Teen Wanted To Be An Anime Character, So He Burned Trash

A 13 year-old in Fukuoka was recently picked up for a misdemeanor: he was burning garbage with a lighter at two trash collection spots, Yahoo! Japan reports. When asked why he was doing this, the kid replied that he wanted to see what how it was to handle fire “like an anime hero.” The article…

It’s Like Facebook or Twitter, But for Japanese Geeks

Meet Wonder! As social networking sites go, it’s pretty darn nerdy. Cosplay, figurines, mecha, anime drawings—you name it, Wonder! seems to have it. Just launched by Yahoo! Japan, the site does have a decidedly otaku (geek) focus and an unnecessary exclamation point. Wonder! is image heavy, which I personally prefer for social networking sites (and…

True to Its Word, Halo 4‘s Multiplayer Sends Out Its Specialization Codes

Anyone who played multiplayer in Halo 4 before Nov. 20 is now getting access to six class-based specializations previously available only to those who purchased the game’s Limited Edition. Emails with download codes went out Friday evening, according to tipsters. “Specialization Priority Alpha,” is the codename for the DLC package unlocking the modes. You earned…

The Hard-Luck Story Of A Cat Who Wanted To Be A DJ

In honor of Tina, who is on vacation today, I will post this video in the off-topic slot. What is it? Why, it is a “trailer” for a “movie” called 8 to Go, which is about a cat who wants to be a DJ. Because he wants to do a show with Deadmaus. Because he…

City of Heroes Says Goodbye Forever Tonight

More than eight years old, City of Heroes says goodbye tonight. In five hours—at 3 a.m. EST Saturday—NCsoft will pull the plug on both the superhero MMO and its developer, Paragon Studios If you still have an active account, there will be a final Unity Rally in one hour (11 p.m. U.S. EST) at Atlas…

Battlefront III was ’99 Percent’ Done When LucasArts Scrapped It

If you didn’t already hate LucasArts enough for needlessly canceling Star Wars: Battlefront III, wait until you hear this: They shitcanned it when the game was “99 percent finished,” said the co-founder of the defunct studio behind the game. All it needed was “bug fixing,” Steve Ellis told gamesTM magazine. That’s it. Ellis earlier complained…

Listen To A Rock Formation Tell Jokes In This Trailer For Double Fine’s New Game

While they might be getting the most attention for their as-yet-unnamed Kickstarter project, Double Fine actually has another adventure game on the docket, and one designed by Ron Gilbert no less. While our own Kirk Hamilton got a preview of The Cave with Mr. Gilbert himself, there’s been a dearth of game footage since it…

Backhanded Box Quotes: ‘I Wish They Would Do a HD Remake of Blood Money‘

Welcome back to “Backhanded Box Quotes,” a collection of measured, thoughtful criticism from the user reviews of Metacritic. Coming to the end of the year’s major release calendar, we still have no shortage of righteous indignation and implacable disappointment in the world of user reviews. Hitman: Absolution Released: Nov. 20. Critic: monkeylion (Metacritic) • “My…

Clay Balls, Eyeballs, Pixels and Falls: It’s the Week in Gaming Apps

Every weekday we elevate a particularly entertaining mobile game or game by-product to Gaming App of the Day status. This week we have six. I blame the balls. It was a very ballish week here at Kotaku. There were clay balls rolling down hills. We had eyeballs bouncing all over the place. We had ball-shaped…

That New 3DS Game By The Creator Of Vagrant Story Is Out December 13

I’m quite interested in Crimson Shroud, a downloadable 3DS game that was just announced for release on December 13 Mostly because it was designed by Yasumi Matsuno, he of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story fame. But also because it sounds kind of awesome. Here’s the official description: LEVEL-5 and Yasumi Matsuno have brought together…

The First Ouyas Will Ship This December

Hey, remember Ouya? You know, that newfangled gaming console that raised almost $8.6 million on Kickstarter a few months ago? No longer content to be imaginary, Ouya has decided to become an actual thing. Its creators say that the new console will be shipping to developers at the end of next month, writing in a…

There’s No Shame in Imagining Comic-Con as a First-Person Shooter

Plenty of FPS-parody videos have been filmed since, well, close to the beginning of the FPS genre. But my favorite aspect of this one? (Apparently filmed at New York Comic-Con last month.) Once this enters “Deadpool mode,” the shame-o-meter goes to zero. YouTube video uploaded by Lumberjack Films. (h/t Joel M.)

Your First Look at the Only Baseball You’re Getting in 2013

The only baseball you’re getting a console, anyway. These are the first screenshots released for MLB 13 The Show, which had competition in name only for about the past five years, as MLB 2K ran a distant second with an expensive license that was exclusive in name only. What does that mean? It means if…

The Herd Outsider’s Guide to the Brony Phenomenon

Why can’t you escape the colorful cartoon ponies? Over the past two years the rising tide of adult male fans of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon have invaded the internet, seeding internet forums, Facebook, YouTube and pop culture conventions with proof of their passion for animated equines. Don’t understand the appeal? Perhaps…

This Art Critic Thinks Video Games Have No Place in the Museum of Modern Art

You thought it finally was over. That annoying debate about whether video games are art would finally slink off and die somewhere, right? After all, the Smithsonian American Art Museum mounted their Art of Video Games exhibit this year following the intense voting in 2011. And the highly esteemed Museum of Modern Art just announced…

Save Me From Assassin’s Creed III‘s Nightmarish Hell-Children

The Assassin’s Creed series has always been full of weird ambient dialogue. People on the street mutter the same few lines, and the mix never sounds quite right. Most of us have less-than-fond memories of the “Mah-ney mah-ney mah-ney!!” guy from earlier games in the series, and those accursed bums who bump and bug us…

Weekend Listening: I (Kirk) went on the Idle Thumbs Podcast to talk about Far Cries, Halos, and Game Boats. We had fun.

You Can Thank Women For Dragon Age 3’s Lack Of Creepy Sex Plot

Hearing that women make a difference in game development is one thing, seeing what it means in practice is another. Recently, David Gaider—lead writer on the Dragon Age franchise—posted a blog about how having women on his writing team affected something in Dragon Age 3 The team was having a peer review about the game,…

This RPG Was First Released On Sega Genesis. Now It’s Coming To Dreamcast. (And Xbox)

When I first heard about Pier Solar back in 2010, I thought the people behind it were out of their minds. An exclusive for the Sega Genesis, a console that was discontinued in 1998? What? Are we all still living on the same planet? Then, as the project started to take shape and the role-playing…

Sounds Like Every Footstep Will Matter in The Next Game from the Creator of Braid

You take millions of footsteps in video games and the sound accompanying those movements is probably something that becomes white noise after a while. There’s a good chance that won’t happen in The Witness, though. In a post on The Witness blog, creator Jonathan Blow reveals the kind of small detail that shows an intense…