Kotaku
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contest
TGS Schwag Winner
Yup, we've got a winner for our TGS schwag contest. Loot includes: A fistful of TGS fans — including a Flynn used Metal Gear Solid 4 fan. What's more, we're throwing in a Japanese Halo 3 t-shirt, an Adventure Island shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and a program on which he scribbled a pyramid describing the current market. There's a bunch of VERY RANDOM things as well. The winner is Finalist 2, who was responsible for this: More » -
contest
Pick The Best Kotakuite Writer
Voting time! We've got five (count 'em) finalists for our TGS schwag contest in which readers wrote about their favorite TGS post. What are we giving away? A fistful of TGS fans — including a Flynn used Metal Gear Solid 4 fan. What's more, we're throwing in a Japanese Halo 3 t-shirt, an Adventure Island shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and a program on which he scribbled a pyramid describing the current market. There's a bunch of VERY RANDOM things as well. Remember, we're not looking for flattery, but rather, sharp writing and/or insight. Hit the jump for the finalists! More » -
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Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Hands-On Again
From the get go, I've had my doubts about Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. This past weekend's Tokyo Game Show represented my third chance at going hands-on with the survival horror spin-off, with my impression of the game changing very little. Now, with the exception of Wario Ware Smooth Moves and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, I'm not a motion control convert. And the Wii Zapper? I'd rather just not discuss it. At TGS, I finally got to experience the game with the third control scheme, using the nunchuk and Wii-mote sans Zapper. More » -
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Tokyo Game Show Booth Run
Apparently these photos were so prohibited they ate my hard drive, hence the delay in getting them up. For a public show, they were pretty anal about snapping shots of the booths. Even Jaleco gave us huff. But we pretended we didn't understand Japanese (or English) and kept shooting anyway. So here's Kotaku's TGS Booth Tour. It's just like being there, minus the misery of crushing crowds and moist, foul air. More »
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Comment by Witzbold: @Atheist Jew: Yeah I never understood the whole no photos thing either in the game shows. Its like they dont want... more » | Other threads
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cosplay
The Japanese Cosplay Better Than You
I might never be able to go to a U.S. anime convention again. The cosplayers in Japan are making fools of you people here. It's embarrassing. Check out this Sephiroth, taken from GayGamer.net's TGS cosplay gallery. Look at how that outfit sits on this girl. Hell, even the wig looks halfway decent, which is extremely hard to do with silver hair. Are her eyebrows powdered silver as well? Damn. You just don't get that level of dedication around these parts. Most American cosplay makes me giggle. Japanese cosplay makes me begin to understand this whole Cloud and Sephiroth kissing thing the girls seem to like so much. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by megacitytours: I'll admit it, I'm an ugly cosplayer. Yea its good to a well made costume and/or a well done skit.... more » | Other threads
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clothes
You Too Can Wear a Kojima Pro Shirt
The Tokyo Game Show is over, but the t-shirt offers live on! That, that is a Konami Metal Gear Solid 4 TGS booth shirt worn by the Kojima Productions staffers. Not bad, eh? It says "Nice style" in Japanese on the back and has the MGS 20th Anniversary logo on the front. The shirt is available on the Konami site from October 5th to November 16th for ¥3,465 (US $30). I agree. Nice style, indeed! More »
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Comment by MURDERFACE: Meh i will pass but i would kill for a Zombie vs. Snake T-shirt!!!!!!!!! more » | Other threads
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contest
TGS Schwag Writing Contest Reminder
Just a friendly reminder than tomorrow is the last day to enter our TGS schwag contest. We've got a bag full of TGS stuff to give away. To you, perhaps! (Or you or you or you.) What are we giving away? A fistful of TGS fans — including a Flynn used Metal Gear Solid 4 fan. What's more, we're throwing in a Japanese Halo 3 t-shirt, an Adventure Island shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and a program on which he scribbled a pyramid describing the current market. There's a bunch of VERY RANDOM things as well. How do you win this? Send us an email at kotakucontestATgmail.com, pick a TGS post you like (include the URL) and write a paragraph on why it stood out. Look at what reader Nick B. wrote about Itagaki Unmasked: More »
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Comment by creid: Can we just sneak that Mr. Driller fan out to me before awarding the rest to a deserving winner? more » | Other threads
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nerd in paradise
Flynn's Akihabara Adventure: Part Two
While the rest of my Kotaku brethren have returned to the respective homes, I am still here in Tokyo eking out the last bit of fun I can from this amazing city. You may remember last week I trolled the streets of Akihabara, ignoring all the "No Photos" signs and snapping pictures right and left at Super Potato. Well this installment of the adventure takes us to AsoBit City. Five floors of games, toys, action figures, costumes and gashapon machines. While this isn't quite the massive size of the Super Potato gallery, there's still some great game related toys and things to tickle your fancy. Keep an eye out for my Wolverine like head rising above some of the displays as I try to take a photo into a mirror without blinding myself. (Sometimes Flickr doesn't play nice with our galleries so I apologize for any sideways photos) More » -
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By Mark WilsonComment by Kaosu: @nerdtacular: My god. Itagaki IS a rockstar. more » | Other threads
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Unreal Tournament 3 Impressions
After doing our Justify Your Engine with Epic's Mark Rein, we got some hands-on time with Unreal Tournament 3 for PS3. While we didn't have time to test the new features or enhanced vehicles, we did get to play a few rounds of traditional deathmatch. And yes, it was still great. More »
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By Mark WilsonComment by dogenzaka: @incredibilistic: PS3 has mouse + keyboard support. It's also getting the game earlier than the 360. WHAT WAS THAT? A PS3... more » | Other threads
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The Hidden Gems of TGS
We wrote tons of stories at this year's Tokyo Game Show, many of which ran at like 3 a.m. So I thought it might help to do a little link dump of our personal favorites. Feel free to comment on them here or on the original story. More »
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Comment by ArgentAngel: @Alalu: I don't know why they couldn't have just kept it Soul Edge (Okay okay, Soul Calibur sounds a lot... more » | Other threads
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contest
Win Our TGS Schwag by Writing Power
And the contests just don't stop! We've got a bag full of TGS stuff to give away. To you, perhaps! (Or you or you or you.) What are we giving away? A fistful of TGS fans — including a Flynn used Metal Gear Solid 4 fan. What's more, we're throwing in a Japanese Halo 3 t-shirt, an Adventure Island shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and a program on which he scribbled a pyramid describing the current market. There's a bunch of VERY RANDOM things as well. How do you win this? Send us an email at kotakucontestATgmail.com, pick a TGS post you like (include the URL) and write a paragraph on why it stood out. Now, we aren't looking for flattery, but rather, sharp writing. Insight, even. Deadlines for entries is this Friday. Get to it! -
no loud noises
Bashcraft's Kotaku Party Hang Over Ramblings
See that picture? That's what I look like when I'm hung over and don't bathe. And I think I'm still in my pyjamamas. During that blur that was TGS, Dan Orlowitz from PTD Magazine interviewed me — it was the day after our Kotaku party. It's a three parter about all sorts of stuff, somewhat verbose, smells of smokey arcades and bad coffee but just might be interesting if you happened to miss the 1am cab ride from Shimokitazawa. Now that was a conversation. More »
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Comment by cherrybomb: right on ashcraft. I too, standby you with teh hair choice O_O !!! just a couple of more months, couple... more » | Other threads
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Comment by Anemone: @Witzbold: Agreed, I came here to say that... and you already did. Soo, seconded I guess. more » | Other threads
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TGS Attendance Numbers Padded Nicely By Press
With the hearts and minds of Japanese gamers won over by Nintendo and its casual-skewing software, this years Tokyo Game Show saw those in the nation issuing a collective "meh." The press? They had to show up, helping to pad this year's attendance figures by an extra 30,000 for a combined total of 193,040 over four days. By comparison, last year's three day show pulled in an impressive 192,411 over just three days. More »
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Comment by Barts: @Flazh: I actually got two T-shirts, lots of little gadgets and tons of materials. Also, there were plenty of things... more » | Other threads
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By Mark WilsonComment by rcomegys: @Kaneda: Well, thank you for your insightful commentary. I assume you've played Guitar Freaks? Then you surely know that it... more » | Other threads
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Arkanoid DS Hands-On Impressions
Taito's classic brick-breaking arcade game Arkanoid is some twenty years long in the tooth, with the latest iteration, Arkanoid DS, bringing little to the table in the way of evolution. Instead, Arkanoid DS simply brings itself to another platform, taking advantage of the Nintendo DS touch screens for stylus control and using the Game Boy Advance slot for an arcade accurate dial controller. The cross-pad and button controls work fine, but stylus controls and the custom controller are the ways to go. More » -
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Metal Gear Solid 4 Hands-On Impressions Plus
When Metal Gear Solid 4 assistant producer Ryan Payton honorably justified his team's video game, many of you wondered "Who?" and "Where can I get that hat?" To simplify it for the masses, while Metal Gear figurehead Hideo Kojima is the great river from which all ideas flow, Payton may be the dam that controls the flow of insanity. Yes, there are moments of surreality in Metal Gear Solid 4, such as soda addicted monkeys, hilarious send ups of irritable bowel syndrome and a woman in a giant wolf mech exoskeleton. But there are also plenty of technical ideas that must be implemented, with Payton aiding to implement a simplified control scheme and further addressing Western tastes. Based on the hour with spent with the game in a private meeting, MGS4 retains not only the series' artistry, it's technical implementation is reaching mad-genius levels, too. More »
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Comment by Baramos: Why not just let us reassign controls to different buttons like all these game developers should be doing? I mean,... more » | Other threads
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justify your justify
The Justify Files
I am a huge fan of Mark Wilson's Justify videos, and I'm not just saying that because he makes them for Kotaku. They are genuinely funny and still manage to impart some information. This time around Wilson managed to churn out quite an eclectic mix of Justify Your whatevers including Mark Rein justifying the Epic engine... right after it crashes, Tetsuya Mizuguchi having a nervous break down as he tries to justify his Rez and a Kotaku reader justifying his cosplay outfit. More »
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Comment by Witzbold: @crecente: What no way?! Dude thats total BS, is there anything you guys can do to reverse the order? What IP... more » | Other threads
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Comment by Purple Dave: @Rintor: It's a means of buying press time to help get the game sold in the first place. They'll make... more » | Other threads
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Japan's Cell Phone Obsession
I always thought the phenomenon of cell phones had reached monumental proportions in the U.S., but it's nothing compared to what it's like here in Japan. A ride on the train will have you seeing at least ten to fifteen people on each car with phones out presumably texting or playing games on them. The there's the cell phone charms. They are HUGE over here. Practically everyone has one or two or thirty dangling off their phone. Some are so large they are bigger than the phones. For example, one gal I saw had no less than three small plush animals attached making it impossible to put in a pocket or the tiny purse she was carrying. More » -
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Comment by Eyeright2: I think they could have made a better looking shirt, i saw it, contemplated a purchase, then decided against it.... more » | Other threads
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Japanese Gamers Really Care About Halo 3
We don't expect the lines in Akihabara or Den Den Town to reach the impressive levels of home, but don't think that Tokyo Game Show attendees are turning up their noses at Halo 3, just because it's on the Xbox Somethingorother. They waited, for hours—okay an hour at least—to get their hands on the game just a few days early. That 60 minute wait sign was quickly updated to 90 minutes after everyone in Microsoft's booth grew tired of playing Zoids Alternative and Dynasty Warriors 6. Respect, Halo 3. Much respect. More »
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Comment by Emophia: @Witzbold: Zoids Alternative just doesn't have the Zoids feeling, the zoids are total lacking in life... They just made it into... more » | Other threads
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Onee Chanbara R (Like, For Wii) Hands-On Impressions
D3 Publisher's slash-hit series Onee Chanbara does cowgirls in bikinis right. The amount of zombie eviscerating is arguably perfect. The gameplay? Ehhhh... So why not add an extra layer of sloppy controls to the Onee Chanbara formula courtesy of the Wiimote and nunchuk controller? That was, I assume, the thrust of the white board concept meeting at Onee Chanbara R's developer Tamsoft. The TGS demo certainly gets the core elements right, there's loads of pink juicy blood squirting at the camera and plenty of opportunities for our hero Aya to perform fan service acrobatics. But the Devil May Cry Lite action doesn't impress. At all. More »
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Comment by boopadoo: Mr. McWhertor, why do you bag on this game? Sure the controls are wonky, the gameplay is simplistic, but... more » | Other threads
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contest
Win Our TGS Schwag
Contest time! We're giving away a Japan-only Adventure Island t-shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and (yes, and) a Japan Halo 3 shirt as well as other stuff westolewere given. The contest is easy. Like, too easy. Here's the deal: Pick your favorite TGS post and write one paragraph why you like it. Be sure to include the post's URL! Send emails to kotakucontest@gmail.com with "fave" in the subject line.. We will then pick the finalists, while Kotakuland picks the winner.
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Comment by oldmanmarley: Adventure Island was a sweet game and this is definitely a good takeaway from TGS. Ill be sure to jump... more » | Other threads
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Super Swing Golf: Season 2
I got a little private room session with Kohei Shibata, producer of Super Swing Golf: Season 2. I had a great time with the first Super Swing Golf although I did find it rather hard. I had hoped they would do something to improve on it and my prayers were answered when the first thing he said was that they had made the game easier to use. They've taken the opportunity since the first game to brush up and simplify the controls and interface based on user's input about the first game. They made a point of reading blogs and reviews to see exactly what players were looking for as far as improvements. More » -
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Even Dante Has to Wait to Play Devil May Cry 4
With monumental wait times for most games, TGS looks a bit like a Japanese theme park on its busiest day of the summer. I spotted these awesome Devil May Cry cosplayers waiting in a three hour line to play, what else, Devil May Cry 4. Poor kids, you'd think they'd let them to the front of the line...
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By fdemarcoComment by arashpitbull: very funynever not same of DMC orginal more » | Other threads
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Resident Evil 5 Is Totally (Maybe) Set In Haiti (We Think)
After hearing from [NAME REMOVED] that Resident Evil 5 was set in Haiti, something we've been wondering about since the game's trailer appeared at Microsoft's E3 press conference, we wanted to check with Capcom on their home turf to see if we could confirm it. For the record, we really don't care where it's final location is—could be Raccoon Island for all we care—but we want to know why it's apparently some big secret. So we asked Resident Evil 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi about it, assuming he probably runs into RE5 producer Jun Takeuchi now and then. More »
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Comment by Smehrt Shirt: the voice acting in RE4 was seriously shit...even if they did end up speaking french...the accent would be so... more » | Other threads
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Ikaruga For Xbox Live Arcade Hands-On Impressions
A four-kiosk attack of Xbox Live Arcade games was nestled in the middle of Microsoft's Xbox 360 booth at TGS, showing off dozens of titles old and new. Only one contained the XBLA remake of Treasure's black and white shmup Ikaruga in playable demo form. Featuring the first level of the game, the demo station at Tokyo Game Show may not have shown the remake in the best light. While Ikaruga for XBLA looks spectacular in screenshots—and according to Flynn, "really sharp" on a 42" HDTV—seeing it in non-tate mode on a 22" LCD doesn't show off the game's graphical upgrades in the proper light. More »
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Comment by Langis: @lbartley: Sorry, I wasn't clear. I wasn't talking about its price relative to the price one would have to pay... more » | Other threads
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Resident Evil 4 Resurrected On Mobile Phones
We don't feel that Resident Evil 4 director Shinji Mikami should have gone through with his threatened self-decapitation just because the Gamecube game got the PlayStation 2 port treatment, but someone simply must answer for Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition. In all seriousness, the game looks pretty respectable for a 3D mobile port of the most attractive Resident Evil to date, but anyone expecting something better than a PSone-level appearance will be disappointed. More »
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Comment by Witzbold: @Chopper_Mike: yeah sms is really limited in comparison to the emails. more » | Other threads
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TGS Attendance Drops Like A Rock
Nintendo may be expanding the video game market in Japan, but their refusal to attend the biggest gaming expo in their homeland is doing nothing to help out this year's numbers for Tokyo Game Show. In 2006, TGS pulled in some 192,411 attendees over the course of three days. The first public day last year saw some 84,823 gamers stink up the halls of the Makuhari Messe. This year? Only 64,795. We won't know the final figure for Sunday for a while, but based on the feeling that it's much more manageable to walk the show floor, expect less than yesterday's figure. More »
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Comment by Witzbold: @Witzbold: Is the reason why there were more people at the show last year. more » | Other threads
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By Mark WilsonComment by Doomstalk: You were caught on video, witz, and still we have no idea what you look like. Well played. more » | Other threads
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Metal Gear Solid Online Impressions
I probably spent more time hearing about Metal Gear Solid Online and having Metal Gear Solid Online tactics spoon-fed to me then I spent actually playing the game. But the single 6v6 match I did participate in was enough to give me a sense of whether I would like it or not: I sorta liked it. More »
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Comment by Thassodar: I'm still bitter about Subsistence going down in April. I doubt I'll be getting this unless I fall in love... more » | Other threads
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Schooled in Metal Gear Online
Before getting a chance to go hands on with Metal Gear Online on one of the dozen Playstation 3s hooked up on in the booth, attendees had to attend an impromptu Metal Gear Online school. The booth handlers escorted the group, divided into two groups of six, into a back room where a woman dressed in camouflage short-shorts (a gun slyly tucked into the shorts at the small of her back) presented the game's controls to us using an overhead projector. Then she showed us a map and talked about what tactics to use in the upcoming battle, emphasizing the positions we should take up with the help of a long riding crop. Unfortunately, the whole thing was in Japanese, so I wasn't exactly a team player when the match started, but more on that later. More »
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Comment by Daniel @ playreadwrite.blogspot.com: This is the kind of shit that is seriously lacking at the new E3. These kind of big self-involved... more » | Other threads
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Enix Prodigy On Ninja, Samurai and the DS
Outside of japan, and hardcore game importers, the name Koichi Nakamura probably doesn't ring a bell. More »
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Comment by RealmRPGer: Western gamers tend to like that random-dungeon crap. more » | Other threads
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Denver, 2:17 AM
Sat Jul 11
61 posts in the last 24 hours
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