Culture

Cosplayer Stars In A Honda Commercial

While these may not have been the kind of massive, expensive car ads that get on national/international TV (this is just for Northern California), it’s still interesting seeing such a big company test the waters in appealing directly to the “cosplayer looking for new, compact Japanese car” market. And before you say “she’s an actor”,…

The Week in Games: Don’t Bring A Sword To A Gunfight

There’s a bunny head, swords, guns, and a lot of ducking. Furi is all about one-on-one dueling, and with bright colors everywhere. “It’s not trying to be realistic in its style or animations,” says its website. “It’s fast-paced and requires a lot of timing, reflex, and judgment.” Awesome. Several re-releases are out this week, including…

Sunday Comics: Back to Hyrule

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Reminder that we’re still looking for suggestions for a new comic to add to the weekly roundup. We’ll be checking the comments section for your recommendations, and we only ask that you…

Meet The Fastest Gamers Alive

Some people play video games to relax or have fun. Others try to go as fast as humanly possible, spending hours and hours finding tricks and battling against the clock of their favorite games. Originally posted 9/24/15. Brought back in time for Summer Games Done Quick 2016, the week-long charity speedrunning marathon running from July…

This Week In The Business: Sounds About Right

QUOTE | “We’ve all gone online and had our asses kicked by obnoxious 12 year olds.” – EA chief competition officer Peter Moore talking about wanting to “make stars out of players” but that proper matchmaking is paramount. Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “[Xbox Scorpio and PS Neo are] an…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s July, a great time for fireworks, cowboys and Canadian power-pop supergroups. It’s also a long weekend, which means it’s a great time to play some games. I’ll do my games first: I’m kinda bummed out by The Division expansion, so I probably won’t play much more of that. I’ll almost certainly play more Overwatch,…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: My Crush Keeps Betraying My Christian Values

Hello, you love swamis of the Internet. Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the dating advice column that’s powered by Protoculture. This week, we’ll be talking about some of the more unusual questions that can crop up in your dating life. What do you do when you’ve fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have fallen…

Don’t Invade Russia, Boba Fett

Giorgio Baroni is an Italian artist who has worked in video games and tabletop/card games. You can see more of Baroni’s work at his personal site and 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…

Track: Hundred Mile High City | Artist: Ocean Colour Scene | Album: Marchin’ Already Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

This Omega Yato sword from Fire Emblem is terrific. Look at the finish on it!

Overwatch Cosplay Rains From Above

This is Kiilys Cosplay as Overwatch’s Pharah. I just…don’t know where to begin. It’s incredible just to look at, and that’s before you see the wings move As you can here in the video, these aren’t just moving on a string or something (she doesn’t move her hands as they retract), they’re proper motorised wings.…

Scorn is an open-ended horror adventure set in a world made of flesh and bone. Cords of ropy muscle wrap around cold steel machinery while meat towers glisten in the distance. Even guns are made of guts and gristle. It is all so compellingly strange. H.R. Giger would be proud. Scorn will be out on…

One Guy’s Steam Level Just Broke 1,000

Last time we checked in on renowned Steam demigod PalmDesert, he’d just pushed his Steam level to 600. At the time, he had the highest Steam level in the world. He still does, only now it’s broken 1,000. PalmDesert is a 35 year-old man living in Japan. He owns a whopping 5,029 games, a significant…

How Game Of Thrones’ Battle Of The Bastards Was Made

Because giants aren’t real and hurting actual horses is bad, the production team behind Game of Thrones had some challenges to overcome when drawing up and filming the show’s epic Battle of the Bastards. SPOILERS AHEAD Their solution, as you’ll see in the video below, was to let Australian VFX studio Ilourafake it by blending…

Stop It, Overwatch Cosplay

The more people get into Overwatch, the more Overwatch cosplay we see. The more we see, the better it gets. And few have been better than this Genji getup. It’s by Just Cosplay & Props, who says it’s his first cosplayer ever. Which…good God, man. The lights, the armour, the sword, it’s all perfect. Photos…

Track: This Must Be The Place | Artist: Miles Fisher | Album: Miles Fisher EP Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Orion vs Activision Steam removal saga continues. Trek Industries’ David Prassel says that Activision contacted him with evidence that certain in-game assets were directly ripped from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. The artist responsible has apparently been fired. Check the update to my original story for more.

The Steam Mobile App Is Finally On Windows Phones

Increasingly, the Steam mobile app is vital if you want to make optimal use of Steam’s features. Using the Steam marketplace to buy and sell items is a horrible chore without it, among other things. And yet, for years it’s been restricted to iOS and Android. Thankfully, Valve’s finally changed that. There’s now an official…

Original Xbox Controller Prototypes Look Like Dreamcast Tears

Seamus Blackley, one of the key people involved in the creation of the original Xbox, has shared some concept images for Microsoft’s debut control pad, which date all the way back in November 1999 (the Xbox wouldn’t launch until 2001). Obviously the final design looked remarkably different; the “Duke” controller (below, left) was a massive,…

Snacktaku Eats Burger King’s Mac N’ Cheetos

Last week Burger King announced it would be subjecting innocent Americans to deep-fried, Cheetos-crusted macaroni and cheese sticks. Snacktaku is pleased to report that Mac N’ Cheetos taste much better than they look. Before we begin I must apologize for the quality of the video atop this post. While keeping the windows rolled up and…