Gargantia is Far Deeper than It Appears on the Surface

Around the middle of this past anime season, I called Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet one of the five anime you should be watching—and with good reason. While it’s not as action-filled or plot-heavy as some anime this season, it is filled with interesting themes and enlightening allegories for those willing to dive in. Good…

Pokémon’s Creator Talks French Inspiration, Reveals New Pokémon

In Paris, France, the Japan Expo, Europe’s largest public event related to Japanese pop culture, is currently taking place. Junichi Masuda, Game Freak founder and both director and composer for the Pokémon games, recorded a video message to mark the occasion. After introducing himself (in French, no less!), Masuda talks about his own travels to…

In This Game, You Date Slabs of Meat. Seriously.

The Bacon Lettuce Biographies (ベーコンレタス列伝) is, according to its tagline, a “school-based boys’ love, fairytale adventure.” However, this is a little misleading because it is actually a visual novel where you date meat. Big, giant slabs of meat. The Bacon Lettuce Biographies is a free visual novel about a boy—who believes he hears the voices…

Are These Twitter Images Awful or Awfully Funny?

It’s Friday! Time to relax. Time to unwind. Time to giggle. Online in Japan, a collection of “awful” or “terrible” pics are amusing and delighting internet inhabitants. Previously, Kotaku posted someinteresting Twitter images from Japan. Daily life in Japan is rather pedestrian and normal, but those Twitter images were anything but. Ditto for these! Some…

China Thinks Cartoons Need Ratings

Chinese television is pretty bad, being mostly propaganda mixed with some weird socially obnoxious reality shows, revisionist historical dramas and terribly butchered movies. But what seems to have drawn the ire of the Chinese State media this time around is the state of animation in China. Recently, China Central Television, AKACCTV (poor abbreviation choice or…

Microsoft is currently accepting sign-ups for their public Xbox Live Update 2013 beta. “It will include updates to improve overall performance and the ability to conduct transactions with local currency,” wrote Microsoft. If you’re interested, you can apply via the Xbox Beta Program tile on your Xbox 360 dashboard.

Neptunia PP is an Amusing Parody of iDOLM@STER

It’s looking to be a big summer for game industry parody series Neptunia—despite the worrisome event from a few weeks back. Not only is it getting its own anime and a remake of the original game on the Vita, but it also recently got a new spin-off game: God Dimension Idol Neptunia PP Good –…

Well, This Farming Simulator Trailer Sure Is… Different

Here, we get to witness a rather extreme approach to farming (at least compared to the Farming Sim 2013 trailer). Heck, even the video title on YouTube is in all caps. Must be the effects of making the console leap. In any case, Farming Simulator is hitting PS3 and Xbox 360 in “the first week…

World War II Battleship Game Angers Players in South Korea

At this year’s E3 gaming expo, Wargaming.net showed off its latest PC title, World of Warships. The game’s new trailer pissed off some gamers in Korea. Here’s why. In the trailer, you can see the Japanese Rising Sun Flag, which was flown during World War II. Obviously, because of what happened during the war, the…

Bandai Namco is thinking about charging 500 yen (about US$5) for one hour of play at its arcades in Japan. Currently, one play is 100 yen.

In Japan, Nintendo Was Hacked

Nintendo’s Kyoto-based HQ just announced that Club Nintendo, its member rewards site, has been hacked. This was discovered when a large number of access errors began appearing on July 2. That’s when Nintendo began investigating the issue. According to Nintendo’s investigation, there were 23,000 unauthorized log-ins (with 15 million attempts) between June 9 and July…

Take THAT, Demonic Goat Person Thing

Blizzard concept artist Laurel Austin, who we’ve showcased on our Fine Art feature previously, just released this image she drew for the Diablo III launch last year. It’s late, but we can always wait for Barbarians vs Goatmen. Barbarian and Goatman [CGHub]

Watch Somebody Play A Ton Of The New Shadowrun Game

Shadowrun Returns is out later this month, but Loserific here has his hands on the game’s alpha, and has recorded half an hours’ worth of footage for your enjoyment. You can get your hands on it yourself on July 25, because…well, that’s when the game is out. Shadowrun Returns LP- Life on a Limb –…

The Beautiful Promise Of An RPG World At Your Feet

Joe Gloria is a freelance concept artist who most recently worked on Assassin’s Creed IV. You won’t find any art from that game here – most of it is still under lock and key since it’s not out yet – but you will find some awesome fighter jets, future cities and fantasy landscapes. My favourite?…

The Entire Film Top Gun, Squashed Into A Single Painting

Canberra, Australia is a city of few highlights, but one genuinely cool thing it does have going for it is the Australian War Memorial. A place that now houses in its collection surely one of this century’s greatest works of art. The image up top is a painting by Aussie artist Baden Pailthorpe, called Colour…

Every Time Ellie Says F**k, S**t (And Motherf**ker) In The Last Of Us

In the post-apocalyptic future, overrun with plant-face zombies and an abundance of gangs of violent middle-aged men, teenage girls have learned to survive by adopting potty mouths. The Last of Us – Ellie Swearing Montage [BenBuja]

Why I’m Avoiding One of the Main Features of Valhalla Knights 3

After over ninety hours, I’m still uncomfortable with Valhalla Knights 3. “What is Valhalla Knights 3?“you ask. Valhalla Knights 3 is an RPG for the PS Vita. The basic gameplay is very much similar to an MMORPG, except without the Massively Multiplayer Online part. You have a central base of operations in a large map…

That My Bloody Valentine: Loveless billboard stands out quite a bit in digital artist RubiaDmc‘s great Final Fantasy VII mashup. That sign was all over Midgar! Final Fantasy VII [deviantART]

That’s A Lot Of Studio Ghibli Characters. Can You Name Them All?

Digital artist Little Miss Paintbrush drew and transformed all the major Studio Ghibli characters into the most charming form possible. They look spectacular together. Without Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind though—it was created before Ghibli—it feels a bit incomplete. Little Miss Paintbrush [Tumblr] To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected]

You’re Not Ready for All of Title Scream‘s Retro Game Nostalgia

Maybe you want to bask in the memories of the openings of all the games you played back in the day but don’t feel like digging out and hooking up your old systems, if you held onto them at all. Title Scream is here for you. This visual archive holds dozens (hundreds?) of opening screens…