Culture

This Week In The Business: What Does The West Know, Anyway?

QUOTE | “I think wherever the Western market gravitates toward is what everyone will try to gravitate towards and create, and that will become the next red ocean. So I want to do something that’s not in there” – Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro tried appealing to Western audiences before. It didn’t work, so he…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for the weather being nice enough to hang out on my fire escape, which means returning all of the things that have fallen from the upstairs neighbors’ fire escape onto mine. It’s also for playing video games! I’m determined to finish Far Cry 5 this weekend. I’ve only got one area to…

Drake, Jake, God Of War And More: The Week’s Hot Game Stories

God of War gets judged, sad news from Overwatch League, PlayStation 5 rumors, and more on Kotaku XP, our weekly video roundup of what the heck is going on with games and the people who play them. This week, Drake played Fortnite again, and people loved it again. This week, Jake Paul played Fortnite again,…

The Rampage Movie Is Stupid And Amazing

There is a Hollywood action movie adaptation of the video game Rampage, and it is one of the dumbest, most fun movies in theaters right now. Gita Jackson: Tim, we had the incredible treat of watching Rampage starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson last night. Were you expecting to be as entertained as we ended up…

In The Witcher 3, Boxing Brings Geralt Down To Earth

The Witcher 3’s Geralt of Rivia spends most of his time fighting. But for all the mountaintop battles and magic powers, the best fights in the game are the ones where he gets into a ring and uses his fists. This piece originally appeared 1/5/18. As a professional monster killer, most of Geralt’s actions involve…

Track: Ball and Chain | Artist: Social Distortion | Album: Social Distortion Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Time For Some Vice Admiral Holdo Cosplay

Paying homage to the series’ Vanity Fair covers, this shoot by Miramay and photographer Alexandra Lee is an absolutely stunning example of Star Wars cosplay. Miramay made the entire outfit herself, while Alexandra took the shots at Katsucon earlier this year

How Appropriate! You Fight Like A Cow!

Tyler Ryan is an artist at Gearbox, the studio responsible for Borderlands and Battleborn You can see more of Tyler’s work at his ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing…

Sea of Thieves Pirate Is A One-Man Navy

Today on Highlight Reel we have impressive pirates, Far Cry moments, Orisa awkwardness 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 more! Catch up on all…

God Of War’s Lack Of Camera Cuts Works Really Well

So there’s this video game called God of War. Maybe you’ve heard that it’s really good? Well, it is. On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, Jason Schreier and I had an enthusiastic, spoiler-free discussion covering some of the reasons we’re so impressed by Sony Santa Monica’s upcoming PS4 epic. Listen here: You can also download an…

Track: Kimino Mikata | Artist: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu | Album: Kimino Mikata (single) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Great Cosplay From The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, was held between April 6-8 and The Portrait Dude was in attendance taking shots of some of the best cosplay. You can see more of The Portrait Dude’s photography at his Facebook page

Game Developers Mourn (And Celebrate) The End Of Steam Spy

In the wake of changes to Steam’s default privacy settings yesterday, unofficial data and sales tracking kingpin Steam Spy is doomed. Many developers who relied on it are mourning its passing, but some are saying good riddance. The service scraped publicly viewable Steam profiles to estimate game sales along with troves of other data. Some…

Track: Party Hard | Artist: Andrew W.K. | Album: I Get Wet Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Latest Steam Update Is Bad News For Steam Spy

Today, Valve added new privacy options that let Steam users decide how they’re viewed by the community. One big side effect: people’s game libraries are now hidden by default, spelling the likely end of data-tracking monolith Steam Spy. Steam Spy is a service that sweeps publicly viewable Steam profiles to estimate game sales and a…

Ye Olde Video Gaemes

Braydan Barrett is a concept artist at Splash Damage, developers of games like Brink and Dirty Bomb You can see more of Braydan’s work at his ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video…

The Stillness of the Wind is a farming game about life, loss, and solitude. You’ll play as an elderly woman on the edge of civilization, creating a routine out of everything from milking goats to reminiscing about the past. You’ll also receive “increasingly disturbing” letters from your family in the city. Fun! It’ll be out…

Track: Time After Time | Artist: Cyndi Lauper | Album: She’s So Unusual Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Stay Beneath The Waves Please, Thank You

Irina Kuzmina is a concept artist and illustrator from Russia. You can see more of Irina’s work at her ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both…

Newly Discovered Trick Transforms A Metroid Speedrunning Scene

Gamers experimenting with the 2002 Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion have discovered such a profound and bizarre shortcut that speedrunners have had to create a new category to account for the latest new way to break the game: memory corruption . The trick requires using Samus’ power bombs in an out-of-bounds area to corrupt…