Among hardcore Japanese otaku (geeks) there are few games more popular than those of The Idolm@ster series. The premise is simple. As a music producer, it is your job to take a group of recently debuted teenage “idols” and turn them into Japan’s most popular popstars. Or to look at it another way, it’s a…
We have Gree and DeNA, two huge social gaming companies, to thank for the massive growth in Japan’s social gaming industry. But their business models use a method called “complete gacha”; it is currently being called unfair, and it may be regulated by the Japan’s Consumer Affair Agency. With the chance of not just the…
News network Al Jazeera is closing its Beijing bureau, because Chinese authorities are refusing to renew an Al Jazeera correspondent’s press credentials and visa, or even approve another journalist, the networked stated today. The reason? According to China-based website ShanghaiIst, it is apparently related to a documentary Al Jazeera did last fall on slave labor.…
Are you addicted to cosplay? Adult cosplay? If so, does Japan have an event for you. Over the weekend, “Cosholic” steamrolled Tokyo. The event is 18 years-old-and-up for good reason. The cosplayers on hand specialize in “erotic cosplay”. Some of them are former adult film actresses. Some of them still are. Some of them aren’t…
The Idolm@ster series is (in)famous for giving gamers the ability to create and manage their own teenage female popstar group. But what exactly does that entail? Well, besides a lot of talking and dialogue trees, The Idolm@ster 2 is mostly a collection of music mini-games combined with light RPG elements. You 1) do lessons to…
For years, fang-like “yaeba” have been considered cute in Japan. Whether it’s video games, anime, or manga, characters with “yaeba” (snaggletooth) are a mainstay. The look is considered so cute that some girls are apparently getting their teeth capped with fake fangs. And now, there’s the inevitable pop girl with snaggletooth singers, created by a…
Soul Sacrifice is an upcoming brand new PS Vita game, and details about it first hit last month. But today, Sony teased the game’s upcoming reveal (full reveal, rather) on May 10. It clocks in at just over 36 seconds. As previously mentioned, the game features a wizard protagonist, who wields mind power and a…
You thought Tidus from Final Fantasy X had an awful laugh? Have you heard the original Japanese version? CAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAW In comparison, the English version is actually easy on the ears! The ten-minute remix version, though, is still utterly bonkers. Final Fantasy X was released way back in 2001. A remastered version is headed to the…
Last weekend, the Treasure Festa was held in Tokyo, bringing a, excuse the pun, treasure trove of plastic statues. The figurines included upcoming pieces as well as second-hand and limited edition ones. Japanese website Akiba Hobby was on hand to check out the festivities. In the gallery above, have a glimpse at some of the…
One of the PlayStation Vita’s most interesting features is “rear touch“—the Vita’s backside touchpad controls. This newly announced, limited edition PlayStation Vita features virtual idol Hatsune Miku on the Vita’s back, which is prime touch real estate. Out Aug. 30 in Japan, the Hatsune Miku Vita bundle comes in two flavors: ¥39,980 (US$501) for the…
Right outside Akihabara Station’s Electric Town exit is the Gundam Cafe. Every day, countless Gundam fans line up outside the small restaurant to catch a quick bite as they explore Tokyo’s otaku paradise. But with a usual wait line of 45 minutes or more, some people just can’t stop shopping for that long. Luckily, right…
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Asked straight up most people’s response would be “no, stupid”, especially since it doesn’t have java or flash. Where you or I would see that as an impediment, however, the folks behind Project Triniate see it as a challenge. While crude, it appears they’ve got the basics up and running, and while you may never…
Social gaming giant Zynga, the team behind FarmVille, is taking a French developer to court because it released a game called PyramidVille “Facebook users are likely to believe, erroneously, that PYRAMIDVILLE is a member of Zynga’s ‘VILLE Family of Games,” Zynga’s complaint says. It then admits that it doesn’t actually own the rights to the…
If you do’t know what a three-point landing is, it’s when someone jumps, or falls from a great height and lands not just on their feet, but with one hand helping to break the fall as well. It’s not exactly a textbook safe landing, but it does look rather heroic, which is why you’re about…
Because it gets me, that’s why. To be specific, this is from a tutorial sreen for Mount & Blade: Warband’s Napoleonic expansion, which has all the tea, flutes and muskets you could ever want in a multiplayer shooter. Here’s the recently-released expansion’s trailer. It’s as fun as it looks. Provided you can stomach the reload…
Phroilan Gardner spent a few years at Blizzard as a concept artist, working on stuff like World of Warcraft and Diablo III, as well as spin-off projects like trading cards and novels. He’s not there anymore, but his art – and the stuff he’s come up with since – lives on! Gardner, who now works…
This is AP-PEL “Steve J” Caesar, a tribute to the late Apple co-founder put together by toy company threeA. It’s based on a piece in the company’s existing World War Robot line. It is not screwing around. AP-PEL ships with all kinds of tips of the hat to both Jobs and Apple, from a Mac…
The PS Vita doesn’t only come in Crystal Black. Today, Sony revealed that the handheld is getting a new color. Say hello to Crystal White. Going on sale in Japan in June, the Crystal White PS Vita is priced at ¥29,980 (US$375) for the WiFi/3G model and ¥24,980 ($313) for the WiFi only model. Also…
In October 2011, Wisconsin set a cosplay world record by gathering 425 people together in the one spot, all of them dressed up as someone else from a video game. It’s a record that didn’t stand for long. The world mark is, pending an in-the-mail approval from Guinness, now held by Melbourne, Australia, with 470…
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