Big Games Turned Into Little Models

16bitModelsis an exhibition where artists take classic video games and build incredible little real-world dioramas out of them. It was first held last year, but a second instalment went down last week at Kotobukiya’s Akihabara store in Tokyo. Here’s a selection of shots taken of exhibits done for games like Mega Man, Mario, Donkey Kong…

The Mother Of All Nintendo Switch Cases

There are very good actual Nintendo Switch cases on the market, but sometimes the best solution to moving your console around can come from unofficial avenues. In this case, a Pelican…case, the rugged storage boxes that everyone from photographers to tradespeople use to keep their gear safe from bears, bombs and bus crashes. Kamikawa4works for…

Final Fantasy VII’s Cast, Revised

Here’s comic artist Nikolas Draper-Ivey’s take on the main cast of Final Fantasy VII Re-imagining this game is nothing new, but Draper-Ivey’s designs here don’t go changing anyone’s outfit. Instead, by altering the race of each character, they show that everything iconic about this cast has to do with their original designs, haircuts and weapons,…

Damnit Jaal I’m Trying To Work

Today on Highlight Reel we have exploding cars, surprise kills, bottle flips, an incredibly depressing Nier clip, and much more! Watch the video then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below. Subscribe to Kotaku on YouTube for more!…

Mighty Mouse Is Everything The UFC Used To Be

Over the weekend, we were treated to a UFC event light on pretense and heavy on action. The best fought the best, or at least the best available. Hardly anybody beefed. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson fought a perfect fight. Refreshing as the event was, however, it felt like an island surrounded by bullshit-strewn waters. I…

HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review: A Happy Minimum

This is the HyperX Alloy FPS, a mechanical gaming keyboard. It consists of a steel frame, a printed circuit board, a plastic base, 104 Cherry MX Brown switches with red LEDs and the corresponding keycaps. It doesn’t do a lot, but it does what it’s made to do very well. The HyperX Alloy FPS mechanical…

Fighting Game Pro Has A Habit Of Taking Off His Shirt And Losing

Eliver “KillerKai” Ling keeps taking off his shirt during fighting game tournaments. Last night, KillerKai dramatically removed his shirt at the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 NorCal Regionals, right before his final match in a best of three against ApologyMan. The shirt removal has become a notorious intimidation technique for him. It doesn’t always psych out…

The Magicians Book One: A cynical fantasy that gets better toward the end.  What it is: The first of Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy, probably best described as “Harry Potter, except with assholes.” Now also a Syfy TV series that I will probably never watch. Well, at least not until I finish the books. What I’ve read:…

Star Wars Battlefront II Is Written By Spec Ops: The Line‘s Writer And An Ex-IGN Reporter

Star Wars Battlefront II, which was officially announced last weekend, will give fans what they’ve wanted for two years now: Mitch Dyer. Also, a single-player campaign. To write this next Battlefront (not to be confused with the other Star Wars Battlefront II), EA hired Walt Williams, best known for his work writing the critically lauded…

Oceanic League of Legends Teams Still Allegedly Screwing Over Players

Riot’s Oceania Division continues to be engulfed in controversy, with League of Legends teams Tainted Minds and Regicide both being accused of shady behavior. In February, the majority of Tainted Minds, including the coach, left their team house, alleging conditions that were both unsafe—mold, sanitation issues—and made for a poor work environment—no computers and a…

24 Years Later, The Sonic The Hedgehog Cartoon Is Still Charming

Between a catalog of killer games on the Genesis and the Archie Comic series, Sonic the Hedgehog was a fixture of my childhood. At the height of Sonic mania, there was a handful of cartoon shows. My favorite was based on the comics and is now affectionately called Sonic SatAM. But is it as good…

Quiz: Which Inscrutable Nintendo Business Decision Are You?

Last week, Nintendo discontinued the NES Classic, for some reason. This is far from the first questionable business decision they’ve made and it definitely won’t be the last. Find out which one of these decisions you are in this quiz.

Horizon Zero Dawn Uses All Sorts Of Clever Tricks To Look So Good

Every time you move the camera in Horizon Zero Dawn, the game is doing all sorts of under-the-hood calculations, loading and unloading chunks of world to ensure that it all runs properly. And that’s not even counting the robot dinosaurs. In a new 45-minute documentary produced by the Dutch organization VPRO, the developers at Guerrilla…

Here Is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Dressed Up As Pikachu

Yesterday, on Easter, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson chased his daughter around the house wearing a Pikachu costume. And how did you celebrate? Eggs? The 6’5″, 260-pound wrestler was playing his daughter’s favorite game, “I run away and you chase me Pikachu,” according to The Rock’s Instagram. Adorably, his daughter pronounces “Pikachu” like “Peekyu.” “The Rock”…

Robert Yang Wants To Make VR ‘Obscenely Gay’

Robert Yang’s games have been seen by millions of people, but sometimes he’d rather they hadn’t. Yang is well known in indie game development circles as a creator of games that explore the wide world of gay sex and its consequences with an unflinching artistic vision. Hurt Me Plenty is about consensual spanking and power…