Brian Ashcraft

In China, Some Kids Held a French Fry Eating Battle to Relieve Stress

Potato parties, which started in Japan and spread to South Korea, are definitely a thing. Groups of young people order large amounts of french fries and eat them. And bam, you have a potato party! Kids in China just turned these parties into a game. A player versus player, potato-eating battle, if you will. Earlier…

Public Nerd Display Shows the “Frightening” Side of Twitter

Forget people acting like morons on Twitter. That’s not scary. It’s stupid. What’s scary is just how pervasive—meta, even—Twitter has become. Case in point: The above photo was snapped and posted onto Twitter. Some hardcore figure collectors like to take photos of their plastic friends outside. This is not mainstream at all in Japan. It’s…

Here’s a moving tribute to Kenji Eno, which was shown at the recent BitSummit

How Does Japanese Manga Steve Jobs Compare to Real Steve Jobs?

As previously reported, Japanese manga artist Mari Yamazaki of Thermae Romae fame is doing a biographical manga series on Steve Jobs. Last month, when discussing the upcoming series, Yamazaki said she felt sympathy towards Jobs—which might provide insight to the angle she’ll be taking with the series. Below is Yamazaki’s take on Jobs. It’s a…

4chan Is Making Its Own Pokémon Game. Looks Pretty Good So Far.

Members of 4chan’s /vp/ board are teaming up to make their own Pokémon game. Because how often do you get a Pocket Monster trainer named “Doucherado”? Not often enough! So far, there’s a lot of concept art, a finished Pokédex, and sprites—all of which look quite impressive. Over on Reddit, Redditor Atheism4tw linked the game’s…

Dynasty Warriors voice actor Tsuyoshi Takishita died after slipping and falling on his way home. He was 37. [ANN]

Japan Gets New 3DS XL Colors

Nintendo is releasing two new colors in Japan. One is “Mint x White”, while the other color is… white plus light mint blue speech bubbles with a yellow thought bubble? The Mint x White 3DS XL goes on sale April 18 and is priced like other 3DS XL units in Japan (¥18,900, $196). The other…

Why Some Korean Fans Are Upset about StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm‘s ‘Collector’s Edition’

StarCraft 2 expansion Heart of the Swarm is launching in South Korea. Some gamers are very excited! Others are excited, too, but also totally ticked off. Besides concern over whether or not fans can get the special package game, there’s also concern about a flood of non-gamers trying to snap up these physical copies to…

Sister site io9 has pretty, new digs. Swing by and say hello!

Japanese Games “Just Suck” Target Has a Message for Phil Fish: Thank You

I didn’t know what to say. I thought the mild-mannered Japanese man in glasses, perhaps, wanted to talk to me about a game he had made. But no, it was about an article I wrote about him. His name was Makoto Goto. And at last year’s Game Developer Conference, Fez creator Phil Fish (above) trashed…

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 sure is pretty! Here’s a show demo. [KHInsiderVideos via ゲーム情報！]

Man Eats Burger King Burger with One Hundred Slices of Grilled Onions

Remember the dude who ordered a Burger King burger with a thousand slices of bacon? Well, he’s back! This time he’s ordered a hamburger with a hundred slices of grilled onion. Because a thousand slices would be insane. After unwrapping the tower of sliced onion burger, it promptly toppled over, leaving Mr. Sato from Japanese…

Japan’s Indie Games Are an Untapped Resource of Cool

The entire room was packed. This has to be a fire hazard, someone said. It probably was, but no one cared. They were too busy looking at cool games they had never seen before and meeting game creators they had heard of and never heard of before. “I had no idea there were so many…

Sand, Smog, or Something Covered Japan in a Yellow Haze

This weekend, sand storms blew through Japan. Cities like Tokyo were covered in an unreal yellow haze. Every year, yellow sand from the deserts of Mongolia and northern China blow over North and South Korea as well as Japan. The sand is called “kousa” (黄砂) in Japanese and “Asian Dust” in English. The winds also…

Here’s the trailer for Gero Blaster, the upcoming iOS game from Cave Story‘s creator.

This Isn’t Just a Plastic Model, It’s Also a Sex Toy

When you think of plastic models, you probably think about cutting out parts from those leftover frames (called “sprues”). Painting said parts. Then, putting the kit together to make a robot, a car, or an airplane. You probably do not think of sex toys. As Kotaku Japan points out, this plastic model kit isn’t your…

In South Korea, There’s Already a Line for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

A short line, mind you. Just three dudes. But a very heroic line. It’s no secret that StarCraft is very much a thing in South Korea—and has been for some time. So it should not be surprising to see some of the country’s StarCraft diehards already in line for the game’s upcoming expansion These three…

If Studio Ghibli Made Pixar Films, They’d Look Like This

Studio Ghibli still uses traditional animation techniques. You know, hand-drawn. And while it did loan out Totoro—well, a plush toy version—from My Neighbor Totoro to Pixar’s computer boffins for Toy Story 3, don’t look to Studio Ghibli to go all digital anytime soon. But if Studio Ghibli does, its characters would probably look something like…

According to MCVUK and Eurogamer, SimCity‘s UK launch seems “fine” and working “for now”. Wait until this weekend…

Why South Korean Gamers Are So Pissed about SimCity

Upset about the rocky SimCity rollout? Take heart. You are not alone. Gamers in South Korea are also not happy campers. But it’s not just due to the inability to play. Here’s what happened: When South Korean gamers couldn’t connect to servers, the official SimCity Korean Facebook page called out the country for piracy. You…