The New Yakuza Game Takes You Back in Time

Sega unveiled a new Yakuza game. It’s called Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin. Here’s a first look. “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” of course, is the original Japanese title for the Yakuza games. “Ishin” (維新) means “restoration” as in the Meiji Restoration. This led into the Meiji Period, an era of rapid modernization and industrialization in Japan. It…

China’s Illegal Rooftop Lairs Trade Safety for Spectacle

Why stop at the penthouse when you can put something on the penthouse? Something like a traditional Chinese pagoda, an American style suburb, or even a mountain? Time to scale China’s unusual—and often illegal—high rise structures. Building on buildings is not a new thing in China—or in many cities with tall buildings. For years now,…

Ubisoft’s Child of Light is a Sidescroller With Turn-Based Battles

In a series of tweets, worldwide GDC overseer Simon Carless gave away a few details regarding Ubisoft’s upcoming downloadable title, Child of Light Announced today by Ubisoft’s Patrick Plourde during a presentation at GDC Europe, Child of Light is a “painterly” 2D sidescroller with turn-based battles powered by the engine behind Rayman Origins, and inspired…

New Studio Ghibli anime dated! Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) was originally supposed to be out this summer, but it was delayed to fall because the storyboards weren’t finished. Now, according to IT Media, the anime finally has a release date in Japan: November 23.

PS3 Version of Disney Infinity Locking Up, Short-Term Fix Available [UPDATE]

The ambitious new game Disney Infinity is freezing and becoming unplayable for multiple PlayStation 3 users, including two Kotaku editors today. The game’s producer has recommended that PS3 users delete the game’s day-one 1.01 patch. That solution is helping, though online play won’t be available without the patch. We’ve seen some threads on the official…

Adios, Zune: Friendly reminder that, as of Aug. 22, the Zune Marketplace will shut down on Xbox Live, as part of the conversion from Microsoft points to local currency. If you’ve got Microsoft points, they won’t be usable there anymore, in other words. More information is in this FAQ.

Infinite Possibility: Luke Ritson, the guy behind impressive alternative trailers for The Walking Dead and Halo 4, now brings us this—a hype reel for BioShock Infinite if 2K Games was willing to pay the freight for a Johnny Cash song. The usual spoiler alerts are in force for those who haven’t completed the game.

12GB PS3: Best Buy, in the U.S., is now listing a 12GB configuration for the PlayStation 3. This model appeared about a year ago in PAL territories in lieu of a 250GB version under the console’s latest design. It’s going for $199.99. [Update: It has an official page.]

EA Sports’ College Game May Come Back, but Time is Running Out

We’ll soon learn which lone university will bail on EA Sports’ college football video game, ending an 18-year run in which the series featured all of the more than 100 major-division teams every season—a bedrock expectation of any “it’s in the game” claim. The good news is the announcement of who’s in and who’s out…

The Week in Games: Help is on the Way

Finally, we crawl out of the doldrums of mid-summer to three full-scale triple-A releases on Tuesday—and that does not count the launch of Disney Infinity today. Saints Row IV, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and Splinter Cell: Blacklist all launch this week. Today • Disney Infinity (360, PS3, Wii U, Wii, 3DS, PC) Monday • Sir,…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Psyduck Kid

Last week I thought I had a timely exploitable with the Watermelon Warriors but noooo, y’all wanted Psyduck Kid, the lead image from our Pokémon World Championships roundup. Grievances were lodged; snide, dismissive responses were given and suddenly I was being threatened like I was a games developer or something. Well, OK, here you go.…

Here’s the Roster for ’30 Years of Wrestlemania’ in WWE 2K14

When it announced a special campaign mode this week, WWE 2K14 hinted the game’s roster would be the largest ever by virtue of the fact more than 45 classic bouts would be featured in “30 Years of Wrestlemania.” The question was how many wrestlers would be making repeat appearances to fill out that card. Ten…

Sunday Comics: Effective Anti-fungal Fighter

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Another Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn. Published Aug. 16. Read more of Another Videogame Webcomic Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Watermelon Warriors: The Winners

China’s latest fashion trend is dressing toddlers in watermelon rinds, a novel way to both cool and protect your little fruit warrior. We’ve got 20 up-armored finalists in this week’s roundup, plus overall winner toolsoldier! Note: Yes, we will be doing Psyduck kid tomorrow. I suppose that spoils the post theme, but you still need…

How Much Is Disney Infinity Going To Cost You?

Disney’s collectible toy video game platform launches tomorrow, which means parents and fans will be raiding video game aisles across the country to score the initial wave of toys and playsets. How much money should they bring? All of it. First thing you’re going to need, whether you’re a curious gamer or a haggard parent,…

Square Enix Puts 3D-Printed Final Fantasy Figures Out of Business

Square Enix consistently protects its trademarks and copyrights. And still people consistently use them without permission. So it’s perhaps not a surprise that an artist selling a Final Fantasy action figure series was shut down when Square’s lawyers told his 3D printer to cease and, yes, desist. CNET has the full story, but what happened…

Free Games: For Xbox Live Gold subscribers, 2010’s Dead Rising 2 and its DLC prequel Case Zero are both free, under the Games With Gold promotion. They’ll be available until the end of the month.

Potato Girl Loves Their Hash Browns: Who knew that Denny’s were such big fans of Attack on Titan? After someone sent the diner chain a picture of “Potato Girl,” calling her “your mascot,” Denny’s Twitter account sent out this scrumptious mash-up. [CrunchyRoll, h/t mr_raccoon]

How Times Change: ‘EA Didn’t Give a S–t About FIFA‘ 20 Years Ago

Today, EA Sports’ FIFA series is critically acclaimed and globally dominant. Internally, football means football, not American football as played in Madden. Twenty years ago, though, the publisher wanted nothing to do with it, according to this retrospective by MCV “EA didn’t give a shit about FIFA,” says the person who was EA’s European marketing…

EA Ends First Amendment Claim to Use Real-World Helicopters in Games

Electronic Arts and the makers of Bell Helicopter, have settled a lawsuit concerning the use of real-world aircraft in Battlefield 3, for which EA did not have permission. The publisher had asked a judge to rule it had a right to the depictions because they were part of a creative work protected by the First…