- Kotaku East
Let’s Check Out China’s Team Fortress 2 Clone, Final Combat
Whenever I visit an internet cafe in China, be it Shanghai, Beijing or wherever, it always surprises me how many of the games available are MMO’s or bad rip-offs of western games. Normally I would scroll past the Chinese fare and move onto something a little more domestic like Call of Duty or Ages of…
By Eric Jou Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
This Person Went Kid Icarus Scratching Insane
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a stylus controlled 3DS game. Unless you are press down as hard as you possibly can while using the stylus, your 3DS should be fine! Nintendo builds its products to be tough; it builds them to last. Some players, however, get way into their stylus play. Check out this screen guard…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
In China, Hire Your Online Fans and Internet Defenders—Cheap!
I listen to This American Life a lot, and for the longest time at the end of each show Ira Glass would say, “This episode of This American Life is bought to you by Reputation.com.” For long have I pondered what exactly what it is that Reputation.com does. Do they Google-bomb Google or do they…
By Eric Jou Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
Area Ravaged by Japanese Earthquake Gets…a Cute Character
To help lift the spirits of Tohoku, Japan, the area hit by March 2011’s earthquake and tsunami, illustrator Ninico Edomura created Zunko Tohoku. Named after zunda mochi rice cakes, she’s a 17 year-old, who excels at archery. And she’s copyright free. The idea is that the character will go viral via fan art and whatnot—thus,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
The Korean Subway to Nowhere
You step off the train. You head through the immaculate blue and white terminal and make your way to the surface. It’s like you’ve arrived in the future alright—only, a post apocalyptic one. These photos are making their way around Japanese forums and blogs, with some saying they resemble Fallout 3. According to Andy Tebay…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
Phantasy Star Online 2 Will Also Be on on Smartphones
On March 26th, SEGA has officially announced that the online role-playing game Phantasy Star Online 2 will be released not only on the PC, but on the PS Vita and smartphones as well. The game is planned to be released early summer of 2012, and will be free to play with certain purchasable in-game items.…
By Toshitaka Tachibana Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
A Woman with Gundam Models in Her Hair Is Not Japan’s Craziest Hairstyle
Oh no. Japan can do better—or rather, the girls at fashion magazine Koakuma Ageha can. How about a headphones hairdo? Or a glasses hairdo? Or cat ears? Or Tokyo Tower? You got it! While Koakuma Ageha is popular with hostesses (who, infamously, have big hair), I’ve never actually seen anyone, hostess or not, in Japan…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 26, 2012 - Kotaku East
Are You An Average Dude? You Might Make Good Husband Fodder in Japan.
During the 1980s, the stereotype for Japanese women was that they wanted three things in a marriage partner: high education, high salary, and a tall man. These days, Japanese women are content with things that aren’t nearly so sky-high. For marriage partners, they’re fine with “average”. In Japanese, “sankou” (三高), or what would be localized…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 26, 2012 -
UncategorizedA My Little Pony Xbox 360. Just in Case you Needed One.
I am not Michael Fahey. I do not understand the appeal for grown men of My Little Pony, a franchise my little sister thought was rubbish when she was nine If you are Michael Fahey, though, you may go bananas for this custom My Little Pony Xbox 360, with hand-etched plexiglass, paint scheme and fancy…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Argh, the Bad Guys in The Last of Us Look Just Horrible
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is taking the old zombie stereotype in a different direction, substituting hordes of ravenous flesh-eaters for…a global population that’s been infected by some kind of fungus and now looks really gross. While we’ve seen the monsters before, this statue of one was posted on Twitter over the weekend by…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Art of the Death of the Manual
This piece by artist Maskull Lasserre takes the impending demise of the printed computer manual quite literally, pressing a number of old pieces together and then carving a skull out of it. Morbid, but also quite lovely. [Maskull Lasserre, via Boing Boing]
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Awesome Lady Turns Nerf Guns into Video Game Guns
Nerfenstein – more boringly known as Aesthetic Nerf Mods Australia – takes regular old Nerf guns and, with a little customisation and paint work, turns them into replica weapons based on those found in video games, movies and comic books. Replica weapons you can shoot a kid in the face with and not feel that…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
How Assassin’s Creed III Will Work on the Wii U
As bizarre as it seems to be thinking of a proper Assassin’s Creed game appearing on a Nintendo console, it’s going to happen later this year when Assassin’s Creed III is released on the Wii U. Leading many people to wonder, how’s it going to take advantage of the console’s unique control pad? The latest…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Very Best In Cosplay: Omi Gibson
For the last few months, I’ve used this feature to highlight the very best cosplay artists in the world. To the last, each of them produces astonishing work, whether they be costume builders, props makers, photographers and/or models. None of them, however, can quite match the output of Japanese superstar Omi Gibson. Whether it be…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mega Man Becomes Mega Girl
So what if Capcom seems unwilling to make any more Mega Man games. They could always make a Mega Girl game instead! At least, that’s the premise behind this gender-swapping take on the platforming hero by artist dcwj, in which the star and several other characters/bosses are reimagined. It’s adorable. So much so I would…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 26, 2012 - Uncategorized
The BioShock Movie Just Lost its SECOND Director
In case you somehow thought the ill-fated BioShock movie project would emerge from the depths of production hell and actually get filmed, know that this seems even more unlikely now given the fact the film has lost its second director. 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who came onboard in 2010 to replace the…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2012 -
UncategorizedCan a Vita Survive Being Dropped Onto the Road?
I dropped my Vita over the weekend. Luckily, it landed on grass, and it was totally fine. These guys aren’t dropping their Vita on grass. They’re dropping it on a road. Over and over again. For science. As part of their highly practical “drop test” series, Gizmo Slip let the Vita fall to the bitumen…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2012 -
ReviewsTotal War: Shogun 2: The Fall of the Samurai: The Kotaku Review
Or, as I should have called it, my review of the Great Colon War of 1864 In 2009, Creative Assembly released one of the greatest strategy games ever made. A year later, they had the cheek to release an expansion pack and try and pass it off as an all-new title. Skip ahead to 2011,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 25, 2012