Kotaku East

Escape From China’s Mystery Rooms!

Have you ever wanted to be locked in a hotel room? Or even trapped inside a murder scene? Well fear not: your odd, twisted fantasies have sort of been realised in Beijing’s newest craze, the mystery room escape! Mystery room escapes in Beijing are akin to a smaller-sized fun houses. Basically it’s a locked room…

Westerners Want PS Vita TV More than Sony Thought

That PS Vita TV sure is a neat little device, huh? The device is hitting Japan this November and will be released elsewhere in Asia next January. But what about the West? In a recent roundtable Kotaku attended at Sony’s Tokyo headquarters, Masayasu Ito said, “Western gamers want [the PS Vita TV] more than we…

Stupid Man Took Out a $7,000 Loan for In-Game Items

In South Korea, there’s a show called Hello Counselor. On it, the celebrity panel talks with folks dealing with issues, which are often unusual. A segment on a recent episode introduced a couple dealing with game addiction. On the show, a 22 year-old woman (above) wanted to know how her husband could overcome his problems…

You Will Want These Tokyo Game Show Toys

Maybe you won’t want all of them. But I’m pretty sure there’s something in here for everyone. Have a look and judge for yourself. These photos were recently taken at the Tokyo Game Show merchandise section. There are items currently on sale in Japan as well as some upcoming goodies. Perhaps you might want them…

iOS 7’s Newest App? Japanese Pornography

Apple’s new iOS is more than a big leap in interface, it’s also pretty. And in Japan, people are making it erotic. Warning: This post has man butt. While Western porn shows everything, Japanese pornography does not. Instead, pixels or blurred mosaics cover private parts (read more as to why here). Online in Japan, people…

One of Metal Gear Solid‘s Most Iconic Tropes Was Almost Axed

Looking at its gameplay, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and its prologue, Ground Zeroes capture the spirit of the Metal Gear series despite worries arising from director Hideo Kojima’s announcement that the game would be open world. However, a staple of the series—the exclamation point—was almost not included in Metal Gear Solid 5…

PS4 or Xbox One? We Poll The Tokyo Game Show

Thirty-two responses later, we had one very clear answer. Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan

Lock Your New iPhone with Nipples (Apparently!)

Apple’s new scanning security tech is pretty clever. It’s not only smart enough to identify different fingers, but supposedly also clever to i.d. different nipples. Welcome to the future! According to Japanese site Rocket News, the new iPhones can recognize your nipples (um, okay!), keeping it locked for different nipples. In the above video, you…

The New Theatrhythm is More of the Same

Undoubtedly one of the best features of the Final Fantasy series is its amazing soundtrack—hence the creation of last year’s music game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. Of course, even with over 70 songs in the game, that was just the tip of the iceberg: hence the creation of its upcoming sequel, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call…

So Far, Titanfall Is Getting Thumbs Up from Japan

Japan knows a good giant mecha when it sees one. And from the sound of it, the country’s gamers are more than pleased with what they are seeing with Titanfall Today is the first public day of the Tokyo Game Show and the first time that Respawn Entertainment has shown its mecha-filled FPS Titanfall in…

Try Not to Punch the TV When Playing D4

Dark Dreams Don’t Die, or D4, is an Xbox One exclusive episodic game that tells the story of a time-traveling detective trying to solve and prevent the murder of his wife. Japanese game designer Hidetaka Suehiro, or Swery, is developing this game. The cel-shaded game is centered around the Kinect—you will be interacting with an…

Pulling Off One of Gaming’s Biggest Cons

Doctored screenshots? A demo that directly contradicts the actual game? In-game writing specifically designed to mislead the player? Producer Yoshinori Terasawa talks about crafting one of gaming’s biggest cons for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc [Note: The following article contains spoilers for the first murder case of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.] Before the release of Danganronpa…

The New Strider Game is a Classic Reborn

In recent years, there have been many classic game-inspired re-imaginings—from Bionic Commando to DuckTales. At TGS 2013 today, I was able to get my hands on the newest one: Strider As it’s been nearly 15 years since the release of the last Strider game, many of you may only know about the character from his…

I Saw The Evil Within… And Was Terrified

Today at TGS 2013, I was present for an extended fifteen minute gameplay trailer of the new game by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami: The Evil Within. I have good news. It was pretty darn scary. The trailer began more as a tech demo than anything else. There was a wall of stone that shifted…

Deep Down Looks Really Cool, But it Reminds Me of Another Game…

Aplayable demo of Capcom’s upcoming enigmatic online multiplayer game Deep Downwas available at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but unless you’re in Japan and manage to get there early or have a play reservation, good luck with the 4+ hour wait. Fortunately, I was able to get through the doors relatively quickly and after only…

Crimson Dragon: Prettier And No Longer Kinect-Only

Crimson Dragon was originally scheduled to be an Xbox 360 downloadable game But as fortune and Mike Fahey’s prayers would have it, it is now an Xbox One launch title Director Yukio Futatsugi was at TGS this year to show off the new Crimson Dragon and comparing the game to when it was for the…

As we wait for Trails in the Sky’s new chapter to drop, Japan is getting ready for a new Legend of Heroes RPG of its own. Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Flash chronologically takes place before Trails in the Sky, during the oft-referenced Great War. It is set to hit the PS3 and Vita…

Don’t Worry, Japan. Microsoft Is Still Into You.

November 22nd. That’s when the Xbox One will be out in 13 markets Not among those privileged 13? Japan and other Asian markets While the Xbox 360 may not be the dominating force in the Japanese game market, it has its loyal fans and indeed Microsoft has recognized that, holdingspecial events to both gather support…

Here’s a Dog that Looks Like Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin doesn’t have a monopoly on steely eyes and a piercing gaze. A dog in the Ukraine was discovered with a similar stoic expression. According to Obozrevatel.com (via The Moscow Times), the dog was discovered in central Kiev and is believed to be a Staffordshire terrier and a German shepherd mix. Now if only…

OLED or Not, the New PS Vita Seems Fine!

You might have seen the comparison pics—or even the video. The new PS Vita slim features a LCD display instead of an OLED display. But you know what, it’s no biggie. I’ve been able to play with the new Vita this week in Tokyo. It’s not a bad redesign at all. In fact, it’s pretty…