Public Nerd Display Shows the “Frightening” Side of Twitter

Forget people acting like morons on Twitter. That’s not scary. It’s stupid. What’s scary is just how pervasive—meta, even—Twitter has become. Case in point: The above photo was snapped and posted onto Twitter. Some hardcore figure collectors like to take photos of their plastic friends outside. This is not mainstream at all in Japan. It’s…

Here’s a moving tribute to Kenji Eno, which was shown at the recent BitSummit

How Does Japanese Manga Steve Jobs Compare to Real Steve Jobs?

As previously reported, Japanese manga artist Mari Yamazaki of Thermae Romae fame is doing a biographical manga series on Steve Jobs. Last month, when discussing the upcoming series, Yamazaki said she felt sympathy towards Jobs—which might provide insight to the angle she’ll be taking with the series. Below is Yamazaki’s take on Jobs. It’s a…

Oh Dear Lord These Dubs Are Bad!

Late last week we took a look at the phenomenon of “undubbing”: the act of hacking a game and replacing the English voice track with the Japanese one. This, in turn, got me me thinking about some of the games most deserving of an undub—and let me tell you, there are many to choose from.…

4chan Is Making Its Own Pokémon Game. Looks Pretty Good So Far.

Members of 4chan’s /vp/ board are teaming up to make their own Pokémon game. Because how often do you get a Pocket Monster trainer named “Doucherado”? Not often enough! So far, there’s a lot of concept art, a finished Pokédex, and sprites—all of which look quite impressive. Over on Reddit, Redditor Atheism4tw linked the game’s…

Dynasty Warriors voice actor Tsuyoshi Takishita died after slipping and falling on his way home. He was 37. [ANN]

Japan Gets New 3DS XL Colors

Nintendo is releasing two new colors in Japan. One is “Mint x White”, while the other color is… white plus light mint blue speech bubbles with a yellow thought bubble? The Mint x White 3DS XL goes on sale April 18 and is priced like other 3DS XL units in Japan (¥18,900, $196). The other…

Ron Gilbert Leaves Double Fine

Ron Gilbert, the developer responsible for classic adventure games like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, has left longtime collaborator Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions, Gilbert revealed tonight in a post at his personal blog Gilbert writes: Now that The Cave is done and unleashed on an unsuspecting world (ok, we did do…

This Unborn Baby Looks Exactly Like Emperor Palpatine

If I were Heather Large, an expecting mother in Illinois, I’d have mixed feelings about the above ultrasound. On the one hand: Your child is probably going to be very powerful! On the other hand: Evil. This image, which comes to us via Metro UK, pretty much speaks for itself. Unborn babies can look like…

OCRemix’s latest collection focuses on the music of Kirby Super Star. Download the whole thing for free here

It’s Not a Real Anime, But The Fandom Around It Is

All that ‘officially’ exists of this anime is about 30 seconds of young, hunky swimmers. That’s it; the anime isn’t real. It doesn’t even have a name. The clip is a promotional thing for the Kyoto Animation studio, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from falling in love with the idea of the anime according to…

The Hardcore Horror Flick That Turns Up In Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider wears its cinematic aspirations on its grimy, blood-soaked sleeve. In the mode of Uncharted, this is a game that very much wants to be a movie—its ‘camera’ is a constant companion, never missing the opportunity for a close-in tension shot or a jumbled, handheld action sequence. As Lara Croft runs through the rain…

The Visual Evolution of Sci-Fi Real-Time Strategy Games

StarCraft II‘s expansion pack, Heart of the Swarm, is already out in some parts of the world, and it’s launching tomorrow in North America. To celebrate, let’s take the opportunity to examine more than 20 years’ worth of real-time strategy history in today’s Show Us gallery, and see how much the genre has evolved visually.…

Acoustic Piano Meets Chiptunes, And It’s Freakin’ Lovely

Chiptune music is all well and good, but I like to give my ear something to hold onto along with all the bleeps and bloops. So I very much enjoy Aivi & Surasshu’s new album “The Black Box,” which mixes the keyboard chops of pianist Aivi Tran and the chiptune stylings of Surasshu. It helps,…

The Only Way to Get Past This Tomb Raider Glitch Is By Using Another Glitch

There’s a moment in Tomb Raider where you get a crucial piece of gear required to finish the game. But a bug that can screw things up the first time you try to use the Rope Ascender is stopping some people from progressing through Tomb Raider. Lara needs to get that crate to slam through…

SimCity Needs An ‘Undo’ Button

No, I’m not making a joke about how SimCity‘s makers doubtless wish they could hit “undo” on last week’s embarrassing, disastrous launch. (Though I don’t doubt that’s the case.) I’m saying I think SimCity actually needs an undo button. You know, Control+Z. A shake of the smartphone. A little button with a backwards-curving arrow on…

In A World Filled With Cheesy Credits Music, StarCraft II Stands Apart

Last night, after years and years of putting it off, I finally played the final couple of missions in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Yeah, I know. Hey, I like the game and everything, but I got sidetracked!) It was a kick to finish the story the day before the sequel, Heart of the Swarm,…

Five Things That Make For A Good Power Weapon

Competition demands dominion. Dominion begets power. And, if you’re serious about keeping that power, chances are power weapons come into the picture. Power weapons are tools that allow us to deal immense damage. Think stuff like sniper rifles, or even vehicles like tanks. These can dictate the entire flow of the match, so it’s not…

How To Play StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Right Now

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm doesn’t officially go live until tonight at midnight Pacific time, but if you’ve got the new StarCraft II expansion installed already, you can play it right now. To prepare for the launch, Blizzard has disabled Global Play, the feature that lets you switch between servers on the online network…

49ers Strike Gold in Madden NFL 25‘s All-Star Cover Contest

Three San Francisco 49ers, including Hall-of-Fame teammates Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, are No. 1 seeds in the third edition of Madden NFL‘s tournament style cover vote. Current Niner quarterback Colin Kaepernick is the other top seed, as this year’s vote will celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary by pitting 32 current stars against 32 all-time…