PlayStation

The PlayStation 2 Ceases Shipping In Japan, Begins Well-Deserved Victory Lap

We’ve joked about its refusal to die before, but today, finally, the console begins its march into the history books. Having sold over 150 million units since its release in 2000, the PlayStation 2 has today ceased shipping to Japanese retailers, meaning once remaining stock is gone, it’s gone The console was first released in…

Sony ‘Employee’ Review: ‘I Don’t Have A Lot Of Confidence That Orbis Will Sell Well’

Will the next PlayStation have more of a casual focus than its predecessor? One person claiming to be a former senior manager at Sony seems to think so, posting in a Glassdoor review of the company that he doesn’t think Sony’s next-gen system, codenamed Orbis, will do very well: Take this with a healthy grain…

The 3DS Remake Of Dragon Quest VII Looks Pretty Solid So Far

While at Jump Festa 2013 this weekend, I had the chance to check out the 3DS remake of Dragon Quest VII. This is a remake of the seventh Dragon Quest game—which was originally released for the PlayStation back in 2000—seems to fit the console’s format very naturally. The graphical upgrade is very pretty and allows…

The New Dynasty Warriors… It’s Fun For Guys And Girls Alike

Jump Festa is a yearly event hosted by Shueisha, the publishers of the Jump line of comics, where Jump-related paraphernalia and games are put on display as well as stage events and announcements. It’s also a good event for companies that have Jump-related things out to display some of their own non-Jump-related things. Tecmo Koei,…

One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 Looks To Be More Upgrade Than Sequel (Not That That’s A Bad Thing)

I guess you could say that I’m a fan of One Piece. I don’t follow the magazine on a week to week basis in Shonen Jump, but I’ve read all of the manga books. I haven’t seen much of the anime, but I’ve watched a good deal of the movies, including the latest one. I…

Don’t Worry. It Looks Like Dark Souls 2 Will Be As Hard As Its Predecessors

Dark Souls II, the sequel to the notoriously difficult action RPG, Dark Souls (which was a sequel to the phonetically tongue twisting Demon’s Souls) has been announced for the PS3, the Xbox 360, and the PC. One of the more shocking announcements to fans of the previous games was that director Hidetaka Miyazaki would be…

The Metal Gear Bento Is Truly Insane

When Hideo Kojima isn’t making Metal Gear games, he’s taking photos of his food. And today, those two things—games and food pics—congeal into one amazing lunch box. Kojima was at Sony’s Tokyo headquarters to check out the special PlayStation 3 bento boxes. They’re actually Metal Gear and Final Fantasy “character bento” to mark both franchise’s…

And Here’s the Dragon Quest VII 3DS Trailer

Yes, right here! Watch it! Originally released in 2000 on the PlayStation, Dragon Quest VII is headed to the 3DS in Japan next February. Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

Japanese Textbook Gives Sega The Cold Shoulder

Sega. Founded in 1940, the company has come a long way from its origins as a jukebox and slot machine maintenance firm. Until the boom of the PlayStation console, Sega stood alongside Nintendo as one of the Big Two video game console manufacturers. Long after its retreat from the console market back in 2001, Sega…

Here’s What Japanese Gamers Suggest for Holiday Gifts

The Christmas season is upon us once again (as was frightfully apparent from the Christmas songs that started playing sometime around, oh, November 1st… (seriously, at least wait for Thanksgiving to be over)), and soon gifts will be piled under the Christmas tree for all to see and wonder at what goodies are contained within.…

PSA: Hawken—the mech-based first-person shooter—is in open beta as of [later] today.

Don’t Let a Cyborg Interrupt Your PlayStation Game

The latest PlayStation ad is trumpeting this holiday season as a “good chance” to pick up PlayStation games and hardware. Retro super hero Kikaider pops up to remind a family of just that. This is actually a Japanese pun as the character’s name “Kikaider” (キカイダー) carries the nuance of “machine” (機会 or “kikai”). Here, Sony…

That BioShock Vita Game Still Doesn’t Exist

Here’s what we know about BioShock Vita: Ken Levine announced it was a thing during last year’s E3, and planned as an entirely new universe. Not a port, but they might need outside developer support on it What we don’t know if it’s actually going to be made. In the video above, you’ll see Irrational…

Men Massaging Each Other With Video Game Controllers

The DualShock. When you look at the original PlayStation controller, you probably see an iconic game controller. These guys see something they can press into each other’s backs. Mitsuhiro Saitou, a writer from Japanese site Daily Portal, became a pro masseur. With his newfound knowledge of pressure points, he decided to see if the original…

PlayStation Boss Trolls Nintendo In The Sweetest Way Possible

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Folks at Sony own Nintendo game machines. They own the Xbox 360, too. And the same is true of those companies, too. So, it’s no shocker that Shuhei Yoshida, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studies, just got a Wii U. It’s also no shocker that he loves…

Uh Oh, PlayStation Games Failed to Hit the Million Award in Japan

Sales figures are typically pretty boring! Except for when, they’re interesting. And by interesting, I mean telling. Recently, Sony held the PlayStation Awards in Japan. This is a publicity stunt—and usually a dull one at that—in which Sony gives awards to those domestic studios which sell a certain number of units, such as over a…

Sony Could Be Making A PlayStation Controller That Can Split In Half

Yesterday, a patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment way back in May of 2011 was finally published, revealing designs for a new PlayStation Move controller that’s essentially a Sixaxis crossbred with the OG Move and given the power to split in twain. Combiform team, eat your heart out. The patent application (dug up by TheSixthAxis)…

Sony Sold 525,000 PS3s Last Week

The week of Thanksgiving marks one of the most important retail milestones for sellers of things. We’ve got a ballpark figure for how many people brought the new Wii U. (Around 400,000.) And Microsoft bragged about all the Xbox 360 units they shifted into people homes, too. (750,000 for those guys.) So, what about Sony?…

New Vita Bundle Gets You A 3G System, Unit 13, And One Year Of PlayStation Plus For $300

Starting next week you’ll be able to get your hands on this new Vita bundle, which includes the 3G system, the game Unit 13, and one year of Sony’s excellent PlayStation Plus service (which comes with a lot of free games). That’s $300. The catch? This bundle comes with a 4 GB memory card, the…

The Vita Is A Great System—Too Bad Sony Screwed It Up

Have you checked out that Vita game? You know—the one that’s a shoddy spinoff of a big-name series? Perhaps Call of Duty: Declassified, which currently has a whopping 32% on Metacritic? Or Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a game that our Kirk Hamilton called “a cut-rate version of the Uncharted games that most people have already played”?…