Two Similar Franchises Become Even More Similar With Simultaneously Announced “Charge” Weapons

Monster Hunter, the franchise that breathed life into the PSP, and arguably one of the biggest reasons that the 3DS outsells the DS in Japan. In the latest incarnation of the series, Monster Hunter 4 players will be able to wield not just one, but two new weapons with which to combat giant predators: The…

Japanese Textbook Gives Sega The Cold Shoulder

Sega. Founded in 1940, the company has come a long way from its origins as a jukebox and slot machine maintenance firm. Until the boom of the PlayStation console, Sega stood alongside Nintendo as one of the Big Two video game console manufacturers. Long after its retreat from the console market back in 2001, Sega…

Japanese Cop Arrested for Illegally Filming a Magical Girl Anime

While it seems like Japanese police are arresting people for breaking the country’s copyright law, now one of their own has been busted… for breaking the country’s copyright law. A 38 year-old police sergeant in Fukushima has been charged after allegedly using his digital camera to illegally capture the latest feature film version of anime…

Here’s What Japanese Gamers Suggest for Holiday Gifts

The Christmas season is upon us once again (as was frightfully apparent from the Christmas songs that started playing sometime around, oh, November 1st… (seriously, at least wait for Thanksgiving to be over)), and soon gifts will be piled under the Christmas tree for all to see and wonder at what goodies are contained within.…

Colin Powell’s Advice for Japanese Youth: Eat Protein

In an interview with Asahi, respected general Colin Powell was asked about Japanese youth—namely those young men who are called “herbivores”. It seems Powell might have taken the term literally. The Japanese phrase is “soushoku-kei” (草食系), and it’s come to refer to a generation of less masculine males who are less interested in pursuing dates…

China’s Pepsi Flavored Potato Chips Actually Make Perfect Sense

Just as cooking with beer works extremely well, cola is used in cooking throughout China—and beyond. Coca-cola is perhaps the most common in China, but Frito-Lay isn’t a division of Coke. It’s a division of PepsiCo. Thus, Pepsi-Cola chicken-flavor Lay’s potato chips. The chips launched earlier this year, and the flavor is less fizzy, more…

Here Are the Next Two Studio Ghibli Anime

Next summer, Studio Ghibli is releasing two films in Japan: Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises) and Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya). Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, will direct Kaze Tachinu, while Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) will helm Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, Eiga reports (via tsk06 and ANN). As…

This Japanese Meme Is an Eyeful

Sponsors make television possible. And in Japan, those sponsors dominate the commercial breaks. During each show, they even get one shout out right before a commercial break, with an announcer saying that the program is brought to you by whatever. Normal enough, right? The ensuing meme is anything but. Welcome to the world of “sponsor…

A Sad Reminder That Some Kickstarter Games Don’t Work Out As Planned

Back in February, a Kickstarter game called Code Hero won a lot of hearts with its promise of teaching players how to actually make a game. It also won a lot of money, with backers pledging $170,000 to get it made, $70,000 over the game’s original target. Since then, though, things haven’t exactly gone according…

Paying Tribute to the Coolest Girls In The World (Even If They’re Not Real)

Girls: Fact + Fiction is an exhibition running at the Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis which will be running through January 4. It’s awesome. Since most of you won’t be able to make it in person, though, here’s a selection of some of the best pieces, most of which are available for purchase. The…

Gamespy Says, No, They Totally Did Not Cut People’s Multiplayer Games Without Warning

Earlier this week, Sniper Elite developers Rebellion posted a message claiming that the termination of their game’s online multiplayer was the result of providers Gamespy pulling the plug without warning. Their claims were echoed on the provider’s Facebook page, where gamers began complaining that some of their favourite titles had suddenly and without warning had…

Paying Tribute to Some Movie Stars (And Vampires)

Joshua Black is a concept artist who has worked on games like the adaptations of Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 In the gallery above you’ll see a selection of his work, both professional and personal. If you like what you see, you can find more at his personal page and CGHub site

Judgment Delivers the Multiplayer Feature Gears of War Fans Demanded

Beast Mode vs. Horde Mode. Gears of War fans started batting around that concept even before Gears of War 3 introduced Beast Mode two years ago. Hell, some folks thought that’s what they were getting in Gears of War 3 “Everyone kept saying, ‘Wow, why can’t we do both of those?'” said Chris Wynn, the…

Tearing Open The New Wii Reveals Some Crazy Nintendo Decisions

Tech wizards Digital Foundry got their hands on a Canadian Wii Mini, and did the only thing the internet ever wanted them to do: rip it open and see what was inside. You’d think their findings would be pretty boring—”hey, it’s a Wii, but smaller”—but what they found with regards to internet connectivity is interesting.…

Report: Next Mass Effect Game Not Due Until 2014-2015 [UPDATED: Interview “inaccurate”]

UPDATE: The story below was based, as we sourced it, on an interview that supposedly happened between an official from BioWare and a reporter for the website GamerSyndrome. After reports like ours made the rounds, BioWare’s Mike Gamble said the interview was full of “a lot of untrue stuff.” Gamer Syndrome noted the following on…

Hawken’s Great New Cinematic Trailer Shows How Giant Mechs Explode

Indie mech shooter Hawken is now in open beta. To celebrate, this very fancy new trailer has just been released. Boy, this game has come a long way. From nine dudes and a love of Maschinen Krieger to expensive-looking cinematic launch trailers in a little over 18 months.

Some Idiots Wanted To Move The Girl On The Cover Of The Last Of Us

As you’d expect given the fact she’s one of the two main characters in the game, teenage girl Ellie features prominently on the cover to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us. Indeed, she’s got star billing. But this being video games, an industry where those responsible for selling a game can sometimes be morons and/or…

Hawken just went into open beta. Go kill some mechs!

I Could Not Contain Myself While Watching This Adorable Little Puppy Whimper And Fall All Over His Squishy Self

HO-LY SHIT. Guys. Guys, do you see this puppy guys. Guys, DO YOU SEE THIS PUPPY BULLDOG GUYS. My exact expression while watching little Tebow attempt to do his thing was palms at either side of face, mouth agape, happy “holy shit this is too cute for life” tears glistening on my eyeballs. Head over…

Windows 8’s Store Now Supports Adult Video Games

When the platform first launched, Windows 8 inexplicably shut out games rated PEGI 18, meaning that, if/when the day came that developers began releasing games with Windows 8 features, Europeans wouldn’t be able to get them from Microsoft’s store. It was a stupid oversight, especially since other markets like the US had no such issue,…