Author: amandaholeman

Screenshot: Bethesda / KotakuAlmost a year after it came to every other platform, Skyrim: Anniversary Edition surprise-launched on the Nintendo Switch today. The newest version of the beloved 2011 open-world RPG includes a bunch of DLC, mod content, and fishing. It’s also $70 on Nintendo’s handheld hybrid. Gotham Knights and Callisto Protocol aren’t coming to Switch, but apparently the price point is, at least in this one odd instance.Bethesda has released a ton of ports and updates to The Elder Scrolls V. Since it originally released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, it’s also come to each new generation of consoles, as well as phones, streaming platforms, and of course, the Nintendo Switch. Last year, the publisher unveiled the new $50 Anniversary Edition, not to be confused with the existing Sp...

Image: Q-Games / GoogleEarlier today, Google confirmed that its shutting down Stadia, its short-lived cloud gaming service. While the company plans on refunding all software and hardware purchases related to Stadia, the future of the few remaining exclusives on the service is less clear. And if they don’t get ported to other platforms before Stadia rides into the sunset next year, they could completely disappear, never to be played again. When Google Stadia launched in late 2019, the search engine company had big plans, promising exclusive games that would utilize features only possible through cloud streaming and off-site computing. In the years that followed, Google would stop focusing on Stadia exclusives, even closing down its own game studio in the process. However, a few exclusive ga...

Screenshot: Obsidian / XboxIt’s dark out, and I’m scared. I’m hiding behind a small chest and a rock. Around me are a few flimsy walls made of leaves. Outside those walls, I can hear it: a giant, angry spider. I can’t spot it directly, but I can see the massive leaves and tall blades of grass surrounding my tiny shelter moving as it looks for me. Overhead, a large mosquito flies by; a few feet behind, an ant darts across a fallen branch. I hate bugs and insects, and I’m starting to regret playing Grounded. While it’s been in early access for about nearly two years now, Grounded finally hit version 1.0 this week via a big update for PC and Xbox. Developed by Obsidian, Grounded is a survival game in the same vein as Minecraft. Yes, you’ll be hitting things with rocks to get other things to m...

Go ahead, lemme see you practice.Screenshot: Bandai Namco StudiosRecently, the fighting game community has been at each other’s throats over how “anti-beginner” the Tekken series is. Tekken 7, the latest entry to forgo a tutorial mode, is at the discourse’s center, with one player suggesting it needs changes to stay relevant. A good tutorial wouldn’t hurt, along with design that respects player time. Others, however, agree that Tekken 7 is the most approachable entry thus far. This juxtaposition between approachability and challenge has been a contentious topic for fighting game fans for a minute now, and Tekken 7 is just the latest victim.One of the oldest 3D fighters out there, Tekken began living rent-free in folks’ minds back in 1994 with the OG arcade release. In the nearly three deca...

Lewd.Screenshot: CoMix Wave Films / 東宝MOVIEチャンネル / KotakuWhile most anime have a muscle-bound hunk or an aloof loner as a protagonist’s romantic partner, the new film from the director of international box-office hit Your Name goes a slightly different route. Suzume, the film’s leading lady, romances a wooden chair. This isn’t an Onion article, that’s the for-realsies premise of the film.The film is Suzume, or Suzume no Tojimari (Suzume Locking Up the Doors). Produced by anime studio CoMix Wave Films, it follows a 17-year-old girl from Kyushu named Suzume who, after a chance encounter with a mysterious man, must close magical doors across Japan that contain world-ending catastrophes behind their thresholds. Where does the deeply romantic chair-kissing/sitting come in, you ask? Well, you s...

Photo: Dean Mouhtaropoulos (Getty Images)Remember the anal bead cheating controversy? As much as I’d like to forget, it turns out that a lot of people are still thinking about it. Some chess players have reported an uptick of computer-aided cheating in Chess.com matches ever since the story about Hans Niemann broke. One player has dubbed the recent surge in cheaters as the “Hans Effect.” Two weeks ago, there was a high-profile controversy that rocked the chess world. World Champion Magnus Carlsen unexpectedly lost to Grandmaster Hans Niemann, and Carlsen eventually withdrew from the tournament. Both his sudden exit and the difference in level were so drastic that spectators started to accuse Niemann of cheating. Chess streamer Hikaru “GMHikaru” Nakamura pointed out that Niemann previously ...