Culture

Uh, Totoro, Are You OK?

Julian Futanto is an artist, animator and game developer currently working on the very cool Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?!, a game about making (and selling) RPG weapons to RPG heroes. You can see more of Julian’s work at his personal site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big…

Yes, I Want A Faceless Rex DOTA 2 Courier

Remember Valve’s “rejected” DOTA 2 character designs? Well, the guy who made Faceful Void into a reality is back, this time with something that could actually make it through Valve’s selection process. MaxOfS2D has put up a Steam Workshop page for an itsy bitsy Faceless Rex courier, with an adorable stompy sprint and a formidable-looking…

23 Years After It Was Made, Chip’s Challenge 2 Is Finally Out

Chip’s Challenge 2 was finished more than 20 years ago. And yet, it didn’t come out until today. What the hell happened? The original Chip’s Challenge was a puzzle game released in 1989 for Atari Lynx. It was then ported to the Amiga, C64, and the PC. Creator Chuck Sommerville spent two years plumbing the…

Ask Dr. Nerdlove: I’m Worried My Girlfriend Can’t Have An Orgasm

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating column to stare down the eye of the storm and make it blink. This week, we have two young lovers in the midst of a tangled web of troubles. One reader has ended up in a complicated relationship with his best friend’s sister and isn’t…

What’s the coolest competitive gaming moment you’ve ever seen? (Other than EVO Moment 37, of course!) Kotaku is working on a documentary series highlighting the performances of great players in tournaments, speedruns, and other areas of competitive gaming. So, what’ve you seen? What would you like to learn more about? We’re ready to go behind…

Microwaving Your Game Is Never The Answer, And Other Rage Stories

The Kotaku readership has collectively broken many, many controllers. But here are some of the better (read: entertaining) rage quitting stories you shared. There’s a surprising amount of fire involved. Microwaving Your Game Is Never The Answer (via soniko) Mine was few years ago but I will never ever be able to forget it, during…

Nope, Still Not Enough Armor To Save You From Batman

Seth Nash is a character artist who has recently worked on games like Batman: Arkham Origins and Star Citizen. You can see more of Seth’s work 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”…

The Witcher 3 Has Some Great Glitches

On today’s episode of Highlight Reel (back from our short vacation!) we have legless zombies, fast car crashes, headless peasants, and more Witcher clips than you can shake a stick at. Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the…

Sean Bean Narrates His Own Death In This Horror Game

The idea of a horror game narrated by Sean Bean might sound schlocky, but Kholat looks good Yep, that’s Sean Bean alright. He definitely sounds like he’s ali— oh wait, he’s narrating his own death. Gotcha. Dead before the thing’s even out this time. Dude cannot catch a break. The trailer’s pretty, but it doesn’t…

Pushing Cosplay To Its Absolute Limits

Earlier this year, five people went to Iceland with a mission: take some of the best, most unique cosplay photos on the planet. What they came home with does not disappoint. That headline is not kidding around. We’re talking some of cosplay’s finest here, going out of their way (and spending thousands of dollars) to…

Fans Add Obnoxious Product Placement To Half-Life… On Purpose

Half-Life is one of the greatest games of all time, but it’s missing something. Obviously, that something is hamfisted advertising for Taco Bell. Black Mesa, the impressively ambitious fan remake of the original Half-Life that Valve’s even allowing people to make money off of, has its own Steam Workshop page. Among more expected mods like…

DOTA 2 Cosplayer Set On Fire

I…just…holy shit. Look. This dude is literally on fire. Táy Máy Tò Mò’s Lina cosplay is magnificent. For starters, it’s a great piece of boot-strapping cosplay; the outfit looks great in these shots, but it’s only when you squint that you see it’s made out of things like floor mats and Coke wrappers. But whatever,…

Dawg, He Put Da City On His Back

The best emails I get from video game artists are the ones that start with “I’m the artist who made the bikini model for the main character of Fatal Frame 5”. In addition to his Fatal Frame contributions, Desmond Wong has also worked on Dead or Alive, and will later this year release his own…

Track: Lit | Artist: Kiasmos | Album: Kiasmos Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment

The Dream Nintendo Game That Was Never Released

Shigesato Itoi (Mother), Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda) and Tsunekazu Ishihara (Pokemon), all working on the same game? We should have known it would be too good to be true. In 1997, Nintendo announced a game called Cabbage. It sounded weird (by 1997 standards, anyway), was headed for a weird console and had a (presumably working)…

On Post-Apocalyptic Meme Usage

Josh Corpuz is an artist who has worked in the video game business for a few years now, for studios in the US, Japan and Europe. You can see more of Josh’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…

Amazing BioShock Cosplay Doesn’t Need Booker Or Elizabeth

We get it, Booker and Elizabeth are cool characters with neat outfits. But not every cosplay from BioShock Infinite needs to be of the two main characters Take this Motorized Patriot, for example. It’s one of the best examples of BioShock cosplay I’ve ever seen. The outfit’s great, the flags are perfect and the make-up…

The Week In Games: Splat!

It’s that giddy, all-too-rare sort of week where we get to be deliriously excited about a Nintendo console release! I’ve managed to play exactly zero Splatoon over the past several weeks, so I’ll be going into Friday’s release clean, free of any worry over potential connectivity issues that may arise or preconceived notions about which…

Snacktaku PSA: Snacking While Sleepy Can Kill A Pizza

This was once a pizza. Now it is a cautionary tale. The once proud frozen disc of dough, meat, cheese and sauce was transformed late last night in a three-hour, 375 degree ritual I can only imagine was excruciatingly painful. It certainly smelled painful, and if I know anything it’s the smell of pain. At…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Hot Pockets: The Winners!

So many amazingly horrific entries inlast week’s “food”-themed ‘Shop Contest, but the winner is a simple, iconic image of Link from The Legend of Zelda playing the lovely “Song of Ass Storms.” All we wanted to do was show the folks in charge of Hot Pockets marketing how toproperly tie their product in with video…