R4 Cartridges Blocked in Japan by the Government

This has been a long legal rodeo, with Japanese authorities cracking down on the sale of R4 cartridges. Things are getting tougher for those gamers in Japan who don’t want to pony up cash for their games. R4 cartridges are devices that allow gamers to play pirated games on their Nintendo handhelds, which is why…

From Nerdy Bikini Model to Japanese Politician

Politicians with, let’s say, interesting backgrounds are nothing new. People have entered politics from acting, modeling, and, yes, even hardcore pornography. Jobs are jobs. Politics, however, is a calling. Rie Sasaki is answering that call. What makes Sasaki so noteworthy is that she could be Japan’s first elected official that has gone from Akihabara street…

How Square Enix Screwed Up Black Ops II for Japan

For years now, Square Enix has published the Call of Duty games in Japan. Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada is apparently a big fan of the series—and Western games. His goal is apparently to make Japanese gamers more open to playing foreign titles. That’s admirable. It would be more admirable if the company didn’t keep…

Ratings agency Fitch just downgraded Sony to “junk”, Reuters reports

It’s Like One Piece Is Ripping Off Disney and Tim Burton

On 2ch, Japan’s largest bulletin, a thread popped up with the title, “Concrete Proof of One Piece‘s Plagiarism lulz”. In this thread, an image showed seemed to detail how One Piece continues to knock off Disney and Tim Burton. Or does it? In the above gallery, you can see comparisons from that thread. Most of…

Half Way Through, The Cartoon Suddenly Turned to a Porno

Japanese animation is loved all over the world. From Cleveland to China, there are anime fans everywhere. But one unlucky young anime fan in Guangdong didn’t watch just anime. She saw something she never should’ve. Earlier this month, an eleven-year old girl in the Guangdong region of China asked her mom to buy a Puella…

Making This Iron Man Helmet Required a Shirtless Man Covered in Plaster

Yes, the internet is awash with do-it-yourself Iron Man helmets. That’s okay, because d.i.y. Iron Man helmets are rad This Mark III Iron Man Helmet was painstakingly moulded, sculpted, sanded, and then painted in a highly laborious and time consuming process. It took around a year to complete! The finished helmet, which is motorized and…

Happy Thanksgiving, Here’s Some Pin-Up Girls vs Zombies vs Clowns

Damian Schouweiler, of BioWare, works at the company’s social division, meaning he’s contributed to games like Age of Champions, from which all of today’s images originate. In the past, however, he’s been employed at places like Trion and Sony Online Entertainment, where he helped out on Legends of Norrath, Everquest 2, RIFT and the Untold…

These Are The Best-Looking Cars In Video Games Today (Or Even Tomorrow)

Project CARS, you’re killing me. I see trailers like this, I see the words “pre-alpha footage”, and I don’t know whether to punch you, or kiss you, or both. This clip is showing off the game’s multiplayer mods. Even the type used to show your competitors looks amazing. For those who don’t know, Project CARS…

What If The NES Zapper Starred In Some Famous Movies…

Artist Kent Sheely was pondering just that when he came up with these images, dropping the NES’ iconic orange peripheral into a host of violent movie scenes. Zappers [Kent SHeely, via it 8-bit]

Peter Molyneux’s Next Game is a Lot Like One of His First

As Fable creator Peter Molyneux’s new team 22cans continues throwing game ideas against the wall and seeing what sticks, the company’s next game looks a lot more familiar than weird iOS novelty Curiosity Called Project GODUS, it’s “an innovative reinvention of Populous“, which explains why you looked at that image up top, saw Molyneux’s name…

She’s Commander Shepard, And She’s Quite Partial To A Spot Of Snowboarding

Starting Monday, BioWare’s online store will be selling this limited edition snowboard. Doesn’t matter if you live near snow or not. The fact the board features FemShep, and not ManShep, is pretty great.

Three Entire Countries Had Their Assassin’s Creed III Shipments Stolen

It seems that every single copy of the PC version of Assassin’s Creed III bound for store shelves in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg was being shipped in a single truck. And that truck has been stolen by criminals. According to this report from Dutch industry site EB, the theft took place on November 14.…

Want To Be A Better Surgeon? Play Video Games.

This is rather interesting: a study floating around over the past few days (and documented in the above video) concludes that in a simulation of surgery, high schoolers who play video games regularly do as well—and sometimes better—than actual surgeon residents. But wait! Don’t stop reading and immediately yell at your children to stop studying…

Student Gets a Football Manager Job Based on Football Manager Prowess

If I was in a pitch meeting with this story as a screenplay, I’d say it was The Last Starfighter meets Moneyball with a little bit of Cool Runnings. Vugar Huseynzade, 21, of Sweden, got a job as a supporting manager despite having no experience managing a football team, other than in Sega and Sports…

Play A New Double Fine Game Prototype Right Now

Yesterday, Double Fine put together an interesting new idea to crowdsource the selection of their next “Amnesia Fornight” games. It’s a cool move, inviting people to support them financially while opening up their process to the world and giving fans a say in what games they make. In that same spirit, they’ve also made a…

The Most Expensive Wii U on eBay was Melted Down in a Microwave Oven

“Professional microwaver” Kenny Irwin has performed a day-one (or close to it) nuking of of the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita, as well as microwaving an Xbox 360 Elite (remember that model?) in the name of art. So hell yes he was going to melt down a deluxe-edition Wii U on release day, as…

That rumour yesterday about ESB/Jedi writer Lawrence Kasdan writing a new Star Wars movie? THR says the deal is done.

Persona 4 Golden: The Kotaku Review

Jason: Hey, Kirk. So you’re playing Persona 4 Golden, and I’m playing Persona 4 Golden, and we both have lots of things to say about Persona 4 Golden. Maybe instead of one of us reviewing it and the other one chiming in later, we should review it together? Kirk: Why, Jason, what a fantastic idea.…

EA Mobile celebrates Thanksgiving and a Best Mobile Publisher nod with a sale on more than 60 iOS games