Kotaku: Concept

The Pause That Refreshes

Owen Good — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:30:00 EDT

Concept for a Coca-Cola can celebrating video games, inspired by the art of the French street artist Space Invader. Not an actual can of the soft-drink giant, but a concept by the designer Erin McGuire. Concepts for Coke Zero and Diet Coke are at the link. More »

How Can Nintendo's Next Console Possibly Compete?

Mike Fahey — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:20:00 EDT

In today's gloomy and doomy Speak-Up on Kotaku, commenter MtlAngelus wonders how Nintendo's next console can possibly stay competitive in today's gaming market. More »

The Future of Gaming at 35,000 Feet

Brian Crecente — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EDT

The future of airborne gaming may include a full-sized monitor, surround sound and plenty of legroom, if you've got the cash to drop on a plush, "Not For Wimps" airline seat. More »

Student Cockpit Concept Puts Wii Balance Board In The Pilot's Seat

Mike Fahey — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:40:00 EDT

How can the Wii Balance Board make life better for the pilots of international passenger aircraft? Graduate student Nicoline van der Vaart suggests they sit on it and spin. More »

A Peek at the Pitch for the Original — and Very Different — BioShock

Owen Good — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:30:00 EDT

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We knew BioShock's original story was quite a departure from the finished game - a "deprogrammer" infiltrates a bioengineered cult. Irrational Games still sold the title on that concept, and has now posted seven scans from the original 20-page pitch. More »

Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow - Belmont's Inferno

Mike Fahey — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:40:00 EST

This new batch of screenshots, concept art, and enemy renders for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow are lovely and all, but I can't help but think the game could use a tie-in with a revered work of religious fiction. More »

Irrational Pitch for a Zombie Shooter was Well Ahead of Its Time

Owen Good — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:30:00 EST

Irrational Games had this idea for - hang with me here - a zombie shooter. Only thing was, it was back in 2005, and the studio's creative director said its pitches were met with the sound of crickets. More »

Scrapped Halo MMO's title: 'Halo Universe'?

Owen Good — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Dylan Cole, an artist formerly with Ensemble Studios, has on his personal Web site some concept pieces for a canceled Halo project that may or may not have been called "Halo Universe." More »

Concept: Xbox 1080 Portable Looks Like Blaster from Transformers

Owen Good — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:00:00 EDT

OK, not literally, but enough that Soundwave's Autobot colleague was the first thing I thought of. Him, or a shower radio. More »

PS4 Concept: Spider-Man Font Fail

Owen Good — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Someone forgot to tell acclaimed designer Tai Chiem that Sony bagged the Spidey typeface with the PS3 Slim. But the rest of this concept - that means This Is Not Real - is super-futuristic cool. Wait, where's the $24 kickstand? More »

Looks Like That Tomb Raider Reboot Is Real

Brian Crecente — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT

An attorney with Nielsen has contacted Kotaku asking we remove the image of a new Lara Croft from our site, saying that the picture was leaked without their permission. More »

Take A Tour Of Microsoft's Fake Retail Store

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:30:00 EST

There are Apple Stores. So why not Microsoft Stores? It's a good question. Turns out there is a Microsoft store. Only...it's at Microsoft HQ, isn't open to the public and isn't even a real store. More »

The Gaming Laptop Of A Wealthy, Wasteful Future

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:30:00 EST

Gaming on a laptop? It's hardly ideal. But that's going off the hardware limitations of 2008! By the distant future, who knows what gaming on a laptop will be like. Might even be like this. More »

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Concept Art vs Screens

Stuart Houghton — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:40:00 EDT

These early screens and concept art trickled out of Lucasarts/Bioware's steely grasp after their Big Announcement and Kotaku Jedi AJ Glasser uploaded them instantly using a combination of the Force Upload and a fast wi-fi link. This concept gallery shows early Jedi/Sith character designs, a nice view of Coruscant that wouldn't look out of place in Episode 3 and two very similar monsters. Check after the jump to see how the artists' designs have been translated into polygonal reality. More »

Would You Buy This Portable 360?

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:30:00 EDT

From the same guys who brought you the awful "2010" Wii comes a conceptual pipe-dream a little more...sensible. This unnamed Microsoft product takes a 360, shrinks it to handheld size, adds a Zune to it, smooshes their interfaces together then throws a phone in as well. Just for good measure. Looks nice, looks slim, but whoever thought it'd be a good idea to bring the 360's despicable d-pad along for the ride needs a short, sharp slap to the teeth. More »

You Got Iron Mans In My Incredible Hulk

Mike Fahey — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EDT

This interesting bit of concept art for Sega's The Incredible Hulk game just showed in my mailbox today. What do you suppose it means? You don't think that Hulkbuster Iron Man could make a cameo appearance in the game, do you? Probably just a coincidence. I mean, the Hulkbuster armor is appearing in the Iron Man game, so they're probably just using leftover artwork or something. More »

PSP Redesign Concept Longs For Reality

Mark Wilson — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:20:45 EST

The PSP Slim is alright, but it was a redesign that fell far short from standards we've seen from Nintendo. This PSP concept takes something I normally detest, sliders, and makes it practical. Hiding the buttons under the screen offers more visual real estate per pocket-filling inch. And if such a screen could tilt even 10 degrees for glare and support touch controls for a little on-screen QWERTY functionality, I'd throw by DS to the ground and stomp it with all my might. But alas, it's not a Sony design. Here's the open shot: More »

DS Concept Is Pure Fanboy Porn

Mark Wilson — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:20:59 EST

This DS concept by Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz/3D modeler Phil Nolan is absolutely in no way real, but I'm a bit in love nonetheless. Like two iPhones in the thralls of erotic embrace and spread wide enough for Larry Flynt, their lovechild is a gorgeous, two-tone DS that's not technically inconceivable for Nintendo to release next. More »

Finally, Tetris On A (Fake) Watch

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:40:22 EST

The good news about this watch, with Tetris built-in, is that it looks just as playable as its Pong-playing counterpart. The bad news? They don't exist. These Nixon branded concept watches were knocked up by French product designer Lysandre Follet and are shown animated form at the link below. Music is included for maximum authenticity. More »

Playstation Store Concept Should be Reality

Mark Wilson — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:40:58 EDT

The PS Store is improving...slowly. But the interface leaves a lot to be desired, especially compared to the sleek layout of the XMB. This first image doesn't look all that impressive—but look what happens when you select the Featured tab: More »

Guitar Hero DS Concept Rocks my Socks

Mark Wilson — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:00:36 EDT

We're in love with this Guiter Hero DS concept. Sure, its tiny form will cause us carpal tunnel out the whazoo, but the rotating fretboard is a brilliant design to make hand held jamming a reality in a variety of play environments. More »

Final Fallout Teaser Image

Mike Fahey — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:20:05 EDT

The final concept art for Fallout 3 before the teaser trailer arrives in seven days' time is here, and once again Washington DC isn't looking all that good. More »

Boulder Dash - Reintroducing Rockford

Mike Fahey — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:20:19 EDT

Recognize this guy? Of course you don't. He's been re-imagined. This is Rockford, the main character from First Star Software's classic Boulder Dash series, as redesigned by 10Tacle Studios for their PSP and DS game, Boulder Dash Rocks. The press release states that, "our familiar well-loved hero appears with a whole new look." More »

Gallery: Space Station Tycoon

Mike Fahey — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:20:12 EST

As McWhertor mentioned yesterday, Namco Bandai is publishing Space Station Tycoon, the evolution of Wahoo Studio's Live Arcade Game Outpost Kaloki X for the Wii. To celebrate the announcement they've released a bunch of screen shots and concept art for us to flip through while we patiently wait for the game to arrive. More »

Concept Car Selected for PGR4

Brian Crecente — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:00:41 EST

Gallery: Wii Zorro Screens and Art

Mike Fahey — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 12:40:39 EST

Wii Zorro publisher 505 Games today announced a worldwide release for the game in late 2007, and provided a few bits of screenshot and concept art to go with it. I was mildly excited about this game at first, but now...not so much. Maybe it's just the fact that the screenshots are all of the same locations, fighting the same Mexican skelly-suited enemies, but I get the odd feeling that the entire game owes itself to the fact that you can easily slash a 'Z' in the air with your wiimote, and thus am eagerly awaiting the Wii version of The Scarlet Letter. Michael Fahey More »

Russia's Pop-Up Cell Phone Joystick

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:00:53 EST

Worst part of cell phone gaming? The controls. Face it, punching out an email is hard enough, let alone shooting up a hoarde of baddies. That tiny d-pad just doesn't cut it. A Russian company Industrial Design hopes to make cell phone game better, way better. Called the "CompactAnalog Thumbstick," it's a retractable joystick that pops up when pushed. Otherwise, it phone retains its traditional d-pad. Sadly, this is not a real product as of yet, but just a concept. A good one at that. Brian Ashcraft More »

What The Darkness Won't Look Like

Brian Crecente — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:00:31 EDT

Xboxgen posted a slew of concept art images for Xbox 360 and PS3 game The Darkness recently. Too bad the game I saw at E3 seemed so sterile compared to these. If even half of the raw artistry seen in this artwork made it into the game, I might change my mind about the game. More »