Culture

The Week In Games: Praise The Sun

Am I using that right? I was fully prepared to go full-out Ratchet & Clank for this week’s The Week in Games header, but hopping into that game to grab a screenshot would have led to me playing for several hours and not doing this post at all. I think I made the sensible choice.…

Sunday Comics: It’s A Cave Filled With Bats

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published April 9. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published April 4. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: Virtual Reality Year One

QUOTE | “Year one of VR is not going to see huge, AAA budgets… as more headsets get out there, and as we’re growing our capabilities the scopes of the games will get bigger and bigger” – Ubisoft Red Storm creative director David Votypka, giving insight into why the publisher’s first two VR projects—Eagle’s Flight…

The Wild Eight is a co-op survival game with a story, quests, and established characters. It’s pretty atypical for the genre, and it makes for an enticing idea stew when paired with a deathly cold setting (ala The Long Dark). The game is on Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight right now. It might also be a…

Being A Shopkeeper Is The Hottest Job In Steam’s Version Of The Hunger Games

The Culling is a Steam hit that’s essentially Hunger Games: The Video Game. Set loose in a massive environment with nothing but the clothes on your back, your goal is to be the last person standing. So of course, players have invented a 100 percent non-violent role. Yep, in a round-based competitive game of life,…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s getting hot over here on the west coast. So hot! Better stay in and play games instead. Now that the big VR headsets are shipping and I’ve exhausted myself making videos of VR games, I’m taking a break from head-mounted displays and playing stuff on a regular screen. This weekend I’ll mainly be playing…

Mod Makes XCOM 2 More Like Fire Emblem

I have been a fan of both XCOM and Fire Emblem since I was but a wee pile of childish hope and bacteria, watching the extra-long Sacred Stones epilogue during a precious family Christmas dinner. I have dreamed of a game that includes elements of both. Thanks to mods, XCOM 2 is now that game.…

Track: Chicken ‘n’ Dump | Artist: Mike & The Melvins | Album: Three Men And A Baby Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

If Link Was An Overwatch Character…

Jeremy Vitry is an artist from France who has worked for companies like Ubisoft and Tokkun. The Link stuff you see here was done for a recent Character Design Challenge, where he re-imagined Nintendo’s hero to “look a bit like an Overwatch character, since I’ve been playing the game a lot lately and the designs…

Let The Final Fantasy XV Cosplay Begin

While I’m sure cosplayers the world over are busy looking for some friends, black suits and a fancy car for a main cast shoot, Byndo Gehk has gone the solo route and made this cool Cidney outfit.

Teleportation Kinda Ruins Baseball, Huh

Today on Highlight Reel we have magic catches, Quantum breaks, fire keys, last-second Battlefront power-ups and much more! Watch the video above or on our Youtube Page, 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 MLB The Show…

Steam’s Latest Hit, Enter The Gungeon, Kicks A Lot Of Ass

Enter The Gungeon has been near the top of the Steam best-seller list for the past couple days, and I get why: it’s the type of roguelike shooter you can lose hundreds of hours to. Also the enemies are bullets. You get to kill bullets… with bullets. Enter The Gungeon is a roguelike (or roguelite,…

Steam Rival Itch.io Is Trying To Get Its App Onto Steam

On April Fools Day, indie-focused PC gaming storefront itch.io posted a listing to Steam Greenlight. Everyone assumed it was a joke, and a pretty solid one at that. Turns out, they were deadly serious. OK, maybe not deadly, but indie gaming’s favorite mom ‘n’ pop shop, where many smaller games release before making it onto…

Forever A Classic Wonder Woman Look

Chabe Escalante is a freelance artist from Mexico. You can see more of Chabe’s work at her Instagramand ArtStation pages 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 the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration…

April Fools Joke Messes Up Counter-Strike‘s Marketplace

We’ve made it past another April Fools day, and civilization is thankfully, mercifully still intact. Sometimes, though, April Fools jokes have lasting consequences, and I’m not just talking about people losing their jobs after they Google mic-dropped their bosses. The Counter-Strike economy—which involves highly sought-after cosmetic items and deals in real money—is still a bit…

The ‘Social Justice’ Controversy Surrounding Baldur’s Gate‘s New Expansion [Update]

The expansion to beloved 17-year-old video game Baldur’s Gate has been getting shelled with angry user reviews all week. The complaints? Many are coming from people who say they are angry that the game is buggy and also filled with “social justice” issues and “LGBT tokenism.” Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear has been out for…

Track: White Heat | Artist: The Flickers | Album: Wonderground

Cosplaying Finn & Rey Are A Perfect Star Wars Family

The Real Finn and Rey are a cosplay duo from Utah, who…well, the name kinda says it all. They’re an actual couple (currently engaged, getting married in May), and that kid in the BB-8 suit isn’t a random baby stolen for cutness purposes, it’s theirs. All photos here—and yes, they were taken in a real…

Poe Dameron Intensifies

Leo Camacho, that’s one hell of a pilot. Photos by York in a Box. They were taken at WonderCon last month.

The Kick-Ass Space Art Of Dead Star

PS4 and PC game Dead Staris a neat little shooter. It also has some of the sexiest concept art for an indie game I’ve seen in a long, long time. Guys, posters, please Below you’ll find a ton of art from the game, from promo shots to ship designs. They’re the work of a whole…