Build the Dragonborn’s Dream House and Raise a Family in Skyrim‘s Hearthfire

Coming September 4 to the Xbox 360, the latest downloadable content for Skyrim has players purchasing land, planning and building their dream house, moving in their spouse and adopting neighborhood children. This is Hearthfire! Hearthfire is a name that really could have gone either way. It’s could have been an action-packed adventure in which the…

They’ve Narrowed Gamers Down to Eight Fundamental Types. Which Are You?

Over the years countless researchers and marketeers have sought to split the ever-growing gaming population of the world into easy-to-understand categories. This latest attempt, crafted by predicative gaming analytics company Playnomics, makes more sense than many of those, narrowing us all down to eight gamer archetypes. Which are you? Playnomics is teaming up with global…

Gears of War: Judgment Finally Lets Human Soldiers Settle Some Grudges in Its New Free-for-All Mode

Sure, the gross, gruff Locust in the Gears of War games have always been squishy and fun to kill. Multiplayer matches in Epic’s successful shooter series have generally pit the subterranean enemies against humanity’s COG soldiers. But sometimes you just get the urge to give Cole Train an lethal Lancer massage, if only to shut…

How To Start the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC

There’s a new $10 single-player expansion for Mass Effect 3 called Leviathan out today, but it’s not readily apparent how to start it. Here’s a tip: after you buy it and download it, check your in-game message terminal. You’re looking for the message in the screenshot above. This may seem obvious, but let’s just say…

GameStop Exclusive Borderlands 2 Content Leads Players to the Slaughter Dome

We don’t need another four heroes. We don’t need to know the way home. All we need is a way to get Borderlands 2‘s Creature Slaughter Dome without having to preorder the game through GameStop. Not that I have anything personal against GameStop. I’m just not fond of the whole content limited to a single…

How A Visual Novel Made Me Question Morality Systems in Games

Recently, I sat down with School Days HQ, a Japanese-made visual novel famous for the juxtaposition of its high school love triangle and shocking, ultra-violent endings. However, upon my completion of the game, I found my ending to be rather mundane—a happy ending like those found in many similar stories. My first time through the…

The Live Action Rurouni Kenshin Movie is a Nearly Perfect Film Adaptation

Rurouni Kenshin (sometimes known by the title Samurai X) is a manga and anime series that grew to great popularity around the turn of the millennium in both Japan and America. Half-fighting and half-romance, Kenshin is a historical fiction set in the years after Japan’s final civil war and dissolution of the samurai caste. It…

Japanese Rice Balls Made All Weird and Bizarre

Rice balls—née “onigiri”—are a prefect portable snack. They’ve existed in Japan for centuries and have traditionally been either triangle-shaped or round. A Japanese toy company thinks it’s figured out a new, amusing spin on the traditional snack. Called “Smart-han”, it’s a hard plastic tube that allows people to pack in rice and various fillings for…

It’s Possible To Talk Intelligently about Tentacles, Right?

If you’ve played video games, read manga or seen anime, they’ve probably made an appearance: that’s right, tentacles. For a segment of Japanese (and now, Western) pop culture, those phallic-looking feelers are in the visual lexicon. As Kotaku previously mentioned, one of the manga artists who is responsible for that is Toshio Maeda—aka the self-proclaimed…

New Final Fantasy Isn’t Called “Lightning Saga”. Well, Duh, and THANK GOODNESS!

Square Enix is readying a new Final Fantasy game, which has been referred to as “Lightning Saga”. It’s probably going to be Final Fantasy XIII-3: SOMETHING SOMETHING, but as Yoshinori Kitase pointed out today on Twitter, “The title isn’t Lightning Saga.” Phew! Rather, Square Enix will be unveiling the game’s title at its upcoming Final…

Street Fighter and Tekken Brought to Life Before Your Eyes

At a recent Street Fighter X Tekken tourney in Taiwan, a slew of cosplayers showed up, bringing the iconic fighters to life. This isn’t a first for Capcom—and Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono once again got in on the act and dressed up as Chun-Li! He’s such a great Chun-Li. Lots of game companies embrace…

This fall, Resident Evil is taking over Universal Studios Japan as part of Halloween Horror Night.

The Newest Macross Game is Beautiful but Dated

Macross: My Boyfriend is a Pilot 2012 is the newest game included in one of Bandai-Namco’s hybrid packs which attach a brand new game to its corresponding anime for the Blu-ray release. In this case, MBIAP 2012 is attached to the HD remaster of the classic 1984 film, Macross Do You Remember Love. We already…

Underrated, Yet Badass Mecha Reborn in Awesome Plastic

You ever see Gunhed? James Cameron is a fan. And as far as late 1980s sci-fi films go, it’s aged surprisingly well. The movie might be familiar to gamers as Gunhed went on to serve as the basis of a TurboGrafx-16 game, which was known as Blazing Lazers in the West. And there couldn’t be…

Rumor: Japan Wonders if the Mass Effect Anime Was Canned [Update]

Earlier this summer, a trailer for Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, an animated Mass Effect 3 prequel, was released. As previously posted, Paragon Lost is a collaboration between BioWare and Production I.G., the famed Japanese anime house behind Ghost in the Shell and the animated scenes in Kill Bill. *Is* a collaboration? Speculation out of Japan…

The World’s Largest Gundam Box Is Pretty Damn Big

Look. At. That. Japan is getting a giant Gundam box. Previously, there was only concept art, but the actual thing was recently showed at the Chara Hobby figure event outside Tokyo. That wasn’t the only thing on display. Besides a Gundam Toyota, there was a slew of character figures and statues—Gundam and totally not Gundam.…

PS3 game Atelier Totori: Alchemist of Arland 2 is getting ported to the PS Vita this fall in Japan.

Pure Nerd Insanity: Two Men Skydiving with a Girly Hug Pillow

The last time we saw Nervli (aka Melonpan), he was unboxing otaku stuff. In the bathtub. Now, he’s back—this time, with a man strapped to his back and a hug pillow strapped to his front. Oh dear. That’s right, Nervli jumped out of an airplane with an instructor (as required for novice jumpers!) and a…

The next Nintendo Direct will be tomorrow. It will cover the Wii and the 3DS, but not the Wii U.

Watch the Leaked Shin Megami Tensei IV Trailer

Here you go, the trailer for the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei IV. The trailer is short on specifics, but does reveal that the 3DS game will be out next year. For those keeping track, that’s 2013! Shin Megami Tensei IV trailer is heavy on the atmosphere [Japanator] Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet…