Japan Builds a Castle from 35,000 Empty Beer Cans

A Japanese non profit organization has earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World records for building the largest aluminum can sculpture, reports FNN. A little over 35,600 empty beer cans were collected from folks and companies and used to build Takatori Castle in Nara. No doubt, the best part wasn’t building the castle,…

Bad (and Sad) News for Nippon Ichi’s Horror Film

Earlier this summer, Nippon Ichi Software announced a feature film adaptation of horror series Hayarigami. The news was revealed at Nippon Ichi’s 20th anniversary press conference. Casting calls commenced, and there were plans—big plans—to take the movie overseas. Today, Nippon Ichi Software has some bad news about that project. Nippon Ichi had been working with…

The Game About Not Wanting To Work Is Getting A Remake That Will Make You Work Even Harder

Developer e-smile has announced that the PSP game, Ore ni Hatarakette Iwaretemo (俺に働けって言われても), a dungeon exploring game where you, the unemployed protagonist, get other people to do the hard work for you, is getting a power-up remake. According to e-smile game director Naomiki Yoshida’s twitter feed, the new game, Ore ni Hatarakette Iwaretemo Otsu (俺に働けって言われても…

Xbox Live now allows you to take your account to other countries. No passport needed!

Square Enix On Bringing Lightning Returns To Life

Lightning returns. The Final Fantasy XIII heroine wraps up her saga with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. And it looks to be not only a very different Final Fantasy, but also to be one of the most interesting FF titles in recent memory. Prior to the game’s official unveiling, there were huge hints that Square…

One Piece, The King of Japanese Smartphones

This December, Japanese mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo is offering a special One Piece mobile phone from NEC. The phone is covered in a fake wood casing and features special One Piece themed apps and content. The phone is limited to 50,000 units. サウザンドサニー号で充電、大航海でも安心のコラボ端末「N-02E ONE PIECE」 [IT Media] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian…

These Might Be China’s Worst Cakes. Let’s See Yours.

It’s not easy to make themed cakes. Spend any time online, and you’ll quickly become jaded from seeing all the amazing desserts. But don’t be! Chinese site RenRen.com has a funny story about someone who decided to buy a cute panda cake online. The result was horrific (you can see it in the above gallery).…

Boy, Arnold Schwarzenegger Was On The Cover Of Just About Every Game From The 1980s

Of all the people who loved Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 1980s prime, none loved him more than the artists responsible for the covers of video games. They just could not stop paying indirect (or even blatantly direct) homage to the action superstar by having him inspire the poses, outfits and faces to games as famous…

Nightwing Cosplay Kicks Ass, Eats Fried Chicken

Yeah, Arkham City’s Nightwing is a dude, but he’s a skinny dude—especially compared to the hulking giant that is Batman—so it’s totally within reason for a woman to cosplay as the former Boy Wonder. That’s cosplay superstar Linda Le in the outfit, while Long Vo was behind the camera Lady Nightwing Cosplay [Facebook, via Ian…

XCOM’s Gender Swap Glitch Will Give You Nightmares

So while playing the 360 version of XCOM, we noticed a little hiccup that we hadn’t seen on other versions. If you’re in the barracks, and swap between a male and a female soldier, the game freaks out a little bit. To the naked eye it looks like a really quick visual “burp”, but when…

First Look at Final Fantasy XIV‘s Shortcut System for the PS3

As mentioned yesterday, Square Enix is outfitting Final Fantasy XIV with a new shortcut system for the PS3 version (as well as the PC for controller use). While keyboard and mouse controls rule for computer MMORPGs, the Tokyo-based game maker is aiming to have this set-up become the home console standard. The screenshots provide an…

The Art Behind Star Citizen, Space Gaming’s Triumphant Return

Forget the most exciting thing I’ve heard this week. The announcement of Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts’ return to space-based PC games, complete with bombastic trailer, is the most exciting video game news I’ve heard in years So it’s a pleasure in tonight’s Fine Art to be able to share some concept images from the…

Rockstar’s Releasing One Hell of a Compilation Disc

While the cover art appears to be predictably awful, there’s little disputing the quality of the contents of this compilation of Rockstar games that’s turned up on retail sites. Called “Rockstar Games Collection: Edition 1”, it bundles Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City and Midnight Club Los Angeles: Complete…

Let’s Take a Look Inside the Wii U

Until now, we’ve only been able to see what’s on the outside of the Wii U. Let’s change that by tearing the lid off one and seeing, albeit only in general terms, what goes inside The latest Iwata Asks Q&A over on Nintendo’s site has a surprising amount of detail on the challenges and processes…

You Won’t Be Able to Buy Adult Games on Windows 8’s Marketplace

Casey Muratori wrote a great piece yesterday speaking out against Microsoft’s Windows 8 for all kinds of reasons, but one point that struck me was his suggestion that, because there are age restrictions on the operating system’s marketplace, this would affect adult video games. Surely not, I thought. Microsoft wouldn’t be that stupid. That must…

Electronic Arts Asked Everyone What Movie They Would Make Into a Video Game. Here’s What They Said.

Earlier this afternoon, Electronic Arts’ official Twitter feed posed a question tailor-made for the post-lunch doldrums of a hump day in a four-day work week. If you could turn one movie into a video game, what would you choose? The question gathered more than 600 responses. Curiously, none of them mentioned Road House. None mentioned…

Bad Lip-Reading: One Way To Make The Presidential Debate Make (Hilarious) Sense

I kinda tuned out on the first big Presidential Debate. But I’m glad that the mad genius behind “Bad Lip Reading” didn’t—this video, wherein he re-interprets what the candidates may have been saying, is easily the best thing to come out of the debate. Ha! Do you want a big, spunky Irish Labradoodle puppy? Do…

How to Play as Sid Meier or Ken Levine in XCOM

XCOM has a nice little surprise for those willing to go without achievements for the game: superhero “cheat” characters who, in addition to being maxxed out killing machines, are also famous video game developers. Both Civilization creator Sid Meier and BioShock frontman Ken Levine are available, and accessible in about the simplest way possible: just…

These Are Some Lovely (And Sort Of Confusing) Mashup Posters

Etsy is just chock full of gems like these mashup style posters by Robert Mangaoang. Making sense of two themes mashed together is a little delightfully head scratchy. These are just a few of the ones that stood out to me, but be sure to look at the colorful designs on Robert’s site for other…

The Funniest Five Seconds Of Far Cry 3

In my big honkin’ video preview of Far Cry 3, one very funny part kinda stood out. Well more accurately, it jumped out. It happened about ten minutes into the video, so I didn’t want anyone who didn’t have time to watch the whole thing to miss it. So, I pulled it out and made…