- CultureSplitscreen
Podcast: Learning To Love Speedrunning
Just what makes speedrunning so appealing? Why is it so much fun to watch people break the hell out of games we love? PODCAST TIME! Kotaku’s resident Australian Luke Plunkett joins me and Kirk on this week’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen to talk about everything from Assassin’s Creed to Arkham Knight. We discuss the appeal…
By Jason Schreier Published January 14, 2016 - Esports
ESPN Is Getting Into Esports
Earlier this month, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick declared that he wants to build the “ESPN of video games.” Turns out ESPN wants to do that too. Today, the sports conglomerate and Deadspin nemesis launched ESPN Esports, a vertical dedicated to competitive gaming. They haven’t gotten too specific about their plans, but they’ve got segments dedicated…
By Jason Schreier Published January 14, 2016 -
UncategorizedIn Defense of Dragon’s Dogma
Dragon’s Dogma didn’t get the kindest review on Kotaku when it came out in 2012 for consoles. With the PC version arriving on Steam tomorrow, it’s an opportunity for me to mount a defense for one of my favorite flawed games of the last few years. Dragon’s Dogma is far from perfect, but damn, I…
By Patrick Klepek Published January 14, 2016 - Uncategorized
Video Games Raised $46 Million On Kickstarter Last Year
Video games took in $46,177,705 on Kickstarter in 2015, according to new stats released today by the crowdfunding company. That’s significantly more than 2014 but not quite as much as Kickstarter made from games in 2013. Close to 25% of that money came solely from Shenmue III and the Castlevania spiritual successor Bloodstained, which raised…
By Jason Schreier Published January 14, 2016 -
CultureIron Man Figure Is Actually Iron (Well, Close Enough)
Plastic Iron Man figures are all well and good, but its hard to maintain the illusion of metal armor when your toy is light as a feather. Weighing in at four pounds, Comicave’s Iron Man Mark XXXVIII Igor figure is pretty heavy metal. Courtesy of my friends at Bluefin Distribution, bringers of all things amazing…
By Mike Fahey Published January 14, 2016 - Uncategorized
Actor Alan Rickman Dies At 69
The great British actor Alan Rickman, famous for his roles in Harry Potter and Die Hard, has passed away. A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Rickman’s breakout role with mainstream movie audiences was as the terrorist Hans Gruber in 1988’s Die Hard. High-profile parts like the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2016 - Kotaku East
Today, I Visited Resident Evil‘s Umbrella Corporation [Update]
And I got infected with the T-virus. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Universal Studios Japan is once again rolling out its “Cool Japan”-themed area with attractions for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Monster Hunter, Attack on Titan, and Resident Evil Update – 6:15PM, Feb 9: We have removed several photos from this post that we…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2016 - Uncategorized
Not All Anime Characters Look Freaky in Real Life
There’s a notion that anime (and manga) characters look good in their respective formats because they are so stylized. In real life, this notion goes, they’d look strange. That’s not always true. As previously, a set of highly realistic Attack on Titan statues are on display at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. Two of the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2016 - Uncategorized
Let’s Rank the Star Wars Movies, Best to Worst
With a new Star Wars movie out, the first in ten years, now is as good a time as any to see how all the films stack up. That’s right, it’s time to put the Star Wars movies through the Pecking Order paces—much like with have with everything from the Final Fantasy games to, more…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2016 - Kotaku East
Kizumonogatari Isn’t Your Average Vampire Tale
The Monogatari anime franchise has given us four TV series and several specials since it started in 2009. So it’s all the more surprising that it’s only now that we’re getting the beginning of the story in the first of three films with Kizumonogatari Part I: Tekketsu The Monogatari series in general follows high school…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published January 14, 2016 -
Kotaku EastYour Complete Winter 2016 Anime Guide
It’s winter. It’s cold outside. That is, unless you are in warm country or in the Southern Hemisphere. Whatever, let’s stay inside and watch anime. That’s right, it’s that time of the year again. Time for Kotaku’s annual Winter Anime Guide—namely, the 2016 edition. Have a look at the shows below, which are in alphbetical…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 14, 2016 - Culture
Oh, Don’t Give Me That Look
Zezhou Chen is a freelance artist from China working in the video game business. You can see more of Chen’s work at his personal site and ArtStation page 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 in…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2016 -
UncategorizedMotörhead’s Lemmy Lives On In GTA V
Once was a time you’d pay tribute to a fallen idol by writing a song, or maybe placing some flowers. That was then. This is 2016, and some Motörhead fans have taken to frontman Lemmy’s passing a little differently. Thanks to a mod (by Christian Brandes, David Violante and jedijosh920), Lemmy Kilmister himself is now…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2016 -
UncategorizedThe Final Station Looks Like Snowpiercer vs Zombies
tinyBuild Games—of Punch Club and Lovely Planet fame—are also putting out The Final Station. Which looks both grim and cute-as-hell at the same time. Grim because the world is dying! Cute-as-hell because just look at that cute little hero and those cute little zombie ghost things. Here’s the official description: Travel by train through a…
By Luke Plunkett Published January 13, 2016 - Culture
Trash Talk Generator Has Produced Some Wicked Insults On Steam
“You know all those times your parents said video games would get you nowhere? They were right.” Last week, I spoke with the creator of the Shittalk Generator, a crowdsourced effort to create sick (read: actually decent) burns that can be automatically queued up in games like Counter-Strike, DOTA 2, and Team Fortress 2. I’ve…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 13, 2016 -
UncategorizedWhat Star Wars: The Force Awakens Looks Like Without Visual Effects
Let’s take a closer look at the CGI and special effects in The Force Awakens, shall we? Oscars has a great breakdown of the VFX before/after featured in the latest Star Wars, and it’s definitely worth a watch. Amazing to see how much of this stuff is recorded ‘in real life’ versus what is constructed…
By Patricia Hernandez Published January 13, 2016 -
UncategorizedNice Monkey Island Reference, Assassin’s Creed
I was kidnapping a guy the other night in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and overheard a couple of Londoners engaging in some insult sword fighting. If you ask me, most of the enemies in these games fight like dairy farmers…
By Kirk Hamilton Published January 13, 2016
