Professor Layton’s Son Investigates the Criminal Underworld on iOS

Level-5 announced that the iOS iteration of the popular Professor Layton series of puzzle games, Layton Brothers Mystery Room, is now available in the US and Europe following last year’s Japanese release. The game follows the son of series protagonist Professor Layton. He and his partner, Detective Lucy Baker, form a part of Scotland Yard…

Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded, the modern remake of the original Leisure Suit Larry adventure game from 1987, is now available from creator Replay Games’ website, with the Steam, Android and iOS versions coming later today. The game secured $650,000 in fundinglast Spring on Kickstarter.

Sony Won’t Be Abandoning the PS3 After Releasing the PS4

That time is quickly approaching. With the release of the PlayStation 4 set for late 2013, people are gearing up for the switchover to the new console from its predecessor. Still, even at its (significantly lower than the PS3 at launch) price tag, $400 is not exactly an investment many of us can make at…

Codemasters’ Classic Colin McRae Rally Goes Mobile

So this is what they were talking about yesterday. Codemasters’ original rally sports simulator is now on iOS, looking as dapper as ever. The “re-imagined” iOS version is based on the second game in the series from 2001, Colin McRae Rally 2.0, and it sports overhauled graphics and optional tilt controls while including the cars,…

Ubisoft Wants Your Face on a Painting. No, Really.

Ubisoft’s latest promotion for Assassin’s Creed IV might sound silly at first, but it’s actually kinda neat. Basically, you can become part of the Assassin’s Creed universe’s history by putting your face on a huge oil painting of “an epic naval battle.” You head to the website, pick any of the 137 characters depicted on…

The “Godfather of Anime” Was Always An Artistic Genius

Osamu Tezuka, for those who do not know, is Japan’s most famous manga artist. His long list of creations include Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, and Black Jack. The man is widely revered as an artistic genius, and crayon pictures from when he was apparently in fifth grade seem to indicate that he was…

“Stupid Foreigner”? That’s a Guy from Jackass!

Earlier this month, a man erected a tent in the middle of one of Tokyo’s busiest intersections. Some people were not happy. “There’s a stupid foreigner who just pitched a tent in Shibuya’s scramble crossing,” wrote one Twitter user. What’s Shibuya’s scramble crossing? This: The intersection is one of the most famous in Japan—and the…

Is Atlus Alright? This Is Sure Worrying. [UPDATE]

Index, the parent company for Japanese game maker Atlus, just filed for what sounds like bankruptcy. The company is entering “civil rehabilitation proceedings” in order to cut off the corporate bloodletting before it becomes fatal. Geez. NeoGAF user Mandoric has a good definition of Japanese Civil Rehabilitation Law that should help you understand the legalese.…

Drag-on Dragoon 3 or, as we know it, Drakengard 3, hits the PS3 in Japan on October 31. It’ll be available in two editions: standard, and tenth anniversary box. The latter will include a bunch of goodies, including a DLC key, a novel, a remix CD, and artbooks pertaining to each of the four (including…

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…

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…

Sony 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…

The 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…

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…

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…

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…

Since 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…

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…

More 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.

Borderlands 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…