Culture

A History Of Video Game Graphics

Stuart Brown’s fantastic YouTube series A Brief History Of Graphics starts in just about the most perfect way imaginable: “They say graphics aren’t important…but every game I’ve ever played has had them”. Running over five parts, the series takes an in-depth (but also accessible) look at the evolution of video game graphics, from the very…

Cosplay by Braith, photo by SNTP

World of Warcraft Zones, Ranked

93. Silithus 92. Hrothgar’s Landing 91. Molten Front 90. Deadwind Pass 89. Hellfire Peninsula 88. Zul’Drak 87. Scarlet Enclave 86. Bloodmyst Isle 85. Desolace 84. Azuremyst Isle 83. Arathi Highlands 82. Borean Tundra 81. Vashj’ir 80. Blasted Lands 79. Deepholm 78. Crystalsong Forest 77. Badlands 76. Swamp of Sorrows 75. Felwood 74. Searing Gorge 73.…

Dragon Age’s Concept Art Is Fantastic

A number of artists worked on Dragon Age: Inquisition, and I don’t mean to ignore their contributions to what is a very pretty game, but I have a thing for Matt Rhodes’cartoonish style of concept art in particular. Rhodes, lead concept artist on the game, has released a ton of his work on Inquisition, and…

Frozen Meets World Of Warcraft, The Cold Never Bothered Them Anyway

Frozen’s Elsa meets WoW’s Lich King. Well, in this case, Queen. Cosplay by Chubear, photo by Darshelle Stevens. I’m surprised it took someone this long to think of this!

In Battlefield, A Master Helicopter Pilot Can Save Your Butt

Battlefield 4 players know just how clutch a helicopter pilot can be, but there’s a difference between being a solid helicopter pilot and being a master. In today’s Highlight Reel, you’ll see that as well as Far Cry 4 acrobatics, a lucky-as-hell moment in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and a speedrun from the Game Of The…

Snacktaku PSA: Pizza Hut’s Crazy New Menu Launches Today

The spiraling shape will make you go insane, but everyone wants to eat that crazy thing. Today Pizza Hut launches their brave new menu, packed with new ingredients, strange crust variants and maddening spirals of special sauce. I don’t even know where to start. Pizza Hut is normally one of the last delivery joints on…

New Doom 2 Speedrun Record Beats Old One by 22 Seconds

This is a proper, literal, speedrun from Zero Master. He runs, it is speedy. The 23m03s time is also relatively legit – no glitches or tricks past the use of glides. Those involve coaxing the player’s 32×32 unit hitbox through 32 unit gaps as a shortcut, or to skip collecting a few keys. This post…

This Is Not A Holiday Beach

Junior Guerra is a freelance concept artist from the Dominican Republic who works in games, comics, card games and books. You can see more of Junior’s work at his DeviantArt 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…

Rocket Raccoon Cosplay Is Best In Galaxy

This Rocket Raccoon cosplay isn’t to scale. And that’s about the only thing I can find that’s wrong with it. It gets everything else right. The costume, the gear, even the “furry” aspect. It’s the work of Shoko and Jérôme Cosplay, whose Facebook page you should check out, because they’ve done a ton of other…

How To Capture Video Game Footage On PS4, Xbox One, PC And Mac [UPDATE]

Ever do something amazing in a game and wish you could share the clip with the world (or at least Facebook)? Well, thanks to a plethora of built-in tools and software designed to record gameplay, it’s easier than ever before. Read on for Kotaku’s (mostly) definitive guide to capturing gameplay video on your consoles, PC,…

Track: On The Back Of A Golden Dolphin | Artist: Blockhead | Album: Bells & Whistles Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to – and gaming to – at the moment.

A Sky So Blue You Could Drown In It

Atey Ghailan is a freelance concept artist whose most recent projects include Star Citizen and League of Legends. We actually took a look at his stuff a few years ago, but since then he’s published a ton of cool newer pieces, so I figured we could circle back around. Mostly because I love the colouring…

Master Chief’s Suit Is Made Of…Paper?

Photographer Sid Caesar took these photos of his buddy Phillip Friel wearing his Master Chief suit, and thought we’d like them because the suit is made out of paper Is it still papercraft if it’s life-size and wearable? Maybe it’s cospaper. Yeah, that’ll work.

The Concept Art Behind Game Of Thrones: Season 4

Karakteris a German studio who have been working with HBO on Game of Thronessince the show’s inception. They’ve just released their work on season 4, and it’s fantastic. It’s interesting hearing some of the commentary that goes along with these images. Moat Cailin, for example, was shot in a location that didn’t match the description…

The Week In Games: The Last Big Release Tuesday Of 2014

This is it, folks. While we’ve still got a couple substantial titles coming out through the end of the year, this is the last week we’ll be pulling money from our wallets so fast they catch on fire. Enjoy the lengthy unordered list, folks. We shan’t soon see its like again. Tuesday, November 18 LittleBigPlanet…

Sunday Comics: If You Ever Loved Me

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 November 15. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published November 10. Read more of Awkward Zombie Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and…

This Week In The Business: Metacritic Means Nothing

QUOTE | “We’ve basically seen Metacritic all but become obsolete right now… We get obsessed with it…but it doesn’t really matter, as far as the sales of the game.” – Double Fine COO Justin Bailey, talking about what things have and have not influenced the sales of their games Elsewhere in the business of video…

​Ask Dr. Nerdlove: How Do I Get A Second Date?

Hello, Internet! Welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that can tell you how to lower your AT Field before getting stuck in the Dirac Sea of loneliness. This week, it’s time to look at a surprisingly neglected side of dating advice: you’ve managed to land that first date… now what? Just…

A One In A Million Headshot… From Space

Every once in a while, the supply gods smile on an average player, and luckily, sometimes the player is running video capture when they do. In today’s Highlight Reel, we’ve got some great clips for you, showing how to properly use a shotgun in Call of Duty, how to rig up an autopilot for your…