How a Judo Olympian Spawned an Anime Meme

Nearly a week ago, Japan’s Kaori Matsumoto took Olympic gold after defeating UK judoka Sarah Clarke Romanian judoka Corina Caprioriu. Matsumoto’s spirited judo and her ensuing Olympic win have spawned a meme online in Japan that compares the gold medal winner to Neon Genesis Evangelion Unit 01—the unit piloted by Eva hero Shinji Ikari. This…

Valve Getting Ready For Its “Next Gen” Source Engine?

Valve’s Source Engine has been powering the company’s games for nearly a decade now, having made its debut all the way back in 2004 with Half-Life 2. While it’s done an admirable job in recent years for games like Left 4 Dead, updates and revisions can’t mask the fact it’s getting a little long in…

Nyan Cat? No, This is Nyan Pokémon

And so we come full circle. First, Chris Torres creates the Nyan Cat. Then he turns 151 Pokémon into cats. Now artist Simon Johnson has turned the original cat video into one starring said Pokémon, a feat he says took him 150 hours and over 4000 individual images. Nyan cat – All 151 Pokemon [YouTube,…

One Man’s Terrific Art for Assassin’s Creed, Prometheus and More

Here’s another awesome Fine Art to get your week started on the right foot: a collection of works by David Levy, aka vyle, aka another of my very favourite concept artists in the whole wide world. David has worked on a number of big video games like Assassin’s Creed (we’ve actually shown some of his…

Mars Rover Survives Seven Minutes of Terror, Lands Successfully on the Surface

Well, the little rover that could has gone and done it. Having survived an epic voyage and a convoluted, dangerous descent, NASA’s Curiosity Rover has successfully landed on the surface of Mars, and is already transmitting images back to Earth. Nice job, little guy. And nice job all the men and women who designed and…

See What Actually Happens to Your Dirty, Broken, Pre-Owned Video Games

As we found out last week, not every game you sell to GameStop ends up on that store’s shelf. Sometimes games and hardware are sent to an enormous facility in Texas for testing, cleaning and re-assignment. Want to see what that process actually looks like? These images show you exactly what happens when the games…

I’d Kill to Play Games on This 72-Screen, 36-Computer Virtual Reality System

Later this year, the University of Illinois at Chicago will take the wraps off something it’s calling CAVE2. You, however, will most probably call it “that badass virtual reality system”. CAVE2 is big. It’s 24-feet in diameter and 8 feet tall. But then, it needs to be. It consists of 72 screens and 20 speakers,…

Atari Founder’s Favourite Game Was Kicking Competitor’s Asses

Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari and…other things, chats with Eurogamer’s Simon Parkin (Top photo by Johannes Simon | Getty)

The Amazing Cosplay of an Otaku Convention

Kotaku reader and talented photographer man Mike Kowalek, whose Anime Expo work we showcased a few weeks back, was also at the recent Otakon, held in Baltimore between July 27-29. Billed as a celebration of “anime, manga, and all facets of Asian pop culture”, it’s also a great excuse for people to get up to…

Was the $30,000 Video Game Sale a Fake?

The strange story of a collector buying a very rare Neo Geo game at an airport for $30,000 just got a whole lot stranger: there are now accusations that the cartridge is a fake. A forgery. A hoax. Members of the Neo Geo collector’s community have been picking at the story for a while now,…

For NBA Live, an Uncomfortable Silence Speaks for Itself

Let’s be candid. As a licensed sports video game, when your series hasn’t been on shelves in three years—a gap not seen since the days games were played on cartridges—you really face just one expectation and it’s a pretty low bar: Just come out. Launch. Release on time. Somehow, over the past week, NBA Live…

Final Fantasy VII Quietly Re-Released, Then Taken Down

The upcoming PC re-release of Final Fantasy VII was accidentally made available for sale on Square Enix’s online store over the weekend, then very quickly pulled. Not before some people managed to buy the game, though, which led to some disappointed customers, as Square Enix’s DRM protection wouldn’t let them actually play it, since their…

The Week in Games: Short and to the Point

Persona 4 Arena arrives in the west this week, accompanied by the funky rhythm game Sound Shapes. On Xbox Live Arcade, the third-person multiplayer shooter Hybrid continues the Summer of Arcade. Tuesday • Sound Shapes (PS3, PS Vita) • Persona 4 Arena (PS3, 360) • Deponia (PC) Wednesday • Hybrid (XBLA) Friday • The Amazing…

First Look at a Brand New Prince of Persia Reboot?

This image is reportedly our first look at a brand new Prince of Persia game. It was posted by a user on Ubisoft’s official forums, and down the bottom you can see the term POP_ZERO_2. Is it real? Who knows, we’re asking. Is it interesting? You bet. If it is real, that’s not just a…

Gwen Stefani’s Band is Still Pissed Off About Guitar Hero, Still Hellbent on Suing Activision

Activision may have dusted its hands of Guitar Hero, Band Hero and everything else from that played-out lead mine, but lawsuits from upset pop stars continue. No Doubt, featured in Band Hero, still plans on taking Activision to trial, saying the publisher has illegitimately delayed the lawsuit and made insulting settlement offers. No Doubt, an…

Whatever this really means, if anything, Left 4 Dead 2 on Linux runs at 310 fps versus 270.6 fps on Windows, says Valve

EA Sports’ “Season Ticket” Tries to Sweeten the Pot with Free DLC

EA Sports’ “Season Ticket” subscription will offer free downloadable content that otherwise would be paid, modestly sweetening the sales pitch for a service that hasn’t generated much buzz since its debut a year ago. According to EA Sports’ updated Season Ticket page, first noticed by Operation Sports, subscribers will now get free packs of cards…

This Stupid Controller That Looks Like a Sex Toy Helped My Brother Win a Silver Medal

Hurry! There are only two days left until this auction for “Le Stick” closes. You can have this hunk of junk for $29.99, but I warn you, it’s practically useless. Except for one video game, that is. Rewind: It’s 1983. My brother and I live next door to a guy who is an electronics buyer,…

If you dig Spelunky‘s funky soundtrack, you can now download it—and 15 tracks not found in the game—for $7.

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Crowning King Gary

We’ve been doing a lot of cosplay in the ‘Shop Contest lately, but Gary, King of Nintendo 64, is too obvious a royal subject to pass up this week. I really shouldn’t have to make any suggestions when you’re dealing with a guy who has a suit of armor made from at least three Nintendo…