Cold rain drizzles outside. Inside, everything is pink, round, and frilly. The first floor of this otaku (geek) retailer is plastered with release info for new PC gamesā€”adult PC games. A young clerk in glasses near the 18-and-up section taps away on a computer, probably checking inventory. I approach, excusing myself for asking a sudden,…
Tsubasa Masuwaka is one of Japan’s top gyaru models. Besides appearing in fashion mags, the 27 year-old also designs clothes and cosmetics as well as appears on TV. Even after she gave birth to her son, Masuwaka made motherhood fashionable, too, as a “charisma mom”. Part of that appeal was her ideal family life. All…
My name is Richard and I have a problem. When it comes to games, I am a completionist. If there is a nook left unexplored or some random item that needs to be collected, I feel compelled to spend hours getting the job done. What’s odd is I don’t find it fun to do these…
This is the work of Chinese artist Nkzhangwang, who did a masterful job of weaving a Chinese visual sense into the famed Japanese mecha. Just look at it! Stunning. This “Chinese military commander style Optimus Prime” is Nkzhangwang’s first uploaded work this year. The illustration mixes the vibe of the Three Kingdoms era with Transformers.…
Until I sat down and played Yakuza 5, my knowledge of the Yakuza series was limited, to say the least. I knew the characters and some of the story (from wikis, friends, and the movie), but when it came down to playing the series, the most time I had spent with it was in playing…
Face it. The best meal you can get at McDonald’s is breakfast. And for a limited time, you can get just that at a McDonald’s in Tokyo. That’s all you can get. Wahoo! The McDonald’s in Tokyo’s Shinjuku (the Meiji-dori Sutepa-ten, to be exact!) has put its regular menu on hold and is serving round…
Last year, a pair of apps, Make Me Asian and Make Me Indian, raised eyebrows after they appeared in the Google Play Store. The original description (via Reappropriate) for Make Me Asian read: Have you ever wondered to present himself as a person of another nationality? You can imagine, for example, Chinese or Japanese? No?…
Doodle or Die is sort of like all those other drawing games you’ve seen and played, with one difference: it tends to be a lot funnier, because it’s built around the idea of multiplayer “chains”, whereby people write something, someone else draws it, then someone else bases the next inspiring line on the image that’s…
Django Unchained has action figures. Hardly unsurprising, given nearly everything gets an action figure these days, but what’s topical about Django’s are that Al Sharpton’s “National Action Network” has called for a nationwide boycott of the toys Why? Because “The movie is for adults, but these are action figures that appeal to children. We don’t…
Not all cosplay needs to be about “realism”. Sometimes humour can carry the day, sometimes bravado can do the job, and sometimes you can combine the two for something really special. I’m having a hard time picking my favourite. Fred Durstwalker is great, yeah, but the “classic dame” C-3PO seems to be channelling the inner…
Arnaud Kotelnikoff is an artist who has been working in the video game business since 1996, beginning his career with Ubisoft before moving onto work with companies like Gameloft and Tokyo-based Nintendo subsidiary Nd Cube. He’s now back at Ubisoft, and in this gallery we’ll see a collection of some of his personal and professional…
Earth’s Special Forces is a mod for the original Half-Life’s engine (not Half-Life 2’s Source) that transforms Valve’s shooter into a massive arena for Dragonball Z battles. It’s a third-person fighting game with a few different modes (you can team up for deathmatches, etc). Being a mod it’s a constant work-in-progress, and comes with a…
Last week, a body was discovered in Carnesville, Georgia. It belonged to 32-year-old Keith Ratliff, who was a producer on the YouTube series FPS Russia. Ratliff had died of a single bullet wound, execution-style, to the back of the head. FPS Russia has not posted a new video since. FPS Russia is a massive online…
Call of Duty fansite Charlie INTEL is claiming that it managed to get hold of some screengrabs, taken while users were completing a survey for Activision on the future of the series. What’s interesting about these surveys is that they mention what could possibly be a next-gen console feature. While the site has edited the…
First announced last month, Valve today announced the formal release of its Game Guides Feature, adding the ability for users to compile their own guides to games (or parts of games), then have other users enjoy and rate them. While there’s not exactly a tome of reference material there now, what is there shows the…
I’m so happy to learn, watching this funny video from How It Should Have Ended, that I’m not the only one who wonders: “Why doesn’t Gandalf get everywhere flying on an eagle?” And then to ask, “Why didn’t they just fly into Mordor straight-off, on eagles?” How’s everyone’s week wrapping up? Good? Cool. Talk about…
Not to be outdone by a toy company selling models that are already finished, LEGO builder Rags naRock has his own version of Metal Gear Rex to share. And I dare say it’s more impressive. Using around $900 worth of LEGO parts, the thing is enormous, and if the scale isn’t enough to knock your…
If you’re a console-owning hack ‘n slash ‘n juggle fan, you’ve probably already got Ninja Theory’s DmC on Xbox 360 or PS3. (And good for you: It’s a fun game.) But if you’re holding off and can wait another week, you should strongly consider waiting for the PC version, which comes out on January 25,…
Every time someone puts on sunglasses and utters a pithy remark, a “Won’t Get Fooled Again” scream gets its wings. This video Chris made may have required reverse-engineering a clip from the latest trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, but hey, the clip was kind of begging for it. For full effect, picture David…
Last week, we asked you all to tell us your favorite Zelda music. The ensuing playlist was outstanding. This week, I thought I’d keep the idea going with another storied video game series: Final Fantasy. Between the lackluster preview event for Lightning Returns and the bizarre new Final Fantasy mobile game, it’s easy to forget…
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