Culture

The Week in Games: There’s Money in the Banana Stand

Rayman Legends makes its way to Xbox One and PS4 this week, followed by Strider’s long-awaited return to the PlayStation and Xbox consoles, plus PC. But the week’s big gorilla arrives on Friday, with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for the Wii U. Tuesday, Feb. 18: Earth Defense Force 2025 (PS3, 360) NASCAR 14 (…

Sunday Comics: Seems Legit

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 Feb. 13. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Feb. 10. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week in the Business: Steam’s Importance to Independents

QUOTE | “I think Steam is … probably the most important thing that’s happened to indie games in the last 10 years.”—Fullbright Company co-founder Steve Gaynor on reactions to his game Gone Home and how indies must think about sales platforms Elsewhere in the business of video games this week … QUOTE | “We expect…

The Internet Reacts To Little Mac’s Smash Bros. Reveal

Did you wonder what caused all the changes in Sonic’s new design? Well there’s your answer right above. It has to be Little Mac, the newly announced character in Super Smash Bros. Wii U! Little Mac inspired a lot of fans, so here are some of the best reactions: He punched in, and hit Samus…

Chocolate Teeth Are Certainly Something to Chew On

It’s Valentine’s Day! And nothing says that like chocolate teeth. As noted on Togetter, a dental student named Matsumoto created chocolate-shaped chompers, with dark chocolate for the gums and white chocolate for the teeth. Today, Matsumoto planned to bring the Valentine’s Day chocolate to dental school for everyone to eat. The image of the sweet…

Lookin’ Sharp, Fish-Head Killer Robot Dude

Kait Kübar is a freelance Estonian artist who most recently worked with Guerilla Games on the Killzone series. You can see more of Kait’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” button…

The Specs Of A Nintendo Console That Never Was

A quick recap for those who may not know: the Sony PlayStation only came about because a dealbetween Sony and Nintendo to produce a CD-based console fell through. Nintendo then went ahead with plans to make their own CD drive, and stick it on the SNES. That ill-fated attachment never appeared on the market, but…

If I Weigh 99 Pounds And Eat A Pound Of Nachos, Am I 1% Nacho?

An important question is finally answered. SciShow does a great job answering this reader’s question about what constitutes ‘you’, and if any of that can technically be considered nachos. Sadly, the answer is no, but there’s still a good lesson here: Humans are basically shaped like weird, complicated donuts. SciShow via FirstWeFeast

The First Day of Steam Tags Is Both Funny and Sad

Sometimes, people come together to do wonderful things. And sometimes, people come together to do terrible, silly things. When it comes to Steam’s new tagging system—which is currently in beta—it’s a mix of both. Yesterday, Valve introduced “Steam Tags,” a system which lets users label games with a few words or phrases. Most of the…

​Ask Dr. Nerdlove: When A ‘Nice Guy’ Won’t Leave You Alone

What’s going on, everyone? Welcome to the latest installment of Ask Dr. NerdLove, the greatest nerd love-advice column ever conceived by man. Before we get started, a self-serving plug: If you’re in Houston on the 27th of February, I’m going to be giving a Nerd Nite talk on how to hack dating and turn being…

Now These Are Some Good-Lookin’ Giant Robots

You may not have heardof World War Machine, an indie project that’s part of Square Enix’s Collective program. Which means you might not have seen its amazing robot designs either. Shame. Artist Aaron Beck has done some work for the project. Beck is one of the best in the business when it comes to this…

Track: Blaze | Album: As The World Burns | Artist: Arsonists Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Halo, Destiny Artist Sure Knows How To Draw Cool Stuff

So, Isaac Hannaford is an artist who was featuredhere before this concept art feature even had a name. So we’re about overdue for a second, proper look at his work. As Lead Concept Artist at Destiny and former Halo developers Bungie, Hanneford is the man in charge of shaping the studio’s output. Which is one…

Tell Us the Game You’re Unbeatable At

Maybe it’s through natural talent, maybe through hours of obsessively replaying something. Maybe it’s speedrunning Metroid games, maybe hustling people in Street Fighter. Whatever it may be, what game are you best at, and how did you get that way? Personally, I tend to find myself playing games as far as my natural skill will…

Roman Games Weren’t Built In A Day

Silver Saaremael is a senior concept artist at Crytek, who spent the last two years working on Xbox One launch title Ryse. I don’t know how much more Ryse art we can post, but really, when it’s all this good, who cares. You can see more of Silver’s work at his personal site To see…

The Week in Games: Lightning Strikes

The week’s big new packaged release is Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, with a couple of bundles and re-releases arriving with it on Tuesday. The MMO World of Tanks fully launches on Xbox 360 on Wednesday, and The Last of Us gets its prequel, Left Behind, on Valentine’s Day. Here’s the week in games: Tuesday,…

Sunday Comics: Put Some Clothes On

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 Feb. 8. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Feb. 3. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week in the Business: ‘Too Much Like Pornography?’

QUOTE | “You ever feel like what we’re doing is too much like pornography?”—Trip Hawkins, EA and Digital Chocolate founder, asking an odd question while on the difficulty of monetizing games Elsewhere in the business of video games this past week … QUOTE | “A culture where mistakes are frowned on absolutely crushes creativity.”—Ted Price,…

Track: Uruku Tumi Gushiku | Album: Jin Jin | Artist: Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

How To Dress A Badass Barbarian

Kaija Rudkiewicz is a senior concept artist at Crytek, where she most recently worked on Xbox One launch title Ryse. For a game that was a bit ho-hum, it’s sure produced its share of amazingart. Most of the images you’ll see here are character pieces, exploring stuff like outfits, colour options and accessories. All fantastic…