The Totally Real Totoro Bus Stops of Japan

One of the most memorable scenes in My Neighbor Totoro is the one at the bus stop. Wouldn’t it be great to visit a real Totoro bus stop? Good news. You can. In Japan, there are a couple or so Totoro bus stops with real working buses. Over the years, there have been several Totoro…

It’s raining expansion packs. GOG, still celebrating its fifth birthday, has made the expansion packs for five classic Bullfrog games available for free. So, owners of Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, Magic Carpet, Populous, or Populous: The Beginning, know that another small part of your childhood has now been restored.

Galak-Z Is a Love Letter to Asteroids and 80s Anime

On the final day of the Tokyo Game Show this year, Sony held the “Indie Stream” event, celebrating all kinds of different upcoming indie titles. But of all the titles there, the one that caught my eye was Galak-Z: The Dimensional, a PS4/PC game that is one part Asteroids and one part 80s space opera…

Here’s four more deliciously noir screenshots for Contrast, the indie platformer where you’re a shadow on the wall… well, most of the time. Check them out below. The game itself will be arriving on November 15 for PC, PS3, PS4 and Xbox 360.

The Prettiest Game I Saw at the Tokyo Game Show

Among my personal Japan-only favorites is the PlayStation RPG Walk Over My Corpse (Ore no Shikabane wo Koeteyuke). It took sumi-e style graphics, turn-based combat, and a breeding system to make an infinitely replayable classic. Now, a decade-and-a-half after its release, the sequel was playable at this year’s TGS. The demo for Walk Over My…

The Birth of Mega Man’s Successor

In four days, Mighty No. 9’s Kickstarter will come to an end and soon, development for Mega Man’s spiritual successor will be in full swing. But the Kickstarter isn’t where the story of Mighty No. 9 began. In this special, zeroth episode of the project’s making-of documentary, which takes place during the weeks leading up…

Japanese Spock Lubes Up for Captain Kirk

Leave it to a Japanese lube maker to keep Captain Kirk’s seat free of rust. Oh my. As noted on MSN and NariNari.com, a commercial for Kure 5-56 features scenes from Star Trek Into Darkness, which opened in Japan about a month ago, mixed in with footage of celeb Shigeru Izumiya as a Japanese Mister…

Hair Fetish Site Sure Is Horrific

If you’ve seen The Ring, you’ll certainly agree: Long hair is scary. Website Vnlonghairs.com is a paid membership site ($15 a month!) for those who want to look at photos of Vietnamese women with long hair. It doesn’t look to be a porn site per se. It does look to be numerous photos of women…

The Best Game Trailers Are Set To 80’s Power Ballads

After Saints Row 4, Stan Bush’s “The Touch” makes yet another appearance in a video game context—this time, the Shadow Warrior reboot’s launch trailer. And it is glorious. Indeed, Shadow Warrior is out and available, ready to be enjoyed by the blood- and old school FPS-hungry masses. It can be found on GOG, Steam and…

Malaysian Politician Makes Crap Up, Says GTAV Is Banned in the U.S.

In Malaysia, a member of Parliament named Reezal Merican Bin Naina Merican is asking his government to ban Grand Theft Auto V due to violence. His rationale is that the United States and the United Kingdom have already banned the game. They have? Oh really? Um, no. They have not. Courtesy of tipster Mohamad, below…

You’ve Never Seen Tattoos Like Banana Tattoos

Think human beings are the only ones who can enjoy tattoos? Ha! Bananas can get them, too. Japanese artist End Cape specializes in giving the yellow fruit tats. His process is time consuming and taxing. End Cape punctures small holes in the banana’s skin using a pin, and this causes the peel to “bruise” and…

Silver Spoon is an Anime with Real Heart

Six weeks ago, I listed Silver Spoon as one of the five anime of the summer you should be watching—and with good reason. From start to finish, Silver Spoon is an anime that walks the fine line between realistic drama and comedy to create a series brimming with real heart. Good – You May Learn…

Second Life Turns 10, Gets Creepy Facelift

Yes, Second Life still exists. Yes, there’s enough money left in it to upgrade the engine. No, I don’t know anyone who has touched this thing since 2006 either, so if you find one, tell them they’re a very special little unicorn.

I Had No Idea Schwarzenegger Was In Skyrim

Come for the admirable attempt to recreate Predator using Skyrim. Stay for maybe the best Schwarzenegger impersonation I have ever heard. Especially since it’s not like there’s practice reference for the man saying “THROTHGARD!”. Skyrim At The Movies: PREDATOR – TYRANNICON [YouTube]

First-Person Shooters? I’ll Take A First-Person Scorer, Thanks.

I’m right in the middle of playing both FIFA 14 and PES 2014 (I’ll be comparing them here next week). But as I play them – and in particular the former, which is looking old – my mind drifts to what the football games of the next (or next) generation could/should look like. And I’m…

Don’t Laugh. Klingon And Elvish Are Real Languages.

You might think Lord of the Rings’ Elvish, Star Trek’s Klingon and Game of Thrones’ Dothraki are all just collections of silly words, but nope. They’re actual, real languages, no different from English, Spanish or Japanese. This TED Talk by John McWhorter explains why this is. It’s not just a collection of words that makes…

The Pirates Of The Future Don’t Buckle Swashes

Sergi Brosa is a Spanish concept artist and illustrator who works mostly as a freelancer and on comission pieces. Why a comic publisher or video game studio doesn’t have him on their books escapes me, because Sergi’s stuff is insane Be sure to scroll to the last image. Then…keep scrolling. If you can. You can…

The Xbox One Can Trim Your Fat, That’s Why It Comes With Kinect

Until December 2014, everybody who gets an Xbox One will have free access to something called Xbox Fitness. Which is basically a collection of videos that use the Kinect’s sci-fi powers to help you lose the weight you accumulate playing all your other games. The vids appear to simply be pre-existing fitness productions, but tie…

The Best Game This Year Is Jumping Into Swimming Pools (And Failing)

You know the best thing about GTA V? It’s not the scale, the cars, the missions or the guns. It’s the fact there are swimming pools. And a brutal physics engine. This is the good Jackass game we never got. I had a lot of fun with the GTA physics… [thanks Will138!]

Thief Has An Old-School Homage Mission. Which Is DLC. Sigh.

Hey, here’s where there should be some good news! The upcoming Thief game, which already has people a little worried, thought it was doing the right thing by including a mission that was a straight homage to Thief II’s bank heist. Which it immediately spoils by making it pre-order DLC. I’ve said before how awful…