Luke Plunkett

Getting The Band Back Together Again

Danalyn Reyes is a 2D artist based in Dubai who has worked in board games, animation and video games. You can see more of Danalyn’s work at their personal site and ArtStation page

Ten Kids Arrested In India For Playing PUBG

The Indian state of Gujarat recently banned children from playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, after local authorities decided the shooter was to blame for an upswing in “violent traits” among local kids. The police report announcing the ban says that “Due to these games, the education of children and youth are being affected and it affects the…

The Way Is Shut

Sean Evans is an artist who used to work at Rockstar, and is based in San Diego. Most of the stuff below is for an unsuccessful pitch to Netflix for a Norse mythology series called Midgard: Daughter of Odin You can see more of Sean’s work at his personal site

Shigeru Miyamoto Is Now Nintendo’s Dad

Former Kotaku UK boss Keza MacDonald got to interview Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi and Hisashi Nogami over at The Guardian, and while the entire thing is a joy to read, there’s one part in particular—about what it’s like working with the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto in 2019—that I thought stood out. Because he’s now serving as a…

New Shooter Wants To Be A 1980s Battlefield Game

Rising Storm creators Antimatter Games are working on a new title called ‘83, which is set during the Cold War and is hoping to have battles featuring over 80 players duking it out as infantry, drivers and pilots. Who knows if they’ll be able to pull off something of that scale, but Rising Storm had…

F-14 Flight Sim Does A Perfect Top Gun Impression

The famous F-14 is currently in early access for the Digital Combat Simulator platform, and while most people playing are doing so very seriously, some are out here doing the obvious: remakes of the intro to Top Gun Adrián Caparzo is to thank for this amazing video, which isn’t quite shot-for-shot (there aren’t crewmembers on…

When An Overwatch Voice Actor Cosplays As Her Character

Actor Carolina Ravassa has been doing video game work for years now, appearing in everything from Grand Theft Auto V to Max Payne 3 to Just Cause 4. But her most famous role is that of Sombra in Overwatch, one she’s now playing in real life as well as the recording studio. At Katsucon earlier…

It’s OK, Sobble

Zeronis, aka Paul Kwon, is a senior concept artist at Riot. You can see more of Zeronis’ work at his Patreonand ArtStation page

4K Version Of Metroid Prime 2 Is Using Textures Upscaled By A Neural Network

Just like we’ve already seen with Doom, you can use a neural network to upscale pretty much any old video game textures, and the results are amazing. Metroid Prime 2 is no exception. This 4K, 16:9 version of the GameCube classic was put together by BearborgOne, using ESRGANto help drag those textures if not into…

Fans Imagine A New Look For Banjo-Kazooie

Artists George Crudo and Sean Hicks recently set out to redesign Banjo and Kazooie to give them a more modern look. Pretending that Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts never happened, the result is a cheerier, slightly Disney Infity-esque look that I am 100% behind. Hicks laid out the concept, after which Crudo made a 3D model.…

Islanders Looks Like The Cutest Lil’ City-Building Game

City-building games are always so big, and heavy. Islanders is coming at the genre from the other side, pitching itself as a light, quick and breezy way to build some nice buildings then get on with your life. The approach is eerily similar to what Bad North did to the RTS, in that it breaks…

Netflix announced todaythat among a range of new anime series coming to the streaming platform (including a new Ghost in the Shell from Production I.G and bones) is one based on Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma

Star Wars: Battlefront II Level Turned Into Giant LEGO Set

Taking a corner of the Yavin IV map as inspiration, First Order LEGO have built an enormous playset based on EA’s 2017 shooter. Look at those trees! And vines! And general haphazard but perfectly-implemented foliage! Via Brothers Brick

Unknown NES Game, Lost For 30 Years, Has Now Been Digitized And Finished

When UWC—a NES game that had been hidden from the world for 30 years—was uncovered last week, one of the first orders of business was getting the game off a cartridge and into the digital realm so that it could be properly preserved. The new owner of the game, Stephan Reese, aka Archon 1981, said…

It’s Episode I: Racer, Remade In Unreal Engine 4

A fan of both Star Wars and the finest sci-fi racing game this side of Wipeout has gone and got some of Star Wars Episode 1: Racer running in Unreal Engine 4, bringing the 1999 game well and truly into the 21st century. It was made by CG artist Rob Jin, and is the result…

It’s Raining Pigs, Hallelujah

Ahmad Beyrouthi is a 2D artist based in Germany who has worked for companies like Ubisoft. You can see more of Ahmad’s stuff at his ArtStation page and personal site

Unknown NES Game Found After 30 Years

When we talk about obscure or “lost” games, we normally need to have known about them in the first place to know they were missing. It’s not often we see a case like this, where a collector buying a cartridge off a former Nintendo employee is the first time anyone has ever heard of a…

2019 Game Is Out Here Looking Like 1996’s Quake

Continuing in the fine recent tradition of games like Dusk and Ion Maiden, WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is an upcoming shooter that is being built using the original Quake engine. It’s by 3D Realms—who own the name, if not the personnel and legacy of the original Duke Nukem creators—and it looks cool as hell. It’s…

Nintendo Announces Labo VR Kit For Switch

Coming out of absolutely nowhere, Nintendo just announced a new virtual reality set for the Nintendo Switch, which will make use of the platform’s Labo cardboard-building concept. The full pack’s name is the “Nintendo Labo: VR Kit”, and will come in two versions: a full set ($80) that includes software, goggles and five cardboard designs…

The Art Of Apex Legends

It’s shaping up to be one of the biggest games of 2019, so it’s awesome tonight to get a chance to look at some of the art that went into the creation of Apex Legends This is a collection of work from a number of Respawn’s art team (and beyond), and while it’s not everything…