New Final Fantasy XIV Director Talks About What Went Wrong With The Original

Naoki Yoshida is about as far away from the stereotypical image of a Japanese businessman as you are likely to get. Clad in designer jeans with expertly styled hair and numerous finger rings, he looks more like a rock star than anything else. His business card even features a caricature of himself smoking while relaxing…

Between Dec. 1 and Feb 28, Japanese rental store Tsutaya is renting copies of Dragon Quest X free of charge.

Students Immortalize Cafeteria Chefs With Card Game Spoof

Rumor has it that the immensely popular card game Three Kingdoms Killers became popular because of the Communications University of China in Beijing. So it only makes sense now that a mock game, “Three Kingdoms Chef Killers”, is something that students at the University would come up with. The mock game replaces the base characters…

Some of the Smallest (and Most Amazing) Figures on Earth

Welcome to the realm of dust particles and hair strands. Tinyland! It’s also the scale at which some truly minuscule—and impressive—sculptures have dazzled Japan, a country with a long tradition of making things small. For several years now, these carved figures have appeared on Japanese bulletin boards. The figures are called “100 Yen Coin Person”…

Third Grader Dazzles Twitter with Her Amazing Doodle

Some say artistic talent is innate. Other claim it’s the result of hard work. Whatever it is, this Japanese third grader has it. On November 24, a Japanese Twitter user named Shin_Toto uploaded the above image online, writing, “My daughter’s (third grade) drawing. Ball point pen on A4 photocopy paper. What’s the best way for…

Why Apple’s Siri Is Personified as a Butt Lady in Japan

In Japan, it’s been popular for the past several years to make “-tan” versions of electronics. These are cute personifications of game hardware or even computer operating systems. Most recently, Microsoft released the official Windows 8-tans; however, most of these “-tan” creations are not official. They are fan creations, like “Siri-tan”. Everyone’s favorite virtual personal…

Yes, the Wii U Also Works on Japanese Bullet Trains

For those worried that the Wii U doesn’t work on outside, say on Japanese high speed rail, take heart. Apparently, it does. And here’s the photo proof. Kuzo from Japanese site Rocket News recently boarded the Nozomi bullet train—the N700 series Nozomi, to be exact, which is outfitted with electric sockets and WiFi. Besides being…

Only In My Dreams Did This Game of Thrones Beatdown Take Place

Artist Roberto Flores continues to make dreams come true with his Game of Thrones fighting game mock-ups, this time featuring the greatest battle never seen in the books: Daenrys and her dragons up against Robert and his enormous gut. Game of Thrones Excel! Round 3 – Dany vs Robert [DeviantArt]

One Of The Best Parts Of Grand Theft Auto Is Now In App Form

I think this is something anyone who has played any Grand Theft Auto game can relate to: driving around, just for the hell of it, flicking through radio stations, laughing at Lazlow’s shenanigans, listening to the well chosen songs from the game’s soundtrack. This new Android thingy, allows you to do this in real life…

Incredible Skyrim Cosplay Gets Your Week Started Just Right

When comedian and TV host Chris Hardwick figured one day that his girlfriend, actress and TV presenter Chloe Dykstra, looked a lot like Skyrim’s Aela The Huntress, there was only one thing to do. Finish the job. So here’s Chloe in Aela’s outfit, which was crafted by cosplayer Vanessa Walton (photos are by Paolo Cellammare).…

Steam Records Six Million People Logged In At Once

If ever proof was needed of the strength of PC gaming circa 2012, and in particular the appeal of Valve’s Steam service, look no further than this: over the weekend, over six million people were playing PC games on Steam. Sure, there’s a big sale on, so people are buying games like there’s no tomorrow,…

Minecraft App Brings Your Blocky Creations Into The Real World

Mojang’s annual Minecon, a gathering for fans of its Minecraft game, was held over the weekend at… Disneyland Paris. While the majority of updates coming out of the event were incremental and aimed at hardcore users, one thing should be of interest to a wider audience. It’s called Minecraft Reality, and it’s an iOS augmented…

This Might Be The Stupidest Kickstarter Of All Time

British Elite fan Drew Wagar has fired up a Kickstarter pledge to help him… afford to back someone else’s Kickstarter pledge. Saying that he’s an “an enormous fan of Elite“, Wagar—a published author—wants to be able to spend £4,500 in order to support David Braben’s Elite: Dangerous campaign, reaching a tier that would allow him…

The Rise of the Glorious Master Race of PC Gamers

Sometimes used as with pride, sometimes used with derision, the term “master race” has become a common one to describe those PC gamers who love to Lord it over the plebs, revelling in their glowing hardware and hi-res textures. Something captured almost perfectly—right down to the Gabe Newell cameo—in this amazing image by artist Saejin…

BioShock Infinite Won’t Have Multiplayer

Back in August, we told you that we’d heard BioShock Infinite was having problems with its multiplayer, a feature that hadn’t actually been publicly announced. They’re problems that, come November, seem insurmountable. Series boss Ken Levine has told Twitter followers that the game won’t be shipping with multiplayer. No multiplayer at all. You can read…

DJ Cutman has turned the Wii U’s soothing menu music into an album. Get it here

The Week in Games: Blank Friday

For the rest of the year, the major release calendar is looking at Far Cry 3 on Dec. 4 and Hawken on Dec. 12, which means this week—the Tuesday after Black Friday—is looking at very little in the way of new releases. Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault is the big name leading the lineup.…

College Basketball is Officially Dead to Video Games

For years, 2K Sports maintained server support for the final edition of its defunct series, like All-Pro Football 2K8, NHL 2K10, and, most importantly, College Hoops 2K8, where a robust user community was updating, re-rating and sharing rosters well into this year. It now appears online support for all of these titles was quietly pulled…

Someone’s selling this cardboard cutout of a Wii U gamepad for $10 grand. Act now before it’s removed. [h/t Norman H.]