Culture

​What’s Your Favorite Loot System?

Thanks to its notoriously treasure-filled tunnels, Destiny has sparked a new discussion around an important and often overlooked part of video games: loot. Let’s not allow a popular shooter’s moment in the spotlight pervert our sense of history, however. What video game, in your view, has the best loot? I’ll get us started with a…

Destiny’s Hardest Boss, Killed In Under 20 Seconds

Sure, you can glitch Atheon off the cliff by yourself with a few grenades, but apparently even that isn’t as fast as four players wailing on him with exotic rocket launchers. Also, clips from World of Warcraft, Alien: Isolation, Halo 2 and more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in…

I Sure Hope There Aren’t Any Giant Floating Robots Around…

Col Price has been working in the video game business for almost 20 years now, and in that time has worked on series like Wipeout, Battlefield, Motorstorm and Driveclub. You can see more of Col’s work at his websiteand blog To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so…

A Time When Fanboys Were Innocent, And Sega Was King

Before there were YouTube channels about kids who were Sega fans, and a generation of people who equated being “fans” with being loud, angry and combative, there was a humbler, more private form of fanboy expression: home video. If you were with us last year, you might remember Tyler, who throughout the 90s had the…

Track: CVS Bangers Vol. 3 | Artist: DJ Hennessy Youngman CVS Bangers is an ongoing mixtape made explicitly for shopping at a CVS at night, curated by Art Thoughtz star Hennessy Youngman. For more context about CVS Bangers, go here Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to…

​Ask Dr. Nerdlove: Will I Always Be An Overweight Virgin?

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that knows how to fix things when your love-life gets the Blue Screen of Death. This week, we handle a question a lot of people have: how can a fat dude find love? Does a man have to be an Adonis before women…

What’s The Coolest Thing You’ve Seen In A Game Lately?

Highlight Reel is Kotaku‘s new feature that rounds up the best moments in gaming. Stunts, glitches, killsprees, speedruns — if it’s something impressive that happened in a game, we want to show it off! Check out some of our episodes so far right here, and send in your own clips to [email protected]! You can watch…

In The Future, Human Eyeballs Are Endangered

John Mueller is a veteran video game artist who has been working in the business for around 20 years now, with companies like Epic and id. He’s most recently taking a swing at Kickstarter with his own project, BEDLAM, which we featured recently You can see more of John’s art at his personal site

The Art Of Building Real Video Game Weapons

Cosplay isn’t just about wearing costumes. A lot of the time stuff like weapons and armour is required, and it’s times like that you need to call a guy like Bill Doran. Bill – a cosplayer himself – works under the name Punished Props, and makes a living (yes, this is his job) building and…

The Secret Behind Dodging Destiny’s Goblins: Sitting

Goblins getting you down? Tired of dying over and over again? Just sit down and take a load off! Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below.…

Track: Bride of Crankenstein | Artist: The Melvins | Album: Hold It In Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Yes, I Would Pay More For Instant Shipping

Simon Fetscher is a freelance artist based in Sweden who works in both video games and film. You can see more of Simon’s work at his personal site 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…

Black McDonalds Burger: The Snacktaku Review

I was in Japan last week. So you bet your ass I was going to track down and eat a black hamburger The “Ikasumi” (イカスミバーガー), a Halloween-themed burger, is a limited-run menu item currently being served at McDonalds in Japan. Like Burger King’s similar offering, it looks disgusting. But it’s actually one of the best…

Cosplayer’s Day Jobs vs Cosplayer’s Fancy Outfits

Seeing as you only ever see them in pictures on the internet, in costume, it’s easy to forget that cosplayers aren’t always cosplaying. They’re grown human beings, and grown human beings have jobs. That’s not the news here. Deep down, you knew that. What’s cool about this Buzzfeed gallery (taken at the New York Comic…

Track: Tuesday | Artist: iLoveMakonnen, Drake | Album: Single Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Track: Sabbath Hex | Artist: Orange Goblin | Album: Back From The Abyss Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Art Of Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation is a pretty great game, but aside from the whole terror thing, one of the best things about it is the attention to detail and adherence to the original film’s aesthetic. You can thank Creative Assembly’s art team for that, as they got access to much of the 1979 movie’s creative documents and…

Avengers Wedding Proposal Gets Black Widow, Hawkeye Together

Just in case fanfic writers needed any more inspiration to shack this pair up, at this year’s Dragon Con two Avengers cosplayers, Mike and Tracy, got engaged as Hawkeye and Black Widow respectively. As you can see in the gallery, what starts out as a regular cosplay photoshoot gets real when Hawkeye drops to one…

How To Kill 35 Orcs With A Single Shot In Shadow Of Mordor

It’s time for another Highlight Reel, and today we’re showing off a beautiful triple kill with a Sparrow in Destiny, some very confusing glitches from Assassin’s Creed, a game-saving shot across the court in NBA 2k15, and more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure…

Who Do You Most Regret Killing In A Video Game?

We’ve killed a lot of things in a lot of video games over the years. But not all video game deaths were created equally. Some make us feel like powerhouses, while others fill us with shame. What’s the one act of virtual killing you wish you could take back, and why? I started thinking about…