We’ve spoken to plenty of people who make music for video games, but what about chiptune artists who use video games to make music? Eh? Is that anything? The Australian chiptune scene is wider than one outside of it would assume. Sydney City Chiptune Ministries is a label that started in 2021, and aims to “keep old and new chipmusic, modular soundscapes, demoscene tracker files, hardware jam tapes, outsider electronic drones, field recordings and other DIY scene-based music alive and broadly available”. A noble feat, I’d argue. On this label are an array of artists whose works have previously ..read more

Welcome back to The Kotaku Australia Podcast! It’s a podcast about video games (but most Zelda). This week on the show: Like the rest of the world, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is all we’ve been playing. We chat through our experiences with the game so far, and what we’ve come to love about it so far We also discuss the game’s open-ended nature, from exploration to construction, and the way no two playthroughs will ever be the same Then, we chat through the coming week’s biggest releases (and stuff we think you might like), including The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Planet of Lana ..read more

So you’ve overestimated how much stamina you have left as you paraglide Link over Hyrule. Fret not: if you have a Zonai Wing from a Zonai Dispenser in your inventory, you’re in luck. While it requires a little bit of practice to get the physics right, safely dropping from your paraglider onto a Zonai Wing will restore your stamina and let you coast for some distance before you’re ready to take off again. With enough Wings, you can paraglide for almost forever. Seriously. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is set in a sprawling open world with massive heights and distances to travel. Lik ..read more

Bombs were an infinite resource back in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild because Link could spawn them from his Sheikah Slate at will. In Tears of the Kingdom, however, you have no explosives waiting in your fantasy iPad. Instead, explosive items are precious, finite things you find in the world and thus, they have to be used strategically. However, there is one economically efficient way to create a weapon that’s uniquely suited for blowing shit up, and it’s both fun to use and lets you hang onto what few bombs you do come across rather than using them every time you want to make somet ..read more

This January, Hogwarts Legacy caused a stir when one of its developers said that the game wouldn’t judge you for committing major crimes such as murder. While this was lorebreaking for the Harry Potter novels, it was also very typical of a video game to have NPCs that ignore crimes being committed in front of them. But what baffles me is the reputation system that a data miner discovered while combing through the game’s files. Read More: Hogwarts Legacy Takes No Moral Stance A YouTuber named GrandTheftDiamonds opened up Hogwarts Legacy’s files and discovered an entire morality system under the ..read more

Who doesn’t love a freebie? As most PC players are well aware, the Epic Games Store gives out free games each and every week. Once claimed, they’re bound to your Epic account and are yours to keep for good. Titles change each and every week, and you never know what Epic will pull out of its bag of tricks next. So: what’s coming up this week? This piece is updated weekly. Games change over every Friday morning at 1 AM AEST. Death Stranding One of the great love-it-or-loathe-it games of the last generation, Hideo Kojima’s abstract meditation on human connection will either thrill you or leave yo ..read more

Weapons and shields are constantly breaking in Tears of the Kingdom, so you need some perks attached to the one constant you have: clothes. The Great Fairies, giant ladies with magical abilities found around Hyrule, can help you with that. In exchange for some materials, they can make your armour more powerful. The trick is, you’ve gotta get them to come out of their plant-like houses. Seeking their help is an involved process because it ties into other questlines, but here’s a quick rundown of how to find them and take advantage of their particular set of skills. How do I start the Great Fair ..read more

Everybody was expecting The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to be a big success. The follow-up to Breath of the Wild was destined to sell a lot and likely end up as one of the biggest games of 2023. Still, it’s surprising and impressive to see the latest Zelda game selling over 10 million copies in just three days, putting it on pace to outsell games that span multiple consoles like Hogwarts Legacy, God of War: Ragnarok, and more. Released on May 12, Tears of the Kingdom expands and improves on 2017’s Breath of the Wild in many ways thanks to its new and intricate crafting mechanics and ..read more

The Epic Games Store is rolling out a new “Epic Rewards” program to give players five per cent cash back on PC gaming purchases. Whether it’s in-game purchases like Fortnite V-Bucks or big blockbusters like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the new policy is essentially a discount on everything you buy through Epic’s competitor to Steam. Everyone who has an Epic Games Store account is automatically enrolled, and the savings are deposited into players’ accounts after 14 days — the point after which it’s no longer possible to refund a game. That part is kind of silly, but the rest is a clear attempt by ..read more

If you thought you were being slick by downloading illegal uploads of The Super Mario Bros Movie online (and perhaps uploading them in parts to Twitter), there’s a chance your computer has a mystery item box of its own in the form of a malicious virus — womp womp. According to a recent report from cybersecurity company ReasonLabs, hackers infected bootleg copies of The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a Trojan virus that — instead of downloading a ripped copy of Nintendo and Illumination’s box-office record-breaking movie — installs a browser extension that steals users’ private information. Accor ..read more