Vladimir Putin Is An Artist

While visiting a school in Russia’s Kurgan region, President Putin drew this. It’s not what you probably think it is. Apparently. When a student asked him what he drew, Putin replied that it was a cat from behind. Oh. I thought it was a vagina. Or a penis. Or a vagina penis. Just think of…

Farming Simulator graces European and Japanese consoles today. If you’re in either of these two regions, you can now officially head out and grab the game for Xbox 360 or PS3 Those in North America will have to wait a bit longer for their copies, which will be here “shortly.” Until then, here’s the launch…

Sales of The Wonderful 101 in Japan are not very wonderful. According to 4Gamer, Platinum Games’ latest sold only a little over 5,000 copies on its first day out in Japan, not even making the top 20, one week later. The Wonderful 101 arrives in the US on the 15th of this month. Hopefully it…

Banished Is A City Builder That’s All About Choices

We’ve talked about Shining Rock’s hardcore medieval city builder before, and yes, the game’s still around! In fact, in a recent interview, the creator yet again confirmed that Banished would definitely be out before the end of the year. Talking to PC Gamer, Luke Hodorowicz, the sole developer working on Banished, also discussed the importance…

Oh the Ways Anime Changes

Just because your favorite anime finally aired on television, that doesn’t mean you’ve seen the final product. There’s still room to get better. When anime get DVD or Blu-ray releases, certain scenes or characters are tweaked—or even completely redrawn. There’s a variety of reasons for this, such as having more time to get everything just…

How Korea Is Making eSports More Inclusive to All Kids

In South Korea, eSports is big—big enough for large tournaments and endorsements. But it’s also big enough for the country’s government to sponsor a tourney for disabled students. Now in its ninth year, the Students With Disabilities Nationwide eSports Tournament recently wrapped up in Seoul, with 394 students competing in games such as Wii Sports…

You Sure Hayao Miyazaki Doesn’t Sign Autographs in Japan?

Here’s a whole room of people with autographs Hayao Miyazaki signed earlier this year in Japan. Fancy that! Late last month, there was an article on Japanese site R25 detailing how beloved anime director Hayao Miyazaki doesn’t sign autographs. (Kotaku reached out to Studio Ghibli regarding the R25 autograph story; however, the studio declined to…

Small Studio Wants To Make Its Own Mass Effect

AMBROV: X is an upcoming RPG that, while set in an established sci-fi universe (it’s based on the Sime-Gen books), sure looks like an indie Mass Effect. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Given how that series ended, and people’s love for sci-fi, RPGs and decision-making (this has all three!), this might be able…

Just in case you were wondering, yes, you can make Grand Theft Auto in Disney Infinity. Just don’t tell the children.

A Sexy Calendar Full Of Steaming Hot Game Developers

We’ve hit a new low, people. The objectification of women in the games industry was bad enough, but now we’re ogling over the hot bods and tight abs of male developers as well? When will this perversion end? Hopefully never. Because this joke calendar, featuring 13 dreamy developers from studios like BioWare, Firazis and Double…

Mad Scot Reviews Duck Tales. You Might Need Captions.

You might remember Tam McGleish from his brilliant Far Cry 3 and Ni No Kuni video reviews. If you can imagine a ‘portly’ Scottish version of Zero Punctuation you might be a 40% of the way there. The remaining 60% contains a nightmarish talking bear, brilliantly hilarious song numbers and — believe it or not…

Famous Zelda Artist Returns With New Game

Japanese artist Katsuya Terada is a man whose work you should all be familiar with, mostly because he’s one of the main visionaries behindZelda’s aesthetic, but also because he worked on Hellboy and Pacific Rim. He’s returning to games this year with Alteil: Horizons. A card combat game, Alteil: Horizons is actually an all-stars kind…

Final Fantasy Producer Gives One Hell Of An Apology

Like many MMOs, Final Fantasy XIV has had some pretty serious technical issues since it launched. Unlike many MMOs, however (or other games, for that matter), FFXIV’s producer is ready to take the blame. Your blame. Where most platforms, services and games are usually better at ducking consumer complaints than they are accepting responsibility for…

Not Sure If Next-Gen Mirror’s Edge Or Real Life

Boy, these guys did a damn fine job nailing the game’s trademark style, from the outfit to the obstacles to the field of view on the camera they used. Mirror’s Edge Parkour POV [Youtube]

2K Drive skids onto iTunes at $6.99 this morning. 2K cares not for your traditional free-to-play nonsense, and so far the results have been pretty stellar. Hopefully the trend continues with 2K Drive, the ambitious racer/car fanciers’ club from former Bizarre Creations folks, which should be available in the app store within the next few…

First Xbox One Units Packed, Ready For Launch

Microsoft wasn’t kidding around when it said yesterday that the Xbox One was in “full production”. One day later, and we’ve got shots of the very first retail units (like, the very first), boxed, sealed and on their way to…well, warehouse, I guess, since the console doesn’t go on sale for over a month. [Microsoft]

Your Games Will Look Way Better With Custom Covers

Despite the best efforts of publishers and their art teams (or clients), a video game collection can rarely look as impressive as a good stack of books. Which is why, if you’re concerned about that sort of thing, it’s a good idea to print off your own custom covers, which often look waaaaaay better than…

Incredible Star Wars Cosplay Just Tore All Other Cosplay’s Arms Off

Remember earlier this year when reader Julian Checkley showed us his Darth Malgus costume? As jaw-dropping as it was, this beats it. This Tarfful suit is actually older than the Malgus outfit, but Julian’s only just put a video together showing how it all works. Taking over three months to build, it stands a whopping…

A Ridiculous Fan-Made 3D Grand Theft Auto V Map

We still have two weeks left till the release of Grand Theft Auto V, and speculation on what the game’s map will look like is still healthy. Based on the trailers and screenshots previously released by Rockstar, Sketchfab user cbush uploaded this 3D map, which looks, well, accurate enough. We can’t tell how accurate it…

Acapella Tetris Theme Is Way Catchier Than The Original. Somehow!

Here’s a challenge: listen through this fantastic rendition of the original Tetris theme by Smooth McGroove, and see if you don’t end up with the song stuck in your head. Bet you can’t do it. Okay, well, some of you will. Still, it’s a catchy-as-hell acapella, right? Great work as always, McGroove. Tetris – Theme…