-
Kotaku East
The Second Berserk Movie is Better Than The First
This last weekend Berserk Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey was released in theaters across Japan. It is the second film in a trilogy planned to adapt the first story arc of popular Japanese manga Berserk I previously reviewed the first film in the series Berserk Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
This Is a Chinese Gatling Gun. For, Um, Cops.
Earlier this week, workers rioted in China’s Shaxi, a manufacturing town in Guangdong province. Before that, there were reports of riots at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu. Make no mistake, China doesn’t appear to be near a tipping point; however, there seems to be something in the air. While certainly not widespread, some people do…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku EastIf Minecraft Were a Gooey Cute Japanese Anime
With the Xbox Live version of Minecraft, anime fans thought now would be as good a time as any for this. What’s this? This is anime Haiyore! Nyaruko-san mashed with Minecraft. The original light novel and anime stars a Cthulhu deity named Nyaruko and the title refers to “crawling” or “creeping”. Fittingly, the mash-up is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Guild01 is a Game Made For Gamers
Guild01 isn’t like Professor Layton, Dragon Quest IX or any other of Level-5’s recent big-named titles. Rather it’s a budget anthology title sporting not one but four different—and completely unrelated—games by three famous developers (and one comedian). But despite that selling point, Guild01 has completely failed to capture the interest of the Japanese market, selling…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
When You Have the Mario Bros. for Fans, You Cannot Lose at Euro Soccer
In the wake of this week’s Germany vs. Italy Euro 2012 match-up, there’s one image that’s making the rounds online in Japan: two of Italy’s biggest fans cheering on their team. Italy defeated Germany 2-1, and we’re left mesmerized by the GIF below, courtesy of SB Nation Pipe Dream: Super Mario Bros. Fans Rally Italy…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
If You’re Going to Do a Power Rangers Parody, You Need a Porn Star
This year, a Super Sentai (aka Power Rangers) parody series called Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger launched in Japan along with the new “official” series Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. For decades now, young Japanese boys have grown up with Power Rangers, which gets a new incarnation every year. Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger is from the folks who make the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku EastYou Got Your Trading Cards in My Arcade Game!
Earlier this month, we took an in-depth look at Square Enix’s trading card-based, RTS arcade game, Lord of Vermillion. While arguably the most popular game of this type, it is far from the only one—or the first one, for that matter. Collectible trading card arcade games have covered everything from real world sports to Gundam…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku EastStep inside the Glorious Gundam Hotel
Starting today, Tokyo’s Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel has three Gundam themed hotel rooms for the Amuro Ray in all of us. Earlier this year, a life-sized Gundam was erected in Tokyo’s Odaiba (again!), and the hotel is hoping to capitalize on the increased Gundam tourism. Rates start at ¥27,000 (US$340), and the above video…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Face-Eater Attack in China
Late last month, a naked man in Miami was fatally shot after he wouldn’t stop chewing on another man’s face. This wasn’t the start of a zombie apocalypse (but, rather, as sister site Jezebel pointed out, mentally ill people without a safety net). And it’s not only something that happened in the US. Yesterday, it…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Gay Manga Kissing Puts the Energy in These Energy Drinks
In Japan, they’re called “fujoshi” (腐女子) or “rotten girls”, and they are into homoerotic “boys love” manga. The trend has spread to neighboring China, where “fujoshi” are called “funu” (腐女). Much of the appeal of boys love in both Japan and China is that the genre allows women to freely explore various roles—whether that is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Report: Why Square Enix Average Salaries Are Sky High
According to online research site Nensyu Labo, here is a list of the mean yearly income for the game industry with numbers crunched from public reports filed by the companies: Square Enix Holdings: ¥21,680,000 (US$272,988) Sony: ¥9,230,000 ($116,189) Nintendo: ¥9,140,000 ($115,032) Sega Sammy: ¥8,220,000 ($103,486) Konami: ¥6,780,000 ($85,371) Namco Bandai: ¥6,400,000 ($80,577) Tecmo Koei: ¥6,150,000…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
How Japan Can Churn Out Game Machines for the Next…Two Hundred Years
Our glittering game machines and our shiny gadgets aren’t made possible by merely fancy tech and electricity. They are here because minerals called rare earths, which are found in rich sludge and mud. Currently, China controls over 90 percent of the world’s current supply of rare earths. That, however, could change. China’s current dominance is,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 29, 2012 -
Kotaku East
The Road to Final Fantasy XIII-2
At the GDC in Taipei held at the Taipei International Conference Center in Taiwan, Motomu Toriyama of Square Enix held a presentation on the development between Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. Toriyama, who held the position of director for both games, took the podium and revealed the inner working of development on Final…
By Toshi Nakamura Published June 28, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Fret Not! Dragon Quest‘s Slime Chewing Gum Isn’t Really Slime Flavored.
Fit’s is a brand of Lotte chewing gum, and this August, there will be “Slime flavored” gum for you to chomp on. But it’s not really “Slime flavored”. PHEW. “Slime” (スライム or “suraimu”) is used as a pun: “suppai-raimu” (スっぱいライム). “Suppai” (here, スっぱい) means “sour” and “raimu” (ライム) is Japanese for “lime”. The flavor is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 28, 2012 -
Kotaku East
How Virtua Fighter Was Dead Or Alive‘s Daddy
Fighting games featuring characters from other fighting games or completely different genre games is nothing new. Still, the Virtua Fighter characters Sarah Bryant and Akira Yuki appearing in Dead or Alive 5 holds a little more meaning for the creators at Team Ninja than the average guest appearance. In a three-way interview with Weekly Famitsu,…
By Toshi Nakamura Published June 28, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Japanese Ministry Unsure If It Was Cyber-Attacked by Anonymous
This week, hacker-activist collective Anonymous allegedly attacked a number of Japanese government sites, such as the Finance Ministry’s site and the Supreme Court’s site, among others. New, strict Japanese copyright law that could imprison people for illegally downloading copyrighted content incited the attack. A website, dubbed AnonPR, claimed to speak for the group and launched…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 28, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Namco Bandai’s Latest Gundam Game Is Free*! (*Not Completely)
Gundam is a bit like a Japanese version of Star Trek: It’s an epic sci-fi fantasy series with multiple spin-offs and games (some of which fans don’t like to talk about), a massive fan base, a gargantuan library of technical information, and it all came from an original series that was canceled during its initial…
By Toshi Nakamura Published June 28, 2012
