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CultureOverwatch 2 Will Only Have Five Players Per Team
Today, during an Overwatch 2 PVP livestream, Aaron Keller, Overwatch’s new game director taking over for Blizzard veteran Jeff Kaplan, announced that teams in Overwatch 2‘s PVP will be reduced from six players to five. “Overwatch has changed over time. We’ve gone from having no hero limits…to having a hero limit. We ended up introducing…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureJedi Outcast Is The Latest Classic To Get Ray Tracing
After teasing the project for months, self-described “ray tracing addict” Zyanide is finally ready to share his work adding the computationally intensive lighting technology to 2002’s Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. And gosh, it’s as impressive as the game’s title is awkward. While ray tracing brings obvious aesthetic benefits to Jedi Outcast’s lightsaber-heavy…
By Ian Walker -
CultureFinal Fantasy XIV Players Mourn Berserk Creator’s Death With Touching Tribute
Kentaro Miura, creator of seminal dark-fantasy manga Berserk, died on May 6 of an aortic dissection. When his death was made public on May 19, Final Fantasy XIV players paid tribute with spontaneous memorials honoring Miura, Berserk, and its impact on the Final Fantasy franchise itself. Miura’s work deeply influenced the Final Fantasy franchise so…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureValheim Was Made By 5 People And Sold Nearly 7 Million Copies
It’s a good year to be a Viking. Embracer Group, the Swedish video game holding company formerly known as THQ Nordic, released a financial report today showing that early access game Valheim has sold 6.8 million copies so far, with Embracer expecting it to sell up to 8 million copies in total by the summer.…
By Jonathan Lee -
CultureCall of Duty Mid-Season Update Adds ’80s Action Heroes, Die Hard‘s Nakatomi Plaza
Call of Duty’s mid-season “Reloaded” update has arrived for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, bringing Sylvester Stallone’s iconic John Rambo as an operator and some much-needed Zombies content and weapon tuning. Rambo isn’t alone—Season Three’s ‘80s action theme also includes the introduction of John McClane from Die Hard. (I believe the proper response to…
By S.E. Doster -
CultureThe Nintendo Download: Shin Miitopia Tiger Trio Xylophone HD
There are 36 games coming to the Nintendo Switch eShop this week. Among those 36 games are the remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, a Switch version of 3DS RPG Miitopia, a puzzle game about sushi-making tigers, and a $10 virtual xylophone. I restarted our weekly posting of The Nintendo Download to highlight some…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryReturnal Converted Me To 3D Audio
Returnal, a PlayStation 5 action game about dancing with death at an inescapable time-loop space rave, is a visual delight. It’s also an aural one. And at no time is that more apparent than when you play with a pair of 3D audio headphones. Let me put it this way: Before I picked up Returnal,…
By Ari Notis -
CultureNi No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Is Coming To Switch
A version of Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom that includes both expansions is coming to Switch on September 17, Bandai Namco announced today. The role-playing game was previously only playable on PlayStation 4 and PC. First released in 2018, Ni No Kuni II is set centuries after the original, but wipes the slate clean…
By Ari Notis -
ReviewsToysLego Celebrates Diversity With A Rainbow Of Minifigures
Going on sale on June 1, “Everyone is Awesome” is a 346-piece Lego set meant to celebrate the diversity of Lego fans and the world around them. It features 11 faceless monochrome minifigures arranged in the colors of the LGBTQIA+ rainbow flag. It’s a bit on-the-nose, but I dig it. According to the video accompanying…
By Mike Fahey -
CultureSaves Don’t Matter When You Can Beat Returnal In Less Than 5 Minutes
Returnal speedrunner MentalToast set a new world record yesterday, becoming the first person to beat the game in under five minutes. I’m at a bit of a roadblock in my own Returnal adventure, so it’s incredible to watch MentalToast jump and dash through the more difficult Act 2 levels with such grace and ease. Starting…
By Ian Walker -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryResident Evil Village‘s Dollhouse Almost Made Me Quit
I almost quit Resident Evil Village yesterday. It wasn’t because the game’s limited field of vision finally made me blow chunks across my living room, but because fear—true, gripping terror the likes of which I had never felt before—seized me while in Donna Beneviento’s Dollhouse. I knew going into the Dollhouse was going to be…
By Ash Parrish -
CultureLies Of P Is A (Checks Notes) Pinocchio Souls-Like
Round8 Studio and Neowiz today announced Lies of P, an upcoming Souls-like based on the classic story of Pinocchio, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Just typing that out makes me feel a little like I’m losing my mind. “Play as Pinocchio, a puppet mechanoid, and fight through everything in your path to…
By Ian Walker -
CultureOdds and EndsA Big Lady Needs A Big Hat
Apart from her height, Resident Evil Village villain Lady Dimitrescu’s most striking feature has got to be the fashionable hat she wears while chasing you down. But what if it was (pardon me while I attempt my best Jeff Gerstmann impression) bigger? In the video below, content creator Kallialee showcases a mod that provides the…
By Ian Walker
