Foreigners Now Selling Japan’s Most Ridiculous Hostess Game

If you don’t know Dream Club, you apparently don’t know anything about Japan. Or something! (Oh, and there’s a new Dream Club coming out in 2013. Maybe.) クール・ニッポン　～日本のおもてなし「ドリームクラブ」とは～ [YouTube] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from…

Resident Evil Character Turned into a Sad-Faced Japanese Meme

Chris Redfield isn’t Japanese. If you go by his Wikia bio, the character is a white American. But what if he were Japanese? And more importantly, what if he looked like one of Japan’s biggest memes? Japanese actor Shoei first made his name by appearing in super sentai (Power Rangers) show Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, which…

Animal Crossing Will Not Have Paid DLC (Thank Goodness!)

When Nintendo first announced it was going to introduce paid DLC, the upcoming Animal Crossing for the 3DS seemed like a perfect chance to nickel and dime players. Seemed like one, maybe, but it won’t be one, says Nintendo. In a recent financial Q&A, Nintendo honcho Satoru Iwata talked about paid DLC and Animal Crossing,…

This PC Case Mod Is Perfect for Space Battles

Iconic Japanese anime Space Battleship Yamato (localized and edited for the West as Star Blazers) comes alive with this special case mod. The mod is on display at Akihabara PC shop, Olio Spec, and it was made with Yamato themed pachinko machine parts to achieve that flashy look. ド派手な「宇宙戦艦ヤマトPC」 [Akiba PC Hotline!] Kotaku East is…

This Could Be the Greatest Halloween Costume of 2012

It’ll be tough to top this! Reddit user rdt156 posted this photo of his friend and his friend’s daughter, dressed for Halloween. Dad is a Work Loader from Aliens, and I’m assuming the daughter is baby Ripley? According to rdt156, the baby “was super content. Loved all the attention and didn’t make a peep. When…

The official site for spring 2013 title Tales of Hearts R for PS Vita just launched.

At McDonald’s in Japan, French Fries Are Causing All Sorts of Chaos

This October, McDonald’s Japan has been running a special sale: all French fry sizes are ¥150 per order. So ordering large sized fries, which are usually much more expensive, is now a bargain. It’s not just a bargain, though. It’s also a French fry frenzy that’s pissing some people off. The French fry sale is…

If Only I’d Enjoyed Old Republic As Much As I Enjoyed This Book

Despite still, somehow, being a big Star Wars fan, and also one who appreciates the work that goes into the lore behind a BioWare game, you’d think I’d have been first in line playing Old Republic. But nope. Couldn’t stand it. Which was a shame, because the game’s official encyclopaedia, which I was sent last…

Minecraft Takes The Red Pill

When I think “Minecraft“, I don’t immediately think “The Matrix“, but I guess hbrunav, or he wouldn’t have made this impressive animated short combining the two. It really is impressive. I wish more people went to the trouble of actually animating something like this instead of just using machinima to get things done. I know,…

Portal 2’s Unofficial Expansion Introduces Eight New Levels

Designed For Danger is a Portal 2 mini-campaign created by Patrick Murphy, which adds eight new levels and around 1-2 hours of gameplay to Valve’s first-person puzzler. These aren’t just random levels, Murphy has actually carved a little alternate reality storyline out here, which, considering the pack is free, should make it worth a look…

Wait a Minute, There Isn’t a Diablo III Movie

Reader Oliver spotted this DVD case staring out at him from the Hispanic section of his local Walmart. I’ve seen movies try and cash in on current trends or blockbusters before, but never one this blatantly, or in such a bizarre fashion. El Diablo de Culiacan, released last year, isn’t a fantasy movie at all.…

The Joker Will Not Abide a Zelda Gangnam Style parody

Seven days down. Eleven of the best pieces of cosplay in the world. One terrific Master Chief. One amazing Wonder Woman. One regrettable popular culture parody. Hats off to the lady in the Monster Hunter 3 outfit, too, for cosplaying as, well, someone from Monster Hunter 3. It’s always nice to see people skip the…

This is an Ada Wong Action Figure, Not a Doll, OK?

Next year, Hot Toys will be releasing a Resident Evil figure based on the assassin Ada Wong. Like other pieces from the company, when there’s that much skin on display the figures tend to look more like a little kid’s doll than a grown person’s expensive collectible, but also like other pieces from Hot Toys,…

Battlefield 3’s Best “Moments”, Captured on Film

Battlefield 3, unlike pretty much any other big multiplayer shooter on the market, is all about the moments when the scale of its maps and the variety of its killling machines come together to make something crazy happen. Or brutal. Or hilarious. Or all three at once. This machinima video, titled “Moments”, is all about…

Joss Whedon ‘Endorses’ Mitt Romney, Harbinger Of The Zombie Apocalypse

Leave it to Avengers director/Buffy-creator Joss Whedon to surprise us all with his presidential endorsement. You’d think, given his liberal leanings, that he’d be all about Barack, but no; he’s a Romney man. Though, not for the reasons you might think.

The Mystery of XCOM’s Random Shooting Percentages Explained

Even though the game is nice enough to tell you the odds every time you squeeze the trigger in XCOM, there’s still an underlying feeling of “how the hell does this work”, or sometimes “WHY THE HELL DID THAT JUST MISS”. The answer lies in numbers, and those numbers were last week very helpfully explained…

New York, You’re About to Get Hurricaned

New York, Kotaku HQ included, is in for a wild start to the week when Hurricane Sandy touches down. Shame about the name, since we all know the real cause of hurricanes. Hurricane Warning [Brother Brain]

The Week in Games: Assassin Nation

If Hurricane Sandy doesn’t wipe out their releases in the American northeast, Tuesday will see two heavily anticipated arrivals on retail shelves: Assassin’s Creed III and the reboot of Need for Speed: Most Wanted. There’s also Assassin’s Creed: Liberation on the Vita, starring a completely different protagonist. For pro wrestling fans, WWE 13 brings the…

XCOM is Secretly One of the Year’s Best Sports Games

He renamed all his teammates for his friends, he put himself on the roster and took all of the best equipment. He rebounded from painful defeats—or, eh, restarted a few here and there—and scored fist-pumping victories in all the others. He felt all the vicarious thrills that every sports video game offers. But when Garth…

Stop “Zombie Mouth.” Give Free Plants vs. Zombies to Trick-or-Treaters (Or Yourself)

The maker of Plants vs. Zombies is teaming up with the American Dental Association to offer free copies of the game as Halloween treats, balancing out the usual bagful of teeth-rotting sugar and plastic every kid scarfs down on Nov. 1. This site “StopZombieMouth.com” offers the printable coupons in .pdf form. (Dentists also are giving…