Brian Ashcraft

Gamers Anonymous and MetaLogic Computers, PC and video game retailers in Albuquerque, were both apparently hit with serious flood damage and are asking for contributions so they can get back on their feet. More on Indiegogo. Have a look.

Why You Shouldn’t Get Chinese Script Tattoos (If You Can’t Read Them)

Chinese characters are beautiful. That’s perhaps why many Westerners find the notion of the script etched on their bodies so appealing. If only they could read the tattoos! Enter blog Hanzi Smatter For years now, the site, which is run by a blogger named Tian, has been helping readers decipher the meaning of Chinese (or…

Boy Credits Mario Kart After He Stops Out-of-Control Car

Ten year-old Gryffin Sanders and his four year-old brother were riding with their great-grandmother when she suddenly passed out. “I tried to wake her up at first,” Gryffin said. The car was going 60 miles an hour and heading towards oncoming traffic. “My first thought was actually, is this a test or what?” Gryffin told…

Japanese Anime Comes Alive with These Amazing Sand Sculptures

It’s summer! Time to hit the beach, get a tan, and look at giant sand sculptures of anime characters. Yay! In the past few years, sand art has become increasingly popular in Japan with more and more beachfront cities holding sand art festivals. And this being Japan, some of the sand artists look to Japanese…

Watch a Japanese Nerd Stampede

We are days away from the summer Comiket, a huge, self-published comics event in Tokyo that over a half a million people attend. Make that a half a million geeks. This video is a taste of things to come. It’s okay to be a geek! I’m also a geek. Maybe you are, too? If so,…

In This Game, the Characters Have Penis Names

The game’s developers are so not dicking around, because doing so would be a complete cock up. Ikare Chinpo-ya (いかれちんぽ屋) is an upcoming boys’ love computer game that features a protagonist named, literally, “Angry Cock Merchant” (“Ikare Chinpo-ya” or いかれちんぽ屋). There’s also his mouse friend named “Benis” (“Benisu” or ベニス), the “Detective of Buck Naked”…

According to Bloomberg (via Destructoid), around twenty companies are interested in acquiring Index Corporation’s holdings, such as video game brand Atlus. Candidates, which include Sega Sammy, could be named this week, and a deal could be finalized by the month’s end.

Japanese Mecha Cop Hints at a Glorious Movie Future

They’re making a Patlabor movie! And these could be the first pictures from the movie’s set. That, or a new way for Japanese cops to keep the peace. “Patlabor” is short for “patrol labor” and follows police in the near future who use mecha. The Patlabor anime and manga debuted in 1988, and earlier this…

Crytek Sites Are Down for “Security Reasons”

Game developer Crytek has taken several of its websites offline due to “suspicious activity.” The developer adds that it “acted quickly” and took those sites offline because of security concerns. As Blue’s News noted, the following Crytek sites have been grounded: • Crytek.com • Mycryengine.com • Crydev.net • MyCrysis.com Crytek sites Crysis.com, Warface.com, and Gface.com…

App Vulnerability Could Cause Toilet Terror

Smart toilet? Ha, more like scary toilet that can suddenly run amuck and squirt water up your butt. Last December, Kotaku reported that Inax, a Japanese toilet brand, was rolling out an Android app called My Satis for the teched out Satis toilet. The app allows people to do basic things like flush (and select…

Hey Japan, Sorry for That Stupid Napoleon Dynamite Title

When Napoleon Dynamite was released in Japan way back in 2006, it wasn’t called Napoleon Dynamite. It had a dumb name. Because of that, in 2013, there are apologies. Instead of Napoleon Dynamite, the flick’s title was Bus Man (バス男 or “Basu Otoko”). The name and even the movie’s poster art were supposed to ride…

Burger King Employee Makes a Bed of Buns, Pisses People Off

Well, at least he’s not licking them, I guess, making out with them or whipping out his privates, like some fast food employees have done in the West. Make that, former fast food employees. This photo was uploaded by Japanese Twitter user @inotayuta, whose account has since been deleted. In the pic, he’s sprawled out…

Here’s an Odd-Looking 3DS Attachment

Gaist Crusher is an upcoming 3DS game from Capcom and Treasure of Sin & Punishment and Ikaruga fame. Gaist Crusher is aimed at kids. And it has one strange-looking add-on. See that? That’s a special cover that players can use to attach various “Gai Metals” to their 3DS. Each Gai Metal can transform into various…

Have Japanese Art Styles Gotten Better? Or Worse?

Time marches on. Things change. So do styles. But how did Japan’s animation and manga styles evolve? Twitter user @mayousa_desuga uploaded the above comparison between two children’s book versions of The Little Mermaid: one published in 1985 and the other published this year. The story is the same, but the art style is… different. It…

Amazing Fireworks for Japanese Comic Book Nerds

It’s summer! All across Japan, there are huge (and impressive) fireworks displays. And yesterday, some of Japan’s most popular manga characters got their own. Above is a fireworks version of Doraemon, the popular robotic cat from the future. For years now, Doraemon fireworks have been launched into the air. There are also Hello Kitty fireworks.…

Xbox 360 and Windows MMORPG Monster Hunter Frontier G is coming to the PS3 and the Wii U this fall in Japan.

Deep Down, Capcom’s New PS4 Title, Is an Online Game

First revealed earlier this year at the PS4 reveal, Deep Down is being developed as an online game. Its keypoint is “dungeon”, so it sounds like this one will be a dungeon crawler. It was revealed at Capcom’s Network Game Conference and expected at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, where it will have a full…

When Facial Expressions Get Strange in Japan

Welcome to the world of “hengao” (変顔). Literally, it means “strange face”. And Japan has perfected it. “Hengao” is certainly not new—and it exists in various various forms around the world. In Japan, it’s an essential part of comedy, and numerous comedians have made careers out of their abilities to make funny faces. However, in…

Someone’s Mom Made Totoro Out of Noodles

And not just any old noodles, but with soba (buckwheat) noodles. But why make Totoro out of noodles? Twitter user @hy_s__ explains that his or her mom asked if there were any requests for dinner, and @hy_s__ replied, “tororo soba.” And this is what mom served up: Totoro soba! The white belly, however, is made…

Hideo Kojima Suits Up for Motion Capture

Today on Twitter, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima uploaded photos of himself wearing a motion capture suit and wielding a gun. “Why the hell?” Kojima tweeted. “What am I going to do? CQC?” he added. (“CQC” means, “close quarters combat.”) Does this mean we’ll finally get Hideo Kojima The Game: A Hideo Kojima Game? Hideo_Kojima_EN,…