Culture

How Do You Define ‘Cheating’ In A Video Game?

We don’t always play games the way we’re supposed to. We’ve all pulled out that little trick that helps us get through a tough area, beat a boss, or get a higher score. It might not be turning on God Mode in the developer console or using an aimbot, but it’s not quite on the…

Mafia 3 NPCs Realize They’re Supposed To Fall Now

Today on Highlight Reel we have forced falls, takeoffs, landings, flips, horse kills, gritty reboots of the popular film The Santa Clause starring Tim Allen, 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…

Podcast: AAA vs. Indie Development

Kotaku friend and newly independent developer Matthew Burns joins us on this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen to talk about the differences between AAA and indie development. We also talk Nier Automata, the must-watch Double Fine documentary (which Kirk finally started watching), and Star Wars: Rogue One. You can listen to this week’s episode on…

Ask Dr. Nerdlove: Her Clingy Guy Friend Won’t Leave Us Alone

Hello, all you electric blue sex-angels of the Twitternet. Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the dating column that promises to introduce 2017 to the Chair Leg of Truth if it acts at all like its older brother. It’s the final column of the year and we’re going to talk about various dating anxieties from folks…

Tracer And Emily Cosplay Celebrates Romantic Overwatch Christmas 

It’s been scarcely a week since we learned Tracer was gay and in love with with Emily. Within days there was already some quick Overwatch cosplay thrown together to celebrate their canonical relationship, and now Fenix Fatalist (Tracer) has taken things to the next level with Lei Radna (as Emily) Photos by Alexander Bootsman. Cosplay…

Track: M I D N I G H T | Artist: コンシャスTHOUGHTS | Album: Vaporware Vol. 3 Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Year In Video Game Paintings

Paintings in video games are like toilets: they don’t do much, but you notice if they aren’t there. They make a space seem lived in and real. They’re often unintentionally hilarious, and they’re one of my favorite things in games. I have a whole folder full of screenshots of weird paintings I’ve found in video…

Sunday Comics: Hey Big Boo!

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 December 22. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published December 24. Read more…

A Year’s Worth Of Dating Advice For The Modern Geek

Another year is on the record books, and with it another couple dozen Ask Dr. Nerdlove columns. Such love, loss, and heartbreak! So much bad sex, so many toxic partners and jealous exes! It was a lot to unravel. I’ve really enjoyed editing Harris O’Malley over the last few years, mostly because I get to…

Nice Jacket, Robot Assassin

Alex Figini is a concept artist at Bioware. He made this robot, and I want his jacket very much. Figini, whose art we’ve featured before, has also worked at Sony. The robot you’re seeing below wasn’t made for a game, it was actually made for a ZBrush course over on Learn Squared, so if you’re…

Man, That’s A Brutal Battlefield Headshot

Today on Highlight Reel we have headshots, awkward dancing, Rainbow Six Siege aces, perfect Halo 5 timing 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!…

The Steam Winter Sale Begins

It’s officially winter. Deep Winter. You know what that means: Steam Sale. This is the big one, or at least, the final big one of the year. If you need to get some last-second (Christmas is in three days WHAT ARE YOU DOING) holiday shopping done, here you go. This year’s sale is pretty barebones.…

Podcast: Super Mario Run Is Pretty Damn Great

Super Mario Run is surprisingly challenging, which is one of the reasons I like it more than I thought I would. Let’s discuss—on today’s Kotaku Splitscreen On today’s show we talk about Mario’s first foray into mobile gaming and fantasize a bit about what Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem iOS games might look like. We…

A Close Look At A Prototype Nintendo DS

You may not know Evan Amos by name, but you’ve certainly seen his work: he’s responsible for many of the clean product shots of video game consoles that you see on Wikipedia (and by extension everywhere else). Today, he’s shared something very cool for fans of old Nintendo hardware These are nice, clear shots of…

Track: Itsuka no Merry Christmas | Artist: B’z (cover by Z:RO PV) | Album: Friends (original version) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Darth Vader vs Aliens

Guillem H. Pongiluppi is a Spanish artist who has worked on stuff like the Warcraft movie. What we’re looking at today though is his series of images depicting Vader and some Stormtroopers meeting, shooting and being eaten by Aliens. Which look like the covers to comic books I would have held very dear in 1994.…

Tracer’s Kiss, Now In Cosplay Form

Give Overwatch fans what they want and they will repay the internet in kind. OK, so it’s not the most complex Overwatch cosplay, hence the speed at which it could be put together, but still, cute gag. Tracer is ReaganKathryn, Emily is Ashlynne Dae. Photo by thedogeman

Track: Desperada | Artist: Megosh | Album: Apostasy Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Art Of Mafia III

For all its other problems, Mafia III was a very good-looking video game, so it’s a treat today to get to check out some of the art that went into its creation. The first pieces below are by artists Pavel Beskyd, Anthony Ermio, Jonathan Guzi and Carlos Sanchez. For anyone wanting to get more physical…

1992 Miyamoto Interview About Zelda Is Great

In 1992, Shigeru Miyamoto sat down for an interview with Famicom Tsuushin magazine, mostly to talk about Zelda, but also to shed some light on what it was like working at Nintendo at the time. It’s a very good read. We’ve actually written about this interview previously, though that was apparently an incomplete translation; this…