Brian Ashcraft

Junichi Masuda Reminds People: Game Freak Makes The Pokémon Games

Quick! Who has made the mainline Pokémon games? That’s right, Game Freak. But some people think the answer is Nintendo. According to Junichi Masuda, lots of people do. In a recent clip on Game Freak’s official YouTube Channel, Masuda recalled how when Pokémon first came out, it was called a Nintendo game. While the game…

Tencent is teaming up with The Pokémon Company to make a new Pokémon game with Tencent’s TiMi Studio Group developing. As Kotaku previously reported, Tencent got the rights to distribute the Nintendo Switch in China. There were no details about what kind of game it will be or on which platform it will be released. 

Onbashira Festival. Suwa, Nagano. By JC Fang. 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!

Track: Saw Lightning | Artist: Beck | Album: Hyperspace Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Man Allegedly Stole $13,900 Worth of Duel Masters Cards, Gets Arrested

A 33-year-old man has been arrested by the Tokyo police after he allegedly stole 34 Duel Masters cards worth 1.5 million yen ($13,907). Asahi Shimbun reports that on July 18 at around 5:20 a.m., suspect Kenshi Oba allegedly scaled construction scaffolding and broke into the second floor of a card shop. No staff members were…

Fans Mourn Following Kyoto Animation Tragedy

Last week, a fire set at Kyoto Animation left dozens injured and 34 people dead. There has been an outpouring of support from fans around the world. In Kyoto, people have been bringing flowers in memory of those who lost their lives and praying for the injured. As previously reported, people around the world have…

Sky Building. Umeda, Osaka, Japan. By Brian Ashcraft | Twitter 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!

Track: Is There Still Anything That Love Can Do? | Artist: Radwimps | Album: Weathering With You OST  Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

The Kyoto Animation Studio Was About More Than Just Anime

Back in April 2006, as an American living in Osaka, I had only been working here at Kotaku for a few months when a new anime took the internet by storm. At that time, cosplayers at otaku events across Japan were dressing up as the lead character in Kyoto Animation’s latest show, The Melancholy of…

Track: If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next | Artist: Manic Street Preachers | Album: This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Free!, Kyoto Animation’s popular swimming anime series, was supposed to get new info tomorrow about its upcoming Free! feature film. Those announcements have been canceled. [Update July 18 – 5:06 am: An earlier version of this story stated that the movie itself had been canceled. That is incorrect. We regret the error.]

Nintendo Releasing New Switch Model With Better Battery Life

This August, Nintendo is releasing a new Switch model with a longer battery life. It will be priced the same as the current model and, aside from the improved battery, feature the same specs. The new model’s battery life will last between 4.5 and 9 hours, depending on the game. For Breath of the Wild,…

Track: Mayor Of Simpleton | Artist: XTC | Album: Oranges & Lemons Kotaku Soundtrack is a selection of the stuff we’re listening to at the moment. 

Japan Now Has Gundam-Shaped Vending Machines

When you think of Japan, you probably think of Gundam. Maybe you think of vending machines. Now both have been joined into one single entity. Behold, the Gundam-shaped vending machine. As Waseda’s Jeffrey Hall points out, the vending machine has been rolled out at Aichi Prefecture’s Lagunasia water park. The machine has also been spotted…

Yu-Gi-Oh! Creator Apologizes After Criticizing The Current Japanese Government

Yesterday, Yu-Gi-Oh! creator Kazuki Takahashi uploaded an original illustration to Instagram, urging his fellow Japanese citizens to vote in the upcoming election. But that wasn’t all he posted Speech bubbles in the illustration read “Honestly…It’s gotten hard to live in Japan” and “Dictatorship = The future is a dark dimension.” Yugi Mutou holds up two cards…

Mike Tyson Says He Just Learned About Balrog In Street Fighter II

In 1991, Street Fighter II was released. Now, in 2019, Mike Tyson just heard about Balrog, a character who also boxed and originally had a name that rhymed with Tyson’s, for the very first time. As EventHubs points out, EPSN asked the former heavyweight champ if he knew the story about the character. Tyson replied,…

Chicago Riverwalk. USA. By Martin Tan | Instagram 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!

Originally released on the Wii in 2006, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is being remade for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Steam. It’s called Tabegoro! Super Monkey Ball with tabegoro meaning “ripe for eating.” The game will be out on October 31 on Switch and PS4 in Japan and October 29 in North America. The Steam…

Japanese Restaurant Bans Japanese Customers, Says They’re Rude

This is a change. For years, there were stories of Japanese establishments with “Japanese-only” policies, refusing foreigners. But now, one noodle restaurant in Okinawa is refusing to serve Japanese customers, saying that they are ruder than the foreign patrons. According to Tokyo Reporter, ramen restaurant Menya Yaeyama Style has instituted a no-Japanese customer policy starting…

Japan Polled Over Nintendo Switch Lite Interest

Are folks in Japan interested in buying a Nintendo Switch Lite? Let’s see what a new poll on Japanese site Inside reveals. The poll asked Switch owners and non-owners whether or not they planned to purchase a Nintendo Switch Lite. There were over 3,000 replies (3,780 to be exact). Update: July 16 – 8 pm:…