Luke Plunkett

Behind The Scenes On A Fancy Video Game Trailer

Unit Image made “Yesterday”, the big hype trailer for The Division. With the game now out, they’ve released a great series of videos and images showing how the clip was made. It’s not often we get a good look behind the scenes like this, so seeing all this art and footage is a real treat.…

What Even Is This Kickstarter Trailer

“Who literary?” “Like what Terry always quoted?” I do not know what is happening here. I mean, I do. I think. It’s a trailer for Embers, a King of Fighters fan film that was last month asking for Kickstarter money (thanks, LiK @ NeoGAF). (It actually got the money, raising over $10,000 with only (hrm)…

Killzone’s New Art Book Is A Real Treat

Regardless of its reputation as an OK shooter (though I quite liked KZ3), the Killzone series has always looked fantastic, and a new artbook out that celebrates this is a very good read. I got a copy of Killzone Visual Design yesterday, and while it ticks all the boxes of what makes a good video…

In Beacon, Death Is A Small Victory

This is Beacon, a roguelike top-down shooter with a very interesting twist on death (and rebirth). You’re expected to die in a roguelike, but Beacon is trying something neat: When you inevitably die, the DNA of the enemies you’ve killed can be used to grant you different stats and potentially gameplay-altering physical mutations for your…

Amazon Japan Now Sells Games Internationally

Well, here’s a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Via some brave testers at NeoGAF, Amazon Japan has quietly begun allowing customers from outside the country to buy its video games. What does this mean for most of you? Not much! But it’s big news for importers and fans of games that haven’t seen a Western release…

Track: Joyride | Artist: Hugo Chegwin, Fred Chegwin Berry & Line Animation | Album: N/A Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Star Wars: Rebellion: The Kotaku Review

Most Star Wars games put you in command of a few brave heroes of the galactic struggle. Star Wars: Rebellion, a new board game from Fantasy Flight, puts you in command of the whole damn war. Veteran PC gamers may remember that in 1998 Lucasarts released a strategy game called Star Wars: Rebellion, which let…

Dragonborn, You Done Good. Have An Ale. 

Kitnip, who is very good at crafting her own sets of armour, made this excellent Skyrim outfit last year. Beyond the overall quality of the design and build, there’s some great detail going on, with nicks and cuts all over the place and some subtle wear-and-tear on both the fabrics and armour. You can see…

David vs Goliath

Allen Wei is an artist from Beijing who works for More FX, one of China’s biggest effects studios. You can see more of Wei’s art at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on…

Plagiarism Scandal Rocks The Crossword Puzzle Scene

What’s ten letters, and is “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own?” The professional crossword-puzzle community is enjoying some unexpected (and unpleasant) time in the spotlight this week, after an excellent FiveThirtyEight story made public allegations of plagiarism against crossword editor Timothy Parker, who runs puzzles…

Wartile’s World Looks Too Pretty To Bleed All Over

As I’ve said, we are currently living in a golden age of turn-based video games. The latest example (well, potential example) of this is Wartile It’s a turn-based tactics game that’s been designed to be “a living and breathing tabletop video game”, combining the flexibility and visuals of a video game (along with some design…

Texas, You Put On A Good Cosplay Show

Photographer Long Thai, aka Mineralblu, was at Anime Matsuri in Houston (celebrating its 10th anniversary) the other day, taking snaps and video of some of the best cosplay on display. You can see more of Mineralblue’s shots at his Facebook page

Hello Sir Have You Heard The Good Word About Cthulu…

Sam Lamont is an artist who has worked for companies like Games Workshop, Creative Assembly (Total War) and Fantasy Flight. You can see more of Sam’s art at his personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the…

After 19 years of operation (and 10 months spent contacting the original developers), MAME—probably the most well-known emulator on the planet—is now 100% free and open-source (via Gamasutra).

Bob Ross And The Joy Of Super Mario Making

“A little bush has entered our world. Our Super Mario World.” Very nice work from A Dumb Thing. The only way this could be more Bob Ross is if the clip was streaming on Twitch instead of YouTube

Ambitious Fallout Mod Has Snow, Space, Tanks

Fallout: The Frontier is an in-development mod for Fallout: New Vegas that doesn’t just introduce new weather, weapons, quests and enemies, it takes the game to a space station. We actually saw this mod around a year ago, and back then the big deal was that it featured winter snow and some serious expansion to…

Vigo, Scourge Of Cosplaythia, Sorrow Of Moldavia

So welshenzie’s outfit here might not have been the most elaborate at Cardiff’s Film & Comic Con, but it’s certainly one of the most effective.

Hi, Gross Witcher 3 Villain, That Is Some Excellent Cosplay

Klaudia Utnicka is, as far as we know, a regular human being living in modern times. Or, at least she is at the beginning of this nine-minute video. By the end, she’s Brewess, one of the super gross Crones from The Witcher 3. Absolutely incredible work.

UFC 2’s Cover Is Now A Monument To Sadness

A few months back, EA’s marketing team probably thought that their choices for the front cover of this year’s UFC game—two of the world’s most popular and successful fighters, Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor—were as safe as could be. Then this happened. And now this Somewhere, tonight, EA’s marketing team is dying. Rousey, seemingly invincible,…

As a fan of ridiculously elaborate video game controllers, I am suddenly very excited about Hello, Operator, a game about juggling (and listening in on) other people’s telephone conversations. (via Gamasutra)