In Japan, everything changes in the spring. And this April 1, Tecmo Koei, from the sound of it, is making some big changes. At least, on paper. According to a new press release, Tecmo Koei is reorganizing its corporate structure. Meh, right? That sounds rather boring and insidery, but the relevant info is how it…
Over the weekend in Osaka’s Den-Den Town, the city’s geek district, a street fair called Nipponbashi Festa was held with oodles of cosplayers. As with last year’s Nipponbashi Festa, many of the cosplayers preferred to go with rather peculiar outfits—along with more traditional choices. The results were interesting, creative, and totally wonderful. Below, have a…
You know the story: Rough, wild individual settles down. Gets a job. And turns into a boring member of society. It doesn’t just happen to regular people. It also apparently happens to Japanese role-playing characters. You have to grow up and move on! You can’t be in Japanese role-playing games forever! (Technically you can.) With…
Psycho Pass is a cyberpunk police story in the same vein as Ghost in the Shell. But instead of being centered on the theme of cybernetics, Psycho Pass explores the concept of a society where your mental health is constantly scanned as a matter of public safety. Those with even the slightest case of mental…
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, the uber popular Japanese popstar, has a new music video out. It’s called “Ninjya Re Bang Bang”. You can watch it right up there! If you are familiar with Pamyu Pamyu’s previous music videos (like “PonPonPon”), this latest visual extravaganza is as mental as ever. It has ninja dancing and Mega Man…
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix is the newest in a long line of last generation titles being remastered for the current generation of HD consoles. Like many of these remasters, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix is a collection of several games—in this case, Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. It also…
Team C.S.L. doesn’t only feature some of the best cosplayers in South Korea, but the entire world. The cosplay collective has represented its country at the World Cosplay Summit (think: “Cosplay Olympics”) several times. And for good reason. Team C.S.L. is great. “C.S.L.” stands for “Cosplay Stage Laboratory”. What makes this collective so interesting is…
Chinese internet company Tencent now owns 48.8 percent of Epic Games. [GI]
In the 1970s, the dictatorship controlling South Korea stipulated the length of women’s skirts. Now, due to a new law, some in South Korea worry that those days are returning. Last year, a law was passed in South Korea regarding, among other things, indecent exposure. Today, it goes into effect. According to website Korea Bang,…
Apparently spotted at a Sam’s Club supermarket in Beijing, these pears have been shaped so that they resemble babies. Because that’s so not creepy. The image of the pears first popped up on a Chinese social networking site. According to MIC, a journalist followed up, but couldn’t find the pears. The supermarket staff supposedly said…
Stone statues play a prevalent role in Japanese life. You see them at Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines, and you also see them in front of houses and businesses or in gardens as decoration. Ditto at cemeteries. Japanese stonemasons are called “sekizaiya-san” (石材屋さん) or “sekizaiten” (石材店). They primarily focus on carving grave stones. The vast…
As I’ve been working my way through Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix this past week, it occurs to me just how much I dislike the Japanese cast of the games in the collection—which, given how bad English dubs can be, is pretty surprising. But it isn’t that the Japanese voice actors aren’t good, rather it’s…
Soul Sacrifice is the latest game from the mind of Mega Man creator, Keiji Inafune. The game is scheduled to hit stores in North America on April 30th, and in Europe on May 1st, giving people living in those areas a month to wait. However, for those of us fortunate enough to live in Japan…
In Japanese, “shinrei shashin” (心霊写真) means “spirit or ghost photography”. It’s usually accidental, and some people think it’s real. Others don’t. This notion isn’t only Japanese and exists pretty much wherever there are cameras. Oh, and dead people. Often these pics end up being creepy photobombs, with unsettling images discovered in the background. You know,…
Continuing with their series on the PS4, this week, Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu published the second half of their two-part developer interview, with several more Japanese developers sharing their thoughts on Sony’s new console. Once again, the standard 3 questions were posed: 1. What are your impressions of the PlayStation 4? 2. Of the…
It’s 2013. But in the year 2113, I’ll be dead. So will you. But some of the things we own will live on. Japanese artist Maico Akiba has a series called “100 Years Later”. As website Spoon & Tamago points out, Akiba adds what she calls “aging paint” to a variety of modern possessions that…
Square Enix has registered a trademark in Japan for “Fantasy Village”. A life simulator? Dunno! [Siliconera]
Debuting in 1988, Patlabor spawned a bunch of manga, anime and video games. Next year, it is getting a live action version. “Patlabor” is short for “patrol labor” and follows police in the near future who use mecha. The franchise was co-created by Mamoru Oshii, the highly influential anime filmmaker. It’s unclear if Oshii will…
In South Korea, Everybody Cha Cha Cha is an incredibly popular social networking game for Android. The objective is to race cars and try to score points. And it looks very similar to a racing game in the 2010 mini-game collection Everybody’s Stress Buster. Make that looked Earlier this year, Sony cried foul and moved…
Sega has a teaser site up for a PS3 and PS Vita game. What could it be?
Mode
Follow us
