- 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 - Uncategorized
There was a Portal Gag in Tonight’s Simpsons Episode
The Simpsons in 2012 is a largely irrelevant force. Still, from time to time it at least tries to appear relevant. Which is why, in tonight’s episode, there’s a fairly obvious Portal reference. While Portal 2 came out almost a year ago, these shows aren’t exactly made overnight, so I guess this is timely? It’s…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Many Unused and Unseen Faces of FemShep
Before the default female Commander Shepard received her very public and slightly drastic makeover, artists had to come up with a ton of ideas on just what she could/would look like. While those designs were eventually whittled down to six, which were voted on by fans, artist Jason Chan (who we’ve featured on Fine Art…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 - Uncategorized
Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kicks Pac-Man in the Face
If you play Pac-Man by running around controlling a yellow blob eating pellets and either chasing or running away from ghosts, you’re doing things the hard way. Chuck Norris doesn’t do things the hard way. He does them the Chuck Norris way. Y esto pasaría si chuk fuera pacman…[Random Weas!, via Gamefreaks]
By Luke Plunkett Published March 12, 2012 -
UncategorizedYou Can’t Look Forward to Mass Effect Blowjobs, Apparently
This is an excerpt from the official livefeed last week of the line outside a GameStop in Los Angeles. All these guys are waiting for Mass Effect 3 One of those guys is Harley Morenstein, star of Epic Meal Time. Harley is understandably excited at the possibilities inherent in a BioWare game. Less excited is…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2012 -
UncategorizedFirst Angry Birds Space Gameplay Footage
Here’s an entire level of the upcoming Angry Birds sequel, Angry Birds Space. No promo music, no fast cuts, just some unedited, proper gameplay footage. That name about sums it up. Shame they couldn’t call it Pigs in Space instead.
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2012 - Culture
Street Smarts
Silent Hill: Downpour and the return of FIFA Street highlight a week kicked off today by Mario Party 9. Some decent downloadable titles hitting PSN and XBLA round out the lineup. Today • Mario Party 9 (Wii) Monday • All Zombies Must Die! (PC) Tuesday • FIFA Street (360, PS3) • Ridge Racer (PS Vita)…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2012 - Uncategorized
Double Fine’s Kickstarter Funding Nearly Matches Grim Fandango‘s Budget
With about two days to go on its jaw-dropping Kickstarter campaign, Double Fine’s next adventure game has acquired $2.7 million in grassroots backing from fans like you. Double Fine’s Tim Schafer provides a little perspective on the size of the kitty. “Um, people… three million dollars… that was the budget of Grim Fandango!” Schafer tweeted…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2012 - Uncategorized
So, There’s a Fan Campaign to Change the Ending of Mass Effect 3
My opinion of Internet petitions remains unchanged: They are worth the paper they are printed on. (Hint: They are not printed on paper.) They’re a manifestation of the distorted expectation—cultivated in grade school—that First Amendment rights extend to your relationship with a private business. That said, there’s a particularly amusing poll out there, gathering 20,000…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2012 - Uncategorized
Alan Wake’s Boxed Edition Gets a Release Date
After extending a collector’s edition launch on Steam by a week, Remedy Entertainment has found a publisher for the boxed edition of its Alan Wake release for the PC. Legacy Interactive will distribute the game and release it in North America on April 3. The boxed edition wil also include “The Writer” and “The Signal”…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2012 -
UncategorizedPart of Mass Effect‘s Controversial Day-One DLC is on the Disc, Video Alleges [UPDATE]
The fury will not abate over Mass Effect 3‘s “From Ashes” extension, a downloadable content package available on the day it was released (and within the game’s collector’s edition). A user has produced a video alleging that one of the characters available in the DLC is actually on the disc. [UPDATE] This story should have…
By Owen Good Published March 11, 2012