Luke Plunkett

Reminder: Real Pirates Were Awful

Making a pleasant change from the usual pre-release drivel, Ubisoft has teamed up with VICE to make a series of short documentaries about the golden age of piracy. So that when you’re playing Assassin’s Creed IV, you can…I don’t know, appreciate the piracy some more. Really, though, screw the game. They’re just great little clips…

A Game About Hunting Monsters, And It’s Not Made In Japan

On paper, Monster Hunter should be one of the biggest games on Earth. It’s about nothing but fighting giant monsters, then gutting them for loot. For whatever reason, though, Monster Hunter is only really big in Japan, leaving others free to steal its thunder elsewhere. Enter Canadian studio Tetrahedral Interactive, who are working on Canto,…

No, Evil Soldier Man, I Was Not Making Fun Of Your Raspy Voice

Efgeni Bischoff is a freelance 3D artist who has previously worked for companies like Crytek and Guerilla Games. In between that, he’s also worked on Halo 4. So, yeah, if you want to see gorgeous images of armoured soldier men with fancy guns, you’ve come to the right place. You can see more of Efgeni’s…

Over 15 Minutes Of The PS4 Dashboard. Menus, Menus, Menus! [Update]

Whoever said “shoes are the window to the soul” was full of crap. Because system menus are the window to the soul. They’re the first thing we see every time we boot a system up, and are the tools by which we do pretty much everything to do with a console outside of actually playing…

Man Falls From Space, Takes Nine Minutes To Land

Remember last year, when Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a balloon at the edge of space? Well there’s a new documentary coming out about the feat, and part of it is this amazing video showing his descent in real-time. In first-person view. You might want to blow it up to full-screen to get a better…

The Creepiest Things People Have Said To Cosplayers

Most people enjoy cosplayers for what they are: folks hangin’ out in cool outfits paying tribute to their favourite characters. Sadly, some like to totally miss that, and get all creepy Buzzfeed went to the New York Comic-Con with a ledger and pen, and asked some cosplayers to write down the worst thing someone had…

Total War: Rome II: The Kotaku Review

**Updated with final verdict** Oh dear. I wanted to love this game. I really did. I am, as anyone on staff here will tell you, a tragically obsessive Total War fan. I’m also a history nut, who was looking forward to conquering the known world at the head of some thundering (and in this game’s…

After Six Generations Of Pokémon Games, Snorlax Finally Stands Up

It had to be intentional. Surely. He looks so proud Six generations later, Snorlax is finally up and ready! [Reddit]

The Xbox 360 Version Of Battlefield 4 Has A Crazy Recommended Install

Look, it’s pretty clear that Battlefield 4 – a game designed to sing on powerful PCs and next-gen consoles – was always going to struggle on current-gen hardware. So if developers need to go to extremes to find a workaround, well, they gotta do what they gotta do. The Xbox 360 version of the game…

Here’s what you missed during the overnight shift: We Are Still Shooting The Hinges, And It Still Sucks Former Valve Hardware Project Becomes Kickstarter Campaign The Old Spice Guy, As A Super Annoying Comic Book Nerd Stare Longingly At This Xbox One Educational Video

The Old Spice Guy, As A Super Annoying Comic Book Nerd

Isaiah Mustafa, aka The Old Spice Guy, is in real life a huge comic book nerd. So enjoy, as in this short he plays the role of a…huge comic book nerd. And plays it well OK, so the clip’s not perfect, and not all the jokes make it. But Mustafa is worth it. WHAT’S IN…

Even Microsoft Thinks Cross-Platform Multiplayer “Makes Sense”

One of the biggest failures of Microsoft’s involvement in the PC space has been its treatment of gaming relative to the Xbox brand. Halo came late then stopped coming. Gears of War and Forza have never gone PC. [Correction: Gears of War 1 did.] So you’d be forgiven for assuming that Microsoft has given up…

Gone Fishin’

Colombian artist Victor Mosquera works for Volta, a design house that specialises in creating concept art for video games and movies. His professional work is for an unannounced project, but that won’t stop us looking at his impressive personal portfolio. You can see more of Victor’s stuff at his personal site and CGHub page To…

Stare Longingly At This Xbox One Educational Video

This video is great. Not for the content, the parts where heads are talking. But the parts where heads are not talking. What should be a video where we all learn about the fantastic new things Microsoft is doing with Xbox Live for the Xbox One instead becomes a video that should have been called…

Does A Nintendo 2DS Burst Into Flames Inside A Microwave?

You bet your Pokemans it does. Long-time internet microwaver (I’m sure that’s what he puts on his tax return) dOvetastic is the man here putting a brand new 2DS in the box then killing it. If you find yourself asking “WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?”, first ask yourself “did I just watch that video until…

Former Valve Hardware Project Becomes Kickstarter Campaign

Engineer Jeri Ellsworth and former Raven dev Rick Johnson used to work at Valve, on the company’s ambitious hardware plans. That was until February, when the pair were laid off. Never mind. One of the projects that had been in development at Valve were a pair of augmented reality glasses, which according to a report…

We Are Still Shooting The Hinges, And It Still Sucks

It’s been three years since, up to our eyeballs in snow, bullet casings and blood, we were reminded to “shoot the hinges”. A seemingly insignificant part of Call of Duty: Black Ops had become, through a video capturing one act of patience, a poster child for all that was wrong – and is still wrong…

Here’s what you missed during the overnight shift: GTA V’s Trevor Tells Fan To Go F**k Himself Attack On Titanic Pokémon Cosplay Loki Does A Great Owen Wilson (As Loki) Impersonation The Slightly Terrifying Alternative To Oculus Rift

Even Space Marines Need A Break After A Hard Day’s Work

Lee Chang Woo is an artist who has done work for companies like SmileGate, the guys behind popular (and venerable) Korean shooter CrossFire. You can see more of his work at his personal site and CGHub page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save…

Track: What is This Loneliness? | Album: Event II | Artist: Deltron 3030 Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.