Kotaku East

North Korean Gulags Receive Less Than Stellar Reviews

On Google Maps, there are locations of several North Korean prison camps: Gulag 16, Gulag 22, and Chongjin Gulag. Very serious reviews are appearing on Google Plus, and many of them are hardly flattering. This must be worrying as North Korea is apparently opening new interment resorts. No doubt these reviews will hamper expansion plans.…

This Karaoke Game Has More Than a Few Game Tunes (Can You Name Them?)

Calling Karaoke “popular” in Japan is like calling water “wet.” Places where you can rent your own Karaoke room (for small or large groups) cover Japan’s metropolitan landscape and nearly every bar has an aging Karaoke machine that sees nightly use. So of course, Karaoke video games are nothing new. However, most Karaoke games only…

Even You Could’ve Easily Won This Arcade Game Tournament

Suck at music games? But still want to win tournaments to impress friends and relatives? Well, you might’ve just missed your chance. A Taito arcade in Tokyo’s Takadanobaba recently held a Pop’n Music competition. The event was canned, because nobody showed up. So sad! The tweet from Taito read: “Since there were zero participants at…

Yamato 2199 is a Beautifully Retold Classic (And It’s Only Half Done)

Before there was Macross, before there was Gundam, there was Yamato. Space Battleship Yamato (called Star Blazers in the West) is the original space opera anime and a cornerstone of anime popular culture in Japan. Now, nearly 40 years after its original television debut, a 26-episode remake of the original series is being aired in…

The PS Vita Wanking Game Is a Surprise Hit

Card-based PS Vita game Monster Monpiece features monster girls and inappropriate gameplay. In Japan, the game appears to be a monster hit. I cannot understand why! Compile Heart, the folks behind the title, announced on January 26 that the game’s first run of 27,000 copies is already out of stock and that many stores in…

Yamato 2199 is a Bold New Way to Make an Anime

Space Battleship Yamato (Starblazers in the West) is one of the cornerstones of anime. Created by Yoshinobu Nishizaki and the legendary Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555), it is the original space opera anime and has had a prominent place in Japanese popular culture for nearly 40 years. With the…

Naruto Is Way More Handsome Than You Think

This is Naruto from…Naruto. He is a ramen-eating ninja with whisker marks on his face. What if he didn’t have those whisker marks? What would he look like? According to 2ch, Japan’s largest bulletin board, he’d look pretty damn handsome. Here are a handful of fan images of Naruto, sans whisker marks and head protector.…

This Woman Cosplays Policenauts Like You Won’t Believe

Omi Gibson, the queen of Metal Gear cosplay, turned her talents towards classic adventure game Policenauts. And, wow, she nails it. Just look at how she brings Jonathan Ingram to life. Forget her costume, it’s those facial expressions that really sell this cosplay. Initially released in 1994, Policenauts was designed by Metal Gear creator, Hideo…

After the Internet Drops Out, Chinese Gamer Allegedly Goes on a Deadly Rampage

While playing his favorite online game at a local internet cafe, a gamer named “Zhao” repeatedly suffered internet disconnections. According to QQ Games (via Tech in Asia), Zhao apparently got incensed and went to the home of the net cafe owner. There, things reportedly escalated. And got awful. The net cafe owner, who was surnamed…

Chinese TV Catches Weatherman Playing Online Game

You know that scene in the Avengers? That scene where Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) starts talking about the faults of everyone on board and then he points out that this one technician was playing Galaga instead of operating the super flying aircraft carrier? Well it sorta happened in China this week when a weatherman…

Call Lando, Beijing Is Cloud City

From Silent Hill to Blade Runner, Beijing’s air pollution is helping the metropolis look otherworldly. And this latest batch of photos make Beijing’s skyline look more like Bespin‘s. According to China.org, the smog was especially heavy on January 22 and 23. These photos show Beijing on the morning of the 22nd. Smog is slimy, double-crossing,…

Why I Always Keep Coming Back to Chrono Trigger

Over the course of my 28 years of life, I’ve beaten more video games than I can count. I’ve never been the type of gamer who finds one game and sticks with it for months or years. Rather, from childhood on, I was the kid who would rent a different game from the local Blockbuster…

Run for Money Evokes Memories of Pac-Man and Mario Kart

Run for Money Toshochu: Escape the Greatest Hunters in History is one of the most popular 3DS games released in Japan in 2012. Just like the popular Japanese game show it’s based on, Run for Money pits players against Matrix-like agents (called “hunters”) in an over-the-top game of tag. What results is a game that…

Magi is Like Being Showered in Pure Imagination (And it’s Only Half Done)

From Lodoss War to Slayers, Claymore to Berserk, there are a lot of fantasy anime out there. But for better or worse, a large chunk of fantasy anime are built around the Western-based fantasy framework—with knights, dragons, wizards, castles, and princesses populating these tales. But this year, one of the most popular anime currently airing…

Step Aside, Christian Bale, There’s A New Killer In Town

Killer is Dead is the latest game from Grasshopper Manufacture and the mind of Suda 51. The game features the protagonist, Mondo Zappa, a professional “executioner” in a near-future world. The game is being created as a new chapter in the Suda 51 “assassin series”, following in the footsteps of killer7 and the No More…

Bad news! Famed Western game import shop, Game Hollywood in Tokyo’s Akihabara, is closing this February.

This Short Manga Shows How Tough Making Anime Can Be

A good anime, like any good artistic material, can move you, drive you, and stick with you for your entire life. Most of us only get to see the finished product (and maybe some behind the scenes footage from bonus features). While it is somewhat well-known that the working conditions for manga artists and animators…

Here’s One Difference Between Pokémon Games in Japan and the West

In Japan, new Pocket Monster games means new logos. In the West, it does not. And that sucks! As pointed out by a KnowYourMeme user, here’s how the the logos for the Japanese versions and the Western versions of all the Pokémon games compare through the years. That’s right, the Japanese logos continue to evolve…

The Beauty of a Microwaved CD

Do not try this at home. Or at work. Or wherever. Microwaving a CD is dangerous. It’s also beautiful. Via Twitter user @ao_0356 comes this series of photos showing what happens when you fry a CD in the microwave. If the stills are not enough to satisfy your curiosity, here’s a YouTube video showing how…

No, The DS Is Still Alive In Japan

Nintendo’s DS. With over 152 million units sold worldwide, the dual-screen portable console is without a doubt Nintendo’s biggest seller ever. But now, 8 years after its initial release, currently being outsold by its successor, the 3DS, it seems the DS is almost completely ready to quietly disappear into the night from the Japanese market.…