Culture

Watch The Final Day Of The Weeklong Awesome Games Done Quick Charity Marathon

Just when you thought the holidays were ending, along comes an entire week of super-speedy runs through your favorite games for an excellent cause. It’s time for Awesome Games Done Quick. Let’s watch together! Along with its summer variant, the Awesome Games Done Quick marathon has quickly become one of my favorite gaming events of…

This Week In The Business: Shinra Falls Again

QUOTE | “[Shinra Technologies] has found no prospective investors at this point, and therefore has to discontinue its business.” – Square Enix, explaining why it shuttered the cloud-gaming subsidiary founded by former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada Elsewhere in the business of gaming this week… QUOTE | “2015 was a monumental year for Xbox –…

Undertale, As Told By Steam Reviews

Undertale came out of nowhere and turned RPGs upside-down with its deft mix of emotions, dogs, emotions, and more dogs. It’s become one of the biggest games on Steam. Undertale currently has nearly 30,000 Steam reviews, a whopping 97 percent of which are positive. As I discussed in my own review, this is a game…

Counter-Strike’s new gloves look snazzy. Valve decided to ring in a new year of CSGO by giving your in-game hands a modern makeover. Players are already coming up with ideas for (pretty cool looking) skins, and other players are saying, “Shhhh, quiet! Valve will get ideas about monetizing glove skins!”

Track: Fools Gold | Artist: The Stone Roses | Album: The Stone Roses Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Time For Arts & Crafts, Kids

Zeen Chin is an artist from Malaysia who has recently worked on games like Legend Of The Cryptids, Galaxy Saga and Kingdom Death You can see more of Zeen’s workat his 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…

Ark: Survival Evolved Mod Lets You Make Disgusting Meat Houses

Well, this sure is… uhhh. That is to say… er. Hm. Ever wanted to live in a house made of glistening meat, blanched bones, and striated fibers, all pulsating together in nauseating harmony? Now, now, don’t screamvomit (from excitement!) all at once. Instead, check out infinitesunrise’s Meat Structures mod for Ark: Survival Evolved. It’s everything…

Fallout Player Slams Deathclaw Into Vertibird

Today on Highlight Reel we have massive car crashes, awesome motorcycles, sad supermen, ground pound denial, and much more! Watch the video above, 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. Metal Gear Online – superman having a…

Mario Maker‘s Cruelest Level Designer Has Made A Stage For Normal People

“I tried to be kind with this level,” said Alex “PangaeaPanga,”a man responsible for many of Mario Maker’s toughest levels. His latest creation was unveiled at Awesome Games Done Quick yesterday evening. Most humans are not capable of beating a level made by Panga. Hell, one guy even started crying after finishing it. We are…

Podcast: The Year Of Virtual Reality Devices

Is this truly the Year of Virtual Reality? Or just the Year That A Lot Of VR Devices Come Out? Find out on today’s episode of Kotaku Splitscreen Join your friendly podcast hosts for an intimate discussion about the $600 Oculus Rift and how it’ll fit into our video game playing in the coming years.…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: My Girlfriend’s Twitch Fame Is Ruining Our Relationship

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating column that’s authorized under article 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. This week, we’re talking about dating anxieties and inconvenient emotions. Whether it’s jealousy springing up from one reader’s partners’ newfound fame or a crush that couldn’t come at a worse time, handling those obnoxious moments…

The Internet Loves Making Fun of Fallout 4’s Preston Garvey

Bless the leader of the Minutemen, and his never-ending supply of endangered settlements. He just wants to make the world a better place. And yet… For Fallout 4 players, Preston Garvey’s dialogue has become a running joke. Anybody that’s played the game has probably fallen into the trap of talking to Preston Garvey, which inevitably…

Undertale has an officially sanctioned fan album, and it’s awesome. I’m a bit late to the party on this (the album came out right before Christmas), but if you’re a fan of Undertale’s soundtrack and metal/electronic music, this is an excellent set of covers. Warning: emotions. Also dog marriage.

A Movie From A Nightmare Alternate Dimension

Ronan Le Fur, aka _ DOFRESH _, is a freelance artist from France who has worked for companies like Polymorph and Ubisoft. You can see more of Ronan’s 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…

The King And Queen Of The Warcraft Prom

Narga (who we’ve showcased here before) and her partner Aoki cosplay together under the banner Lifestream. And what better couple to cosplay as than Warcraft’s Alexstrasza and Krasus. There’s a little too much work being done after the fact here on some of the shots, but that doesn’t take anything away from the quality of…

Someone Is Making Mirror’s Edge In Dying Light

Back when Techland first announced mod tools for their zombie-dropkicking parkour game Dying Light, my first thought was, “OK, how long until somebody makes Mirror’s Edge with them?” Here it is, the moment I ended up waiting longer than I thought I would for. I just stumbled across Elimina’s work-in-progress recreation of Mirror’s Edge’s prologue…

Ark: Survival Evolved Has Downgraded Its Dinosaurs

Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the most popular survival games ever, and if you can’t see why, you’re the dumb adult in one of those old Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials. It’s the dinosaurs. So what happens when a patch makes them markedly less useful? Things go south in a hurry. The PC version of…

Track: Colorless Aquarium | Artist: tricot | Album: A N D Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Turns Out Robots Don’t Need Arms

Thomas Istepanyan is a freelance artist from Paris, France. You can see more of Thomas’ work at his 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 the “expand” button in the top-left corner. Fine Art is a celebration…

Valve Bans Match-Fixing Counter-Strike Players For Life

Nearly a year after a notorious scandal, Valve has clarified their stance on the punishment for match-fixing (that is, conspiring to lose on purpose, typically for the purposes of illicit moneymaking) in pro Counter-Strike: a permanent ban from competition. Not “indefinite.” Permanent. With teams like iBuyPower—whose members were found to have participated in a major…