Culture

Ask Dr. NerdLove: Should I Tell My Girlfriend I Lost My Virginity To A Sex Worker?

Greetings, you corrupting porn tentacles, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the first dating advice column to compete in the Kumite. This week we’re talking about sex, sexual shame and the intense emotions that run rampant when we start getting busy. How important is it to disclose your entire sexual history? Is an infidelity in…

Snacktaku Eats Burger King’s Cheetos Chicken Fries

After setting the snack mash-up world on fire with Mac N’ Cheetos and bathrooms everywhere alight with the Whopperrito, Burger King follows it all up with the tamest combo yet, orange chicken fries. They are chicken fries. They are orange. Basically Burger King has taken the Cheez-It flavored breading that protected Mac N’ Cheetos tasty…

Podcast: The Good And Bad Of Destiny: Rise of Iron

Rise of Iron is in our hands, so it’s Destiny time on this week’s Kotaku Splitscreen, a podcast in which we travel through space shooting aliens with thermal paste. Today’s episode sees the introduction of two new features—Weekly NFL Picks and the Roomba Report—as well as a deep dive into the good, bad, and ugly…

AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) has a speedrunning community of its own! The fan made remake is going strong in spite ofNintendo’s attempts to shut it down. DruidVorse just set a new world record with an Any% time of 54:04.

The Art of Bungie’s Destiny

A behind the scenes look at Bungie's new online shooter

Track: Sad Song | Artist: Lou Reed | Album: Berlin Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

The Dark Side Always Gets The Cooler Outfits

This is Miss Sinister (who we’ve featured before) as ass-kicking Star Wars witch Asajj Ventress. You can check out more of Miss Sinister’s work at her store page Costume fabrication by GSTQ Fashions and Monqiue Renee. Light sabers by Travis Wood, Pixel Bash Props and Zatcaskagoon. Electronics by Sublime Lightworks

Modders Add Multiplayer To Stardew Valley Before The Game’s Developers

Steam farming sensation Stardew Valley finally has multiplayer! Well… unofficially, anyway. Stardew Valley players have been waiting for multiplayer since shortly after the game came out in February, but that particular update is still a seed, rather than a blossoming pumpkin patch or a field overrun by sprightly Pokemon. It might be in the game…

Steam’s Digital Homicide Fiasco Is Valve’s Fault

It’s been a dramatic handful of days for Steam. Infamous shovelware developer Digital Homicide sued 100 Steam users for $18 million and subpoenaed Valve for their information, at which point Valve booted them and all their games from the service. The worst part? This was all painfully avoidable. The Digital Homicide situation is the culmination…

Track: Down For You | Artist: Ta-Ku | Album: Songs To Make Up To Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

Time For A Pit Stop

Woonyoung Jung is a Korean artist based in LA. You can see more of Jung’s work at his Tumblrand ArtStationpage. 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 both their…

Valve Changes Steam Reviews Again

Last week, Valve made some big changes to Steam reviews. Developers, especially, didn’t love them Developers were worried by the part where Steam would default to not showing reviews by people who received game keys from places like Kickstarter, as opposed to directly purchasing from Steam. Valve made the change to counter fraudulent reviews and…

Hi, The Witcher’s Triss Merigold 

A day may come when I stop posting The Witcher cosplay on this blog. An hour of wolves and shattered shields. But it is not this day. This is Madame Skunk in Triss’ Witcher 2 getup, who along with her partner Weasel cosplays in Germany as everything from Metal Gear to Borderlands to Dragon Age…

Mod Turns RimWorld Into A Lovecraftian Nightmare

In Steam sci-fi colony-building hit RimWorld, sanity is precious. Colonists have to deal with a lot of shit—from deceased loved ones to rampaging space turkeys—and they sometimes snap. H.P. Lovecraft also knows a thing or two about driving people to madness. Modder Jecrell added one of the more influential storytellers of the past century to…

1989 Sega Game Was A Racing Monstrosity

Let’s all go back in time. Before Sonic Boom, before the Dreamcast, before the Saturn. To a time when Sega was awesome, and as famous for their killer arcade games as their console efforts. This piece originally appeared 9/3/15. Specifically, we’re going to 1989, and the release of Sega Super Circuit, a game that you…

Video Games Are Better The Second Time You Play Them

Everyone remembers the first time they played a really good video game. The constant surprises of Half-Life, or the drama of Final Fantasy VI, or the stress and catharsis of Far Cry 2. As good as those games were the first time around, they’d almost certainly be better the second. Or the third. Or the…

Track: Kelly Watch The Stars | Artist: Air | Album: Moon Safari Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment.

That Time Space Ghost Gave Peter Molyneux Shit At E3

Thanks to Frank Cifaldi for pointing this out: there’s an archive online of a series of videos made for Gametap (ask your parents), in which Adult Swim’s Space Ghost interviews a bunch of people at E3, like Peter Molyneux, Bethesda’s Todd Howard and Peter Moore. Howard’s “we make power fantasies for adolescent males” might be…

When Steam’s Tagging System Goes Wrong

Come with me, friends. Come with me on a journey Study that image for a moment. You might notice that something’s not quite right about it. If you go to Steam’s front page, that “psychological horror” tag sticks out like a sore thumb as it clings precariously to True or False, a cute, animal-themed trivia…

Have Mercy, Overwatch Cosplay

While there is no shortage of folks cosplaying as Mercy’s default outfit, Hanehere has opted for her more devilish appearance, and done one…hell of a job. Sorry.