Yakuza 4 Doesn’t Just Fight For Money, It Fights For Love, Too

There’s a delightful little saying we have here in Australia, which goes a little something like (NSFW) “glass the c#@t“. It’s not pretty, but there you have it. Anyway, it features in this new trailer for Yakuza 4. This is the second in Sega’s new attempts to try and package the notoriously fickle Japanese crime…

Kiss Your Copying Software Goodbye, Japan!

Under current Japanese, it is illegal to upload or sell pirated games and movies. It is legal to copy for one’s own personal use. Better get all your personal copying done pronto, because that’s going to get harder. According to the Asahi Newspaper, Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs is readying new legislation that will revise…

Dreaming Of A Zombies Ate My Neighbors Remake

Last year, for a class assignment, artist Rustam Hasanov decided to draw up some concept pieces for a dream project of his: a modern-day remake of classic 16-bit title Zombies Ate My Neighbours. If only it wasn’t a dream. This fantasy project imagined that the original games two stars, Zeke and Julie, have now grown…

The Nintendo Wii Wants To Be Japan’s Social Butterfly

You’re in the company rec room, why not play the Nintendo Wii? You just had a nabe party, you up for some Wii? Hey, it’s your day off, how about playing…the Nintendo Wii? Nintendo’s latest series of ads seem to be put forth just that: when people get together, they can play the Wii. Fair…

Wii Gatherings

Gran Turismo 5’s Balloon Crashes And Robot Drivers

Is this Gran Turismo 5, or a collision between car-shaped Thanksgiving Day Parade floats? It’s the former, of course. Makes you wonder what the priority board looks like at Polyphony Digital, where George Clooney can make it in just fine but car crashes – a somewhat essential part of car racing – end up looking…

Japanese Convenience Stores Look Beyond Video Games

Convenience stores are just that, convenient. Whether it’s buying used video games or pre-ordering big titles, today’s corner stores offer more than slushies and candy bars. One Japanese chain is considering one deader better. Family Mart, which expanded to the U.S. as “Famima”, is pondering whether it should enter the funeral business, reports J-Cast (via…

Doot-De-Don’t

To: Luke From: Owen Re: Wow, That Was Both A Short And A Long Week Friday I shared the family tradition of the doot-de-doo. Reader Nerf Herder tried it with his kid, and sent that in to me this morning. Some weekend highlights: What You Might Have Seen In Gran Turismo 5 If You Weren’t…

A Behavioral Analysis of the Pac-Man Ghosts

There a well known, long-established patterns for beating Pac-Man’s mazes, up until the ninth Key, as Buckner & Garcia sang. Still, Pac’s adversaries exhibit behavior that, if not exactly tactical, is still complex. Chad Birch, a researcher from Calgary, writes Game Internals, which “aims to spread knowledge of interesting game mechanics beyond the game-specific enthusiast…

Well, At Least They’re Forthright About It

Disclaimer – possibly mandated by a legal settlement, or at least to avoid one – on the back of one of those infamous Wii knockoffs you always see in drugstores this time of year. Seen via Siliconera.

The Week In Games: Cataclysmic Ending

Everything arrives Tuesday in the final week of 2010 to see multiple major releases. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm leads the roster, joined by Tron: Evolution and Bejeweled 3 as notable drops. Tuesday (Dec. 7) World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (PC) – The third expansion to the genre-dominating MMO raises the level cap to 85, introduces two…

Kotaku’s Top 5 List of Top 10 Lists

Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What’s better? A list of those. Here’s a roundup of the rundowns out there. •The 11 Most Racist Video Games [UGO] No, Resident Evil 5 is not on this list. But yes, Scribblenauts is … and what would be…

Pre-Order Fight Night, Get George Foreman As A Lean Mean Machine

Pre-order bonuses are circulating for Fight Night Champion, due March 1. Get it through Amazon and you’ll be given a code that unlocks young George Foreman, back when he had a bigger afro and smaller moobs. He also fights better. Young George will have a power and speed boost commensurate to that of a young…

What You Might Have Seen In Gran Turismo 5 If You Weren’t Going So Darn Fast

A Yakuza 3 ad, an Engrish restaurant sign and … George Clooney? Gran Turismo 5 is an amazingly detailed game, though some of that detail on its Tokyo race course is a bit strange. Reader Dean A. sent these in. Loads more images can be found here.

Gran Turismo 5 Oddities

George Clooney in a Honda ad. The box lunch is happy good! Yakuza 3 advertisement.

Report: Australia’s Government Backs Adults-Only Games Classification [Corrected]

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that Australia’s Labor government will support the creation of an adults-only classification for video games there. A decision on backing a new rating, called R18+, is expected Friday at a meeting of Australia’s attorneys general. Currently, the most “mature” rating that the Australian Classification Board may give a game is…

One Arrest, $500,000 Recovered From Canadian PS3 Heist

Remember in the middle of last month someone jacked two trailers outside of Toronto and made off with $1 million in PlayStation 3 and PSP merch? Cops have made an arrest and recovered half the stolen property. It’s not known if the suspect, a 39-year-old man, is the person who actually stole the goods or…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Work Stoppage

Air traffic controllers in Spain went on a wildcat strike Friday, causing a national state of alarm there. Italian footballers will strike on Dec. 11 and 12. Two American sports leagues have unhappy unions and owners. Should any or all of these strike, well, we can still play FIFA, or NBA 2K, or even Flight…

Sunday Comics

Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Nov. 29 – Read more of Awkward Zombie Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira published Nov. 30 – Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik published Nov. 29 – Read more of Penny Arcade Rooster Teeth by Griffon Ramsey and Luke McKay published Nov.…

Weekend Talk Amongst Yourselves

See, by pretending to give you permission to talk about video games, I give myself the illusion of authority over your conversation. OrbitofGlass is the weekend winner of the #taypics derby. There are six chances each week to get your handiwork featured. Just shop up this image and submit it to the #taypics hashtag. Confused…