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Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD Feels the Same But Different
While at GDC, I talked to skating legend Tony Hawk about the upcoming re-make of the releases that made him an icon to a generation of gamers. He thinks it’s great but, of course, he would. Me? I found myself surprised at how much I missed the unique style of extreme sports offered by the…
By Evan Narcisse Published March 12, 2012 -
UncategorizedThe Real Stars of Prototype 2 Have Spinning Blades on Their Heads
You know what sold me on the original Prototype? Protagonist Alex Mercer leaping onto a helicopter and punching his way inside. I’m sure Prototype 2’s James Heller is a compelling new hero, but what about the whirlybirds? Ah yes, here they are. Radical Entertainment and Activision, keen on the importance of proper helicopter destruction and…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
“Just For Kids” Comes to PlayStation 3 Netflix, Still Waiting for “Just for Adults”
The menacing black box lurking within your entertainment center just got a bit less menacing, as Netflix adds the bright and colorful “Just for Kids” to the PlayStation 3 version of its streaming video app. For those of you unfamiliar, the picture above depicts the Backyardigans, a group of singing, dancing and imagineering young animals…
By Mike Fahey Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
At This Chinese Video Game Bar, You Drink
There are many arcades in China, some are shopping arcades, others are video game arcades. But Arcade, in Shanghai isn’t an arcade in any sense of the word, it is instead a bar. While there are many video game bars in the US and Japan, there aren’t too many in China. There are arcades that…
By Eric Jou Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Junior High Kid Arrested in a Great Condom Caper
Earlier this year, four junior high school students apparently broke into a shuttered love hotel. Love hotels are the Japanese equivalent of “no tell motels”, where couples can meet for trysts. They typically offer complimentary condoms. These four junior high students supposedly stole a huge amount of unused rubbers from a shutdown love hotel. One…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Is This the World’s Youngest FPS Player? He’ll Snipe Your Ass. Maybe.
Don’t you hate it when you’re online playing a first-person shooter and the person on the other end that kills you is a young kid. Well, in China, that player could be younger than you’d ever imagine. In a video posted last December, an unnamed 2-and-a-half year-old, is shown playing a Counter Strike clone, Mercenary…
By Eric Jou Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Japan’s Greatest Manga Artists Offer Encouragement
This Sunday was the one year anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake. Around the country, people paused at 2:46pm—the moment the quake first hit. On Saturday, I noticed a display at a shopping mall of manga art from some of Japan’s most famous manga artists. Each of them drew pictures and wrote encouraging messages. The result…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 -
Kotaku EastTurns Out Siri Isn’t Fluent in Japanese
Apple has the personal assistant Siri. DoCoMo, a major mobile service provider in Japan, has the Syabette Concier. With the Japanese version of Siri being recently introduced, one man on YouTube tested the two voice controlled assistants to see how they differ. The man speaks out in Japanese to both Smarthphones at the same to…
By Toshitaka Tachibana Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Will Apple’s iPad Trademark Become China’s?
Just last week, Apple announced a new iPad. It’s already become an object of desire in China. But, unfortunately for Chinese Apple fans, Apple has not announced a launch date for the Mainland market. Even if Apple does announce a Mainland launch date, its on going legal troubles with Chinese tech company Proview might hinder…
By Eric Jou Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
A Truly Bizarre Metamorphosis. This Female Character Looks Totally Different!
Newly released Blades of Time is a spiritual successor to X-Blades, a hack-and-slash game noteworthy if only for its risqué Japanese style character design. Blades of Time is the game’s spiritual successor. Kotaku has covered the title before (here), but honestly, this title hasn’t been on my radar. At all. It stars Ayumi, who appeared…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Crazy Women, Stay Away from This Dude
You think only male nerds are scary? Wrong! Japanese voice actor Shinnosuke Tachibana is so freaked out by some of his female fans that he actually asked them to stop tailing him. As pointed out by Japanese site OtaNews, late last week Tachibana, who does voice work for Inazuma Eleven and Konami dating games, uploaded…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
This Lady Loves Dressing as Fighting Game Characters
She really does! This is Rui, and she’s done a myriad of cosplay, including a handful of fighting game characters. Her gaming father instilled a love of video games in her from a very young age. Besides Street Fighter Zero 3, favorites include Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and many, many others. Rui is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 -
Kotaku EastThis Banned PS3 Owner Looks Bonkers
Anyone who films himself or herself ranting about a ban and posting it online might have issues. Anyone who does that while wearing a plastic bag might be nutso. In this video, a PS3 owner, who was apparently banned from the PlayStation Network, bitched and moaned—while wearing a several snuggies and a plastic bag on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Kotaku East
Time To Ride the Giant Wooden Penis!
This weekend the Hodare Festival got underway in Niigata, Japan. Hodare means “male genitals”, and the centerpiece of this Shinto fertility festival is a giant wooden penis. Measuring 2.2m and weighting 600kg, the wooden penis in enshrined and carries religious significance. People believe praying to it or touching it can bring marital bliss and fertility…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Reviews
Can this Metal Arcade Stick Breathe Fire into Your Gaming?
Fighting game players are particular about their sticks. They have every right to be considering how important it is to play with a sturdy stick and tough casing. That’s what the Drop FireDragon stick aims to deliver—something tough, sturdy, and metal. But does it? Right out of the box, so much of the FireDragon hits…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
My, Shepard, How You’ve…Changed
Reader Sgt.LulzJager has kept the same female Commander Shepard model across all three Mass Effect games. That’s a lot of time spent with the same character. So it didn’t take long for him to notice something different about her in Mass Effect 3 Beside a few tweaks to her face, he didn’t make any changes…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Witcher Developers Abandon DRM Forever
The developers behind The Witcher series are done with DRM for its PC games. Seriously. It says that no game the company releases going forward will have any kind of DRM whatsoever. “Every subsequent game we [release] will never use any DRM anymore, it’s just over-complicating things,” CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski said during…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 -
UncategorizedMagic Card Freakouts are the Best Kind of Freakouts
Internet comedian Francis, who by now has his nerd shtick almost perfected, leaves his webcam and bedroom behind and takes to the streets for a Magic Card tournament. Before you ask, yes, there’s a gif available. Buzzfeed is one step ahead of you on that one Francis Plays Magic the Gathering [YouTube, via BuzzFeed]
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
First Look at Art From the Mass Effect Animated Film
In addition to a Dragon Age anime, EA and BioWare also have a Mass Effect anime in the pipeline. It’s been pretty low-key until now, but at SXSW we’ve finally got our first look at the project. Sadly, it’s not a trailer, or even finalised art, but what we do have is concept art for…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012