With tensions rising between Japan and China over ownership of a group of islands (called “Senkaku” in Japan and “Diaoyu” in China), and between Japan and Korea over ownership of a different group of islands (called “Takeshima” in Japan and “Dokdo” in Korea), 81-year-old video game composer, Kouichi Sugiyama (of Dragon Quest fame) recently voiced…
“Itasha” (痛車) literally mean “painmobile”, but they are Japan’s sticker-covered geek cars. The decals often feature anime, manga or video game characters. “Ita” either refers to the pain inflicted on the wallets of the car owners—or the folks who see the cars. This month, there was the “Ita Fest in Tohoku”. Tohoku, of course, was…
A Japanese woman was arrested for allegedly scamming cosplayers; they sent her money, she apparently sent them nothing.
The PlayStation 2 has come a long way. Since its initial release in Japan on March 4th back in the year 2000 (October 26th for the west), the successor to the original PlayStation console reigned for years as THE home console to have and continues to sell to this day. But while the console may…
One of the best games I played at this year’s Tokyo Game Show was Earth Defense Force 4. I’m eagerly looking forward to the game’s release—from what I played, it seemed really cool! Here’s the latest trailer. And if you missed them, here are my TGS impressions 『地球防衛軍４』1stプロモーションムービー [D3P@YouTube] Kotaku East is your slice of…
Gakuen Handsome, an adventure game aimed at Japanese women, is headed to smartphones. Oh goody, because the game is friggin’ bonkers It seems like your typical Boys’ Love game, with the main character transferring to an elite all boys school. It is anything but typical. Gakuen Handsome features dudes with very sharp chins—chins so sharp…
It’s less than a week until the release of Resident Evil 6 and fans are anxiously awaiting the latest chapter in the Resident Evil franchise. For those out there who want to know a little about some of the baddies they’ll be facing around the globe, here’s a handy little guide. Look through the gallery…
The way Kinect works is that it sends out all these little beams of light. That’s how it can read movements and know when you flail about your living room. Those tracking dots are also perfect for creepy horror movies—and Microsoft product placement. The latest trailer for Paranormal Activity 4 shows off the Kinect. One…
If you said, tennis balls look cute, I could see that. They’re green and fuzzy, and that’s cute, I guess. But delicious looking? Tokyo sweet shop Nikki Cafe is serving (GEDDIT?) tennis ball shaped cakes called, um, “Tennis Ball Cakes” for ¥450 (US$5.80) apiece. They not only look realistic, they also look yummy. どこからどう見ても「テニスボール」にしか見えない！ 東京・本郷『NIKKI…
Cosplayers’ Cure Night was a showcase of some truly great cosplay. Kotaku was around before the event (snapping pictures), but we had to retire for the evening before it kicked off. What can I say, our bed time is so early! Sadly, we missed the event. However, Japanese game site 4Gamer was on hand for…
If you say “Q-Games”, the first things that come to mind are probably Nintendo and Sony. (Oh, and there’s that other Japan-based developer with a similar name.) But you think consoles. You don’t think computers. Consoles. That could change. “We want to be recognized as independent and as a developer that does many different things,”…
According to a report from Korean news outlet JoongAng (translated by VentureBeat), one of the country’s biggest media outlets, Asian gaming giants Nexon and NCsoft are pooling resources in an attempt to purchase Valve. Apparently executives from both Korean companies, meeting in Hawaii this week as part of an annual summit, discussed the proposal both…
Looks like PAX Australia will be held in Melbourne from 19-21 July, 2013.
One of the highlights of QuakeCon each year is the baked-in LAN party, in which 3000 people get together in a giant hall, plug their desktop PCs into a desk and just go at it. While it’s far from the scale of, say, Sweden’s Dreamhack, it’s still a massive party, and one we get a…
Of course, there’s already been an official Animal Crossing anime, released all the way back in 2006. But there’s always room for unofficial animated adaptations, especially when they’re this funny. Warning: this is a little NSFW, so keep the volume button handy. Game Grumps Animated – Silly Voices – by Flannelson [Game Grumps, via Go…
Most developers creating games set in the present day do some amount of research. They go shoot the guns the game will feature, or go drive the cars, take some pictures of the city streets they’ll be recreating, that sort of thing. But what do you do when your game is set in the 15th…
The images you’re about to see were all done by Benjamin Huen, an artist now at Valve who used to work at BioWare. They’re incredible. Especially the Mass Effect portrait pieces, which you’d demand be made available for purchase, if some of them weren’t…already available for purchase Also included in today’s gallery are Benjamin’s Dragon…
You know, once was a time Nintendo were serious about releasing miniature versions of their consoles. The NES got one (the NES-101), the SNES got one (the SNES 2), but ever since, Nintendo’s been all “eh, the original model will do”. Which is a pity, because smackedsam’s shrunken N64 looks terrific! It’s not trying to…
By now, you should all be aware of the 1997 incident in Japan where a number of children were hospitalised after watching an episode of Pokémon. It was weird, and more than a little dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that none other than the US military saw it as an opportunity to invent new and…
Here’s our first look at the new Neo Geo X Gold handheld in action, courtesy of Japanese game mag Famitsu. Out in December, it looks…well, is that my eyes, or is the machine stretching the original 4:3 visuals to fit a 16:9 screen? It damn well better not be. Aside from that, the buttons sound…
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