Culture

What Are Your Character Creation Bad Habits?

I am a creature of habit. I order the same things at restaurants, I drink the same beer. I have television shows that I watch over and over, like comfort food. This becomes a problem in my game of The Sims 4, where all my new sims are using the exact same hair. The Sims…

Conan Exiles Is Still Very Early

As the sun rises and the ocean churns, preparing to consume all with the aid of global warming, so too do new early access survival games invariably top the charts on Steam. Conan Exiles is the latest, and well, it’s certainly early. It’s not that Conan is busted. The game has a big, atmospheric world,…

Donkey Kong 64 Speedrunner Finds Hidden Coin After 17 Years

Donkey Kong 64 is packed to the brim with coins and bananas. Nearly two decades since the game’s release in 1999, a dedicated speedrunner has found a new coin for players to collect. Players can use banana coins in Donkey Kong 64 to buy various upgrades. The best coins to collect are the rainbow coins…

Oh, Have Mercy

Irakli Nadar is an illustrator from Georgia. The country, not the state. You can see more of Nadar’s work here 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…

Pirates Of The Caribbean Cosplay Gets It 100% Right

I promise you, this is an image of a cosplayer, not a promo shot from the 2003 movie. This is cosplayer Filipe Sabino, with photos by Eleán’Art And just so you don’t walk away thinking “well, it’s just that one angle where he looks 1:1″, here’s more. Absolutely incredible work. When people cosplay as Captain…

A Star Wars Cosplay Hustle From 1977

In 1977, as Star Wars was first blowing up, Lucasfilm were famously ill-equipped to get enough merch out to satisfy fans. While some people waited patiently into 1978 for stuff like action figures, one kid went out and started making his own Darth Vader masks. And made a ton of cash in the process. Today,…

A For Honor Kill So Nice They Fell Twice

Today on Highlight Reel we have For Honor aces, Resident Evil glitches, falling vikings, Battlefield self-owns, 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! Watch…

When Have You Gotten Mad At A Video Game For Wasting Your Time?

Have you ever been so pissed off at a video game for wasting your time that you turned off the TV? Threw your controller? Snapped all your disks in half? Here’s a quick anecdote: Last night, after a grueling final week of writing and editing, I finished the first draft of my first book. (More…

Breath Of The Wild Gets Its Own Big-Headed Link Figure

A new version of Link demands a new ridiculously adorable Nendoroid figure from Japan’s Big Smile Company. Breath of the Wild Link is so cute I just want to eat his face. That’s okay, he has extras. Revealed over at Kahotan’s Good Smile Blog. Nendoroid Link: Breath of the Wild Editionis the next evolution of…

New York’s Finest

Nikolai Lockertsen is an artist based in Norway who has worked on movies like Dead Snow and Troll Hunter You can see more of Nikolai’s work 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 Art is a celebration…

Track: Legend Has It | Artist: Run The Jewels | Album: RTJ3 Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Track: Down Rodeo | Artist: Rage Against The Machine | Album: Evil Empire Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Week In Games: How To Double Your Dragons

Decades later, I still have no idea what Double Dragon was about. Double Dragon IV is a game that’s entering the wild this week despite being requested by no one in particular because Japanese developer Arc System Works saw fit to purchase the rights to the series back in 2015. As a result, I spent…

Overwatch’s Widowmaker Takes A Day Off

Amazingly, this is the second cosplay we’ve seen from the same gallery of fan art, which depicted a bunch of Overwatch characters hanging out in their street clothes. There was a great Pharah outfit at Blizzcon last year, and now there’s this Widowmaker shoot from Chinese cosplayer NightyQueen Photos by Ashen. For reference, here’s the…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: A Bush And His Poncho, Winners!

Last weekend feels like it was a lifetime ago. But even in these times of change, some things remain constant. Like George W. Bush’s penchant for being a goof. Congrats to this week’s winner: barhat518. Among a number of great entries, this GIF sat head and shoulders above the rest.  However you feel about the country’s…

Sunday Comics: Deadlifts

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 26. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published January 23. Read more…

Two John Hurt Video Games That Couldn’t Be More Different

Tender Loving Care was an experiment in interactive cinema while Privateer 2: The Darkening was an ill-fated Wing Commander spin-off. They were the only two games actor John Hurt ever performed in, but even the rich, rumbling tones of his English voice could do little to save either one. In 1996, two years prior to…

Track: Boys Latin | Artist: Panda Bear | Album: Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

This Week In The Business: Influencers Passing Their Prime

QUOTE | “These days it is impossible to ‘buy’ endorsements from influencers in a way that makes any economic sense. The videos where someone is paid to promote a game they aren’t passionate about don’t deliver the performance needed to justify repeat spend, and the influencer loses subs, so in the end everybody loses.” –…

What Are You Playing This Weekend? 

The weekend is for taking a shower that’s longer than 10 minutes because you have to run out the door to work. It’s also for playing games! I have not been able to play The Witcher 3 ALL WEEK LONG because I’ve been very busy. Last weekend I finally made it to Skellige but it…