Culture

The Week In Games: Back To School

It’s time to leave childish things like tower climbing, cyborg-dino slaying, and planet scanning behind and go hit the books. In case you weren’t feeling buried enough under the weight of all those open world RPGs, here’s another 100+ hour epic to eat away whatever remains of your time an sanity. I can’t wait to…

Speedrunner Gets Sabatoged By His Own Twitch Chat During Super Mario 64 World Record Attempt

This weekend a speedrunner who goes by Cheese broke the existing record for beating Mario 64 with all 120 stars with a time1:40:05. But his goal was to come in under 1:39, something he might have achieved if not for one of his spectators spamming a text-to-speech bot. Despite forgoing the LBLJ exploit, a backyards…

Track: Terminally Chill | Artist: Neon Indian | Album: Psychic Chasms  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sunday Comics: Deathly God Parents

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 March 28. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 27. Read more…

This Week In The Business: Hearthstone‘s Death Wish?

QUOTE | “Hearthstone is killing itself.” – Research firm Superdata, noting the free-to-play game has seen declining conversion numbers on mobile and PC following unpopular recent gameplay decisions. STAT | $720 million – The upper limit of revenues Blizzard can hope to bring in every year through its Overwatch League, according to a Morgan Stanley…

Ark: Survival Evolved just got a big update on PC. It includes underwater bases, aquatic creature breeding, teleporter pads, and a total inventory overhaul. It also adds four new creatures, one of which is an ancient horse. That is to say, an ancestor to modern horses—not a very old horse. That would just be sad.

Spontaneous Battlegrounds Friendship Ends In Tragedy, Revenge

In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ default mode, it’s every person for themselves. That does not mean, however, that people don’t form alliances. It just means that they tend to end poorly, sometimes with tears. CamCANTRUN highlighted a moment in which he became pals with another player while they were holding down a house they’d converted into a…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Weekends are for reminding yourself that even though the workout routine you just started isn’t super impressive, you gotta start somewhere, and getting some exercise will make you happier than lounging around. Also, video games. I am so excited for the PS4 Gwent beta this weekend I can’t even tell you. Playing Gwent against real people…

Destiny Armor Shaders Are A Great Excuse For Variant Action Figures

McFarlane Toys really lucked out with the Destiny license. Not only does it get to make some cool figures and replica weapons, with Destiny’s armor shader system the repaint potential is massive. Here are four retailer-exclusive variants dropping in July. For reference, here are the original paint jobs for the Hunter, Warlock and Titan figures…

Track: Tightrope (Live) | Artist: The Stone Roses | Album: Crimson Tonight  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Scully Always Was A Believer

Lisa Sterle is an illustrator, concept artist and graphic designer. You can see more of Lisa’s work at her personal site 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…

Zelda Player Beats Guardian In Underpants On A Horse

Today on Highlight Reel we have spicy boys, nude Link, streaks, Mass Effect surprises, 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! Titanfall 2 –…

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Players Win Match By Staying In Their Own Flipped Car

In PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, you’re up against 100 people, and a couple well-placed bullets will take you out of commission for good. Chaos reigns. Sometimes, though, chaos can work in your favor. Competing in a duos match, Sir Lance and a friend found a car. They were planning to use said car for car things, like…

Podcast: Ron Gilbert, Zelda Secrets, Returning To Destiny

Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, we’re joined by Monkey Island designer Ron Gilbert to talk about his newest adventure game, Thimbleweed Park. We’re also talking Zelda, Destiny, and much more. Nice and sunny here at Kotaku HQ, where we’re talking to legendary adventure game designer Ron Gilbert about his new game. First we cover this week’s…

Track: Where The Streets Have No Name | Artist: U2 | Album: The Joshua Tree Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Fans Won’t Stop Playing One Of Steam’s Most Popular Games, Even Though They Claim To Hate It

H1Z1: King of the Kill is one of the most popular games on Steam, despite the fact that thousands of fans claim to hate it. Now that a similar game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has appeared, many say they’re going to jump ship for good—and this time, they really, really mean it. Maybe. King of the Kill…

I’ve Got A War Inside My Head. It’s Got To Set Your Soul Free.

Vitalii Smyk is a concept artist at Ubisoft. You can see more of Smyk’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 the best of both their professional…

Track: Look Inside America | Artist: Blur | Album: Blur  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Mass Effect: Andromeda Cosplay Gets The Stare Right

This is Nebulaluben—who in space-related cosplay circles also does a mean Destiny—as Mass Effect: Andromeda’s Peebee.

Track: You Got It (Or You Don’t) | Artist: Ecstatic Vision | Album: Raw Rock Fury  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.