“The XCOM universe is expanding,” boasts a recently added post on 2K Games’ official blog. It seems we can expect more information on the continually delayed XCOM shooter soon—a welcome change after the complete silence following the sudden disappearance of the game earlier this month.

The Most Expensive Wii U System On Sale in Japan

A good rule of thumb is that if something needs to be wheeled in, it’s probably expensive. This is the JoySound Festa. It’s an on-demand karaoke system from Xing, a Japanese karaoke company (no, it’s not from Nintendo per se!). According to Sankei, the set-up uses the Wii U’s software, the Wii U GamePad, and…

The occasionally odd, always scary open-world horror game, Deadly Premonition, is getting an updated Director’s Cut release for the PS3 in a week. Up top is a glimpse of what it will look like.

In Japan, Saying “Thanks” with Mustard Is Possible But Not Recommended

Let’s say you eat out in Japan. And let’s say, the food is really good. Ditto for the service. How do you express your gratitude? Well, there’s always mustard… The phrase “Mustard Thanks” (“masutaado sankusu” or マスタードサンクス) started popping up increasingly online in Japan this past February and March. It supposedly refers to writing a…

The live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service movie rumor is true. Shimizu Takashi of The Grudge fame is directing, and 16 year-old Fuka Koshiba was picked out of 500 hopefuls to star as Kiki, Yomiuri reports. It is her feature film debut.

This Is Just a Middle-Aged Man Dressed as a Japanese Schoolgirl

He’s called the “Sailor Suit Old Man.” And he’s called that for good reason, too. Whenever you see Hideaki Kobayashi on the weekend, he’s dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl. Recently, Japanese sites and Twitter users in Tokyo have spotted an old guy dressed in a sailor style school uniform—a truly unusual sight to behold. People…

Satoru Iwata is taking over control of Nintendo of America. Its current CEO, Tatsumi Kimishima, will be moving to Kyoto to work as a managing director for Nintendo Japan, while Iwata will assume the role of Global President. So… a global president, direct to you! (Sorry.)

Iron Man Figure Takes Steroids, Thinks It Can Fight Megatron

I’ve been staying away from Iron Man 3 trailers, as I stay away from most trailers these days, because I like to enjoy the best parts of a movie when I actually see the movie for the first time, thank you. So I missed the apparent point in this upcoming flick where Tony Stark changes…

Bummer, That Awesome Cyberpunk Game/Trailer Is Dead In The Water

Prepare for sadness. Stealer, that amazing trailer for a 2D cyberpunk game that wasn’t even really a proper game yet, won’t ever be a proper game. The devs (well, dev) have pulled the plug. “I lost the interest in development of this game, sorry” the project’s creator has written on the TIGSource forums. “Tried several…

Deus Ex Bedroom Is A Human (Sleeping) Revolution

Sethers15 is the lucky person who gets to sleep and game in this room every day now. The very lucky person. When I first saw it, when Mark from Kotaku AU just showed me the pictures, I said “these are the most boring Deus Ex screenshots I’ve ever seen”. So, yeah, a good job has…

NES Title Screens That Are Almost Better Than The Games Themselves

Sometimes I think the internet was invented just for sites like NES Title Screens. Places where you can make a cup of tea, sit down and just click through images that are equal parts fantastic art and pure nostalgia. Well, maybe not quite equal. Some of these title screen splashes are often for Japanese games…

Oh Boy, Heavenly Sword Is Getting A Movie Too

Yeah yeah, Ratchet & Clank is getting a movie. Good news for fans of the series, but more exciting for me is word that as part of the same deal, 2007 brawler Heavenly Sword is getting a movie made as well. A straight-to-home project, it’s “a CG-animated film”, which might be cheaper but is also…

Star Trek Video Game Concept Art Still Finds Room For Smarmy Kirk

Fernando Acosta, formerly of Colombia but now residing in Canada, worked on the Star Trek video game that was released very quietly this week. Below you’ll see examples of his Trek work, but be sure to visit his site for more images, like personal project Bounty Hunter Wars and some stuff he did for Halo…

Don’t You Have Anyone Better To Hate Than The Guy Who Made Fez?

Phil Fish, the main guy behind indie platformer Fez, isn’t exactly the most popular figure among online gaming communities. Whether it be the way he was portrayed in documentary Indie Game: The Movie or stuff like his comments on Japanese gaming, whenever his name comes up – or even mention of Fez – out come…

Aussie Cops Say “Leader” Of Sony, Nintendo Hackers Has Been Caught

The Australian Federal Police is claiming today to have rounded up the “self-proclaimed leader” of Lulzsec, the community of hackers behind a string of game company and website attacks in 2011 I say “claim” because American authorities said the same thing in 2011 when they busted Hector Xavier Monsegur. Whether the unnamed man in question…

The Show That’s Like Twilight, But With Way More Sex And Gore

Have you been watching Hemlock Grove? I have. It’s… er, it’s trashy. And cheap. And kinda crap. And yet I’m still watching. It’s quite a bit like Twilight, though with way more T&A and gratuitous blood and stupid acting. Well, okay, more or less the same amount of stupid acting. Perhaps a better description would…

Well that didn’t take long. Here’s Daft Punk’s single Get Lucky, done in the style of a retro video game by YouTuber Floating Point. For comparison’s sake, here’s the original song.

The Goofy Underbelly Of Steam Greenlight

Given that there are so, so many submissions to Valve’s Steam Greenlight crowdsourcing approval system, it stands to reason that there will be some pretty goofy entries. And what do you know, that’s totally the case! It’s hard enough to keep tabs on all the new games on Greenlight, let alone keep up with all…

Hey Look, It’s A Real Voxophone. Like The Ones In BioShock Infinite.

This Voxophone by YouTuber Jesse Demers won’t give you background and exposition, like the ones scattered in Columbia will. Instead, it plays back some of the songs from the game—like Girls Just Want To Have Fun. Here’s what a Voxophone from Infinite looks like, for comparison’s sake: Demers says he made the Voxophone using oak…

Nintendo’s Plan To Make The 3DS Stand Out From The iPhone

It feels as though Nintendo’s 3DS handheld game system has “arrived.” Over the last few months, the library of 3DS games available has reached some sort of critical mass, and it seems there’s a well-made, fun game for just about every type of gamer. But the spectre of the iPhone and Apple’s App store lingers.…