Watch A Blank Canvas Turn Into Final Fantasy XIII‘s Lightning

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Square Enix art director Isamu Kamikokuryo creating an oil painting for the upcoming game Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, complete with elevator music and Final Fantasy fanfare. Cool, don’t you think? Dude is really talented. (via Andriasang)

Remember How Powerful That First BioShock Infinite Trailer Was? Now Let’s Watch This.

The premiere trailer for BioShock Infinite was such a tease. A beautiful new environment, a mysterious and solemn-looking new character, and lots and lots of propaganda. But there’s something great about this 8-bit version that washes out all the detail and gorgeous lighting. I think it’s the protagonist’s growls as he flails through the air…

You Will Have to Pay Extra to Fight in Bin Laden’s Back Yard in the Next Medal of Honor

Zero Dark Thirty is a film coming out in December. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty looks at the decade spent hunting down Osama Bin Laden, and the mission in which he was killed. Zero Dark Thirty is also now a map pack for Medal of…

Sideways Bust-a-Move is the Secret to This Magical Gaming App’s Success

Take the bubble-bursting puzzle gameplay of the popular Bust-a-Move series, turn it on its side and toss in some magical spells and memory matching puzzles and sharp cartoon visuals and you’ve got Supermagical, an award-winning iOS game from Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team, a developer with an obvious appreciation for understatement. Nina, a tiny…

Here’s The Launch Trailer For Steam’s Big Picture Mode

Here’s a new look at some of the features that will launch with Big Picture’s beta today. For more on Steam TV, check out our big hands-on preview

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Hack Reveals Skinny Bob, Dr. Bosconovitch and Other Hidden Characters

It looks like the already huge roster of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be sporting even more fighters when the game comes out tomorrow. Over on NeoGAF, several hidden characters from the upcoming fighting game sequel. Screens from what look to be a hacked 360 version of the game show a skinnier version of Bob,…

This Wouldn’t Have Happened If Fallout 3 Came With A “Do Not Try This At Home” Warning

And so here we are, observing the fall of innocent, impressionable minds (ha, Mega64) seduced by Fallout‘s violence and thievery. Also: awww to the woman who helps him pick up his pants.

Think Your World of Warcraft Group Is The Best? Prove It In Challenge Mode.

The latest update to World of Warcraft, prepping the game for the changes to come with its Mists of Pandaria expansion later this month, brought a number of changes to existing systems. Several more will be coming when the expansion goes live on September 25. One new system rolling into the game with the pandas…

If Portal Were a 2D Platformer it Would Go Something Like This

Coming this week to Steam and Xbox Live Indie Games, Gateways is a 2D retro-style platformer that creator David Johnston describes as “like Portal, only better.” Those are fighting words, Mr. Johnston. Right off the bat we can see at least one major difference between this 2012 Dream.Build.Play competition runner-up — it’s flat. More than…

Valve Is Bringing Steam To Your TV Today. Watch Out, Consoles.

Today, Valve will launch the beta of Big Picture mode, a version of Steam designed for your television. That’s right. The de facto central hub of PC gaming is now designed to run while you’re lounging in your living room—and with a controller, no less. I’ve tried out Big Picture. It’s sleek, intuitive, and groundbreaking…

Start Building Your Borderlands 2 Character Right Now

Borderlands 2 hits store shelves on September 18. That gives you eight days to build the perfect Assassin, Gunzerker, Commando or Siren in the official Skill Tree Calculator. The 50 skill points one can gain in Borderlands 2 won’t be enough to fill the entire skill tree — it’ll get you one whole branch and…

Even Chinese Olympic Gold Medalists Have To Visit The Gray Market

Chinese swimming hero, Sun Yang won two gold medals at the recent London Olympics this year. Despite getting a free pair of customized Beats By Dre, Sun seemed to still lack a video game system. The above picture, dated July 31, 2012, is just making the media circles in China right now. It shows Sun…

Iron Chef Is Returning to Japan (Kitchen Stadium Lives!)

After a 13-year hiatus, Iron Chef is returning to Japanese television. The show, which originally ran from 1992 to 1999 in Japan, became a cult hit abroad after it was dubbed for Western audiences (see above). It’s not yet known whether host Takeshi Kaga and his bell pepper will be returning for the show. Gamers…

I See Lots of Milla Jovovich, But Not Much Bingbing Li

Late last week, stories surfaced that Bingbing Li, the actor who plays Ada Wong in the new Resident Evil movie, wants nothing to do with Japan. You know, the country that made Resident Evil. And it now looks like Li got her wish not to appear on the Japanese RE: Retribution movie posters. Li skipped…

Behold The Glory Of Taiwan’s Terrible 1990’s Live-Action Dragon Ball Movie!

Every now and then I would jump over the great firewall of China and check what’s on Facebook. Early this morning I discovered Dragon Ball Z: Saiyan Saga. This fan-made film brought joy to my eyes as I clicked on link after link trying to learn more about the project, however my joy was soon…

The Metal Gear Rising Demo Sure Looks Pretty

Here’s a photo of Raiden from the Metal Gear Rising demo that will appear at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The image was snapped off a TV, but damn, it looks good. And check out those skies. There’s another image below, and heck, it looks nice, too. For all the too-good-to-be-true screenshots that often plague…

Chinese Gamers Say They Don’t Like Japan But They Like Japan’s Games.

Over the last few weeks tension have been high between China and Japan. The situation over the territorial disputes has led to some brash decisions from all those involved, some of these actions had turned out rather violent. As Kotaku reported, Japanese media was quick to point out some of the ironies of the anti-Japan…

In Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3‘s story mode, you can “choose your own adventure”.

Are These 3DS Characters Making Fun of South Korea? I Don’t Think So!

One of the surprise 3DS hits of this summer was the 3DS Kobito Dukan game. Those little troll characters are increasingly all over the place with stickers, plush toys, and key chains available for those to purchase. According to a news report out of South Korea, some Koreans visiting Japan are making a mistake: They…

Shirtless Sailor Moon Is the Stuff of Nightmares

Next summer, Sailor Moon is getting a new anime. The above statue, however, is not a new character design. I’m not sure what the hell it is—other than a seemingly shirtless statue with scary drawn-in eyes. Otaku blogger Danny Choo spotted this at a shopping mail in Jakarta and decided to share the horror with…