Culture

Inside Arby’s Test Kitchen: A Snacktaku Special Report

Every year, Arby’s executive chef Neville Craw and his crack team come up with upwards of 1,200 potential new sandwiches. Around 50 of those are developed until release-worthy. Only five or six make it to stores. One of those is the Smokehouse Brisket sandwich. Earlier this month, Arby’s invited me to its Atlanta headquarters to…

It’s A Family Portrait For…Fantasy Character Classes

Like every other artist on planet Earth, Tyler Jacobson has worked on the gorgeous mobile card game Legend of the Cryptids. He’s also done stuff for Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons and advertising clients like Toyota. You can see more of Tyler’s work at his personal site and blog To see the larger pics…

Track: “Cats and Dog” (MitchiriNeko March/Get It On The Floor mash-up) | Artist: DMX vs. Chiemi Takano (via Youtube user aznr4v3m4st3r) Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Count Chocula: The Snacktaku Monster Cereals Review Spooktacular

For the first time in America’s troubled history, the five points on the pentagram of morning food evil glow as one upon store shelves, signaling the coming of the last complete breakfast. Five cereals in five days, and a Count Chocula shall lead them. In 1971, as I was still hatching my brilliant plan to…

Quietly, Nintendo Perfected A Whole New Type of Video Game This Year

You may have missed it this year amid all the arguing about whether Nintendo should bail out of making gaming hardware and just stick to making games. You may have missed it if the only Nintendo headlines that made an impression on you in 2013 were the ones about Wii U struggles or the company’s…

Track: Dawn Rising | Album: Whales And Leeches | Artist: Red Fang Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Where Halo, Star Wars & Warhammer Meet

Kai Lim is part of Imaginary Friends, a concept studio in Singapore which has worked with DC Comics, Sony, Nike, EA, Valve, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Capcom…OK, look, everyone One of the studio’s three founders is Kai Lim, who is the man to thank for the eyeball candy you’re about to see. You can see more…

The Week in Games: The Heroes We Need

Batman: Arkham Origins launches globally on one day—Friday. There must be a ton of spoilers in it that Warner Bros. doesn’t want to go on the Internet in the three days between then and Tuesday, the typical US drop day. If you can’t wait to the end of the week for your superhero fix, LEGO:…

Sunday Comics: Kids These Days

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published Oct. 16. Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published Oct. 14. Read more of Awkward Zombie Brawl In The…

This Week in the Business: The Hardware is the Hard Part

What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …. QUOTE | “I think people might not grasp how hard that is, to develop a game at the same time as the hardware.”—Patrick Bach of EA DICE, on developing Battlefield 4 to launch with next-gen consoles QUOTE | “The right way to be…

Track: The Look | Album: The Engish Riviera | Artist: Metronomy Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

Apologies If This Art Slaps You In The Eyeballs

Based in Brooklyn, artist Roxie Vizcarra creates imagery for video games. What follows is some of my favourite stuff I’ve ever featured on Fine Art Why? Partly because, for someone working in the games business, it’s different. Even in their spare time, most game artists draw the same stuff they would for work: spaceships, robots,…

Track: The Last Song Ever Written | Album: The Five Ghosts | Artist: Stars Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to—and gaming to—at the moment.

A Robot Hasn’t Made It Until It’s On The Front Cover Of A Magazine

Yong Yi Lee is a concept artist from Singapore who works in the games business. Shame those magazines aren’t real. I’d subscribe in a heartbeat. You can see more of his work at Lee’s personal site and CGHub page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you…

Mirror’s Edge Felt Real, And That’s What Made It So Special

I could write about Mirror’s Edge all day. About how much I love it, how important it’s been to this generation of gaming. I could talk about its visual design, which remains as fresh and iconic today as it did back in 2009. I could take about Magnus “Solar Fields” Birgersson’s wonderful score. Instead, though,…

Track: The Zookeeper’s Boy | Album: And The Glass Handed Kites | Artist: Mew Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Glorious Fried Food Creations Of The Texas State Fair

There is no combination of foodstuffs that doesn’t taste better rolled into a ball and deep-fried. This turkey and stuffing roll with cranberry and gravy dipping sauces is just the first blip on the heart monitor of flavor available at the Texas State Fair. Gizmodo’s Leslie Horn braved the spattering grease of this year’s Big…

Video Game Lag In Real Life Is Still Annoying

Thank you for the Vine, Neat Dude and reminding us the worst moments of online gaming. This could be any game, really. Lag has no boundaries! If it lasted a bit longer, we’d probably see one of them appear right behind the other to get a killshot. Video game lag in real life [Neat Dude,…

No, Evil Soldier Man, I Was Not Making Fun Of Your Raspy Voice

Efgeni Bischoff is a freelance 3D artist who has previously worked for companies like Crytek and Guerilla Games. In between that, he’s also worked on Halo 4. So, yeah, if you want to see gorgeous images of armoured soldier men with fancy guns, you’ve come to the right place. You can see more of Efgeni’s…

Gone Fishin’

Colombian artist Victor Mosquera works for Volta, a design house that specialises in creating concept art for video games and movies. His professional work is for an unannounced project, but that won’t stop us looking at his impressive personal portfolio. You can see more of Victor’s stuff at his personal site and CGHub page To…