Culture

Baskin Robbins Is Releasing Ice Cream Dolls in Japan

In Japan, March 3 is Girl’s Day (雛祭り or “Hinamatsuri”). It’s a doll festival. To celebrate, Baskin Robbins is releasing a set of five ice cream “dolls.” Delicious! Here is how the real dolls are displayed during Hinamatsuri. The dolls represent the Emperor and Empress—as well as their attendants. And now, in ice cream form,…

Track: Main Title Theme | Album: House of Cards | Artist: Jeff Beal Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

In Samus We Trust

Jorge Lacera has spent the last six years at Irrational Games, working on the BioShock series (he was lead artist on Infinite). If that top image looks familiar, that’s because we actually featuredit a while back; today’s gallery however will have a lot of BioShock in it. You can see more of Jorge’s work at…

Tell Us The Best PS3 Game Of 2006. And 2007. And 2008…

Persona 5 just got announced for 2015. That means that there will be at least one game that’s a strong contender for getting people to turn on their PS3s next year. If new games keep coming for Sony’s previous video game console in 2015, the PS3 will have had a life cycle of at least…

A (Possibly Fake) Startup Is Proposing We Eat The Rich And Famous

BiteLabs has a modest proposal. Industrial farming is unsustainable, so why don’t we grow meat in labs? And if we’re growing meat in labs, why not make it the meat of celebrities? You know what, I don’t see any reason why not. Okay, so my first reaction to the BiteLabs site is that it’s way…

I Know The Air Conditioning Button Is Here Somewhere…

David Lesperance is an environment artist who works at Valve, and whose previous experience has seen him contribute at studios like Blizzard and 343 Studios. In that time he’s worked on games like World of Warcraft, Diablo III and Halo 4, so yeah, the art you’re about to see is pretty damn good. You can…

A History Of Video Game Consoles, In Commercials

It’s terrifying how long video games have actually existed. Utterly terrifying. Even more terrifying (and hilarious) are the commercials used to sell video games. Just for fun I decided to trail back through history to unearth almost a commercial for almost every single home console ever released. From the Magnavox Odyssey to the PlayStation 4…

Why Does Sriracha Taste So Good? Science Explains.

While snack traditionalists cling desperately to their ketchup and mustard, those possessing progressive taste buds have succumbed to the spicy siren song of Sriracha. What sorcery is this? It’s not magic — it’s chemistry. In the latest video from Bytesize Science’s wonderfully informative Reactions YouTube channel, we’re digging much deeper than spices, heat and garlic,…

The Week in Games: Garden Warfare and Thief

Thief arrives on the PC and both PlayStations and Xboxes this week, along with Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on Xbox 360 and Xbox One and the latest Castlevania for PC and the previous-gen consoles. Call of Duty fans on PC and the PlayStations get the Onslaught DLC this week, too. Tuesday, Feb. 25: Castlevania:…

Sunday Comics: Titanic Costs

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Feb. 19. Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Feb. 17. Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by…

This Week in the Business: From a ‘Sea of Love’ to a ‘Pool of Hate’

QUOTE | “The Kickstarter experience had been wading in a sea of love … it was like being dumped from that into this cold pool of Internet Twitter hate.”—Tim Schafer of Double Fine, on the backlash to the announcement that the Kickstarter-funded Broken Age game would be split into two parts Elsewhere in the business…

The Art Of The Future, The Art Of The Past

Romanian artist Ioan Dumitrescu has been busy since we last some of his work. Very busy. In the two years since his last feature we’ve got a complete new gallery, mostly of some terrific sci-fi environment pieces that he’s done for games like Crysis 3 and Gears of War: Judgement. You can see more of…

Guy Beats Super Mario Bros. With The Lowest Score Possible

It’s always amazing to see people take a game, turn it inside out and bend it to their whims. Mario is no different, particularly when it’s beaten with the lowest score possible. In a heart-stopping run—allegedly performed with no tool assistance—YouTube user NotEntirelySure clears Super Mario Bros. with the lowest score possible: 500 points. A…

Four Chipotle Burritos. And A Diet Coke. In Three Minutes.

The Chipotle burrito — a massive, suppository-shaped bundle of vaguely Mexican things, weighing approximately five tons. Most people could not eat a single one in three minutes. Competitive eater Matt Stonie makes it look easy. Inside of Matt Stonie, the 22-year-old competitive eater from San Jose, California, there is a black hole which admits food…

An Artist’s Work On Uncharted & Star Wars

Polina Hristova is a concept artist who has worked on projects like Uncharted 2, Project Eternity (now known as Pillars of Eternity) and the Clone Wars TV show. You can see more of Polina’s work at her personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you…

Track: Coffee | Album: Coffee/Dress | Artist: Sylvan Esso Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

The Human-Crushing Art Of Titanfall

Hey, whaddya know. Titanfall, a good-lookin’ game about giant mechs, was born from good-lookin’ art showing giant mechs. The images you’re seeing will be part of a book celebrating the game’s art, due out later this month from Titan. You can grab it here. You can also see a flip through of the book from…

Track: El Coyote | Album: Flower Of Disease | Artist: Goatsnake Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Military Pizza Could Last Up To Three Years

The great wars of the past were fought with biscuits and bread. The great wars of tomorrow will be fought with some amazing science pizza. For years now, the US military has been asking soldiers what food they’d like to see added to the varieties of MRE (Meal, Ready-To-Eat) currently available. The winner has always…

‘Final Fantasy Has Arrived’

Via Steve Lin, a Nintendo employee newsletter from June of 1990. “Oddly enough, this first-of-its-kind blockbuster is called Final Fantasy, but you can bet that it won’t be the last.”