The Art Of Weta Workshop: Mad Max, The Hobbit & More

New Zealand’s Weta Workshop is probably most famous for their work on the Lord of the Rings series, but in the years since they’ve also been involved on stuff like Mad Max, District 9 and the upcoming Ghost in the Shell Weta’s design studio is the starting point for much of the company’s work, where…

Super Mario Run: The Kotaku Review

If you were worried that Nintendo’s move into mobile gaming would change the quality of their games, Super Mario Run should be a relief. Auto-running and screen orientation aside, it’s a full-featured Mario game that just happens to run on your phone. Originally posted 12/21/06: Now that everyone on iOS is done playing, Android gets…

The Year In Kotaku East 

It’s been quite a year. Lots of Kotaku, plenty of East. Let’s take a look back at our favorite stories of 2016. Good times. This year isn’t quite over just yet! We look forward to what the next one brings, and in the meantime, wish you Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year! Kotaku…

Meaty Japanese Hamburger Is All Burger, No Buns

While I enjoy a good bun while eating a burger, really, who needs them? Especially when you swap them out for meat patties. This is the “Wild Out” burger. It’s two juicy beef patties, cheese, fixings, and a big slice of tomato. Served up at a Tokyo restaurant called Shake Tree, the staff ask you…

Sunset. Marsala, Sicily. By Henry Vance [Maybe NSFW]. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

RIP Gordon Hunt, Uncharted’s Motion Capture Director

Gordon Hunt, director and father of actress Helen Hunt, has died at the age of 87, THR reports. In recent years, he’d been doing a lot of very important video game work on series like Uncharted Hunt, who oversaw voice work on The Smurfs, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo at Hanna-Barbera before going on to direct episodes…

Civilization VI Gets Big Updates, New Civ

Civilization VI dropped some new stuff today. The first is a “Winter Update” that makes a bunch of tweaks and fixes to the core game. The second are some paid pieces of DLC that introduce new scenarios and the game’s first post-release Civ, Poland, who are led by Jadwiga. You can read about all the…

Overwatch Comic Not Released In Russia Because Of Gay Propaganda Law

Today’s new Overwatch comic was delightful and, among other things, revealed that Tracer is queer. She shares a nice smooch with her partner, Emily, and that’s pretty much the end of it. It is, however, a bit much for Russia. As pointed out by Twitter users like Malkythera, the comic is unreadable on the Russian…

Sorry, Steam Award Nominations Don’t Involve Half-Life 3

Last month, Valve revealed its first-ever Steam Awards. They came with a twist: a final category to be plucked from user submissions, many of which ended up being tongue-in-cheek. Now Valve’s revealed their selections, and sorry, but no: none of them acknowledge fans’ many write-ins of “the game most in need of a sequel.” Despite…

Our Thoughts On Overwatch‘s Tracer Being Gay

With the release of Overwatch’s holiday comic, gamers saw the game’s first openly gay character: Tracer. Many of us here at Kotaku, an Overwatch fansite, took time to sit down and reflect on how Blizzard has treated the topic of diversity in our favorite team based shooter. Update—5:40 p.m.: Shortly after publication, Blizzard sent Kotaku…

“All Those Years Of Video Game Reflexes Came In Handy”

Games legend Brian Fargo (Bard’s Tale, Wasteland) was minding his own business eating out today when, uh, someone drove their car straight through the front window. Glad everyone’s OK!

Cards Against Humanity’s Never-Ending Fight Against Copycats

There’s a reason why Crabs Adjust Humidity, Humanity Hates Trump and Cards & Punishment might sound familiar. Their cards might look familiar, too—so familiar that the popular card game Cards Against Humanity has been forced to buckle down on those and several other lookalikes. Cards Against Humanity doesn’t own the rights to black and white…

Asheron’s Call Calls It Quits After 17 Years

On November 2, 1999, Microsoft and Turbine launched Asheron’s Call, a massively multiplayer online fantasy role-playing game that stood toe-to-toe with the likes of EverQuest and Ultima Online. On January 31, Asheron’s Call and its sequel are coming to an end. Asheron’s Call was my first serious MMO, before I got my hands on EQ…

After 18 Years, Fans Find Wild Secret In Suikoden II‘s Code

Suikoden II should have probably had a New Game Plus. Between the time-sensitive Clive quest, the branching endings, and the grueling decisions over which monsters to recruit, there are a lot of reasons to replay the game. Well, as it turns out, a replay-friendly feature might’ve actually been in the works. More than 18 years…

New Overwatch Comic Is Full Of Holiday Cheer

Blizzard just released a new Overwatch comic, and it’s a refreshingly joyous look into the lives of the game’s heroes. Especially Tracer. Like the game’s recent Winter Wonderland update, the comic centers around the holidays. In it, Tracer rushes to find a gift for A Special Somebody, only run out of time (and the magical…