When A Short Film Looks As Good As A Hollywood Blockbuster

Dust is not, as you may first think, an upcoming Hollywood adaptation of The Last Of Us. It’s just a short, one that’s taken four years, and a ton of hard work, to put together. A lot of that punch comes from fact it’s been produced by Ember Labs (who we’ve featured previously on Kotaku),…

The Future Of Video Games Sure Has Fancy Lighting

Visuals company Geomerics has some lighting tech called Enlighten. It’s in a lot of games you’ve already played, but it’s in even more you’re about to play. In the future. And they look just great. This demo reel the company put together sure is pretty. I doubt my PC will ever get these games looking…

How To Prank A Religious Protestor At Comic-Con

Photographer Sebastian Jespersen took some amazing cosplay photos at Comic-Con, which you can see here, but my favourite shot of his has nothing to do with dressing up. It’s this one. Where the dude on the right is getting a lesson in how to protest topics relevant to the show at hand. Sebastian Jespersen [Flickr]

Sony Might Be Making A Gran Turismo…Movie

A report on The Wrap claims that Sony is looking to get the producers of Fifty Shades of Grey to put a Gran Turismo movie together. The story claims it’s part of a move to cash in on the recent success of “fast car” movies like Fast & The Furious, but God, I hope not.…

How To Use A Console Controller On Your PC

Though it’s a platform that began with the joystick the dominant control method, over the past twenty years the keyboard and mouse overtook it to become the only way to play most games on the PC. Which is a shame, because there are a lot of them that play better with a control pad. This…

Amazing Insect Video Does Massive Damage To Your Brain

A ridiculously powerful camera has let a German photographer take some of the most incredible footage I have ever seen. There’s a reason creature designers so often look to the animal kingdom – and insects in particular – for inspiration. Because when you see them this close, they may as well be aliens. The photographer…

All The Stuff The First X-Men Movie Got Wrong

How did that guy manage to punch Wolverine so many times without breaking his hand? I remember that bugging me back when I first saw Bryan Singer’s debut X-Men film. Some of this other stuff, as pointed out by CinemaSins, didn’t bug me so much. But that one stuck with me. I really liked this…

This Is Why I Love Disgaea

She’s a proud demon warrior. Her name is Barbara. Hi, Barbara. Hundreds of hours of gameplay is nice. Micromanagement that borders of the neurotic is wonderful. Endless strategies and boundless replayability? The Disgaea series has these in spades. But it’s the memorable characters and offbeat humor that keeps me coming back to a series I…

Oh Look, They Got Runescape 3 Working Again

Look at all of those graphics. That’s at least seven or eight graphics right there. After a day spent staring at a black screen, Jagex has finally tweaked Runescape 3 enough so that I can see those shiny new graphics. I completely forgot why I was in that cave. But the reason I am in…

The Fascinating Numbers Behind This Year’s Steam Summer Sale

Rest easy, wallets: we’re finally out of the clutches of the mighty Steam Summer Sale. Seems like a good time to look back on it all, right? Redditor tallkido has put together a nifty infographic that breaks down the numbers behind the sale, if you’re curious. Take a look: Summary of the Steam Summer Sale…

EA Loses $11 Million Madden Lawsuit

A jury today found that Electronic Arts used code and features developed by the designer of the first John Madden Football throughout Madden games published into the mid-1990s without crediting or paying him royalties, and required EA to pay damages that could start at $11 million and potentially reach much higher. Robin Antonick, credited on…

A Bunch Of Comic Artists Draw Batman With Their Eyes Closed

Bats are blind. So, shouldn’t comic artists be able to draw The Batman with their eyes closed? Or something? That’s the theory artist Olly Moss put to the test last week at Comic-Con. Taking a note from the site Blind as a Batman, Moss asked a bunch of geek/comic notables to draw the caped crusader…

Death Threats Follow Small Call Of Duty Tweak

Dedicated communities always react to changes to their favorite games, it’s normal. But threatening someone’s life over a small tweak to a game? That’s a whole other level of ridiculous. Still, that’s exactly what’s happening to David Vonderhaar, design director for Call of Duty: Black Ops II according to One of Swords. Earlier today, a…

Okay, Yes, I Am Interested In This Horror Adventure Game

We’ve known for a little while that The Astronauts, a studio made up of former members of Bulletstorm and Painkiller studio People Can Fly, was moving beyond their action pedigree to make their new game very different. Now we’ve gotten a fresh taste of what it’ll be, and I have to say, I’m intrigued. The…

Curious how Earthbound made it to U.S. shores so long ago? In honor of last week’s Wii U re-release, Wired has published an interview with Marcus Lindblom, the guy who helped localize it. Fun fact: Happy Happyists have snowballs on their hats because they looked too much like KKK members.

Dozens Of Awful Indie Games Later, I Found An Amazing One On Xbox Live

I decided to go searching for something worthwhile on Xbox Live’s Indie Store today. I had to play dozens of bad indie games before finding it, but One Finger Death Punch made it all worthwhile. It would be better without the annoying announcer, but it’s nice to find a game with a focus on tight…

Tips For Playing The Cube World Alpha

If you’ve taken a chance on the Cube World alpha, you might’ve noticed one thing. Aside from the beautiful voxels and the open-world landscape, I mean. At the moment, the game doesn’t really tell you how things work. In a way, that mysterious nature is part of Cube World’s charm. Still, I figure there are…

This Is What It Looks Like When Celebrities Play Wii U

Celebrities: They’re just like us! They have bad hair days. They hate waiting in line at the DMV. And just like us, they stand around looking uncomfortable when they play Wii U at conventions. Nintendo today sent over a bunch of celeb photos from the San Diego Comic Con last weekend, and some of them…

13 Minutes Of Very Impressive Assassin’s Creed IV Gameplay

I’ve already seen this slice of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag in action. Now you can, too. I’m extra-wary of the new game after feeling so disappointed with Assassin’s Creed III And I’ll only really feel more confident once I’ve had a chance to actually play the thing. But I’m guessing you’ll agree that this…

Act fast and you can snag this hilarious Mario warp-pipe cat complex from CatistrophicCreations on Etsy. If you’re lucky, your cat will share the coins she earns. (And hey, even if someone beats you to it, these pictures are still pretty funny.) (Via Technabob)