Culture

The Week In Games: Beauty And The Reich

On one hand we have the old-school first-person shooting of Wolfenstein: The New Order. On the other, the small studio finesse and beauty of Supergiant Games’ sci-fi action role-playing game, Transistor. Which are you planning to play? It’s a tough call here. With limited time and overwhelming desire branching off in so many directions, I’ll…

Sunday Comics: Mining Rights

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 16. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 12. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: The Xbox One Unleashed

QUOTE | “This change will be enough to push the Xbox One installed base higher than PS4 in the U.S. and Canada in 2015.” – IDC analyst Lewis Ward, commenting on Microsoft’s decision to release a Kinect-less Xbox One for $399 Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “We…

Reminder: Daenerys Ate A Heart

David Paget is a freelance artist who has worked for studios like Atomhawk. He also drew this Daenerys image, which is one of the most breathtaking pieces of fan art I have ever seen. That’s not where the cool stuff ends, though. Paget is also a lecturer, and as part of a university project designed…

Wait, There Weren’t Giant Gorillas In Portal…

Like yesterday’s subject, Pierre Raveneau, today’s Fine Art showcase is looking at the work of an artist at Gameloft’s Madrid studio: Victoria Passariello. A lover of robots, she specialises in hard surface modeling, which explains why all these robots look so metallic You can see more of Victoria’s work at her personal site. To see…

Perfect Day of the Tentacle cosplay, courtesy of Kerraldine. Words escape me.

Motion-Controlled Gaming Is Flailing

I played the Wii for the first time at a trade show in Leipzig, Germany. The consoles were set up in tents, shielded from outside view. Standing in the queue, you’d watch people lift the folds of material in front of the entrance, walk in, then walk out with huge smiles on their faces after…

Japan Getting a Shake That Tastes Like Chewing Gum

Did I say “bubble gum”? No. I did not. Chewing gum. At Lotteria fastfood restaurants in Japan, a minty chewing gum flavored shake will go on sale this July. No, you cannot chew the shake itself. And this isn’t just a peppermint flavored shake. Yahoo! Japan is very clear that it’s Green Gum flavored. Lotteria,…

The Future Of Warfare Has No Eyes

Pierre Raveneau is a concept artist at Gameloft’s Madrid studio. Dude draws “future men with guns” real good. You can see more of Pierre’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), click on…

Master cosplay photographer Eric “BigWhiteBazooka” Ng is writing a book about his work and experiences. You can back it here

Track: You Go Down Smooth | Album: Bad Self Portraits | Artist: Lake Street Dive Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Internet Reacts To Kinect-Free Xbox One

Starting in June, the Xbox One will be available without the Kinect, enabling Microsoft to sell the console at a cheaper price-point. It’s a controversial move that many were hoping Microsoft would eventually make—which also means it’s a move that plenty of people have opinions on. Overall, reactions mostly fall in a few camps: snark,…

Cosplay Live & Unplugged

Andy Wang was at both Sakuracon and the Calgary Expo, capturing all the cosplay on show with his camera. Here are a couple of fantastic videos showing off the events!

Welcome To The Velvet Room

Ilya Kuvshinov works at NARRA8, a company that makes visual novels. You might be more interested in Ilya’s fan art, though, especially if you like Persona, Metal Gear, Blade Runner or Ico. Or, you know, Crimean attorneys You can see more of Ilya’s work at his DeviantArt page. To see the larger pics in all…

Cosplay So Good It Jumps Straight Off The Silver Screen

During business hours, Manuel D’Andrea is a costume designer, crafting exquisite outfits for the screen and stage. In his spare time, though, he channels that expertise into his own cosplay, and it’s some of the best on the planet. We looked at one of Manuel’s shoots recently, but his body of work is so impressive…

Final Fantasy VIII, Completed Faster Than Ever

Here’s the newest world record for beating Final Fantasy VIII as quickly as possible, set last night by speedrunner CaracarnVi. Eight hours, 34 minutes. Pretty damn impressive. This one’s fun to watch—I can’t even imagine beating FFVIII in less than 40 hours—but if other Final Fantasy games are more your cup of tea, check out…

The Good, The Bad & The Killer Robot

Luc de Haan is a Dutch concept artist who works at Killzone developer Guerilla Games. The art you’re about to see, however, is as far from the grimy grey darkness of that series as you can get. You can see more of Luc’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger…

When Football And Cosplay Come Together

Indulge me for a second, but yesterday saw a rare coming together of two of my favourite things in life: cosplay and Aston Villa Football Club. For the final game of the season, away at Spurs, Villa fans dropped the usual match-day attire and went dressed as plumbers, superheroes, cereal mascots and…crayons. It looks like…

Zoidberg Cosplay Is Up For Whatever

Using sculpting, molding and animatronics, effects artist Frank Ippolito and Tested have done excellent things with this Dr. Zoidberg outfit that was shown off at this year’s Wondercon.

The Week In Games: Platform Jumping

Between tomorrow’s launch of the absolutely charming The Last Tinker: City of Colors and several eagerly-awaited re-ish releases for the Vita and PC, it’s definitely a platform jumping sort of week. While The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 3 keeps the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers busy, PC and Vita owners play with past…