Japanese TV Rings In The New Year With Blackface

On New Year’s Eve, one member of Japan’s most famous comedy duo donned blackface for nationwide television. Masatoshi Hamada, who is one part of the comedy team Downtown, did blackface while in Beverly Hills Cop duds for his variety show’s New Year’s Eve special. While the others laughed and clapped, he showed that makeup was…

The Restaurant. Venice, Italy. By Davide Sasso | Instagram JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!   

Big Tank

Kyle Enochs is an artist at Gunfire Games, the studio currently working on Darksiders III You can see more of Kyle’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the images in their native resolution, click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of…

One of the coolest things about Planet Coaster is that its customers look and feel almost alive. If you want to see how that was done, Gamasutra have an interviewwith Owen McCarthy, Principal Programmer at Frontier, who explains the making of the game’s believable crowds

Oh Nice, Super Famicom Wars Is Playable In English

Wars, one of Nintendo’s finest series—and one they seem intent on leaving to die in the cold like a dog—blew up in the West on the Game Boy Advance, but in Japan it’s a lot older. The series debuted on the Famicom in 1988, and then moved to the Game Boy for a number of…

Some Of 2017’s Best Cosplay

Throughout 2017, the supremely-talented Mineralbluflew over 12,000 miles to cover conventions all across America, taking incredible shots (and video) for your cosplay viewing pleasure. To help look back on a killer 2017, he’s put together this video showcasing some of the best cosplay from 15 of the biggest shows on the continent, from PAX to…

Gravity Rush 2 Players Race To Unlock Items Ahead Of Server Shutdown [Updated]

Gravity Rush 2’s online servers are scheduled to shut down on January 18, the game’s one year anniversary. As a result, new players and longtime fans are rushing to make sure they get every special item and unlock from the game’s online modes before they come to an end. Although Gravity Rush 2 is primarily…

In Style Savvy, ‘Basic’ Is Actually Very Cute

Style Savvy has about a dozen brands, each representing a different style. You can dress like a rocker, in psychedelic vintage clothes, or in elegant gothic lolita frills and lace. Unexpectedly, my favorite brand in Style Savvy: Styling Star is Basic U, which sells clothes that are basic. In previous games, the basic style was…

My PC Building Adventure, Part One: Picking The Components

I am building a computer. I never thought I’d write those words, as my crafting ability is typically limited to LEGO sets and coffee tables, but peer pressure from Kirk Hamilton and the Kotaku commentariat has convinced me to take on this lofty, ambitious quest. I will, of course, be documenting the process on Kotaku.…

The Five Best Anime of 2017

There was a great flood of anime in 2017. Of that torrential downpour, five different shows were the rocks I held onto as wave upon wave of trash broke over me. And those five anime series are some of the best I’ve seen in years. Throughout 2017, we shared our favorite new shows of the…

I Accidentally Killed My PUBG Partner Because I’m A Horrible Person

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a dangerous battle of wits and reflexes. It takes calm nerves to come out on top. Yesterday, I failed to keep my nerves at ease and committed the greatest of all multiplayer shames: teamkilling. I’ve poured a lot of time into Battlegrounds, leading to a miraculous victory the first time I streamed…

In Black Mirror, Dating Is Awful But Not Hopeless

Black Mirror’s best episode of season four is, again, a love story. Season three’s standout, “San Junipero,” maybe the series’ first happy episode, was a sweet love story about two women falling for each other in a simulated world. This season’s fourth episode, “Hang The DJ,” has the setup of a good dystopian young adult…

Someone Modded Mario 64 To Play In Nauseating First-Person

We’ve been running and jumping as Mario for decades, but always from a third-person perspective. A recently-released mod tweaks Super Mario 64 to let you see the world from Mario’s eyes and in the process completely transforms the experience. “First Person Mario 64” is a ROM hack by Kaze Emanuar that takes the in-game camera…

In My First Year Of Fatherhood I Somehow Played 106 Video Games

For the 12th straight year I’ve made a list of the video games I’ve played in the past 12 months. I’ve tweaked the way I’ve made this list as my gaming habits have changed, but the biggest impact I expected to see this year was from becoming a father. I was right, but 2017 threw…

YouTuber Apologizes After Uploading Footage Of Apparent Suicide 

Logan Paul, one of YouTube’s biggest stars, recently visited Aokigahara, which is known as the “suicide forest.” There, he appears to have encountered a dead body that he filmed and uploaded. Paul’s vlog featured footage of the body with the face blurred out. “This is not clickbait. This is the most real vlog I’ve ever…

A Peripheral For Switch Owners Who Don’t Embarrass Easily

This is the “Comfortable Hands-Free Stand” for the Nintendo Switch. It is ridiculous. Game developer Jake Kazdal of 17-Bit in Kyoto spotted this third-party Nintendo Switch harness thing. I could see maybe someone using this in the privacy of their own home, but outside? In public? Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture,…