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After Months Of Controversy, ESRB Will Add ‘In-Game Purchases’ Label To Games

As pressure from pundits and politicians mounts, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) said today that it will start adding the “In-Game Purchases” label to any game that lets you pay real money for digital goods. The label will apply to “bonus levels, skins, surprise items (such as item packs, loot boxes, mystery awards), music,…

Kirby developer HAL Laboratory’s first mobile game, Part Time UFO, was released yesterday in the West. It’s on iOS and Android. It’s $3.99. Everything about it is delightful. It is so full of HAL’s charm and polish that I felt a full $3.99’s worth of fun in the tutorial level alone.

Rurouni Kenshin Creator Fined For Child Pornography Possession

Last fall, Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki was charged with possession of child pornography. Today, Nikkan Sports reports he was fined 200,000 yen ($1,870) for violating the country’s child pornography law. Debuting in 1994, Rurouni Kenshin has sold over 70 million copies and went on to spawn a hit anime and several live-action films. Kotaku…

Zoids is getting a new anime! It’s called Zoids: Zoid Wild and is slated for this summer in Japan. Studio OLM is handling animation duties.

The Short Life Of An Erotic Game Itasha

On February 24, Twitter user Kuronosu’s Suzuki Swift was minted with erotic game characters. Three days later, he drove it into a ditch. Characters for the adult computer game Riddle Joker were emblazoned on each side of Kuronosu’s Swift, turning the vehicle into an itasha (痛車 or “painmobile”), which refers to cars covered with anime…

Back-Alley. Koenji Tokyo, Japan. By Matthew Albasi | Instagram 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! 

Widowmaker’s Figma Is Very Nice

Out at the end of the year, and running around USD$65, this is Good Smile’s Widowmaker Figma from Overwatch You can order it now. The figure includes her sniper rifle, venom mine, grappling hook and alternate “aiming” squinty face. Widowmaker joins Genji and Tracer as Figma’s third Overwatch figure. Mercy next, please.

Mod Adds Goku (And All His Powers) To Grand Theft Auto V

GTA mod team JulioNIB have just released this script for Goku that gives you access to all kinds of crazy powers as well, from flight to teleportation. Here’s a demonstration of the havoc you can wreak: Note that this mod covers the important under-the-hood and UI stuff; the actual model itself you have to grab…

A LEGO Version Of Star Wars Episode I: Racer

If nobody is going to muster the will/cash for a new video game version of Star Wars’ pod-racing, then we’re going to have to settle for this movable, interactive LEGO take on it instead. Alexis Dos Santos built this using MINDSTORMS, LEGO’s robotics tech. The surface of the race scrolls past the user on a…

Even Tony Hawk Wants More Tony Hawk Remasters

I’m going to guess that Tony Hawk (the man) gets asked about Tony Hawk (the skateboarding video game series) a lot Because he tweeted this earlier today: So yeah, guys, pro skater and businessman Tony Hawk does not also run servers and handle remasters. That’s video game work. Go take it up with the video…

In the latest episode of Fave This, Gita Jackson and Maddy Myers talk about the never-ending debate around games like Bayonetta What do people miss when they obsess over whether or not something is ‘sexist’? Beyond their lurid character designs, what do games like Nier: Automata and Soul Calibur actually say or accomplish? Listen here.

I Used To Hate Junkrat, Until I Tried Playing As Him

I have a friend who’s made it his life’s work to master every hyper-annoying character in competitive video games. When Overwatch first came out, he made a beeline to Junkrat. Ever since, I’ve looked upon the simpering trash gremlin with scorn and strife. Today, I’m humiliated to admit that I was wrong. As part of…

Final Fantasy VII Is Going To Kill Me

This is the ninth episode of my ongoing video series scrutinizing the tiniest, most minuscule, most arguably insignificant differences of tone and nuance between the Japanese original script and the official English translation of the 1997 role-playing game Final Fantasy VII As in previous episodes, we’ll unearth scraps of evidence that Aeris and her “first…

Charizard Is The Best Part Of Pokémon Day 2018

Tomorrow is Pokémon Day, the 22nd anniversary of the Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green. The Pokémon Company’s got a bunch of treats lined up for fans, from a new Snapchat filter to a special Pikachu showing up in Pokémon GO. My favorite? This giant-sized Charizard Pokémon Gallery figure. Tomorrow marks the first anniversary…

Students Win Bet, Get Teacher To Make Final Exam About Fortnite

High school teacher Mike McCray knows a lot about chemistry and absolutely nothing about Fortnite. It’s the opposite for some of his students. And after winning a bet, those students might have a better chance at passing McCray’s class. McCray teaches chemistry at Tippecanoe High School in Ohio. According to him, McCray came to an…

How To Get Decent At StarCraft II

You may wonder, every once in a while: How do I get great at StarCraft II? I cannot answer that question. But I can at least tell you how to be decent at it. I’ve been getting back into Blizzard’s seminal real-time strategy game recently, having played it on-and-off for the past eight years. While…

Atari Brings Back Night Driver, Sort Of

Released in arcades in 1976, Atari’s original Night Driver is an outstanding example of doing more with less, simulating first-person driving through nothing more than a series of scrolling rectangles. The new Night Driver, coming soon to Android and iOS, looks like any other mobile racing game. Nothing wrong with a mobile racing game—I’ve enjoyed…

Monster Hunter: World, One Month Later

To the surprise of anyone who’s played Monster Hunter in the past decade, Monster Hunter: World has become extremely popular, selling over six million copies. But that’s not all that’s happened in the last month. Here’s a rundown. First, though, those numbers: Monster Hunter: World is the fastest-selling game in Capcom’s entire history. Can you…

Pillars of Eternity II‘s Ships Look Rad

The upcoming role-playing game Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire will let you helm your very own seafaring vessel, and seeing it in action makes me want to quit my job and take to the high seas. Sorry, Stephen. I’m a pirate now. After 2015’s solid Pillars of Eternity, I’ve been eager to see what the…

Fortnite Random Squads Matches Are Anarchy

Four recently-beheaded chickens, coming from four cardinal directions, all head toward a crowded chicken processing plant at the same speed. Where do they intersect? This isn’t the beginning of a riddle. It’s a question I ask myself every time I queue up for random squads matches in Fortnite Battle Royale. I queue for random squads…