- Kotaku East
Japan’s Amazing Rice Paddy Art Continues to Dazzle
This is Naruto from, well, Naruto. The iconic manga and anime character has been recreated in a Japanese rice paddy. This is called “tanbo art” (田んぼアート) or “rice paddy art”. There are no dyes to create the different colors and hues. Instead, farmers used various rice strains in their tanbo canvases. Often, hundreds of villagers…
By Brian Ashcraft Published June 27, 2013 - Uncategorized
Quidditch Is The US Army’s Latest Secret Weapon
Perhaps seeking to open a new front in the war for hearts and minds, the US Army have taken up the ancient and noble sport of Quidditch. OK, no, they’re just taking a page out of Japanese schoolbooks, but there’s something especially amazing about seeing a group of armed servicemen on active duty using taxpayer-funded…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 -
UncategorizedSony Charges Too Much For PS3 Game, Refunding Customers
The Deadpool game, out this week, looks OK! Maybe not $60 worth of OK, which is what Sony were charging for the game on the PlayStation Network, but that’s fine, because it shouldn’t really have been priced at $60. The retail version was $50, and to make it up to those who paid $10 to…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 -
UncategorizedThe Germans Have Built A Robot Ape. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
While American researchers build robots based on safe, friendly animals like puppy dogs, and the Japanese continue to build cute little robot children, the Germans have gone for something a little more brutal: a robotic ape. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence calls this an “ape-like robotic system”. It’s part of a program designed…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 - Uncategorized
Kojima Wants Someone To Remake Metal Gear Solid, But That’s All.
There was a rumour earlier this week that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima was trying to sign up a developer to handle a remake of Metal Gear Solid using Konami’s new Fox Engine. It’s not true, though there are the very best intentions behind it. Kojima first said this yesterday morning: There’s a rumor about…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 - Uncategorized
How To Fix Your Broken PS3 After Last Week’s Firmware Update
A week ago, Sony released new firmware for the PS3 that unfortunately messed with a lot of people’s consoles, trapping them on a menu screen. Well, having pulled the offending firmware shortly afterwards, Sony now has a fix for those affected, as well as an updated firmware that hopefully works a lot better. If you’re…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 - Culture
The Art That Helped Sell Everything From Assassin’s Creed To Far Cry 3
Anthony Guebels works for Ubisoft as one of the artists responsible not necessarily for the creation of games, but for the marketing images used for games. He’s worked on all kinds of projects, from Far Cry 3 through the Assassin’s Creed series to Splinter Cell to the upcoming Watchdogs. You’ve probably seen many of the…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 -
UncategorizedSince Nobody Else Is Making New Homeworld Games, This Guy Is
Paul Zakrzewski has done the bulk of the work single-handedly on Void Destroyer, a game that started out as a space combat sim before morphing into a strategy title that, yes, looks a lot like Relic’s classic Homeworld. Which is a good thing. I mean, it’s been a decade since we last saw a new…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 - Uncategorized
Turning A Sick Boy Into A Video Game Hero
Wade Sharp is a young boy born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a condition that means his bones are as brittle as chalk, and which stops him playing sports and keeps him inside playing video games. Wade’s Make-A-Wish request, then, was to see how games are made, so Robot Entertainment (Orcs Must Die) were only too happy…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 27, 2013 -
UncategorizedMore Pikmin 3 Gameplay Footage Than You Could Throw A Spaceship At
This video runs for nearly seven minutes, and rarely pauses from showing you raw gameplay footage of one of the biggest upcoming Wii U exclusives. Yes, the audio is in Japanese, but you can still soak up the visuals.
By Luke Plunkett Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedBorderlands 2 Gives A Pretty Elaborate Shout-Out To Dark Souls
Leave it to the new Borderlands 2 DLC, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep, to throw in at least one more good reference for the road. The shout-out here is somewhat more substantial than an easter egg—as documented by Gamefront, it’s an entire quest dedicated to Dark Souls. (Insert joke about difficulty here.) I haven’t…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedA Collection of South Park Easter Eggs Over The Years
South Park is a popular show, and video games love easter eggs. So it shouldn’t be surprising that a number of games over the years have given nods to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s edgy show. If you’re curious as to what those easter eggs are, well, DYKGaming took the liberty of compiling many of…
By Patricia Hernandez Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedThe Wii U’s Most Adorable Game Gets A Dubsteppy Trailer
…and a Steam release, too. Toki Tori 2, the adorable Wii U platform-puzzler in which you play as a giant bird who solves puzzles by whistling and stomping, is coming to Steam on July 11 as Toki Tori 2+. In honor, the folks behind the game have created this wub-wub-wub trailer, which is totally incongruous…
By Jason Schreier Published June 26, 2013 - Uncategorized
The Last of Us‘ Hidden Phone-Sex Numbers ‘A Mistake,’ Will Be Removed
The Last of Us has plenty of easter eggs; some of them goofy, some sly. And one of them, a little bit naughty. Last week a tipster sent in a photo taken from the game depicting two phone numbers on a bulletin board in Pittsburgh, both of which he said were phone-sex hotlines. I called…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2013 - Uncategorized
Little Girls Are Still Better Than You At Designing Superheroes
Last time we checked in to Better Supes, they had a number of of illustrations that took inspiration from superhero-loving little girls who like to put their own costumes together. It was cute, heartening and kind of badass. Alex Law, the artist behind the blog, has kept updating the site with more awesome designs—like the…
By Patricia Hernandez Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedThe First 30 Minutes Of Star Wars, Precisely Recreated In Minecraft
The monumental plan of the man called Grahame is to recreate the entirety of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in Minecraft. It’s coming together; he’s teased the first 15 minutes of his project, which now has blocky Star Destroyers and jawas on Tatooine. As the description says, the clip should be in sync…
By Gergo Vas Published June 26, 2013 - Uncategorized
What Do You See In This Dragon Age: Inquisition Screenshot?
A couple days ago, this Dragon Age: Inquisition screenshot surfaced on the BioWare blog. Sure, it’s just a high-res still of what we already saw in the big E3 trailer. But it raises some questions nonetheless. Who are these guys? Is that their hair next to their helmets? What’s that thing on the table? What’s…
By Kirk Hamilton Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedIf The Brothers Grimm and Tim Burton Teamed Up To Make A Game
Something sinister awaits you in Our Darker Purpose. Today I finally had a chance to try outthe top-down roguelike featuring a creepy orphanage full of secrets. Here’s the premise: the kind teachers have disappeared, leaving in their wake a school full of chaos. We’re talking Lord of the Flies type deal, only darker thanks to…
By Patricia Hernandez Published June 26, 2013 -
UncategorizedA New Look and Game For One Of The Most Successful Women In Gaming
With more than 700 million downloads between PC and mobile, the Diner Dash franchise is one of casual gaming’s biggest success stories. That success is largely due to series’ hero Flo, so I won’t begrudge her a makeover to go with tomorrow’s release of Diner Dash Rush. Flo has come quite a long way since…
By Mike Fahey Published June 26, 2013 - Uncategorized
A $10,000 Steel And Copper Dream PC
This is not a gaming PC. This is a handcrafted work of art. A work of art and advanced engineering, of course. It’s the Aventum II, and you can purchase one right now, though Digital Storm isn’t really expecting you to. With base configurations starting at $5,000 and running as high as $9,500, it’s more…
By Mike Fahey Published June 26, 2013