Kotaku East

Update: It’s a Hoax! Alien Invasion In China? Man Claims To Have Electrocuted an Alien

Chinese microblogs are abuzz today after pictures appeared on Sina Weibo, of a Chinese man claiming to have found an alien. That’s right, one Chinese man claims to have found an alien! First pointed to us by our good friends at the Shanghaiist, the extraterrestrial was discovered by a Mr. Li in Binzhou Shangdong province.…

My Afternoon At Beijing’s Nonexistent Game Conference

Last Thursday, the annual China New Generation Cyber Game Industries Expo was held in Beijing. The expo was meant to show off the latest in China’s ever expanding online gaming industry. The only problem was…the event didn’t happen. Last Thursday, I had met a contact for lunch in Beijing. After lunch we had planned to…

The Tales of The Abyss Anime Captures the Heart of the Game

This past weekend marked the yearly celebration of all things Tales with Tales of Festival 2013. I had such a good time that after coming back from the event I decided to sit down and watch the anime adaptation of my favorite game in the series: Tales of the Abyss And while it is not…

Stephen Hawking: Devil Summoner

For decades, Stephen Hawking has been one of the world’s most famous scientists. But despite that, I wasn’t expecting him to make an appearance in a game about capturing devils. While not actually named “Stephen Hawking,” Shin Megami Tensei IV’s STEVEN is about as close to being the man as you can be without inviting…

Japanese Fans Weigh in on Their Favorite Tales Games

This past weekend in Yokohama, 25,000 Japanese fans gathered for Tales of Festival 2013 over the course of two days. And since the conversation at an event like this turns to all things Tales, we at Kotaku East decided to give voice to a few fans about their favorite Tales games and more. As you’ll…

The World of Dragon’s Dogma is Going Portable (But Not The Action)

Okay, so it’s not actually a handheld port of Dragon’s Dogma. Capcom has announced Dragon’s Dogma Quest for the PS Vita: A 2D “network compatible RPG” set in the Dragon’s Dogma world. Dragon’s Dogma Quest will be available free to download. Basic gameplay will also be for free, but there will be purchasable in-game items.…

Tales of Festival was Four Hours of Pure Joy For Fans

Each year, Bandai-Namco holds a giant Tales-centric event in Yokohama. This year’s, Tales of Festival 2013, had nearly 12,000 fans in attendance each day. With concerts, new game announcements, and an array of voice actors from across the games, it was an unbelievably entertaining way to spend four hours. On the second day of the…

How Shin Megami Tensei IV Stripped Me of My “Gamer Pride”

Like a lot of gamers out there, I take a lot of pride in my skill at video games—perhaps too much. At this point in my life, I’ve been playing video games for close to two-and-a-half decades. Somewhere in my late teens, I decided that I had to master the games I played, not just…

Now You can Buy a Tales Towel… With a Hood!

This past weekend at Tales of Festival 2013, Bandai-Namco displayed an impressive amount of merchandise. Some of it was sold at the event or in stores, other items were prototype items for merchandise scheduled to be released in the coming year. There were posters, programs, wall scrolls, post cards, and T-shirts. There were all kinds…

Defence Of The Diaoyu Islands, Chinese Newspaper Style

Chinese media company Global Times is a controversial company. They publish a lot of ridiculous articles, slideshows and videos. They’re prone to making mistakes, particularly when it comes to Japan. Despite all their issues, there is one thing that they’re doing that no other major Chinese news outlet is doing, they’re hosting video games. On…

In China, There Are Too Many Giant Rubber Duck Rip-Offs

The world-famous Rubber Duck art installation is spawning a slew of imitators in China. This weekend, at least ten fake ducks appeared across the country in what could only be called a quack up. Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman created the original 54-foot-tall inflatable sculpture, which has been displayed in Amsterdam, Osaka, Sydney, and more recently,Hong…

Chinese Health Study: Video Games Making Children Dumb

China has released various studies in the past about the adverse effects of video games on the development of young people. Over the weekend the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei province released a report showing that more than half the city’s teenagers have less understanding about life and death than primary school…

To help get players interested in Dead or Alive, Tecmo Koei is also releasing Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate as a freemium “base pack”, Siliconera reports. There will be a handful of playable characters and a free online mode included. Story mode and more characters will be available for a fee. To contact the author…

Parents Donate Dead Gamer Son’s Organs To Save Sick Patients

We’ve seen this story many times; a Chinese gamer partakes in a grueling marathon of Internet gaming and then passes away. These stories rarely have a good ending. But for five people in Guangzhou, China, the untimely death of one young man means a new life. Reported on Sunday by the New Express paper, 18…

Truly Surreal Paintings of Japanese Celebrities

Forget canvases. Forget dull poses. Forget all that. That’s exactly what artist Hikaru Cho is doing, so you should, too. Here, you are looking at Beat Takeshi—well, a painting of Beat Takeshi. In case you are not familiar with Takeshi, he’s a famous movie director, actor, and comedian. He also starred in a notoriously difficult…

Expect more about Bayonetta 2 in next Nintendo Direct, hints Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya via TwitterUPDATE: Never mind. It turns out this is a generic response Kamiya gives to lots of questions; no news. The next Nintendo Direct kicks off June 11 am at 10am EST.

Popular Plastic Surgery Apps Cause Concern in South Korea

Plastic surgery? That’s an app for that! In South Korea, there are apparently many apps for that. And according to Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun, their popularity is making some individuals worry. As The Economist (via KoreaBang) pointed out last year, South Korea is the most surgically enhanced nation on Earth, passing countries like Greece, Brazil,…

Tales of Symphonia is Coming to the PS3

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Tales of Symphonia is getting re-released on the PlayStation 3. Titled Tales of Symphonia Unisonant Pack, the game will include both Tales of Symphonia and its sequel, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Tales producer Hideo Baba made the announcement today to a cheering crowd of 12,000…

Got a Thousand Bucks? Buy This Rare Nintendo Cartridge…Test

The Famicom Test Cart was used to, well, test Nintendo’s Family Computer. It might be rare, but it’s certainly not exciting. But it is somewhat interesting! And probably more so for hardcore collectors. As Famicom World explains, there were test cartridges for the console itself as well as ones for the controllers. Have a look…

How Band Nerds Hijacked Japan’s Biggest Photo Meme

Earlier this spring, a group of Japanese schoolgirls uploaded photos of themselves imitating anime style attacks. The photos spawned numerous imitators, ended up on television, and spread beyond the country’s borders. And now? Now, band nerds are involved. The original meme initially referred to Dragon Ball and, later, Street Fighter attacks. When it reached Western…