Real-Life First-Person Shooter, Controlled Through Chatroulette

RealmPictures’ concept was to build an immersive first person shooter level, and let unsuspecting people on Chatroulette take control of the protagonist. They had to make it perfect for it to be immersive, but it’s safe to say they succeeded. Their first level took place in a garden, so this second one is a huge…

Mario Sure Likes To Play Dress-up

This piece of fanart illustrates just twelve of Mario’s many, many outfits. Here’s the artwork itself: Called “A Fashionable Plumber,” it was drawn by Dave Bardin, a freelance illustrator, over the course of several months. It would make a cool poster. There’s a sampling of Bardin’s other works below. You can find more, mostly comic-related,…

Think Pixar, But Japanese

This is the closest I’ve seen to a Japanese-made Pixar-style animated short. So, I’m guessing it’ll be the closest you’ve seen, too. This is Tokyo Cosmo. It’s an independent animation made by a small Japanese team. It was entered in Digicon 6 Asia, a short movie contest. I quite like it. Maybe you will also.…

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth: the Kotaku Import Preview

Digimon. Digital Monsters. Digimon are the champions. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth follows a young teen (in my case, a girl named Ami) and her adventures in both the real world and the virtual reality world of EDEN. One day, she and her two friends, Nokia and Arata, are given the hacker ability to capture and…

Running Your Own Game Company Seems Exhausting

Maybe you have fantasies of becoming a famous game creator with your own game studio. You should also have fantasies of not sleeping. This is Akihiro Hino. He is the president of Level-5, the studio he founded and the studio behind Yokai Watch and Professor Layton. He writes, produces, and designs games. He also doesn’t…

Making a Zombie Film During a Zombie Outbreak is Wonderfully Silly

If your first thought at the outbreak of a real zombie apocalypse would be to grab a camera because the resulting footage will look great in your zombie movie, you’re probably a character in the newest Neptunia title. The Neptunia series was created around a fun concept: What if game consoles—i.e., the Playstation 3, Xbox…

Classroom Crisis: The Kotaku Anime Review

If I were to try to briefly describe what the anime Classroom Crisis is like, I’d say it’s similar to an 80s “save the rec-center” movie—only set on Mars and involving teenage rocket scientists. …Okay, actually, that may make it sound better than it really is. In the not-so-distant future, mankind has colonized Mars thanks…

Nintendo’s Bold Predictions for the Future

Yesterday, Nintendo unveiled its new mobile app Miitomo. Some folks were underwhelmed! They might be counting Nintendo out. Don’t count Nintendo out. In a newly published interview with Nikkei, Nintendo boss Tatsumi Kimishima briefly mentioned some of the Kyoto-based game maker’s ambitious plans. Kimishima explained that Nintendo started first with Miitomo because a communication app…

I Am a Hero Is a Manga That Does Zombies Right

Zombies—if you’ll pardon the pun—is a genre that just won’t die. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still good stories to dig up if you look for them. I Am a Hero is one such gem. In terms of outbreak stories, Japanese manga has some really amazing go-to examples I like to bring up whenever…

Link, from Twilight Princess. Cosplay by LuxCosplay, photo by Melenea

San, from Princess Mononoke. Cosplay by MIUX-R

Mass Effect’s EDI. Photo by Supercharger. Cosplayer unknown.

Like A Zerg, But With Better Manners

Milan Nikolic is a concept artist and illustrator from Serbia. You can see more of Milan’s workat his 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 the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration…

50,000 People Are Watching Bob Ross Paint On Twitch Right Now

There’s something really awesome about seeing people react in real time to brush strokes on canvas. It’s like every single thing Bob Ross does, no matter how gentle and delicate, is as big as a major play in the World Series. Confused? Well, Twitch just launched a new initiative, which happens to be called ‘Twitch…

Sketchy Developer Allowed Back On Steam Even Though Last Game Was Booted

Earlier this year, Valve gave Steam users unconditional refunds on a game called Journey of the Light, which claimed to have seven expansive levels, but actually contained just one unbeatable area. The game was then removed from sale. Recently, however, the developer—who goes by the moniker Lord Kres—added two new games to Steam Greenlight, Valve’s…

Some Real Talk From Pewdiepie About YouTube Red

YouTube’s biggest star Pewdiepie weighs in on YouTube’s upcoming subscription service over on Tumblr, and he’s got some healthy dose of realism for everybody. While Pewdiepie understands that folks are wary of YouTube’s new plan, he says it’s worth remembering that Red is the direct result of how people choose to consume the internet without…

Destiny x Star Wars Trailer Mashup Is Suitably Epic

Drama! Darkness! Space magic! Weird swords! I’m talking about Destiny… or am I talking about Star Wars? On YouTube, Sam Goodey (via r/DTG) has cut together a special Destiny video by syncing it to audio from the latest mega Star Wars trailer. It’s good shit. I’ll be honest: The Destiny stuff is fine, but that…

Halo 5 Ground Pound Came Outta Nowhere

Today on Highlight Reel we have spartan ground pounds, horses shitting in space, DiRT flips, missed train rides, and much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. Dirt Rally –Built Ford…