Japanese Anime Comes Alive with These Amazing Sand Sculptures

It’s summer! Time to hit the beach, get a tan, and look at giant sand sculptures of anime characters. Yay! In the past few years, sand art has become increasingly popular in Japan with more and more beachfront cities holding sand art festivals. And this being Japan, some of the sand artists look to Japanese…

Apple Stores in China Don’t Actually Require Scalped Tickets

Last week, 9to5 Macran a piece from the Beijing Evening News about Apple store scalpers selling Genius Bar reservations. In their article, the Beijing Evening News claims that it’s impossible to make an appointment at the Genius Bar without purchasing one from a scalper. But is it really? Scalpers in China are old news: they’re…

Watch a Japanese Nerd Stampede

We are days away from the summer Comiket, a huge, self-published comics event in Tokyo that over a half a million people attend. Make that a half a million geeks. This video is a taste of things to come. It’s okay to be a geek! I’m also a geek. Maybe you are, too? If so,…

China’s First-Person Military Shooter Has a Terrible Message

At first, I was intrigued by the idea of a game about the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army. But now after spending a weekend with the Glorious Mission Online’ s public release, the novelty has worn off. Originally slated to be a People’s Liberation Army training game akin to America’s Army, Glorious Mission Online…

In This Game, the Characters Have Penis Names

The game’s developers are so not dicking around, because doing so would be a complete cock up. Ikare Chinpo-ya (いかれちんぽ屋) is an upcoming boys’ love computer game that features a protagonist named, literally, “Angry Cock Merchant” (“Ikare Chinpo-ya” or いかれちんぽ屋). There’s also his mouse friend named “Benis” (“Benisu” or ベニス), the “Detective of Buck Naked”…

According to Bloomberg (via Destructoid), around twenty companies are interested in acquiring Index Corporation’s holdings, such as video game brand Atlus. Candidates, which include Sega Sammy, could be named this week, and a deal could be finalized by the month’s end.

Japanese Mecha Cop Hints at a Glorious Movie Future

They’re making a Patlabor movie! And these could be the first pictures from the movie’s set. That, or a new way for Japanese cops to keep the peace. “Patlabor” is short for “patrol labor” and follows police in the near future who use mecha. The Patlabor anime and manga debuted in 1988, and earlier this…

Crytek Sites Are Down for “Security Reasons”

Game developer Crytek has taken several of its websites offline due to “suspicious activity.” The developer adds that it “acted quickly” and took those sites offline because of security concerns. As Blue’s News noted, the following Crytek sites have been grounded: • Crytek.com • Mycryengine.com • Crydev.net • MyCrysis.com Crytek sites Crysis.com, Warface.com, and Gface.com…

App Vulnerability Could Cause Toilet Terror

Smart toilet? Ha, more like scary toilet that can suddenly run amuck and squirt water up your butt. Last December, Kotaku reported that Inax, a Japanese toilet brand, was rolling out an Android app called My Satis for the teched out Satis toilet. The app allows people to do basic things like flush (and select…

Stubborn Mac gamers rejoice! BioShock Infinite is headed to your platform on Aug. 29, thanks to reliable Mac port shop Aspyr Media. The system specs—not that you can alter them without buying a new machine—are here.

Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen, which pulled in $2.1 million from its Kickstarter, continues to draw crowdfunding from other sources and has gone past the $15 million mark as of Aug. 1. That adds another ship to the game’s fleet, and another goodie to those donating to the space combat title.

Ten Years Later, Michael Vick Would Have a Harder Time Breaking Madden

Michael Vick may, for the rest of his life, remain a contemptible stereotype to much of the public: A brutalor stupid man. A laughingstock. A guy who did federal time. Still, there is one aspect of his football career that cleanly escapes the wreckage of his personal scandal, that lives on almost as a separate…

The ESRB’s ever familiar ratings badges will get a slight graphical tweak for the first time since 1999, but the wording is the biggest change. No longer will the label say “content rated by” over “ESRB.” Why the text change? ESRB president Patricia Vance said it “provides for a cleaner look.” [Polygon]

Pikmin 3: The Kotaku Review(s)

I can’t review Pikmin 3 just once. I won’t. I’m going to review it seven times. Before I get to the reviewing, though, let me do some explaining. In case you don’t know. Pikmin games are made by Nintendo and were dreamt up by Shigeru Miyamoto, the man credited with inventing Mario and Zelda. Pikmin…

The Week in Games: Pik-Me-Up

Today’s release of Pikmin 3 on Wii U, plus Tuesday’s Tales of Xillia on PlayStation 3 and Dragon’s Crown on PS3 and PS Vita, wake the video game release calendar up from its usual midsummer slumber. Today • Pikmin 3 (Wii U) Tuesday • The Sims 3 Dragon Valley (PC, Mac) • Dragon’s Crown (PS3,…

With Pikmin 3 releasing today, now’s as good a time as any to catch up on the history and trivia behind this series—including its origins as a GameCube tech demo, its influence on Super Mario Galaxy, and the fact Nintendo crossbred a new flower variety (Bacopa Cabana) to promote it. [Did You Know Gaming?]

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: The Karting Dead

So, we’re back to an evergreen subject for this week’s contest after a couple of suboptimal candidates fell through. (One was a pic of my boss on vacation, and I have a daily goal of remaining employed.) So it’s time to raid Gergo’s Dayshot archive! I had eyes on this thing when Gergo dug it…

Does Your Gamertag Have Herpes? Beware Xbox Live Enforcement United

I do not envy Xbox Live’s enforcement moderators. They have an endless and thankless task policing the service’s notoriously juvenile user base. And mind-numbing, too, if a the experience offered by “Enforcement United”—Xbox Live’s new crowdsourced tattling system—is any indication. Announced last week, Enforcement United is going to be part of a self-policing strategy designed…

Sunday Comics: Infinite Variety

Welcome to Kotaku‘s Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth. Published July 30. Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic Penny Arcade by…

Kotaku ‘Shop Contest: Sharksassin: The Winners

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag played the shark card last week and you all called its bluff in the ‘Shop Contest. Today we have two dozen finalists compiled, including three double-finishers, plus SteveFish, a first-timer at overall number one! Gang, it is no secret the ‘Shop Contest has been through a challenging year, thanks to…