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video games (Page 127)
Life doesn’t have a reset button, and neither does a PlayStation 3 controller come to think of it
- Master Blaster
Aug 27, 2014 - Tweet
This fire safety poster was tweeted recently and scored a whopping 21,000 retweets in only a couple of days. It’s an impressive feat for a public service announcement by the Nakagyo Ward Fire Department, but why?
The caption reads: “In life and fire, the reset button doesn’t work.” Okay, class, who can tell me why the reset button doesn’t work? Don’t all answer at once now… No, not because the cable’s on fire. This controller clearly has wireless capability. Oh, I see the person who tweeted this image has their hand up.
- Japan
- (fire safety • poster • video games)
Hacker Mom takes on Gamer Son in China, erases his accounts for the sake of education
- Casey Baseel
Aug 26, 2014
For hardcore video gamers, life is a never-ending series of battles as they try to overcome the next boss, unlock achievements, or climb up the online leader boards. And for some of their parents, life is a never-ending series of battles as they try to get their kids to stop doing all that and study.
While more honorable gamers limit themselves to utilizing the best in-game equipment, some give in to the temptation to use hacks to gain an advantage over their adversaries. Recently, one education-minded mother in China adopted the same tactic by hacking her son’s online gaming accounts, then deleting them.
- China
- (education • family • kids • video games)
Rumour: Super Smash Bros. character list leaked? 【Update: Pretty much confirmed】
- Philip Kendall
Aug 26, 2014
If you’re the kind of person who likes video games and isn’t dead inside, chances are you’re looking forward to Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, due to release later this year. The comic fighting game’s creators have been teasing us for what feels like decades now by slowly revealing which characters will be available to play as, talking of trimming the fat while simultaneously revealing what appears to be every Nintendo character under the sun.
If the following “leaked” screenshots and video are to be believed, however, Nintendo’s character roster-teasing days are about to come to an abrupt end.
- Global
- (characters • leak • nintendo • Super Smash Bros. • video games • Wii U)
Limited edition Kirby t-shirts on sale at this year’s Tokyo Game Show
- Philip Kendall
Aug 22, 2014
Heading to Tokyo Game Show this year? We certainly are, and with just under a month to go, we’re itching to try out the newest games and watch the exclusive previews that exhibitors are no doubt already preparing. But there’s one other thing (yes, besides the booth babes) that we’re excited to get a look at: the video game merchandise!
And this year, there are a couple of items we already have our eye on: a pair of limited edition Kirby-themed t-shirts, which have just been revealed by makers San-ei Boeki.
- Japan
- (Kirby • merch • nintendo • t-shirts • Tokyo Game Show 2014 • video games)
Is Kojima’s Silent Hills actually about aliens? Hidden message refers to The War of the Worlds
- Philip Kendall
Aug 21, 2014
Earlier this week, we brought you some footage of players’ terrified reactions to Japanese video game developer Hideo Kojima’s upcoming horror title, Silent Hills. We played the short preview for ourselves and it scared the bejeezus out of us, leaving us with high hopes that the finished game would mark a return to the original’s greatness and that we’d be sleeping with the lights on in the not-too-distant future.
But what if we told you that Silent Hills isn’t just about things that go bump in the night? Or, rather, that some of those ‘things’ are aliens? A radio broadcast which can be heard during a particular section of the playable teaser, it has been found, refers not only to what is believed to be Orson Welles’ radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds, but suggests that aliens are already here, watching…
- Global
- (aliens • Hideo Kojima • Silent Hills • video • video games)
Pair of goldfish play Street Fighter II, instantly become world’s coolest pets
- Casey Baseel
Aug 21, 2014
Whenever I’m asked if I’m a dog or a cat person, I can always respond quite easily: “Neither.” I’m absolutely convinced fish make the best pets, since they’re quiet, relaxing, and never pee or cough things up on the carpet.
And just in case that wasn’t enough to sell you, consider one more thing fish can now do: play a game of Street Fighter II.
- Canada, Internet
- (animals • cool • fish • funny • Street Fighter • video games • weird)
PlayStation 3 gets a price cut in Japan, still costs more than it probably ought to
- Philip Kendall
Aug 19, 2014
Sony Japan has announced that its ultra-slim, “charcoal black” PlayStation 3 console will become that little bit cheaper at the end of this month, following the arrival of a new SKU.
- Japan
- (playstation 3 • price • Sony • video games)
Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills might just be the horror game we’ve been waiting for【Videos】
- Philip Kendall
Aug 18, 2014
Those who owned an original grey PlayStation back in the day will no doubt be familiar with Silent Hill, the survival horror series that went on to spawn a host of sequels as well as a questionable feature film of the same name. The series has had its ups and downs over the years, and many feel that it has lost much of what made it so great to begin with, but it looks like the newest instalment is set to bring back what gamers loved about the originals: the kind of tense, tortuous, genuinely horrible horror that makes you consider keeping the lights on at bedtime.
Don’t believe us? Check out these reaction videos from makers Konami.
- Global
- (Hideo Kojima • P.T. • scary • Silent Hill • video • video games)
Sailor-suited fan’s crazy anime dance gives us a double dose of cuteness and energy 【Video】
- Casey Baseel
Aug 15, 2014
Right now there’s no hotter anime or video game franchise among kids than Yo-kai Watch. While we’re sure the high standards of quality at creator Level-5 are a huge factor in its success, at least some fans of the ostensibly for-kids series have said that part of the appeal is that grown-ups haven’t started horning in on tykes’ turf in the same way they have with other popular franchises.
The borders to their children’s paradise might be fading, though, as this video, showing a young lady dancing her heart out to the Yo-Kai Watch ending theme, proves that teens aren’t even remotely too old to get some enjoyment out of the show.
- Japan
- (anime • cute • funny • video games • Yo-Kai Watch)
“Jibanyan, I choose you!” Does Yo-kai Watch have the power to topple Pokémon?
- Fran W
Aug 14, 2014
Pokémon is a long-running global megalith: a multi-platform media franchise like no other. Millions of kids grew up watching the anime, wearing the T-shirt, and of course playing the games. Here in Japan, Pokémon characters are everywhere – and none more so than Pikachu. Go to the mall and there’s a giant fluffy Pikachu to meet and cuddle. At school lunch, chances are a bunch of kids’ mums have made their onigiri into Pikachu’s face for them. And a whole city was recently invaded by scores of our favourite yellow friend for an entire Pikachu festival.
There’s a new kid on the “collect-all-the-monsters” block, though, and it looks to be pushing Pokémon by the wayside. Yo-kai Watch hasn’t been released internationally yet, but in Japan the 3DS game, anime and its characters have quickly gained a ubiquitous popularity that looks like it could even overtake Pokémon. Have Pikachu and friends really had their day? Or is Yo-kai Watch merely a flash in the pan?
- Japan
- (anime • Pokemon • video games • Yo-Kai Watch)
Pics of Pikachu packs from a day of Pokémon hunting in Yokohama【Video】
- Casey Baseel
Aug 12, 2014
A few weeks ago, the handlers of the Pokémon franchise announced the Pikachu Tairyou Hassei Chu, or “An Outbreak of Pikachus” event. First they brightened our day with a TV ad showing the adorable Pocket Monsters hanging out in a shopping mall. Then they teased us with a photo of the electrified rodents landing on the dock.
And now, they’re here!
We grabbed our cameras and went Pikachu hunting in Yokohama, and we were not disappointed. We were, though, almost completely paralyzed by the awesome overdose of cuteness that comes from a parade of a pack of 20 Pikachus.
- Japan
- (anime • awesome • cute • events • nintendo • Pikachu • Pikachu Outbreak • Pikachu Outbreak 2014 • video games)
What’s this little green dinosaur’s name? If you said “Yoshi” we’ve got news for you…
- Philip Kendall
Aug 7, 2014
Nicknames can be confusing things, especially when they’re the only name by which you’ve ever known someone. I can clearly remember the moment when my friend’s Japanese wife looked at me with a mixture of surprise and betrayal, for example, when she found out that Phil (or “Firu” as it’s awkwardly pronounced in Japanese) is in fact short for Philip.
But after learning that the same green dinosaur that I’ve traversed hundreds of levels, raced go-karts and carried baby Mario back to his parents with since I was about 10 years old isn’t actually called Yoshi, I can kind of understand why she was so shocked.
Sony’s summer PlayStation Vita ads are all about growing up【Video】
- Philip Kendall
Aug 7, 2014
We’re already well into the school summer holidays here in Japan, and Sony is taking the opportunity to entice younger gamers over to its decidedly more grown-up portable console, the PlayStation Vita. Join us after the jump for a closer look at these cheeky ads from Sony’s summer campaign.
- Japan
- (ad • funny • playstation • Sony • video • video games • Vita)
Investors watching Yo-Kai Watch as hit game/anime series leads stock rally in Japan
- Casey Baseel
Aug 6, 2014
As Japan continues its long in-vain search for a way to recapture the glory years of the Bubble Economy of the 1980s, politicians and pundits have proposed a plethora of projects. But amid all the talk of privatizing the postal system, making the expressways free, and devaluing the yen, there’s one outside the box solution no one happened on until now: unleash supernatural entities into the stock market.
Maybe it’s something they should have tried earlier, considering how the supernatural characters of hit multimedia franchise Yo-Kai Watch are leading a mini stock rally all by themselves.
- Japan
- (anime • economy • toys • video games • Yo-Kai Watch)
The awesome costumed fans of Nagoya’s World Cosplay Summit 【Photos】
- Casey Baseel
Aug 5, 2014
With schools in both Japan and abroad on summer vacation, we’re right in the prime seasons for pop culture events like San Diego Comic-Con and Chiba Prefecture’s Wonder Festival. We recently attended both, snapping pictures of all the cool cosplay costumes, but the hobby’s most prestigious gathering was yet to come.
Last weekend the 2014 World Cosplay Summit was held in the city of Nagoya. Our own cosplay efforts aren’t quite competition-level, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy all the awesome costumes that were, so we grabbed our camera and hopped on the Shinkansen.
- Japan
- (anime • cosplay • nintendo • Studio Ghibli • video games)
Not as easy as it looks! The making of viral video “Mario Jumps into Battle”
- Philip Kendall
Aug 5, 2014
Just under a week ago, a fan-made video featuring Nintendo’s Super Mario appeared online. Titled “Smash Bros. Mario Jumps Into Battle”, it showed the portly plumber doing a bit of shopping in a real-life Tokyo store before realising that he was late for his appointment in Nintendo’s upcoming brawler, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, and dashing across the capital city.
Due to its incredible animation and clever blending of real and computer-generated images, the video was quickly picked up by a number of gaming news sites (and shared on our own Facebook page) and scored thousands of hits in the blink of an eye. But even short videos like this don’t just pop out of question-mark blocks; they take weeks of hard work…
Dozens of Pikachus make landfall in Yokohama, begin expanding their territory throughout the city
- Casey Baseel
Aug 4, 2014
It’s been about a week since we first saw the commercial for the Pikachu Tairyou Hassei Chu (“An Outbreak of Pikachus”) Pokémon event going on this month in Yokohama. And while fans are no doubt looking forward to the projection mapping show and Pikachu Café, the real draw is the promised 1,000 Pikachu that will be on hand to greet visitors to the city’s Minato Mirai bayside district.
While we’re still a few days away from the official start of the festivities, the loveable pocket monsters have already started showing up, as shown in these surreally cute photos of the assembled Pokémon hospitality corps.
Attack on Titan and Evangelion coming to Universal Studios Japan
- Casey Baseel
Aug 1, 2014
Running Universal Studios Japan has to be a pretty tough job, since it’s never quite been able to step out from the shadow of Japan’s theme park juggernauts, Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. You have to figure part of that stems from Universal’s weaker portfolio of beloved characters and settings. Whereas a trip to the Disney parks means a chance to rub elbows with the cast of Aladdin, Toy Story, and The Little Mermaid, visitors to USJ have had to settle for Jaws, Water World, and Backdraft.
But Universal Studios Japan has a new plan that involves not minding the first two-thirds of its name, but that last word, as the park is planning to add new attractions based on Attack on Titan, Evangelion, and other hit franchises from Japan.
Cute Cardcaptors, titanic females, and the other cool anime figures of Wonder Festival【Photos】
- Casey Baseel
Jul 31, 2014
While we spent plenty of time at this week’s summer Wonder Festival snapping pictures of the awesome cosplayers, they’re really not what the event is about. Wonder Festival is actually Japan’s biggest modeling convention, with hundreds of displays of the latest figurines and garage kits.
We sent our Japanese-language reporter Meg out to the Makuhari Messe convention center, and she brought back a batch of photos sure to have anime fans clearing off space on their desk for one more figure.
- Japan
- (anime • Attack on Titan • lupin III • toys • video games)
From Sailor Moon to Freddy Krueger – The lovely cosplayers of Wonder Festival
- Casey Baseel
Jul 30, 2014
We recently made the trip across the Pacific to Comic-Con in San Diego, where we checked out the newest titles from the exhibitors and the costumes made by their fans. Our traveling reporter Yoshio even decided to join in and dress up too.
San Diego wasn’t the only place to see some cool cosplay last weekend, though. Back here in Japan, the summer Wonder Festival, the world’s largest model and figure exhibition, was going on, so we headed over to the Makuhari Messe convention center to photograph the amazing costumes.
- Japan
- (anime • cosplay • Metal Gear Solid • movies • Sailor Moon • video games)
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