Culture

This Week in the Business: Cooks, Magicians And Other Video Game Things

QUOTE | “I’m thrilled to welcome undoubtedly the most recognizable and accomplished figure in the culinary world to Glu’s family of celebrity partners.” Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood publisher Glu Mobile, announcing his latest obnoxious celebrity signing, Gordon Ramsay Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “This year a…

Crashlands Is Diablo Plus Survival Plus Humor

Crashlands is a new Steam action role-playing game that has me hooked. That’s a problem, because I can play it pretty much anywhere. Crashlands is an action-RPG (think Diablo, except cartoonier) with elements of crafting/base-building (think Don’t Starve, except less ruthless) and humor (think jokes). I think it’s best summed up by its main character’s…

It Has Come To This

This image comes from a game called Balls Kicking Simulator 2016. I would say we’ve hit peak Steam Greenlight, but I’m not sure that’s possible anymore. Here’s a trailer to prove that, yes, this is a real game that exists: The game’s developers claim it’s a joke—likely at the expense of Steam’s hurl-$100-into-a-garbage-bin game submission…

Today on the Kotaku Splitscreen podcast we’re talking Destiny malaise among other things, like Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam and the indie gem Oxenfree. You canfind us on iTunes or listen directly right here

New Game About Dead Rock Stars Is Unexpectedly Timely

Wailing Heights has the strangest premise of any game I’ve seen on Steam Greenlight in quite some time, and that’s saying something. It’s about dead/undead rock stars, which is… weirdly timely, given recent events. OK so, let me try to explain it: Wailing Heights is a game about the deceased manager of a deceased band,…

One-Punch Man Cosplayers, You Might Need This

Maybe not! It depends, really. But since this Korean cosplayer has a head full of hair, she needed a bald cap to pull off her One-Punch Man outfit. [Photo: Naver] [Photo: Naver] Over on Naver, via tipster Sang, she walks us through the steps, which should be more than familiar for anyone who’s ever used…

GTA V Player Finds Parking

Today on Highlight Reel we have bubbles galore, GTA V parking, shield trouble, underwater physics, 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. Rocket League –…

Counter-Strike Team Quits After Allegedly Being Asked To Throw Matches

Valve recently made itself abundantly clear in matters of Counter-Strike match fixing: if you’re involved in a thrown match, you’re banned from Valve-sponsored events for life. One team claims they were asked by their owner to do it anyway. So they quit. The team—now known as “Orgless”—was briefly under the financial wing of CSGO.one, a…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: I’m Good At Tinder, But Bad At ‘Real’ Dating

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the fastest dating advice column alive. This week, we’re talking about getting out of our own way. Whether it’s the self-limiting beliefs that say what we do isn’t good enough or a lack of boundaries that winds up making us miserable, sometimes we’re our own worst enemies. So,…

Making The Peace

Rasmus Poulson is an artist who has previously worked at IO Interactive and Square Enix. He’s currently an art director at Ubisoft. You can see more of Rasmus’ work 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…

Bloodborne Cosplay Is Coming To Kick Your Ass

For all its critical acclaim, Bloodborne doesn’t seem to be a big hit on the cosplay scene. So nice job, Walrider, with this killer Gehrman the First Hunter outfit.

A Game About Building Crazy Cars Is Tearing Up Steam’s Charts Right Now

Prediction time: for the next few months, you will see people make the wildest shit in Scrap Mechanic. Scrap Mechanic has been Steam’s best-selling game all day—pretty much since it came out—and it’s not too difficult to see why. It’s a game that lets you use a simple yet versatile toolset to build vehicles you…

What We Liked (And Didn’t Like) About Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

It’s clear enough that a lot of us here at Kotaku liked Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. The game earned a positive review and a spot on our best of 2015 list. All the same, our three biggest Assassin’s Creed nerds had yet to sit down and talk it out. As we did with Assassin’s Creed III,…

Seven Public Domain Books That Would Make Great Games

Once a work enters the public domain, it is no longer subject to copyright laws. A publisher can print their own edition of the Beatrix Potter books, a filmmaker can make a film of any of Shakespeare’s plays, and a game developer can adapt any of the characters, scenes, or even whole stories from public…

Track: Koi Suru Fortune Cookie | Artist: AKB48 | Album: Tsugi no Ashiato Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Japan Won WW2, And Now Rules America With Giant Mechs

United States of Japan is an upcoming novel that the author says is a “spiritual successor” to Philip K Dick’s classic The Man In The High Castle. Only, instead of the Japanese and Germans sharing the US in the 1960s, Japan is the sole oppressor, and they’re lording it over America with an army of…

Shadow of Mordor Orc Starts Retreating Way Too Late

Today on Highlight Reel we have loads of kills, hammer time, sick rocket mopeds, cowardly uruks, 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. Halo 5…

Steam Achievement Reminds Players That They’ve Failed Completely

I just got annihilated by a boss monster in a time somewhere between “the blink of an eye” and “the memory span of a newborn goldfish.” I should be fuming. Instead, I’m grinning like an idiot. The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is a new Steam undersea action-adventure game in which you, the last…

Mad Max-Themed Counter-Strike Map Has Cars, Furious Roads

Counter-Strike plus drivable cars, customizable bases, and lots and lots of sand? This is no ordinary custom map. RealFreemanTV posted a teaser of CTX and Jarro’s CSGO: Truck Wars map, which they describe as an homage to Mad Max. It definitely looks the part. Basically, the goal of each match is to fortify your base…

We Get It, Elf, You Vape

Nuare is an “outsource studio” based in Canada who have quietly helped out on the creative side of games from companies like Bethesda, Microsoft and Capcom. You can see more of Nuare’s work at their company site To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save…