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  Sambomaster: Sono Nukumori ni You ga Aru

  Guess what, reader people! It’s that time again. Time to ditch the controllers for tunes. Time for Soundtrack As columnist Tim Rogers likes to point out, Sambomaster are Japanese rock’n’roll gods. They might not look it—they don’t—but damn, they can rock. This track originally appeared on the group’s debut album Atarashiki Nihongo Rock no Michi…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  Unscrupulous Gamers Exploit PS Vita for Sexy Time

  When I first looked at the PS Vita’s graphical user interface, I thought, wow, this is elegant. I was impressed with how simple and intuitive it is. But when some unscrupulous gamers looked at it, they thought something else entirely. They thought, wouldn’t this be a wonderful way to tear underpants off manga girls. These…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  See What Games Minecraft’s Creator (and Others!) Could Make In 48 Hours

  After 48 hours of super-rushed game development, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has released a new game. It’s called Minicraft Taking some cues from Minecraft (“I call it Minicraft, since it’s obviously going to get compared to Minecraft”, he says), but more from the original Legend of Zelda, you control a little guy who has…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  This Cosplay Features Awesome Dudes Alongside Awesome Ladies

  Got a great Fancy Pants for you this week. Great because it’s got a lot of guys in it, which is always refreshing. Great because there are some under-represented characters and games being cosplayed as. And great because we’ve got someone cosplaying as Link who isn’t the standard white female. We’ve got League of Legends,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Dual-Wielding Star Wars Nut Arrested for Lightsaber Assault

  A man from Hillsboro, Oregon has been arrested and charged with assault after allegedly attacking customers at a Toys ‘R Us store with…two plastic lightsabers. The man, armed with two “blue” sabers (so he thought he was a good guy!), started swinging the toy weapons at customers in the Hayden Island store last Wednesday. When…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  PS Vita Freeze and Touch Screen Issues

  Whenever new hardware launches, whatever it is, there are problems. The PS Vita is new hardware, and while I haven’t experienced any hardware issues, others have. These are some of them. According to YouTube videos, there are some machines experiencing lock-ups and freezing. One error appears to occur during the System Update, which then freezes.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  Help This Man Make LEGO Zelda a Reality

  Back in the mists of time, before man walked the internet, I wrote a story about a LEGO Zelda movie a guy made. It was pretty great! So imagine my surprise when, over the weekend, the film’s creator Michael Inglis got in touch to let us know that he’s now taking the idea of LEGO…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Testing Out Vita’s Near. In the Back of a Car.

  Near is a PS Vita app that searches for PS Vitas in the vicinity, and then lets you know how many people are playing the Vita, what games others are playing, and what their opinions are. It’s a neat feature, and I give it a whirl. Parts of the video get bumpy—sorry about that! Near…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  Relive the Horrors of Dating With This Party Flirting Game

  Drink or say something stupid. Drink. Drink then say something stupid. Drink. Drink then try and say something charming, only to end up saying something stupid. That’s how flirting goes for most people at a party, and for some unknown reason if you feel like reliving the experience, FlirtOff absolutely nails it. After creating your…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Mafia Wars Helps Drive 54 Year-Old Woman to Embezzle $166,000

  Bettysue Higgins, who until recently worked as an admin assistant for a law firm, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges after her fraudulent spending on casual video games was caught out. Between 2006 and 2010, Higgins wrote out around 220 checks using the forged signature of the firm’s executive director Steven Prince. In the last…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  FUS-RO-DUDES

  True friends don’t just share fairies, they share potions of minor healing. By RyomaNinja

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Where Can Japanese Nerds Take Non-Nerds on Dates?

  You might be a nerd. I’m a nerd! But just because you are one, that doesn’t mean your significant other is. Your partner, whether they’re male or female, might not like video games, anime, manga—or whatever. That still doesn’t mean you both can’t explore geekdom together! A recent issue of Japanese women’s magazine Otome Sugoren…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  Final Fantasy XIII‘s Lightning Strikes Skyrim

  It’s East meets West. A Japanese gamer has inserted Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim with a character mod. Here are the results. What do you think? The stockings and starch white outfit look out of place, but Lightning sure can pull off a simple tunic. Japanese role-playing game Final…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  That Weird New Pokémon Game Has a Trailer

  It wasn’t a dream. There really is a video game coming that crosses the world of Pokémon with that of Nobunaga’s Ambition, a Japanese history series developed by Tecmo Koei. This is its trailer. See? Not dreaming. That’s a trailer. The game’s full name is Pokémon + Nobunaga’s Ambition, and it’s out on the DS…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Which Is Faster: Vita Game Cards or Vita Downloads?

  With the PlayStation Vita, you can buy retail game card games or download digital versions from the PlayStation Store. It’s your call. But before you do, there’s something you should know: one is slightly faster than the other. In this video from sister site Kotaku Japan, a card copy of PS Vita game Uncharted: Abyss…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published December 19, 2011
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  Left 4 Dead Movie Released, is Batshit Crazy

  Last week, a very slick-looking trailer for a Left 4 Dead fan flick appeared online. It set a very sombre, serious tone. Over the weekend, the actual short film was released. It is not what you’ll have been expecting. If you’re at all interested in seeing how it was made, you can check out a…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  See a PlayStation Vita Skinned Alive, so the Internet Can See its Insides

  If you’re at all squeamish about seeing naked electronics, with chips and wires lying exposed in broad daylight, go elsewhere and make yourself a cup of tea. If you can handle seeing the insides of a PlayStation Vita, though, read on! Here is one, torn apart by a Japanese site to satisfy the internet’s need…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 19, 2011
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  Video Game Almost Predicted Kim Jong-Il’s Death

  Kim Jong-il, who has ruled the Communist state of North Korea since 1994, has passed away. Which means 2011 shooter Homefront was only two weeks off making one of the most timely (if accidental) fictional statements in video game history. In Homefront, a game which takes the death of Kim as the catalyst for a…

  By Luke Plunkett Published December 18, 2011
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  Dog Days of Christmas

  Dog Days of Christmas | Kane & Lynch 2 evidently can be had at a stocking-stuffer price at reader Vincent K.’s local Walmart. Veni, Vidi, Vita There is, officially, a new gaming machine on the market. The PS Vita went on sale in Japan today. Kotaku‘s Brian Ashcraft has comprehensive coverage of the device—what you…

  By Owen Good Published December 18, 2011
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  Video Playback Quality Poorer Under New Xbox Dashboard: Report

  The Xbox 360’s video player does not display video properly, a problem that testers reported during the new dashboard’s beta period, and one confirmed by Eurogamer this weekend. The issue seems to be that the new dashboard forces videos to display at limited-range RGB levels, which in layman’s terms means the color looks washed out.…

  By Owen Good Published December 18, 2011