Kotaku East

Hot Pants and Panda Heads: Welcome’s to China’s Mists of Pandaria Inferno

In World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, there’s a new race of panda people called Pandaren. Last week in Beijing, there was a flash mob of thirty ladies dressed as Pandaren, reports Xinhuanet. That apparently means hot pants and panda hats. Yes, this was a stunt to promote the expansion pack, with the…

Don’t Be Surprised by a Kingdom Hearts 2 HD Remake

At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix announced a high definition remake of the first Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It’s called Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX. In the upcoming leaked issue of Famitsu, Kingdom Hearts designer Tetsuya Nomura was apparently asked whether or not there…

Level-5’s international American branch just launched a website with a spinning black box. Oh. Okay.

Dancing Prison Inmates Do Their Best Gangnam Style

The inmates at Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in The Philippines first captured the internet’s imagination a few years back by doing dance routines. There was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and the Haruhi dance from the Haruhi Suzumiya anime. This time, they’re back, burning up YouTube with their take on “Gangnam Style”. There’s been criticism…

Chinese WoW Players Are Sick of Lies

Think you have it rough? Try being a World of Warcraft player in China. You have to deal with Western gamers who think all Chinese gamers are gold farmers as well as unfair stereotypes at home. And that’s not all of it! Chinese gamers are taking to micro blogging site Sina Weibo to vent about…

Tiger and Bunny: The Beginning is Half-Rehash and Half-Filler (But Not Half Bad)

Without a doubt, Tiger & Bunny was one of the most popular anime of 2011. It took the idea of superheroes and mixed it with reality TV to create what amounts to a buddy-cop anime series. Now a year after the series’ end, the heroes are making their leap to the silver screen with Tiger…

One of the Nerdiest Restaurant Discounts Japan Has Ever Had

Monteroza, which owns a handful of izakaya restaurants like Shirokiya and Wara Wara, is offering a special deal at many of its eateries: If you have the same name as a Neon Genesis Evangelion characters, it will discount your bill. The characters include Rei Ayanami, Shinji Ikari, Kaworu Nagisa, Soryu Asuka Langley, and Makinami Mari…

Even EA Couldn’t Kill This Japanese Dating Game

A few years back, EA (of Japan!) was slated to publish a Nintendo DS game dubbed Hachi Koi in which you touch various girls. It was the least EA game EA was ever to release. But by 2009, EA got cold feet—or something—and the game was shelved. Fast forward to October 1. Hachi Koi resurfaced…

Accel World Starts Strong, But Ends Wrong

I have made no secret of how much I have been enjoying Sword Art Online—going so far as to call it the smartest anime in years. When fellow Kotaku East writer Toshi Nakamura told me that there was another anime by the same author also about online games called Accel World, I began watching it…

Hironobu Sakaguchi made Blade Guardian because he *hearts* tower defense games.

Japan’s Panty Vending Machines: The Unreal Hyperbole (and Honest Truth)

Los Angeles. Summer 1997. There was this guy named Kevin in the office I worked at who was obsessed with the notion of panty vending machines. He even wrote a screenplay about them, complete with, as he explained, a scene at the panty vending machine factory. He said, “Dude, in Japan, they’re on every corner.”…

A Spiffy PSP Value Pack for You, Japan

Oh, now this is nice! Look at that red. And the black. And that neat little cloth. Like I said, nice! On November 22, a new Red/Black PSP-3000 value pack is hitting Japan for ¥14,800. Note that quantities are limited. M’kay, noted! “PSP「プレイステーション・ポータブル」（PSP-3000）バリューパック” [4Gamer] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you…

You Got Your JRPG in my Dating Sim!

Since the plot of the light novel/anime series Accel World revolves around an MMO fighting game, one would think any games based on the series would fall into the fighting game genre. However, the first game of the franchise, Accel World: Awakening of the Silver Wings, mixes two completely different genres instead: traditional dating sims…

It’s Ladies Only at Tokyo’s Dream Party

On September 30, the twice-a-year DreamParty roared through Tokyo. The fall event is aimed at bishoujo (beautiful girl) video games, and it celebrates bishoujo figurines and cosplay. So, if you are hoping to see some hunky male cosplayers in this gallery (courtesy of an array of Japanese cosplay sites), you’ll be disappointed. Sorry! The DreamParty…

Two of the Ugliest PS3s I’ve Ever Seen

Hello tacky! Sony is readying two PS3 super slim specials (one for Yakuza 5 and the other for Ken’s Rage). Both are shockingly unattractive. Why are they so ugly? Well, for starters, Sony has always been really good about releasing cool looking PS3 special editions. However, with the new hardware, the ribbed face makes decoration…

Steve Jobs Spotted in the Back of a Truck. In China. [Update]

Late fall, Steve Jobs sadly moved on from this world. He’s gone and missed. Yet, a photo of Jobs in the back of a truck is now making the internet rounds in China. Could this be the information age’s equivalent of Elvis sightings? The photo was apparently taken on September 26 in the city of…

I Want More Sleeping Dogs

I know, I know, I’m late to the party. I finally beat United Front’s amazing Triad story, Sleeping Dogs. Our very own Tina Amini gave the game a glowing review and I’d have to agree; the game is spectacular, however upon completion I got to thinking. Why aren’t there more games like Sleeping Dogs, or…

Japanese TV Is Getting a Digital Lady Made from Crappy Graphics

Hatsune Miku proved that virtual idols could be big business. There are Miku video games, live concerts, and endless merchandising. So it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that Fuji TV is rolling out its own virtual idol, a “digital announcer” named Lune Anri. Female announcers on Japanese TV don’t just read the news or…

The Wonderfully Weird World Of Chinese Oreos

My mother used to tell me not to play with my food, but the rule never applied to Oreos. It’s almost as if the cookie was meant to be played—you take apart the Oreo, lick the creamy center first and then eat the cookie as a whole. The Oreo (and the way to eat it),…

Japan, The Country That Isn’t FIFA Crazy

Ask your typical Japanese gamer what a soccer video game is, and he or she will immediately say Winning Eleven, or as it’s known in the West, Pro Evolution Soccer. That is the soccer game in Japan. One of the big reasons for this is that there is no national Japanese team in FIFA. The…