In Soul Sacrifice, Death Can Be A Good Thing

Soul Sacrifice wants you to embrace the power of mortality. Because nothing says ‘I want to beat this goddamn boss’ like sucking the soul energy out of your girlfriend’s body so you can use it to trigger a massive magical attack. Yeah, it’s that kind of game. Out today, the new game from Mega Man…

GameStick Reminds Us That It’s Still a Thing, Like the Ouya

Everybody’stalking about the Ouya these days. Ouya exclusives, Ouya unboxings, Ouya reviews — what about theGameStick? It’s a standalone Android console too, you know. Sure, it might not be as powerful as the Ouya or have the strange, mildly-confused following of the Ouya, but it’s got spunk? Sure, we’ll go with spunk. Just look at…

I Am Stereoblind, But the 3DS Lets Me See the World as Others See It

I cried the first time I held a Nintendo 3DS. The experience was a revelation that I’ll not soon forget, and even if everyone stopped making games for it tomorrow, my blue 3DS XL is not going anywhere. That little machine is a window into a part of human experience that most people take for…

The Oculus Rift Is Even More Amazing When You Can See Your Hands Move

Independent developer Kelly Weaver is just one of those guys who just can’t leave well enough alone. He’s combined the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset with Razer’s Hydra motion controllers to bring us one step closer to recreating The Lawnmower Man (the movie, not the book). Weaver’s robot alter-ego mimics the movement of his hands…

Did These Pokémon Anime Singers Steal Their Crazy Fashion? [Update]

Japanese pop group Momoiro Clover Z is known for its unusual outfits. Sometimes the members dress like pirates. Other times, they dress like superheroes. Their latest album features the group’s most outrageous outfits yet. And they look like rip-offs. Momoiro Clover Z, who sang the Pokémon Best Wishes! anime ending theme, just released a new…

There Are Eight Ways To Play First-Person Shooters. Apparently.

Those who play shooters on a desktop already know that there is a considerable variety for how one can position him or herself. Let’s say that there are supposedly eight basic ways, m’kay? This image originally debuted a while back in Japan, but is once again making the internet rounds. It shows eight (count ’em,…

At this weekend’s NicoNico event, the Prime Minister of Japan wasn’t the only one decked out in a fancy outfit. There were also tons of cosplayers. Here’s a short round-up. Photos are courtesy of Asagawo Blog, and in case you missed it, here’s more on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s geek visit. ネタ系レイヤー＆カッコイイレイヤー その2, その1…

Earthbound‘s Creator Responds to Request for a New Game: “Impossible”

For years, players have been begging Earthbound (aka Mother in Japan) creator Shigesato Itoi for a new game. He’s listening and has a definite answer: Not gonna happen. Recently on Twitter, a fan tweeted this to 64 year-old icon: “Mr. Itoi, please tell us a way to get you to make Mother 4.” Itoi’s response?…

Woman Gets Upset After Starbucks Writes “Vagina” Instead of “Virginia”

Whoops. A Hong Kong Starbucks made one customer unhappy after totally screwing up a first name. Imagine that! A Starbucks spelling fail? Impossible. On the Hong Kong Starbucks’ Facebook page (via HongWrong), a customer posted an image of the fail, writing: This is my sister’s cuppa [SIC] from your HKU branch. Fancy your staff not…

Documentary 100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience is now available on DVD. (Full disclosure: I’m in it!) The 68-minute DVD is region-free and has subtitles in English, Japanese, French, and Spanish. More on Arcade Heroes.

Thailand’s Fake Iron Man 3 Trailer Sure Is Something Else

Iron Man 3 is a big budget Hollywood production. What do you do when you want to recreate the movie’s trailer and don’t want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars? Something like this, I guess. IRON MAN 3 Trailer – Thai sweded by FEDFE [YouTube Thanks, Yodtao!] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian…

Princess Mononoke Stage Production Surprises People Online in Japan

Last summer, the above teaser image was posted online. It announced that classic anime Princess Mononoke was coming to the London stage. Pictures of said collaboration have surfaced online in Japan, where some seem totally shocked by the final production. Studio Ghibli allowed London’s Whole Hog Theater to bring its anime to the stage. Thus,…

The Great Pokémon Skateboard Mystery

Did you know the first two Pokémon sequels were supposed to let you ride a skateboard? It was advertised. Briefly. Then….just quietly removed and never spoken of again. Turns out it’s still in the game’s code, though, so in addition to combing through old Japanese mags for mention of the item, Aria over at Glitterberri…

It’s Called Hipster Mario. You’ve Probably Never Heard Of It.

Artist Sam Milham, attempting his own swing at the whole “video game characters as hipsters” thing, knocks it out of the park with a range of Mario characters so well realised you’ll probably never want to play another Nintendo game in your life. Some are nice and messy, but man, that Bowser is just perfect.…

Portal 2’s Crimes Against Nature Immortalised In Mechanical Tribute

Portal 2’s Frankenturrets were a hilarious abomination, but there’s absolutely nothing horrific about this perfect recreation of one by Corroder666. The replica would be worth money/applause were it just something that sat there, but the fact he went to the trouble of making it move is just superb. Frankenturret with twitching legs (Portal 2) [DeviantArt,…

Organising Video Games, Very Neatly, Then Taking Their Picture

There’s a slight whiff of obsessive compulsive about these, which is probably why I like them so much. Cheese Popsicle has taken a bunch of games, opened them up, arranged their contents neatly and taken photos. That’s it. The series is even called Games Organised Neatly. Simple, but also starkly attractive. You could whine about…

The Consoles Of The 1980s Are A Little Too 1980s

Having lived through the 80s, it’s always weird when I see people associating the decade with BRIGHT PINK and BRIGHT PURPLE and neon lights and sparkles. I remember it being pretty dull. Lots of brown everywhere. Lots of bad plastic. So it is with video game systems. Well, except these ones, by artist Rik Oostenbroek.…

Well, The Trailers For Assassin’s Creed V (and VI) Look Suitably Silly

I never ever want to see these things actually happen. But deep down, I know that, if people keep buying Assassin’s Creed games, eventually, they will. Which would suck. Unless they wear helmets like in this Mega64 video. Then it’ll be OK. Mega64 Assassin’s Creed V Trailer [Mega64]

For The Emperor! The Art Of Cody Kenworthy

Cody Kenworthy is currently art director and CVO of Blackbird Interactive, the indie studio made up of a bunch of former Homeworld devs, and also the team behind Hardware: Shipbreakers. Prior to his gig there he worked at Relic, and before that, Rockstar. Some of the game’s Kenworthy has contributed to include, of course, Hardware,…

Aussie games writer Alanah Pearce spent a month cataloguing the sexist abuse she receives just for doing her job. Then published it. It’s sad reading