Culture

Podcast: Super Mario Run Is Pretty Damn Great

Super Mario Run is surprisingly challenging, which is one of the reasons I like it more than I thought I would. Let’s discuss—on today’s Kotaku Splitscreen On today’s show we talk about Mario’s first foray into mobile gaming and fantasize a bit about what Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem iOS games might look like. We…

A Close Look At A Prototype Nintendo DS

You may not know Evan Amos by name, but you’ve certainly seen his work: he’s responsible for many of the clean product shots of video game consoles that you see on Wikipedia (and by extension everywhere else). Today, he’s shared something very cool for fans of old Nintendo hardware These are nice, clear shots of…

Track: Itsuka no Merry Christmas | Artist: B’z (cover by Z:RO PV) | Album: Friends (original version) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Darth Vader vs Aliens

Guillem H. Pongiluppi is a Spanish artist who has worked on stuff like the Warcraft movie. What we’re looking at today though is his series of images depicting Vader and some Stormtroopers meeting, shooting and being eaten by Aliens. Which look like the covers to comic books I would have held very dear in 1994.…

Tracer’s Kiss, Now In Cosplay Form

Give Overwatch fans what they want and they will repay the internet in kind. OK, so it’s not the most complex Overwatch cosplay, hence the speed at which it could be put together, but still, cute gag. Tracer is ReaganKathryn, Emily is Ashlynne Dae. Photo by thedogeman

Track: Desperada | Artist: Megosh | Album: Apostasy Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Art Of Mafia III

For all its other problems, Mafia III was a very good-looking video game, so it’s a treat today to get to check out some of the art that went into its creation. The first pieces below are by artists Pavel Beskyd, Anthony Ermio, Jonathan Guzi and Carlos Sanchez. For anyone wanting to get more physical…

1992 Miyamoto Interview About Zelda Is Great

In 1992, Shigeru Miyamoto sat down for an interview with Famicom Tsuushin magazine, mostly to talk about Zelda, but also to shed some light on what it was like working at Nintendo at the time. It’s a very good read. We’ve actually written about this interview previously, though that was apparently an incomplete translation; this…

Please Help Me Assemble This Star Wars: Rogue One Model Kit

Inspired by the space battles of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, I’ve decided to take a stab at model building. And though Bandai Hobby’s Red Squadron X-Wing Starfighter set is a simple snap and sticker affair, I’m really worried about screwing it up. Got any pointers? The folks at Bluefin started bringing over Bandai…

What We Didn’t Like–And Really Didn’t Like–About The Assassin’s Creed Movie

Two of us saw Ubisoft’s attempt at transmedia franchising, and we did not care for it. Not one bit. Gita Jackson: Here’s a good place to start, I think: was there anything you liked about this movie? Mike Fahey: I’d heard you were a tough interviewer, but I didn’t think you’d hit me with such…

The Art Of Weta Workshop: Mad Max, The Hobbit & More

New Zealand’s Weta Workshop is probably most famous for their work on the Lord of the Rings series, but in the years since they’ve also been involved on stuff like Mad Max, District 9 and the upcoming Ghost in the Shell Weta’s design studio is the starting point for much of the company’s work, where…

Track: RAT | Artist: Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs | Album: ゼロコンマ、色とりどりの世界 歌詞 Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Sorry, Steam Award Nominations Don’t Involve Half-Life 3

Last month, Valve revealed its first-ever Steam Awards. They came with a twist: a final category to be plucked from user submissions, many of which ended up being tongue-in-cheek. Now Valve’s revealed their selections, and sorry, but no: none of them acknowledge fans’ many write-ins of “the game most in need of a sequel.” Despite…

Our Thoughts On Overwatch‘s Tracer Being Gay

With the release of Overwatch’s holiday comic, gamers saw the game’s first openly gay character: Tracer. Many of us here at Kotaku, an Overwatch fansite, took time to sit down and reflect on how Blizzard has treated the topic of diversity in our favorite team based shooter. Update—5:40 p.m.: Shortly after publication, Blizzard sent Kotaku…

Cards Against Humanity’s Never-Ending Fight Against Copycats

There’s a reason why Crabs Adjust Humidity, Humanity Hates Trump and Cards & Punishment might sound familiar. Their cards might look familiar, too—so familiar that the popular card game Cards Against Humanity has been forced to buckle down on those and several other lookalikes. Cards Against Humanity doesn’t own the rights to black and white…

What We Liked And Didn’t Like About Watch Dogs 2

Three of us on staff have been playing Watch Dogs 2. Two of us have finished it. We figured it was a good time to chat about the good and bad of the game. There was a lot to consider! Bonus: We may accidentally wandered into a discussion about why one of us is very,…

Track: 2015 | Artist: Weekend Nachos| Album: Apology Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Best Cosplay Of 2016

There’s been a lot of incredible cosplay over on our dedicated cosplay site throughout 2016, but this is the time of year when we sit down and work out which of it was the best Considering there’s a new post there almost every day, that was a lot of cosplay to go through, but we’re…

Merry Christmas, Overwatch Cosplay

As The Year Of Overwatch Cosplay winds down, it’s only fitting that Sombra and Tracer round things out with some festive cheer.

Plush Pokémon Should Not Be $80 And Make Me Cry

I offer a picture of me during happier times, before my new best friend Popplio and I took a trip to the Toys’R’Us price scanner. We first met at the toy store on Saturday evening, as I was hunting for Christmas gifts that could survive more than an hour of play with two five-year-olds without…