Kotaku East

Hard Gay Is Very Good at Drawing

Remember Hard Gay? The hardly gay Japanese comedian who dresses in leather, plays up stereotypes, and yells, “Fooohhh!” The last we saw of Hard Gay, whose real name is Masaki Sumitani, was at a Halo 4 event in Japan during fall 2012. Sumitani hit it big in Japan way back in 2005 and has kind…

The New Wii U Pokémon Game Has Toys, Kind of Like Skylanders

The Skylanders video games set off a merchandizing bonanza thanks to its toys that were outfitted with near field communication. The upcoming Pocket Monsters game for the Wii U looks set to do the same thing. According to a leaked CoroCoro Comic magazine scan, the upcoming Pokémon Scramble U for Wii U will use NFC…

Apollo Justice Is Coming to Ace Attorney 5, But in Bandages

Apollo Justice starred in his own Ace Attorney game, which was the fourth Ace Attorney game in the series, after Phoenix Wright was disbarred. Even though Phoenix Wright is back for the forthcoming 3DS title Ace Attorney 5, Apollo Justice is once again returning to the series. Though, he looks worse for wear. A lot…

Macross 30 Lets You Defeat Giants, Mechs, Monsters, and Cyborgs—All Through the Power of Rock

Macross 30: Voices Across the Galaxy is a title celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Macross series and is a crossover title between the five major Macross series: Macross, Macross Plus, Macross Zero, Macross 7, and Macross Frontier Of course, like all things Macross, it comes with transforming planes, love triangles, and more than a…

In China, Some Kids Held a French Fry Eating Battle to Relieve Stress

Potato parties, which started in Japan and spread to South Korea, are definitely a thing. Groups of young people order large amounts of french fries and eat them. And bam, you have a potato party! Kids in China just turned these parties into a game. A player versus player, potato-eating battle, if you will. Earlier…

So You Want to Watch Macross, But Don’t Know Where to Start

Over this last year, the Macross series has been celebrating its 30th anniversary with concerts, movies, and even a new PlayStation 3 game But what exactly is Macross, and if you’re looking to break into the series, where should you start? To start with, what makes Macross “Macross” are three things: transforming fighter planes, a…

Public Nerd Display Shows the “Frightening” Side of Twitter

Forget people acting like morons on Twitter. That’s not scary. It’s stupid. What’s scary is just how pervasive—meta, even—Twitter has become. Case in point: The above photo was snapped and posted onto Twitter. Some hardcore figure collectors like to take photos of their plastic friends outside. This is not mainstream at all in Japan. It’s…

How Does Japanese Manga Steve Jobs Compare to Real Steve Jobs?

As previously reported, Japanese manga artist Mari Yamazaki of Thermae Romae fame is doing a biographical manga series on Steve Jobs. Last month, when discussing the upcoming series, Yamazaki said she felt sympathy towards Jobs—which might provide insight to the angle she’ll be taking with the series. Below is Yamazaki’s take on Jobs. It’s a…

Oh Dear Lord These Dubs Are Bad!

Late last week we took a look at the phenomenon of “undubbing”: the act of hacking a game and replacing the English voice track with the Japanese one. This, in turn, got me me thinking about some of the games most deserving of an undub—and let me tell you, there are many to choose from.…

Dynasty Warriors voice actor Tsuyoshi Takishita died after slipping and falling on his way home. He was 37. [ANN]

Japan Gets New 3DS XL Colors

Nintendo is releasing two new colors in Japan. One is “Mint x White”, while the other color is… white plus light mint blue speech bubbles with a yellow thought bubble? The Mint x White 3DS XL goes on sale April 18 and is priced like other 3DS XL units in Japan (¥18,900, $196). The other…

Why Some Korean Fans Are Upset about StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm‘s ‘Collector’s Edition’

StarCraft 2 expansion Heart of the Swarm is launching in South Korea. Some gamers are very excited! Others are excited, too, but also totally ticked off. Besides concern over whether or not fans can get the special package game, there’s also concern about a flood of non-gamers trying to snap up these physical copies to…

NetCafe Offers Free Transport to Gamers… In a Limo

Shuttle services are a great way for business owners to attract customers. In China, Carrefour and WuMart offer free transportation for grocery shoppers, but for internet cafes to offer a shuttle, that’s a first. Spotted outside of the Nanjing Institute of Technology today was a stretched Lincoln Town Car, with a banner that welcomed students…

Japanese Games “Just Suck” Target Has a Message for Phil Fish: Thank You

I didn’t know what to say. I thought the mild-mannered Japanese man in glasses, perhaps, wanted to talk to me about a game he had made. But no, it was about an article I wrote about him. His name was Makoto Goto. And at last year’s Game Developer Conference, Fez creator Phil Fish (above) trashed…

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 sure is pretty! Here’s a show demo. [KHInsiderVideos via ゲーム情報！]

Chinese Company Offers House Call Maid Service… To Play DoTA

My apartment is a mess, my many online game accounts are in terrible disarray and need attention, but with two jobs and a dog, I really don’t have time to do everything I should. However, according to a post on Sina Weibo, a Chinese IT company is offering a service that can change all that;…

Man Eats Burger King Burger with One Hundred Slices of Grilled Onions

Remember the dude who ordered a Burger King burger with a thousand slices of bacon? Well, he’s back! This time he’s ordered a hamburger with a hundred slices of grilled onion. Because a thousand slices would be insane. After unwrapping the tower of sliced onion burger, it promptly toppled over, leaving Mr. Sato from Japanese…

Chinese Gamer Shuts Self In Home For 6 Years

Last week, a post broke out on the Chinese Twitter clone Sina Weibo about a young a man who hasn’t left his home in 6 years. The post, an impassioned plea for help, was written by the man’s father in hopes that someone could help his son return to his normal life. The post on…

Japan’s Indie Games Are an Untapped Resource of Cool

The entire room was packed. This has to be a fire hazard, someone said. It probably was, but no one cared. They were too busy looking at cool games they had never seen before and meeting game creators they had heard of and never heard of before. “I had no idea there were so many…

Sand, Smog, or Something Covered Japan in a Yellow Haze

This weekend, sand storms blew through Japan. Cities like Tokyo were covered in an unreal yellow haze. Every year, yellow sand from the deserts of Mongolia and northern China blow over North and South Korea as well as Japan. The sand is called “kousa” (黄砂) in Japanese and “Asian Dust” in English. The winds also…