Not necessarily. There's some character and location overlap with a few movie/book characters and places, but by and large, it's completely it's own thing. If anything, (assuming you can get into the gameplay loop and enjoy yourself) a non LOTR fan may enjoy it a lot more, free from the deft inaccuracies, bad…

You’re talking contemporary Call of Duty. This entire gen, the story has pretty much been an afterthought for most people. Especially with OG Modern Warfare, it was fresh off the heels of COD as a single player only franchise, which is a huge reason why the campaigns in those games were as good as a game of this style…

Story wise, absolutely. Totally different casts of characters and largely different settings (Modern Warfare being largely in the middle east and Suburban US locations like Northern Virginia and DC, Black Ops being a time travel story, and starting in Vietnam). Originally, Black Ops was also the game (technically,…

They (Activision) shot down their pitch for Modern Warfare (to date, by far, the most lucrative, most popular and best selling series of the COD sub brands, if I’m not mistaken) and wanted them to keep making WWII games. Years later, shot down their pitch for (what was roughly a similar concept) Titanfall and told…

I thought this too until SSX3 was added to backwards compatibility on Xbox One with most if not all (had never played it originally, so I wouldn’t be the person to discern) of it’s originally licensed music. That doesn’t necessarily portend anything with THPS (if anything, the biggest barrier for that franchise being…

Direct and indirect nepotism is at the heart of football, in particular. 

F**k the flood lol

Agreed again. Why the Master Chief Collection is great. All the various enemy types and various behaviors and dialog from Halo 1/2/3/ODST/4 and soon to be added, Reach. Grunts in particular were and always hilarious. 

My favorite thing about Borderlands 2 (even more than Handsome Jack), and something I feel it never really got its due credit for. You nailed. The broad variety of enemies in that game (both in the base game, and in the expansions) was incredible and maybe the best I've personally ever experienced. They all had fun…

The original Borderlands is backwards compatible (along with 2) on the Xbox One platform, so it's not the first time it'll be on the platform with the GOTY Edition. 

I love you 

It’s not up to them. Cuphead is a lifetime exclusive on Xbox. Sounds like Microsoft worked through the language of their original agreement to most likely sub license it on the Switch. That's only possible because of the relationship they (Nintendo and MS) have, with Microsoft already being one of the biggest 3rd…

Like ODST (for anyone not gifted it for free as an apology for the horribly bad launch), likely $5-$10.

He definitely didn’t. Which is why for months leading up to the election (even October, the literal month before), he was publicly decrying being a victim, the system being unfair to him and his campaign, and more or less intimating that he would inevitably lose (so as to rile up his base to give him more money before…

There are some protections in some cases (ex: my mom got laid off from her company after over a decade as the top person in sales, along with everyone else, and while the company initially tried to weasel into a loophole to avoid having to pay severance packages, legal protections ended up kicking in forcing them to…

Love your content, Gita. You've joined Patricia Hernandez in my hallowed Kotaku Favorite/GOAT category. 

Except, this is completely inaccurate, as Forza Horizon/Microsoft were never making money off emotes to begin with. Unlike with Fortnite and NBA 2K, they’re not locked behind a pay wall of Microtransactions to begin with. Can’t be purchased at all. So, them taking them out has no bearing on compensation for either…

For the best, ultimately. Between the marketing debacle of H5, disaster launch of MCC, and putting out so many Halo and Gears games during the 360 generation, Gears of War Judgement. Phil Spencer understands its better to give those brands as much of a break as possible. Not even counting all the aforementioned…

I watched him sit still by a fireplace last Christmas for 8 hours. Lol

In fairness, there isn’t a flawless plan in professional sports. Of the bad choices available to any team unlucky enough to not inherit LeBron James, protected lottery picks, or beacon as a free agent destination, tanking to routinely give yourself the best odds at top prospects is still the best outcome. Talent…