Culture

Watch The Final Day Of The Summer Games Done Quick Speedrun Marathon

The seven-day Summer Games Done Quick charity speedrun marathon comes to a close today, but not before runs of Diablo II, Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid and Super Mario RPG are finished. Several great games remain to be run in Summer Games Done Quick, which has so far raised nearly $800,000 forDoctors Without Borders. Can…

This Week In The Business: The Perfect Shitstorm

QUOTE | “The DLC shitstorm hit full force and washed away people’s enthusiasm, dragging us further and further from that first magical pick-up-and-play experience.” – Turtle Rock’s Chris Ashton and Phil Robb explaining to its community why the studio is now taking Evolve to a free-to-play model with a beta starting this week. Elsewhere in…

Evolve Cracks Steam’s Top 20 After Going Free To Play

It’s the year 2016, and people are actually playing Evolve. What a world. Yesterday, Turtle Rock released Evolve Stage 2, a free-to-play, you know, evolution of the 4v1 multiplayer monster mash. Stage 2 also refreshes the game with a new progression system and mechanics. For now, it’s only on PC. This has resulted in an…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

Weekend! Get your weekend here! Fresh from the oven, only a dollar! Hey, it’s Friday. Tomorrow’s Saturday, and after that comes Sunday. What a wonderful time to play some games! I’ll level with you: I’m going to be traveling this weekend so my gaming time is pretty limited. Before I go, I’ll probably play some…

The Counter-Strike Gambling Scandal, Explained

The past week has seen the world of online games rocked by a major gambling scandal. Two YouTubers with millions of subscribers, Trevor ‘TmarTn’ Martin and Tom ‘ProSyndicate’ Cassell, were revealed to be owners of a site they repeatedly promoted sans overt disclosure. The potential ramifications are not pretty. Roll the bones This is not…

The Plan One Guy Used To Get The World’s Highest Steam Level Overnight

The PalmDesert dynasty is, at least for now, over. As of today, a new guy has the world’s highest Steam level, and he managed it almost over night. His handle? St4ck. As for how he did it, well, it’s quite a story. St4ck’s current Steam level is 1,113, making it officially the highest in the…

Why, It’s Concept Art, My Dear Watson

Evgeniy Musienko, Andrey Roscha and Anna Bulavina are the three artists who worked on The Devil’s Daughter, the latest game in Frogware’s Sherlock Holmes series. Below you’ll see some examples of work from the game. It’s like Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, only with less murders. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if…

Today Is Terrible, So Let’s Distract Ourselves By Watching People Play Video Games Really Fast

If you’re feeling miserable after a week full of horrifying news, you’re not alone. Why not distract yourself a little by watching people play video games? The Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon has been going on since Sunday, and it’s been a lot of fun to watch. The quality of both play and commentary…

A Future Game About Cats

It’s a sci-fi adventure game about a cat. And you are the cat.

Kamen Rider Rides Again

Ah, always nice to be able to share some Kamen Rider Cosplay. This is from Kamen Rider Decade, and the cosplay is by SidneyKun and Aniki Cosplay. Photos by The Will Box

YouTubers Behind Counter-Strike Gambling Scandal Get Sued

In the wake of a scandal where it came to light that two prominent YouTubers, Trevor ‘TmarTn’ Martin and Tom ‘ProSyndicate’ Cassell, promoted a Counter-Strike gambling site they founded and owned sans overt disclosure, the two have been sued. Polygon reports that Martin and Cassell, as well as CSGO Lotto and its business partners, have…

Deadpool And X-Men Disney Infinity Figures Are The Stuff Of Broken Dreams

Disney Infinity’s demise didn’t just kill actual, planned projects, it also killed the dreams of millions. One of those affected is artist (and fan) Hector Moran, who came up with these awesome Deadpool and X-Men ideas for the game. They’d never have been made in a million years by Disney, but then I guess was…

Witness A Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Speedrunner Beat The Game Blindfolded

Using mist to leap off an enemy and reach a higher ledge would be tough enough on its own in Symphony of the Night, but doing so blindfolded? Let’s leave that to the experts, like amazing Castlevania speedrunner romscout. romscout used a combination of brute memorization, mental intuition, and audio cues to demonstrate how it’s…

Podcast: Building A PC Ain’t That Hard

Just how much of a pain is it to build your own PC? Is it worth the savings? And do you really need to use thermal paste? Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, Kirk walks us through the process of ordering parts and building a gaming computer from scratch. He says it’s actually not so bad, despite…

Why Speedrunners Use Glitches

Any time Kotaku writes about speedruns, we find that a good chunk of the community can’t understand why someone would willingly use glitches and cheats to play through a game. Doesn’t that make the playthrough less valid? Isn’t abusing glitches, you know, wrong? This piece originally ran 5/28/14. Let’s forget for a second that there…

Track: Next Year | Artist: Foot Fighters | Album: There Is Nothing Left to Lose Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Hey, It’s Spiral Cats!

We’ve posted plenty of pics from Korean cosplay supersquad Spiral Cats, but they’ve usually been studio photos shot locally. This year, at Anime Expo 2016 in LA, they were there in person. Photographer Mineralbluhad the chance to do a shoot with Spiral Cats’ Tashaand Doremi, and these are some of the pics he took. More…

XCOM 2‘s Last DLC Is Also Its Best

XCOM 2 is a phenomenal strategy game. The DLC Firaxis has released in its wake, on the other hand, has mostly been middling. Thankfully, Shen’s Last Gift is straight-up good. It lets you improve the shit out of your squad. With mechs. Like Alien Hunters before it, Shen’s Last Gift is comprised of two portions.…

Mass Effect Cosplay Is Almost Perfect

Blackwater Cosplay and photographer Paul Hillier have teamed up to basically bring Mass Effect’s EDI to life. The photos, shot in a studio, are incredible. As is the outfit itself, a collaboration between Blackwater and Kink Engineering (who have worked on Hollywood movies), which involved many layers of latex glued and layered atop one another…

YouTuber Trevor ‘TmarTn’ Martin has issued an “apology” over the CSGO Lotto scandal. In it, he claims his connection to the site was always a matter of public record and says he’s sorry that some people “felt like that was not made clear enough.” Check out my now updated story on the scandal for more…