Culture

Barrel Paradox Crashes Game

Today on Highlight Reel we have pirate stories, paradoxes, flamethrower shotguns 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 the episodes…

New Ocarina Of Time Speedrun Beats All Dungeons Without Opening Any Doors

Ocarina of Time speedruns are already challenging, from Any% that use all sorts of glitches to speed through the game to 100% runs that collect everything. A new tool-assisted runtakes things a step further, completing all dungeons without opening a single door. A tool-assisted speedrun (TAS) uses emulation and special software to play a game…

Valve Thought About Putting Women In Team Fortress 2 (And Making A DOTA 2 Cartoon)

Every playable character in Team Fortress 2 is a dude. But the recent release of an artist’s old work shows that Valve at least toyed with the idea of introducing women into the game’s roster. Drew Wolf, who spent nine years working at Valve as an artist, overhauled his website recently and amongst some other…

The Week In Games: Back To The Pitch 

Another year. Another Pro Evolution Soccer. Another FIFA. The leaves are falling and soccer balls are in the air. Where most sports games have their sub-genre locked up (when’s the last time Madden had to compete with anything but its younger self?) soccer is one of the few where there’s still competition. That means fans…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Autumn Game Harvest

It’s that time of year again. With the first day of autumn having come and gone earlier this week, it’s time to get into the spirit of the season with some epic mashups. Whether it’s apples, pumpkins, or blockbuster video games, it’s time to move from cultivating and growing to harvesting. To celebrate the changing…

Why People Love Metroid So Much

Samus Aran made her grand return to video games last week following a seven-year absence, and if you’re wondering why that’s such a big deal, Kotaku Splitscreen is here to help. First we jump right into the news of the week (2:39) which includes Steam review bombing, Fortnite accidentally getting cross-play, and the Nintendo Direct.…

Track: Dear God | Artist: Monsters of Folk | Album: Monsters of Folk Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sunday Comics: The New Batch 

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics that usually occurs on Sunday except when it doesn’t. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published September 22. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published September 18. Read more…

One final curry before I blast out of Japan, this one from Curry wa Nomimono (“Curry Is A Drink”). They’ll add three free toppings to your plate. I got potato salad, fried onions, and, because this is Japan, corn with mayonnaise. The result is like the garbage plate of curry, but incredibly good.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Bad Dudes Revival, Winners!

It was the baddest of times, it was the dudest of times. This past week’s ‘Shop Contest was a tribute to gaming meme that had long been an excuse for some of the not altogether inspired entries from the contests of yesteryear. In keeping with tradition than, this week’s haul was a perfect tribute to…

Track: Yeoman | Artist: Baths | Album: Romaplasm  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

This Week In The Business:  Good News For People Who Like Bad News

QUOTE | “Never fear! Battleborn is here to stay.” – Battleborn creative director Randy Varnell, immediately after announcing that the Fall Update is the final planned content for the game, and immediately before announcing he’s going to work on some other project now. QUOTE | “I would have liked to see them leave it on.”…

Track: Chariots Of Fire | Artist: Vangelis | Album: Chariots Of Fire Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Divinity: Original Sin 2‘s devs have decided to remove the infinite damage combo I wrote about yesterday. Initially, writes PC Gamer, Larian planned to leave the combo in because it applauds “creative approaches to the game,” but have since determined that it’s an “unintended bug.” The studio plans to patch it “ASAP.”

Survival Game About Genetics Is Cute But Cruel

In most games, the permanent death of a player character is a big deal, a matter of pomp, circumstance, and occasionally people arguing on forums for decades about how to get her back. In Niche, I watched the progenitor of my entire species drop dead after a few minutes of play. One second he was…

Maybe Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds Is The Game Of The Decade?!

One of the 10 million people playing Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds just so happens to be me, and so I am now qualified to assess it in a video. I promise I’m being sincere when I say I consider it “The Game Of The Decade.” As of Fall 2017, anyway. Heck, Fall 2017 is practically 2018, and…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for making a curry because Kotaku features editor Chris Kohler won’t stop posting pictures of the curries he’s eating in Japan right now. Also, video games. I’m going to try to work up the courage to play more Echo, because that game rules but I can only handle it in small, stressful…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: She’s More Sexually Experienced And It’s Freaking Me Out

Hello all you galloping Sex Weasels, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column with the Super FX chip AND blast processing. This week it’s all about sex… more specifically, folks who haven’t had it and folks who haven’t had as much as others have. How does an older virgin make up…

Cosplay Shouldn’t Be About Looking Like A Character

There are some incredibly talented cosplayers out there, but often the ones who achieve widespread recognition are recognised instead for an uncanny facial resemblance to the characters they’re cosplaying. While, ostensibly, the point of cosplay is to resemble the character as much as possible, cosplay is so much more than that in practice. That’s why…

The Art Of Bungie’s Destiny 2

A look behind the scenes of Bungie's blockbuster sequel