Culture

When Half-Life Invades Team Fortress 2, Things Get Nasty

Free hats? Why would you ever turn down free hats? Oh, I guess that’s a good reason. This excellent Source Filmmaker video by zombiller depicts a Team Fortress character’s dream: free hats! Free hats everywhere! But something seems a little… off. Without spoiling it, I’ll just note that wearing hats with a tendency to writhe…

Surprise! Elite: Dangerous is now on Steam. The expansive space sim has kept to its own client since release, but today it warped into Steam’s orbit, shocking everyone and maybe flattening a few Early Access survival games. It is a Very Cool Video Game

116 Cosplayers Dressed Up As Pokémon’s Misty For April Fools’ Day

April Fools’ Day is a minefieldof misinformation and terrible unfunny pranks. Every now and then, however, something hits the mark perfectly. For April 1 2015, precisely 116 cosplayers decided to completely troll their audiences. At the exact same time, on the exact same day, every single one posted a photograph of themselves cosplaying as Misty…

Beautiful Fantasy Art That Deserves To Hang On A Wall

Eve Ventrue is a concept artist from Germany who has worked for games companies like Applibot and film effects teams like Aaron Sims. A lot of the art I post here is the kind of stuff ‘d love to use as desktop wallpaper, or something to put on a print and hang near my PC.…

Players Are Making The Most Brutal Shooter Even More Realistic

First-person military shooters don’t get much more hardcore than Arma III. And yet, its most diehard fans think they can do even better. ACE3 is a merger between three high-profile Arma III modding groups: the teams behind ACE2, AGM and CSE. They’ve spent the past few months working together on “the most comprehensive and realistic…

The Best Steam Guides For Pillars of Eternity

Pillars of Eternity is goddamn fantastic. It’s also sometimes intimidatingly deep, with all of its interlocking old-school-RPG-esque stats and systems. Here are some guides to help you on your way. Let’s take it from the top. First, the most difficult part of every RPG: the character creation screen. Pillars runs on a new, non-D&D stat…

Bloodborne‘s Pebble Is Overpowered

Today on the 100th episode of Highlight Reel we have great pebble skills in Bloodborne, smooth NPC moves, sniper shots in GTA V and much, much more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the…

What Are You Playing This April?

It’s April, the official month of dumb pranks, getting sick from too many Cadbury eggs, and spending an entire day smoking pot. Also, the official month of playing video games, because every month is the official month of playing video games! The days are long as hell now, and up in Portland, it has finally…

The Steam Stream Finds Out What The Hell Is Up With Asteroids: Outpost

Today I’m playing a bunch of new Steam releases for your viewing pleasure, foremost among them a first/third-person survival game based on Atari arcade classicAsteroids. Yeah, the one with the little triangle ship. No, I don’t get it either. Watch below. Other games on the docket for today: Avatar: The Last Airbender-esque action game Son…

24 Great Video Game Victories, As Told By Players

Earlier this week, I asked you guys to share your most memorable video game victories. The only thing more impressive than the wealth of victories you collectively brought is just how many of those victories were landed. You all shared stories spanning everything from competitive, group and singleplayer play. I’ve collected my favorites, but you…

Track: We Made It | Artist: Drake, Soulja Boy Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

Pretty slick vid from the Power Rangers Northwest team.

Bounty Hunters. We Don’t Need Their Scum.

Angelina Stroganova is a concept artist from Russia who has worked for Black Cloud Studios ( After Reset) and Main Road, a visual effects team. You can see more of Angelina’s work at her personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you…

The Witcherest Witcher Cosplay

I don’t think we’re ever going to get as close to seeing a “real” Triss from The Witcher as we are with these shots. Cosplay by Jessica Dru (who we’ve featured herebefore). Costume by Manzi DeYoung (who, hey, we’ve also featuredbefore). Photos by Greg De Stefano Note that this outfit was so good it was…

Hey Link. Listen. We Look Great.

That’s Jina D doing an excellent Navi, if not in scale then at least in spirit. Link is her fiancée Devon, who should really be cosplaying as Jaime Lannister. I had to crop the image to fit it on the front page of the site, so here’s the full shot: This pic was taken at…

What Do You Want Valve To Change About Steam?

Steam is great, but nothing’s perfect. Valve’s beast of a service is colossal, multifaceted, with a million different limbs being pulled in a million different directions. Inevitably, it sometimes falls flat. What features do you wish Valve would add to Steam? Or take away? Personally, I can think of a bunch, but for simplicity’s sake…

Future Assassin Has Murdered All The Wallpaper

Mark Kolobaev is a freelance illustrator and concept artist from Russia. You can see more of Mark’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 as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the top-left corner.…

Half-Life 2, Now With More Scares (And Big Jumps)

Half-Life 2‘s been around since Kotaku was a bouncing baby blogglette—freshly hatched from its internet egg—but people are still making some brilliant-looking mods for it. Today, one with gut-wrenching atmosphere… and the ability to leap over buildings. After two years in the making, Transmissions: Element 120 is out. It’s a spooky, atmospheric single-player story set…

Bloodborne, Beaten In Just 44 Minutes

When I finished Bloodborne on Sunday afternoon, my playtime was 46 hours, 21 minutes, and 13 seconds. The current world record is, well, way faster. How much faster? It’s 44 minutes! As soon as Bloodborne was released, people started digging into the game and finding ways to break it. Sometimes, it’s glitches that allow you…

Damn, That GTA Mugger Is Bulletproof

On today’s Highlight Reel we have the lifesaving notes in Bloodborne, bulletproof GTA NPCs, skydiving, stunts, and more! Watch the video above, then link any of your favorite highlights in the comments, and be sure to check out, like and subscribe the original videos via the links below. AC Rogue – Assassin’s Creed Rogue glitch…