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Track: The Invasion From Within | Album: The Invasion From Within | Artist: Tsunami Bomb Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

This Week In The Business: Oculus Thrift

QUOTE | “I think this Oculus VR/Facebook deal will appear cheap five years from now, akin to Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006.” – Investor Asif Khan, CFO of Virtue LLC, talking along with other analysts about the pros and cons of Facebook’s Oculus acquisition Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week…

One Of The Only Things Mirror’s Edge And World War Z have In Common

Christopher Brändström is a freelance concept artist with one hell of a CV. He’s not only got to work on video game series like Battlefield, Mirror’s Edge and Killzone, but on Hollywood movies like Zero Dark Thirty and World War Z. You can see more of Christopher’s work at his personal site and CGHub page…

There Is A Model Underneath All This Marge Simpson Make-Up

Somewhere, under all that make-up, is Russian model Kate Moukhina. For the purposes of this vdieo, however, she has become Marge Simpson. The clip is a showreel for the talents of make-up artist Veronica Ershova and photographer Alexander Khokhlov. If you’re wondering about the “hair”, it’s actually an enormous tower of chrysanthems, giving it that…

​Ask Dr. Nerdlove: How Do I Become ‘Boyfriend Material’?

What’s up, Kotaku? Welcome to the latest installment of Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that knows how to help you max out your social links with the Major Arcana of your dreams. This week, we’ve got questions of how to make the transition from “friend” to “boyfriend” and handling the fears of…

The Following Images Are Not Based On A True Story

Jason Pickthall is a concept artist who has done work for companies like Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Microsoft, Rebellion, Konami and the BBC. You can see more of Jason’s art at his personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click…

The Force Is Strong With These Cosplayers

The Dark Side always did have the best outfits. Photographer Kamil Krawczak got together with Ireland’s Emerald Garrison the other day to take these stunning images. The Asajj Ventress is Annas Black, whose husband Paul helped out on the costume. If Darth Malgus looks familiar, meanwhile, that’s because it’s Julian Checkley There are some good…

Good Night, Everyone

Saskia Gutekunst is a German concept artist who has worked on stuff like the World of Warcraft card game and Sega’s Kingdom Conquest Games. Normally ther stuff we post here, by virtue of this business, is dark and dreary. Fantastic work, to be sure, but not exactly the cheeriest stuff. Saskia’s character style and colour…

Borderlands Salvador genderbending by Its Raining Neon. Photo by Cozpho

The Internet Reacts To Facebook Buying Oculus Rift

Now that Facebook is buying Oculus Rift, people have all sorts of opinions. Unsurprisingly, reactions have been rather negative: Oculus was supposed to be the future of gaming! Now that Facebook is involved, everything is ruined! Or something like that. You don’t have to browse for very long to find reactions like this—one of the…

Crazy-Fast Zelda Player Keeps Breaking Majora’s Mask World Record

Here’s Swedish speedrunner EnNopp112 setting yet another Zelda: Majora’s Mask world record—this time clocking in at just under an hour and a half (without cheats) while completing the N64 game. EnNopp112 has been breaking this record once every few weeks since the beginning of 2014, and it’s always impressive. He’s also got the record for…

Johnny Santos flickin’ like only Gambit can.

Cosplay Makes This The Best Graduation Ceremony in Japan

Kyoto University is one of Japan’s most prestigious universities. And it has a delightful graduation tradition: Cosplay. For years now (save for a brief period when it was banned), students have dressed up in amusing cosplay while they receive their degrees. In Japan, students graduate in the spring, and this month, new grads came out,…

Some People Call Him The Space Cowboy

Jake Gumbleton is a concept artist who has worked for companies like Activision, Disney and Ubisoft. You can see more of Jake’s art at his personal site 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 in the…

Human Family Transformed Into Mario, Luigi & Friends

The Smith sisters, aka Twiznik cosplay, attended this year’s Anime Matsuri in Houston in Mario costumes. As did their dad. And four younger brothers. That’s awesome, but even more impressive than the final result is seeing the video below of them transforming from human beings into residents of the Mushroom Kingdom via some elaborate facial…

You Can Cosplay In Secret, Wearing Regular Clothes

Regardless of the personality of the person wearing the outfit, cosplay is an incredibly extroverted pastime by virtue of what it is: a human being walking around dressed as a make-believe character, usually from a fantasy or science-fiction universe. That being the case, it’s certainly not for everyone. At least not all of the time.…

League of Legends pool party. Photo by Vaxzone, cosplayers listed exhausitvely here

The Next McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys Are Going To Kill Me

Today Activision announced a second round of eight Skylanders Happy Meal Toys will be launching March 27, but they will not be alone. The Skylanders: Swap Force characters will be the “boys” toy, and the “girls” option? It’s My Little Pony, dammit. “I think you’ve been triangulated,” said Kotaku boss Stephen Totilo when I showed…

Little Dogs Make Attack on Titan Cosplay Cuter

Attack on Titan isn’t exactly an adorable anime. But this doggy cosplay sure is. Twitter user 30miomio3030 created an Attack on Titan dog outfit, complete with Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear made from Amazon boxes. Bravo. miomio3030 [Twitter via Otaku News] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter…

Future Batman Glows In The Dark (And Is Really Old)

A community site for game artists is holding their annual fan art challenge for Comic-Con, which means everyone gets to take a break from drawing space marines and draw some superheroes instead. Some of these images are just recreating the existing look/style of a character, while others are getting a little more imaginative. Satoshi Arakawa’s…