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  Blizzard CEO: We Know Diablo III ‘Isn’t Perfect’

  Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime has addressed player concerns with action-role-playing game Diablo III, promising improvements in a statement on Battle.net today Noting that the launch of Blizzard’s highly-anticipated sequel had “many challenges,” Morhaime noted that the team had fixed the majority of technical issues—like the much-mocked “error 37” issue that prevented players from logging into…

  By Jason Schreier Published July 19, 2012
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  Check Out the Largest Map in Battlefield History

  In September Battlefield 3‘s next expansion, Armored Kill, brings five new vehicles, a tank superiority game mode and the sweeping sands of the Bandar Desert, the largest map in the history of the franchise. Let’s take a look at the first gameplay trailer! Look at all that sand. It’s like a budding George Lucas romance…

  By Mike Fahey Published July 19, 2012
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  The Joy Of Playing Video Games Without Actually Playing Them

  Playing video games can be wonderful. Sometimes not playing them can be even better. See, games are often time-devouring. Tedious. Difficult. Annoying. You might not want to spend hours of your life grinding for experience points to kill a dragon or shooting up bloody clouds of soldiers en route to some submarine. (There’s always a…

  By Jason Schreier Published July 19, 2012
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  If I Were Death I’d Probably Use My iPhone to Harvest Souls Too

  The sinister sounding Darksiders II: Soul Harvest is more than just an iOS marketing tie-in that let’s fans of all things dark and stalky unlock special goodies prior to the game’s release next month. It’s also how I imagine the anthropomorphic personification of the end of all things would get things done in the digital…

  By Mike Fahey Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  This Strategy RPG Series Sure Loves The PSP

  The Summon Night series is coming to the PSP. For those who don’t know, Summon Night is a strategy simulation RPG series from Banpresto (Namco Bandai for the DS versions). Summon Night and Summon Night 2 were both released on the Sony Playstation in 2000 and 2001 and later rereleased on the Nintendo DS in…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Unboxing the Nasne, Sony’s New Media Hub

  Yesterday, the day before Nasne’s release, Sony suddenly postponed the media hub because units were damaged during shipment. The Nasne that sister site Kotaku Japan ordered online, however, arrived today—fit as a fiddle and undamaged. Hello unboxing time! The Nasne is a networked recorder that offers 500GB of storage as well as the ability to…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  These Pokémon Cards Are Slightly Different. Can You Tell?

  One card is Japanese. One is English-language. But that’s not it. And sure, the Pocket Monster is “Grimer” in the West and “Betobetaa” (ベトベター) in Japan and the HP order and font were changed. Those aren’t it, either. Those are big differences. There’s a slight difference between these two Pokémon cards. Can you spot it?…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  This Kiki’s Delivery Service Cosplay Delivers a Big Bow and a Little Black Cat

  Big red bow? Check. Simple dress? Check? Jiji, the cat? Check. All that’s missing is a broomstick and a little Yumi Matsutoya Somewhere between the skimpy midriffs and hot pants at a recent Japanese cosplay event, there was this lovely Kiki from the Ghibli classic Kiki’s Delivery Service. That’s cosplayer Kuroneko as Kiki. Click on…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
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  Kotaku East

  Giant Video Game Monsters Invade Universal Studios Japan

  Most of the West might not give two farts about Monster Hunter, but Japan adores it. Capcom’s monster hunting series is appearing at Osaka’s Universal Studios Japan this summer in giant statue form as part of “Monster Hunter Real 2012”. By “real”, I’m assuming they mean “herky-jerky”? Last year, Universal Studios Japan held “Monster Hunter…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  The PS Vita Still Struggles After Six Months, But The Solution Is Obvious

  The Playstation Vita hit stores in Japan on December 17th, 2011. Since then, sales performances for the powerful little handheld have been… “Not meeting expectations” would be a mild way of stating it. This week, Weekly Famitsu covered the past 6 months of the Vita’s fight in the game market. As of July 7th, the…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  No, This Isn’t a Star Wars Set. It’s a Japanese Game Studio.

  The vast, vast majority of Japanese game studios are bland, boring office affairs. Even the entryway for Nintendo’s Kyoto headquarters is nothing to write home about. This, however, is. So start writing. Level-5, the folks behind those Professor Layton games, have a truly spectacular corporate digs. Internal design and architect company Noa did Level-5’s HQ…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  After Nine Months, The Latest News On Level-5’s Fantasy Life… Is A City

  After being unveiled at the Level-5 World 2011 last year, news about Level-5’s new open world RPG, Fantasy Life, remained mostly silent. Now, with a release of “2012” and only about 5 months of the year left, new information is slowly trickling out. Set in the world of “Fantazeel,” Fantasy Life is an open world…

  By Toshi Nakamura Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Ninety-Nine Nights Online Is No More as of This Fall

  Q Entertainment’s MMORPG Ninety-Nine Nights Online, the MMORPG version of Ninety-Nine Nights, is shutting off the lights on September 27 and going offline. Goodnight, N3 Online! [Game Watch Impress]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Official Kirby Playing Cards Shuffle Out This Summer

  Longtime card maker turned video game company Nintendo is readying two sets of Kirby playing cards. Starting this August, a blue set (above) and a green set (same, but green) will go on sale in Japan for ¥1,050 (US$13) each. 星のカービィトランプ [任天堂]

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Classic Anime Princess Mononoke Is Being Turned into a Stage Play

  Studio Ghibli revealed that Princess Mononoke is coming to the London stage. Theater company Whole Hog Theatre will be doing a production of the 1997 anime next April at London’s New Diorama Theatre. The stage version is a collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Whole Hog Theatre, and it has been in development for over the…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  It’s Not Really Cosplay if You’re Naked

  Yesterday at an anime festival in Shenzhen, China, a cosplayer showed up dressed as a female spirit. Dressed? Did I say dressed? Silly me. The cosplayer showed up as the Chinese apparition Nu Gui, but the crowd that gathered was very real. Dressed only in a flesh colored skivvies and wearing nipple covers, the cosplayer…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now!

  Kotaku East runs from 4am to 8am Eastern. For more info about Kotaku East click here

  By Brian Ashcraft Published July 19, 2012
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  The Smart Way to do a PS2 HD Remake is With Japanese Gangsters Punching Faces

  Badass Japanese soap opera (and occasionally sublime brawler) Yakuza’s first two games are getting HD re-releases on the PS3. This trailer gives us our first look at the updated editions in action. While many “HD” ports are disappointing, that shouldn’t be a problem for the Yakuza games. After all, outside of cutscenes many parts of…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 19, 2012
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  Link, You Look Awfully Cool Considering You’re About to Fight a SPIDER THAT LOOKS LIKE A SKULL

  One of the Zelda series’ most dangerous (and creepy) enemies, the skulltula, is the star of this great piece of art by Asashi-Kami. Bonus: if you like it so much you’d like to wear it on your chest, you can Skulltula [DeviantArt]

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 19, 2012
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  When Optimus Prime Meets Warhammer, My Jaw Drops

  What do you get when you cross Optimus Prime with Warhammer 40K’s Orks? A joke with a terrible punchline, I’d wager, but also this amazing custom piece by Singaporean madscuzzy. While it may just look like a slightly modified version of an existing Transformers toy, it’s actually the result of a ton of work on…

  By Luke Plunkett Published July 19, 2012