The SNK Themed Stores and Cafes The World Deserves

For a limited time only, there are four SNK official shops in Tokyo, filled with themed merch, food and drink. There is NeoGeo Land in Akihabara, which runs until February 20, the SNK Limited Store in Ikebukuro, which runs until January 31, the SNK Limited Store in Tokyo Skytree Tower, which will be open until…

We Didn’t Intend To Whitewash Tennis Star, Says Noodle Maker [Update]

Last year, US Open champ Naomi Osaka signed a deal to appear in Nissin Cup Noodle commercials. The latest one, an anime version, has been criticized for whitewashing the biracial tennis star. Prince of Tennis manga artist Takeshi Konomi drew the ad, which also features fellow Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori. Update January 25 –…

A Game About The Nightmare That Is Being Stuck In An Airport

I’m one of those weird people that actually enjoys the liminal spaces of travel—hotels, train stations, and yes, airports—but even I have my limits. I might be having a chill time reading a book in a food court that only smells a little like a one-thousand-year-old Panda Express, but if I hear that my flight’s…

Sunday Drive

David Tilton is a concept artist who most recently worked on Rooster Teeth’s Gen:Lock You can see more of David’s stuff at his ArtStation page.

There’s A (Fan-Made) Persona 5 Board Game, And It’s Great

Last year I wrote about Brother Ming, an amateur designer who came up with his own Fire Emblem board game. He’s now made one for Persona 5, and it’s fantastic The Unofficial Persona 5 Phan-Game (UP5P) is a short game, taking around 30 minutes to complete. It’s pretty small in scale; you can play solo…

A Catalogue Of Some Of The Rarest Consoles Ever Made

I’ve always had a weird thing for collections of video game hardware. Rare colourways, odd promotional designs, Japanese-only releases with crazy hardware features, I live for it. So I’ve just spent the last 24 hours clicking throughthis website, whose goal is to catalogue every console variant there is and ever has been, from fancy PS2s…

Dragon Ball Super: Broly Makes Broly The Hero And Goku More Selfish Than Ever

Dragon Ball Super: Broly, released in theaters last week, perfects the modern Dragon Ball formula in almost every way. I couldn’t take my eyes off it at any point during its 101-minute run time, even though everything that flashed on screen during that time was incredibly dumb and nothing I hadn’t seen before. Who will…

Pillars Of Eternity II Is Getting A Turn-Based Mode 

Today, Pillars of Eternity II developer Obsidian said that, nine months after its release, Pillars II is getting a turn-based combat mode as part of a free update on Januay 24. Previously, the fantasy RPG’s default mode of combat was real-time, but with the option for players to pause and issue commands to their party…

How Peanuts Used Lucy and Schroeder To Explore Dysfunctional Relationships

Lucy’s relationship to Schroeder was unfulfilling. She craved emotional validation from the one character who was least equipped to provide it. It was both humorous and sad—a contradictory message that Charles Schulz’s Peanuts conveyed so well. This piece originally appeared 5/2/18. Lucy debuted as a toddler in 1952. Schulz declined to reprint these early strips…

A Game About Dating That Instagram-Famous Egg

In early January, an anonymous Instagram user posted a picture of an egg, trying to get other people to like it in order to beat Kylie Jenner’s world record of 18 million likes. They succeeded. And now you can date the egg in a video game. World Record Egg is a short dating simulator on…

FIFA 19’s Latest Update Fixes Overpowered Goal Shooting

Four months after launch, EA has released an update to make some of FIFA 19’s intriguing new shot-taking abilities more realistic and less broken. FIFA comes out every year, and every year the team at EA Vancouver tries to make it worth buying again. For FIFA 19, a feature was added to entice fans called…

Bloodborne Has Clicked For Me (And It Only Took Four Years)

A few weeks ago, I was cursing former Kotaku jerk Kirk Hamilton for forcing me to play through all of Bloodborne. Now, I’m fearing the old blood just like the rest of you. First, a bit of background: I bought From Software’s PlayStation 4-exclusive action game when it first came out back in March 2015.…

Hitman 2 has a limited-time event, the Snow Festival, on the Hokkaido map from January 22-Feb 12. It includes a new mission and target. There’s also a free trial of the level for the course of the event.