Kotaku • 21st January 2022

Castlevania-Inspired Roguelike Is Pure Dopamine

Over the last few days, I’ve been consumed by a game called Vampire Survivors. It’s cheap, both in terms of price (only $3) and presentation (giant buttons that look more suited to mobile than PC), while very obviously lifting most of its aesthetic inspiration from the Castlevania series. But I can’t get enough of this weird, obsession-driving little game. I’ve found myself playing Vampire Survivors—originally released on Steam and itch.io last year—just about any time I get a free moment. Dr

Kotaku • 20th January 2022

Pokémon Go Trading Halted After Player Gets Extremely Lucky

Niantic, makers of Pokémon Go, recently disabled trading in its popular augmented-reality game after the discovery of a bug that gave one player a bunch of “lucky” Pokémon via trade (h/t Nintendo Life). According to a Reddit post made yesterday afternoon, a user named AndKrem was able to amass 100 lucky Pokémon in a short span of time, a statistical impossibility due to how the game normally doles out the bonus. “Trainers, trading is currently unavailable as we investigate an issue,” Niantic a

Kotaku • 19th January 2022

The Real Reasons Activision Blizzard Was Sold, Without Bobby Kotick's PR Spin

As you probably already heard, Microsoft is looking to purchase Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion. But why Activision CEO Bobby Kotick suddenly decided to give up control of the company and where that leaves the beleaguered executive after the ink dries changes depending on who you ask. Kotick himself, for example, said it’s all about ensuring Activision has the resources to tackle future trends. “We were looking over the course of the next couple of years and starting to realiz

Kotaku • 19th January 2022

Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ New Monsters Might Have Already Leaked

Although Pokémon Legends: Arceus is still more than a week away, some of its Pokédex compendium already seems to have leaked online. The apparent data mine gives us a great look at all the new, returning, and remixed monsters that are set to show up in the upcoming game. It should go without saying, but this entire blog is going to be full of Pokémon Legends: Arceus spoilers. I’m even going to use our handy dandy spoiler image, so no crying if you catch a glimpse of something you didn’t want

Kotaku • 13th January 2022

They Gave Kirby A Gun

My mind has been consumed by it for the last 24 hours. I woke up in a cold sweat last night, almost convinced that I imagined it in a fever dream. But no. Flipping open my laptop today and clocking into work, the inescapable truth was still waiting there, staring me in the face and daring me to acknowledge the grim reality. “The bastards did it. They gave Kirby a gun.” In fresh Kirby and the Forgotten Land footage released yesterday, Nintendo highlighted some of the copy abilities that will be

Kotaku • 12th January 2022

The Saga Of The Ultra-Rare McDonald's DS Game Comes To An End After 11 Long Years

The gaming preservationists over at Forest of Illusion recently got their hands on the holy grail of the Nintendo DS catalog: a cartridge meant to teach McDonald’s workers the ins and outs of the fast-food restaurant via the popular two-screen handheld. It’s called eSMART 2.0, and after years of searching, it’s finally been backed up and made available for download. eSMART 2.0 was part of a series of educational Nintendo DS pseudo-games distributed to McDonald’s locations throughout Japan in

Kotaku • 12th January 2022

Twitch Purged Over 15 Million Hate Raid Bots Last Year

A new open letter from Angela Hession, Twitch’s vice president of global trust and safety, details the company’s approach to making its streaming platform a more harmonious place, most notably the deletion of millions of bots in an attempt to stem the site’s hate raid epidemic. “In the past 12 months, we launched some of the most powerful tools yet to help make Twitch as safe as possible for as many people as possible,” Hession writes. “We also introduced several landmark policies that help pro

Kotaku • 11th January 2022

New Pokémon Short Finally Gives Bidoof The Respect It Deserves

A new animation released this morning by The Pokémon Company provides a wonderfully intimate look at the life of one Bidoof, from its time as the outcast of its colony to champion of the Pokémon League. “A bumbling Bidoof with a tendency to bite off more than it can chew finds itself between a rock and a hard place as it embarks on a journey to find its place in the world,” reads the video’s official description. And while apt, that summary belies how emotionally resonant the short manages to

Kotaku • 10th January 2022

Man Invents Possibly The Worst Way To Play Doom

A Calgary-based programmer recently shared his work turning a rotary telephone into what may be the least effective video game controller of all time. “Just an awful experience,” wrote Greg Smith, the man responsible for bringing this cursed object to life. “Do not recommend!” Smith first shared his rotary-based exploits on January 3, taking to r/ArduinoProjects to show off how he rigged an old-school telephone to handle numpad inputs with the eponymous microcontroller. It didn’t take long u

Kotaku • 10th January 2022

LAPD Officers Fired For Ignoring Robbery To Play Pokémon Go

Two officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) were fired due to, among other things, playing Pokémon Go, a newly published court document reveals (h/t Axios). Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell, beat cops with a combined 28 years on the job, were found through a 2017 investigation to have ignored a commanding officer’s request for assistance in handling an in-progress robbery at a nearby Macy’s. Rather than respond, the two left the area in the hopes of capturing Snorlaxes and Togetics

Kotaku • 23rd December 2021

Mother Watch Promoted With Appropriately Offbeat Commercial

We may not be getting a Mother 4 any time soon (well, officially at least), but series creator Shigesato Itoi is still busy pumping out merchandise by way of the Hobonichi Mother Project. Of course, seeing as it’s related to one of gaming’s most absurd franchises, the latest product reveal is a little extra. The brief ad for the project’s new Casio G-Shock watch sees professional choreographers Kasumi Sakurai and Sakurako Horikoshi recreate the touching dance scene from the first Mother game (p

Kotaku • 22nd December 2021

Ian Walker's Top Ten Games Of 2021

Writing up a “Top X Games Of X Year” list is always a slog, but all the ups and downs of 2021—both personal and global—made it even harder. Frankly, there were points over the last 12 months where the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and play a video game. My list is a mixture of AAA games and indie games, new games and even a few older games that I wasn’t in a position to gush about anywhere other than Twitter when they first came out. The brief moments of escapism I wrung out of them th

Kotaku • 21st December 2021

Retro Zelda Game Sells For Nearly $4,000 Thanks To Ramen Sticker

A rare Famicom Disk System copy of the original The Legend of Zelda was recently purchased for thousands of dollars, all because the disk features a sticker with the name of a popular instant noodle brand. As first pointed out by Japanese author and game collector Jironosuke and then Tales of Arise lead English translator Tom James, a Yahoo auction closed yesterday that saw the aforementioned action adventure game variant selling for 453,000 yen (or around $3,966 USD at the time of this writing

Kotaku • 20th December 2021

Krampus Is Destroying Call Of Duty Players And They Aren’t Happy About It

I assumed getting murdered by Krampus at the end of a hotly contested Call of Duty match would be objectively funny, but it seems players are less than pleased with the mythological creature’s ability to affect online competition so dramatically. “Krampus needs to go,” reads a 90% upvoted post on the Call of Duty: Warzone subreddit. “I was in a top five situation, and got hunted by Krampus. Completely fucked me over. Winning is already hard enough, but being hunted by a near impossible being to

Kotaku • 10th December 2021

Voltorb Gets Adorable Wooden Makeover In Pokémon Legends: Arceus

The Pokémon Company today revealed yet another region-exclusive variant for the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Arceus in Hisuian Voltorb, a super cute spin on one of the original 151. Voltorb were introduced in the Pokémon franchise’s first generation as perfectly round, two-toned creatures that were liable to zap trainers who mistook them for Poké Balls. With Pokémon Legends: Arceus focusing on the series’ distant past, it only makes sense that Voltorb of the era would match the wooden Pokémon-capt

Kotaku • 10th December 2021

Activision Exec To Organizing Workers: Pwease Don’t Unionize 😞🥺

With Activision Blizzard employees more organized than ever in the wake of the company’s multiple sexual harassment lawsuits and layoffs in quality assurance, a top executive apparently felt the time was right to send out a fear-mongering email warning workers about the vague “consequences” of unionizing. The email’s writer, Brian Bulatao, is a Donald Trump crony Activision Blizzard brought in as chief administrative officer earlier this year. During his time in politics, Bulatao reportedly act

Kotaku • 9th December 2021

Don’t Use Quick Resume With Halo Infinite, Devs Warn

343 Industries is telling Halo Infinite players not to use Quick Resume, a key feature of the Xbox Series X/S, for fear of missing out on special multiplayer cosmetics. During the Halo Infinite campaign, hidden caches known as Mjolnir Armories can be found that unlock customization options for the game’s online multiplayer modes. These include several armor, weapon, and vehicle coatings as well as trinkets like dogtag charms and a pre-match, back-turned stance. That said, if you’re offline or d

Kotaku • 9th December 2021

Hell Yeah, Wonder Woman Is Starring In Her Own Big Game

The folks at Monolith Productions are developing a Wonder Woman game, The Game Awards revealed tonight with a barebones teaser. And as no release date or even intended platforms were discussed, we might be waiting a while to hear more. The short video introduced us to the eponymous Amazon warrior by way of a voice-over from her mother, Hippolyta. Besides that, it was mostly just brief glimpses of the superhero, her iconic (and suitably shiny) armor, and the Lasso of Truth, a reliable weapon t

Kotaku • 9th December 2021

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Gets Long-Awaited Gameplay Reveal

It may not have Margot Robbie, but Rocksteady’s upcoming Suicide Squad game made a moderately impressive showing during Geoff Keighley’s three-hour advertising gauntlet tonight. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League looks like Arkham meets Borderlands, a chaotic mess of superpowered gunplay featuring some of DC Comics most volatile anti-heroes. If this new footage is anything to go by, expect lots of cussing, edgy banter, and destructive set pieces as the Suicide Squad saves a huge, open-world

Kotaku • 8th December 2021

Hilarious Halo Infinite Glitch Turns Warthogs Into Go-Karts

Despite its trappings as a jingoistic space opera, the Halo franchise often finds itself straddling the line between serious and humorous. The latest example of this phenomenon is a glitch that sees the series’ ubiquitous Warthog jeeps shrunk down to comical proportions during multiplayer matches. These tiny Warthogs, or “Hoglets” as those in the Halo community have affectionately dubbed them, appear to spawn at random. Going by the dates on these videos, this glitch has existed in Halo Infi