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Kotaku EastChina Gets Its Own Virtual Idol
Hatsune Miku is a Japanese virtual idol. She is not the first Japanese virtual idol, but she’s the most successful. And China, well, China now has its own virtual idol, which recently apparently on television. Online, people are calling this Chinese virtual idol a Hatsune Miku rip-off, complete with a Vocaloid sounding voice. I’ll just…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 - Kotaku East
You Can Use Chopsticks? And Other Remarks that Bother Some People.
Hearing complaints lavished on the use of chopsticks. People praising your Japanese after you utter an “arigatou”. The endless and repetitive questions. In Japan, some find these remarks and questions irritating—a form of “soft racism” called “microaggression”. But are they? As Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D. and David Rivera, M.S. pointed out in a 2010 Psychology…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mass Effect’s LEGO Mako Looks Easier to Drive
Complaints about certain parts of Mass Effect 3 may be more contemporary, but let’s not forget the first game had a more serious problem: the Mako tank drove like shit on wheels. Which presented me with a problem, because I loved to look at it, but hated to drive it. Yet I had to do…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
Ever Wonder What’s Inside a Guitar Hero Guitar?
Sure, you could smash one open, but these are pieces of consumer electronics, not Easter eggs. Why do you always have to go for the violent option first? In a post over on Behance, industrial designer George Schnakenberg explains the design process behind the last Guitar Hero peripheral, that used for Warriors of Rock, and…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
These Fake Nintendo Games Look More Interesting Than Real Ones
Can you believe it’s Famicase time already? That time of the year when indie Japanese store Meteor holds an exhibition showcasing a bunch of incredible, one-of-a-kind fake video game cartridges. The goal of the exhibition is simple: artists submit a cartridge for a fake Famicom game. It can be whatever they want, basically, meaning some…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
Welcome to Total Recall
Total Recall is Kotaku’s nightly look back at the history of video games. Think you know where video games come from? You might know a little, but our aim with Total Recall is to dig a little deeper and shine a light on some of the more bizarre and interesting elements of this medium’s past.…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Reviews
Spending Quality Time With Two Metal Gear Solid Action Figures
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Metal Gear franchise, Square Enix and Konami have teamed up to release a bunch of figures based on the venerable stealth series. Today, we’re taking a look at two of them. I’ve got two figures on my kitchen bench with a camera in their face: Solid Snake and…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Culture
Legend of the Time Star is a New Game With Old Visuals
Currently in development (sort of) at New York-based indie outfit Attack Mountain, Legend of the Time Star is a love letter to old 16-bit, side-scrolling RPGs, particularly those coming out of Japan. Thanks to the input of Jake “virt” Kaufman it’s already sounding like its inspiration, but it’s thanks to Brazilan artist Dudu Torres that…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
“Who Put a Dick on Lara Croft?”, and Other Great Box Art Mysteries
Kotaku reader “Michael” was taking a look through the pre-owned section of his local EB Games (read: GameStop) in Australia when he started noticing things weren’t quite right. Lara Croft had a marble dong. Old Snake had become a vet. Hulk Hogan had started attending Hogwarts. So he started looking through the section and found…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 -
UncategorizedFly Like an Eagle Across Chasing Aurora’s Polygon Landscape
Broken Rules, the indie studio behind And Yet it Moves, is currently working on a game called Chasing Aurora. It looks lovely. Calling it an “explorative 2D aerial action game about the dream of flight”, anyone who perfected the “bombing” flight-and-glide technique from the Batman games should be at home with riding the wind across…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 - Uncategorized
If Valve Made Bottles of Rum, They’d Hopefully Look This Cool
Reader Adam has an idea. An idea for old-timey bottles of rum, bottled by Valve Corporation, and named for Admiral Kunkka, a hero from the DOTA series. It is a wonderful idea. Those wondering, um, why rum, Kunkka’s Rum is found in both the original and Valve’s upcoming sequel, with units doused in it receiving…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 3, 2012 -
CultureTotal RecallA Booze Company Smuggled the Sega Mega Drive Into India
Take a look at this commercial, for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis). It’s for the Indian market, and while it’s a little rough around the edges, it’s mostly what you’d expect from the mid-90s. Except for that weird “Shaw Wallace” business. That’s not a YouTube uploader’s watermark, it’s the name of the company that handled…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2012 - CultureTotal Recall
What Assassin’s Creed Looked Like in 2004
Nothing will make you realise just how old this console generation is than today’s Total Recall, which looks at the very first concept art ever put down on paper/computer for the project that would become Assassin’s Creed It was put down in 2004 That’s eight years ago, and while a lot has changed for the…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2012 -
UncategorizedIron Man Cosplay That Actually Moves
Just…look at this. LOOK AT IT. The suit’s not brand new, so you may have seen it before, at least in picture form, but seeing it in motion like this…wow. UPDATE – Here’s a longer video showing its creator, Anthony “Master” Le, putting the suit through its paces. [thanks Chewy!]
By Luke Plunkett Published May 2, 2012 -
UncategorizedA Little Less Conversation, A Little More Dolph Lundgren Action
That one’s for you, Kotaku. Hope you’re having a great Wednesday! Welcome to the open-thread. If you’ve watched that video (and you should), here are some other things you might read and talk about. Space is never anything less than amazing – Wow! A pretty hilarious version of the Pledge of Allegiance – Dark! But…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
The “EA Indie Bundle” is Like The Man Saying F*** the Man
You may not have heard of Electronic Arts, a boutique publishing label based in Redwood City, Calif. Well, I bet you will be raving about them once you pick up the “EA Indie Bundle” on Steam, the indie-friendly digital marketplace, unlike that Origin bullshit run by that place that screwed up the end of Mass…
By Owen Good Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron‘s Shockwave, Optimus Prime, and Jazz Trapped in Plastic Bubbles
Here’sa a trio of official packshots for Hasbro’s Transformers Generations Fall of Cybertron line, with Optimus Prime, Shockwave, and Jazz sporting the sexy Cybertronian forms they’ll be wearing in Activision’s next big bot game. I was fully expecting the Optimus Prime to be the same one from War for Cybertron in a fancy new package.…
By Mike Fahey Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
There Will Actually Be Women in the Next Call Of Duty
Guns were always a given for the next Call of Duty. Women? We really did not expect them. And yet when I saw the game in action last week, there they were. Women. Two of them in the press demo alone! Ye gods. I went down to Call of Duty: Black Ops II developer Treyarch’s…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 2, 2012 - Uncategorized
One Way Video Games Are Like Prison
Over at Grantland, the occasionally notorious but always thoughtful writer Tom Bissell has weighed in on The Witcher 2. He is… not impressed. In fact, after 6 hours with the game, he decided he’d seen enough. “What?” you may blurt, spitting gravy flecks all over your laptop keyboard. “Six hours?? That’s not nearly enough time…
By Kirk Hamilton Published May 2, 2012