This Week In The Business: VR’s Virtual Diversity

QUOTE | “Part of my job involves funding content and my heart sinks when someone brings me something that’s a shooter, because a shooter is almost the lowest common denominator at this point.” – Oculus’ Callum Underwood says it’s time for VR devs to move on and consider new styles of gameplay. QUOTE | “I…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for packing because you’re going on a solo vacation to Iceland next week, which is exciting and a little scary! But planning is stressful, so probably video games. I’m finally done with my review of Prey, but I’m really excited to play it again a lot slower so I can check out all…

Guy Gets His Dad To Reenact Overwatch Emotes

It’s Friday. Finally! Obviously, it’s time to unwind the same way you do every Friday: by watching a video of somebody’s dad. Nick Luciano got his dad to reenact a bunch of emotes from Overwatch. His dedication to accuracy is surpassed only by the sheer will he’s forced to conjure to stifle his laughter. The…

World War Z (the book): A meticulous, global history of the zombie apocalypse.  What it is: Max Brooks’ 2006 novel stitching together dozens of fictional accounts of a zombie uprising that almost killed off humanity. Adapted in 2013 into a film that threw out book’s entire concept and kept only the name. What I’ve read:…

Hearthstone Playoffs Will Be Held In Buffalo Wild Wings, Which Presents Some Problems

Think you’ve got what it takes to qualify for the Hearthstone Spring Championships? Okay, but can you do it in a Buffalo Wild Wings? If you’re looking to compete in this year’s Hearthstone Spring Playoffs, you might have to throw down in a loud room that smells like honey barbecue sauce. Blizzard Entertainment announced this…

What You Need To Know About Eurovision, Humanity’s Greatest Achievement

The Eurovision Song Contest began in 1956, when seven European countries competed in Switzerland to find the best original song composition. Positioned as a light entertainment event, Eurovision has since morphed into a nightmare techno bloodbath juggernaut. Tomorrow, 26 of the 43 participating countries will perform their original songs to be judged by every European…

What We Liked (And Didn’t Like) About Breath Of The Wild’s Final Boss

On this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, Jason and I were joined by our boss Stephen Totilo to talk about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with full spoilers. We started with the final boss fight. You can listen to our discussion starting at 22:56, and the full Zelda conversation actually goes on quite a…

The Hitman Series Has A Long History Of Excellence

Yesterday, Square-Enix announced that it was parting ways with Hitman developers IO Interactive. So why don’t we take some time to appreciate one of the best crafted stealth series around? Hitman is an action-stealth series that forged a unique identity in the early days of the genre. While games like Metal Gear Solid (1998) focused…

The Five Highest Rated Games On Steam Probably Aren’t What You Expect

Of the 100 billion games on Steam, one for every star in the sky, which are the absolute cream of the crop? Which have users rated the highest? To borrow a cliche from The Bad Internet, the answer may surprise yo—[vomits profusely]. Seriously, though, you’re probably expecting a bunch of Valve games and maybe, like,…

The Five Best Anime Moms

Three cheers for moms. Single moms, cookie-baking moms, strict moms, workaholic moms, martial arts master moms, bike gang moms, wolf child moms and actually-giant-mecha moms—we appreciate you, in life and in anime. And there are some very, very good moms in anime. In celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re honoring our five favorite anime moms. Here…

The official musical tribute to Magikarp’s uselessness has now been translated to English. Enjoy!

Modder Adds Sonic To Mario Kart 8

Between his inclusion in Smash Bros. and his own kart racing title, Sonic fits into Mario Kart 8 like a puffy white glove. Modder CorBond57 makes it happen by swapping the hedgehog’s model with Mario’s. He looks like Sonic, he drives like Sonic, but he sounds like Metal Mario. That’s because CorBond57’s work-in-progress mod overlay’s…

Survey: 42 Percent Of Esports Viewers Don’t Play The Games They Watch

Not everyone who watches the Super Bowl plays football, and it turns out the same is true for the League of Legends World Championship. According to research done by analytics firm Newzoo, 42 percent of esports viewers surveyed do not actually play the games they watch. Specifically, Newzoo studied the esports viewing habits of people…

Tom Brady Is On Madden 18‘s Cover And Life Is Hell

This sucks. Here’s EA: The Madden NFL cover was one of the few career accolades that had previously eluded Brady, and now he adds the honor alongside his multiple NFL championships, MVP awards, Pro Bowl appearances and more. This also marks the first time in Madden NFL history that teammates have graced the cover in…

Alan Wake Is Disappearing From Steam And Xbox Live Because The Future Is Weird

The makers of the horror game Alan Wake said today that they’re pulling the game from Steam and Xbox Live Monday because of a music licensing issue. Although you can keep the game if you own it, you won’t be able to buy Alan Wake again as of May 15. Remedy, the studio behind Alan Wake,…

That’ll Do It

Serge Birault is an artist and character designer based in Montréal. You can see more of Serge’s work at his 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 video game artists, showcasing the best of…

Parappa And Ouendan Creators Join Forces For Project Rap Rabbit

Parappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura and Keiichi Yano of Gitaroo Man and the Ouendan are teaming up for a new story-driven rhythm adventure. Remember when rhythm games had stories? These two do. While we have little information about Project Rap Rabbit—just ateaser website (viaGematsu) and trailer, the simple fact that Matsuura and Yano and…

Snacktaku Eats Firework Oreos, Does Not Explode

In the hierarchy of things you don’t put in your mouth, fireworks are right up there with razor blades and hobos, but nothing will stand in the way of Nabisco’s relentless quest to keep Snacktaku from eating things that aren’t Oreos. Firework Oreos, in stores now alongside something called Waffle and Syrup Oreos (which we…