Culture

Fallout: New Vegas, Turned Into A Hardcore Survival Game

No quests, no factions, people and places you knew and loved reduced to ash. This is a new Wasteland. This is a meaner Wasteland. One of the things I loved about Fallout 3 was how hostile the wasteland felt when you first emerged from the comfy, radroach-infested confines of your Vault—even on lower difficulties. The…

Hot Pockets Ad Better At Gaming Than Hot Pockets

Last night, the legendary purveyors of bread-and-cheese injection systems at Hot Pocketstweeted a photo of a bro playing a Nintendo 64 while another bro helped him eat a Hot Pocket. The tweet has since been removed from Hot Pockets’ timeline. Were they embarrassed about using a dated cultural reference like an N64? I can’t say…

Please, Make A Cartoon About This Football Team

Soon Sang Hong is an artist who has worked for companies like Eyedentity, the Korean studio behind games such as, um, Dragon Nest I’m a fan of everything that gets posted here on Fine Art—it wouldn’t be posted otherwise—but Good Lord, this is something else. There’s so much character, and style, and colour going on…

Awesome Dragon Age Cosplay Is The Real Deal

I’ve seen some good Dragon Age cosplay in my time, but holy cow, this Cassandra Pentaghast is good Cosplay by HydraEvil, photo by D.Eugen (via Cosplay Blog) Here are some more shots by Angy Bell

Dying Light Goes To Outer Space. Thanks, Mods

This isn’t the Dying Light you played when the zombie parkour mash-up first came out. This isn’t that game at all. OK, it is that game a little bit, if only in the sense that there is jumping. Thanks to Steam user Pawciak, though, the rest is nearly unrecognizable. Dying Light, as you likely know,…

What’s The Craziest Thing You’ve Done For A Video Game?

You’ve probably been to your fair share of midnight launches and spent long nights replaying previous titles in preparation for sequels. But dig down deep and share your more shameful stories. Did you steal a friend’s game? Fly to Japan? Mug an old lady for the cash for one? Sleep with a hooker and then…

The Origins Of Nintendo’s Trademark Box Art

From the very first days of its home console business, Nintendo has given its box art a trademark standard, a border or frame that clearly marks the title as being for a Nintendo system. Did you know, though, that this trademark is a lot older than the NES or Famicom? In the 60’s, Nintendo was…

Dragon Age, You’re Lookin’ Good

Matt DeMino is a freelance artist and illustrator from Texas. Aghast at the fact his own player character’s card in Dragon Age was just a green hand, he set out to fix it, and drew this series of fantastic Inquisition cards. You can see more of Matt’s work at his personal site and DeviantArt page…

Darth Vader, Modded Into DOTA 2

“Luke, I am your father and for the love of god stay in your lane.” Steam user RustardGaming has modded DOTA 2’s Juggernaut into Dark Vader, complete with his own little R2-D2 to remind him of better days. He also has his trademark red lightsaber, which presumably reminds him of worse days, like the time…

Please, Steam Dinosaur Game, Don’t Suck

Goodness gracious, ARK: Survival Evolved looks cool. So of course, I’m worried. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but well, we’ve been here before. A bunch of times. With survival games specifically—especially ones headed from the frying pan of hype into the sloooooooow burning fire of Early Access. And for some reason, double-especially when dinosaurs…

Beware The Most Dangerous Trash Can

On today’s Highlight Reel we have terrifying psychic deer, Black Mesa trash cans, dramatic deaths, crotch-damage and much 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. NHL 15 – Player gets stuck…

Transformers Fixes A Pair Of Glaring Combiner Wars Errors

Two of the biggest problems with Hasbro’snostalgia-fueled Combiner Wars Transformers line so far were a helicopter named Alpha Bravo and a pickup truck named Off-Road. Thanks for filling in, guys—your replacements have arrived. It’s not that fans were intolerant of a helicopter filling in for a fighter jet in the Autobot’s Aerialbots team or a…

Slave Cersei Wouldn’t Choke Jabba, That’s Too Obvious

Cersei Lannister vs Slave Leia. Not the most obvious cosplay crossover, but it works! Cosplay by AlyCat, photo by WeNeals

EleNoira Catwoman as, well, Catwoman. Photo by Elle Esse di Schenal Luca (via cosplay blog)

Margaery Tyrell, In The…Flesh?

This isn’t a photo of Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer. It’s actually a 3D model by WETA’s Nick Gaul. We’re living in a weird and wonderful age when 3D art gets so good, and so detailed, that we’re not just noticing a model’s skin or eyes, but can even pick out their vellus hair…

Track: Think Twice | Artist: The Four Owls | Album: Natural Order Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Week In Games: Triple Final Fantasy The Hard Way

Three Final Fantasy games are coming out this week, but one is the worst thing ever and the other two are remastered remasters. Final Fantasy IV: The After Years hits Steam tomorrow, bringing the game that Kotaku’s Jason Schreier says “sucks” to PC players for the first time. Good for them? Meanwhile, on the PlayStation…

Sunday Comics: 300 Percent Sam Jackson

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 May 9. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 4. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: Gonna Be Sick

QUOTE | “Getting people sick isn’t a choice.” – Valve’s Chet Faliszek, talking about how the future of VR depends on finding a solution to motion sickness in its users Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “Console desperately needs re-invention in terms of some of the game mechanics… there’s not enough…

Rock Opera Video Game Somehow Totally Works

In a single moment, Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Video Game won me over. I was close to the beginning of the game, a 3D adventure-platformer, when I saw a glowy red thing off in the distance. “Collectible!” said my brain, because that always signals a collectible in these sorts of games. But then I picked…