Culture

The Star Ocean Mobile Game Is Easy To Hate And Still Play Anyway

There’s finally a new Star Ocean game after 2016’s barebones Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. Unfortunately, Star Ocean: Anamnesis, the latest entry, free-to-play, only on smartphones, and a gacha game to boot. The first of those would be forgivable if not for the second, but as a slot machine for collecting characters from Star Oceans…

Track: Everything Counts | Artist: Everything Counts | Album: Construction Time Again Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Zangief Cosplay Visits A Japanese Public Bath 

Bodybuilder Taichi Shimizu already does an excellent Zangief cosplay. So put him in a public bathhouse, and the cosplay looks like the downtime during Street Fighter II These photos were taken by photographer Maruo Kono for a Red Bull shoot. You can see more of Kono’s work on his official site and more of these…

Boss Fight

Pedro Krüger Garcia is a concept artist and illustrator from Brazil. You can see more of Pedro’s work at his ArtStation page Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you’re in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional…

Please Don’t Ever Nerf These Custom Overwatch Nikes

When reader Cong Cao wanted to get his girlfriend Mavis a birthday present this year, he skipped the whole “buy her a corny gift” angle and went straight to the heart. Because she’s a big Overwatch fan, and of D.Va in particular, he decided to get her something related to the game and character. But…

Somebody’s Making A Game About Making Battle Royales

Think there are too many similar battle royale games? Or perhaps you’re a member of PUBG’s community, ready to revolt over the state of the former king of the genre. If you think you can do a better job, Battle Royale Tycoon will give you a chance. The developers of the upcoming PC game say…

The Long Dark‘s New Cooking System Is Too Real

Last month, snowy survival game The Long Dark got a new cooking system. Like in real life, it requires timing things just right. I couldn’t pull it off in my last game, as well as in most of my own home cooking. The Long Dark added manual cooking in its June update. While you used…

Rules For Eating And Drinking In Japan

Visting Japan? Or perhaps you already live in the country. Here are some handy rules to follow for eating and drinking protocol. Generally, Japanese society is rather lenient towards the manners of foreigners. As long as you try to follow along with how things are usually done and don’t leave a mess after yourself, you’ll…

Some excellent My Hero Academia cosplay from nickrod99

Always Two, There Are

Rong Chen is an artist from China. You can see more of Chen’s work at his ArtStation page Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you’re in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you’d…

Wreckfest Santa Transforms Into Glitchy Nightmare

Today on Highlight Reel we have Father Christmas body horror, Rainbow Six Siege moments, Battlefield V spider soldiers, and much more. Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for…

Track: Bring It On Home to Me | Artist: Sam Cooke | Album: The Best of Sam Cooke Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

*NEW MEME COSPLAY* *ME* *OLD MEME COSPLAY* 

I like cosplay. But as we’ve explored recently, I have a special spot in my heart for meme cosplay Especially when it involves actual quality cosplay! In this case- some Sailor Moon buyer’s remorse. Neptune is tanzoir, Usagi is mathildesommer and Uranus is sophieriis

Them’s Fightin’ Words

Vladimir Krisetskiy is a concept artist and illustrator from Russia. You can see more of Vladimir’s work at his ArtStation page Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you’re in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or…

The Week In Games: Defiant Treasure Trackers

It’s very hot right now, so I guess it’s time for a hot week of games. There are a lot of thinks I am excited for this week. The Lion’s Song is hitting the Switch, an adventurous Captain Toad is coming to the Switch, and Octopath Traveler is finally coming out, also on the Switch.…

Speedrunner Raps About Mega Man, And It’s Pretty Good

I experience a lot of secondhand embarrassment when I hear someone in the world of video games attempting to rap, but streamer MelloFlowz really pulls out all the stops with a couple bars about, well, streaming and Mega Man. The link between video games and hip hop is a strong one. Video game soundtracks, especially…

‘Shop Contest: Create More Fortnite Mysteries

Fortnite is chock full of mystery right now. The sky has broken and weirdness is on the loose. In this week’s ‘Shop Contest, we’re going to get even stranger. Things are blinking out of existence within Fortnite, and some of them are even appearing in our world, so there is literally nothing that could happen…

Why We Play Tough Games

What makes people want to play nails-tough games? When do they risk feeling like a waste of time? On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, we discuss. First, Kirk and I talk about GDQ and hot dog eating contests before getting into all sorts of video game topics like Cyberpunk’s E3 demo audio leaking, Google’s plans for…

Sunday Comics: Kiryu Insurance

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published July 2. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published July 5. Read more of Corpse Run Double XP by…

Track: Isabellae | Artist: Higher Brothers | Album: Black Cab Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.