Dragon’s Crown wasn’t always a PS3/Vita game. Back in the olden days, it was slated to become a Dreamcast title—sadly, the project was shelved for a long time. This piece of concept art from the game’s official artbook shows what the characters could have looked like in the Dreamcast version. [via Siliconera]

47 Ronin Posters Baffle and Amuse People Online in Japan

Hollywood is doing a big budget version of the Forty-seven Ronin, a famous historic incident of samurai honor , loyalty, and revenge. The big screen version seems different. While there really were forty-seven ronin that lived in the 18th century, the movie’s set “in a world of witches and giants”. According to Variety, it will…

Opinion: Lifting China’s Console Ban Won’t Matter

Thirteen years ago, China banned video game console sales in the country. Now, it seems like the ban is coming to end, and while that is good, the reality of it all is that the lifting of the ban means literally phooey to China, the world, and video games. Now before I begin my tirade,…

Stealth Is Hardly The Only Way To Succeed in Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Will you be a stealthy ghost? Maybe a silent, but deadly panther? Or is mowing your enemies down with a machine gun more up your alley? This new trailer, released by Ubisoft for the newest Splinter Cell, shows that there is merit to each approach. Blacklist hits Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC on…

The Beijing Subway Is a Nightmare for Claustrophobes

Hate small spaces? What about crowding? Does that make you break out in cold sweats? If so, then the Beijing Subway’s Line 13 at morning rush hour certainly is not for you. Or anyone else, for that matter. Just a little crowded [BeijingCream@YouTube via あまえび] To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com…

How Korean Net Cafes Are Fighting a New Smoking Law

In South Korea, PC bangs (net cafes; “bang,” or “방” stands for “room” in Korean) are a big part of the country’s gaming scene. And for better or worse, so is smoking. Lots of Korean gamers smoke. Many don’t! But those who do are now finding themselves unable to enjoy a cigarette while enjoying a…

Ever Wanted To Make A Show Like Power Rangers? This Game Will Let You

Indie group Behold Studios, who previously brought us the addictive RPG simulator Knights of the Pen and Paper, are now making a management game. It involves owning a sentai TV studio. Its Kickstarter page describes Chroma Squad with a few keywords: “sentai heroes, manager, tactical turn-based, meta-game, pixel art fun.” The game puts you in…

Inside Japan’s Pleasure Hotels

Trysts. Young lovers. Parents who want to get away. “Love Hotels” offer short stays and some truly off-the-wall rooms. Love Hotels, or “rabuho” (ラブホ) for short, began in Osaka during the late 1960s. Japan’s version of the “no-tell motel”, they became big business, and even Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi opened one. At that time, the…

Time To Have Nightmares About Space

This is a new trailer for Gravity, the new movie by Children of Men director Alfonso Cuarón. If you ever had dreams of being an astronaut when you were a kid, well, I feel bad for you son.

The Best Cosplay From Comic-Con 2013

When you can actuallyget up off yourbutt and move your camera around, there was some of the best cosplay in the world to be seen at last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con. And much of it was captured by the very mobile Sneaky Zebra, who were in attendance with fancy equipment to capture all the best…

Guys, Shut Up, The Giant Robot Is Sleeping

Mikhail Rakhmatullin is a concept artist who works at Russian indie developers Nival. He does good sci-fi. And fantasy. And sharp-dressed robots. You can see more of his work at his personal site and CGHub page To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them…

When A Short Film Looks As Good As A Hollywood Blockbuster

Dust is not, as you may first think, an upcoming Hollywood adaptation of The Last Of Us. It’s just a short, one that’s taken four years, and a ton of hard work, to put together. A lot of that punch comes from fact it’s been produced by Ember Labs (who we’ve featured previously on Kotaku),…

The Future Of Video Games Sure Has Fancy Lighting

Visuals company Geomerics has some lighting tech called Enlighten. It’s in a lot of games you’ve already played, but it’s in even more you’re about to play. In the future. And they look just great. This demo reel the company put together sure is pretty. I doubt my PC will ever get these games looking…

How To Prank A Religious Protestor At Comic-Con

Photographer Sebastian Jespersen took some amazing cosplay photos at Comic-Con, which you can see here, but my favourite shot of his has nothing to do with dressing up. It’s this one. Where the dude on the right is getting a lesson in how to protest topics relevant to the show at hand. Sebastian Jespersen [Flickr]

Sony Might Be Making A Gran Turismo…Movie

A report on The Wrap claims that Sony is looking to get the producers of Fifty Shades of Grey to put a Gran Turismo movie together. The story claims it’s part of a move to cash in on the recent success of “fast car” movies like Fast & The Furious, but God, I hope not.…

How To Use A Console Controller On Your PC

Though it’s a platform that began with the joystick the dominant control method, over the past twenty years the keyboard and mouse overtook it to become the only way to play most games on the PC. Which is a shame, because there are a lot of them that play better with a control pad. This…

Amazing Insect Video Does Massive Damage To Your Brain

A ridiculously powerful camera has let a German photographer take some of the most incredible footage I have ever seen. There’s a reason creature designers so often look to the animal kingdom – and insects in particular – for inspiration. Because when you see them this close, they may as well be aliens. The photographer…

All The Stuff The First X-Men Movie Got Wrong

How did that guy manage to punch Wolverine so many times without breaking his hand? I remember that bugging me back when I first saw Bryan Singer’s debut X-Men film. Some of this other stuff, as pointed out by CinemaSins, didn’t bug me so much. But that one stuck with me. I really liked this…

This Is Why I Love Disgaea

She’s a proud demon warrior. Her name is Barbara. Hi, Barbara. Hundreds of hours of gameplay is nice. Micromanagement that borders of the neurotic is wonderful. Endless strategies and boundless replayability? The Disgaea series has these in spades. But it’s the memorable characters and offbeat humor that keeps me coming back to a series I…

Oh Look, They Got Runescape 3 Working Again

Look at all of those graphics. That’s at least seven or eight graphics right there. After a day spent staring at a black screen, Jagex has finally tweaked Runescape 3 enough so that I can see those shiny new graphics. I completely forgot why I was in that cave. But the reason I am in…