-
Kotaku EastJapanBeloved Anime Character Finally Gets His Own Store In Tokyo
Doraemon, a blue robotic cat from the future, now has his own store in Tokyo’s Odaiba—the first of its kind for the character, apparently. The shop, called Doraemon Future Department Store, features an array of Doraemon related goods. What makes Doraemon so cool is that he always pulls out an array of gizmos from his…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 29, 2019 -
CultureThe Three Amigos
Zak Foreman is an artist at Epic. You can see more of Zak’s stuff at his ArtStation page
By Luke Plunkett Published November 28, 2019 -
CultureGeekOn! is currently running a Kickstarter for a whole range of board game travel/transport accessories, some of which I’ve tried out previously (the portable dice tower + nesting tray is great). Things are a bit pricey individually, so the bundles are where it’s at.
By Luke Plunkett Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedMidnight Diner’s “Chicken Fried Rice” Episode Combines Good Food, Video Games, And Family
Midnight Diner is one of those shows I approach like a late night snack; I save it for special occasions, wait until I’m in the right mood, then savor its company. The new season just released on Netflix and as the first episode centered around a game director, I thought it was the perfect episode…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedWhat Games Are You Most Thankful For?
This has been an interesting year for me personally with lots of ups and downs. I’ll be honest; I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to this year. Through it all, I’m grateful for the amazing games I got to play and revisit. The remasters of classic games for the latest generation of consoles makes it…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedChrono Trigger’s Campfire Scene Is A Meditation On Friendship, Regrets, And Time Itself
The opening of Chrono Trigger shows the pendulum of time, swinging away at the fractures breaking history apart. It’s been more than two decades since the game’s release, but many of its pivotal moments still stay with me, from the Trial of Crono for Marle’s kidnapping, to the confrontation with Magus at his castle, all…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedGradius III Was Fun And Hard As Bullet Hell
I grew up thinking space was infested with monsters, massive killer plants, and Easter Island Heads thanks in large part to the classic shmup (shoot em’ up) series, Gradius The Gradius games were spacer shooters developed by Konami that also made space faring hip with its retro tunes and vibrantly deadly depictions of space battles.…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedPokémon Games Can Be Strange If You’ve Never Played One Before
For the longest time, I’ve wanted to dive into a Pokémon game. I thought the recent release of Sword and Shield would be a good place to start. I’ve played about five hours of Shield, collected a bunch of Pokémon, and beat three gyms. I’m having a lot of fun, but I’m also baffled by…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
Uncategorized10 Favorite Meals In Gaming
Thanksgiving means lots of food and lots of sweets. Last time we covered Thanksgiving, we went over 9 of the strangest foods in gaming. Here’s 10 new gaming meals that made us salivate. The Witcher 3 Hunting noonwraiths, becoming the fisticuff Champion of Champions across Skellige, Novigrad and Velen, and choosing the right choices to…
Narelle Ho Sang & Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedClash At Demonhead Is Like Playing A Ridiculously Fun 8-Bit Anime
Clash at Demonhead is 8-bit gaming at its most charmingly eclectic. Developed by Vic Tokai and known as Dengeki Big Bang! in Japan, Clash is a metroidvania-style game with open-world platforming and nonlinear progression through its quirky world. Unlike many of the earlier metroidvania games, it has an anime aesthetic and an intricate plot with…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedAn Ode To Weird Dreams Inspired By Videogames
Happy Thanksgiving! My name’s Peter Tieryas and I’m your guest writer for the next three days. I covered Thanksgiving two years ago and I’m excited to be back. I’ll be writing about retrogames like Clash at Demonhead and Final Fantasy VIII, ponder the existential meaning of Gradius III and Pokémon, then explore some of our…
By Peter Tieryas Published November 28, 2019 -
CultureTrack: Shonen Jidai | Artist: Utada Hikaru | Album: 20-dai wa Ikeike! (DVD)
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 28, 2019 -
Kotaku EastJapanWatch Star Wars Kabuki Right Here
When the one-off performance of Star Wars kabuki was announced, it made sense. Star Wars is deeply influenced by Japan, so it seemed as though this would work. That it did, but better than I could’ve imagined. The kabuki version is a fascinating take on Star Wars. Even the program was excellent. The performance was…
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 28, 2019 -
UncategorizedAfter an 8-month maintenance period, free-to-play smartphone game Disgaea RPG is resuming service. The announcement notice apologized for the wait and offered gratitude to players. At launch in Japan, there were server issues, so hopefully, the lengthy maintenance has that fixed.
By Brian Ashcraft Published November 28, 2019 -
CultureBaby Yoda Has Opened A Pandora’s Box
Awwww, yes, he’s so adorable with his little robe and big black eyes, but have you ever considered the precedent that’s been set with the introduction of Baby Yoda? Now every artist from here to Coruscant is going to be doing mockups of other Star Wars species as infants, and it’s going to go for…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 27, 2019 -
UncategorizedFormer Fire Emblem ROM Hack Becomes Brand New Video Game
Once upon a time, there was a ROM hack for Fire Emblem called Midnight Sun. It was cancelled in 2017, but is now back, having spent the intervening years transforming itself into a standalone, original video game. No longer based on Nintendo’s classic series, it’s now called Path of the Midnight Sun, and is more…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 27, 2019 -
UncategorizedWork It, Batman, Work It
If you’ve ever wondered just how important animation is to a game’s ability to convey character, please examine this video in which Batman and Catwoman’s models are swapped over. Taken from Arkham Knight (you can see the original here), it literally does nothing else but swap the characters. And in doing so shows that Batman’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published November 27, 2019