Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: Ueziel runs down his progress on his personal backlog, which includes Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts And E1SALVADOR writes about Code:Breakers and all the other anime he’s been watching. And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic…

New Nintendo Direct. Friday, May 17. 10am Eastern. “Updates on Wii U and 3DS games launching this summer.” Right here

Make Your Puny Human Video Game Into a Superhero Adventure

Why play as Rico Rodriguez in Just Cause 2 when you can be the Punisher? If there’s one huge advantage that PC releases of multi-platform titles have over their console brethren, it’s the modding community that bends, twists and re-configures them into different shapes. Superhero fans from all over have figured out ways to put…

Assassin’s Creed IV‘s Hero Is One Incredibly Salty Dog

It better be sea salt Bashir Sultani is using to recreate the piratical Edward Kenway from the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. What a fascinating process. I especially like the tiny additions he makes at the end on the guns. It took him two hours to create this salt art, only to wipe it…

The launch trailer for Fuse is sufficiently shooty and explodey. Insomniac’s new co-op shooter will be out May 28 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

It’s a jam-packed Nintendo Download this week, with Level-5’s The Starship Damrey for 3DS, Super Metroid on the Wii U Virtual Console, The King of Fighters ’99 for the regular old Wii and so much more.

Modern Family Is Already Enjoying Nvidia’s Shield

Mere days after the announcement of its $350 price tag and June release date, Nvidia’s Shield Android handheld is already showing up in the background of popular television shows. Look what Modern Family‘s Luke Dunphy has traded in his Nintendo 3DS for. As spotted over at Game Usagi, Lucas brings Nvidia’s new portable along for…

What Japanese Devs and Players Think of DLC

Downloadable Content can be a controversial topic. On the one hand it can feel like a developer/publisher nickel and diming the player, and on the other, it can also help to enhance a game experience and lengthen a game’s play-life. In this week’s issue of Japanese gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu, developers and users were presented…

Father Asks for Paternity Test Because of Wife’s Plastic Surgery

If you get plastic surgery, that’s fine. Go for it. Just know that you’re not getting plastic surgery on your DNA. Recently in Wuhan, China, a man surnamed Huang (not pictured) was worried that his wife was being unfaithful. He phoned Wuhan Central University’s Hospital and asked for a paternal test for his three year-old…

Panopticon’s Future London Is Chock Full of Monsters and Explosions

There’s a webpage titled “Panopticon” which, for a while, was counting down to something. Now, a trailer’s been revealed. It features a dystopian-looking London, ridiculous HAL 9000 headbands, and lotsa fighting. Beneath the video is a date, May 21, which is when Sony will (presumably) tell us more.

There’s a Japan Lolita Association (It’s For Fashion!)

Don’t judge! This is less Nabokov and more frilly frocks. If you are interested in Victorian-era style threads, then the Japan Lolita Association just might be for you. Lolita fashion is not mainstream in Japan, but it’s had a subculture following for the last few decades. As mentioned above, be aware that the Lolita fashion…

Behold, From the Depths of Your Fears: Land Sharks!

Presenting the latest addition to the Monster Hunter gallery o’ monsters: Sharks that can crawl on land With the upcoming release of Monster Hunter 4 this summer, Capcom has steadily been releasing information on new locations and monsters. Among the latest newcomers to the hunting scene are creatures called “Skuagils,” m-f-ing sharks with m-f-ing feet.…

Siliconera reports that Sega has trademarked the name “Sonic Lost World” in Europe. Normally this is where I’d make a joke about dinosaurs, but Lost World is also the name of a jungle ruins-themed stage in Sonic Adventure. Coincidence?! … Yeah, probably.

Here, Try Out the Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Demo For Yourself

But you may want to brush up on your Japanese before you do. Capcom has released a playable online demo of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies to whet the appetites of Japanese fans looking forward to the July 25th release. The demo is fairly straight-forward, but the text is Japanese-only, so while it does give you…

In Japan, McDonald’s Just Super-Sized the Crap Outta French Fries

While McDonald’s in many countries is trying (feigning?) to be healthier, in Japan, the fast food chain really doesn’t seem to give a crap. If anything, McDonald’s is running fast and hard to unhealthy. Super size, Japan! For the past few weeks, there have been rumors that McDonald’s Japan is rolling out a huge size…

Sanctum 2’s Launch Trailer Is Action-Packed and… Blue

Sanctum 2, whose younger brother we talked about a little while ago, is out. It’s looking… blue. And gray. Also fun. Corridor shooting in corridors crafted by me? Yes please.

This Model Truck Is a Japanese Arcade…On Wheels!

Spotted by Frankie from Hobby Media, this intersting “Game Box Truck” model is a mobile arcade. For my money, a vehicle with arcade games sure beats an ice cream truck! Model’s art is above, and here is a look at the acutal piece: The 1/24 scale “Game Box Truck” is priced at 1890 yen (US$18)…

Japan Has an Insane Number of “Armageddon” Flicks

Armageddon was released worldwide in 1998. But since 2007, every year without fail, there has been a new “Armageddon” movie in Japan. What the hell is going on? If you were in Japan during the late 1990s and early 00s, you’ll know just how popular the disaster flick Armageddon was. You couldn’t walk past a…

This Anime Statue Is Worth Nearly $600,000

What, is it made of gold? Damn right it is. Pure gold. To mark the 10th year anniversary of its Saint Seiya figure line, Bandai is releasing a solid gold Sagittarius statue. Tokyo’s Ginza Tanaka oversaw the creation of the statue, which is valued at 60 million yen (US$585,247). The gold alone weighs two kilograms!…

Whilethe initial announcement said nothing of a PS4 version, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has told GameSpot that “We have a PS4 version in mind for the future”.