Culture

The Week in Games: Gran Finale

We’re settling in for a long winter’s nap after Friday’s release of the PlayStation’s signature driving sim Gran Turismo 6. After that, well, there’ll be news this weekend from the Video Game Awards, but it’ll concern stuff well down the road. Not much cooking until February, so here is your week—or month—in games. Friday, Dec.…

Sunday Comics: You Can’t Do That on TV

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 Nov. 27. Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Nov. 25. Read more of Awkward Zombie Brawl In The…

This Week in the Business: The Cost of an Xbox One

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … STAT | $471—Amount it costs Microsoft to manufacture each Xbox One, according to research firm IHS; this compares to a manufacturing cost of $381 for the PS4, which means neither device makes a profit at retail considering discounts and marketing costs. QUOTE |…

Let’s Give Thanks For Awesome Video Game Art

Jong Il Kim is a Korean artist who has worked for big local clients like Entwell and NCSoft. You can see more of his art at his CGHub 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: Children’s Story | Album: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick | Artist: Slick Rick Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Amazing Conversations You Had About Video Games This Thanksgiving

My fellow gaming Americans, Thanksgiving is a day when you can eat turkey, be lazy and answer questions from well-meaning but relatively uninformed relatives about that video game thing you’re into. Surely, grandma asked you about that new PlayStation today? Or your brother-in-law mentioned, while passing the cranberry sauce, that he’s buying an Xbox One…

War. War Sometimes Changes.

Not all the time. Just occasionally. Like…when wandering swordsmen get robot arms and giant swords. Studio Hive is a Thailand-based studio who provide illustrations and concept work for video games, advertising, movies and TV. They’ve recently worked with clients like Square Enix and, like every other game artist on the planet, Applibot’s Legend of the…

​How You Can Make Assassin’s Creed IV More Immersive

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a beautiful-looking game. Or, well, it’s a beautiful-looking game when it isn’t covering the screen with blips, bleeps and blops of UI information and heads-up-display data. Is all that stuff really necessary? Nah. Longtime readers of Kotaku know that I’m an avid disliker of video-game mini-maps, and am always…

Art Travels From BioShock Infinite To The Xbox One’s Launch

One Pixel Brush is a relatively new studio that specialises in concept art for all kinds of video game companies. Already they’ve worked on games like BioShock Infinite, Planetside 2 and Ryse, and are now helping shape stuff that we haven’t even seen or heard from yet. The studio was founded by art director Shaddy…

Space Turtles Don’t Snap, They Shoot

Konstantin Maystrenko is a games artist who currently works at Gameloft Montreal. He’d previously been at strategy developers Nival You can see more of his work at his personal site and CGHub page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click…

The Internet Reacts To The New Persona Games

Persona 5 and a bunch of Persona spin-offs were finally announced this weekend, and the internet is already packed with cool reactions to the announcements. Let’s take a look at some of those reactions, shall we? Those chairs in the P5 teaser made everyone’s imagination run wild. As well as the unexpected Vita spin-off, Persona…

Yes, You Can Design Video Game Weapons For A Living

rmory Nearly two years ago, I wrote a story about rmory Studios, a small team that was setting out to specialise in the design of fake guns for video game characters. Well, in the time since, they’ve managed to do just that. Not only did they work on XCOM throwback Xenonauts, but they even landed…

Track: Goddess | Artist: S:T Erik | Album: From Under The Tarn Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Week in Games: The Hay’s in the Barn

It is axiomatic that just about nothing in video games happens—in the West, anyway—the week the United States celebrates its most important holiday: Black Friday. However, I do tip my cap to Professional Farmer 2014 for its timely release on Thursday—Thanksgiving day itself. Tuesday, Nov. 26 Air Conflicts: Vietnam (360, PS3) Ys: Memories of Celceta…

Sunday Comics: What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Life in Aggro by Fei Hsiao and Casey Vasquez. Published Nov. 23. Read more of Life in Aggro Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Nov. 18. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny…

This Week in the Business: The TV Turn-Off

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “TV, TV, TV. That couldn’t be further from the truth, it’s completely the wrong direction.”—Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory co-founder, on why the Xbox One and PS4 are on the wrong path QUOTE | “Day One is certainly very important, but maybe…

Battleships, Battlements, Bombers And Beautiful Blue Skies

Jae Cheol Park is a Korean artist who has worked with clients like NCSoft, Webzen and Legendary Entertainment. You can see more of his work at his personal site and CGHub 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…

Twitch Apologizes Over Recent Abuse of Power By Staff

After a day of silence, the CEO of livestreaming website Twitch has apologized for the poor handling of a recent controversy involving staff members, emoticons, and a number of people from the streaming community. “We’d like to repair the damage that has been done to the relationship between Twitch and the Speedrunning community,” Emmett Shear,…

There are many problems with Oreo’s next-generation game controller concept, but taste isn’t one. Getting in on the console launch fun via Twitter, Oreo has created a controller with two ‘O’ buttons, a ridiculous d-pad, uncomfortable thumb sticks and a gem in the middle that’s begging to have the head of a penis drawn around…

Read A Kotaku Longread Today

Hello! Here at Kotaku, we’re not just about snacks, toys, and TV shows: sometimes we like to give you long, in-depth looks at the world of video games, too. In fact, we’ve got an entire section for Kotaku longreads, and in case you’ve missed some of them over the past few months and years, here…