Culture

‘Shop Contest: Kingdom Hearts Expanded Universe, Winners!

A teen boy, a giant key, and all of our lovable Disney favorites make up the basis of the Kingdom Hearts universe. Together, we made it a whole lot bigger. The Kingdom Hearts games seem full of possibility, and Kingdom Hearts III have promised us a jump into the CGI world of Toy Story as…

This Week In The Business: Sex, Violence, And Business Conflicts

QUOTE | “According to the email, Kindred Spirits will be re-reviewed and we will be equipped with specific feedback if there are concerns about the game’s content.” – The Twitter account of MangaGamer, announcing that Valve seemingly backtracked on its demand that the studio (and other risqué visual novel developers) censor their games or see…

Here’s What Game You Should Be Playing This Weekend

Hey y’all! Riley’s probably off playing The Witcher 3 somewhere already, so I’m taking over for him. Happy three day weekend! This weekend I’m going to be DMing my first tabletop roleplaying game as a treat for my friend’s birthday. We both wanted to play The Sprawl, a cyberpunk themed game, so I volunteered to…

School Shooting Game Angers Steam Users, Developer ‘Likely’ Changing It [UPDATE]

Earlier this week, a game called Active Shooter appeared on Steam. It’d be nothing more than another heap of hacked-together pre-purchased assets—or an “asset flip,” as they’re known on Steam—if not for its subject matter. It’s about mass shootings. The unreleased game’s Steam store page describes it as a “dynamic S.W.A.T. simulator” in which you…

The Speedrunner Smashing Records On Mario Kart 64’s Donkey Kong Track

Matthias Rustemeyer has been trying to collect every individual Mario Kart 64 course world record for half a decade, but thanks to Daniel Burbank that job just keeps getting harder. Burbank has been getting better and better times on the game’s lone Donkey Kong race track since the beginning of the year and shows no…

Track: On The Edge Of A Cliff | Artist: The Streets | Album: Everything Is Borrowed Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Dad Makes Cute Lunches Based On His Daughter’s Drawings

Takafumi Ozeki doesn’t just make his daughter’s school lunch, he makes it based on her drawings. The result is wonderful, touching and delicious. Ozeki is a Japanese comedian in the comedy duo known as The Geese. But, as Pouch points out, here is how he brings his child’s to life for pre-school bento For more,…

The Art Of Battletech

Battletech, a new turn-based tactics game based on the classic tabletop series,is pretty damn good! It helps that the game looks gorgeous, courtesy of some gorgeous 2D art and chunky mech models. So I figured tonight let’s showcase some of that by featuring the work of the team’s artists. Below you’ll see examples from throughout…

Apple Blocks Valve App That Lets You Play Steam Games On Your Phone

Earlier this month, Valve announced an official Steam Link app that lets users play Steam games on their phones. Last week, the app came out on Android, with an iOS version nowhere to be found. Now Valve has explained why. According to a release from Valve sent to Kotaku, Apple had approved the Steam Link…

Track: Pictures of You | Artist: The Cure | Album: Disintegration Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Yakuza Cosplay Is My Kind Of Cosplay

It’s not easy cosplaying as Goro Majima, the spicy meatballs on the side of the Yakuza universe. For one, you need to be able to pull off some very tight pants. And then you need to nail his essence, which is so much arrogance and menace that the average actual human being just couldn’t do…

Doomfist

Shim Jae-Woo, aka CRAZYRED, is an artist from Korea. You can see more of CRAZYRED’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…

Steam Developer’s Secret To A Two Percent Refund Rate: Honesty

In the year 2018, Steam can be described in many ways, but “hospitable to developers who make short games” is not one of them. And yet, developer Mike Bithell just released Quarantine Circular, his second non-free, story-based game that can easily be finished before Steam’s refund timer runs out. Quarantine Circular is a brief, choice-driven…

Track: Sometimes | Artist: James | Album: Laid Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Oh Man

Lovely Weather Today

Sergii Golotovskiy is a freelance concept artist based in Poland. You can see more of Sergii’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…

Track: Governor Switch | Artist: Narco Debut | Album: Garden Dreams Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Cosplay Tailors From The Top Of The World

We try to keep our cosplay coverage as global as possible here on Kotaku, but there’s always room for surprises, stories from communities of fans we’ve never encountered before. Like some tailors from Nepal, who work full-time creating replicas of their favourite movie costumes. Baron Boutique is a company based in Kathmandu that was founded…

State Of Decay 2 Car Shows Off

Today on Highlight Reel we have State of Decay 2 glitches, invisible dunks, Fortnite backflips defenses 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…

How Some Of Game Of Thrones’ Biggest Shots Were Made

While we’ve seen some concept art from the last series of Game of Thrones, tonight I thought it’d be cool to look at some of the VFX work done on season 7. Rodeo FX, a studio with offices across the world, was tasked with coming up with some of the series’ biggest shots, from the…