Two Melons Just Sold for $15,730 in Japan

Guess the Japanese economy is picking up? On Friday, two Yubari melons, weighing over 8 pounds, sold for 1.6 million yen (US$15,730). That’s a couple grand more than last year’s priciest melons. Things are looking up! What’s more, this is the third highest price ever paid for Yubari melons, AP reports. Typical melons are certainly…

Notch’s Golden PS1 Is Really, Really Pretty

The Minecraft creator has recently tweeted the picture to the left/above, adding that the console—a gold-colored PlayStation 1—was part of a “VIP invitation to an E3 event from Sony.” So shiny. Unfortunately, no word if it actually works—without cables, Notch has no way to power the thing on. [Thanks, NeoGAF!]

Via Nova Crystallis comes word that Square Enix filed a trademark on April 24, 2013 in Japan for “FINAL FANTASY AGITO”. You might remember that PSP game Final Fantasy Type-0 was originally titled Final Fantasy Agito XIII. You might not! To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter…

New Japanese Photo Meme Is from Studying Too Damn Much

Online in Japan, teens often tweet things like, “I studied so much, my head hurts”, “I studied so much, my nose is gonna bleed”, or “I studied so much, I’m going crazy.” But what about when you study so much, you can defy gravity? For the past week or so, Japanese teens have been uploading…

Twitter Rises Up In Protest Over The PS4’s Rumored Used Games DRM

Yesterday, GameTrailers TV host Geoff Keighley said that, according to his sources, the PlayStation 4 will employ some form of digital rights management when dealing with used games. Twitter’s gamer community took it upon themselves to show Sony how bad an idea this is Spurred by Keighley’s words, numerous gamers on Twitter are currently bombarding…

Man’s Video Gaming Prompts Wife To Petition For Divorce

A young Chinese man in Sichuan province is in a little hot water with his wife and the courts because of his affinity for video games. The man, Zhang Ping, is being taken to court by his wife for neglecting his household chores in order to play online games, reports News Guangdong.com. 25 year-old Zhang…

Here, Have Some Games of Thrones in Japanese

There’s no Game of Thrones this week. How to cope? With a preview of its upcoming Japanese language disc release. While many of the books have gotten Japanese language editions, the series hasn’t yet reached the public in Japan in the way Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter have. The show is already being…

SuperDaE, the next-gen hacker, tweeted that he was granted bail and that he won’t be releasing his “treasure trove of gaming info”. According to SuperDaE (also via Twitter): “I guess everyone will have to wait for another day, I won’t be removing the trap however, just to be safe.” His comment was followed by a…

Stormtrooper Surrounded by Japanese Police After Murderous Tweet

Twitter account @vmlvlltl recently uploaded a message: “At noon on May 26, 2013, I will kill people at Sapporo Station.” This was @vmlvlltl’s sole message, and the user’s name was “Phantom Slasher Notice” (Toorima Yokoku or 通り魔予告). The account is now suspended, but Twitter users in Sapporo began re-tweeting the threat and warning each other.…

Halo: Reach Sure Was Pretty Before The Covenant Blew Everything Up

Alex Chin Yu Chu is a Taiwanese-born concept artist living in the US who has worked for companies like Bungie, Firaxis, LEGO and Eidos. In that time he’s lent his talents to the production of Halo:Reach, Destiny, XCOM and Tomb Raider Anniversary. You can see more of Alex’s work at his personal site and CGHub…

An Extinct Bug That Looks Just Like A Jawa

Whether you’re in the US or the UK, chances are most of our readers are off on holiday today. So…enjoy. An extinct cockroach that looks just like a Jawa. Funny, yes, but the story is also slightly tragic; the species was only discovered very recently, living inside a volcano in Ecuador, but ever since it…

Microsoft Thinking About Giving You Achievements For Watching TV

Achievements are changing on the new Xbox One. They might be changing even more than we realise, though, if a Microsoft patent application for TV achievements ever actually comes to fruition. Yes, according to a report on GI.biz, last November Microsoft applied for a patent aimed at giving you achievements for watching TV. “Television viewing…

Next-Gen Hacker Threatens To Leak Trove of Gaming Info, Code [Update]

The hacker who leaked information about the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation to Kotaku before either console was officially announced and who was subsequently raided by the police is now vowing to disseminate 2 Terabytes of gaming code and information, should he be arrested. SuperDaE, an Australian citizen named Dylan, first publicized this threat on our…

Rumor: The PS4 Has Used Games DRM

TV host and industry pundit Geoff Keighley has said on tonight’s Bonus Round TV show that, according to his sources, Sony is looking at some form of digital rights management for the sale of used games. “…The one thing that is amazing to me is that right now we’re not hearing a lot from the…

Mars Is Dangerous Enough Without Aliens Shooting At You

Lacuna Passage is an upcoming Unity-based game by Random Seed, which puts you on the surface of Mars. Real Mars, not sci-fi Mars. You play as the astronaut Jessica Rainer, sent to Mars to investigate why the first mission to Mars disappeared. Described as as “open-world Mars exploration and survival game with a mystery to…

Street Fighter “Motion Sculptures” Are A Sight For Any Eyes

Dan the Ad Man, who normally works in…advertising, has found the spare time to put together this amazing Street Fighter video consisting of “motion sculptures”. Taking inspiration from this clip, it visualises the movement involved in Street Fighter moves, not the characters. Beautiful stuff. Street Fighter Motion Sculptures [Vimeo, via Gamefreaks]

Report: Retailers Can Charge Whatever For Used Xbox One Games

According to “retail sources”, trade publication MCV is reporting that stores will be able to sell Xbox One games for whatever price they want. The catch? Both Microsoft and the game’s publisher will get a percentage of that sale. The way used games will be controlled and sold on the console has been one huge…

League of Legends Gets A Short “Movie”, And It’s Awesome

Who says you need to be a newly-revealed or upcoming AAA blockbuster game to get a fancy cinematic trailer. League of Legends is neither of those things. What it is is one of the world’s biggest video games, one that’s able to commission something this long (and expensive) just for the hell of it.

Destiny Might Actually Come To PC

Bungie’s Destiny, the first game the studio have worked on since they walked away from the Halo franchise, is coming to all kinds of home consoles, but for some reason, it’s yet to be announced for the PC. Which, considering it’s part-shooter, part-MMO, is weird Don’t get too bummed out, though, PC gamers: for within…

Peter Molyneux’s Curiosity, Summed Up In Five Panels

The ever-wonderful Castle Vidcons nails it. If you bought into Molyneux’s hype and were expecting something better from his mobile “game”, you only have yourself to blame. Comic #106- Ye Gods! What’s Inside! [Castle Vidcons]