just enthralling, though; it’s become part of the lexicon. I can’t tell you the amount of dating profiles I’ve swiped past where girls are openly challenging potential suitors like me, the drift king, to play them in Mario Kart. As video games have become more culturally acceptable and significant, MK8D was there alongside the likes of Fortnite leading the charge on casual and competitive games. It is the avatar of all kart racers and easily one of the most ubiquitous games ever. Mario Kart games certainly enjoyed acclaim, high sales, and fan fervor before, but MK8, and specifically MK8D, earned something above that: prestige and a place in all our lives.

    It’s become so huge that Nintendo doubled down on MK8 even after porting it, with all its existing DLC, to the Switch. Though MK8D’s Booster Course Pass was a controversial announcement at the time, it has also added an undeniable wealth of value to one of the most stacked games ever. Over the course of a year and a half, Nintendo added 48 race tracks to the game, as well as eight characters and several smaller fixes and changes. Most of the tracks are remastered from previous games, but some are entirely new, and regardless, MK8D has enjoyed more support and content than most long running-service titles.

    Is it selfish and maybe even a little dumb of me to never want it to stop?

    The move to continue supporting MK8D to this extent has brought into question whether or not there’s even a need for another Mario Kart game. There will most assuredly be one, but trying to imagine where Nintendo goes from here is a little difficult. MK8 and MK8D have been such decisive and easy wins for the company, I wouldn’t fault Nintendo for just releasing it again on the Switch’s successor, though it’ll almost certainly be backwards compatible. Why not just continue pouring everything into this already quintessential game rather than start from scratch? In a world of games as platforms that are constantly evolving, why not just turn the foundation of this perfect game into the basis for a long, uncomplicated future for the Mario Kart games?

    For all its countless strengths and legendary titles, Nintendo hasn’t really enjoyed a success quite like MK8D before, and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t become the company’s Resident Evil 4, which has seemingly haunted every console to ever exist after its release. Much as you never need to give it to a company, I’ve got to give it to Nintendo: it made one of the greatest games ever and accidentally turned it into the most enduring title of the past several generations.

    All I’m saying is that 8 is already a symbol synonymous with the concept of the infinity, so it’s all teed up for Nintendo to keep playing this tune forever…and maybe even cut me a check for the idea. I don’t know of any other game I’ve been playing for ten years. I don’t know many other games that I think I’ll still be playing in another ten. If I had to pick one though, I’m all in on Mario Kart 8, and even if you don’t know it yet, you probably are too.

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    Moises Taveras

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  • Hellblade II Combat Mastery, Rewards For Returning MultiVersus Players, And More Tips For The Week

    Hellblade II Combat Mastery, Rewards For Returning MultiVersus Players, And More Tips For The Week

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    Screenshot: WB Games

    One of the biggest questions heading into MultiVersus’ 1.0 launch has been answered. WB Games’ crossover platform fighter dropped in Open Beta in 2022, and the plan at the time seemed to be a smooth transition to a full launch. Instead the game was temporarily shut down, despite having run multiple Battle Passes and taking real money for skins and other cosmetics. Several months later, a relaunch is right around the corner with 1.0 scheduled for May 28, 2024. So, what happens to all that purchased content, and would there be any compensation for those founding players when MultiVersus returned? The latest wave of info from developer Player First Games has laid it all out, and we’re here with the condensed version. – Lucas White Read More

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • 10 Unforgettable Cult Movies You Can Watch On Netflix Today

    10 Unforgettable Cult Movies You Can Watch On Netflix Today

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    STARSHIP TROOPERS [1997]– Official Trailer (HD) | Get the 25th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD SteelBook Now

    Released in 1997 but somehow as timeless as ever, Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi satire draws from the Robert Heinlein novel but adds its own slick, glossy blend of soap-opera drama, stylized storytelling, and buggy gore. Would you like to know more? Watch on Netflix.

    (This post originally appeared on Gizmodo.)

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    Cheryl Eddy

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  • Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Will Still Come To PS4 And Xbox One

    Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 Will Still Come To PS4 And Xbox One

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    Image: Activision

    We’re now halfway through the life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but Call of Duty doesn’t appear to be giving up on the last-gen consoles that preceded them yet. A leak out of GameStop suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will still come to PS4 and Xbox One, but continue to cost the same as the $70 “next-gen” versions.

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    An apparent photograph circulated by CharlieIntel shows the SKUs and prices for 2024’s Call of Duty in GameStop’s inventory system. The image lists Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS4, with a $70 price tag for each, and the Xbox One version seemingly included via Smart Delivery. Insider Gaming reports that it’s been able to independently verify that the data in the image is real, and two GameStop employees Kotaku spoke with corroborated the claim as well, confirming that pre-order SKUs are currently live in their system.

    If made official, this would be the longest that Call of Duty has ever remained cross-gen. When the series originally made the jump to PS4 and Xbox One back in 2013 with Call of Duty: Ghosts, it remained on PS3 and Xbox 360 for two years after that until Activision ditched the older consoles with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. With Black Ops 6, PS4 and Xbox One will have continued receiving last-gen versions for a surprising five years in a row.

    If you’re wondering why this might be the case, look no further than the fact that roughly half of PlayStation users are still playing on a PS4. The last-gen install base remains huge, and cutting it off from one of the most expensive games to make would be leaving a ton of money on the table. PS5 exclusives like Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already appear to have suffered poorer sales as a result of that.

    Of course, Xbox players aren’t likely to notice the price hike anyway since most of them will be able to play Black Ops 6 with a paid Game Pass subscription. Microsoft is reportedly planning to bring the series to the Netflix-like library later this year, though there are also rumors that it might raise the monthly service’s price once it does.

    Activision declined to comment.

    Update 5/24/2024 5:45 p.m. ET: Added Kotaku’s own sourcing and independent corroboration.

             

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    Ethan Gach

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  • Destiny 2 Reveals First Look At Keith David As Commander Zavala

    Destiny 2 Reveals First Look At Keith David As Commander Zavala

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    As Bungie continues to tease out the release of Destiny 2: The Final Shape, it has finally unveiled how Keith David (The Thing, Halo, Mass Effect) will sound when he assumes the mantle of Commander Zavala. Zavala, a key character in the Destiny series, had been played by the beloved actor Lance Reddick until last year, when he tragically passed from coronary heart disease.

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    As part of the upcoming expansion’s marketing cycle, Bungie is in the midst of releasing a series of short documentaries on the making of The Final Shape. The first part of this doc, which debuted on May 23, contains two brief scenes debuting David as Zavala. They are, predictably, a gut punch.

    The first scene, which comes about three minutes into the first part of the ViDoc, features Zavala telling an unseen character that he would’ve given anything to bring them back. He is presumably talking to Cayde-6, a character who was killed off in 2018’s Forsaken expansion and with whom Zavala had a close relationship (who is returning and will be voiced, once again, by Nathan Fillion). Later on, there is another cutscene of Zavala telling his fellow vanguard Ikora Rey that he won’t “lose another soldier in this war.” It’s impossible not to read the lines as the game’s developers and fans alike wishing Reddick could still be here for this momentous moment in the series.

    Reddick’s character became an increasingly integral part of Destiny’s long-running story, but the actor was a positive fixture of the game’s community in real life, too. Fans adored Reddick, who often took the time out of his day to engage with them on social media. He’d often field questions from fans on Twitter even when he wasn’t actively working on the game or promoting it. When he passed,countless players amassed near his character in Destiny 2’s hub and publicly mourned Reddick’s passing while celebrating his contributions to the series.

    After his passing, many Bungie developers who’d worked with Reddick shared how fond they had become of him over the years. Reddick, who’d been with the series since day one, seemed to have fostered an especially strong affinity for Destiny, and he often played the game. In a heartbreaking and completely unintended gesture, it was eventually discovered that Reddick was playing Destiny 2 the night before he passed away.

    At the time of his passing, Reddick had recorded some lines for Zavala for some of the content following 2023’s Lightfall expansion. Over the course of some months though, Zavala’s role in the story diminished, and players understood before long that they’d probably heard the last of Reddick’s posthumous work. Beginning with The Final Shape, David is taking over the role, and though he has a commanding voice and certainly has the gravitas, Reddick’s unique take on the character he originated will be missed.

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    Moises Taveras

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  • Ubisoft’s COD-Like Shooter Is Finally Out–But Matchmaking Is Broken

    Ubisoft’s COD-Like Shooter Is Finally Out–But Matchmaking Is Broken

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    After years of marketing, delays, betas, and name changes, XDefiant from Ubisoft is finally here and…things aren’t going very well. Players are currently unable to find matches as the game’s servers can’t seem to cope with the large influx of people.

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    XDefiant—out now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC—is Ubisoft’s big-budget free-to-play Call of Duty-like first-person online shooter. The FPS has had a long road to release. It was first announced back in July 2021 as Tom Clancy’s XDefiant, but in March 2022 the game dropped the “Tom Clancy” bit and expanded to include characters and locations from various Ubisoft-owned franchises, like Far Cry and Watch Dogs. In 2023, it got its first big open-beta playtest and I enjoyed its fast-paced, Black Ops II-like gameplay. Later that year, it was delayed twice. But now, after all that, XDefiant is out. Good luck playing it, though.

    Poking around online, XDefiant isn’t completely broken. I’ve found streams online of people playing it. However, in my testing on Xbox, I was unable to join a match and was stuck in a lobby waiting for something to happen. And even players who do get into matches have reported long waits to get into another.

    At 1:30 pm EST, the official XDefiant Twitter account posted that it was aware that “some players are unable to join a game” and asked folks to wait as the devs looked into the situation.

    At 2:55 pm EST, the account offered an update, saying that things were improving but that it was continuing to work on making sure everyone could get in and play the FPS.

    Then at 3:50 pm EST, in response to players complaining about the lack of updates and continued matchmaking issues, Ubisoft posted on Twitter:

    Update: We are all focused on the matchmaking issue and are continuously investigating. We will continue to provide updates as possible.

    As of about an hour later, that’s the last update from the main XDefiant account on Twitter. Players are frustrated, as you might expect. But, really, in the year of our lord 2024, I’m not sure how anyone could be surprised that a large-scale online multiplatform video game is having issues at launch. Still, hopefully, Ubisoft is able to get the game up and running without resorting to making developers and engineers stay late into the night.

     .

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    Zack Zwiezen

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  • The Last Of Us Season 2 Pics, Fallout Player Nukes Phil Spencer, And More News

    The Last Of Us Season 2 Pics, Fallout Player Nukes Phil Spencer, And More News

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    Image: Naughty Dog, Bethesda / Koaku, Image: Bethesda / Patrick T. Fallon / Bloomberg (Getty Images), Jonathan Yeo Studio, EA, Ubisoft, Ubisoft, Screenshot: Roaring Kitty / YouTube / Kotaku, Kotaku / Bungie, Samsung / Kotaku

    It’s the middle of May 2024 and that means we’re nearly halfway through the year. What has this year been like in video game news? Tons of layoffs (sad), lots of new games (glad), and some weird outliers, as usual. This week, we saw set photos and official shots from The Last of Us season two, dove back into the GameStop stock market, and asked the dude who nuked Phil Spencer in Fallout 76 about his motivations. Click through for all of this week’s best breaking news. 

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    Kotaku Staff

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  • Sonic Fans Are Going Feral Waiting For The Third Movie Trailer

    Sonic Fans Are Going Feral Waiting For The Third Movie Trailer

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    Image: Paramount

    Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is still seven months away, as the third live-action movie starring the blue blur and his angsty rival Shadow will premiere on December 20. And fans are eagerly anticipating the first trailer for the upcoming movie. Though some lucky ones were able to get a first look at a private event in April, the general public has been waiting to see even a single frame of the film. So much so that we are reaching a peak state of madness not seen since Dr. Gerald Robotnik sent the Space Colony Ark falling to Earth in Sonic Adventure 2.

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    I, like several others, had been theorizing Paramount might release the Sonic 3 trailer today, May 16, to pair it with its new (apparently bad) imaginary friend movie If, which is in theaters tonight. In preparation for this, I turned on X (formerly Twitter) notifications for the official Sonic movie account so I would see it right when it went up. After most of the day went by, I’d given up hope. Then, I got a notification for a post from the account, got excited, and was immediately disappointed to see the post was just a retweet of the Paramount+ account breaking down Easter eggs from the Knuckles show now streaming on the service.

    Several responses to the post are fans begging for the Sonic 3 trailer and mentioning they also fell victim to the same notification I did. Paramount is definitely aware that fans would like to see a glimpse of the film, as the company’s official YouTube randomly uploaded a clip from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on May 10, then responded to fans who called out the bait and switch.

    “Whoever decided to drop this when everyone’s talking about the [Sonic 3] trailer was a genius,” wrote one fan. The Paramount account responded saying, “Yeah, whoever decided to do that is diabolical.” Another user commented that this was a “test” for how ready fans were for the trailer, to which Paramount said “Oh trust me, we know y’all are ready.”

    All we know right now is that Paramount Mexico’s TikTok account deleted a comment that said the trailer would be coming “very soon” on May 7. But since it doesn’t seem like it will premiere in time for If, fans are now waiting for any clues. I just want to see my live-action son, Paramount. I watched all of the Knuckles show and he was barely in it. Show me signs of life for Shadow. It’s his year, dammit.

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    Kenneth Shepard

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