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Kotaku East
Smash Bros. Creator Reviews the PS4
As creator of tent-pole franchises like Kirby or Super Smash Bros. you might think Masahiro Sakurai is a pure bred Nintendo loyalist. So what do you think he has to say about Sony’s newest console? “First off, the console looks cool.” Sakurai wrote in his semi-weekly column in Weekly Famitsu. “As hardware evolves, people tend…
By Toshi Nakamura Published March 13, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Things You Probably Don’t Know About Tetsuya Nomura
The first time you ever heard of him may have been from his character designs in Final Fantasy VII, but Tetsuya Nomura doesn’t consider Square Enix’s biggest hit to be his turning point in the video game industry. Nomura is currently the director for the latest installments of two of Square Enix’s major franchises –…
By Toshi Nakamura Published March 13, 2014 -
Kotaku EastA Game Where You Decide What Your Companions Say (And How They Say It)
Freedom Wars is the upcoming hunting game for the PS Vita where you play a prisoner working off a million year sentence. In the game, players work together along with android companions called “Accessories.” Apparently these Accessories can talk and I want to hear what they have to say. In Freedom Wars, Accessories act as…
By Toshi Nakamura Published March 6, 2014 -
Kotaku East
World Domination with a Girl Who Wants to Kill You
First you take a world-shaking event, add some superpowers, and you’ve got, well, the basis for most of your generic superhero stories out there. Now add messed up character relations involving romance and murder, and welcome to Big Order Big Order is a manga that my fellow Kotaku writer, Richard, previously spoke very highly of…
By Toshi Nakamura Published March 6, 2014 -
Kotaku EastI’m Terrified of Hard Choices, But This Game is About Hard Choices
Whenever I’m given an option in a game, be it choosing what my character says or how he/she acts, I always want to make the “best” choice. So when I’m faced with two equally bad options, I lock up – and right off the bat, it looks like Nippon Ichi Software’s newest game is going…
By Toshi Nakamura Published March 6, 2014 -
Kotaku EastYakuza: Ishin! is Ridiculously Fun
The latest game in the Yakuza franchise is loads of fun. Seriously, after over 30 hours, I still haven’t had enough. Yakuza: Ishin!, much like one of the previous Yakuza games, Yakuza: Kenzan!, is not a direct sequel in the series, but instead takes the cast of the Yakuza series and places them in a…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 27, 2014 -
Kotaku EastHere’s What the New Mana Game Is About
Square Enix announced the latest Mana game yesterday with a trailer forRise of Mana. So what’s the game about? I mean, aside from a tree. The newly released trailer begins with the following narration: It was a place called “heaven” The side of light, Lasta, where the Great Tree grows, and the side of darkness,…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 27, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Quizzing Japanese PS4 Owners About Games and Console Preferences
February 22nd! Launch day for the PS4 in Japan! What games were people buying? We were dying to know. Of course, nobody in line was really thinking about other consoles. But, we had to ask anyways. Launch day of the PlayStation 4 in Japan started at midnight with a Sony countdown event and some stores…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 24, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Japanese Fans Line Up For a Chance To Be First To Buy a PS4
Do you think they’ll do the Antonio Banderas move? The official release date of the PS4 in Japan is February 22nd. However, at the Sony building in Ginza, Tokyo, Sony is offering to sell 100 PS4s a day early on the 21st. Of the 100, 30 will get to participate in the special PlayStation 4…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 20, 2014 -
Kotaku East
When Humans Are No Longer Predators, It’s Gripping and Gruesome
It’s an alien invasion! Blood, guts, mutilation, and morphing-blade-headed aliens. This manga has it all. *Note* This article contains graphic images of carnage that some may find offensive or disturbing. “寄生獣” or “Kiseiju” (pronounced “kee-say-joo”) is a manga that debuted in Japan in 1990. Why am I bringing up a manga that’s over 20 years…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 20, 2014 -
Kotaku EastKenji Eno Passed Away, But His Friends Are Making His Last Game
It’s been a year since game creator Kenji Eno passed away, but his spirit lives on as his friends and fellow creators seek to make what was his last game proposal a reality. It’s been a year to the day since Kenji Eno, musician and game creator passed away from heart failure induced by high…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 20, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Here’s a Free Vita App That Lets You Try the New Yakuza Game
One thing that Japan will be getting for its PS4 launch that other countries didn’t/won’t is the latest Yakuza game, Yakuza Ishin!. And for those who can’t wait for the game, there’s a new free PS Vita app to let them experience some of the Yakuza Ishin! world, if not the story. Yakuza Ishin! Free…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 13, 2014 -
Kotaku East
A Manga Where Immortality is the Worst Thing That Could Happen to You
Who doesn’t want to live forever? I mean, yeah, there is that problem that everyone around you dies. But you don’t have to. Think of all the video games you could play with all that time. Well, here’s a manga that offers a different perspective on the issue. The manga is titled “亜人” or Ajin…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 13, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Smash Bros. Creator on Why Japanese Games Take so Long to Make
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U are scheduled for release this year and can’t come out soon enough. Why does Japanese game development take so long? In his semi-weekly column for Weekly Famitsu, Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai addressed a fan’s concerns directly. A fan wrote to Sakurai: “It appears that the time…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 13, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Resident Evil‘s Creator Got a Copy of Willow For Joining Capcom
You know him as the director of the original Resident Evil and the man behind the upcoming horror game, The Evil Within, but back before he joined Capcom, when he was a starry-eyed youth, Shinji Mikami just wanted the free food… and ended up with a free copy of Willow “When I was a student,…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 6, 2014 -
Kotaku EastThe New iDOLM@STER Movie Tugs at Your Heartstrings Until They’re Raw
The latest chapter in The iDOLM@STER franchise, THE iDOLM@STER MOVIE: Kagayaki no Mukouhe (Beyond the Radiance), came out this past weekend, and while it doesn’t stray too far from the established story, it does open up some interesting possibilities. Just be prepared for some lengthy depressing moments. A paternal relationship between a naïve, starry-eyed young…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 6, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Resident Evil‘s Deaf Composer Apparently Isn’t Deaf
“Japan’s Beethoven,” Mamoru Samuragoch* (pictured), has admitted that he is a fraud. Now, his ghost writer/composer is bringing his deafness into question. Today in Japan, Takashi Niigaki, the admitted ghost writer/composer for Samuragoch, held a press conference in which he told his side of the story. As reported by Gadget Tsuushin: “For 18 years, I…
By Toshi Nakamura Published February 6, 2014 -
Kotaku East
The New Wonder Momo Game Hurts Much Less Than The 1987 Original
The new Wonder Momo game is shaping up to be fun, sleek, and cool, while successfully giving me flashbacks of my traumatic experiences with the original. If you’ve ever gotten through the original Wonder Momo, be it the arcade version or the port on the Turbografx-16 or Wii Virtual Console, then congratulations; you’re a better…
By Toshi Nakamura Published January 29, 2014 -
Kotaku East
Japanese Cult Classic Revived as New Game and Anime
27 years after her original debut, Wonder Momo, one of Namco Bandai’s older IPs, is getting a franchise. Wonder Momo was originally an arcade game released in 1987. A fairly simplistic (by today’s standards) side-scrolling beat ’em up game, featuring a transforming, hoop-wielding heroine. Since its release, the game has been ported to the PC-Engine…
By Toshi Nakamura Published January 29, 2014 -
Kotaku East
You Power Up Characters with Kisses in This JRPG
Please stop releasing games on portable consoles that I end up being too embarrassed to take out of the house. This is Exstetra, a JRPG for the Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita that was released late last year. The game had managed to get under my radar, but I picked it up at the store…
By Toshi Nakamura Published January 23, 2014
Toshi Nakamura
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