Kotaku East

Corrupt Chinese Officials Gamble with Taxpayers’ Money in Arcades

Arcades in China have an unfortunate association with gambling parlors, due to the fact that gambling in all forms is technically illegal in China proper, sans Macao. Normally, arcade gambling dens are deemed low class establishments where locals gamble away their money in backrooms, however one business executive for a Chinese State-owned enterprise ended up…

The Lonely World of Japan’s Roadside Arcades

Saitama is located outside Tokyo. And like most areas surrounding giant cities, it gets a bad rap and has earned the nickname “Dasaitama” (ダ埼玉). That’s a word play on “Saitama” and the Japanese word for uncool, “dasai” (ダサい). I’d agree if there weren’t ramshackle roadside arcades which are more than desolate and decrepit. They’re endearing.…

Naruto and .hack// game studio CyberConnect2 is working on three original titles

A Gallery of Hamburger Horrors

The service you get at McDonald’s in Japan is world class. The staff is polite and prompt, and there’s still a focus on presentation. So it’s a shame that McDonald’s just screwed things up. In Japan, McDonald’s is mucking things up with a special promotion. Called “Enjoy! 60 Second Service”, the concept is that if…

The official Japanese Pokémon website teases an “important announcement” for January 8—next Tuesday. What could it be?

Foreign Cosplayers Are Welcome In Japan

Cosplay: the amalgamation of the words “costume” and “play”, and the act of dressing up as a character from comics, manga, movies, anime… Pretty much anything from popular culture or a subculture that people like. For Japanese cosplayers, the culture of cosplay can be a world of fun, photos, and sometimes bitter and petty rivalry.…

Threats Against Manga Artist Lead To Empty Tables At Comiket 83

Kuroko’s Basketball has been having it rough. The popular basket manga, or rather its creator, has been continuously threatened since last October, which has led to the cancellation of all Kuroko’s Basketball-related events, including a stage event at Jump Festa. More recently, Japan’s biggest independent doujinshi event, Comic Market (better known as Comiket), announced that…

Inside Comiket: I Didn’t Have To Line Up To Get Into Comic Market 83

Comic Market, better known among the subculture in Japan as “Comiket,” is currently a bi-annual 3-day event that takes place in Japan. This past December 29th to 31st was the 83rd Comiket, and Kotaku East had a chance to delve into the underbelly of what is currently the largest comic pop culture convention for the…

Fake Online Romance Leads To Real-Life Manhunt

Online games in China are a big business—so much so that every now and then a company will put out lavish rewards to get gamers to either register for a game, or to play a game for a certain period. These gifts range from limited items to use in-game to sometimes pretty good real world…

Father Hires In-Game “Hitmen” To Deter Son From Playing

Sick and tired of his son playing video games and not listening to him, a father in China decided to take matters into his own hands… well, sort of. Instead of sending his son off to addiction camp or stripping him of internet and gaming rights, Mr. Feng (冯先生) chose to hire an online “hitman”…

Btooom! is an Explosion-Filled Cross Between Hunger Games and The Last Star Fighter

This year, anime that focus on games and game-related culture have been quite numerous. One of these, Btooom! (the onomatopoeic sound effect for a bomb exploding) ended its television run last week in Japan. Like Hunger Games and Battle Royale, Btooom! follows a group of people stranded away from civilization and forced to fight in…

A Chinese Toy Company That Specializes In Making American Soldiers

Toys coming out of China have long had a bad rap. There’s often talk of lead paint, dangerous and sometimes exploding parts, but the overall argument against Chinese toys is that they’re boring and low quality (not Western branded toys made in China). Despite all it had going against it, a small Chinese toy company…

The Japanese PS2’s Last Game Gets A Release Date

A couple of months ago, I wrote about how the Japanese PlayStation 2 has one unreleased game left. For the longest time, this title, Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin, had been simply labeled as “Release date: 2013.” Now, at last, it has an official release date. Seekers of Adoulin is in fact the first…

Ixion Saga DT is One of the Funniest Anime I Have Ever Seen (And It’s Only Half Done)

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A teenager from our world is magically transported to a fantasy world where he/she is the key to saving the kingdom—or perhaps the entire world. Of course you have. Ixion Saga DT is an anime built around this most common of themes, seeking to deconstruct it piece…

Here’s What Solo Gameplay Is Like in Lightning Returns: FFXIII

By now, most fans have seen the trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and are at least partly aware of the new game system that will involve a limited time of 13 days in which Lightning must save the world. Video from the trailer shows Lightning in her new outfit running, fighting, climbing and…

Sony’s DVR System Goes Portable On The Vita… Only In Japan

“Torne?” “Nasne?” If you’re wondering what the Hell these terms are, don’t worry. Sony’s PS3 compatible DVR systems currently have no announced release outside of Japan. Just for an overview, torne (pronounced “TOR-neh”) and nasne (pronounced “NAS-neh”) are Sony’s digital recording systems to record HD TV. torne is the name of the interface software, while…

Sword Art Online‘s Second Half Isn’t Quite as Brilliant as Its First

Earlier this year when Sword Art Online hit its halfway point, I called it the smartest anime I had seen in years because of its in-depth look at the long-term effects of being trapped in a virtual reality world. This last week Sword Art Online finished its run on Japanese TV. And while the second…

Villagers Accidentally Beat Up Mobile Gamer

Lots of people play mobile games in China. The mobile game market has exploded in the last two years into a multimillion dollar industry. According to iResearch, in 2012, mobile games raked in a profit of $197 million in China, so it’s almost baffling to hear something like a young man playing on a mobile…

Chinese Man Fooled By Infomercial

China has infomercials, a heck of a lot of them at that too, covering everything from breast enlargements to helping Chinese parents make their kids taller. Every now and again, in between the snake oil remedies, an ad will run selling electronics such as tablet computers and cell phones. If you are in China don’t…

The Year in Kotaku East

It’s been a long year! Can you believe it? Time has flown by. Let’s take this opportunity to look back at 2012, Kotaku East style. Reporting to you live from Asia, Kotaku East is a look at games, subculture and more—much more. Here’s a smattering of the most memorable (and interesting) stories Kotaku East ran…