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Global (Page 17)

Osaka doctor wins Ig Nobel Prize for discovering kisses can reduce allergic reactions

Master Blaster
Sep 22, 2015
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Japan has had a pretty good track record with the annual Ig Nobel Prize. Scientists from all over the country have been awarded for nine years straight for their contributions to wacky and humorous research. Last year, Professor Kiyoshi Mabuchi recieved the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics for determining exactly how slippery a banana peel on the floor is.

Now, Dr. Hajime Kimata of the Osaka Prefecture Neyagawa Allergy Clinic has been given the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine. However, rather than investigating a silly topic, Dr. Kimata’s findings were actually rather sweet: Kissing can reduce a person’s allergic reactions.

Global, Japan
(allergies • health • Ig Nobel Prize • kissing • medicine • science)

Reminisce on over 30 years of Mario games with this sweet Evolution of Super Mario tribute【Video】

Krista Rogers
Sep 22, 2015

This month, the whole world is celebrating 30 years of Mario, only the most famous video game character of all time. It’s been a long time since the Italian plumber’s humble beginnings as Jumpman, and Nintendo is pulling out all the stops to make this anniversary year as special as possible for long-time gamers who got their start playing as starry-eyed kids back in the 8-bit era.

To continue the festivities, we’d like to share with you this nifty video tribute which tracks the evolution of Mario over the past three decades of video gaming history. Prepare yourselves for a nostalgic trip down memory lane!

Global, Internet, Japan
(Mario • nintendo • Super Mario Brothers • video • video games)

We take a look at 20 of the best, funniest Attack on Titan cosplay photos

Meg Murphy
Sep 22, 2015

To those not familiar with the scene, cosplay may just seem like older kids and adults playing dress-up, but few realize the time and effort that goes into custom-making the costumes or the attention to detail that really makes the outfits works of art.

For some, just wearing their masterpieces to an anime or comic convention is enough, but others take it a step further, staging beautiful, dramatic, or sometimes even humorous photoshoots, preserving themselves in character and enabling the sharing of their visual pieces online. And today we’ll be taking a look at just that! Here is a collection of the amazing handiwork and photography skills from around the world used to recreate scenes (and create new original scenes!) from the mega-popular anime series Attack on Titan.

Global
(anime • Attack on Titan • cosplay • deviantART • photos • Shingeki no Kyojin)

Game carts that plug into your phone – We took a peek at Pico Cassette at Tokyo Game Show

Evie Nyan
Sep 21, 2015

Not too long ago, we reported on Pico Cassette, a new device which will allow you to play retro video games on your smartphone via a cartridge which you plug into the headphone jack.

Since we absolutely love all kinds of gadgetry here at RocketNews24, and since we’re also big retro gaming nerds, we made a point to visit Pico Cassette’s booth at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in order to try it out for ourselves!

Global, Internet, Japan, USA
(Pico Cassette • Smartphones • technology • TGS • Tokyo Game Show 2015 • video games)

Bread, noodles, and rice. We try ALL THE CARBS together with interesting results 【Rocket Kitchen】

Meg Murphy
Sep 21, 2015

Carbs have long gotten a bad rap for their supposed “unhealthiness”, which in turn has spurred a number of fad diets, from the Atkin’s to the gluten-free, that urge their followers to shun the grains. But most nutritionists will still argue that, unless you have specific allergies, your body needs carbohydrates to function at its best.

Of course, as with all things, moderation is the key. But sometimes it’s okay to give yourself a little treat, and what could be better than a big old bowl of all of the carbs. We’re talking rice, pasta, ramen, and bread combined together in one heavenly bowl. Couldn’t get any better than that. Or, you may be saying to yourself, it couldn’t get any worse. Either way, we decided to give it a try and find out!

Global
(crazy • food • Mr. Sato • recipes • rice cooker • RocketKitchen)

We checked out the new Resident Evil games at Tokyo Game Show and didn’t become zombie chow

Evie Nyan
Sep 19, 2015

It’s a good time to be a fan of Resident Evil, both the classic survival-horror style AND the action style. In fact, this year at Tokyo Game Show, Capcom has more than enough zombie fun on offer to satiate the appetites of both types of fan, with playable versions of their two upcoming Resident Evil games Resident Evil Umbrella Corps (action) and Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster (classic survival horror).

We stopped by Capcom’s section to take a peek and ended up playing a little of Resident Evil 0 HD, somehow avoiding getting fatally leeched as we took on an entire train full of the rotting undead…

Global, Internet, Japan
(biohazard • Capcom • HD • Resident Evil • resident evil 0 • TGS • Tokyo Game Show 2015 • umbrella corps • video games)

Which video game favourites are turning 20 this year?

Cara Clegg
Sep 17, 2015

With the Sony’s PlayStation console celebrating its 20th birthday in North America this year, having hit Japan a year earlier, this means that many of its longest-running franchises are now also turning 20.

One Japanese Twitter user has put together a handy chart of games on both PlayStation and rival platforms that will be having their 20th anniversary towards the end of this year and the start of the next, so read on to find out if any of your favourites are among them. (Beware: you might find yourself feeling old.)

Global, Internet
(20 • gaming • playstation • Resident Evil • Sony • video games)

Pico Cassette looks to keep cartridge games alive in a smartphone world

Master Blaster
Sep 16, 2015

Music has all but gone entirely digital. Video rental stores are a critically endangered species. Even video games are steadily moving towards more online distribution. At this rate we’ll soon be welcoming the first generation to think sticking a piece of plastic into a machine for entertainment is as attractive an idea as rubbing two sticks together for fire.

Then again, isn’t there something intrinsic in humans to want to put a cartridge or disc into something for entertainment?

That’s not a rhetorical question. I really have no idea, but the makers of Pico Cassette are hoping so. This device will load video games both new and old into your smartphone by plugging into its headphone jack.

Global, Japan
(Pico Cassette • PlugAir • retro games • smartphone • technology • video games)

“So wrong!” Elders react to hairy schoolgirl-fronted Ladybaby with shock and amusement 【Video】

Evie Nyan
Sep 16, 2015

Here at RocketNews24 we love Ladybeard, everyone’s favourite heavily-bearded, muscular, precious flower. And as a natural side-effect of our Lady-lovin’, we’re also nuts about his newest venture, performing as part of pop trio Ladybaby. Something about the combination of cute Japanese idol teen vocals combined with Ladybeard’s growls just gets our toes tapping, and not to mention those funky dance moves!

So we couldn’t stop laughing at this new video titled “Elders react to Ladybaby”. Just what do America’s seniors think of this new mashup of cultures, genders, and musical stylings?!

Global, Internet, Japan, USA
(elders react • JPOP • ladybaby • Ladybeard • video • wtf)

Night of paper-folding with a Japanese friend leads to creation of beautiful “origami jewellery”

Oona McGee
Sep 15, 2015

With so many traditional arts, customs and practices, it’s not hard to fall in love with Japanese culture. For one French couple, it was a night of origami paper-folding with a Japanese friend that left a big impression. Intrigued by the art, they set upon a journey to recreate the folded designs in metal and not long afterwards, a gorgeous jewellery collection was born, featuring delicate animals, birds, crustaceans and dinosaurs.

Europe, Global, Internet
(france • jewellery • origami • paper • traditional crafts)

Japan’s netizens weigh in on singer Gackt’s new look: “He looks like a video game boss!”

Evie Nyan
Sep 12, 2015

As western stars who’ve been in the entertainment industry since we were nippers could tell you, reinvention is the cornerstone of a long and successful career. Just like Madonna and David Bowie, Japan’s mega-popular musical powerhouse Gackt loves a good makeover, and his newest incarnation has gotten Japanese netizens all riled up and excited. Why? Because he looks like a total badass!

Global, Internet, Japan
(Gackt • JPOP • jrock • makeover • musician • singer)

Miyamoto: Pikmin 4 is ‘very close to completion’

Anime News Network
Sep 10, 2015

Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in an interview with video game news website Eurogamer that the Pikmin 4 game is “very close to completion.”

Global, Japan
(news • nintendo • Pikmin 4 • Shigeru Miyamoto • video games)

Pokémon finally comes to iPhone and Android as the augmented reality game Pokémon GO 【Video】

Casey Baseel
Sep 10, 2015

There’s a pretty big gap between the life of an in-world Pokémon trainer and a real-world Pokémon player. Whereas your in-game avatar is alternatively journeying to new lands or patrolling old stomping grounds on his quest to catch ‘em all, you yourself can experience the games’ wonders without ever leaving your couch.

It looks like all that’s about to change, though, because the newest installment of the franchise, Pokémon GO, is not just a smartphone title for iPhone and Android, but an augmented reality game that requires you to get out and search the real world for Pocket Monsters and other trainers to battle.

Global, Japan
(anime • mobile games • nintendo • Pikachu • Pokemon • Pokémon GO • Smartphones • video games)

Nintendo will delete your Mario Maker course if it’s boring, can make a buck off it if it’s good

Casey Baseel
Sep 10, 2015

Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker, which allows you to design your own levels for the beloved video game hero, is really a game that could only be properly realized now, on the 30th anniversary of the franchise. Three decades as the platforming gold standard means there are multiple generations of gamers intimately familiar with the series’ building blocks, ensuring an ample supply of would-be creators and players who can really get the most from the system’s ins and outs.

Just as important is the modern digital infrastructure for sharing user-designed stages. Super Mario Maker would have been a flop on hardware that requires physical media, but in our modern Internet age once a completed course has been uploaded to Nintendo’s servers, anyone in the world can play it.

Well, anyone in the world can play it if it’s good. If it’s not, then Nintendo will just go ahead and delete your creation.

Global, Japan
(Mario • nintendo • Super Mario Maker • video games • Wii U)

Where have we heard Metal Gear Solid V’s iDroid voice before? When we last rode the Shinkansen!

Evie Nyan
Sep 9, 2015

The release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been met with as much excitement and frenzy as you might expect from the latest instalment of a legendary video game franchise. But while most players are preoccupied with riding D. Horse around, frolicking in cardboard boxes and puzzling over the intricate story, it’s a certain voiceover that’s had us scratching our heads. Where on earth have we heard *iDroid‘***s soothing tones before? Oh, that’s right – on the Shinkansen!

Voice actor and vocalist Donna Burke is a veteran of the video game industry, lending her vocal cords to multiple games including MGSV and Silent Hill, and she ALSO provided the English-language spoken announcement that’s broadcast on the bullet train to help foreign visitors navigate their way around Japan!

Australia, Global, Internet, Japan
(donna burke • iDroid • Konami • Metal Gear Solid V • shinkansen • Silent Hill • video games • voice actor)

Super Mario Bros. creator explains how and why he designed World 1-1 of the 8-bit classic 【Video】

Philip Kendall
Sep 9, 2015

Ahead of the launch of Mario-themed level-building game Super Mario Maker, video game industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto sat down with veteran game designer Takashi Tezuka to take questions from journalists and show off its features.

Before leaping into the level creation proper, however, Miyamoto took a few minutes to talk about the creative process that is involved in building a Super Mario level, talking his audience through the steps he and his team took when creating the original Super Mario Bros., and explaining why World 1-1 of the game—for many their first ever brush with Mario on Nintendo’s 8-bit system—was built the way it is.

You’ve no doubt cleared this level countless times by now, but you may not have realised the hidden genius and careful planning that went into the positioning of every block, pipe, and pit of doom.

Global
(level design • nintendo • Shigeru Miyamoto • Super Mario Bros. • Super Mario Maker • video • video games)

TIL: Table tennis tables are blue because of a Japanese comedian’s random comment

Mike
Sep 9, 2015

There is no one “official” color that a table tennis table absolutely must be, according to the International Table Tennis Federation handbook. Nevertheless, there was apparently a time, not too long ago —let’s say, at least around the time Rocky was taking on Ivan Dragon—when more or less every table tennis table was an ugly, some might even say “gloomy” or “sinister,” dark green.

Well, that’s how one random Japanese comedian described the green tables in a throwaway comment he made in the late ’80s, which, rumor has it, is the reason most tables you see nowadays are a slightly more cheery blue.

Global, Japan
(comedy • sports • table tennis • Tamori-san • TIL)

Talk about slowpokes…New Pokemon, Yadon’s official debut song finally released in English

Audrey Akcasu
Sep 8, 2015

What’s better than Pokémon? Music videos about Pokémon! Last year, the Pokémon higher-ups in Japan released an official theme song and video for Yadon (Slowpoke, in English), the lethargic, sleepy, pink Pokémon. The Japanese song, Donaiyanen Yadon, was made to celebrate the Pokémon Center’s Facebook page and is charming, if not hypnotic.

Apparently, though, Yadon’s sluggishness is contagious and spread to the Pokémon Center’s translation team, because the translation of the psychedelic-reggae song was not released until a solid year after people started grooving to the original. But we’re happy to say: The English version is finally here in all of its bizarre glory.

Global, Japan
(MV • Pokemon • Slowpoke • Yadon)

Life Is Strange is coming to Japan, gets new voice cast & dubbed trailer 【Video】

Evie Nyan
Sep 8, 2015

The last few years especially have seen a notable increase in the number of western-developed narrative-driven video games. Notable entries include Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and of course Game of Thrones, which deliver their respective stories in downloadable chunks once every few months, leaving players itching to play the next episode and find out what happens.

Telltale pretty much cornered the market on this genre until French development studio DONTNOD Entertainment released the absolutely captivating five-part supernatural high school story game Life Is Strange. The game has been a surprise hit, selling over a million copies to date, with players falling in love with the endearingly complex characters, time-travelling mechanics, mellow game atmosphere, and killer soundtrack. In fact, the game has done so well for itself that publishers Square Enix have decided it’s time Japan got a piece of the photo-snapping, heavy decision-making, time-rewinding fun for themselves. Yep, Life is Strange is being released in Japan, and it’s getting an entirely new Japanese voice cast, too!

Check out the reveal trailer to hear Max, Chloe and the rest of the characters speaking Nihongo!

Europe, Global, Internet, Japan, USA
(life is strange • localization • Square Enix • video • video games • voice actor)

This group of Japanese kids tear up the dance floor at the World of Dance competition 【Video】

Meg Murphy
Sep 5, 2015

There was an overflow of talent, skilled dancers, and amazing performances at the World of Dance competition held in Los Angeles last month, but this boy’s dance group from Japan made a particularly strong impression on the audience. Not only were their moves awe-inspiring and beautifully synchronized, but the fact that everyone in the group was of high school age or younger made their dance all the more incredible.

Watch the full video below and be blown away by the high-flying flips, spins, and awesome soundtrack!