Culture

Fans Add Obnoxious Product Placement To Half-Life… On Purpose

Half-Life is one of the greatest games of all time, but it’s missing something. Obviously, that something is hamfisted advertising for Taco Bell. Black Mesa, the impressively ambitious fan remake of the original Half-Life that Valve’s even allowing people to make money off of, has its own Steam Workshop page. Among more expected mods like…

DOTA 2 Cosplayer Set On Fire

I…just…holy shit. Look. This dude is literally on fire. Táy Máy Tò Mò’s Lina cosplay is magnificent. For starters, it’s a great piece of boot-strapping cosplay; the outfit looks great in these shots, but it’s only when you squint that you see it’s made out of things like floor mats and Coke wrappers. But whatever,…

Dawg, He Put Da City On His Back

The best emails I get from video game artists are the ones that start with “I’m the artist who made the bikini model for the main character of Fatal Frame 5”. In addition to his Fatal Frame contributions, Desmond Wong has also worked on Dead or Alive, and will later this year release his own…

Track: Lit | Artist: Kiasmos | Album: Kiasmos Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment

The Dream Nintendo Game That Was Never Released

Shigesato Itoi (Mother), Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda) and Tsunekazu Ishihara (Pokemon), all working on the same game? We should have known it would be too good to be true. In 1997, Nintendo announced a game called Cabbage. It sounded weird (by 1997 standards, anyway), was headed for a weird console and had a (presumably working)…

On Post-Apocalyptic Meme Usage

Josh Corpuz is an artist who has worked in the video game business for a few years now, for studios in the US, Japan and Europe. You can see more of Josh’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…

Amazing BioShock Cosplay Doesn’t Need Booker Or Elizabeth

We get it, Booker and Elizabeth are cool characters with neat outfits. But not every cosplay from BioShock Infinite needs to be of the two main characters Take this Motorized Patriot, for example. It’s one of the best examples of BioShock cosplay I’ve ever seen. The outfit’s great, the flags are perfect and the make-up…

The Week In Games: Splat!

It’s that giddy, all-too-rare sort of week where we get to be deliriously excited about a Nintendo console release! I’ve managed to play exactly zero Splatoon over the past several weeks, so I’ll be going into Friday’s release clean, free of any worry over potential connectivity issues that may arise or preconceived notions about which…

Snacktaku PSA: Snacking While Sleepy Can Kill A Pizza

This was once a pizza. Now it is a cautionary tale. The once proud frozen disc of dough, meat, cheese and sauce was transformed late last night in a three-hour, 375 degree ritual I can only imagine was excruciatingly painful. It certainly smelled painful, and if I know anything it’s the smell of pain. At…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Hot Pockets: The Winners!

So many amazingly horrific entries inlast week’s “food”-themed ‘Shop Contest, but the winner is a simple, iconic image of Link from The Legend of Zelda playing the lovely “Song of Ass Storms.” All we wanted to do was show the folks in charge of Hot Pockets marketing how toproperly tie their product in with video…

Sunday Comics: Go Forth In Style

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 May 22. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 19. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: Rest In Peace

QUOTE | “I think the old publishing model has died, where it’s just a bunch of suits and they’re doing marketing. It’s changed dramatically.” – Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, explaining why developers need a full partner to help bring games to market Elsewhere in the business of video games this week… QUOTE | “eSports is…

Neon Struct Is The Stealth Game I’ve Been Waiting For

Should I care about Neon Struct? Absolutely. What it lacks in complexity, it makes up for with pure stealthy satisfaction. It’s the original Deus Ex meets the original Thief. I’ve been wanting to play another stealth game like this for years. What’s it about? The short version? Open-ended sneaking. You can’t really fight, but you…

Track: Cone of Shame | Artist: Faith No More | Album: Sol Invictus Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Deus Ex Meets Street Fighter

It’s not the likeliest of crossovers, but it’s definitely one of the most interesting. Street Fighters with augments, hands that turn into guns, kitchens full of cereal… These (and the other images below) were done by Anthony Jones, an artist we featured here (and who has worked at Blizzard, Sony and Hasbro) back in 2012…

Ludicrous Violence: The Steam Stream Plays Carmageddon Reincarnation

Back in the day, the original Carmageddon garnered quite a bit of controversy for its gory brand of pedestrian slaughter. Years later, it’s back. But is it good? Watch me play it below. In addition to Carmageddon: Reincarnation, today’s stream will also include fantastic-looking Deus-Ex-inspired stealth game NEON STRUCT (aka “quietgame LOUDTITLE”), and gorgeous anti-war…

Valve Finally Addresses Counter-Strike‘s Biggest Problem

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the best multiplayer shooters in existence—by all accounts an incredible game. Well, except for this one thing. The hitbox, aka the part of a video game character where your bullets will actually harm them. Counter-Strike’s are considered to be maddeningly janky, giving rise to occasional moments where it sure…

What’s Your Worst Rage Quitting Story?

Sometimes that boss just WON’T go down. Or there’s some really annoying kid on your team who won’t stop killing you for some reason? Maybe it was a glitch that did it. Whatever your story is, you rage quit. And you rage quit hard. Rage quitting isn’t just putting the controller down and deciding to…

Getting Real Close To Dragon Age’s Dragons

Patrik Karlsson is a veteran character artist who has worked on games like Syndicate, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Darkness and Riddick. Here, though, we’re looking at his work on Dragon Age: Inquisition. I love blank 3D models for the same reason I love black & white sketches; colour is nice, but with a…

Fan Creates Team Fortress 2 Story Mode

Given all the videos and comics they put out, it’s kinda shocking that Valve never did this themselves. Modder DrLilRobot recently put out a prototype of their Team Fortress 2 story mode. It’s a little rough around the edges, but given that TF2 is meant to be a multiplayer class-based shooter, they’ve contorted it in…