Kotaku East

First Look at Hi-Res Final Fantasy VIII for PC

Square Enix just announced that 1999 role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII is coming to PC in Japan. The PC version is slated to feature high-resolution graphics, but its release date as well as whether or not it will have additional content is still TBA. Here is a first look at the upcoming PC release: FFVIII…

Japanese Kids Pretending They Are Insects

How many more Japanese photo memes can there be? When will they stop? At this rate, never. In the last 24 hours or so, the above photo has been going viral in Japan. It’s been retweeted over eighteen thousand times. On the original tweet, it says in Japanese, “We’re sick of guitar!! We want to…

I Don’t Remember Virtue’s Last Reward Being About Breast Slapping

Sometimes prior to a game’s release, companies create a flash game tie-in and post it on the game’s official webpage. Earlier this week for example, Capcom released an Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies demo that is playable in your web browser. And before Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy was released in Japan, Square Enix released Social Theatrhythm, a…

The New Pokémon Trainer’s Legs Are Too Damn Long

This is the new male Pokémon trainer for the upcoming Pokémon X/Y. His legs are long—too long. Don’t believe me? Here is a comparison (via Twitter user Twillcoco) of Pokémon X/Y‘s male trainer and the male trainers from Pokémon Black & White and its sequel. The trainer’s legs do look kinda long in the game,…

Tomodachi Life is One Odd Little Game

I spent this past week playing what is currently the best-selling game in the world: the Japan only 3DS game Tomodachi Collection: New Life After scouring the internet for Miis to populate the game, I spent my first three hours with the game in a state of nostalgic, yet amused, bafflement. My extra hours with…

What Japanese Devs and Players Think of DLC

Downloadable Content can be a controversial topic. On the one hand it can feel like a developer/publisher nickel and diming the player, and on the other, it can also help to enhance a game experience and lengthen a game’s play-life. In this week’s issue of Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu, developers and users were presented…

Father Asks for Paternity Test Because of Wife’s Plastic Surgery

If you get plastic surgery, that’s fine. Go for it. Just know that you’re not getting plastic surgery on your DNA. Recently in Wuhan, China, a man surnamed Huang (not pictured) was worried that his wife was being unfaithful. He phoned Wuhan Central University’s Hospital and asked for a paternal test for his three year-old…

Panopticon’s Future London Is Chock Full of Monsters and Explosions

There’s a webpage titled “Panopticon” which, for a while, was counting down to something. Now, a trailer’s been revealed. It features a dystopian-looking London, ridiculous HAL 9000 headbands, and lotsa fighting. Beneath the video is a date, May 21, which is when Sony will (presumably) tell us more.

There’s a Japan Lolita Association (It’s For Fashion!)

Don’t judge! This is less Nabokov and more frilly frocks. If you are interested in Victorian-era style threads, then the Japan Lolita Association just might be for you. Lolita fashion is not mainstream in Japan, but it’s had a subculture following for the last few decades. As mentioned above, be aware that the Lolita fashion…

Behold, From the Depths of Your Fears: Land Sharks!

Presenting the latest addition to the Monster Hunter gallery o’ monsters: Sharks that can crawl on land With the upcoming release of Monster Hunter 4 this summer, Capcom has steadily been releasing information on new locations and monsters. Among the latest newcomers to the hunting scene are creatures called “Skuagils,” m-f-ing sharks with m-f-ing feet.…

Here, Try Out the Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Demo For Yourself

But you may want to brush up on your Japanese before you do. Capcom has released a playable online demo of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies to whet the appetites of Japanese fans looking forward to the July 25th release. The demo is fairly straight-forward, but the text is Japanese-only, so while it does give you…

In Japan, McDonald’s Just Super-Sized the Crap Outta French Fries

While McDonald’s in many countries is trying (feigning?) to be healthier, in Japan, the fast food chain really doesn’t seem to give a crap. If anything, McDonald’s is running fast and hard to unhealthy. Super size, Japan! For the past few weeks, there have been rumors that McDonald’s Japan is rolling out a huge size…

This Model Truck Is a Japanese Arcade…On Wheels!

Spotted by Frankie from Hobby Media, this intersting “Game Box Truck” model is a mobile arcade. For my money, a vehicle with arcade games sure beats an ice cream truck! Model’s art is above, and here is a look at the acutal piece: The 1/24 scale “Game Box Truck” is priced at 1890 yen (US$18)…

This Anime Statue Is Worth Nearly $600,000

What, is it made of gold? Damn right it is. Pure gold. To mark the 10th year anniversary of its Saint Seiya figure line, Bandai is releasing a solid gold Sagittarius statue. Tokyo’s Ginza Tanaka oversaw the creation of the statue, which is valued at 60 million yen (US$585,247). The gold alone weighs two kilograms!…

You Could Always Print Your Own Bravely Default Figurines

Bravely Default‘s official Twitter account recently uploaded some Agnes Oblige figurines that were apparently done as a 3D printer test. They are somewhat rough. But if this one was finished and coated, it’d look pretty nice, I reckon. Bravely Default is coming to Europe later this year. It’ll be out in North America in 2014.…

The characters Miles Edgeworth and Trucy Wright will be appearing in the upcoming Ace Attorney game, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, as apparently noted in a leaked Japanese magazine article (Court Records via Japanator). As Kotaku previously posted, the game will be a digital release in the West. To contact the author of this post, write…

This Freaky Bird Looks Like a Cartoon Character

Have you ever seen a potoo before? You’d remember this Central and South American bird if you’ve seen one. How could you forget? Online in Japan, people are just discovering the potoo and comparing it to something you’d see out of a comic book or a cartoon. Yep! Seems about right. The bird’s huge eyes…

South Korea Has a Restaurant for Giant Robot Geeks

Tetsujin 28-go is a Japanese manga and anime about a boy who controls a giant robot. You might know it as Gigantor. It was also released in South Korea, where the gentleman who owns this restaurant fell in love with the cartoon. Bless him. As tipster Sang points out, the name of this restaurant is…

Pokémon X/Y Sure Looks Like France

As with past Pokémon games, the latest one, Pokémon X/Y, takes its visual cue from real world geography. For example, in the last big Pokémon titles, Pokémon Black/White, the in-world map was apparently modeled after New York City. This time, the game appears to be modeled after France—though, as one Kotaku reader points out, the…

The World of Japanese Husband Salaries

In Japan, there’s the salary you get from your company. And if you are a married man, there’s the salary you get from your wife. It’s called “okozukai” (お小遣い), which is sometimes translated as “pocket money”. Think of it as a husband salary. That’s what it is. Traditionally, Japanese women control a family’s finances. Even…