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Kotaku East
Teenager Lured Little Girl with Video Games. Then, He Raped Her.
Early this past March in China’s Gushi County, 14 year-old Xiao Qiang told seven year-old Xiao Hua she could play games on his mobile phone. He lured her into a room in an abandoned shoe factory. There, he proceeded to sexually assault her. After raping Xiao Hua, the boy continued to bully and abuse her…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Red Games Are Patriotic Communist Games That Always Have China Winning
Chances are when you hear “China”, you immediately think of communism, Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao. Well, those three things don’t really scream video games, but in China they are an important part of China’s video gaming history. Chairman Mao and his vision of China a red China has influenced a genre of video games…
By Eric Jou Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
And Japan’s Most Popular Manga is… (Survey Says)
Last month, goo Research polled 1,939 Japanese people from ages 15 to 44 about their manga reading habits. Questions ranged from which manga they read to who their favorite character is—they even asked about favorite one-liners. So if manga is your drug of choice, read on to see which are the most popular in Japan…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
A Small Fleet of Cars. Pokémon Cars.
If you collect Japanese toy cars, you’re well aware of the Pikachu toy car. This wasn’t a one off dealio. Japanese toy maker Takara Tomy is running a campaign this summer with Toyota dealers to give away Pokémon mini toy cars as part of a promotion with the new Pocket Monsters feature film. This month…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Decades Later, Dirty Doorknob Manga Locks Up an Adult Film Version
Last year, Kotaku profiled the male and female photographers behind Doorknob Girl, a collection of photos featuring young women licking doorknobs. The NSFW photos, which are now available in book forum, sexualize an object that most view as innocuous: the doorknob. But this wasn’t a first. Over a decade ago, an underground manga artist named…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Forget Food! Chinese Kids Want Virtual Gaming Loot, Instead
According to a population study done by Nanjing Normal University and published by Tencent, over 33% of Chinese junior high students in the Nanjing area are willing to go hungry in the morning so that they can purchase items for online games. In their study, Nanjing University surveyed over 1,200 junior high, high school, and…
By Eric Jou Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku EastFinal Fantasy, King of Fighters, and Magic: The Gathering Collide in This Arcade Game
Trading card games are big in Japan—from Yu-Gi-Oh! to Pokémon to Magic: The Gathering. And given the popularity of video games also, it’s really not surprising that videogame makers figured out how to combine the two. Today, outside of fighting games and medal games, these card/video games are the most popular thing you’ll see in…
By Richard Eisenbeis Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Chinese Doctors Tells Parents With Young Children to Say No to the iPad.
Children ages three and under should not be allowed near touch screen devices such as tablet computers and smartphones, say Chinese doctors in Guangzhou. According a recent study done in Guangzhou, the doctors found that children are adversely affected by touch screen devices. The study states that the children can develop “severe” eye problems ranging…
By Eric Jou Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
South Korea To Ban Those Gold Farming Bots
According to the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, roughly sixty percent of game items for sale were acquired via bots. In online games, these programs allow players to hunt and collect items without controlling them directly. And soon, these programs will be outlawed. The Korea Times reports that the country has decided…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Oh, The Ways Japanese Anime Has Changed Over the Years
These image of popular anime K-On! has been making its way through the Japanese internet. They show K-On! as the anime actually appears now as well as how it “would” appear if it had been drawn in the 1990s, the 1980s, the 1970s, and even the 1960s. K-On!, of course, is not a decades old…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
How Japan’s Most Wanted Criminal Almost Escaped at a Comic Book Cafe
On March 20, 1995, Japan experienced the country’s worst act of modern terrorism. It was domestic terrorism carried out by the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo. Members of the doomsday group released sarin gas on the Tokyo Metro, killing thirteen and injuring thousands more. Ten male Aum Shinrikyo members carried out the attack: five of them…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 15, 2012 -
Kotaku East
New Super Mario Bros. 2 Features The Midas Touch And Co-op Play
It looks like Nintendo’s latest Mario game, New Super Mario Bros 2, which is scheduled for release in August, is going for the gold. Literally. The Mario series has always been adding new costumes for the mustached plumber with every game. The previous announcement that New Super Mario Bros. 2 would include a variation of…
By Toshi Nakamura Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Beware Parents! Your Child Could Get into The Animes.
Via Tumblr Yaoi Fight, here are some signs that your child might be under the influence of the substance commonly known as “The Animes”: •making an account on deviantART.com – While it appears innocent, this website is actually a black market for different types of “The Animes.” It contains the highest concentration of animes abusers…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku EastIn Taiwan, the Weather News Is Fit for an Apocolyptic Future and Huge Mecha
Rain has been hitting Taiwan hard. As Taiwanese people check the weather, they might notice something familiar: that 3D rainfall map sure looks like something out of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The font and the interface resemble Evangelion style computer graphics in what *looks* to be a clever, viral Eva cross promotion with Taiwan’s Next Media…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku East
Why Nintendo Almost Dumped the Wii U’s Biggest Feature
Each Nintendo hardware has its thing: For the Wii, it’s motion controls; for the 3DS, it’s 3D; and for the Wii U, it’s a tablet-like controller. Dubbed the Wii U GamePad, that controller was almost killed off. “Sometime during that final discussion we almost gave up on the idea of the additional screen,” Iwata recently…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku East
The Latest Idolm@ster Product Offers (Virtual) Conversations With Virtual Idols
The Idolm@ster series is well renowned for its cute virtual idols and ability to suck money out of fans’ wallets with pricy DLC and slot machine-like tactics. Next up, snack wafers that let you make literal phone calls to your favorite virtual idols. The Idolm@aster Wafers 2 are small, plain, rectangular chocolate sandwich wafer snacks,…
By Toshi Nakamura Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku East
And Japanese Police’s Underage Hacker Crackdown Continues
Yesterday, news broke that Japanese police took an 11 year-old girl into protective custody for violating the country’s computer laws. Today, it’s a 16 year-old. Allegedly, the teenager is a self-styled hacker who illegally accessed another individual’s online game server and also wrote three gamers’ IDs and passwords on an internet forum. For that, Japanese…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku EastEarth Defense Force Has All the Giant Bugs the PlayStation Vita Can Handle
Earth Defense Force 3: Portable is bringing its giant bugs to the PS Vita for huge insect shooting fun with four player online co-op. The game will be out this fall in Japan. Have a look.
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012 -
Kotaku EastIron Man? Nope, She’s Iron Girl, and She’ll Kick Your Face In
In Iron Girl, our metal heroine fights a group of outlaws known as the “Crazy Dogs” and could be the “Iron Savoir” foretold by the prophets. Adult film actress Kirara Asuka stars as Iron Girl. The flick also features Rina Akiyama from Kamen Rider Den-O. She might be familiar to Metal Gear Solid 3 players…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 14, 2012