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Kotaku EastPhantasy Star Online 2 Is Free (But Here’s Stuff You Can Buy)
The beta forPhantasy Star Online 2 has ended, and the official service will finally start on July 4. Although the game is free-to-play with no required fees, there are in-game premiums that players can choose to buy. The in-game premiums can be purchased by Arcs Cash, which can be charged through PSO‘s official website. Unfortunately,…
By Toshitaka Tachibana Published July 3, 2012 - Kotaku East
Man Crawls 600 Feet To Apologize to His Wife
There are ways to say I’m Sorry. Then, there are ways to say I’m Sorry. This man in Fujian province mastered the later. In a lane of traffic, the man was kowtowing—he crawled forward and bowed his head to the ground each time. A crowd gathered to see what the man, whose head was bruised…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 3, 2012 - Kotaku East
This Role-Playing Game Character Probably Doesn’t Have a Penis
In Japan, they’re called “otokonoko” or “otoko no musume” (男の娘), which literally means “male daughter”. They dress as females, but they’re not necessarily gay—or straight, even—for that matter. While certainly not mainstream, the otokonoko subculture has garnered fans in geek areas like Akihabara, spawning magazines and even a cafe staffed by otokonoko. So when gamers…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 3, 2012 -
Kotaku EastPower Ranger Pop Group Battled Real Life Demons
Japanese pop groups—male or female—relay on cute. Momoiro Clover Z does, too, but the group has a different set of weapons at its disposal: super hero iconography. The troupe taps the Power Rangers (Super Sentai, in Japan), right down to each member having her own color, to connect with old and young alike. Momoiro Clover…
By Brian Ashcraft Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
It’s a Pirate’s Life For Me (And You, And That Other Guy)
Snowbird have unveiled a new project based on the Mount & Blade engine that’s hopefully just as ambitious (and hopefully nowhere near as janky). It’s called Carribbean, and is a pirate-themed RPG that looks to copy the core concepts of Mount & Blade (manage a crew then join them in large-scale battles), only to then…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Magic Mike Action Figure: Finally, a GI Joe For Grown Women
Custom toy builder GDX is to thank for this masterpiece: what was formerly a GI Joe has now been reimagined as Magic Mike, star of the current film about male strippers. Coming with leather pants and a healthy likeness for star Channing Tatum, he comes with alternate costumes (“tie” or “vest”), along with every stripper’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Minecraft Creeper Hoodie About as Terrifying As An Actual Creeper
There’s only one way a hoodie based on Minecraft can be genuinely terrifying. And that’s this way. With the hood down, it’s a pixellated hoodie. A little garish, perhaps, but nothing too extreme. Pop the head up, though, and it’s nightmare fuel. … If you feel a convenience store employee near you needs to be…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
The “British STALKER” Continues to Look Fabulous in Tweed
In case you’re just joining us, Sir, You Are Being Hunted is an upcoming indie game that promises to be “a procedurally-generated first-person, open world game, with some sneaking, some shooting, some tweedpunk adversaries, and plenty of fleeing in terror.” It’s coming along very nicely, so nicely in fact that there’s a whole new bunch…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Tiny LEGO Models of Giant Moments in Cinema
LEGO site The Living Brick recently held a contest asking readers to submit famous moments from movie history as microscale LEGO models. While they only had a limited amount of space and a limited amount of pieces to work with, what they could accomplish is extraordinary. You can recognise each movie from just a thumbnail…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 -
CultureThere’s Beauty in a Game’s Menu System
And here you thought Fine Art was just about the guys making the stuff that goes in the game. Today, we’re looking at the work of design firm 1910, who design stuff that goes before, or on top of, a game. Specifically, they’ve designed menus and user interface systems for games like Syndicate, Bionic Commando…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Report: Blizzard Banning Diablo III Players For Using Linux [UPDATE]
A number of Diablo III users have complained in the last few days that they’ve been banned from playing the game for doing nothing more than using WINE, a means of playing Windows games in the Linux operating system. It’s a tricky situation. On the one hand, Blizzard appears to be banning the accounts because…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Well, These Dantes Certainly Don’t Like Devil May Cry’s Redesign
Reader Eric, a mean Devil May Cry cosplayer (centre, standing), was at the recent ACEN 2012 in Chicago, where he joined some friends in visually expressing their feelings towards Dante’s redesign in the upcoming DMC.
By Luke Plunkett Published July 3, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
Bringing the Perfect Pixels of the Past to Life
Noirlac’s Tumblr is maybe one of the best in existence. The mysterious man, known only as an anonymous Ubisoft employee, has a site cataloguing weird and wonderful pixel art from old video games, many of them obscure Japanese titles that you haven’t even heard of, let alone played. We’ve featured him a few times here…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
Some Things You May Not Know About Mario
You know he’s got a moustache, a red beret and a penchant for jumping on people’s heads, but have you ever stopped to wonder what you maybe didn’t know about Mario, the world’s most popular and iconic video game character? He’s Had Three Names In Mario’s first ever video game appearance, as the hero of…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
5 Ways The Legend of Korra Went Wrong
Last Friday, I wrote a short post about how I was disappointed with the first season of The Legend of Korra. I kept it pretty short and sweet, but enough people seemed interested in the subject that I thought I’d expand on why I felt the show’s first season fell short. As I mentioned last…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Here Now, Kotaku Off-Topic
Hi there. I’ve been in charge of the “Off Topic Thread” for a little while now, and it’s gradually morphed into something a bit different than it was when I started. Given that we’re all getting used to our new Kinja-Ninja Kimbra-Nimbra discussion system, it seemed like a good time to simplify and reorganize our…
By Kirk Hamilton Published July 2, 2012 -
UncategorizedMeet Team Fortress 2’s…Batman? Rap Video?
The fun people are having with Valve’s new Source Filmmaker continues. Not long after the secret of the Pyro’s identity is revealed do we now get some rap, some Batman and a plea to please, please stop with the remixes of Meet the Heavy. Did Valve realise that the release of this suite would unleash…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Who Knew Turning People Into Squares Made Them So Cute?
I wouldn’t have guessed it, but deviantART artist Theresa Cartwright has a whole gallery dedicated to proving the naysayers otherwise. They don’t just include video game characters, either. Everyone from The Last Airbender’s Aang to Breaking Bad’s Jessie appears in that gallery. Even Jessie’s meth head makeup is somehow, slightly, oddly charming in the squarified…
By Tina Amini Published July 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Our Love Affair With the Undead
Well, people are eating other people now. Wait. Let me say that a better way: People are eating other people now, and everyone is dying to see it. What do your young friends usually say when you ask them if they watch the news? “No, it’s too depressing. Every time I turn it on, they’re…
by Lisa Foiles Published July 2, 2012