Culture

The Week in Games: Bold New Look, Same New Games

Battlefield 4 draws first blood in EA’s annual shooter stare-down with Call of Duty. It didn’t pick a great time to go first as it must fight with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for attention on Tuesday. Rasslin’ fans, your WWE sim title arrives under new management. Here’s the week in video games. Welcome back…

Sunday Comics: Expiration Date

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 Oct. 23. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Oct. 21. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week in the Business: ‘A Giant FU to a Large Number of People’

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | Console and PC guys should learn [about] variable pricing … $60 is a giant FU to a very large number of people.”—Former EA CEO John Riccitiello, on what traditional game devs can learn from mobile and vice-versa QUOTE | “‘Trying to…

The Art Of The Giant Robots Of Pacific Rim

You know what was cool about Pacific Rim? All those giant mechs. You know what’s cool about Hugo Martin, the guy who helped design those mechs? He’s now working on Doom 4. Not that id’slong-in-development-hell shooter is his first work in games, though, as he was also at Naughty Dog for the first Uncharted, and…

Track: Just Like A Tree | Album: Move In Spectrums | Artist: Au Revoir Simone Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Well Akira, You Certainly Look Different

Marat Ars is an artist who has worked for both game studios and Plastic Wax, the Australian animation house You may remember we featured his work a few years back when he did one of the most badass Mario redesigns I’ve ever seen. That art up top is not from the kill-it-with-fire Akira movie project.…

Frute Brute: The Snacktaku Monster Cereals Review Spooktacular

A man cursed with the form of a wolf, or a feral creature desperately attempting to shake of its vestigial ties to humanity? Whatever the balance of beast and boy in cherry-flavored Frute Brute be, both sides felt the sting of betrayal. Both have returned for their revenge. Imagine yourself lost hound, wandering a world…

Track: Romance To The Grave | Album: Forgiveness Rock Record | Artist: Broken Social Scene Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

What’s The Story Behind Your Online Name?

We’ve all been there before. Load up a game only to be met with a blank space asking what should be a simple question: What would you like to name your character? Or, even before you pop a game in, your GamerTag? Or your PSN ID? Your Steam username? Five hours pass and maybe you’ve…

Ellen Page, Giant Robots And Snazzy Colors

Florent Auguy is a character designer at Quantic Dream, where he helped design the look of PS3 game Beyond: Two Souls. Prior to that, he’s worked in publishing illustration. You can see more of Florent’s work at his personal site and CGHub page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re…

Boo Berry: The Snacktaku Monster Cereals Review Spooktacular

The sudden chill as you turn into the cereal aisle; the soft, lilting voice at the periphery of hearing, musing on breakfasts long ago; the ephemeral taste of berry-like flavor on the tip of your tongue — all these are Boo Berry, the Monster Cereal forever trapped between this world and the next. I must…

Track: Reflektor | Album: Reflektor | Artist: Arcade Fire Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Inside Arby’s Test Kitchen: A Snacktaku Special Report

Every year, Arby’s executive chef Neville Craw and his crack team come up with upwards of 1,200 potential new sandwiches. Around 50 of those are developed until release-worthy. Only five or six make it to stores. One of those is the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich. Earlier this month, Arby’s invited me to its Atlanta headquarters to…

It’s A Family Portrait For…Fantasy Character Classes

Like every other artist on planet Earth, Tyler Jacobson has worked on the gorgeous mobile card game Legend of the Cryptids. He’s also done stuff for Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons and advertising clients like Toyota. You can see more of Tyler’s work at his personal site and blog To see the larger pics…

Track: “Cats and Dog” (MitchiriNeko March/Get It On The Floor mash-up) | Artist: DMX vs. Chiemi Takano (via Youtube user aznr4v3m4st3r) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Count Chocula: The Snacktaku Monster Cereals Review Spooktacular

For the first time in America’s troubled history, the five points on the pentagram of morning food evil glow as one upon store shelves, signaling the coming of the last complete breakfast. Five cereals in five days, and a Count Chocula shall lead them. In 1971, as I was still hatching my brilliant plan to…

Quietly, Nintendo Perfected A Whole New Type of Video Game This Year

You may have missed it this year amid all the arguing about whether Nintendo should bail out of making gaming hardware and just stick to making games. You may have missed it if the only Nintendo headlines that made an impression on you in 2013 were the ones about Wii U struggles or the company’s…

Track: Dawn Rising | Album: Whales And Leeches | Artist: Red Fang Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Where Halo, Star Wars & Warhammer Meet

Kai Lim is part of Imaginary Friends, a concept studio in Singapore which has worked with DC Comics, Sony, Nike, EA, Valve, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Capcom…OK, look, everyone One of the studio’s three founders is Kai Lim, who is the man to thank for the eyeball candy you’re about to see. You can see more…

The Week in Games: The Heroes We Need

Batman: Arkham Origins launches globally on one day—Friday. There must be a ton of spoilers in it that Warner Bros. doesn’t want to go on the Internet in the three days between then and Tuesday, the typical US drop day. If you can’t wait to the end of the week for your superhero fix, LEGO:…