Culture

Build-A-Bear Does The Best Sonic The Hedgehog It Can

Designing a licensed stuffed animal is tough enough when you don’t have to worry about it being stuffed and sealed by retail employees. While he’s a little frumpy, Build-A-Bear’s Sonic the Hedgehog is filled with love, so he gets a pass. Available now as part of a limited online bundle (via Polygon) but racing to…

Podcast: Final Fantasy Never Left

Lots of people are saying Final Fantasy is back. Those people should go play Final Fantasy XIV. Still, FFXV is pretty good, and we’re talking about it on today’s Kotaku Splitscreen On today’s show, we dig deep into the adventures of Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, and Richard. We talk about what we like about Final Fantasy…

Track: The Mountain Will Fall | Artist: DJ Shadow | Album: The Mountain Will Fall  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

LoL Cosplay As Radiant As The Dawn

Well. This is impressive. This is Aoime as Leona (the Radiant Dawn) from League of Legends. It took her over a year to put this together, but its detail and heft looks 100% worth the trouble, especially when you see (below) how she had to move the thing around.

PC Company Accused Of Stealing Cosplay Image For Ad

On the left, a photo of cosplayer Lindze A’la Mode. On the right, an advertisement for PC and hardware company MSI. Aside from the crime that it’s a terrible photoshop job, MSI is being taken to court in Georgia because the cosplayer and photographer involved in the original shot say it was made (and used…

Well Played, Witcher 3 Cosplay

Just when you thought Witcher 3 cosplay couldn’t get any better, along comes a recreation of some of the game’s best fan art, Ástor Alexander’s noir take on Geralt and friends The photos were taken by Milligan. Toph is Ciri, Iris is Yennefer, Anna is Triss and Andrew as Geralt.

Track: Youth of America | Artist: The Melvins | Album: Electroretard Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Run!

Col Price is an artist from the UK who has worked on series like Wipeout

Counter-Strike Adds Buyable Glove Skins

Gun skins, knife skins, and sprays not enough for you? Wait, really? Well OK then, Counter-Strike’s got you (and your hands) covered. As part of the latest big Counter-Strike update, Valve added a Glove Case, with 24 cosmetic glove skins as special items. They look pretty snazzy, ranging from dirt bike couture to “I saw…

Track: Get Up Lucy | Artist: Thee Michelle Gun Elephant | Album: Chicken Zombies Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

No Man’s Sky Update Is Bringing Thousands Of Curious Players Back

Before the big “Foundation” update that surprise-launched this weekend, No Man’s Sky wasn’t in a great place. On Steam, the game’s concurrent player count hovered mostly between 200 and 500. It wasn’t even within spitting distance of Steam’s top 100 most-played games. What a difference a solid update (after months of silence, which drummed up…

Changing Weather Puts New Spin On Classic Counter-Strike Maps 

Counter-Strike’s best maps are finely tuned staging grounds for battles of tactics, will, and hair-trigger reflexes. A slight change can have a tremendous impact on how they play. Even something as seemingly insignificant as the weather, as this mod demonstrates. Lewis Palfrey and Luke Millanta’s Changing Weather Collection (via Eurogamer) adds a slew of weather…

What Did Black Friday Make You Buy? 2016 Edition

Once again I managed to make it through Black Friday sales without buying more than one new television set, a lovely 43-inch 4K for $199 that fits perfectly on the console side of my desk. How’d the rest of you fare? This year I ventured out on Black Friday, by which I mean Thursday while…

I SAID NO HAM, THANK YOU

Hazem Ameenis a concept artist and illustrator based in Dubai. You can see more of Hazem’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: Alone Together | Artist: Chet Baker & Bill Evans | Albums: Alone Together Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Track: Indian Summer | Artist: Jai Wolf | Album: Kindred Spirits Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Week In Games: Get Ready To Bro

Time to hit the open road with ya’boys, fight some monsters, cry some tears, and maybe in the process find out a little something more about what makes the world tick. Final Fantasy XV is finally here. Can you believe it? More than two decades and over fifteen games later Square Enix is ready to…

What Is It With Overwatch Cosplay And Butts?

Tracer’s derrière has a lot to answer for. Anyway, this is a very good piece of Reaper cosplay, featuring his Wight skin. Also, shout out to the D.Va on the left here who, instead of just buying the same printed bodysuit every other D.Va cosplayer does, got hold of a much much fancier, more expensive…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Final Postcard 

Final Fantasy XV is nearly here, so it’s time to start imaging all the places the boys might go. Noctis and the crew no doubt have time to do a little sight seeing in-between all the bad dialogue and loot farming, so where would you like to see them end up on their quest to…

Sunday Comics: No Man’s Update

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published November 26. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published November 21. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…