Brian Ashcraft

Capcom is releasing a slew of Japanese social games that feature some of its most famous characters.

The Most Graphic Banana Parfait Japan Has Ever Seen

Popular in Japan, parfait is a tasty treat. And you know what’s good in parfait? Bananas. Except in the Japanese city of Akita, where banana parfait is very, very bad. This “banana parfait” photo has gone viral in Japan. The dish was served up in front of Akita Station in Akita Prefecture. Price: ¥180. Memory?…

Is This Korean Rabbit a Rip-Off? Guess Not!

Since 1955, Miffy has delighted children. The character has also delighted graphic designers and illustrators who seem to have been influenced by Dick Bruna’s work. Take Hello Kitty (and her friends)—they look like Miffy, no? While his work is popular in Asia, Bruna has continuously voiced his dislike for Hello Kitty—the Japanese cat’s rabbit friend…

Today, remote play is coming to God of War Collection, GoW HD & GoW II HD, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus & TOKYO JUNGLE

How Video Game Roles Are Helping a Disgraced Star’s Comeback

When players enter the world of Sleeping Dogs, one of the first characters they meet is Wei Shen’s childhood friend, Jackie Ma. The voice actor who plays Ma was one of Hong Kong’s biggest stars—that is, until his private sex photos were leaked online. In 2008, superstar Edison Chen sent his laptop in for repairs.…

Listen To This Gravelly Voice Talk Up Trials Evolution

Trials Evolution is heading to the PC nearly next year. It’s optimized for the PC—and some other stuff. I wasn’t really paying attention, but focused more on trying to imitate this raspy voice. Triaals Evoluution. Nope, still can’t do it!

New Call of Juarez Is Called “Gunslinger”, But You’re a Bounty Hunter

There’s a new Call of Juarez game in town. It’s dubbed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. Here’s the game’s debut trailer, which features actors. Good thing this is a movie! Oh wait. In Gunslinger, players are a bounty hunter out to get folks like Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Jesse James, etc. Gameplay brings back the…

First Look at the 3D Graphics of Ace Attorney 5

Upcoming game Ace Attorney 5 is slated for the 3DS. Since the game is headed to Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D platform, it will take advantage of that feature. What’s more, the game’s graphics, which have always been 2D, are going to be 3D. This is a complete change for the Ace Attorney series. So the characters—even…

Cosplay Plus “Gangnam Style” Equals This

You sick of “Gangnam Style”? No? Up for watching this DragonCon 2012 Gangnam Style mash-up?

Japanese Game Developer Gets Brutally Frank on Twitter

Japanese people have the reputation of not saying what they mean. That’s not exactly accurate. Plenty of Japanese people are very good at saying exactly what they mean. Yet, the Japanese game industry—and the country’s corporate culture—often bent on stifling that. So people are happy to tell you how they feel in private, but worry…

Let’s Make Our Pantyhose All Nerdy!

Got your pantyhose on? Sure ya do! After Japanese nerds began covering their cars, motorcycles, and bicycles with geeky images, it was only time before they moved to stockings. “Ita” (痛) refers to “pain” in Japanese, and the cars covered in geeky stickers were originally called “ita-sha” or “painmobiles” due to the pain they inflict…

All the Lara Croft You Can Possibly Handle

She’s one of gaming’s biggest action stars. She’s iconic. She’s Lara Croft. How many video game characters can say Angelina Jolie played them in a movie? While gamers might argue over whether or not said Hollywood movies were any good, they cannot dispute her mark on popular culture—and more importantly, that’s she’s appeared in some…

Raiden, You’d Make a Wonderful Teenage Manga Character

Japanese manga artist Hiro Mashima (Rave, Fairy Tail) was blown away by Raiden at the recent Metal Gear Solid event. So, he decided to do his take on the character—see above! The result looks younger—like a manga character should—and quite different from the way Konami’s in-house artist and character designer Yoji Shinkawa draws the character.…

A Video Game First: Urine Play Testing!

Game localizer and co-author of the newly recently released Yurei Attack! Matt Alt took one for the team and filmed himself by playing (peeing?) Sega’s toilet video game, Toylet. See the footage that dribbled out, above. Spray and Pray [AltJapan] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points…

Relax, Snake Isn’t an Old Man in the New Metal Gear

We’ve already seen Old Snake—heck, we had a whole game with him. While the promotional artwork for Metal Gear Sold: Ground Zeroes shows a younger looking Snake (Naked Snake), the game’s debut footage seems to show an older looking one. Or does it? Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima attempted to clear up the confusion on…

Disappointed by Toys, Fan Made His Own…Transformer

A gentleman surnamed Liu of Jinan, Shandong Province loves Transformers. But, he always felt that all the Transformer toys didn’t really transform or really move. So he decided to build his own. Six month and 70,000 yuan (around US$11,000) later, Liu created his own Transformer. Outfitted with hydraulics, the machine can lift itself up, transforming…

The New Final Fantasy Sounds Interesting and in Need of More Time

Square Enix has a very bad habit of showing games way too early. Its latest reveal, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, is only thirty percent finished. Meaning? It’s 70 percent unfinished. So unless Square Enix works faster than it has in the past, it could be a while before, wait for it, Lightning strikes again.…

Japan’s Meme Monster Is Somewhat Cute and Totally Offensive

There’s a new Japanese meme in town. It’s a four-legged critter that’s hardly innocuous. Some might even call it offensive. Say hello to the crawler. In Japan, the meme character doesn’t quite have a name yet—it’s that new. In a pure visual sense, the character is cute, but this isn’t a purely visual character. It’s…

There’s a New Arc System Works Game. It’s Not What You Expect.

Arc System Works is famous for fighting games like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. This is not Guilty Gear. It’s not BlazBlue. It’s Tottemo E Mahjong for the PS Vita. No, really. Arc System Works Has A New Vita Game. It’s Moe-ized Mahjong [Siliconera] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the…

Making Giant Mecha Is So Very Romantic

Wataru Yoshizaki is developing software that powers a giant mecha—a giant mecha that you can actually buy. In the above video, he waxes about working on the KURATAS, which is a huge mecha Kotaku previously featured (here, here, and here). In the slick video, Yoshizaki says he wants to create a society in which we…