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…

Hawken With a Virtual Reality Headset Sounds Like a Mech-Lovers Fantasy

Hawken looks good enough as it is. But the prospect of playing the game using a virtual reality headset seems too bananas to be true. The Oculus Rift VR headset will be compatible with the upcoming multiplayer shooter, to the extent that not only will it work with the system, but Rift owners will get…

An Indie Platformer For Those Who Love Metroid

Ah, this is good to see. Instead of an indie releasing an actual Metroid tribute game, using the same characters, Finnish developer Arvi “Hempuli” Teikari has seemingly used Nintendo’s series as inspiration for his own game about space exploration, monsters and jumping. Environmental Station Alpha, and with its lo-fi visuals and wonderful soundtrack, is still…

Giving Portal’s Wheatley a Giant Robot Body

Portal 2’s Wheatley doesn’t really have a body. He’s the robotic equivalent of a floating head in a jar. Which makes it easy for him to whizz about the game’s levels, but makes it hard to craft a decent action figure out of the guy. So custom toy builder KodyKoala went and built him one.…

Journey Gets a Well-Deserved Hardcover Art Book

In an age where games are given art books before they’ve earned them – ie, before they have a fanbase that cares – it’s nice to see Sony working the other way around, putting a nice Journey book together months after the game’s release. Out in stores “soon”, it should be a good read. Pretty…

And Suddenly I Wish The Next Assassin’s Creed Was a Western

If you can be bothered going back through the Fine Art archives, you’ll see that artists either currently or formerly employed at Ubisoft make up a disproportionate number of those showcased. The simple explanation for that is that Ubisoft hires a lot of talented artists, but there’s a little more to it than that. For…

Getting Very Close To Halo 4’s Master Chief (And Friends)

While we’re yet to get our hands on Halo 4, I did this weekend get my hands all over small plastic representations of some of the game’s principal cast, including John 117 himself, Master Chief. To coincide with the release of Microsoft’s biggest game of the year, McFarlane is releasing three separate lines of toys…

How Assassin’s Creed Was Made

Assassin’s Creed is easily one of the most successful and genuinely new properties to emerge from this console generation. But were it not for a few key changes here and there, things could have ended up entirely differently. Edge has a great feature up detailing the story behind the making of the first game in…

One Man’s Journey From Warehouse Worker to Nintendo Legend

Howard Phillips might not be as big a name in Nintendo history as men like Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata and Gunpei Yokoi. But his story is just as interesting, and the story of his role in the company’s American invasion of the 1980s is one all Nintendo fans should enjoy. Speaking with Phillips – who…

Steam Games To Be Translated Into…Pirate

There’s the odd pirate reference here and there in Valve’s DOTA 2, but that wasn’t enough for this mod. No, the creators of the STS Pirate Language Pack wanted to essentially re-localise the game, so it could be understood by toothless nautical bandits of the 17th century. Serving as a “complete rewrite of the entire…

The Last Of Us Is Looking Awfully Green

This is a poster that’s being given away at this year’s PAX. If Sony and the artist were hoping I’d stop associating this game with Day of the Triffids, they’re going to be very disappointed. Not that this is a bad thing. The last game that got me thinking of the classic British sci-fi novel…

The Witcher 2’s Mod Tools Can Build You An Entirely New Game

The Witcher 2 is getting mod tools. We previously knew…that fact and that fact alone, but at GamesCom last week developers CD Projekt showed off the game’s upcoming REDkit, and it’s looking terrific. Far from being just a simple level editor or means of sliding mods into the game, REDkit looks to be one step…

A Half-Life 2 Movie Wouldn’t Be Rainbows And Cuddles. It’d Be Bleak As Hell.

Pandemic is a Half-Life 2 movie made by anklove. While it’s got its fair share of effects, this isn’t some attempt at a blockbuster action flick. Instead, it does what Eastern European movies do best: turn the screws on a desolate, bleak landscape. So, yeah, this isn’t a feel-good project. At the end of four…

A Fascinating Look At How Animation Works

I love PBS’ “Off-Book” mini-documentary series, don’t you? The latest entry in the now long-running series looks at animation and motion graphics, with interview subjects John Canemaker, Jesse Thomas, Justin Cone and Julia Pott telling us all about their craft, inspirations, and technique. That sounds kind of boring. This video is not boring! It’s just…

America’s First PS1 Games on The Vita Are Final Fantasy VII And…Um…[UPDATE: Europe’s List is AWESOME]

Sony has today revealed re-iterated which PS1 games will be available, and compatible, for direct download and play on the PlayStation Vita when the handheld’s big 1.80 firmware update hits tomorrow. Things start out so well! Sony’s Don Mesa says “We are working hard to ensure that all of your favorite PS one Classics titles…