- Kotaku East
War of the Farts
Today, we are lucky. For entertainment, we have television, video games, and the internet. Back in olden times, people had to be more creative with their diversions—make that, very creative. Scholars at elite institute Waseda University posted images from an Edo-era proto-manga scroll “War of the Farts”. Manga’s nascent beginnings are grounded in picture scrolls.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Pokémon on iTunes. Hello Scam!
While Pocket Monsters company GameFreak brought its monsters to iTunes last summer with Pokémon Say Tap?, this is not that app. Rather, this app is from “The House of Anime” and Daniel Burford. The hell? A quick iTunes search shows that this is the same outfit responsible for app versions of Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh, including…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 20, 2012 - Kotaku East
The 3DS Is Not a Failure in Japan. It’s a 5 Million Sold Success.
While the 3DS had a rocky start—and any momentum it had was disrupted by March 2011’s tragic earthquake—the console has been on the uptick. You could even say it’s now going gangbusters in its native Japan. Today, Nintendo revealed that the 3DS has sold over 5 million units in Japan. It is the fastest Nintendo…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Quality of Life in Virtual Worlds
They say that in life, nothing is certain but death and taxes. The cost of living in the real world seems to get harder each year as prices go up and the rich get richer. We, the little people, just have to deal with it. Virtual worlds don’t have troubles like ours, though. Sure, they…
Patrick Davidson Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Yankees Pitcher has one Hell of a Custom PlayStation 3
Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia – who we already know takes his video games seriously – has a very special, one-of-a-kind PlayStation 3. And it’s one that speaks directly to my tastes It’s wood-panelled! Pimped out like an old Telstar Classic. Sony made the console for Sabathia and emblazoned it with his number, a crown and…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
BioWare Trio Leave to Make a Strategy…RPG…Thing
Arnie Jorgensen, Alex Thomas and John Watson just spent over five years working on Star Wars: The Old Republic at BioWare. After which the perfect palette-cleanser seems to be leaving the studio to make their own game. That game is The Banner Saga, which the trio’s studio Stoic describes as “role-playing meets turn-based strategy, wrapped…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
The Very Best In Cosplay: Echow88
Today’s feature on the very best cosplayers in the world takes us to Indonesia, where we’re taking a look at the astounding work of Echow88. While some cosplayers can get by modelling characters with “basic” costumes, Echow88 goes all-out, appearing as the stars of games like Star Ocean 4, Kingdom hearts, Lineage II and Aion,…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Want Your PS3 Games to Run Faster? Buy an SSD
The Xbox 360 and Wii are, if you want to stay under warranty, locked entities. You can’t upgrade them at all. The PS3, though, lets you swap out a hard drive, and with the coming of the age of solid state drives (SSD), this can result in big performance gains. Running a series of tests…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 - Uncategorized
Old Nintendo Game Contains Heart-Warming, Hand-Written Note
The story on a Reddit post from over the weekend goes like this. “My girlfriend bought an old copy of Animal Crossing. The surprise we found inside just made our day.” It’s made our day too. Located inside the box, and written in a style that to someone who once worked in childcare for six…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 20, 2012 -
UncategorizedThis Amazing GoldenEye Homage Totally Nails it
If you’ve ever played the original GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 – or even seen someone playing it – you’ll quickly see just how great this clip is. The fact it doesn’t just serve up the game itself, but YouTube playthroughs at the same time, only makes it twice as good.
By Luke Plunkett Published February 19, 2012 - Uncategorized
Pikachu, Wario, Snake and Mega Man Find Comfort With Kindred Spirits
Fresh off his explorations of droids with feelings and adorable video game weapons, artist Chris Gerringer is back with some heart-felt fist-bumps from some emotional little characters realising that, hey, they’re not alone in the world/universe after all. I know that feel, bro [Paperbeatsscissors]
By Luke Plunkett Published February 19, 2012 -
UncategorizedMass Effect 3‘s Spectacular “Take Back the Earth” Trailer Gives Us All a Reason to Fight
If last week’s teaser trailer for Mass Effect 3 got your juices flowing, you might want to grab a towel before watching the full 90 second version that aired during tonight’s episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead In case you were curious about the fate of the young girl in last week’s teaser, it doesn’t…
By Mike Fahey Published February 19, 2012 -
UncategorizedWhat a Western Final Fantasy Could Have Sounded Like
One of the most fascinating video game dead ends in recent years has been the fact that, up until a few years ago, a Swedish developer was working on a big-money Final Fantasy game While the project was ultimately cancelled, and in a very messy way, it still tickles a lot of people’s “what if”…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 19, 2012 -
UncategorizedDinsaurs? Jetpacks? This New Shooter Has Them Both.
ORION: Dino Beatdown is an upcoming team-based multiplayer shooter for the PC. Players take control of guys using jetpacks who face waves of dinosaurs, and have to shoot them all in their pointy little faces. Not that all the faces are little. As you’ll see in the clip above. It’s being worked on by Spiral…
By Luke Plunkett Published February 19, 2012 - Uncategorized
You Can’t Shoot that Damn Jackal, Either
Before Asshole Dog, there was Asshole Anubis | “The Hunting of Ducks,” by Jenny Haines. This is the first of her “Games in Art” series, which is “inspired by my studies of ancient art history and my passion for gaming.” Reporter: Activision Blacklisted Us Because I Refused to Pull Call of Duty Sequel Story Yesterday,…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2012 - Culture
Syndicate-d Action
The reboot of Syndicate joins Capcom’s sci-fi/fantasy battler Asura’s Wrath as the top console releases this coming week. The rollout of the PlayStation Vita’s launch titles continues, in time for the device’s full North American release on Wednesday. Tuesday • Army Corps of Hell (PS Vita) • Asura’s Wrath (360, PS3) • Metal Gear Solid:…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2012 - Uncategorized
Mojam Raises $440,000, but Notch’s Beard Appears to be Safe
The Humble Bundle Mojam, a weekend-long game jam by the makers of Minecraft and its friends, wrapped up about an hour ago, though Mojang, Oxeye Games Studio and Wolfire Games are still working overtime to tighten their creations, built from scratch in the past 48 hours. That screenshot above was taken when the clock hit…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2012 - Uncategorized
Assassin’s Creed‘s Next DLC is “Lost Archive,” Says Listing
An email to GameStop customers on Friday named and priced the next downloadable content extension for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. It is called “Lost Archive,” and it will be $14.99 or 1600 Microsoft Points, for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The email said the pack would drop on Feb. 28, but that is unconfirmed.
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2012 - Uncategorized
Kotaku’s Top 5 List of Top 10 Lists
Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •The 7 Deadliest Birds in Video Games [Ranker] Not on this list: Larry Bird, in NBA Ballers •11 Hardly-Seen Sequels [Arcade Game Examiner] Frogger II:…
By Owen Good Published February 19, 2012