Turning North Korea into the Mushroom Kingdom

Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visited an indoor mushroom farm and called for the country to become a world-class mushroom producer. A mushroom kingdom, if you will. “The mushroom cultivation grounds look very nice and I am pleased to see them,” said the Supreme Commander (via NKLW), who added that it was…

Popular Japanese manga Bleach is going on a five-week hiatus so its creator Tite Kubo can recharge. He’ll need his full energy, because once the manga resumes in September, it will begin its “final act”, with Kubo giving, what sounds like, the last story arch his all.

Summer’s Here, So Cover Yourself with Bugs!

This is Shoko Nakagawa. In Japan, she’s a famous popstar and TV personality. She appears in Nintendo commercials and voices Pokémon characters. She also likes putting cicadas on her hair and face. Note: This article has content some readers might find objectionable—especially after they’ve eaten. Nothing quite says summer in Japan like the inescapable cicada…

Pre-San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Pony Dance Party Go!

You saw the 2013 Hasbro San Diego Comic-Con My Little Pony exclusive in broad daylight. With the lights off, DJ Pon-3 is much more dangerous. Break out the glow sticks and hoof it to Happy Elf‘s “Pixie Hat,” in celebration of the impending convention madness.

Somebody Help Me, This Sonic Game Looks…Good

I know. Look, I know, alright? I should know better. But I’m an optimist. And Sonic Lost World keeps looking sweet. It’ll inevitably be terrible on release (it’s out on 3DS and Wii U on October 22), but for now, let’s watch the video below and pretend that we’re already playing it, and we keep…

Sounds like peripheral company Performance Designed Products (PDP) is in trouble, and that in turn is affecting its sponsorship of fighting game outfit Team AfterGlowElite (Team AGE). We contacted PDP after hearing reports that the company had instituted “mass layoffs”, which in turn had meant the disbandment of the successful Team AGE only days after…

David Jaffe Returns To Help With Another Car Combat Game

Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe has teamed up with some of the developers behind the underrated Interstate 76 to begin work on a new vehicle combat game called..MotorGun. Currently looking for funding on Kickstarter, MotorGun looks and sounds pretty much exactly how you’d imagine a game coming from those guys to be. MotorGun will weld…

The Best Way To Play Dark Souls Is To Be A Coward

Every time I hear people talking about Dark Souls, it’s always about bosses, and exploits, and tactics. Me, I suck at the game, so my experience tends to be a little more like these guys. Cowards of Dark Souls (Live Action) [Max & Sam]

There’s A League Of Legends…2D Fighting Game

Not satisfied with playing League of Legends as an arena battle game, some fans have decided to turn the multiplayer smash into a 2D fighting game. It’s called League of Fighters, and in some good news for those who live in constant fear of video game lawyers, the developers were smart enough to reach out…

Forza 5 Isn’t All On The Disc [UPDATE]

While Microsoft has done away with its “daily check-in” requirement for the Xbox One, that’s not the end of strange new digital firsts for the system. Witness Forza 5, which even when you buy it on disc, needs to download more of the game online the first time you fire it up. UPDATE: A Microsoft…

The time-traveling Contra-like Super Time Force is looking fun and chaotic as always. Here’s a new gameplay trailer that gives a sense of how the looping, time-hopping gunplay will work. “Jean Rambois,” indeed.

Curious as to how much money professional gamers make? Business Insider lists the earnings of some of the top-paid pro gamers in the world—these folks can make up to six figures. Dang.

If you’ve got a PC and a few free minutes, check out the lovely music game Shrug Song. It’s a free appetizer for a bigger, in-development adventure game called Shrug Island, with standout art from Alina Constantin. You can learn more at the game’s website. (Via Indie Statik/RPS)

If Real Life Was An MMO…

Ever heard of “Outside,” a free-to-play MMORPG developed by Deity Games? No? Huh, that’s weird. It’s the most popular game out there, with over 7 billion active players! Hey, wait a minute… If that sounded familiar, it’s because I’m actually describing real life, not a game. All of this comes from a Subreddit called “Outside,”…

No One Lives Forever Had TWO Of Gaming’s Best Surprise Villains

We’ve already established that the 2000 spy game No One Lives Forever starred gaming’s great unsung heroine. But as I finished it last weekend, I was struck anew by the excellent bad-guy fakeouts and surprise reveals at the end. Spoilers, if you care, coming up for the entire ending of the first No One Lives…

Neither of the two Pacific Rim games were much to write home about. But how could someone make a good Pacific Rim game? Reader Temperance10 sounds off on Kinja with a bunch of ideas, from co-op play to Kinect. Because of course, Kinect.

Crashing Cars On Race Tracks, Next-Gen Style

Here’s a speedy look at Driveclub, the PS4 launch game that lets you go all vroom vroom into the next generation of consoles. Enjoy watching me fail to steer around curves.

Horrifying, Giant Hatsune Miku On The Oculus Rift Is Just Too Much

This video starts off tame enough. It’s just an average imaginary virtual reality with Hatsune Miku backed by fake (but pretty impressive) interactions thanks to the Oculus Rift and the Razer Hydra motion controller. Then, around the 3:30 mark, an oversized Nendroid Miku appears and all hell breaks loose. Nao_u‘s demo is the single most…

Watch Me Shoot Things On The PS4

Killzone: Shadow Fall sure is pretty. Out for the PlayStation 4 this fall, whenever the system launches, the latest Killzone game lets you shoot people in all sorts of ways, as you can see in this video we shot yesterday. Enjoy.

Sony To Kill Multiplayer For SOCOM 4, MAG In Early 2014

Womp, womp: Sony has announced that SOCOM 4 and MAG, the two military shooters that never quite managed to become as successful as they would’ve liked, will be losing online multiplayer support early next year. Hey, at least they’re giving half a year’s advance notice! The news comes a bit more than a year after…