U.S. Ambassador: Stop Pirating Game of Thrones, Australia!

Jeffrey Bleich, the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, has sent out warning. It’s a matter of foreign policy. Serious stuff! Bleich doesn’t want Australians to pirate Game of Thrones. On his official Facebook page, the one that actually says “Ambassador Bleich”, there is a post titled “Stopping the Game of Clones”. I have taken a screen-cap…

Done With SimCity? Check Out This Very Different Alternative.

Shining Rock Software is a one-man studio currently working on a game called Banished—a city-building strategy title that promises to show us the wild, rough world of frontier colonization. In Banished, your objective is to help a group of exiled travelers establish a sustainable colony. What sustainable means here is that basically every action is…

See What a Difference 0.33 Makes With the New Evangelion Movie

The third Evangelion movie, Evangelion: 3.33 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO, was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan yesterday (along with promotional cheeseburgers). It’s been 5 months since the movie hit theaters, so what’s been changed between the original 3.0 and the current 3.33? According toJapanese websites comparing the Blu-ray version to the original theatrical…

Another Japanese Schoolgirl Photo Meme to Sweep the Internet

It all started with Japanese schoolgirls doing Dragon Ball attacks. That spread to people doing Street Fighter and Star Wars moves. And Japanese schoolboys playing fake Quidditch. Where to go from here? A little after the schoolgirl Dragon Ball meme first blew up this spring, the below photo popped up online in Japan. It shows…

Famitsu reports that Etrian Odyssey: Millenium Maiden, the new, story-focused dungeon crawler coming out in Japan on June 27, will have cutscenes and an animated opening. Cutscenes and an animated opening done by Madhouse, of Trigun, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Paprika fame, no less.

Parents Ask Vladmir Putin To Ban Death Note in Russia

This past February, a fifteen year-old girl jumped to her death in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In her room, four copies of the wildly popular Japanese manga Death Note were discovered along with a suicide note that read, “I don’t want to live anymore”. Some blamed the comic for the girl’s death, and now a group of…

Japan Has a Giant Godzilla You Can Play With

Kurihama Flower Park is not safe! Actually, it is. The giant Godzilla that towers above the play area doesn’t breathe fire. Heck, it doesn’t even move. But, the kaiju does have an unusual secret. This nine meter tall, five ton Godzilla is actually playground equipment. The monster’s tail doubles as a slide for children. However,…

At a recent meeting, Nintendo honcho Satoru Iwata said (via Reuters Japan and Business Week) that Nintendo isn’t currently planning on lowering the Wii U’s price to improve sales.

“It’s Like Minecraft, In Space, With Aliens”

I imagine the developers of Xeno Galaxies are going to hear a lot of that, given their game’s art style, but that’s only the second thing I thought when watching the above trailer. The first was “This is exactly the kind of game I wanted to play when I was 13”. Seamless transitions between ship…

A Blizzard/MLG Tournament Is Not The Place To Cheat At StarCraft II

The 2013 World Championship Series, a massive global StarCraft II tournament being put on by Blizzard and MLG, ran into some controversy last week, with some Chinese players found guilty of cheating in the tournament’s qualifiers. Speaking with GameSpot, MLG and Blizzard reps said “During the qualifier there was suspicion of player maphacking, cheating, and…

Report: EA Shutting Down Its “Partners” Label

Game Informer is reporting that Electronic Arts will soon be closing down its “EA Partners” label, a program that saw the publishing giant release games from external studios like Valve and Crytek. It’s also how two upcoming games – Insomnic’s Fuse and the first game from Respawn, the studio set up by ex-Call of Duty…

One Of The World’s Biggest Gaming Shows Taken Down By YouTube

Criticisms of YouTube’s automated “takedown” process are nothing new. The way Google handles complaints against clips, whether by rights holders or concerned parties, is basically to shoot first and ask questions later. Latest example: the main YouTube channel for Yogscast, the online show that made its name with Minecraft videos – and which has over…

Hint: A Game Called Mindcraft Assassin’s Creeds Is Probably Not Legit

You see the name, you see it so quickly you don’t notice the intentional misspellings, you see the art, and you buy it. You throw that $3 down and you settle in for some mobile gaming. You, like these poor consumers, just got suckered. Mindcraft Assassin’s Creeds [Amazon, via Seanbaby]

Nintendo Won’t Be Having A Big E3 Press Conference This Year

For the longest time, E3 has been for many people about one thing. Well, three. The three major press conferences from each platform holder. This year, there won’t be three. Nintendo is sitting this round out. Sort of. Citing the success of its Nintendo Direct events, and a desire to focus its presentations for different…

You Are Not Prepared For the Glory of Robot Unicorn Attack 2

There was a time when rainbows and unicorns were the stuff of legend, relegated to the highest of high fantasy and the cheapest of female-targeted school supplies. Those were despair-filled days — days when the mere semblance of a smile was slapped from the lips of man, woman and child alike. Would we ever feel…

The New Man of Steel Trailer: Animated Edition

As dramatic and exciting as that new Man of Steel trailer was, it could always stand to be tweaked a little. Youtuber Jawiin has gone ahead and recut the trailer using footage from Superman: The Animated Series. It reminds me of that amazing Batman recut that recreated the Dark Knight with footage (and audio!) from…

Zynga’s Draw Something 2 launches globally early this morning, adding much-needed social features, new drawing tools and a personal gallery to the original mobile hit. It’ll be available in a few hours for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. You can watch a video about it right now.

This Is What The Half-Life 2 Gravity Gun Replica Looks Like. Cool.

Last year, we saw a prototype of a Half-Life 2 gravity gun made by NECA, a toy company previously behind the replica Portal guns. While the gravity gun replica won’t be out until June, NECA released the first official image of the final design this Monday. Take a look. From the NECA website: The Zero…

Nintendo Puts The Miiverse On The Web

Nintendo has created a web-accessible version of the Miiverse, the Nintendo social network. The Miiverse was previously only accessible from the Wii U, but now you can now browse posts about your favorite games and maintain your profile from the comfort of your own PC or mobile device. Mike hopped in to check out his…