Culture

A Wretched Hive

Noe Leyva is an artist who has worked on games like There Came An Echo You can see more of Noe’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,…

RPG Limit Break, a speedrunning event to benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness, started today It runs until May 19th, and the schedule has some excellent games like Final Fantasy VIII and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch on it.

‘Shop Contest: Put It On The Switch

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze made the jump from WiiU to Switch this week, and it’s got me thinking about games that should be on that portable console that everyone seems to love. So let’s get those games on there. The port is always a complicated topic. Why do certain games make it from console to…

Some Reasons Why The Games Industry Is So Secretive (And Why Maybe It Shouldn’t Be)

What’re the pros and cons behind the video game industry’s obsession with secrecy and surprises? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, let’s discuss. First, the Splitscreen Gang talks about Westworld, escape rooms, and news on Nintendo, Rage 2, and Trump’s connections to Everquest (14:16). Then Polygon executive editor Chris Plante comes on to talk about video game…

Sunday Comics: Bad Trade

Hello! It’s time for Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 7. Read more of Awkward Zombie Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published May 10. Read more of Corpse Run Double XP by…

Mario Odyssey‘s Meat Skip Is A Tale Of Failing To Fool A Ruthless Game

A skip that could save up to twenty minutes in the Super Mario Odyssey speedrun has finally been proven to exist. It requires switching into two-player mode, using a Goomba stack to climb up a sheer cliff, and clipping through a pot. The problem is that it doesn’t really work. Glitch hunters and speedrunners have…

World Record Celeste Speedrun Is Beautifully Executed

Celeste seems almost built for speedrunners. With its tight controls and constant dashing, it demands that you play it as quickly as possible. Speedrunner TGH has played it so fast that he’s broken the world record at 31:25 for an Any% run As I’ve written before, what I find so astounding about speedruns is how…

‘Shop Contest: Headed West, Winners!

In the spirit of something red and redemptive, all of our favorite characters went West in last week’s ‘Shop Contest. They rustled and wrangled their way into the frontier spirit, and some amazing ‘shops came out of their struggles to homestead their way into their new lives. I asked our intrepid ‘shop experts to send…

This Week In The Business: Rolling The Dice On Loot Box Legality

QUOTE | “We’re working with all the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories, [and] have established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling.” – On Tuesday, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said regulators agreed with EA’s position that loot boxes aren’t gambling QUOTE | “We are going to take…

What Are You Playing This Weekend? 

The weekend is for finally cleaning your room because you’re pretty sure that luggage from your February trip back to New England doesn’t need to be there anymore. Also, video games. I’ve powered my way through Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and God Of War over the last few weeks and learned a lot…

UFC Champ Crushed By PUBG‘s Circle, Somehow Wins Anyway

This afternoon’s entertainment is brought to you by UFC champion (who somehow finds time to have an entire professional video game streaming career on the side) Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Prepare to witness a full spectrum of emotions in a mere 30 seconds. Usually, when the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds circle closes, it heralds either a tense…

Track: Sparkle (Live) | Artist: Radwimps | Album: Your Name (OST) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Splatoon, The Most Fashionable Game Of All

Leland Goodman is an artist at Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Avatar’s intro), but she also has a very special side-project: a fashion zine based on Splatoon You can see some images from that book, along with some of her other work, below. And you can see more of Leland’s stuff at her personal site To see the…

Valve Is Paying Hackers To Discover Security Flaws In Steam

Even Steam, the biggest PC gaming platform in the world, isn’t immune to hacks and other issues that have in previous years rendered private information woefully public. That’s where Valve’s new bug bounty program comes in. Bug bounty programs are common among major tech companies like Microsoft and Facebook. They task so-called “white hat” hackers—aka…

Turns Out We Have Thoughts On Brooklyn Nine-Nine Getting Canceled

Today, Fox announced that Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s fifth season will also be its last. As it turns out, many of us Kotaku and Compete watch the show, and we have some thoughts. Here’s a lightly edited transcript of how we reacted in our work Slack channel when the news dropped. Also, we found out which of…

VR Is A Real Trip

Today on Highlight Reel we have trippy VR, good audio cues, Thanos moments, 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 up on all…

Get ‘Em, Zangief

Antonio De Luca is a freelance concept artist and illustrator from Italy. You can see more of Antonio’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…

Tomb Raider Cosplay Strives For Accuracy

Loads of people faithfully cosplay as the new Lara Croft because she is a strong character with an outfit that is relatively easy to replicate. When it comes to the original Lara, beebinchknows how to do likewise in the most PS1-authentic way possible. You can see more of beebinch’s cosplay at her Instagram page, like…

Soon, You’ll Be Able To Play Steam Games On Your Phone

Ever wanted to play a game from your Steam library, but also felt like, if you got out of bed, you’d have to face a spiteful, uncaring world? Soon, Steam will have a solution to that: free apps that let you stream Steam games (and movies) to your phone. The Steam Link app, coming out…

Track: Barbarians| Artist: Armand Hammer | Album: Rome Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.