Commence Monday Morning Systems

Video game news? Check. Cosplay? Check. Kotaku East? Check Sunday night systems are green. Let’s get this week started. [by Manolizer]

I Want More Sleeping Dogs

I know, I know, I’m late to the party. I finally beat United Front’s amazing Triad story, Sleeping Dogs. Our very own Tina Amini gave the game a glowing review and I’d have to agree; the game is spectacular, however upon completion I got to thinking. Why aren’t there more games like Sleeping Dogs, or…

Japanese TV Is Getting a Digital Lady Made from Crappy Graphics

Hatsune Miku proved that virtual idols could be big business. There are Miku video games, live concerts, and endless merchandising. So it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that Fuji TV is rolling out its own virtual idol, a “digital announcer” named Lune Anri. Female announcers on Japanese TV don’t just read the news or…

Gearbox lead writer Anthony Burch says Borderlands 3 is being planned. Shocking!

The Wonderfully Weird World Of Chinese Oreos

My mother used to tell me not to play with my food, but the rule never applied to Oreos. It’s almost as if the cookie was meant to be played—you take apart the Oreo, lick the creamy center first and then eat the cookie as a whole. The Oreo (and the way to eat it),…

Japan, The Country That Isn’t FIFA Crazy

Ask your typical Japanese gamer what a soccer video game is, and he or she will immediately say Winning Eleven, or as it’s known in the West, Pro Evolution Soccer. That is the soccer game in Japan. One of the big reasons for this is that there is no national Japanese team in FIFA. The…

The Valhalla Knights 3 website is now open for your perusal.

Strict New Download Law Won’t Kill YouTube in Japan

If you think the internet is a place where information can be shared freely, a place where things like copyright law do not apply, and a place where you can do whatever you want, well, bad news. Starting today, a strict new download law ends your notion of the internet. At least in Japan, that…

Hardcore Gamer Lives In Net Cafe For Two Months, Claims It’s Training.

A Chinese man in Wuchang, Hubei Province, China has been living inside an internet cafe for over the past two months. When questioned as to why he was in the cafe, his answer was, “I’m training for gold.” The man, 23-year-old surnamed Wang, has been staying in a net cafe located on the corner of…

Close-Ups of Wax Steve Jobs’ Crotch Are Totally Creepy

Steve Jobs might’ve checked out before his time, but he left a legacy of innovation. Madame Tussauds Hong Kong is honoring Jobs with a wax figure, which website MIC Gadget recently checked out. The video tour of the figure is, to be frank, pretty creepy—complete with crotch pans, whisker zooms, ass shots, and John Lennon’s…

Don’t be surprised if Sony gives the PS Vita a price cut… next year.

How the Heck Does a Gun Work Underwater?

To the internet! The internet always has the answer—and it seems to for this question, too. The question arose after watching this clip, which Japanese site Gigazine posted. In the clip, a Glock 22 fires off a jacketed hollow point underwater, and a high-speed camera captured the whole thing. According to YouTube user VuurwapenBlog, there…

The next Metal Gear Online will be developed in LA, says Hideo Kojima.

Famed Japanese Anime Studio Turns to Kickstarter

Production I.G of Ghost in the Shell fame is launching a Kickstarter for a new production. Dubbed Kick-Heart, the anime short is about ten minutes long and is helmed by Masaaki Yusasa. Here’s the S&M themed plot: Kick-Heart is a love story between Romeo, a successful pro-wrestler, and Juliet, a nun who lives a secret…

The Art of Using Chopsticks Correctly

Chopsticks are a mainstay of dinner tables in Japan and throughout Asia. Japanese people have been using them since they were small children—that doesn’t mean, however, that they’ve been using them correctly. In fact, many have not. According to a Meijiro University study (via Nikkei), something like 30 percent of people aged 40s to 50s…

The Periodic Table of Minecraft

Minecraft is as full of dirt and underground junk as the real world, so it may as well get its own periodic table of elements. Well, terrain blocks. Periodic table of Minecraft [DeviantArt, via it 8-bit]

Claptrap Exits Borderlands, Enters Real World

Mechanical sidekick Claptrap, one of the few constants between the first Borderlands and the second, is the subject of this terrific custom model made by Kotaku reader Psychobob. A man with access to a 3D printer, which he’s put to good use previously, Psychobob’s Claptrap model is ridiculously detailed, and even lights up, in case…

Insomniac’s Latest Originally Looked Like a Game For Kids

The shooter we now know as Fuse, and which was formerly known as Overstrike, looks like a reasonably realistic third-person shooter. The first time we saw it, though, it was a little more cartoony. Which apparently is nowhere near as cartoony as it was originally “The game started out with a much more stylized and…

Your Upset Reactions to the New Splinter Cell Trailer Were “Uninformed” and “Kneejerk”

For many long-time Splinter Cell fans, the latest trailer for upcoming Blacklist was cause for either laughter or deep concern, so distanced did it look from the series dark, quiet and stealthy roots. Fan uproar isn’t the fault of the game, though. It’s the fault of the fans. Apparently. “Everyone can make kneejerk reactions to…