Latest

E3

e3-apologizes-after-sexist-tweet-gets-ratioed E3

E3 Apologizes After Sexist Tweet Gets Ratioed

August 18, 2020Kotaku

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was one of those times when the three gremlins in a trenchcoat controlling the E3 Twitter account tweeted something so insulting and ridiculous that all you can do is screenshot it and wait for it to be deleted.At 11:37 a.m. ET this morning, the E3 Twitter account, which has over two million followers and is presumably controlled by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a video game industry lobbying group, tweeted out “Great list of games women gamers are playing—any of your favorites make the cut?” It also…

Read More
fans-make-e3-style-showcase-featuring-a-ton-of-games-that-aren’t-super-grim E3

Fans Make E3-Style Showcase Featuring A Ton Of Games That Aren’t Super Grim

May 27, 2020Kotaku

A digital games showcase called the Wholesome Games Direct aired yesterday, dedicated to cute and colorful games. It put the spotlight on over 50 upcoming indie games that run the gamut from train sims to augmented reality adventures. I want to play them all.Produced by brothers Matthew Taylor and James Tillman and graphic designer Jacob Blommestein, the idea behind Wholesome Games Direct was to create something snappy and polished that would elevate the sorts of games that don’t normally get tons of attention at big gaming conventions like E3. “One of the reasons we started Wholesome Games is to change…

Read More
china-isn’t-cancelling-its-biggest-game-show E3

China Isn’t Cancelling Its Biggest Game Show

May 12, 2020Kotaku

While E3 and the Tokyo Game Show have been scrapped in favor of virtual events, China Joy will go forward as planned—as an in-person event. As Shanghai Daily reports, the show will be held from July 31 to August 3. Special measures will be in place to help keep visitors and exhibitors safe. Besides submitting to temperature checks, attendees will need to disclose their real name as well as show valid ID and a health code tracking app. According to South China Morning Post, the app gives each Chinese citizen a color to denote whether or not they could be carrying…

Read More
ea-is-moving-ahead-with-its-e3-adjacent-event-this-year-as-a-completely-digital-showcase. E3

EA is moving ahead with its E3-adjacent event this year as a completely digital showcase.

May 4, 2020Kotaku

EA is moving ahead with its E3-adjacent event this year as a completely digital showcase. EA Play Live 2020 will take place on June 11 beginning at 7:00 p.m. There’s no schedule for it yet, but EA says the livestream will include world premiers and other news.  To be frank, I don’t remember when was the last time I actually played an EA game. And EA always find a way to kill my interest in their upcoming releases in some way. Case in point, when I was finally excited for an EA release (the port of the Burnout Paradise Remaster…

Read More
microsoft,-nintendo,-ubisoft-respond-to-the-news-of-e3’s-cancellation E3

Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft Respond To The News Of E3’s Cancellation

March 11, 2020Kotaku

Earlier today, the Entertainment Software Association said it will cancel the video game trade show E3 this year amid growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19, aka coronavirus. Since the announcement, major game publishers have said they still plan to share news about upcoming games, but in a different format.Despite Sony pulling out of the show altogether starting last year, E3 remains one of the biggest gaming events of the year, a valuable place for game makers to meet with one another and show off their creations to the world. Many publishers like Microsoft and Electronic Arts had left the…

Read More
e3-2020-cancelled E3

E3 2020 Cancelled

March 11, 2020Kotaku

The biggest trade show in video games is skipping a year. E3 2020, which was planned to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center this June, is cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus that is currently spreading across the globe, the organizers of the conference said today.“After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry—our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners—we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles,” the Entertainment Software Association, the video game lobbyist…

Read More
e3-host-geoff-keighley-bows-out-of-show,-criticizes-event’s-direction E3

E3 Host Geoff Keighley Bows Out Of Show, Criticizes Event’s Direction

February 12, 2020Kotaku

Rumors of Nintendo’s possible absence from this year’s E3 have proven to be unfounded, but doubts are still swirling around the 2020 edition of gaming’s signature mid-June hype festival in Los Angeles. Earlier today, longtime E3 participant Geoff Keighley announced he wouldn’t be involved with the show this year.“I have made the difficult decision to decline to produce E3 Coliseum,” he announced on Twitter, referring to the series of livestreamed developer interviews he had put together for the last few years. “For the first time in 25 years, I will not be participating in E3.” Keighley had attended every E3…

Read More
with-ps5-on-the-way,-sony-will-skip-e3-again E3

With PS5 On The Way, Sony Will Skip E3 Again

January 13, 2020Kotaku

Sony will skip E3 again this year, a major blow to the annual video game conference in a year that will also see the release of the next PlayStation. Instead, Sony said today, the corporation will attend “hundreds of events” throughout the year to talk about the next-gen PlayStation 5. (It’s safe to say it will also hold its own events.)“We have great respect for the [Entertainment Software Association] as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year,” a spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz.Sony was once…

Read More
e3-expo-leaks-the-personal-information-of-over-2,000-journalists-[update] E3

E3 Expo Leaks The Personal Information Of Over 2,000 Journalists [Update]

August 3, 2019Kotaku

A spreadsheet containing the contact information and personal addresses of over 2,000 games journalists, editors, and other content creators was recently found to have been published and publicly accessible on the website of the E3 Expo.The Entertainment Software Association, the organization that runs E3, has since removed the link to the file, as well as the file itself, but the information has continued to be disseminated online in various gaming forums. While many of the individuals listed in the documents provided their work addresses and phone numbers when they registered for E3, many others, especially freelance content creators, seem to…

Read More
want-to-know-what-it’s-like-to-be-at-e3? E3

Want to know what it’s like to be at E3?

July 8, 2019Kotaku

Want to know what it’s like to be at E3? Danny O’Dwyer and his Noclip team have put together a great tour of the show, featuring interviews with media, developers, and even some jerk from Kotaku. Watch above.Heard this guy is some fuck who keeps leaking and delaying everything. I bet he’s writing something down as we speak. Make sure to watch! This video has incredible insight, as all of Noclip’s docs do.IT’S LIKE YOU’RE REALLY IN-

Read More
let’s-see-how-much-fun-we-can-squeeze-out-of-the-last-half-hour-of-e3 E3

Let’s See How Much Fun We Can Squeeze Out Of The Last Half Hour Of E3

July 3, 2019Kotaku

Yes, E3 2019 ended three weeks ago. However, in my nightmares, I’m still there, slamming energy drinks and binge-sitting in every gamer chair my eyes can see. As long as my neck still hurts from the flight back, I cannot refrain from scraping the bottom of the E3 barrel. Watch me try and fail to die as E3 2019's lights go out one by one in this short horror film: “E3: GAME OVER (or, ‘A Big Boy Encounters A Barrel Bottom’).”This video serves as a sequel of sorts to last year’s “The Weirdest Things We Saw At E3 2018.” Paul…

Read More
dr-disrespect-apologizes-for-e3-bathroom-stream-‘on-behalf-of-the-dr-disrespect-brand’ E3

Dr Disrespect Apologizes For E3 Bathroom Stream ‘On Behalf Of The Dr Disrespect Brand’

July 1, 2019Kotaku

Three weeks ago, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm live-streamed himself walking into an E3 bathroom and, ultimately, walked out without a Twitch channel or an E3 badge. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, he didn’t seem to be taking his suspension very seriously, despite the fact that he may well have broken the law by using a camera in a public bathroom. Today, Beahm broke character to offer the public an apology. And some excuses.Beahm, whose Twitch account has since been reinstated, posted a message entitled “I’d like to talk about Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban from E3” on his own…

Read More
two-weeks-after-suspending-dr.-disrespect-for-livestreaming-in-bathroom,-twitch-restores-his-channel E3

Two Weeks After Suspending Dr. Disrespect For Livestreaming In Bathroom, Twitch Restores His Channel

June 26, 2019Kotaku

Last night, Twitch reinstated Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm’s gargantuan Twitch channel. This follows its removal after an incident at E3 involving a camera, a public bathroom and a 14-day channel suspension.Dr. Disrespect, whose whole schtick is bald-faced irreverence, was attending California’s E3 convention when, on the show’s first day, he and his cameraperson live-streamed Dr. Disrespect entering a bathroom. Tens of thousands of viewers watched him walk past bathroom-using attendees and go into a stall—all of which was apparently a violation of Twitch community guidelines. Twitch suspended him as a result and, on top of that, E3 revoked his badge….

Read More
john-wick-hex-is-a-portal-into-john-wick’s-mind E3

John Wick Hex Is A Portal Into John Wick’s Mind

June 21, 2019Kotaku

At a Keanu Reeves-filled E3 last week, I played a demo of John Wick Hex, a forthcoming action game directed and written by Mike Bithell, the creator of acclaimed indie games Thomas Was Alone and Volume. Playing John Wick Hex was like being transported inside of the titular assassin’s mind via a mashup of the best things about Transistor’s combat and Superhot’s time mechanics.On the top of the screen is a timeline that shows how long not only your actions take, but the actions of the enemies you can see. As soon as you lock in an action, time moves…

Read More
xbox-boss-on-microsoft’s-struggles-with-game-quality-and-efforts-to-improve-it E3

Xbox Boss On Microsoft’s Struggles With Game Quality And Efforts To Improve It

June 21, 2019Kotaku

Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it’s long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year’s Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations, disappointing sequels and games that under-delivered given how long fans were waiting for them.In recent years there have been hints of a coming turnaround. While Nintendo and Sony have turned out Game Of The Year contenders such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the…

Read More
‘xbox-live-is-not-a-free-speech-platform’:-xbox-boss-promises-new-features-to-make-online-gaming-less-hostile E3

‘Xbox Live Is Not A Free Speech Platform’: Xbox Boss Promises New Features To Make Online Gaming Less Hostile

June 20, 2019Kotaku

You can learn a lot about a person by the values they express, and possibly something about an entire gaming platform by the blog posts the person running it writes. That’s why I was so eager at E3 last week to ask the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, why he recently wrote a 1200-word essay mostly about “building a safe and inclusive gaming environment for everyone.” His answer was illuminating, and hinted at ambitious plans taking shape for Xbox Live that could prove influential for online gaming as a whole.Before getting into what Spencer said and the new initiatives he…

Read More
phil-spencer-on-xbox’s-unusual-strategy,-working-with-sony,-and-more E3

Phil Spencer On Xbox’s Unusual Strategy, Working With Sony, And More

June 19, 2019Kotaku

Xbox chief Phil Spencer has heard from the skeptics. They think that what he’s doing with Xbox means that Microsoft is giving up on consoles, or even going third party. That’s all wrong, he told me during an extensive interview in Los Angeles last week, where we discussed his vision for Xbox, the recently announced potential gaming deal between Sony and Microsoft, and whether he’d ever want to put Gears of War on the PlayStation 4.(The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)Stephen Totilo, Kotaku: I want to talk first just on a platform level. I would describe what…

Read More
vampire-the-masquerade:-bloodlines’s-weird-dancing-is-back-for-the-sequel E3

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines’s Weird Dancing Is Back For The Sequel

June 19, 2019Kotaku

There’s a lot to love in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, but the team brought something special back for the fans: dancing.One of the first locations you become really aware of in Bloodlines 2, which is coming to Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC in 2020, is the local club, Atrium. It has a lot in common with a goth club I used to visit in Chicago, which was called Neo and apparently used to be a regular hangout for the Wachowskis while they were working on The Matrix. Even though Neo has closed (RIP), I can see the same…

Read More
final-fantasy-xv’s-lead-designer’s-new-game-is-a-love-letter-to-live-music E3

Final Fantasy XV’s Lead Designer’s New Game Is A Love Letter To Live Music

June 18, 2019Kotaku

No Straight Roads is a rhythm game inspired by the strong visual storytelling of Psychonauts. Playing it feels like rocking out in front of a surreal, vibrant crowd. At E3 last week, I was able to play a short demo that included the first boss fight, and as someone who also loves live music, I was pleased by how much it spoke to my own experiences in clubs and people’s basements across America.This boss fight pits the game’s two punk rock main characters, Mayday and Zuke, against a powerful EDM DJ who goes by DJ Subatomic Super Nova. Controlling Mayday,…

Read More
in-planet-zoo,-you-can-only-get-good-by-learning-facts-about-animals E3

In Planet Zoo, You Can Only Get Good By Learning Facts About Animals

June 18, 2019Kotaku

Planet Zoo is the latest simulator from Frontier Developments, the creators of Roller Coaster Tycoon and the recent Planet Coaster. In this one, you’re building a zoo and making sure all the animals are well cared for, which comes with unexpected challengers for players used to making theme parks.Modern zoos have a strong focus on conservation, the developers of Planet Zoo told me during a gameplay demo at E3 last week, and Planet Zoo will reflect that. They were showing me a habitat for giraffes while I was asking about the research that Frontier has been doing for the game.“Their…

Read More