Brian Ashcraft

Developer Says Chinese Site Stole His Entire Game Engine

There have been reports of Chinese developers ripping off browser games or smartphone games. Nothing new! This, however, is slightly different. Developer Dominic Szablewski says the game engine he developed (and sells) is being copied and sold in China. The engine Szablewski created is Impact—it’s a JavaScript Game Engine designed to create HTML games. The…

Oh, Link and Mario, How You’ve Grown!

The years have flown right by. Think about your first time to play a Zelda or a Mario title. You’ve changed. But so have Link and Mario. Next January, Japan’s Medicom is releasing a trio of Mario and Link “Ultra Detail” figurines. They measure about 2.3 inches tall and are priced at ¥730 (US$9). For…

Squirtle, You and Your Pokémon Friends Are Creepy

Cute? These Pocket Monsters aren’t cute. They’re creepy. But that’s the point: artist Vaughn Pinpin redesigned the first generation of Pokémon starters if they were characters in a Tim Burton movie. The result is brilliant—creepy, but brilliant. Pinpin is planning to re-do the first 151 Pocket Monsters in the Pokédex all dark and quirky like.…

Okay, This Candy Commercial Is Freaky. You Should Be Freaked Out.

Earlier this year, AKB48—Japan’s biggest girl group—released a candy commercial that grossed out pretty much the entire country. This year, AKB48 is back with a new ad that won’t gross everyone out. It’ll freak them out instead. Progress! In the commercial, the members’ heads were superimposed on the bodies of six-year-old children. The concept behind…

MMORPGs Are Expensive, When You Are a Kid

Kids? They don’t have money. So thirteen bucks might not be much to working adults, but it is when you are a child—a MMORPG playing child, that is. Dragon Quest X is, for the first time in the DQ series, a subscription-based MMORPG. To enable kids the ability to play for two hours at set…

Resident Evil 6 DLC Is Hitting the Xbox 360 First

That’s according to the Xbox 360 Japan Twitter feed—which explicitly makes it seem as though the Xbox 360 will get RE6 DLC before the PS3 does. So, what, launch day then? Kidding! (Not really.) 『バイオハザード6』Xbox 360版ではダウンロード コンテンツの先行配信も予定しているとのこと。 [Twitter] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan,…

Square Enix Outs The World Ends with You as an iOS Game

Numerous Japanese sites are speculating that The World Ends with You is iOS bound. Earlier today, Square Enix revealed that the game was an iOS title on its online store page for the game’s new soundtrack . The iOS notice has since been removed from the soundtrack page, while the countdown site soldiers on. Thrilling.…

Guy Called the Cops Because His Spicy McChicken Was Too Spicy

According to reports out of China, a man in Guangzhou phoned the police because he thought the Spicy McChicken he ordered was too darn spicy. After getting his food, the man sat down and took a bite. Website The Nanfang reports that the man seemed surprised by his sandwich, so he called over a McDonald’s…

Next spring, arcade shooter DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou is headed to the Xbox 360, with a new character and new mode.

When Giant Buildings Look Silly

Okay, let’s be fair. The PS3 is not silly looking. Nor is Batman or an elephant. But buildings that resemble them? Or saltshakers? And sperm? Silly. Japanese website Heaven has a round up of buildings from across the globe that either accidentally resemble things—or totally resemble them by design. Some of the buildings Kotaku has…

The Unfortunate Irony of Anti-Japanese Protests

In China, there has been a spate of anti-Japanese protests of late (more here). The nationalistic protests are over disputed islands (called “Senkaku” in Japan and “Diaoyu” in China). Sure, people should have the right to assemble and voice their opinion. But they should not start destroying other people’s stuff. At some of the anti-Japanese…

Dark Souls: Prepare to Studio Ghibli Edition

Artist and fellow Texan Kyle Fewell crossed Dark Souls with Studio Ghibli for this wonderful illustration for Fangamer Versus Attract Mode. The little details are really what make this piece so special, from the little Totoro to the makkuro kurosuke. Larger image below; be sure to also check out Kyle’s site. Its Dark Souls/Studio Ghibli…

Report: Sexual Harassment Allegations at Japan’s Biggest Manga

One Piece. Naruto. Dragon Ball. These are just some of the iconic manga that have graced Shonen Jump. If you’ve made it in Shonen Jump, you’ve made it in Japanese manga. One young female manga artist wanted her work serialized in Jump. Instead, she allegedly ended up with sexual harassment. According to Japanese site Tantei…

Horrible Father Hits Toddler over Video Game Loss, Gets Arrested

Japan’s Sanspo is reporting that a 39 year-old Yukihiko Sakata was arrested after repeatedly striking his 3 year-old daughter in the head and around the eyes with a plastic toy. “I was getting back for losing at a video game,” the father said in a sworn statement. The child needs to be hospitalized for a…

If you needed more convincing that teaser site is for The World Ends with You, check the background music.

Is Nausicaä Using an iPad? Wonders Japanese Site

Years before the Apple iPad tablet ever hit stores, similar style devices popped up in sci-fi movies, manga, and anime. The latest rediscovery of a similar device was recently spotted in the 1982 manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. In a post titled “Is Nausicaä Using an iPad?”, Japanese blog Kojima Piypiyo points…

Ubisoft just registered a whole bunch of domains for “Assassin’s Creed Initiate” and “Assassin’s Creed Initiates”.

This Isn’t Kawaii. It’s Disturbing.

There’s this notion that “kawaii” (可愛い) or “cute” rules Japan. That’s not entirely true. Everything isn’t simply cute—and kawaii isn’t the only game in town. There’s also gurokawaii (グロカワイイ). This is the world of the grotesque and sadistic filtered through kawaii. This is the world of Momoka Kinoshita. The concept of gurokawaii has been increasingly…

Jaywalking Insanity Combated with Mario and Frogger

Jaywalking is a big problem in China. One news station decided to use Frogger (or rather, a Frogger clone) and some Mario music to show that jaywalking is not the best idea! In the new clip, you can see folks walk across several lanes of traffic Edmonton Rd. in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Scary stuff. As…

“Vulgar” Sculpture Does Not Depict Pig Sex

Get your mind out of the gutter! Just because one pig is flashing a pig boob and another pig seems to be…that doesn’t mean you are looking at sculpted stone porking. Located in Zhengzhou, this Chinese statue is making many blush. According to ShanghaiIst, some are even calling it “vulgar” and dubbing the piece “hooligan…