Kotaku East

This PC Case Mod Is Perfect for Space Battles

Iconic Japanese anime Space Battleship Yamato (localized and edited for the West as Star Blazers) comes alive with this special case mod. The mod is on display at Akihabara PC shop, Olio Spec, and it was made with Yamato themed pachinko machine parts to achieve that flashy look. ド派手な「宇宙戦艦ヤマトPC」 [Akiba PC Hotline!] Kotaku East is…

The official site for spring 2013 title Tales of Hearts R for PS Vita just launched.

At McDonald’s in Japan, French Fries Are Causing All Sorts of Chaos

This October, McDonald’s Japan has been running a special sale: all French fry sizes are ¥150 per order. So ordering large sized fries, which are usually much more expensive, is now a bargain. It’s not just a bargain, though. It’s also a French fry frenzy that’s pissing some people off. The French fry sale is…

Project X Zone is Far More Than Just a Crossover Gimmick

Project X Zone is a new strategy RPG that takes famous characters from Capcom, Namco-Bandai and Sega franchises and combines them all into one mega-crossover adventure. There are characters from everything from Sakura Wars to Darkstalkers. But this crossover gimmick is far from all there is to the game and it easily holds its own…

Teacher Dresses Up as a Maid to Reward Her Students

It started with a promise: “If the class’ test scores this month are the highest for this grade in school, I will teach in a maid’s outfit,” a teacher in China apparently told her students. According to Xinhua, the teacher stayed true to her word, showing up in a frilly maid outfit and teaching a…

PS3 firmware (4.30) is causing Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver. to freeze, Sony said. An update to fix is incoming.

Why So Many Games These Days Are “Japan-Only”

Tales of Xillia is a great game—perhaps the best JRPG on the PlayStation 3. It was the second best-selling PS3 game in Japan last year (ninth best-selling in Japan overall), with 660,000 copies sold. And in a country where anything over 100,000 copies sold is considered a financial success, Tales of Xillia was a run-away…

You’ll Never Guess Where Burger King’s Pumpkin Burger Hides Its Lettuce

In the press image Burger King Japan released of its new “Bomb Pumpkin” burger, you can see the lettuce sitting atop ten slices of Japanese squash. In reality, however, it’s a different story. Japanese site Gigazine ordered the pumpkin behemoth burger, which didn’t appear to have any lettuce whatsoever. Oh, but there is lettuce—a solid…

This Pikachu Hairstyle Is Utterly Terrifying

Spotted in a Japanese men’s fashion magazine, this hair and make-up job is Pikachu themed. It’s also frightening. The ears look like clip-on decorations—they were supposedly made with what’s called “sukige” (すき毛), which is fake hair that’s sometimes used for more volume. These were then colored yellow and black. The look is completed with face…

Tokitowa Has the Best Characters of Any JRPG This Year

What roleplaying games have that separates them from other types of games is their focus on story more than gameplay. And with this deep exploration of the story comes a game far longer than other genres. While you will spend an average of ten hours on most single-player titles, RPGs can easily last triple that…

Browser Sengoku Basara, the browser game version of Sengoku Basara, is going offline after debuting this summer.

Chinese Grandma Tries to Shut Down a Microsoft Event, Then Things Get Ugly

To kick off Surface, Microsoft held big launch events in China. At the midnight event in Beijing, there were dancers, loud music, and one pissed off grandma. That’s when things got ugly. According to Sina, the noise was apparently keeping her grandchildren awake—a problem since the next day was a schoolday. So the grandma and…

Time to Overdose on Awesome Plastic

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Bandai’s annual Tamashii Nations figure event steamrolls Tokyo. Do you like collectable, plastic friends? Then this might be the event for you. On display were an array of Japanese figures, ranging from super heroes to heroines, as well as robots and monsters. Websites Moeyo and Gigazine were on hand to…

Nintendo is offering free online for Wii U title Monster Hunter 3 (-tri) G HD Ver. Generous!

Portable Gaming Rules in Japan

One of the more noticeable differences between the East and the West is the prevalence of the handheld console. The popularity of handhelds in Japan is fairly understandable. For one thing, the high population density makes open space one of the island country’s most precious commodities. Also, the widespread use of public mass transit leads…

Animal Crossing Getting “Nintendo Town”

In the upcoming Animal Crossing 3DS game, there will be a “Nintendo Town” (ニンテンドー村　or “Nintendo Mura”). It will have various Nintendo themed items to check out and collect. Here’s a first look.

Fluidity Wants to Turn the 3DS Upside Down

WiiWare title Fluidity is heading to the 3DS as a downloadable title this December in Japan. The game will take advantage of the 3DS’s gyro function, having players rotate their handhelds to play the game. Nintendo Direct [Official Site]

Jam With The Band is heading to the Nintendo 3DS next year.

Report: Groom Kisses Bride on Neck, Tragically Killing Her

Wedding bliss turns into a newlywed nightmare. According to a report out of China, a young bride sadly passed away on her wedding night after being kissed on the neck. The kiss, report states, caused the bride to go into a daze. Her complexion turned pale, her body went cold, and she collapsed. A doctor…

Final Fantasy XIV Has Bust Size, But I Don’t See Jock Size

As part of Final Fantasy XIV’s reboot, the game is getting a reworked character creator. It allows you to customize your character’s appearance, such as height, eyebrows, and even jaw and tail length. This recent batch of screenshots (via Siliconera) shows how you can customize your character’s bust size: from Very Small to Very Large.…