The Battle.net Launcher Is Just The Blizzard Launcher Now

Last year Blizzard announced it was doing away with the name Battle.net. The latest game launcher update puts that plan into effect, replacing the Battle.net branding and asking players to “Log in to Blizzard.” While the Battle.net website is still functioning (don’t want to lose that sweet domain name), the game launcher from which players…

D.Va’s Busy Night’s Work

Federico Pelat is a motion artist and art director from France. You can see more of Pelat’s work at his personal site 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…

Nier: Automata’s Most Human Character Is An Alien Machine

Nier: Automata is a game that explores the meaning and consequence of being human, despite not featuring a single actual human in its primary narrative. In a world populated by machines, one mechanical being, village leader Pascal, strides closest to humanity, and pays a steep price. Automata takes place on a future Earth where a…

McDonald’s Is Killing Off The Quarter Pounder With Cheese In Japan

Oh dear. This is bad news! Very bad. Starting April 4, you cannot order a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Japan, because the country’s McDonald’s restaurants won’t be offering it. This also applies to the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese. According to McDonald’s Japan, some restaurants might run out of their Quarter Pounder stock before…

The Internet Reacts To The End Of Naruto Shippuden

Yesterday, the last episode of Naruto Shippuden aired, ending Naruto Uzumaki’s starring anime run. Fans are taking the opportunity to offer gratitude and share their memories. Naruto won’t be disappearing completely! His kid Boruto is getting a spin-off show starting next month.

If Nier Automata Were A Retro Game

Then, I guess, its characters would look like this. Twitter user Hagetaka has been creating retro versions of Nier Automata protagonists like A2 and 2B. The cool part is that Hagetaka has also been offering a window into the process that went into creating this pixel art: Excellent work! Kotaku East is your slice of…

On Track. Malmö, Sweden. By Tomas Pich. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

The Sandy Side Of The Moon

Marco Gorlei is a concept artist at Atomhawk, a studio whose work we’ve featured a few times here before You can see more of Marco’s work at his personal site and 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…

Nier Cosplay With A Difference

All of the Nier: Automota cosplay we’ve featured so far has been about 2B. So let’s mix it up a bit today and have some Eve shots instead. This is Italian cosplay superstar Leon Chiro as Adam’s lil’ bro, while the photos were taken by FTPH

Australia Bans, Then Un-Bans Outlast 2

Australia’s infamous Classification Board last week essentially banned the upcoming Outlast 2 from going on sale in the country. And only a few days later has backed down and said, oh, ok, the game is actually fine. The initial reason given for the Board’s decision was that, despite Australia now having an 18+ age classification…

Counter-Strike Tournament Organizer Changes Rules For Benefit Of Banned Cheaters

Valve’s anti-cheating software, known as VAC, monitors public Counter-Strike matches for evidence of cheating, like aim assist or changing value modifiers. Traditionally, any pros found cheating have been barred from competing in tournaments, but one organizer has decided to let them back in. ESL, originally Electronic Sports League, updated its Counter-Strike rulebooktoday, to allow VAC-banned…

Nier’s 2B Is Ready For Liftoff

Today on Highlight Reel we have Nier takeoffs, Mass Effect leg day, tank humor, 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! Splinter Cell: Double…

Looking To End Grenade Spam, Battlefield 1 Gives Everyone Recharging Grenades

Choke points and trenches are prime targets for grenades in Battlefield 1. High player numbers can make it difficult to gain ground without being blow to kingdom come. The first part of the developer’s plans to curb this? Give everyone grenades that automatically resupply. Instead of having a small stock of grenades that need to…

The Sweet Taste Of Zelda Revenge

Well, would you look who it is. Remember me, motherfucker? I’m that kid you callously wasted back when I had three hearts, a pair of pants, and a stick for a weapon. Hey, check this out. Was that fun for you? It was fun for me. Now to grab these spare parts out of the…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: How Do I Handle My Weird Fetishes?

Hello and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating column to prevent the resurrection of Dracula. This week, we’re talking about the sorts of awkward situations that you can’t really feel comfortable talking about… except with an advice columnist in front of thousands of anonymous strangers. How do you make it clear to a…

If I Have To See Kirby With Human Feet, So Do You

I’ve now seen Kirby with realistic human feet and I feel like maybe the Internet was a mistake. Illustrator Marie Blue posted this comic to Twitter on March 17th, and the response was intense, to say the least. While it only took to a fever pitch yesterday, this image is now lodged in our collective…

Horizon Zero Dawn Looks Unnaturally Good Because Of ‘Hyper-Realism’

Horizon Zero Dawn is a beautiful game. Sometimes, it seems too beautiful. Here’s how the developers achieved such an uncannily gorgeous look. Studio art director Jan-Bart van Beek recently explained to Kotaku that the studio spent many hours watching BBC nature documentaries, which allowed Guerrilla Games to lay out a conceptual framework for Horizon’s visuals.…

Yooka-Laylee Ditches JonTron’s Voice Acting Over His ‘Personal Viewpoints’ [Update]

Recently, popular YouTuber Jon “JonTron” Jafari made some damn extreme comments about race, which set off a chain reaction of, well, reactions across the internet. The latest consequence of Jafari’s ugly remarks: upcoming N64-era platformer revival game Yooka-Laylee is removing his voice acting. “We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after…