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Kotaku EastKendo Sure Looks Painful
Once upon a time, I thought about doing kendo. After watching this video, I have come to one conclusion: What the hell was I thinking? Co-directed by Vimeo user Simon Conlin, this video was created for the Canadian Kendo Federation to support the Canadian team when it competes in Tokyo next year. While kendo attacks…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 16, 2014 - Kotaku East
One Piece Theme Park Opening in Tokyo Next Spring
To mark the 15th anniversary of the One Piece anime, the first One Piece theme park will open in Japan. Details are scant, and currently, there is only a teaser page that says this will be One Piece‘s “first theme park” (初のテーマパーク or “hatsu no teema paaku”) and that it will open at Tokyo Tower.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 16, 2014 - Uncategorized
Star Wars: A New Hope, Told Entirely In Haiku
Quite a lot of haiku, in fact. Exactly one hundred and ninety-eight. This absolute work of art was created by British author and screenwriter Craig W. Chenery, who took a few days off his other projects to work on this. Apart from being a clever retelling of the entire movie, there are also a few…
By András Neltz Published July 16, 2014 - Kotaku East
Man in China Has Spent $32,000 Collecting Transformers
Transformers is quite popular in China. Heck, the latest film is set in the country. There are many diehard Chinese fans. One of them shelled out $32,000 for his collection. According to News 163 (via ShanghaiIst), retired soldier Zhang Wei has been collecting Transformers since 2002. So far, he and his wife have over 380…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 16, 2014 - Kotaku East
You Know What Makes Blind Dates Better? Anime
Dating is tough. It’s not always easy to find a partner into the same things you are. Anime, for instance. Not everybody is into that. Wouldn’t it be great if there were blind dating events for anime lovers? In Japan, there are. Animax, the Japanese television network dedicated to anime broadcasting, is teaming up with…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 16, 2014 -
ReviewsYakuza 4: The Very Late Kotaku Review
In 2011, I started to review Yakuza 4 for this very website. Countless hours later, but with the game unfinished, my PS3 died, taking my save game with it. So I never ended up reviewing it. Today, I make amends for this. Last week, I found my copy tucked away on my collection shelf and,…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2014 -
CultureMaking Wolfenstein Move
Markus Hammarstedt worked as a senior animator on Wolfenstein: The New Order. So if you were ever wondering “gee, who actually animated those kinda gross bits where you stab a guy in the neck”, Markus is your guy. That’s his showreel for his work on the game. Below, you’ll find another clip, this time showcasing…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
The Guy Behind Two Of League Of Legends’ Biggest Hacks [Update: Court Verdict]
In both 2011 and 2013, the servers of Riot Games, operators of League of Legends, were compromised. It’s easy to think the attacks were the work of a group of sophisticated criminals, but really, much of the work was done by a 21 year-old Australian. UPDATE: A 2016 court ruling has determined that Duffy did…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
Still the best optional objectives of 2013.
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
Camera Crew Leaks Team’s Strategy At $10 Million Tournament
There are millions of dollars up for grabsin this year’s big DOTA 2 tournament, The International. So when a camera crew accidentally leaked one team’s strategy for the competition, that team was understandably pissed A crew from Chinese esports company Gamefy is at the tournament, and despite lacking permission from organisers Valve to do so,…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
A Different Way To Respond To A Rape Accusation [Update]
Editor’s Note: This piece has been significantly revised to better convey its original intent. Please read the newer version at this link. Last weekend, Max Temkin, co-creator of the popular card game Cards Against Humanity, wrote a blog post about rape accusation. The post went up somewhat unnoticed, thanks to a combination of EVO, the…
By Patricia Hernandez Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
The Need To Talk About Consent
Last weekend, Max Temkin, co-creator of the popular card game Cards Against Humanity, wrote a blog post about a rape accusation. The post went up somewhat unnoticed, thanks to a combination of EVO, the World Cup, and GaymerX happening all at the same time—but he mentions something that we, as a gaming community, should talk…
By Patricia Hernandez Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
Musical 2048 Is A Marvelous Idea
You may think that if you’ve played one version of 2048, you’ve played them all. But have you played a musical version that teaches harmony? I didn’t think so! 2048, the hugely popular open-source game inspired by a clone of Threes, lends itself to creative re-interpretation. But of all the myriad versions strewn about the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 15, 2014 - Uncategorized
Pokémon Are What Dreams Are Made Of
There’s something surreal and sometimes nighmare-ish about Maaden Ramos’ fantastic Pokémon art. I can almost imagine a dream to go along with each piece. It looks like Ramos is going through every letter in the alphabetand drawing up a Pokémon to go alongside each letter—and here are some stand-out illustrations from this collection. Fair warning,…
By Patricia Hernandez Published July 15, 2014 -
UncategorizedThe Xbox One’s Controller Buttons Don’t Make Enough Sense
What do two overlapping rectangles and three parallel lines mean to you? They’re the labels on a pair of buttons on the Xbox One controller, but eight months since that console’s launch, you’d be forgiven if you failed to predict what pressing them actually does. The left one is the View button. The right one…
By Stephen Totilo Published July 15, 2014 -
UncategorizedPortal 2 Looks Fun Even Without Portals
A few months ago, we took a look at Aperture Tag, a Portal 2 mod that replaces the portal gun with a gun that can shoot the blue and orange gels to craft the levels into a bouncy, speedy wonderland. It’s finally out and it’s looking even better than before. The mod adds a whole…
By Steve Marinconz Published July 15, 2014 -
UncategorizedMy Favorite EVO 2014 Matches Were the Ones With the Least Action
There doesn’t need to be a lot of movement to create excitement in a top-tier fighting game showdown. Just look at these EVO 2014 matches from this past weekend. Sure, the Justin Wong Marvel vs. Capcom win was a moment for the ages and Louffy’s string of victories on his way to the championship was…
By Evan Narcisse Published July 15, 2014 -
UncategorizedWeird Al’s New Video Is A Brilliant Grammatical Smackdown
Al “Weird Al” Yankovic has been making music for 38 years. His newest CD—and probably his last traditional album—drops today. Here’s Word Crimes, the wonderful video for his great send-up of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. “You should never / write words using numbers / unless you’re seven / or your name is Prince.” Hear that,…
By Jason Schreier Published July 15, 2014 -
UncategorizedFuturama In 3D is Strangely Breathtaking
Look, I don’t want a 3D Futurama movie and neither do you. But I’ll be damned if this test shot doesn’t give me the shivers. In the clip above, artist Alexy Zakharov rendered the iconic skyline from the intro of Futurama in glorious, heartbreaking 3D using 3Dsmax, Nuke, Photoshop and After Effects. He also made…
By Chris Person Published July 15, 2014