Culture

You Go Down There, You Don’t Have Feet

Jeremy Paillotin is a concept artist from France who’s part ofthe Sense Collective You can see more of Jeremy’s art at his ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine…

5000 Men Dressed Up, Recreated The Battle Of Waterloo

On June 18, 1815, one of the most important battles of the modern era took place outside the sleepy Belgian village of Waterloo. Over the weekend, for the battle’s 200th anniversary, 5000 members of various military reenactment groups from all over the world converged on the original battlefield to pay tribute. Belgian photojournalist Olivier Papegnies…

Track: Here | Artist: Alessia Cara | Album: Here Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

How Counter-Strike‘s Most Popular Map Has Changed Over 14 Years

Counter-Strike’s most popular map, Dust2, has been around since 2001, making it more than a decade old. This video from ESCalation chronicles Dust2’s evolution throughout Counter-Strike’s many iterations. While the layout and general theme of the map might seem similar throughout, the architectural style, graphical fidelity, and readability of each area has changed markedly. It’s…

Guy Beats Super Mario World In 23 Minutes…While Blindfolded

Fun fact: you don’t actually need to see Mario levels in order to beat them. Marvel as speedrunner PangaeaPanga clears Super Mario World without actually looking at the game using a combination of good timing, and precise jumps. The entire thing takes a whopping 23:14, which is impressive considering the circumstances at play here: Kind…

Artist: High on Fire | Track: Slave the Hive | Album: Luminiferous Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

South Ataria, Earth, 1999

Emmanuel Shiu is an artist who has worked for companies like Lucasarts, Warner Bros. and Lucasfilm, and on projects like Game of Thrones, Jupiter Ascending and Star City. Which is all well and good, but it’s the Macross fan art here that’s really got my attention today. Robotech movie people, this is good inspiration. You…

TIL What A ‘Conganado’ Is

This. This is what a ‘conganado’ is. Unhinged Gamer posted a video of Team Fortress 2 in which this… thing was born. Here’s the video: And here’s how it works: “By forming a circle of alternating team members, and connecting them with the grappling hook, it’s possible to make a thrill ride out of thin…

How Valve Could Solve The Steam Backlog Problem

As part of this whole running-a-site-dedicated-to-Steam gig, I check for new releases every day. Last week, a peculiar thing happened: there were hardly any. At all. I kinda wish it would happen more often. Giving games a chance to breathe—what a novel idea. I think Valve could stand to turn that into a Proper Thing,…

Rust Randomizes Penis Length, Players Compare Sizes

Faces and skin tones? Just the beginning. Now we’re getting to the real meat of the conversation. Beware: NSFW. Multiplayer survival game Rust (you know, the one from the dude who created Garry’s Mod; I think his name is Jeff or something) randomly generates players’ physical characteristics for them, imitating the screaming chaos of biology…

Halo’s Fighter, Looking Pretty At Dawn

Togrul Alekperov is a 3D environment artist who has worked on projects like Halo: The Master Chief Collection. He’s also helping out on Halo Humanity, an ambitious fan film set in the sci-fi universe. You can see more of Togrul’s work at his personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or,…

Aussie cosplayer Eve Beauregard wonders what it’d be like if Scooby Doo’s Daphne was actually one of the killers…(photo by What A Big Camera)

Batman Cosplay Is Out Of Control

Julian Checkley is one of the best Star Wars cosplayers on the planet. He is also, as luck would have it, one of the best Batman cosplayers on the planet as well. We’ve seen him do an amazing Bane (WARNING: link promotes my cosplay book), but in honour of the Batman video games he decided…

The Week In Games: Batman.

Batman. Batman Batman Batman. Batman Batman? Batman. Batman Final Fantasy XIV Batman, Batman Tales From The Borderlands, Batman Batman. Suikoden 3? Batman? Batman. Batman, June 23 Batman: Arkham Knight — Xbox One, PS4, PC Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward — PC, PS3, PS4 Ride — PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Tales From The Borderlands Episode…

Sunday Comics: Basically Furiosa

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 June 20. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published June 15. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: The Metroid Atrocity

QUOTE | “Help us stop this atrocity of a game from bearing the beloved Metroid franchise name and make Nintendo halt production on it.” – Quote from a fan petition with 12,000 signatures so far, regarding Nintendo’s upcoming Metroid Prime: Federation Force game for the 3DS Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE…

How Players Gamed The Steam Summer Sale

It is possible to “beat” the Steam summer sale Monster Game. You’ve just got to be willing to bend the rules. 100,000,000. That’s the level you’re going for in the seemingly endless clicking game. As players discovered when they reached it, that’s the end of the line. At that point, the game goes nuts, and…

Concept Art From Some Of E3’s Biggest Games

The reveal of big games is sometimes accompanied by the release of some of their concept art, and this E3 has proven to be no different. Inside you’ll find concept and promotional images for games like Horizon: Zero Dawn, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2 and Fallout 4 To see the larger pics in all…

How Cosplay Helped Save A Man’s Life

In 2011, just a week before Christmas, Jason Isenberg was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He was 31 at the time. Staring down years of illness, treatment, stress and medical bills, Jason and his wife Cheryl needed a release. They found it in cosplay. Just two months earlier, the couple had attended their first Dragon Con,…

Track: Halftime | Artist: Nas | Album: Illmatic Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.