Culture

This Week In The Business: Putting The ‘F’ In Free-To-Play

QUOTE | “I was so fed up of people telling us we should do free-to-fucking-play, in-app-fucking purchases, whatever the fuck that is, and that consoles were dead. So fuck all of those people and their fucking shitty stance.” – Graeme Struthers of Devolver, talking about why he’s happy to see next-gen consoles doing well Elsewhere…

Track: Brief Encounter | Album: Still Life | Artist: Dawn Golden Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Highlight Reel: June 27, 2014

Today’s gaming highlights: New world record speedruns, defusing bombs right under terrorist noses, and more! Speedruns BananasaurusRex gets a new world record in 1001 Spikes, coming in at 17:31.91 Yesterday we posted about this Super Mario Bros speedrun. It tops the old world record time by about a second with help from a Bullet Bill…

Track: Big Beast Artist: Killer Mike, T.I., Bun B, Trouble Album: R.A.P. Music Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

That’s one hell of a Dhalsim. Cosplay by Michael Vincent, photo by WJS

It’s Kinda…Hellboy Meets Jet Set Radio Meets Tank Girl…

Adrian Meribault is a freelance artist who teaches through Cultura, and has worked in both video games and tabletop gaming. You can see more of Adrian’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 wallpaper),…

There Are Few Things As Impressive As Mega Man Speedruns

I’ve been watching Summer Games Done Quick all week, and though there have been a whole lot of great moments—Zelda: Oracle of Seasons was awesome!—my favorite runs so far are the Mega Mans. Between the crazy strategies and the tight little tricks that help these guys shave a few seconds off their final times, all…

Super Mario Bros. Beaten In Under Five Minutes, A New World Record

You’ve gotta watch this impressive Super Mario Bros. playthrough by speedrunner “Blubbler.” Blubbler beats the game in a bewildering 4:57.69. Previously, the world record for an “any percentage” completion run was held by andrewg, according to the SMB Leaderboards Wiki. The time? 4:58:09. A second can make all the difference in a speedrun! Here, the…

​Ask Dr. Nerdlove: Do Women Have It Easier In Dating?

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that can calculate the exact Twinkie value of the psychokinetic energy of romantically frustrated geeks. And that’s one big Twinkie. Today’s column takes on one of the most frequently recurring issues I hear about from my readers: The eternal question of “Who has…

The Internet Reacts To World of Warcraft’s New Dudes

World of Warcraft is getting a facelift—and yesterday, Blizzard unveiled the new models for human males. The update was met with a lot of playful snark, as folks dissected the goofier elements of the new models. You’ll notice that most reactions around the web focus on three things: the nipples (see the model on the…

Cute Mech, You Look So Cute Bouncin’ Around Like That

Kelly Smith is an artist and animator at Capybara Games, the developers of games like Super Time Force. So yeah, this gonna get colourful, and it’s gonna get awesome. You can see more of Kelly’s work at her personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so…

Highlight Reel: June 25, 2014

Today’s gaming highlights: A Saving Private Ryan-style helicopter kill, a League of Legends pentakill, a tragic shot to the toe, and more! Battlefield 4 First up, TheMooclear was trying to take down a helicopter with his last stinger missile. When that didn’t work, he turned to his pistol: Next in “how to take down vehicles…

Reminder: charity speedrun marathon Summer Games Done Quick is full of people doing and showing amazing video game things. Right now, they’re playing 1993 Data East oddity Ninja Baseball Bat Man, a game where heroes have to “recover various artifacts stolen from the Baseball Hall of Fame, a task prescribed to them by the Commissioner…

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Done Perfectly in Under Four Minutes

This is how Snake would handle things in real life. It’s a 3:54.870 run, to be exact, with an S Rank, so that means Mimalmo didn’t really make any mistakes and managed to finish the game perfectly. He says it’s the world record for an S Rank run, and while there are faster runs out…

Tron, League Of Legends And Redheads

Joon Ahn, who has previously worked at Lucasarts and at Disney on the excellent Tron: Uprising, is now a senior concept artist at League of Legends developers Riot Games. You can see more of his work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re…

It’s June 24. Which is Ezio’s birthday (if he was both real and alive), so Italian Assassin’s Creed cosplayer Geneva decided to celebrate with some crossplay. Photo by Eliza Russo.

Track: BLOUBEK | Album: Nag Van Die Lang Pette | Artist: Jack Parow Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

When Cosplay Goes From A Pastime To A Job

When Stacey Lee Feldman first saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999, her life changed forever. And not in a “Star Wars will never be the same again” kind of way, either. [Top image: Peter Verrant] After seeing the film’s two Jedi protagonists spend most of the film wearing luxurious brown robes, Feldman instantly…

How To Buy A Lot Of Video Games With Very Little Money

Any good hobby requires investment, through time or money. Gaming requires both. Games don’t have to be an expensive hobby if you don’t want them to be. Armed with some simple information, you’ll be able to save in no time. Want to pick up AAA releases for $20 to $45 off months before launch, or…

Why Phantom Dust’s Xbox Comeback Matters

Most folks never got a chance to play Phantom Dust the first time around when it came out for the original Xbox in 2005. So, when Microsoft announced it was getting a remake at E3, a lot of people were confused. “What is Phantom Dust?,” I heard a lot of people say. Well, wonder no…