Japanese Housewives, Online Gaming Addicts

A small percentage of Japanese housewives lose themselves in torrid love affairs. An even tinier percentage become heavily addicted to online games, a new book claims. Writer Yuki Ishikawa tells the story of nine online gaming housewives in her book, Netoge Haijo. “Netoge” means “online games” while “haijo” means “wrecked women”. One 37-year-old woman interviewed…

Take That, Nintendo!

Forget Osaka’s shady R4 cartridge retailers, the city has one shop that is openly advertising the device. And rubbing it in Nintendo’s face in the process. The R4 cartridge itself is not a piracy device; however, it can be used to play pirated Nintendo DS games. A court injunction was filed in 2009 against Chinese…

Sony’s Motion Controller Has A New Name

The “main” part of Sony’s motion controller, the wand bit, is the PlayStation Move. The other, smaller peripheral? We originally called it the “sub-controller”, but it appears that title was a work-in-progress, its final name being the… Navigation Controller. Boring, yeah, but then, so was “sub-controller”, so at least this is an improvement. And doesn’t…

Darksiders: The Book Of Hell (And Pretty Ladies)

A few months back, publishers THQ promised that early purchasers of Darksiders would get their hands on a “Hellbook”, featuring concept art from the game. Well, those “books” are now on their way, and they look pretty good. Course, they’re not really “books”. Just a collection of digital art, including things like pre-production art, promo…

Final Fantasy Artist Directing First Feature Film

With credits ranging from Speed Racer to Gatchaman, Yoshitaka Amano is best known among gamers for his Final Fantasy illustrations, character work and logo-work. A seasoned veteran who entered the anime industry when he was 15, Amano is directing his first animated feature film, Zan. The film is the product of Amano’s new production studio,…

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of classic Nintendo series like Mario and the Legend of Zelda, hints that while his past deeds are what have made him famous, we shouldn’t discount his future, either. “In the past five years I’ve been working on such unusual titles like Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort”, he told…

Rumor: THE iDOLM@STER 2 Singing and Dancing in 2011

Officially unconfirmed, but you’re surprised? THE iDOLM@STER, a pop star management simulator, was originally released in Japanese arcades back in 2005. The inevitable Xbox 360 console port was followed with endless DLC as well as spin-off titles on the PSP, Nintendo DS and a mecha anime created by Sunrise, the studio responsible for Gundam. The…

Look At The New Pokemon Series

Pokémon Black and White is a completely new Pocket Monster series. And this fall, the fifth-generation Pokémon series will be released on the Nintendo DS in Japan. Here is a sneak peak. Scans of Black and White have been published in Japan’s CoroCoro Magazine. The scans show a battle scene between new Pocket Monsters Zoroark…

Modern Warfare 2 Guest Stars On Family Guy

This week’s episode of animated comedy series Family Guy ends with a special treat: a cameo appearance from Modern Warfare 2, complete with the game’s community manager. In case you miss it, the guy killing Peter straight away is FourZeroTwo, otherwise known as Robert Bowling, the “public face” of the Modern Warfare series and a…

Cashing In

To: Luke From: Owen Re: Don’t Panic As exultant as I was over hitting that five-way parlay in Vegas a few weeks ago, I had to wait until the cash was actually in my hands. The sports book had closed by the time we got back to the casino after dinner that last night I…

The Real Consequences of War Fought Virtually

The blowup this week over gun-camera footage showing an Army operation raised comparisons to “video game-like” behavior by the men pulling the triggers. NPR’s “On the Media” looked at this controversy and the relationships among games, tactics and weapons systems. “On the Media” spoke with Clive Thompson of Wired for 10 minutes. “I’m a little…

Mega Man Mosaic Made of Mega Man Screens

This mosaic, nearly 4 feet by 3.5 feet, depicts an 8-bit Mega Man using more than 1,500 screenshots of all the levels in Mega Man 1 through 6. Seen at Nintendo Everything (with more images and artist commentary)

Week in Games: The Courage of One’s Conviction

Sam Fisher goes rogue this week in Ubisoft’s anticipated Splinter Cell: Conviction, getting a two week head start on the 360 before hitting the PC. An eclectic gathering of DLC and add-ons rounds out the highlights. Beginning Tuesday, Grand Theft Auto IV‘s two extensions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony become…

Darksiders: Hellbook

Kotaku’s Top Five 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 Top 15 Video Game Religions [UGO] We just wrapped up Religion Week here at Kotaku, and UGO also got into the spirit with a…

There’s Nothing Wii Can’t Sell in the Classifieds

First salvation, now real estate. What’s next, used cars? A garage sale? Seen and sent in by reader Claremonster via Twitter

Bouts Booked for E3 Probably Mean Big EA Sports MMA Presence

The site MMAjunkie reports that mixed martial arts promoter Strikeforce has booked the Nokia Theatre for an event June 16, across the street from the L.A. Convention Center and smack dab in the middle of the E3 Expo. Strikeforce is the licensing partner of EA Sports MMA, due out in the fall; all the fighters…

Beta Invitations Going Out for Sims Creator’s Television Project [Update]

Emails sent by famed designer Will Wright’s Stupid Fun Club are now inviting members to participate in his experimental television project, which will engage viewers in the creation of the show’s storylines. An invitation sent Saturday morning tells its recipient they’ve been selected to participate in an unnamed project, but given recent news, and the…

Why Games Need More Than One Simple Word

No matter who is brought in to write a story or dialogue, the industry still treats the written word in such a utilitarian way that it has a second-class citizenship among the other art forms comprising a video game. That’s the argument Jamie Love makes in an essay for Gamesugar. Love notices that there are…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Metal Gear Solid Product Placement Edition

Product placement in video games is nothing new, but Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is definitely taking it to another level. You’re going to take it even further in this week’s Kotaku ‘Shop Contest. Konami had a big news conference this week to unveil the new … well, advertisements … it’ll be serving up in…