Culture

Podcast: Every Video Game* Of 2016

As has become annual tradition, join me and Kirk for a long trip through the video games of 2016 on this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen. UPDATE (1/12): Now with parts one AND two! In part one of the show, we cover January through June. Listen here. (MP3 download here.) In part two of the show, we cover…

Lay’s Wants Your Stupid Potato Chip Flavors Again

The Lay’s Do Us A Flavor contest returns for a fourth year, once more offering budding snackologists who come up with a halfway edible new potato chip flavor a million dollars. Previous winners include the obvious choice, thebad one andI wasn’t paying attention. After skipping a year to perform a Flavor Swap operation, Do Us…

Disco Stew Likes Disco Stew

Jan Weßbecher is an artist from Germany working mostly in the games business. You can see more of Jan’s art at his personal siteand 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,…

Track: Waterloo Sunset | Artist: The Kinks | Album: Something Else by The Kinks Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Track: 100 Miles And Runnin’ | Artist: NWA | Album: 100 Miles and Runnin’ Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Overwatch Cosplay As An Action Movie [Update]

Rather than just standing around lookin’ sharp, these Overwatch cosplayers have gone to the trouble of creating their own little action-packed movie, which plays out kinda like Widowmaker’s official short, only with actual humans. UPDATE – For some reason, the video keeps disappearing off the internet, both on YouTube and Facebook. We’ll get a copy…

We’ve Two Weeks To Prepare For Taco Bell’s Fried Chicken Taco Shell

January 26 shall be known as the day the taco shell changed forever, or at least the day Taco Bell started folding up fried chicken patties and calling it a Naked Chicken Chalupa. Realizing that we’re almost two weeks into 2017 and there hasn’t been a Snacktaku video, Taco Bell has lept into action, readying…

A Game Where You Play As The Boss In Classic Boss Fights

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, boss fights are a time-honored video game tradition. Nefarious is a game that turns The Old Ways on their head. You’re the boss taking on a band of annoyingly plucky heroes. You might even recognize some of the boss fights. Here’s what the game looks like: If you’ve played Sonic…

Overwatch Cosplayer Donates Hair For A Good Cause 

After growing out her hair for three years, cosplayer Pion Kim decided to have her head shaved for a Sombra cosplay. However, she put those discarded locks to good use. On her Naver blog (via tipster Sang), Pion gave a behind-the-scenes look at the cosplay.  Even the official BlizzardSombra cosplay didn’t involve clippers!  After she…

Husk is a horror game that deals with themes like domestic abuse and childhood trauma. It’s being billed as a tribute to horror classics like Silent Hill. Also, it takes place in a town called “Shivercliff,” because everyone makes mistakes. The game will be out next month.

None Of 2016’s Most-Played Steam Games Came Out In 2016

The sheer number of games on Steam is overwhelming, and more new ones come out per day than ever before. Despite that, Steam’s upper echelon has calcified, with an Old Guard looking down from the top of the most-played list at all the peasants below. GitHyp, a tool that tracks Steam’s most-played games (among other…

Help Me Finish The Witcher 3

The new year means it’s time for resolutions. This year I’d like to practice my guitar more, be as fit as I was in my 20s, figure out my romantic life—but I probably won’t do any of those things. But I might, with your help, finish The Witcher 3. My colleague Patricia and I were talking…

Brutal Platformer Standby Dares You To Speedrun It

Standby is hardcore platformer by Noclip. Blazing a trail through technicolor obstacle courses, players slide along walls, dodge lasers, and leap massive gaps. It is demanding, technical, and beautiful in motion. We rush our way through in this Kotaku Plays. The initial challenges in Standby seem tame. Sliding through barriers or bouncing off walls is…

The Continued Adventures Of Cartoon Chun-Li

Venezuelan artist Ramón Nuñez suddenly has me wanting to see a different type of Street Fighter cartoon Nuñez, who has worked with companies like Gameloft and Cryptozoic, has more art at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine…

Roblox Gets Into The Toy Business

After more than a decade of online creative play, massively multiplayer online game Roblox is expanding its user-created content into the real world, partnering with Jazwares for a line of collectible and customizable toys hitting stores in February. Boasting more than 40 million monthly players in December alone, imagination-powered online community Roblox is at the…

Once Again, It’s High Noon For Overwatch Cosplay

You don’t see that much McCree cosplay, at least compared to other characters, which combined with how much harder his outfit is to replicate properly than, say, D.Va, is why I like it so much when I do see it This is Polish cosplayer Blink005 chewing tobacco and bending genres as Overwatch’s resident cowboy. The…

Reinhardt Charge Falls A Bit Short

Today on Highlight Reel we have badly timed charges, glitched flags, powerful crossbows, 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! Uncharted 4 – When…

Hacker Leaks 1.5 Million Profiles From Game Site After They Refuse To Pay $100,000

The ESEA is an esports community that runs a popular online Counter-Strike league. In late December, its security got breached in a big way. Now the details of that breach are coming to light, with 1.5 million users affected after the ESEA refused to pay a hacker $100,000. It all began with an announcement from…

Even Old Witchers Can Kick Your Butt

Lixin Yin is an artist based in China who has done work for companies like Blizzard, THQ, 2K and Legendary Pictures. The Star Wars pictures you see were Yin’s entries in ILM’s challenge held last year You can see more of Yin’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the images in…

AGDQ’s Shovel Knight Speedrun Race Was Tense

Speedrunning charity event Awesome Games Done Quick is in full swing and already producing some amazing runs. Yesterday, a speedrun race between two Shovel Knight players stole the show. Awesome Games Done Quick or AGDQ showcases some of the best speedrunners in a week long charity drive for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. In addition to…