Culture

Major Kusanagi, In The Flesh

Omi Gibson isn’t just one of the world’s top Metal Gear cosplayers. Her Ghost in the Shell game is strong, too

Zarya is one of the coolest characters in Overwatch. She is also, like all characters, subject to crossplay. This is Jechts’ attempt at the character, which he pretty much nails, from the hair down to the tattoo on the shoulder. Photos by Alive Alf

CHOCOBO HUNGERS

John Silva is a freelance artist from Portugal, who has done work for companies like WB Games, Fantasy Flight and Microsoft. You can see more of John’s 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 as…

Top Counter-Strike Team Pulls Out Of Tournament After Paris Terror Attacks

This weekend’s star-studded IEM San Jose Counter-Strike tournament just lost one of its biggest attractions. Team EnVyUs—considered by most to be one of the top five Counter-Strike teams in the world—just announced that they won’t be competing this weekend in San Jose, California after all. The reason? They’re based out of France, and the recent…

Pissed At Valve, Modder Lets Left 4 Dead Players Shoot At Virtual Steam Servers

Think nobody plays Left 4 Dead 2 anymore? You’d be surprised. According to Steam’s stats page, Left 4 Dead 2 is still one of the 40 most-played games on the service every day. As of writing, the game had nearly 8,000 concurrent players… on a random Wednesday afternoon. So yeah, thanks in part to things…

Track: Livin’ on a Prayer (Metal Cover) | Artists: PelleK, 331Erock & Cole Rolland | Source: PelleK Official Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Cast Fireball x 3

Grzegorz Rutkowski is a Polish freelancer who has worked for companies like CD Projekt Red (The Witcher), Ubisoft and Games Workshop. You can see more of Rutkowski’s work at his personal siteand ArtStation page. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper),…

Why A ‘Bad’ Steam Game Has Good User Ratings

Dispatcher is not a very good game. And yet, it’s a got a “very positive” review average on Steam. What’s going on? Dispatcher is a game I decided to check out on a whim. The horror pseudo-RPG been out for a few days, and I noticed that its 227 user reviews averaged out to “very…

Coming soon to Steam… Bubsy? You remember Bubsy, right? It’s OK if you don’t. He was a—shall we say—less-than-beloved platforming mascot from gaming’s early days. A company called Retroism got the rights, and they’re trying to make it through Steam Greenlight. Good luck?

Fallout 4 Encounter Escalates Quickly

Today on Highlight Reel we have Fallout 4 fights that escalate quickly, John Cena, Halo 5 shots, and much more! Watch the video above, 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. Rise of the Tomb Raider –Lara…

The Dungeons and Dragons Session That Became a Real-Life Phenomenon

In Japan, 1986 was a momentous year for role-playing games. This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK, on March 13, 2015. Dragon Quest and The Legend of Zelda were released to popular acclaim, each garnering millions of sales, and Final Fantasy was mere months away from being unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Japanese game designers…

Medieval Neon Genesis? Sure, Let’s Roll With It.

Albert Urmanov is a freelance concept artist working in the video game business. This idea for a medieval redesign of Neon Genesis is something I would like to see made immediately. You can see more of Albert’s work at his ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big…

See How Much Work It Takes To Turn Into Warcraft’s Deathwing

According to Warcraft canon, Deathwing the Destroyer is a giant dude dragon who is thousands of years old and and can scorch planets. Warcraft cosplay can be a bit more flexible in its interpretation of the character. This is Jessica Nigri’s take (based on a sketch by Zach Fischer) on the star of World of…

Track: More Than a Feeling (Live) | Artist: Boston | Album: Boston Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Here, Some Very Cool Robots, Ships, Guns & Aliens

WETA’s Christian Pearce is, alongside guys like Ben Mauro, Aaron Beck and Leri Greer, one of the main artists to thank for all the amazing designs you see everywhere you look in movies like District 9 and Elysium Lovers of rad things may remember Christian was also one of the artists behind Ghidoragh You can…

Cash Money For A Picture Of Spider-Man!

He doesn’t wanna be famous? Then I’ll make him infamous! Photographer Peyton Crim wanted to do a Spider-Man shoot that was a bit more “dynamic” than your average cosplay gallery, and teaming up with Chris Villain (as Spider-Man), they sure succeeded.

The Week In Games: Everyone’s Just Going To Keep Playing Fallout 4 Anyway

Last week saw only a handful of new releases as publishers got out of the way of Fallout 4. They probably could have skipped this week too. While I plan of getting my Star Wars: Battlefront on in some form or fashion, neither it nor Fallout 4 shall be my primary focus this week. Instead…

Sunday Comics: Check The Fridge

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 November 14. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published November 9. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

Let’s Share Live-Streaming Setups

With so many people either streaming live video game play to the web or consuming it, trying to determine the best equipment for your broadcasting needs can be daunting and confusing. What we need are examples. Because if there’s one thing the internet has told me, if a handful of websites and Google searches doesn’t…

This Week in the Business: Bum Raps and Harsh Tokes

QUOTE | “If you want to talk about who is getting bum raps I think Nintendo got some pretty harsh tokes.” – Capy Games president Nathan Vella, saying the Wii U maker deserves more credit for the way it treats indies Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “No one is actually…