Culture

A Quick Way To Catch Up On Pro Counter-Strike Games

Keeping up with esports isn’t easy. Counter-Strike matches are made up of multiple multi-round games. Tournaments quickly turn into time investments. Naturally, you’re gonna miss a few here and there. Or a lot. YouWrong has come up with an elegant solution to that problem. Their videos straddle the line between full matches and highlight reels.…

Jawas, Workin’ The Night Shift

Ronnie Jensen is a sci-fi artist based in Norway. You can see more of Ronnie’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…

Transformers Fans Are Voting For The Next Leader Of Cybertron

Normally it’s the Matrix of Leadership that determines which Transformer takes up the Prime mantle, but this year Hasbro’s doing things a little differently. Fans are voting to see which Autobot, Decepticon or unknown evil gets the next Optimus-style upgrade. Every Prime has to start somewhere. Optimus Prime was once Orion Pax, a lowly dock…

Track: God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters | Artist: Moby | Album: Everything Is Wrong Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Gun Game That Nearly Broke Nintendo

Nintendo’s first arcade video games were, to be honest, pretty terrible. Way more interesting were the machines that came before those, starting with 1973’s Laser Clay Shooting System, an elaborate entertainment offering that nearly sunk the company (but also led to one of its most famous video games). The first of seven amusement machines that…

Real Skaters Recreate Yuri On Ice Routines

This isn’t a post about people dressed as Yuri on Ice characters. It’s about people who can skate recreating some of the anime’s most famous routines. Via Daily Dot, the hit show’s popularity is getting skaters out onto the ice to bring the show’s signature moves to life. Here’s Patton Chen performing Yuri’s Eros, complete…

Track: What Difference Does It Make? | Artist: The Smiths | Album: The Smiths Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Metal

Marco Plouffe is a veteran games artist who has done work for companies like Bioware, Capcom, Eidos and Blur. You can see more of Marco’s work at his 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…

Track: Grim Business | Artist: Iron Reagan | Album: Crossover Ministry Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Karma Hits Lucio Player Like A Ton Of Bricks

Today on Highlight Reel we have titans without mercy, Widowmaker karma, excited Skyrim NPCs 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! Skyrim – It…

Cosplay’s Unlikely Anime Bondage Stars

There’s always been a bit of a stigma attached to hentai, a highly sexualised form of Japanese anime and manga. Ditto for any associated cosplay, which can often be explicitly pornographic. Despite this, a German couple is finding some surprising mainstream (for the cosplay world, at least) success combining the two. Because I run our…

Track: True Love | Artist: Elliot Smith | Album: Heaven Adores You Soundtrack Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sean Spicer Is A Fan Of Cosplay Conventions

Katsucon, one of the biggest anime and cosplay conventions in the United States, has a surprise fan and former attendee (at least outside the resort): embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Given his recent rise to infamy, folks have been digging through Spicer’s old tweets, and found these from 2013 (if you’re wondering about…

The Week In Games: Show Biz Yakuza

Some games just wanna have fun. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the rest of the series, so theoretically it should make more sense for those of us hopping on the bandwagon so late in the game, except probably not. Remember that time the Yakuza…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: A Bush And His Poncho 

January 21, 2017 was a historic day. The United States swore in its 45th President. Also, George W. Bush played peekaboo with a plastic poncho. It was rainy on Friday at the nation’s Capitol, but the country’s 43rd President had come prepared. It was a bold fashion statement that verged on performance art. Bush didn’t…

Speedrunner Beats Every Boss In The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past While Blindfolded

Link to the Past is not an easy game. But yesterday, speedrunner ParisianPlayer managed to defeat everyone of its bosses and complete the entire game in one sitting. While blindfolded In just over nine hours, ParisianPlayer defeated every boss in the game and unearthed most of its secrets while the entire time a Budweiser scarf…

Sunday Comics: Feeling Thirsty?

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 January 14. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published January 16. Read more…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Midnight Mario, Winners!

We started this contest with a much darker vision of life in New Donk City for Mario, but thanks to this week’s winner, we can end it on a much brighter one. The winner for this week is Ihsus who somehow managed the unthinkable, taking a beautiful meme and making it even better, somehow, by…

Track: Fingerbib | Artist: Aphex Twin | Album: Richard D. James Album Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

This Week In The Business: A Tough Year For Hardware

QUOTE | “I’m tired of shooting people for no reason other than not getting killed.” – Martin Greip, art director of Eat, Create, Sleep, talking about games that lack meaning and how big budget games are “estranged from the real world.” QUOTE | “I’d puke if I had to work on an empire-building game or…