If you’ve been to one Starbucks, you’ve been to them all, right? No! You have not been to this Starbucks in Fukuoka, Japan. Designed by Kengo Kuma, this Starbucks is near Dazaifu Tenmangu, one of the country’s most important shrines. Explained Kengo Kuma and Associates: Established in 919 A.D., the shrine has been worshiped as…
You might know Aki Toyosaki from her voice acting in games like Final Fantasy Type-O. Or maybe you know her from her role as Yui Hirasawa in anime K-On! After this clip, you’ll know her as the woman who massacred “Hey Jude”. Toyosaki covered The Beatles tune in concert, and her rendition is a hot…
Sumioni: Demon Arts is a 2D action/platformer for the PlayStation Vita inspired by the traditional Japanese painting style, “sumie.” But is this title an artistic masterpiece or does it simply fail to paint a pretty picture? Good — Progression Through Skill If there’s one good thing to say about Sumioni: Demon Arts—and I stress the…
You might have a notion of who you’d think could pull off the perfect Chun-Li. Then again, you didn’t develop Street Fighter II so what the hell do you know? Japanese illustrator Akiman, one of gaming’s most celebrated artists, illustrated Chun-Li—and a whole bunch of other cool characters. Recently on Twitter, he posted a series…
The Last Story, the latest game from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, made its Western debut last Friday when it was released in PAL territories. We’ve already covered the combat system and multiplayer modes from our Japanese copy of the game, so now it’s time to show you what it’s like in English—British English to…
The Red Stars Hotel is one of St. Petersburg’s more unusual lodges. Unusual in that its walls are not only covered in graffiti, but graffiti inspired by various countries, including the UK, the US, Brazil, and…Japan. If you’ve ever been to Japan, you’ll know that, yes, there is graffiti in Japan. Though, I’ve never seen…
When Star Wars: The Old Republic launched last December across Europe and America, players on the other side of the world were told they would have to wait until some time in the indeterminate future before they would be allowed to join Bioware’s first MMORPG. But gamers—not to mention Star Wars fans—are a determined lot.…
You know in video games, how you see the same enemy characters over and over and over again. Real life isn’t like that. Even if people are dressed in similar outfits, people look different. Except these three ladies. Japanese blogs have dug up this photo from Chinese site TT.Mop, even going as far as saying…
There was a revolution in the 1980s. It started in the military and the space industry, but it didn’t use rockets or weapons. Instead, it used computers and floppy disks. The revolution was the proliferation of computer graphics, and it soon spread to entertainment. “Japanese institutions were just as avid as its American and European…
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Earlier this month, Katsucon went down at the National Harbour resort in Marlyand, just outside Washington DC. There was loads of great cosplay, but since I’m in the middle of a “best in cosplay” series on Fancy Pants, haven’t been able to get to it in that weekly gallery. So in its place, here are…
If Dead Space is to be remembered for one thing, it should be its navigation system, where pressing a button triggers an illuminated “path” in the game world showing you your destination. I don’t know if it was the first game to do this, but it was certainly the first to do it so prominently/so…
Reader Andrew points us towards this documentary. Which goes for twenty minutes. And which is entirely about the seemingly endless debate over the gender of Final Fight’s Poison. While it gets a little “high school paper” in parts, and is something we’ve pondered over once or twice ourselves, it’s still a fairly interesting watch, if…
Video game developers RC3 have a harmless little game called Joustin Beaver for sale on the App Store. It’s $0.99, and it’s turned the teen heartthrob into a beaver. Something Justin Bieber’s attorneys aren’t very happy about. Representatives of the Canadian pop star sent a cease-and-desist letter to RC3 over the title a few weeks…
Roger Hargreaves’ classic children’s book series head into the future, where no doubt some anonymous commenter on the future internet will make a joke about them being their favourite pieces of children’s literature on the citadel. howtocarveroastunicorn [howtocarveroastunicorn, via Gamefreaks]
Sony has done a great job with its exclusive PlayStation Network titles of promoting the kind of games you wouldn’t expect to see promoted on a modern video game console. Games like Flower, and Journey Sadly, at least for Sony – and this will be heartening to anyone who doesn’t own a PS3 – the…
Downloadable content is serious business. Well, with the amount of time and money developers spend on it (and ask for it), you’d think it was. Stuff like Mass Effect 3’s DLC, though, is more of a joke. With various weapons and skins spread across pre-orders, toys and PC accessories, if you wanted to own every…
Going by the old adage “it’s not racist if it’s France”, this Dreamcast commercial plays on one of Europe’s oldest rivalries in an attempt to sell the Brits on the console’s pioneering online play. And if the French can’t rouse them? Germans stuffing their faces with sausages should do the trick Total Recall is a…
It is the year 2000. Comedian and actor Chris Rock is nearing the height of his powers. Sony’s stable of video games, on the other hand, was not. Sure, the PlayStation had been a breakthrough, but the world-devouring juggernaut that was the PlayStation 2 was in its infancy. So you can maybe understand why, when…
Hello there, Kotaku, and welcome to the Monday evening Open Thread! We’ve got some links here for ya as usual for before you begin your conversations. Here goes: Put down the ducky if you want to play the saxophone – Aw, Mr. Hoots. Preach it! (Thanks for reminding me of this, Steve.) How piracy built…
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