András Neltz

Steam Now Lets You Compare Download Speeds with the Rest of the World

Annoyed with your crappy internet provider, bad connection and slow download speeds? Well, as Steam’s stats show, you are not alone. Spotted by r/steam and r/games, the Steam Global Traffic Map’s newly-implemented feature lets you look at a list of average download rates for each country, grouped by service providers. So you could, for example,…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Pokémon One a Day Series Two: Feraligatr, Sentret, Furret • Late Night Drinks with a Nomad: Death Parade Episode 1 • Death Parade Has the Potential to Become Great • Pre-Cult: Age of Wonders 3 • TAY Explores Comics: 6000 TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY…

Redesigned Darth Vader Looks Just As Menacing

But not more menacing. That would be just silly. Still, alternate universe Darth Vader makes a good effort. The redesigned Vader was drawn by 1oshuart of DeviantArt (AKA artist Joshua Cairós) for a Star Wars-themed challenge organized by the Brainstorm Facebook group. The group got a lot of entries, but 1oshuart’s is just something else—and…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Simple Fun: How do you Enjoy Playing Games? • The Ani-TAY Interview: Ani-Kei Strikes • Yours and My Romance Counseling – Quick Review • Top Ten Most Popular Ani-TAY “Top” Lists • Don’t Watch Fafner in the Azure: Exodus Unless You Saw The First Show TAY Classic—TAY…

Watch a Guy Build Bender in Minecraft

In 24 hours, no less—although the video clocks in at just 4 minutes. Thank goodness for timelapse. Made by Planet Minecraft member propank, this 250-block-high Minecraft recreation of Futurama’s Bender took 50635 blocks and 24 real-world hours to build. propank shows off the entire process in a timelapse video: The world download can be found…

The Four-Decade History of Open World Games

Those Assassin’s Creeds and Far Crys and Grand Theft Autos had to come from somewhere In his video, YouTuber XboxAhoy takes a look at how games like the original Zelda, 1984’s Elite, or the legendary Ultima series contributed to open world and sandbox games as we know them today. There’s bits about some truly obscure…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: The 15 Most Popular Anime of 2014 • Game of the Week—Of Eclipses and Puffy Coats [Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]• Mario Kart: A Case For Dry Bones • Star Wars #1: The TAY Review • Re: Objectivity • Princess Peach On Tour Before State of Kingdom Address…

Bullworth Academy from Rockstar’s Bully Gets an HD Makeover

The game turns nine years old this year, and it was never much of a looker. This Unreal Engine 4 map, on the other hand, is. Created from scratch by designer/prop artist Wesley Arthur as an homage to one of his favorite games, the scene covers some of the interior areas of Bullworth Academy, including…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: The Apologist Problem • AniTAY Fall 2014 Seasonal Overview • 5 Shoji Meguro Tracks You Shouldn’t Miss • How Aldnoah.Zero Is Punishing Fans • Pokémon One a Day Series Two: Totodile, Croconaw • Fabulous Fyst’s Trainime Winter Season Impressions Part 2 TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To…

Racing Game VS Real Life, Round Two

How well does the very pretty Project CARS hold up when it’s compared to real life… at night? Not quite as well as when it’s compared to daytime real life, it turns out. Just like in his last similar video, YouTuber ADRIANF1esp takes and compares footage of the same car on the same track, this…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Nintendo’s New 3DS is Their Best Handheld Yet • Fabulous Fyst’s Anime Impressions for the Winter Season • Pokémon One a Day Series Two: Typhlosion• Spacemon Vol. 2 – Chapter 0: Interlude • Rhythm and Beats: Nintendo’s Greatest Forays in Music TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To…

The Hardest Boss Fight Ever

They should have brought a couple dozen more people. Titled “Level UP,” this rather beautiful piece of art was drawn by DeviantArt’s deadslug, where it even became a Daily Deviation (ie. it was featured on the site’s front page). There’s a few more of deadslug’s creations below—to see the rest, head over here for his…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: The Moe You Know: Chaika and the Moe Object • Top 5 Explorations of 2014 • Yuri Bear Storm Episode 1 Thoughts: Love and Hunger • Sword Art Online Progressive Vol 1 (Manga) – Quick Review TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

If Banjo-Kazooie Was Made Today

Then this Unreal Engine 4 remake of Banjo’s house (via DSOGaming) from the first game likely wouldn’t have that graphical wow factor at all. Or the nostalgia. Created by 3D artist Neil Goodman over the course of a few months, the aim was to add “a lot more detail and little secret items and mementos…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: What I’d like to see in Dissidia 3 • Thoughts on Assassin’s Creed II • Pokémon One a Day Series Two: Quilava • Wolf Girl and Black Prince – the Ani-TAY Review • The Folly of Amerocentrism TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s Guide To TAY Follow them here.

Watercolors Really Bring Out the Beauty in Mario Characters

Who would’ve thought a Piranha Plant could look so majestic? Over the past week or so, Seattle-based artist Olechka has been doing Mario-themed paintings. She’s done paintings on pretty much everything, actually, from memes to TV show characters—if you like these Mario pieces, make sure to check out the Olechka Art & Design website for…

The Eighties Shall Live On in this Racing Game

Drift Stage is about one thing: listening to some great tunes and drifting all day long. Pure arcade racing And that’s all there is to it. The trailer tells you basically everything about the game: But, since it’s coming out in 2015, there’s gonna be a few modern elements included, like: different game modes, support…

Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku‘s reader-run community: Pokémon One a Day Series Two: Cyndaquil • Heroes of the Storm Could Use Some More Heroes to Help Balance • My Top 5 Anime of 2014 (as told in gifs) • Fatalis’s Thoughts on Anime in 2014 (Also my Top 5 List) TAY Classic—TAY Open Forum—Beginner’s…

Minecraft Village Would Make a Nice Vacation Spot

Hand-made Minecraft towns and cities are always a joy to look at. This one, called Blugough, was built by kenofox of Planet Minecraft in a “renaissance-ish” style over six days. Here’s a flythrough video: The included HD shots: And my obligatory in-game images. It’s quite pretty thanks to the included texture pack: Click here for…

Our UK sister site has released an immense list of 51 British-made games that will (or should) be coming out this year, from triple-A greats like Arkham Knight to indie titles like No Man’s Sky or I Am Bread. Check it out here