Culture

This Week In The Business: Taking Aim At Metacritic

QUOTE | “Nobody here ever bothers about Metacritic. We think of it as irrelevant, quite frankly. We only concentrate on what the users think.” – Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley, explaining why they don’t worry about Sniper Elite getting low scores from reviewers Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE |…

Guy Hitches Ride On Motorcycle, Refuses To Get Off

On today’s Highlight Reel we have confused NPCs in Sleeping Dogs, Smash Bros. character reveals that are super believable, sniper shots, jet backflips and more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below.…

The Latest Counter-Strike Anti-Cheat Measure? Inspecting Players’ Homes

“Knock-knock.” “Who’s there?” “Counter-Strike police. Open your door. We’re here to inspect your computer for cheats.” Pro Counter-Strike has a cheating problem. Dishonesty and illegal tools have cast a dark cloud over a bright, growing spectator sport. This, though, might be the most intense solution proposed yet: random testing ala physical sports, but for video…

Katsucon, The…Music Video

This is super corny, but somehow it, still works. Nice editing!

How Pokémon Are Actually Caught

We’re trying something a little different today on Fine Art. Instead of showcasing the work of someone who makes games, we’re looking at the art of someone who works around games. Stephen Maurice Graham is an illustrator who has worked for publications like Vice, GQ and The Sunday Times. He does a lot of video…

“You Are Getting Old” reminder: people are now grown up, looking back fondly to their childhoods and cosplaying as Kim Possible (and doing an excellent job!). Cosplay by Danielle Beaulieu, photo by Jaycee Photography (viafashionably geek).

Ask Dr. Nerdlove: I Just Want Casual Sex!

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that managed to rescue Quickclaw and Rhonda in Pitfall II. That’s right! ATARI 2600, BABY. (ahem) This week, one reader is getting tired of being constantly told he’s “too nice” to date – so how does one become more exciting to potential partners?…

Because This Site Needs More Battleships

I don’t know what it is about battleship paintings, but I love ’em. They make me think of sitting under one in a wood-panelled room, in front of a fireplace, sipping on expensive booze and puffing on a big ol’ pipe. These images are by Dmitry Vishnevsky, a freelance artist who works in the video…

Doors, The Ultimate Counter-Strike Enemy

And now, repeat after me the hallowed words of our people: “Aaaaagghhh nonononoooo! …God damn it.” Here’s the full video of a situation I’m sure at least a few of us have encountered, courtesy of Sergey Menshykov: You’re reading Steamed, Kotaku’s page dedicated to all things in and around Valve’s stupidly popular PC gaming service.…

Murderous Nintendo Cosplay

Nice to see 2013’s best Smash Bros. jokes finally have the cosplay they deserve. Cosplay by Moderately Okay Cosplay, photo by Mig Photography World

The NES Was Once So Rare You Could Only Get It In Two Cities

It’s easy to forget now, given its enormous success, that the NES was once seen as a risky proposition. Coming on the heels of the great video game crash of 1983, into a market unsure if games were a fad that had already died out, the system didn’t just magically appear in stores across North…

What Books Are You Reading These Days?

Here at Kotaku, we don’t just play video games all day and night. Sometimes, we read. Sometimes we even read books! Wild, I know. I’ve read a few good books lately, and wanted to check in to see what you all have been reading. For my part, I recently finished Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, which…

Welcome…To Besiege’s Jurassic Park 

On today’s Highlight Reel we have poorly-constructed dinosaurs in Besiege, Battlefield carpooling gone awry, asexually reproducing trucks in Far Cry 4 and more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. Carpooling –…

Team Fortress 2 Player Sounds Like T-Pain

Not new-school, amazingly talented R&B-singing T-Pain either. No, I’m talking the T-Pain of yore—egregious amounts of auto-tune and all. This Team Fortress 2 player keeps the gag going, completely straight-faced, through an entire match, and it’s glorious. TwilightWolfVidjaGames stumbled across the mysteriously musical player in a random TF2 match, and he knew he had to…

Cosplay Boobs, Reinvented

Not everyone has enormous boobs. I don’t, for example. And not everyone with large breasts is keen to show them while cosplaying. Fair enough! So here’s a smart solution via one industrious cosplayer. Cosplayer Nameko Children has come up with what she calls the “fluffy bust.” Her creation does a fine job of capturing the…

If StarCraft Was A Kid’s Cartoon

Johannes Helgeson is an artist at Activision’s Beenox studio. His idea for a StarCraft cartoon, with cute/terrifying Kerrigan here, is very cool. You can see more of Johannes’ work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them…

War Never Changes, Except Sometimes When It Does

It looks like Fallout and seems to taste like Fallout (although that might just mean my monitor tastes like Fallout—which is… ominous), but it’s not Fallout. CreepBOOM made this gorgeously mournful piece in Garry’s Mod, along with copious others. Here are a few Garry’s Mod shots based on the excellent STALKER Chernobyl survival FPS series,…

Track: Heart Attack | Artist: Flight Facilities | Album: Down To Earth Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Not Even Gabe Newell Death Threats Can Keep This Game Off Steam

You might remember that roguelike FPS Paranautical Activity was yanked—with a large cane of plus 12 unceremoniousness—from Steam after its developer threatened to kill Valve head Gabe Newell. Now, amazingly, it’s back. I imagine it helps that the dev in question is no longer involved. It all went down after Valve accidentally mis-classified the finished…

Sherlock Already Knows You’re Into His Cosplay

God, this Sherlock cosplay is so good. It’s a great example of how replicating an expression can make you look as much like your subject as any amount of make-up or prosthetics work. Cosplay is by Myrddin Emry, photo by Silhouette