StreetPass Has Problems In The West. Nintendo Is Fixing Them.

At their E3 analyst briefing yesterday, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata revealed the company’s plans to revitalize sales of its handheld 3DS system in the US and Europe by fundamentally changing the way its StreetPass feature works. Currently, StreetPass operates by exchanging game data between 3DS consoles in close proximity to each other. Iwata explained that…

A Bestiary of Japanese FPS Player Types

Anyone who has played a First-Person Shooter online has encountered one of “those” players; the prepubescent brat who will kill them and then mock their corpse in some manner, the lone mute killing machine who will wordlessly charge through the map, efficiently slaughtering anything that gets in their way, the loudmouthed newbie whose sole reason…

According to its Director, Kingdom Hearts 3 Was Revealed a Little Early

Kingdom Hearts fans were overjoyed to the teaser announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 at E3 on Monday. Tired of the wait? Ready to party? Well, don’t too hyped up – the wait isn’t over just yet. In an interview with Famitsu.com, director Tetsuya Nomura noted that the announcement for the first official numbered sequel in…

The Truth about Japan’s Amazing “Book Towers”

Jenga, this ain’t. Hundreds of books carefully stacked, creating what’s known as a “tower pile” (tawaa tsumi or タワー積み) in Japanese. Store employees spend thirty minutes—or more—to create these book sculptures that delight some and upset others. Traditionally, books in Japanese bookstores are stacked in small piles or placed on shelves—like anywhere else. The book…

Yakuza Series Developer Offers His Opinion On the New Consoles

As seen from thephotograph, the well-tanned Yakuza series developer, Toshihiro Nagoshi was walking among the crowds at E3 this year. Hopefully basking in the saturated spectacle of upcoming consoles and games. Nagoshi wrote on his blog about the Sony conference and the announcements from Microsoft and Sony (Unfortunately, due to flight delays, he was unable…

Garbage Can That Looks Like the Mac Pro Is a Hot Item in Japan

You know how people are comparing the new Mac Pro to a garbage can? Turns out one Japanese garbage can is already reaping the rewards. Below, you can see the Mac Pro. No, strike that. Below, you can see a garbage bin by Osaka-based design firm Ideaco. It really, really looks like the new Mac…

The LEGO PS4 Is Not $399

The amazing thing here in this video by builder Kooberz isn’t just that his LEGO PS4 looks just like the real thing, but that he got this done – and edited a video – so damn fast. The console was only shown off on Monday, and here he is good to go on Thursday! Lego…

That’s One Hell Of A Persona Statue

This Persona figure, by Vertex, will probably cost you $120-130. Which is a lot for something that’s only 1/7 scale (not much bigger than your standard action figure). Then again, your standard figure isn’t of Persona 3’s Mitsuru Kirijo. Depicted here in her combat gear from fighting game Persona 4: Arena, she comes with a…

Inside the Japanese Arcade That Looks Like a Hong Kong Slum

Japan has an array of arcades. Many of them have their own personalities, but only one of them looks like this. Located in Kawasaki and called “Anata no Warehouse” (“Your Warehouse”), this arcade is apparently based on Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City. Back in 2009, Kotaku reader Landon checked it out, saying, “It’s 18 years-old-and-up,…

A Very Wonderful Wii U Game

Maybe it’s because it’s a hard game to nail in a single sentence, maybe because it’s Platinum’s “other” Wii U game (after Bayonetta 2), but Wonderful 101 has sadly not gotten the attention it deserves this week. Let’s change that. I mean, what’s there not to love about a game that can channel Viewtiful Joe…

Secret of Mana illustrator Hiro Isono recently passed away due to heart failure. May he rest in peace.

Why Some in Japan Aren’t Thrilled with Final Fantasy XV‘s Setting

As the game’s trailer states, Final Fantasy XV is a fantasy based on reality. A select group of Japanese gamers don’t exactly seem thrilled with that. What is bothering a handful of players is that the latest game has elements that seem, I dunno, commonplace? That is, if you live in Japan. Here’s what I’m…

E3 Just Makes You (Well, This Guy) Want To Dance

E3 is, for many attendees, nothing but one giant party. Most of the time, those parties are in dark venues with catered food. This guy, however, managed to find his party in what looks like the…Ouya parking lot You go, man. Dance the E3 away. Video [Frag Burn]

E3 Swag Is Already All Over eBay

Most professional press attending E3 avoid going overboard on grabbing “swag”. It’s unprofessional (plus it’s usually tacky anyways!). For many fansites and retail reps, though, E3 is as much about the race to collect free t-shirts as it is to play some new games. For some of those, it’s then also a race to get…

Even Shin Megami Tensei IV Has An E3 Trailer

And it’s lovely. Atlus, keep doin’ what you’re doin’.

Mirror’s Edge 2 Is “Open World”, More Of An “Action Adventure”

I love Mirror’s Edge so much I’m not going to get into it here, but the game had its faults. All those indoor bits, mostly. I wanted to run free! Developers DICE are keeping tight-lipped on the freshly-announced sequel for the most part, but one thing they did disclose – and it’s pretty important –…

How Your Microsoft Points Will Become Dollars/Pounds/Euros/Whatever

Later this year, Microsoft’s awful points system will be retired. Yes. In its place, you’ll be buying content using the same stuff you do for everything else: your local currency. But how, exactly, is the transition going to work? I mean, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Currency values fluctuate, the price of Microsoft…

Epic Game Of Thrones Rap Battle, Perfect For Your E3 Downtime

I was sent an email today that told me this was a Game of Thrones rap battle. The description and the video thumbnail had my expectations at rock-bottom. Silly me. This is as amazing as it is NSFW. The writing, the rapping, the copying of voices, the works. Also, warning: spoilers ahead if you haven’t…

See If This Is Enough To Convince You To Care About Rune Factory 4

While wandering around the E3 show floor today, I ran into XSEED’s Jessica Chavez, who you might remember from an informative Kotaku Q&A about how Japanese video games are localized for Western shores Chavez wanted to convince me that one of XSEED’s next games, the RPG/sim Rune Factory 4, is worth our attention. So I…

One of the Buffy Writers Will Be Writing the Next Tomb Raider Movie

Hollywood’s never been afraid of drafting off of a video game success story and this year’s reboot of the Tomb Raider video game franchise certainly qualifies as that. News already broke that Lara Croft’s return to the silver screen would follow the darker tone of Tomb Raider 2013 and now we know who’s going to…