Polaroid Gets Into The Video Game Business

Odd. Polaroid, a brand 98% of you will know for its instant cameras, is releasing a line of video game accessories, including battery packs, controllers and headsets. If this sounds weird, remember, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and has emerged in 2010 a very different company, one that thinks it’s a good idea to…

Nintendo DS Game Made Into Japanese TV Show

Japan-only Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection is making its way to the small screen. Or the wide-screen. The flat-screen? The plasma screen. Or the LED screen? You get the picture. Starting on May 5, program “Koi no Kaitou!? Tomokore Ni-Se” (Love’s Answer?! Tomodachi Collection 2nd Gen) commences on Tokyo MX. It stars 25-year-old celebrity Mari…

Team Fortress 2 Action Figure Has Many Faces

Renowned custom toy creator Jin Saotome, who you’ve seen before, is back and telling Valve how it should be spending its merchandising budget: on action figures. Jin’s custom Spy figure, from online shooterTeam Fortress 2, may have ridiculous knees, but everything else about him is spot-on, from his stupid grin to the “masks” he can…

What’s So Great About This Samus Cosplay?

It lights up, that’s what. Photo taken of the Metroid heroine by photographer Marcelo Colin. Check out more of his work in the Flickr page below. Marcelo Colin [Flickr via That Girl’s Site]

NSFW: Putting Jugs In Old Famicom Games

This is fami_fami. It appears to be one man’s quest to put boobs in as many Famicom (NES) games as he can. Boobs and…other things! This is not safe for work He is literally finding images or scenes in which women are presented in Famicom games, and then editing them so they’re topless. In some…

Japan’s Pirates Answer Pirate Questions… Arrr!

We have already polled you, Joe Q. Reader, about piracy. Let’s hear the results of a Japanese poll. Are they the same? Japan’s japan.internet.com polled 1,000 internet users about piracy. The sample was 55.3 percent male with 1.0 percent in their teens, 16.1 percent in their twenties, 27.1 percent in their thirties, 30.9 percent in…

Wii Gets 25% Price Cut (Down Under)

While Americans enjoyed a Wii price cut last year, Australian gamers were left out in the cold (well, sunshine), continuing to pay the same price we had since 2006. That all changes tomorrow. Yes, starting April 29, the Wii will go from AUD$400 to AUD$300 (USD$370-USD$275), a massive 25% price cut. The basic offer will…

Nice Hair, Miku, Real Nice

I do not have long, plastic, aqua-colored hair. If I did, I’d want it to look like this. Vocaloid and music game character Miku Hatsune is getting immortalized in yet another figurine. Sculpture Masaki Apsy has outdone himself with this stunning Miku figurine. More details are forthcoming. ミクappendのデザインに関わらせて頂きました。 [Masaki Apsy Weblog]

Goodbye, Floppy Disks

In 1981, Sony brought the world the 3.5-inch floppy disk, which for nearly two decades would stand as the PC world’s preferred means of storage. In 2011, after 30 years on the market, Sony will cease production of these disks. Despite the advent of superior mediums like CDs, DVDs and flash drives, the format lived…

Not Everywhere Has This Final Fantasy XIII PS3 Controller

Japanese role-playing game Final Fantasy XIII might already be out in the West and Japan, but the localized version is not out in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Yet. To mark the release of the Chinese-language version of the game, Sony is releasing a special FFXIII-branded PS3 controller. Priced at the equivalent of US$90, the controller…

The Video Game Marriage Proposal

Anders Howard, who works by day as a game designer, wanted his marriage proposal to be something special. Something memorable. So he made his girlfriend a “game”, and called it Dinner Love and the Quest for Soup What starts as a Godzilla-like quest for food soon becomes a tale of love, ending with the proposal…

First Proper Look At Final Fantasy Creator’s New Game

The most we’ve seen so far of The Last Story, an upcoming Wii role-playing game from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, has been artwork. It’s about time we looked at the actual game itself, eh? This week’s issue of Famitsu gave the world its first look at the game, which many are hoping will bring…

A New Look At Vanquish, From The Creator of Resident Evil

Are you excited yet about Vanquish, the third-person shoot ’em up from Bayonetta and Madworld studio Platinum Games? Did we mention it’s from the guy who made God Hand? And did you see these new screen shots? Game director Shinji Mikami’s latest may feature familiar shooting action—with, apparently, a Bayonetta style “Witch Time”-like time-slowing effect…

Kotaku Off Topic: Baconator

Consider this edition of Kotaku Off Topic a two-for-Tuesday, a chance to comment not once, but twice on the topic of your choosing at no additional cost. (Yes, I cleared this with my manager.) Say, anyone have a version of this NASA photograph of Neil Armstrong from the Gemini VIII launch that’s at, say, wicked…

Vanquish Screens

Kingdom Hearts

The Cub Scouts Get Video Game Badges

Scouting is no longer just about the outdoors – roughing it, blowing up a can of beef stew in a campfire or drinking kool-aid that tastes like chewable aspirin. The Cub Scouts are now awarding pins for video games. Not for Gamerscore, trophies, or beating God of War III. The Cub Scouts have put together…

Pentagon Wants To Build Better Soldiers With Video Games, Mind-Reading

The Department of Defense aims to train a better breed of soldier using video games (aka “simulations”) that monitor voice recognition, facial gestures and cognitive patterns through EEG scans, reports Wired. Hope for future video game controllers! [Wired]

Pac and Blinky, Paired on a Paring Board

This cutting board runs $165, but it’s perfect for cutting vegetables – or strawberries, oranges, apples and melons. But not Galaxians or keys. Seen on Etsy by reader Cameron O.

Halo: Reach’s First TV Spot Shows How Spartans Are Made

In the ongoing tradition of beautifully filmed, high-class live action Halo commercials comes “Birth of a Spartan,” Microsoft and Bungie’s promotional short for the Halo: Reach beta. That’s right. We’re doing beta commercials now. The 60-second spot features the Spartan-izing of Carter 259, who you’ll soon better know as the future leader of Noble Team…