Kotaku East

The Next Super Smash Bros. Won’t Have a Story Mode or Cutscenes

Hey, remember Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Remember the Subspace Emissary adventure mode? Did you see the CG cutscenes? Well, thanks to spoilers, you won’t have any of those in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS. In his bi-weekly column in Weekly Famitsu, Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai revealed some…

Zone of the Enders No Longer Looks Like Crap in HD

When Zone of the Enders HD Collection was released, it did not look good. It looked so bad that Z.O.E. creator Hideo Kojima said plans to make a new Z.O.E were shelved. But take heart, the HD version just got patched. Game developer Hexa Drive did the patch for Konami, and it seems to have…

This Man Likes the Vita So Much, He Practically Remade His Game For It

As of July 23rd, Square Enix has released its popular RPG, Chaos Rings, to the PlayStation Mobile section of the PlayStation Store, where it can be downloaded and played on smartphones, tablets, and the PS Vita. When asked why he decided to release the formerly smartphone-only game on PS Mobile, producer Takehiro Ando’s answer was…

Square Enix Has Its Eye on China. Yeah, Just Like Everyone Else.

Yoichi Wada, the guy at Square Enix who gets to sit in the “Chairman of the Board” chair is in China for the “China Digital Entertainment Expo” (also known as “ChinaJoy”), China’s biggest game show. Wada gave a speech about the Free to Play model of games at the pre-Expo developer/publisher conference, during which he…

The Varying Degrees of Anger Online in Japan

You mad? Really ticked off? Effing pissed? There’s a difference, you know. Online for the past few months, there have been humorous degrees of being angry in Japan. The meme was originally based on the Japanese “gal” subculture slang for angry, “oko” (おこ). The internet then spun off that slang into one angry meme that…

It’s Kind of Like Call of Duty, But with Chinese Nationalism

This is Glorious Mission Online. An upcoming update for the online first-person shooter allows players to defend the Senkaku Islands (aka “Diaoyu Islands” in China) from Japan. The ownership of these islands is a hotly contested issue in Asia, with Japan scrambling fighter jets yesterday after Chinese vessels approached the islands. As South China Morning…

There’s a Cigarette Smoking Turtle in China

If you’ve ever wondered how addictive cigarettes are, look no further than this turtle. Various Chinese TV news programs are reporting that a man in Changchun owns a turtle that smokes ten cigs a day. The turtle even makes chirping noises when it wants smokes or walks over to its owner when he’s puffing away.…

Three Million Dollars in Gold Allegedly Smuggled in People’s Buttholes

Folks smuggling things in their bottoms is nothing new. Bungholes have seen this kind of action for years. But this latest crackdown shows how alleged criminals almost got away with nearly $3 million in gold. According news site Xinhua, South Korean custom officials have nabbed nine Taiwanese nationals for allegedly smuggling 134 pounds (60.75 kilograms)…

Dragon’s Crown wasn’t always a PS3/Vita game. Back in the olden days, it was slated to become a Dreamcast title—sadly, the project was shelved for a long time. This piece of concept art from the game’s official artbook shows what the characters could have looked like in the Dreamcast version. [via Siliconera]

47 Ronin Posters Baffle and Amuse People Online in Japan

Hollywood is doing a big budget version of the Forty-seven Ronin, a famous historic incident of samurai honor , loyalty, and revenge. The big screen version seems different. While there really were forty-seven ronin that lived in the 18th century, the movie’s set “in a world of witches and giants”. According to Variety, it will…

Opinion: Lifting China’s Console Ban Won’t Matter

Thirteen years ago, China banned video game console sales in the country. Now, it seems like the ban is coming to end, and while that is good, the reality of it all is that the lifting of the ban means literally phooey to China, the world, and video games. Now before I begin my tirade,…

The Beijing Subway Is a Nightmare for Claustrophobes

Hate small spaces? What about crowding? Does that make you break out in cold sweats? If so, then the Beijing Subway’s Line 13 at morning rush hour certainly is not for you. Or anyone else, for that matter. Just a little crowded [BeijingCream@YouTube via あまえび] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com…

How Korean Net Cafes Are Fighting a New Smoking Law

In South Korea, PC bangs (net cafes; “bang,” or “방” stands for “room” in Korean) are a big part of the country’s gaming scene. And for better or worse, so is smoking. Lots of Korean gamers smoke. Many don’t! But those who do are now finding themselves unable to enjoy a cigarette while enjoying a…

Ever Wanted To Make A Show Like Power Rangers? This Game Will Let You

Indie group Behold Studios, who previously brought us the addictive RPG simulator Knights of the Pen and Paper, are now making a management game. It involves owning a sentai TV studio. Its Kickstarter page describes Chroma Squad with a few keywords: “sentai heroes, manager, tactical turn-based, meta-game, pixel art fun.” The game puts you in…

Inside Japan’s Pleasure Hotels

Trysts. Young lovers. Parents who want to get away. “Love Hotels” offer short stays and some truly off-the-wall rooms. Love Hotels, or “rabuho” (ラブホ) for short, began in Osaka during the late 1960s. Japan’s version of the “no-tell motel”, they became big business, and even Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi opened one. At that time, the…

Pokémon Developer’s New Game Crosses Horse Racing and… Solitaire

Here’s Game Freak’s newest game, which involves a “collaboration” the developer started referencing last week with a mysterious message on its site. It’s called Soritiba, and the collaboration in this case is between two genres: solitaire and horse racing. Huh. According to 4Gamer, gameplay in Soritiba (“Soriti” is a shortening of “solitaire”, while “ba” or…

Ghibli’s New Movie Is Beautiful (But It Has Its Problems)

This past weekend, The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ), the newest film from acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki was released in theaters across Japan. But how does Studio Ghibli’s latest film stack up against classics like Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Princess Mononoke? Read on to find out! [This review contains spoilers about…

On August 1, Capcom is announcing 13 new games that range from smartphone titles to next-gen games as part of its streaming “Network Game Conference”. There’s also expected to be news regarding Monster Hunter Frontier G and Onimusha Soul.

This Ridiculous Pokémon Load Time Is Fake

There’s a new Pokémon game. It’s called Pokémon X/Y and recently gameplay was showed off on Japanese television. Don’t worry; the game doesn’t appear to have ridiculously long load times. The above GIF is a fake! This is gameplay footage that has been given a long “Now Loading…” screen. As several Kotaku commenters have pointed…

If My Heart Had Wings: The Kotaku Review

Winner of several visual novel game awards, If My Heart Had Wings is a romance title centering around a high school glider club known as the “Soaring Club.” It is a touching story about loss, love, and passion that grips you right by the soul from beginning to end. Like many visual novels, a large…