Culture

Pro Counter-Strike Team Wins Round Using Only Tasers, The Game’s Riskiest Weapon

Counter-Strike’s Zeus taser is a very particular weapon. It’ll down anybody in a single shot, but it’s for use at extremely close ranges, and it can only fire once. In a moment of apparent mania, one team, Selfless, purchased only Zeuses in a round of a pro match. They won. It was the second game…

Track: BaDeDum (High Orchestra) | Artist: Guy Whitmore | Album: No One Lives Forever Original Soundtrack Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Track: Into the Wasteland | Artist: Zun | Album: Burial Sunrise

Star Wars, Batman Collide In Cosplay Extravaganza

The Biker Scout Helmet Project is a Lucasfilm-blessed charity event which has asked special effects, props and cosplay experts from around the world to design and build custom Scout Trooper helmets. Like this one. It was made by Julian Checkley from Order 66 Creatures & Effects, and his idea—to bring a little Batman to the…

Some Of The Best Cosplay From C2E2

The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, ran from March 18-20. Was there good cosplay? You bet your fancy pants there was good cosplay. Photographer Long Thai, aka Mineralblu, was there to take snaps over the weekend, and below you’ll find some of his best shots. There are more at his Facebook page

The Comedian, The Fool & The Barbarian

Hicham Habchi is an artist from the United Arab Emirates who has previously worked for companies like Ubisoft. You can see more of Hicham’s art at his personal site and 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…

BB-8 Cosplay Is Cute Enough To Kill Stars

You know how R2-D2 is actually controlled by the 3’8″ Kenny Baker? This BB-8 cosplay is kinda like that. Only without the desert heat. Or adults. The suit was made by William Minamoto, one of the best droid builders on the planet, while the kid inside is his daughter.

Just A Couple Of Guys, Chilling Out

Today on Highlight Reel we have bad posture, sudden trucks, butt scratches, explosions, and much more! Watch the video above or on our Youtube Page, 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 Battlefront – Great shot, Kid…

Stardew Valley Player Mods Game To Make Characters More Diverse

Stardew Valley may look like a game about farming, but it’s actually about people. And OK yeah, also a lot of farming. In Stardew Valley, you can befriend and, in some cases, romance characters in the game’s tiny rural community. You give them gifts, learn more about them over time, and experience special events with…

Track: Till Dawn | Artist: The Fin. | Album: Days With Uncertainty Thanks for the recommendation, Michael! Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

The Week In Games: Hyper Light Rifter

In case you hadn’t been paying attention to the calendar, this coming Friday is April 1. As I don’t work on Fridays, I plan to spend the day curled into a tight ball under my desk playing Hyper Light Drifter. Before that I will likely be playing some Nights of Azure, a strange hack-and-slash sort…

Sunday Comics: Nobody Has To Die Here Today

Welcome to Kotaku’s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published March 24. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published March 21. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: Bullshit Crunch

QUOTE | “Crunch is bullshit.” – Failbetter Games CEO and creative director Alexis Kennedy talking about the problem the game industry has with ridiculous overtime and why crunch is not sustainable for game studios Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “Muslim blood is the cheapest on Earth right now.” – Vlambeer’s…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

It’s the weekend! The days may be longer and the weather may be warmer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spend a bunch of time playing video games. This weekend I’ll be playing a buuuuunch of different games. I’m heading up our coverage of the Oculus Rift, so I’ll be playing a bunch of the…

Ubisoft Steam Sale Bundle Costs More Than Buying Games Individually

Price of individual products: $68.17. Your cost: $99.99. Hmmmm. Steam’s running a big sale on Ubisoft games this weekend, and it’s pretty exciting. Even newer games like Far Cry Primal have had their price tags trampled by mammoths and yelled at by weird frightened NPC dudes. The sale is definitely worth a look. Buuuut all…

Oh Deer

Today on Highlight Reel we have bad deer, kill streaks, selfies, car slides, unnerving Division moments and much, much more! Watch the video above or on our Youtube Page, 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 Rocket…

What We Liked and Hated (Mostly Hated) About Batman v Superman

Last night, two of Kotaku’s staffers went to see DC Comics’ biggest superhero icons duke it out on the big screen. World’s Finest, it ain’t. Mike Fahey and myself are probably the most superhero comics-loving people here at Kotaku. But we both went to Batman v Superman out of a sense of duty rather than…

Pinball Was Once Illegal

Pinball. The great American (mechanical) pastime. It’s about as innocent as gaming gets, especially compared to the blood, drugs and sex you find in video games. Yet bizarrely, for decades, pinball was actually declared illegal in some of America’s biggest cities, including New York and Los Angeles. This piece originally appeared 4/4/12. It had nothing…

Valve Wants People To Mod The Steam Controller

Don’t like the look or feel of the ever-divisive Steam Controller? Valve just released all the information you’ll need to modify or rebuild it. You can grab the complete package, which comprises the Steam Controller’s mechanical CAD geometry, right here. Valve briefly outlined its contents: “The archive contains several eDrawings viewer files: from Creo Express…

Of Course Somebody Recreated The Holodeck In Steam VR

Ever since HTC and Valve’s Vive VR headset was announced, people have been comparing it to Star Trek’s Holodeck. Now that Valve is letting people make their own Steam VR backgrounds—between-game hangouts, essentially—someone put two and two together. Reddit user illogical_cpt came up with the background, which Steam user Bradllez uploaded to Valve’s new VR…