Culture

Due to some personal obligations, we’re just doing one episode of Highlight Reel this week. Sorry for the delay everyone, it should go up some time tomorrow. Watch the most recent episodes here. As always, you can submit your amazing or funny clips if you have them [email protected].

How Star Wars: Battlefront’s Beautiful Levels Were Made

Andrew Hamilton was Lead Environment Artist on DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront. So if you’ve ever paused during the game just to admire how utterly gorgeous the vegetation and dirt is, he’s one of the main people to thank for it. I wrote about the game’s use of “photogrammetry” earlier this year if you need a…

Track: Waiting | Artist: The Rentals | Album: Return of the Rentals Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

It’s Crazy How Much Work Goes Into A Quality Cosplay Photo

Instead of just posting some images of Rainer—one of the best Final Fantasy cosplayers we’ve ever seen—dressed as FFXIII’s Lightning, let’s instead take a look behind the scenes at just how much fire, lighting, rain and smoke can go into a quality cosplay shoot. It’s courtesy of Mezame, a photographer from Singapore who went all…

Iron Man Cosplay Is Ready To Fly

Iron Man cosplay? Nothing new. Iron Man cosplay that has thruster jets which look like they fire? Very neat Wayne Berendhuysen from EHV Props is the creator of this Mark 39 variant of Tony Stark’s suit, which uses gas particles and 10-watt floodlight LEDs to simulate the effect of thrusters coming out of his hands…

Track: California | Artist: Dj Shadow | Album: The Mountain Will Fall Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

A lot of websites and galleries would have you think that it’s only young women who are cosplaying. Men vs Cosplay 2017 is a 365-page calendar that would like to remind you that is very much not the case.

Witcher 3 Cosplay Gets The Whole Gang Back Together

Yeah, we’ve featured some damn fine Witcher 3 cosplay here over the last year, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this effort to get Geralt’s whole crew together in one shot. This shoot from the recent Denver Comic Con (where they won best in show!) pretty much nails it. Cosplayer credits: Geralt, Yen, Trissand…

Podcast: Overwatch Is Crazy Fun

As you probably already know, Overwatch is an excellent game—unless you play Torbjorn. Fuck Torbjorn. Originally published 6/23/16 Today on Kotaku Splitscreen, join me and Kirk to talk about the merits of Overwatch and how Mei is awful but Widowmaker owns. We’ve also got an E3 postmortem, some hands-on Zelda impressions, thoughts on Hitman and…

The Week In Games: A Real Time Dilemma

I’ve got to figure out a way to play LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and Zero Time Dilemma all at once without betraying my other duties. Unless they vote ally, in which case I betray them for the extra points. This is so hard. Thankfully we’ve got the Fourth…

Sunday Comics: A Castle Made Of Hands

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Last week marked the final update for Action Trip, a comic we’ve featured here since well before I started curating the weekly post. No comic could ever truly replace it, but if…

What Would Get You Excited About A New Sonic The Hedgehog Game? 

There’s a brand-new Sonic the Hedgehog game coming in 2017, with a reveal planned at a special event in San Diego next month. What could Sega show on July 22 that would get you excited about Sonic’s next outing? I’m not here to bash the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The past two and a half…

The Shadow Link Collection Takes The Legend Of Zelda To A Dark Place

Spencer’s and Nintendo have teamed up to plunge The Legend of Zelda series into darkness. The first official Shadow Link action figure leads an army of red and black merchandise to the mall retailer’s shelves next month, with a brief stop-off at the increasingly crowded Toy Time desk. Originally published 6/23/2016 I found it hard…

This Week In The Business: Kids And Their Cash

QUOTE | “It’s six figures of big money showered upon teenage boys, what can possibly go wrong?” – Peter Moore, head of EA’s competitive gaming division, discussing the publisher’s approach to EA Sports, which includes helping pro players properly handle their winnings Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “We have put…

Counter-Strike Player Sues Valve Over ‘Illegal’ Weapon Skin Gambling

In Counter-Strike, players can earn, trade, and sell cosmetic flourishes for their weapons. Over time, this has given rise to a thriving unofficial gambling scene. Players bet skins with real world value on CSGO eSports matches. For some, it’s a means of making an awful lot of money. It can also be awfully sketchy, which…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s officially summer! Time to crank the AC and play some video games. I’ll go first: This weekend I’m gonna play some 35mm, which looks fascinating. I’ll also doubtless be playing some more Hitman, since I have a bunch of escalations and other Marrakesh stuff I want to get done before next weekend’s just-announced elusive…

Tips For The Steam Summer Sale

The Steam Summer Sale is in full swing, which means deals out the proverbial wazoo. Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to come away with plenty of games and a not entirely empty wallet. Check out this guide Lifehacker wrote a pretty comprehensive Steam Sale guide. It covers all the…

Track: Someday My Prince Will Come (Live) | Artist: Bill Evans | Album: N/A Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Damn, Geralt Broke The Deer

Today on Highlight Reel we have bear traps, uncharged controllers, great timing, broken deer and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more! DC Universe Online…

You Can’t Gift Counter-Strike During Valve’s Steam Summer Sale

We’ve got a twofer for you in the Unexpected Happenings department today: 1) You can’t buy Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a gift during the Steam Summer Sale, and 2) Valve actually explained their actions. Quickly! Earlier today, confused CSGO players began reporting that they couldn’t buy the game as a gift for friends. Valve’s Ido…