Tag: PlayStation 3

What We Loved And Miss About The Xbox 360

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Microsoft shutdown the Xbox 360’s marketplace this week and nearly two decades after the console first launched it feels like the final nail in the coffin for a particular era of gaming we’ll probably never see again.

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The Xbox 360 came out a year earlier than the competition and $100 cheaper than the base PlayStation 3. It seemed to make all the right moves, using Halo, Gears of War, and Call of Duty to jump start online multiplayer into the soon-to-be dominant form of gaming, while investing it all back into indie curation, big exclusives, and marketing deal that made the console feel like the place everyone had to be.

In some ways it felt like the best of all worlds, and by the end of the generation you could pick up an Xbox 360 for just $100 and play dozens of the best games ever made. The culture was far from healthy, and some of the places making everything were a mess to work for. But it was also a fun time, and a weird one. Here’s what we’ll miss about it and why the Xbox 360 still feels so special to us.

Ethan Gach: Let’s remember some Xbox 360s! What’s your Xbox 360 origin story Carolyn?

Carolyn Petit: The first E3 I ever attended was in 2005, with the Xbox 360’s launch still some months out and I have to say, the games I saw on the show floor looked amazing. It’s hilarious to me now considering I haven’t even thought about this game in probably 15 years, but at that time, the game that blew me away the most was probably GRAW. Interestingly, though, despite my initial excitement about the console being rooted in its graphical power and my lust for next-gen spectacle, now, when I think back on what made the console so special to me, it’s not really about that aspect of it at all. What about you Alyssa?

Alyssa Mercante: I’ve told mine on Kotaku.com more than once, but I had borrowed my high school sweetheart’s original Xbox to play Halo 2 when he went away to college, but not long after that Halo 3 came out, which wasn’t backwards compat. So I went out during my free period in high school (we had an open campus for seniors, you could take your car and leave if you didn’t have class), and drove to a Target where I spent my summer job savings on a 360, Halo 3, and Xbox Live.

Ethan: I have zero recollection of the Xbox 360’s launch. What was I even doing at the time? 2005. Hmm. I was going into my senior year in high school, barely playing anything except for the occasional late-stage PS2 game—Shadow of the Colossus and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, followed eventually by Okami and Final Fantasy XII. My only real memory of the beginning of that console cycle is my brother getting a PS3 and me having almost no interest in it. It wasn’t until my girlfriend’s roommate’s boyfriend in college got me hooked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that I finally picked up a super cheap used Xbox 360 arcade edition for like $150. That four years after the console launched but still somehow only the mid-way point.

Carolyn: Yeah, I don’t remember exactly when I finally got one myself—I certainly couldn’t afford one at launch, and my memories of the time around release have a lot to do with playing Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (lol) at GameStop kiosks.

Moises Taveras: The first time I ever played an Xbox 360 also had to do with Call of Duty: MW2. It was all the rage with the kids in my middle school, but I was largely looking from the outside in as a) a PlayStation kid since my youth and b) someone who came from a family too poor to afford more than one console. But eventually, I made friends who had 360s and I remember us all cramming onto a couch in the smallest bedroom imaginable at our friend Howard’s house and playing local multiplayer matches till we lost our voices from shouting. I learned really quickly then that the 360 was synonymous with multiplayer and socializing with folks and it made me want one so bad. Little did I know I wouldn’t get a 360 till the very end of the console generation!

Carolyn: I think part of the Xbox 360’s dominance in that era can be attributed to the fact that it offered the best online experience for folks wanting to play Call of Duty, but it also did something incredible that totally won over people like me. I’m not saying I didn’t have an amazing time playing Gears of War co-op, I absolutely did, and huge credit to Microsoft for putting out a steady stream of banger exclusives that really made Xbox Live feel essential. But for me, when I think about the Xbox 360, what still gets me excited most is Xbox Live Arcade, and particularly amazing games like Pac-Man Championship Edition. Games like this took the arcade leaderboard competition of my childhood and absolutely exploded it. Suddenly I was staying up nights pouring everything I had into beating my friends’ high scores on online leaderboards for all the world to see. Man, it was incredible.

Moises: Supergiant Games’ Bastion absolutely blew my mind as far as what I thought games could be. It being a console exclusive to the 360 through XBLA broke my heart and kept me from the portfolio of what’d become my favorite studio, and then Xbox just kept pumping out indie titles like it. Honestly, my working definition of an indie game was largely informed by this era of XBLA games.

Xbox Dashboard Evolution 2001-2019 (Xbox Original, Xbox 360, One)

Kenneth Shepard: The Xbox 360 was the first console launch I was really tuned into the industry for. I was full-blown sicko mode for that thing as a kid, and was counting down the days. I was a huge Rare fan at the time and Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero were a huge deal to me. But broadly, I think I fell off video games for a bit because the system just didn’t speak to my tendencies. As Moises said, the 360 became the multiplayer system and I preferred gaming in solitude, and eventually pivoted to the PS3 in the final years of that generation. But I played the Mass Effect trilogy on the 360, so I ended up keeping an old 360 in my home longer than any other system. I had to replace the household 360 more times than probably any other system my family owned.

We got a launch window system that died by the time Halo 3 came out, so we had to replace it swiftly. Then I got my own 360 for Christmas 2009, just before the launch of Mass Effect 2. That sucker lasted over a decade. It gathered dust for large swaths of the time, but since I didn’t own an Xbox One, it was the only way for me to go back to my old Mass Effect trilogy saves until the Legendary Edition came out in 2021. So while I had mostly abandoned the system by the end of the generation, the 360 is still a defining system in my life because it gave me one of the most important video game experiences of my life. I’ll always be grateful for it, even if I think the Microsoft was a trailblazer for some of the industry’s worst modern tendencies with it.

Ethan: That was the other thing that I think tipped me in the direction of the Xbox 360 besides the price and walled multiplayer gardens. As someone coming from the PS1 and PS2, it just had more of the RPGs I was craving earlier or in better condition. I came to the original Mass Effect late but it blew my mind. I got to catch up on Star Wars: The Old Republic. It was synonymous with retro and couch-coop indie games for me like Castle Crashers and Super Meat Boy. It really did just nail a lot of the same things that the PS4 did a generation later and which ultimately helped Sony to reverse the tide.

Moises: it’s so weird to think about now given Xbox’s current situation and catalog, but the 360 was where all the games were!

Carolyn: Another thing that was a big factor for me, I have to admit, is that I was totally cheevo-pilled. The Xbox 360 brought about the advent of achievements and I got extremely excited about pulling off absurd things like beating Call of Duty campaigns on Veteran to get all the achievements. I no longer put much stock in achievements or trophies, but to this day I greatly prefer the at-a-glance number that reflects your achievements compared to all the trophies of PlayStation’s system. And on top of that, the whole interface on Xbox just felt so much more inviting to me than that on Sony. I think avatars were really smart of them to introduce in that era. I loved signing on and seeing little cartoon versions of all my good friends online, playing games of their own. In comparison to that, the whole interface of the PS3 just felt cold and impersonal to me, and that console would end up gathering dust in my entertainment center.

Ethan: The Xbox 360 home screen definitely felt a lot more inviting and hit that sweet spot of clutter to chill. The controller was also very solid. Have any of you gone back and tried to hold a PS3 DualShock? It feels like you’re being pranked. I take it none of you ever had an issue with red-ringing or other hardware failures?

Photo: Mark Davis (Getty Images)

Moises: Nope! Correct me if I’m wrong but those issues got ironed out with later iterations of the console, so by the time one of my best friends let me indefinitely borrow his 360, it was smooth sailing for me.

Carolyn: I did have to send mine back for repairs once, and for a while there at least, it felt like everyone I knew who owned one was hitting the red ring. There was a period there, at least in my circle of friends, where there was real disbelief and anger that Microsoft had sold us all a product that was so prone to failure. I think it speaks to just how fond people were overall of the console—its library, its interface, its online features—that today, when you bring it up, you’re far more likely to get fond recollections than bitter complaints. It was so good that even the considerable irritations so many of us experienced with it are now just a footnote in our memories.

Ethan: My console ended up red-ringing in like, 2012? But then I read that you can just put it in the oven and bake it at a low temperature to loosen up the glue. Has worked like a charm ever since.

Carolyn: Wow, I never knew that!

Ethan: I think one of the reasons people look back so fondly on the Xbox 360 is that, in retrospect, it felt like the last time you could contain the entirety of what was going on, coming out, and being talked about in your head at any given time. It was still very intimate and physical, with midnight launches and stacks of controllers in the split-screen coop session. There was spectacle with E3 but also the feeling you alone were discovering these incredible hidden treasures on Xbox Live Arcade, which was like a return to finding the internet for the first time again.

Carolyn: I agree. And they just had so many games that became sensations for a time, from Braid to Geometry Wars. The curation was exceptional, and it was an era in which it still felt like the whole culture, or much of it at least, could still come together for a few weeks around some exciting new downloadable game.

Moises: Yeah. By comparison, when the PS4 really started to pivot to those smaller more intimate games early in its lifetime, it wasn’t that those games were lesser, but it did feel like they were being more haphazardly thrown on the platform to fill gaps between big exclusives. Meanwhile XBLA had these clearly thought out rollouts and events that made a big deal of Arcade titles. Also everything was less shitty. Xbox Live Gold was the original multiplayer subscription, and the only one for quite some time, but it at least seemed to provide value with great deals and a platform that produced rock solid multiplayer hits. It also wasn’t as expensive as anything is nowadays.

Carolyn: Before we wrap things up here, I think we can’t talk about what an amazing console the 360 was without saying a little more about its games. Are there any games y’all want to shout out as particular favorites that really helped make that library great or were emblematic of what the console was doing? When I think about the 360, I think about how the grittiness of Gears of War coexisted harmoniously alongside the whimsy of Viva Pinata, and I’ll never forget the dozens of hours my friends and I spent driving around doing challenges together in Burnout Paradise. It really did feel, more than a lot of other consoles, like it offered something for everyone, and like the people behind it thought deeply about how to bring people together to share in the experiences it offered.

And even though some of its games were also on PlayStation, at least everyone in my friend group, won over by the cheevos and online features of Xbox, always bought multiplatform games there, which perpetuated the console’s dominance in that generation. It’s a little wild to think how this generation it feels somewhat the opposite for me, like most people I know play most multiplatform games on PlayStation. Wild how the tables have turned. But yeah, any other 360 shoutouts?

Moises: I cannot separate the 360 from the stunning role it did in promoting so many smaller studios to the mainstream. I already invoked Bastion from Supergiant Games, but I can’t not shoutout Limbo and Playdead, which has now delivered two absolutely singular game experiences in a row. Oh and Shadow Complex does still own.

Ethan: Limbo was incredible. While the indie darling backlash was fair and warranted, it was really an incredible run of curation there for several years. The Dishwasher games were great, and really spoke to that sense of Newgrounds 2.0 animating the grungy vibe of XBLA. It’s also wild how much Microsoft tried to court Japanese RPG fans with Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. For me personally, Dungeon Defenders is still an all-time great. One of the last times I was able to rope friends into playing something for hours with me on a couch.

I was trying to think of my top five favorite 360 games, exclusive or no, and couldn’t stop listing stuff. The end of that console generation was so strong, on both 360 and PS3, maybe there’s hope that the Series X/S and PS5 pick up in their final years. But with massive budgets, long development times, and so much risk-averse consolidation, I’m not hopeful.

Carolyn: Whether it picks up to some degree or not, I think it’s safe to say that there will never be an era quite like that exemplified by the 360 again. The console was just perfectly poised to take advantage of a given moment in gaming culture and technology, employing exciting new ideas like achievements to build a sense of both community and friendly competition around games in ways that its library and online service leveraged brilliantly. Also, Sneak King was great.

Ethan: Any parting thoughts since you vanished, Alyssa?

Alyssa: LMAO. The time my 360 red ringed right before I went up for senior year of college. The day before. And I went out and bought another because not having one wasn’t an option. That or the time my mother heard me cursing out misogynists in Italian?

Ethan: Was it on the $3 phone bank operator Xbox 360 headset?

Alyssa: Beninteso!

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Ethan Gach, Carolyn Petit, Alyssa Mercante, Moises Taveras, and Kenneth Shepard

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July 30, 2024
Grab These PlayStation-Exclusive Action Games On Sale Right Now

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Screenshot: Insomniac Games

Sony is currently running a pretty awesome sale for a number of its first-party games, particularly those in the action genre. Whether you’re looking to check out Nathan Drake’s swan song in Uncharted 4, Sam Porter Bridges’ strange trip through the apocalypse in Death Stranding, or Kratos’ dramatic shift into sad dad mode in 2018’s God of War, there’s a ton here to check out.

Most of these deals are for PS4 versions, many of which you can upgrade to the PS5 version either for free or at a small cost. All of these deals run from now until April 1, 2024.

We also threw in a list of action-adjacent games you may wish to check out as well.

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Claire Jackson

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March 8, 2024
Rumor Mill: Microsoft May Bring XBOX Exclusives Like ‘Gears Of War’ To Sony’s Playstation Platform

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Xbox & Playstation Source: Future Publishing / Getty

After decades of console wars, Xbox will allegedly concede and bring its exclusives to Sony’s Playstation 5 platform.

For decades we’ve been entertained by the console wars mainly between Sony and Microsoft. In the early days of Xbox 360, it seemed Microsoft couldn’t be touched. However, after the successful launches of the PlayStation 3, 4, and 5 Sony reigned supreme while Xbox tried to keep up. When the PlayStation 5 launched it was clear to everyone paying attention it was the superior console. According to Forbes, Microsoft will allegedly begin letting their once coveted exclusive release on Sony’s PlayStation platform.

While this has yet to be officially announced an announcement could come as early as next week reports The Verge.

This would mark the waving of the white flag by Microsoft unless Playstation gives over their exclusives which isn’t likely. When Microsoft purchased gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion they promised they would play nice with Sony as it pertained to Call of Duty. This update would certainly make good on that promise. Furthermore, speculation has pointed to Hi-Fi Rush, Starfield, and others coming to Playstation and Switch soon. As gaming and streaming continue to grow this will undoubtedly provide a significant boost to all the titles released on other platforms for the first time.

All eyes will be on Microsoft’s announcements next week as gamers pray Halo is included in the titles coming to PS5.

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Noah Williams

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February 6, 2024
The Last Of Us Online Is Officially Canceled

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The Last of Us Online is dead. Naughty Dog announced today that the multiplayer spin-off of the hit series is no longer in development, citing concerns about managing ongoing content for a live-service game while still trying to produce the single-player blockbusters the PlayStation studio is famous for.

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“We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online,” Naughty Dog wrote in a December 14 update. “There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.”

The studio said that as production on the project ramped up, it became clear that “we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games.” The choices were apparently between becoming a “solely live-service games studio” in the mold of modern day Bungie, which makes Destiny 2, or “continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

The Last Of Us Online, which many many fans previously referred to as Factions after the multiplayer mode from the original 2013 PlayStation 3 game, was first announced during Summer Game Fest 2022. The spin-off was billed as the studio’s “biggest online experience” ever, and as large as any of its single-player games.

But Naughty Dog never showed the game beyond vague statements and concept art. Then in May of this year, Bloomberg reported that the production team on the game had be scaled back following negative feedback from an internal review by Bungie, which Sony acquired last year. At the time, the studio posted a statement on Twitter saying that while things were progressing well, the game required more time. By October, however, Kotaku reported that the project had been “put on ice” amid some internal reshuffling and dozens of contracted developers being laid off.

The Last of Us Online was one of a number of new multiplayer projects in development across Sony’s studios as the PlayStation 5 maker invested in a massive shift toward more live-service games. In November, Sony revealed during an earnings call that half of the roughly dozen online games it was working on would be delayed past 2025.

In the meantime, Naughty Dog is still working on a “brand-new single-player game” it plans to reveal sometime in the future.

Here’s Naughty Dog’s full blog post:

We realize many of you have been anticipating news around the project that we’ve been calling The Last of Us Online. There’s no easy way to say this: We’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to stop development on that game.

We know this news will be tough for many, especially our dedicated The Last of Us Factions community, who have been following our multiplayer ambitions ardently. We’re equally crushed at the studio as we were looking forward to putting it in your hands. We wanted to share with you some background of how we came to this decision.

The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential. As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.

In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.

We are immensely proud of everyone at the studio that touched this project. The learnings and investments in technology from this game will carry into how we develop our projects and will be invaluable in the direction we are headed as a studio. We have more than one ambitious, brand new single player game that we’re working on here at Naughty Dog, and we cannot wait to share more about what comes next when we’re ready.

Until then, we’re incredibly thankful to our community for your support throughout the years.

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Ethan Gach

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December 14, 2023
New Walking Dead Game Looks Uh… Not Great!

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A new video game based on the popular TV show The Walking Dead is out now on consoles and fans who have jumped in to check it out are reporting another clunky, broken, and ugly Game Mill-published mess, just like that awful King Kong game from earlier this year.

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My job is to write about video games and to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in the industry. So I was pretty surprised to see a new Walking Dead game—that I had no idea existed—land on consoles today with little fanfare. I don’t doubt there were marketing materials and even ads for The Walking Dead: Destinies before it launched, but somehow I completely missed all of that and only discovered the game existed about an hour before writing this paragraph. And let me tell you, it’s been a nice Friday afternoon treat.

Let’s just cut right to the first thing I saw of this game: A boss fight between Rick and Shane over who should lead the group. The big draw of this game is that players can change the events of the show, which is cool in concept! I like that idea. Sadly, the shootout between the ex-friends and former cops is one of the worst and silliest boss fights I’ve seen in 2023.

MKIceAndFire /Game Mill

I think Rick takes about 20 or so point-blank shotgun blasts to the face before getting knocked down. Then the fight transitions to a second stage and at this point, the audio starts to cut out and character voiceovers play on top of each other as Shane smacks Rick repeatedly with a crowbar. Eventually, after all this silliness, Rick dies and Shane walks away the victor, changing the events of the show. But at what cost?

Game Mill strikes again, unfortunately

The rest of The Walking Dead: Destinies doesn’t look much better. Cutscenes aren’t animated, character models look ripped out of a PlayStation 3 game, and gameplay seems to boil down to “Run up to zombie, kick or punch zombie, and press the stab button.” Then just do that a few hundred times or so.

Without playing it I can’t say if it’s actually worse than Skull Island: Rise of Kong, another game published by low-budget publisher Game Mill. But even if The Walking Dead: Destinies is better, that’s a low bar to clear.

I don’t blame the developers behind this game for it being such a mess. As previously reported about Kong, Game Mill seems to provide little support and few resources to the studios working on its games.

So it’s entirely possible (and likely) that talented and passionate developers crunched hard on Destinies in a short amount of time to get something out, and this is what we got. And while that sucks and might be another sign of how the game industry treats its workers like garbage, it doesn’t change the fact that you probably shouldn’t buy this new Walking Dead game. But enjoy the videos of its wonky boss fights all you want.

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Zack Zwiezen

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November 17, 2023
Ubisoft Shutting Down Online Service For Old Assassin’s Creed Games And More
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Image: Ubisoft
Ubisoft has announced plans to shut down online services for nearly a dozen video games, including Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction. The games will lose online functionally on January 25, 2024.

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As we’ve seen over the last year, plenty of video game publishers and developers have already pulled online services and shutdown servers for a plethora of games across all platforms. The reasons vary, from low player counts to expiring licenses, but the reality is the same: More games become harder or impossible to play once the plug has been pulled. Now we can add even more titles to the growing list of “Dead Games.” This time around it’s Ubisoft announcing more shutdowns.

In a new post on Ubisoft’s support site, the publisher confirmed plans for “decommissioning” online services for 10 “older” games. Ubisoft further added that shutting down servers for old games is a choice it doesn’t make “lightly,” however it also added that it is “a necessity as the technology behind these services becomes outdated.”

Kotaku has contacted Ubisoft about the shutdowns.

Here is the full list of games losing online service on January 25, 2024, as well as which platforms are affected:

Assassin’s Creed II — Xbox 360

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood — Mac

Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD — PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Assassin’s Creed Revelations — PC

Ghost Recon Future Soldier — PC

Heroes of Might and Magic VI — PC

NCIS — PC

Splinter Cell: Conviction — Xbox 360

R.U.S.E. — PC

Trials Evolution — PC

According to a chart from Ubisoft, once online features are shut off for these 10 games, users will no longer be able to play online multiplier, link accounts, or collect Ubisoft Connect rewards for the affected titles.

If it seems odd that some of these older games are only being shut down on certain platforms and not others, it should be noted that over the last few years Ubisoft has killed online services for some of these titles already on different platforms.
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Zack Zwiezen

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October 30, 2023
Let’s Get Really Nostalgic About The Early Days Of PlayStation

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“There was a sense that video games were toys. And Sony is not a toy company.” That’s how a new mini-oral history about PlayStation revolutionizing console gaming begins over at IGN. The words belong to former head of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, and they ring true for anyone who grew up with an NES or SNES.…

Read more…

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Ethan Gach

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August 4, 2023
Relive Sony’s Hilariously Awkward 2006 E3 Press Conference In HD

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Sony’s big press conference at E3 2006 rapidly became the stuff of legend. Awkward, baffling, hilarious, and stilted all at once, the presser—which touted the PSP and revealed the price point for the PlayStation 3—was easily one of the company’s most memorable, albeit unintentionally so, spawning an early, viral YouTube video memeing its most absurd moments, as well as other widespread mockery. And now, thanks to the preservation work of documentarian Danny O’Dwyer, you can watch the broadcast in stunning 4K.

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Through his crowdfunded documentary channel Noclip, O’Dwyer has been slowly digging up and publishing decades of video game history. From gameplay of unreleased titles to a scrapped 10-year-old Hideo Kojima interview to never-before-seen trailers, he’s got it all. And on July 21, he uploaded Sony’s two-hour E3 2006 presentation in the highest possible quality: 2160p at 60fps. Y’all, this is a time capsule worth watching for the first time if you’ve never seen it,, or reliving in HD if you have. Trust me, you’re in for a great time. So strap in, and let’s briefly remember this silly conference.

Noclip Game History Archive

The presentation had some cool games

There were some pretty cool games shown during the presentation. Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, the fifth entry in the now-dormant third-person stealth-shooter series, was featured, along with PS3 launch title Genji: Days of the Blade. The best God of War clone, Heavenly Sword, was revealed with some cinematic gameplay. And we got our first look at what would become Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, a game that would go on to introduce one of Naughty Dog’s most iconic IPs. On the games front, Sony’s E3 2006 press conference was serving it up, period.

The awkward moments were memeable

But in between these gameplay demos and teaser trailers were some truly stilted moments. Then-president and CEO Kaz Hirai trying to hype the crowd up by yelling, “It’s Riiiidge Racer!” The Genji: Days of the Blade presenter touting the game’s historical roots before fighting a giant enemy crab with a weak point you could strike for massive damage. Some random guy on the street talking about how it’s going to hurt when he beats you in PS3 games because “I don’t know.” It was a bonkers presentation that was as legendary as it was hilarious.

Donovansan

The price of the PlayStation 3 was a ‘yikes’

While the presentation opened with the high of Hirai talking about the fantastic success of the PS2, the best-selling console of all time, the ending was a serious dud. After all this boasting about the previous generation and showing off dope games for the next, Hirai revealed the PS3’s price: $500 for a 20GB console and $600 for a 60GB one. The announcement went over like a ton of bricks, perhaps in part due to the fact that the Xbox 360, already on the market for months, was considerably cheaper. It was a baffling price point that left me gagging, but the PS3 still wound up selling slightly more units than the Xbox 360 across its lifespan.

Saving footage that could have been lost forever

In an email to Kotaku, O’Dwyer detailed the work that went into uploading this memorable press conference. Saved on two HDCAM tapes by a video game website and bound for the landfill before O’Dwyer rescued them, he said that he “did basically nothing” to the footage, merely ripped it from the tapes and converted it to HD.

“The process is pretty simple, we use a professional HDCAM tape deck to pull the signal from [Series Digital Interface (SDI)],” O’Dwyer said. “I used a converter to swap that to HDMI and use a high-grade capture device to record that. Once I have it on a PC, I export a 4k version for YouTube (to access the higher bitrates available) and a 1080p version for archive as that’s its native resolution and we can upload the file to archive without it being re-rendered.”

Noclip

Asked why he thought Sony’s E3 2006 presentation became so notorious, O’Dwyer theorized that because memes were a lot rarer back then, it was easy for phrases as simple as “Riiiidge Racer” and “giant enemy crab” to live rent-free in our heads. Whatever the forces behind it, conferences like these are among the coolest pieces of video game history he’s stumbled upon since embarking on preserving the “few thousand tapes” that were almost lost forever.

Speaking of other favorites, O’Dwyer said, “The Nintendo Spaceworld demo is another because it’s such a beloved piece of footage that nobody had a clean copy of,” O’Dwyer said. “My personal favorite may be the Knights of the Old Republic E3 demo that had never been seen before. Especially given where that franchise is.” [A remake announced in September 2021 has been indefinitely delayed.] “I know that fandom has loved dissecting that video. A few days ago, I found a cache of E3 2004 press kits full of screenshots and videos, too. So every day we stumble on exciting new stuff.”

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What O’Dwyer is doing is incredibly important work. Considering that 87 percent of classic games are being lost to time, mostly because old hardware is difficult to find and hard to maintain, there’s some comfort in knowing that there are folks out there working to preserve video game history. Because if we don’t remember where we’ve been, we can’t ever know where we’re going.

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Levi Winslow

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July 21, 2023
Bleach Anime Is Getting A New Game And It Looks Rad

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Image: Pierrot / Nuverse

Coming off the heels of Bleach’s upcoming season of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is the announcement that the popular supernatural sword-fighting anime is also receiving a new video game that looks pretty stunning and action-packed.

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Bleach: Soul Resonance is a 3D-action role-playing game that appears to play similarly to games in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series or the upcoming Jujutsu Kaisen game, Jujutsu Kaisen Cursed Clash. According to the game’s website, players will experience a “low-latency combat experience with weapons and swords” and engage in strategic battles “with familiar faces on a battlefield full of blades.” The last Bleach video game to release in the U.S. (outside of Bandai Namco’s delisted Shonen Jump crossover game Jump Force) was Bleach: Soul Resurrección in 2011 for the PlayStation 3. Bleach: Soul Resonance is being published by Nuverse (Marvel Snap) and is currently still under development. You can check out the announcement trailer for Bleach: Soul Resonance below.

Nuverse

Unlike its fellow “big three anime” series, Naruto, Bleach hasn’t had a notable run of licensed video games that resonate with fans quite like the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series. However, the early cutscene and gameplay footage shown off in Bleach: Soul Resonance’s announcement trailer, looks to change that.

Outside of having pretty clean-looking 3D models of the anime’s titular characters, Bleach: Soul Resonance appears to be following the show’s Soul Society and Hueco Mundo arcs—its first two major storylines. In it, protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki wages war against the entire Soul Society and Arrancars to rescue his kidnapped friends Rukia and Orihime.

Right off the bat, Bleach: Soul Resonance nails emulating the anime’s big-fight feel in its early gameplay footage by recreating iconic moments from Ichigo’s hard-fought bouts against the blood-hungry Kenpachi Zaraki and the stoic Byakuya Kuchiki. Both gameplay snippets look pretty promising despite being from an early build of the game. The trailer even plays Ichigo’s catchy theme song “Number One” by Shiro Sagisu and Hazel Fernandez which is always a nice touch to get fans excited to see some action. Time will tell whether Bleach: Soul Resonance will finally give the beloved anime series the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm treatment or if it’ll be just another underbaked licensed video game.

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Isaiah Colbert

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July 7, 2023
Konami, Please Don’t Forget About Metal Gear Solid 4

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During Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct, Konami showed off a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1. The upcoming collection of past Metal Gear games includes some of the earliest and biggest games from the popular stealth series. However, 2008’s Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots isn’t included, and I’m worried Konami isn’t going to include it in a future, theoretical Vol. 2.

This Akira-Like Boss Rush’s Grip-And-Rip Mechanic Has Me Hooked

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 was first announced in May. The collection contains the first seven games of the series and will be released on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and 5, and (just announced earlier today) Nintendo Switch. These games aren’t being remastered and they aren’t remakes. Instead, this is a new collection of classic MGS games that will make it easier to play these older titles on newer platforms. The collection will also include screenplay books of each game and some other goodies, too.

However, not included in this collection is the PS3-exclusive Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is a shame as the game is currently only playable via emulation or on original PS3 hardware. At one point, MGS4 was available to stream via PS Now, but that is no longer the case. While most other MGS games have been ported to multiple platforms, MGS4 remains locked to the PS3. Why? What is the reason for never porting MGS4 to any other platform?

Why is Metal Gear Solid 4 only on PS3?

If you ask the internet about this, and you’ll not doubt see some of this in the comments, a popular theory that is often spouted off as if it’s a fact is that MGS4 is incapable of running on anything but a PS3. But that’s not true. You can, right now, download an emulator and play MGS4 at 60fps without much trouble.

And assistant producer of the game Ryan Payton suggests in Steven L. Kent’s book The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2 that, at one point, MGS4 was actually running on an Xbox 360 and looked and played fine. Reportedly, that version never happened due to Microsoft’s console using DVDs and not Blurays. Konami didn’t want to spend the extra money on shipping multiple discs for the Xbox 360 version. This is more than likely the main reason MGS4 remained a PS3 exclusive and was even alluded to by former PlayStation boss Jack Tretton in 2008. Konami also said this was the reason in 2014.

Now, in 2023, most consoles use Bluray discs and all of them support digital games—which can be as large or small as you want. So that problem is solved. Yet, I’m still not convinced Konami will actually bring MGS4 to modern machines or to PC. It’s certainly not easy to port a game to new hardware, especially one that exists natively on just one platform. Plus, this whole process wouldn’t be cheap, would involve a good deal of resources, and would likely require tweaks to how the game plays as it heavily relied on the Dualshock 3/Sixaxis controller.

Reports indicate MGS4 isn’t coming to more consoles

Sadly, it seems Konami isn’t going to do the necessary work to help preserve this entry in the Metal Gear franchise. A previous report from Windows Central, which correctly revealed information about the Metal Gear Solid Collection and the MGS3 remake before release also stated that a potential Vol. 2 would not include MGS4, but instead would feature Peace Walker, Portable Ops, Metal Gear Rising: Revegance, and a few other spin-offs.

Sadly, it seems Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots—with all its long cutscenes, weird live-action bits, creepy monkey, and cool stealth camo—will remain a PS3 exclusive. Likely due to technical issues, but also, maybe Konami just forgot about it. There are a lot of games in the series. It’s easy to forget one or two of them. I get it. I forget Metal Gear Acid exists.

Still, I hope that one day, someone over at Konami remembers this game exists and that it deserves a second life on new hardware.

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Zack Zwiezen

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June 21, 2023
8 Games To Play This Weekend

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Diablo IV – Nostrava Stronghold

Diablo IV – Nostrava Stronghold

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows (Steam Deck OK)

My current goal: Conquer every Stronghold

You read that right, on Steam Deck baby! The step-by-step process to get the just-released Diablo IV working on the Deck took me a little over 30 minutes and was relatively painless. However I do highly recommend using a Steam Deck dock and USB mouse, as there’s a decent amount of copy-pasting and the Deck’s touch-screen controls can be finicky.

Since installing, I’ve played nothing else. Partly because I accidentally unmounted my Steam Deck library so it no longer recognizes what I’ve already installed on there through the store (oops) and partially because Diablo IV on the Deck is simply that rad.

It’s impressive how well the Deck’s default controller scheme jells with Diablo IV. Blizzard’s action-RPG is perfect to play while listening to a podcast or catching up on the borderline dispiriting amount of quality spring anime series I have to watch.

How’s performance you may ask? Pretty good, actually. After tweaking some essential settings, and turning off Cross-Network Play (yes that really did make a difference) I consistently get 40-60FPS let’s say…80 percent of the time. However, entering or leaving a major hub (Kyovashad for example) or a hectic world event has my poor base model Deck wheezing and running at single digits. Using an ultimate spell in a large crowd of enemies will also have your audio popping off, and not in a fun way either. And as you can imagine D4 is a battery Greater Evil. I recommend playing with your AC charger plugged in for sessions longer than 30 minutes.

But like cmon, being able to tackle a Stronghold while laying on my couch? That’s objectively awesome and I look forward to parking my ass on aforementioned couch after I send Claire this blurb. Bye! — Eric Schulkin

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Claire Jackson

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June 16, 2023
PlayStation Fans Refuse To Throw Away Box Even After Sony Tells Them To

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The official PlayStation UK Twitter account has decreed it’s “OK to throw away the cardboard box your PlayStation came in now,” but squirrelly fans aren’t convinced. What if they might actually one day need the dusty, frayed cardboard their PS4 arrived in 10 years ago?

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s New Gameplay Trailer Is Living Rent-Free In Our Brains

What if stockpiled boxes could solve the housing crisis? What if fans encounter a locked door that requires three PlayStation boxes to open it, and behind that door is a never-before-seen copy of an NC-17 Ratchet & Clank spinoff series, Ratchet & Klonopin? They want to know.

But first, they require clarification—are we talking about the PS5 box, here, or the PS4 and PS3 boxes, too?

“Yeah those too,” PlayStation said. “Unless you’re planning to build a PlayStation themed cardboard fort.”

Huh. Good idea. People started posting defiant photos of their lonely boxes, perhaps to get a sense of available raw building material.

“Why is it next to a mop this is upsetting,” PlayStation replied to one of those photos.

“What if I need [my box] to stop Metal Gear, PlayStation UK?” one fan wondered.

“Fair,” replied PlayStation.

I don’t really get it. It seems like everyone has been holding onto their empty boxes except for me. Had I known, I would have tried to get an ant farm going in my Xbox 360 box, or something. The ants would have probably grown to a bionic size by now from all the traces of heavy metal.

But while I don’t keep empty boxes and never managed to cultivate a family of ants, I have been holding onto my actual PS5, which PlayStation just announced a few new subscription gaming titles for. PlayStation Plus subscribers will gain access to NBA 2K23, Jurassic World Evolution 2, and indie darling Trek to Yomi beginning June 6.

The NBA 2K23 Devin Booker doesn’t look like he’d keep a PlayStation carcass lying around, though. Do you? Have you heard of “recycling”? Make your case for keeping old boxes in the comments.

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Ashley Bardhan

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May 31, 2023
10 Of The Best Ways Games Put Dirty Cheaters In Their Place

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Rockstar Games / KoingWolf

Back in 2015, Grand Theft Auto Online players found a way to spawn a car that is usually only available in Grand Theft Auto V’s single-player campaign. While some developers might simply patch the exploit out of the game, Rockstar decided that wasn’t enough, and that these cheaters deserved a punishment fitting of a Grand Theft Auto game. So instead of removing the car, the studio made it so that whenever a player attempted to get inside it, the vehicle would spontaneously explode, leaving the cheaters with a sudden “Wasted” game over and a jump scare for good measure.

Why was this car so significant? It was the Duke O’ Death, given only to players who upgraded from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto V to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports. Rockstar eventually made the car available to all players in 2021, even in Grand Theft Auto Online, but at one point it was a prized possession that Rockstar went the extra mile to keep out of multiplayer.

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Kenneth Shepard

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May 2, 2023
Bobby Kotick Calls Out PlayStation In Email To Whole World

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Photo: Kevin Dietsch (Getty Images)

As we grow closer to the finish line in the months-long struggle for Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard, things are getting tense. Governments are getting involved, weird promises are being made and the people at the centre of it all—like Activision CEO Bobby Kotick—sound like they’re starting to feel the strain.

This Mini Sega Arcade Cabinet Packed With Retro Games Would Make A Great Gift

Which might explain why earlier today Kotick sent out an email to his entire company—and then posted it on the internet for the whole world to see—which does little but bang his head against the wall repeating the same arguments Microsoft, Activision (and now select US politicians) have been making for months: that the deal is fine, that everything is cool, that Microsoft has made “thoughtful, generous remedies to address regulators’ concerns”.

One thing stands out in this email, though, and it’s a section where Kotick has to juggle maintaining a business relationship with Sony while also wanting to throw them under the bus. Let’s see how he fared (emphasis mine):

The good news is, regulators who initially had concerns about console competition are starting to better understand our industry. The data and evidence Microsoft has been presenting are tilting the scale. You may have seen statements from Sony, including an argument that if this deal goes through, Microsoft could release deliberately “buggy” versions of our games on PlayStation. We all know our passionate players would be the first to hold Microsoft accountable for keeping its promises of content and quality parity. And, all of us who work so hard to deliver the best games in our industry care too deeply about our players to ever launch sub-par versions of our games. Sony has even admitted that they aren’t actually concerned about a Call of Duty agreement—they would just like to prevent our merger from happening. This is obviously disappointing behavior from a partner for almost thirty years, but we will not allow Sony’s behavior to affect our long term relationship. PlayStation players know we will continue to deliver the best games possible on Sony platforms as we have since the launch of PlayStation.

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In other words, “it’s not me, it’s you”. I don’t see any other way he could have put this, to be honest, but then this kind of tiptoeing is exactly why this proposed deal has been so important to the future of the console business: so many grenades have been lobbed by both sides that there’s going to be bad blood here for years regardless of the decision.

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Luke Plunkett

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March 28, 2023
Revisiting The Last Of Us Game’s Haunting Ending Before The Show’s Finale

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Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

10 years ago, The Last of Us’ unexpected and morally divisive ending made history. Choosing to land in a place of uncertainty, the conclusion bucked what many other games chose to do, and often still do: present a straightforward, neat, conventionally satisfying end where the good guys are the good guys and the bad guys have been vanquished. Lines between protagonist and antagonist blur over the course of its 15-hour campaign, and the ending refuses to give us a neat takeaway, to sharpen the focal point on a clear statement or outcome, but instead has its main character arguably doom the world and then lie about it. When I first reached that ending 10 years ago, it left me pacing anxiously back and forth, desperate for someone to talk to about its startling ambiguities and contradictions, and I was hardly the only one. To this day, it remains perhaps the most provocative, talked-about, hotly debated ending in game history.

It should go without saying, but this piece will dive into some spoilery territory, covering the conclusion of the original game and the premise of its sequel.

The Last of Us first arrived on the PlayStation 3 in 2013 as a gritty trial of perseverance in a doomed world, albeit one where perhaps there’s a sliver of hope on the horizon: Maybe Ellie’s immunity can be used to create a cure for a world-ending plague. The game was notable for many things: the traumatic deaths of various characters; a slow grind of gameplay focused on stealth, desperate crafting, and brutal violence; but perhaps most of all for its strikingly ambiguous and challenging ending. Rather than doing the obvious and wrapping everything up with a neat bow, the conclusion throws the player headfirst into a liminal space. The world isn’t restored, yet the heroes live; but at what cost? Told that Ellie will be killed in pursuit of the possible vaccine, Joel intervenes, stopping the surgery and killing everyone who stands in his way, leaving the world to persist in its state of ruin. He then lies to her about what he did with an unconvincing tale. Ellie, clearly in a place of uncertainty about what she’s hearing, presses him to assure her that everything he just said is true. “I swear,” Joel lies. Roll credits.

It’s not a clean resolution. In the last 10 years, the choice to end the game with one character lying to another has left many to arrive at cynical conclusions about Joel as a character or the game’s narrative entirely, with some critics feeling that The Last of Us is ultimately a vacuous display of gore or a tale without much of redeeming value to say.

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A conventional story unconventionally told

For all that The Last of Us did differently, however, observations at the time highlighted just how much the game shared in common with others. Reviewing the game for Polygon at the time, Philip Kollar noted that it was built on “the same post-apocalyptic scenario as dozens of other games.” Kollar adds, however, that “its approach is starkly its own.” That’s likely why the conclusion hits so hard. So much feels similar to what we know from other games, or even works in other mediums. But TLoU took a different approach, one intimately focused on its central relationship, with a fairly conventional, linear narrative structure that might’ve given the impression that it would also resolve itself in a conventional way.

Narrative choice in 2013 was something many came to value in video games, but as Adam Sessler noted in his review of the game, TLoU has a specific story to tell, without your input save for a few moments of choice over just how brutal you can be in the game’s ending. A lack of choice was something Sessler characterized, at the time, as “old-fashioned.” (Indeed, much conversation at the time of release was rooted in how uncomfortable some players were with Joel killing certain characters he arguably didn’t need to kill, the tension between the player wanting to do one thing and the character demanding to do something else. Whether this is a flaw or part of the game’s power is just one more fascinating thing to consider.) And perhaps that “old-fashioned” approach was what led many to expect a more traditional conclusion. There’s a lot that is conventional and old-fashioned in TLoU, but its approach betrays a reliable trust you would ordinarily place in such a rigidly constructed narrative.

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

That “approach” Kollar highlighted is felt, perhaps, most saliently at the game’s conclusion, which is especially where it mostly clearly pulls away from “the same post-apocalyptic scenario” as other games. Examples of more conventional endings in this genre would include those in games like Gears of War 3 or the Resistance series of shooters on PlayStation 3, both of which end with near deus-ex-machina solutions to the world’s problems.

In other games with similar high stakes and fallen world scenarios, there is often some gift of sci-fi mumbo jumbo utilized, often right at the end, to set everything right; and if not, like in the more recent zombie drama Days Gone, there’s virtually zero ambiguity as to who did the right thing. iIf the good guys don’t get their way, it’s an unfortunate act of god, but you still have the good guy protagonist to still place your trust in.

The Last of Us wasn’t having any of that. And it also wasn’t concerned with “several plot twists and the bending of all the laws of physics,” as Paul Tassi noted for Forbes in comparison to the conclusion of 2013’s BioShock Infinite. Tassi continues, “the ending of The Last of Us isn’t quite so mind-boggling.” It’s a sad ending to a sad game, one that takes place at a decidedly human scale, not a grand cosmic one.

The ending of The Last of Us didn’t wish to dazzle you with its impressive world-building or wow you with clever fantasy epidemiology. You don’t get the “lore dive” that many games attempt to do, and you don’t get a clear indication that the right things were done. Rather, the game says the opposite. The world isn’t saved, and the good guys were stopped not by the antagonist, but by you, the “protagonist.”

As Tassi notes, that’s not necessarily a surprise revelation at the end. It’s not a sudden plot twist. But, rather, it’s the end point of a game that’s slowly telling you that you’re potentially on the wrong side, and that’s somewhat unexpected, even for games that do flip the script on you at the end by revealing the protagonist’s desires to be suspect. To its depressing end, TLoU’s grind challenges you to think about who you’ve been the whole time. “Just because you’re playing as someone in a game,” Tassi writes, “that doesn’t make you the good guy. In fact, the clues are scattered all over [The Last of Us] that you’re really not a good guy at all.”

Returning to Kollar’s analysis of the game, the sentiment that you’re the bad guy all along was and still is a popular one; and the ending doesn’t change that, it just reinforces it. “By the end,” Kollar writes, “I was pausing because I felt like a bad person doing bad things. It’s a seemingly intentional choice, but the game struggles to justify it with the same ease that Joel justifies murder […] I couldn’t find any deeper meaning in the horrible events in The Last of Us.”

But where others have since criticized Joel, or even the game, for the brutality on display, others have taken different stances. For Kotaku, writer Tina Amini expressed as much when it comes to putting yourself in the shoes of a person who stands to lose the closest thing you have to family in a world that’s already taken it from you:

“Had Ellie been my daughter, or someone who had grown to become my daughter figure, I would never sacrifice her life even to save the lives of millions of others. Sorry, guys. Nothing comes in the way of family.”

Many might be quick to regard that as selfish. But as Amini discussed, there are some critical details in the conclusion that shouldn’t just be swept aside because Joel perhaps acted too swiftly and suddenly. Amini writes:

Let’s recap. The Fireflies hit Joel over the head while he attempts to save Ellie’s life. Then, he wakes up in a hospital and is told that no, you can’t see Ellie and sorry, she’s going to die whether you like that or not. No discussions. No questions. Just shut up and take it. After you went above and beyond the deal you made with Marlene, after you almost get yourself killed spending a year tracking these bastards down, and after they still don’t give you the supply of guns promised in exchange for Ellie’s delivery, the least they could have done was offer the courtesy of a conversation. With Ellie present in the room, prepared to make her own decision. That seems like the fair thing to do. But it’s nowhere near what happened.

With a lack of clear certainty as to what could happen with Ellie’s surgery, and a rapid dissolution of traditional ways of wrapping up a narrative, like Amini, I too looked at the end of TLoU and asked, “what if this were my daughter?” Or in my case, “what if this were me?”

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

The sentiment of “no discussions. No questions. Just shut up and take it,” reminds me of my own experience having been hospitalized under a misdiagnosis at roughly the same age that Ellie was in the first game. Forcibly given drugs by people who claimed they knew what they were doing by swiftly locking me up in a series of white halls and keeping me sedated, without conversation or concern for my consent to such a thing, I remember the terror of sitting with the thought that maybe I’d never see home again. And unlike Joel, though I wouldn’t have wanted them to massacre a hospital of people (we’re also not living in a zombie apocalypse), those close to me chose to just let it happen. It would take a week before the doctors realized “whoops, you don’t have what we thought you had, sorry for the childhood trauma, but good on you all for listening to the experts.”

The morally ambiguous nature of The Last of Us’ ending meant that when Marlene tried to assure Joel that everything would be fine, I was free to not buy it—because I remember what it’s like when people in charge of your autonomy and life take bold, restrictive actions and others just stand by and accept it. Joel’s aggression, in many ways, was my own catharsis for how I was wronged in a hospital some 20-plus years ago.

A tough act to follow

But even for those who weren’t as cynical or pessimistic about TLoU’s ending or greater narrative, the impact of the ambiguous ending was so harrowing and had defied so much of what many had expected, that some felt it didn’t warrant a return trip by way of a sequel. Those who found displeasure in TLoU’s story could cease paying attention to it, but even for those who did enjoy where the game went, there was a clear desire for it not to go anywhere else. Lightning rarely strikes twice; and a sequel would be too conventional. Speaking to that very sentiment in 2013, former Kotaku writer Kirk Hamilton said:

I don’t feel like I need to return to this particular post-apocalyptic world. I don’t need to hear any more stories from it. I don’t need to see what Joel and Ellie get up to now that they’re safe at Joel’s brother’s wilderness retreat. I certainly don’t need to fight off another clicker, or make my way through another hunter camp.

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

Expressing a lack of desire for a sequel to TLoU wasn’t just about this singular game, but also stems from a paranoia over media, particularly video games, to franchise things to death. What even would a sequel do? Would it just be vignettes of fan service? I guess we’ll see Ellie learn to play guitar? Maybe Joel will finally get his coffee? Or would it just be more of an industrial desire to mine a popular property under the guise of “more stories,” efforts which typically diminish what magic remains of the initial game that caught everyone’s attention?

Those who loved the ending and the game certainly wouldn’t want that; this world deserved better. And those who were turned off by it definitely wouldn’t want that; they had had enough of this place. To perpetuate this story felt like it would cut against what made it so unique, as Hamilton wrote in 2013, there’s “too much resolution in video games these days, and [we] could do with a bit less surety.”

But The Last of Us marched on with an expanded story DLC that explores the death of Ellie’s childhood friend, and then a sequel with even more death. Part II meditates entirely on Joel’s actions, with justice (or baseless revenge, depending on your point of view) served for his reckless damnation of the world by the daughter of a man he killed years ago.

Part II is an incredibly long game. In fact, given that you play half the game as an entirely new character, it’s almost two games in one. Conversation about it upon release was also muddied by childish, aggressive reactions and harassment campaigns from those upset by the presence of queer people, trans people, and women whose bodies were deemed by some insufficiently feminine and desirable; it’s a firestorm that still burns to this day. Outside of conversations about the game with other critics, I often feel like I still need to wade through such nonsense.

Discussing whether or not TLoU Part II makes the most of its opportunity as a sequel to do something worthwhile with the ambiguity of the original’s ending would require a long conversation about a very long game. But I think the fact that the sequel uses Joel’s actions to set the stage for another exploration of how and when violence perpetuates itself makes the case for it as a worthy follow up—even if I, much like others, would’ve been more than happy with a one-and-done trip into this world.

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Claire Jackson

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March 11, 2023
The Best Games To Play With A Partner To Save And End Relationships

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Portal 2 – Full Co-op Trailer

Both Portal games are always a joy to rediscover, even if you’ve already played them countless times. Portal 2’s co-op campaign, Cooperative Testing Initiative, is no different. It’s a fantastic series of puzzles along five official testing courses, each with its own number of testing chambers, that lose none of the mainline Portal puzzles’ charms. Instead, the sequel’s co-op campaign deftly weaves in two-player gameplay mechanics in increasingly complex ways. Each course focuses on a specific testing mechanic, all seen in Portal 2, but reimagined with co-op play in mind.

Portal is also an excellent choice because it’s so approachable. It doesn’t take too long to get the hang of the movement and physics, so even if your partner (or you!) isn’t a “Gamer,” they can still have a ton of fun with this pickup.

You can play local or online co-op, as well. It’s available on PC and Nintendo Switch (and PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, if you’ve still got those plugged in).

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Lisa Marie Segarra

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February 14, 2023
HBO’s The Last Of Us Show Just Nailed One Of The Game’s Best Moments

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Image: HBO / Kotaku

It seems I was too quick to judge HBO’s The Last of Us. While the first four episodes certainly kept my attention as well-written and delightfully-shot prestige television, I had been a little let down as the adaptive process of turning the game into a show has, so far, left out the recreation of specific, memorable action sequences from the game. Well, with “Endure and Survive,” the fifth episode of the first (but not the last) season of The Last of Us, the show has revealed that it’s more than capable of adapting the action of the video game, and in some cases, just might be doing a better job with it.

Adapted from the hit PlayStation 3 title of the same name, The Last of Us’ gripping, character-driven plot exists alongside tense, deadly, moment-by-moment combat encounters. The player, as Joel, must overcome both hostile humans and infected with a combination of stealth, firearms, and crudely improvised weapons. For its first four episodes, HBO’s adaptation has, mostly, prioritized the story elements, choosing in some cases not to recreate memorable action sequences or feature unique, crafted props of the kind we’ve seen in the game. It makes sense for television to focus on the actors and the story, but until now I’ve found the show to be missing that key action ingredient I’ve loved so well, not just from seeing the game, but from playing it.

Read More: The Last of Us Show Might Be Better If It Worked More Like The Game

There’s a reason The Last of Us appears on our list of the best action games you can play this year. With a slower cadence than what you find in something like Naughty Dog’s other recent series, Uncharted, and an emphasis on survival, The Last of Us as a game injects tight, intense, action sequences throughout the narrative, reminding you that, however much things might feel under your control during the narrative downtime, you’re never actually safe in its deadly world.. The action sequences are when the rug has been pulled out from under you and you must deal with a situation in the here and the now. Mess up, and someone’s dying.

Our action game list highlighted the sequel, Part II, as being a bit more flexible, with more options for how you approach and respond to various situations. But the sequel follows what the first game already did so well: Moments where, forgive the cliche, all hell breaks loose and you must respond. Immediately. It’s stress-inducing action for sure, but damn, is it a thrill.

Read More: 16 Of The Best Action Games You Can Play In 2023

While I would’ve certainly traded the first game’s “upside-down” shootout sequence in the “Bill’s Town” level for the beautiful story of Bill and Frank we got in episode three of the show, I was beginning to worry that HBO’s TV adaptation would continue to leave out other, more explosive sequences rather than attempt to translate the immediacy of the game’s action to the screen. But here we are with episode five’s suburban sniper sequence. This gripping scene not only translates the game’s action particularly well, but does so with a narrative revision that makes the carnage even more intense.

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Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

Read More: The Last of Us Fans Are Creating Amazing Bill And Frank Fan Art

Just like in the game, Joel and Ellie have teamed up with Henry and Sam. But this time, Henry and Sam’s situation is a bit more urgent. Kathleen, the leader of a revolutionary force, obsessively wants to see Henry die for his role in her brother’s death. Like the game, Joel, Ellie, Henry, and Sam must travel down an abandoned suburban street, moving from car to car to avoid getting shot by a sniper overlooking the area.

The TV show does depart a touch from this scenario as it exists in the game. To start, Joel isn’t faced with additional hostile forces on his approach to the sniper’s nest. And it becomes clear once Joel deals with the sniper that this individual belongs to the revolutionaries in Kansas City (the game’s parallel version of these events takes place in Pittsburgh and doesn’t feature Kathleen or any of the revolutionaries introduced in episode four). This is one of the improvements the show makes over the original game, something its sequel also worked harder to achieve: lending faces, complicated motivations, and identities to the antagonists.

Read More: The Last of Us Episode 4 Recap: A Return To The Familiar

But we need to talk about the sound design in the sniper sequence first. Though the show has caught my ear before (a particularly unnerving-yet-satisfying ambient music swell as Joel, Ellie, and Tess ascend the stairs in episode two’s museum is one such example), I am unhealthily obsessed with the gunshots in this scene. The exacting and penetrating strike of the sniper rifle’s shot is chased by a split second of silence that could swallow the universe, followed up with a timeless whisper of air and sensually percussive hits on the bodies and windows of cars. Satisfying bangs funneled into powerful clangs, sharp shatters of glass…heavy metal bands will spend their entire careers trying to deliver something so sonically beautiful and destructive at the same time. This is bliss.

The sounds are loveable as special effects and creations on their own, but the effect really drew me in with an intimacy of the kind I’ve felt in video games—and in particular, the one this show is based on. The scene that mirrors this one in the video game is one example, but the latter half of The Last of Us Part II also has a similar sniper scenario. Cover-to-cover movement with the threat of violence pressing you back is successfully brought to life on screen. But we’re not done yet.

Screenshot: HBO

Like in the game, Joel eventually gets to the top of the sniper’s nest, eliminates the shooter and must then get behind the scope as hostile human forces march forward. In the show, the personality-less mob of foes is replaced by new-character Kathleen on her quest for revenge, with her forces in tow. Joel must make several needle-threading shots, one of which is recreated from the game: Hitting the driver of a hostile vehicle, with the camera going behind the scope of the rifle itself. And yes, like the game, that car crashes into a house…a house which has a surprise in store.

Read More: Who Are Kathleen and Perry In HBO’s The Last of Us?

The TV show’s vehicle veers off and crashes to the right side. It crashes on the left in the game; this mirror image of recreated scenes seems to be a common element of the show. Joel and Sarah are flipped in their position on the couch in the opening episode; Joel’s “I am sure you will figure that out” line of dialogue to Ellie asking what the hell she’s supposed to do while he naps in the first episode sees the couch he lays on flipped to the other side of the room.

And while a cluster of infected does ultimately flood the street in the game as well, it’s quite different in the show. Here, the emergence of a horde of infected from underground serves as the payoff to some wonderful foreshadowing in the previous episode and earlier scenes in this one, where we learn that FEDRA had previously chased all the infected underground as a way to “fix” the problem. It’s clear that this is something that will resurface to cause a problem. And in this scene, once you see that truck fall into the house…you know what’s coming, and that the hubris that led Kathleen to go to such extremes will soon claim its price.

Screenshot: HBO

Shattering the calm insanity of Kathleen’s myopic quest for vengeance, the fallen truck and the chorus of screams and roars from the mob of infected it unleashes is a powerful release, snapping us out of the daze of trying to follow Kathleen’s justification for cruelty. We’re barely given time to digest the contours of her bloodlust as the infected’s long-buried rage drowns out all, the great equalizer that considers no one safe and needs no justification for its wrath and violence. At the end of this scene, I felt the instinctual urge to put down the controller and take a breath. Except there was no controller.

Episode five’s sniper scenario doesn’t just adapt a key action sequence of the game, it makes it better. The pacing is tighter, more intense. The narrative wrapping pulls you into what’s at stake in a far more satisfying way, and it earns its zombie mob scene. This is the kind of game sequence adaptation I’ve been waiting for in HBO’s show, and it did not disappoint. Until next time, I’m gonna go see if Whole Foods has crow on sale.

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Claire Jackson

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February 10, 2023