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This Is The Best Final Fantasy V Merch

As a well-known appreciator of Final Fantasy V, to the point where I wrote a whole book about it, I love that Japan feels the same way to the point that there’s actually a market for this very specific merch based on this 1992 Super Famicom game. In the grand Japanese tradition of “blind boxes,”…

Kirby Hats Kirbify Your Cats

Hello, do you love Kirby but hate your cat? Now you can shove your cat’s head into a Kirby-shaped hat, thanks to the miracle of Japanese vending machines. The hats, which your cat is guaranteed to wear for at least three and a half seconds before desperately trying to claw it off, are available in…

Tales of Vesperia is getting a stage play in Japan, Famitsu reports. It’s the latest “Tales of the Stage” and follows the popular adaptation Tales of the Abyss

Typhoon Blew The “N” Off “Nintendo” [Update]

Yesterday’s typhoon caused destruction throughout Japan’s Kansai region. Some buildings were badly damaged, while others weathered the storm. Nintendo’s Kyoto headquarters took the “N” out of “Nintendo.” Update September 17 – 6:30am: Nintendo has finally gotten its “N” back. See below. This is what the headquarters usually looks like. Here is a tweet from Florent…

Later this year, My Neighbor Totoro will be the first Studio Ghibli film to get a theatrical release in China. According to the Hollywood Reporter (via ANN), the movie will have a Chinese language dub and if the release is successful, Studio Ghibli will release more of its films theatrically in China.

New Assassin’s Creed Board Game Has Miniatures, A Campaign And An Ezio Cameo

In 2014, there was an Assassin’s Creed board game that wasn’t that great. In 2018, there’s a new one that will hopefully be a lot better. That first effort, Arena, had its heart in the right place, but was a bit too abstract and poorly-presented to really nail the look and feel of the games.…

Where The Sahara Begins. Merzouga, Morocco. By Doug Walsh | Official Site JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!   

Fans Are Trying To Remake Half-Life Using Unreal Engine 4

When I reviewed Half-Life remake Black Mesa back in 2012, I said the project “does not look like a modern video game”. A newer (and far more limited) remake, Project Lambda, does. Where Black Mesa eventually remade the entire game—a big reason it took so long for it to come out—Project Lambda has so far…

Japan wastes zero time: Days after its announcement in the Nintendo Direct, there are already rows of empty New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe boxes lining the shelves at Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara. As expected, Peachette—whatever that is—is a major selling point. And those Joy-Cons in the logo!

I’m in Japan! We’ll have coverage of the Tokyo Game Show this week, starting Thursday morning (late Wednesday night U.S. time). Until then, I’ll bring you updates from Akihabara and beyond…

NFL Player Does Naruto TD Celebration

Steelers reveiver JuJu Smith-Schuster scored a TD earlier today against the Chiefs, and to celebrate went all Naruto on teammate Jesse James, hitting the TE with a football-themed Rasengan. The Steelers lost the game 37-42, but JuJu and James were the winners in our hearts.

Data diggers have found all of the cut epitaph texts that were cut from Dark Souls 3 Last week, Lance McDonald made a video that worked through the first four cut story epitaphs from the game’s alpha and we wrote about it. In a new video, he has restored and translated several more. 

Explaining Fall Damage In Dark Souls

Dark Souls mechanics explainer illusorywall has created a new video to show exactly how fall damage works in that game. It’s worth knowing about. In this entry of Dark Souls Dissected, we get an explanation of the different kinds of fall damage in Dark Souls. I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly sure how this worked…

The Assassin’s Creed fact checker is still going. On top of the pieces linked in the original post, there are now fact checks for Assassin’s Creed III, Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, and Assassin’s Creed IV. They’re still very interesting to read through. 

A D&D Supplement That Makes Your Game More Like Ocean’s Eleven

Wizards of the Coast recently released Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, which asks players to experience a heist, but if you want to play through lots of different heists and capers, you’re sort of out of luck. Here’s To Crime: A Guide to Capers and Heists is all about entertaining those who love crime. There’s not a…

Destiny 2 Team Beats Raid, Unlocks New Activities For Everyone

After 18 hours and 48 minutes of playing, a Destiny 2 team named Clan Redeem were the first players in the world to finish the game’s Last Wish raid that released yesterday. When they defeated the raid boss, some new changes appeared in the game for every other player of Destiny 2 When players entered…

DICE Lead Multiplayer Designer Valerian Noghin shared an image on Twitter of a map called Hamada from the upcoming Battlefield V. At 1500 meters in the Breakthrough game mode, it’s a pretty big map. Battlefield V releases on November 20. 

There is a new Japanese trailer for Catherine: Full Body, the remake of 2011’s Catherine. We’ve previously reported on the game’s pre-release controversy. The game has a February 14, 2019 release date in Japan for PS4 and Vita, but does not yet have a release date or platform announcement for the Americas or Europe.

In Japan, The Nintendo Switch Is Streaming Games That It’s Not Powerful Enough To Run

The oddest announcement from Nintendo yesterday wasn’t on the Nintendo Direct that aired in the West. It happened on on the Japanese Nintendo Direct stream when the company revealed that. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will be playable on the console when it releases October 5—thanks to streaming. This cloud-based version of the game will only be…

Splatoon 2 Gets Tweaked Before Becoming A Paid Online Game

Splatoon 2 is still kicking thanks to a community of dedicated fans. The new 4.0 update rewards that dedication with big changes to how Splatfests work and a cache of stylish weapons. Splatfests have always felt equally exciting and frustrating in Splatoon 2. These timed events run about every month, asking players to choose a…