Hey Japan, Sorry for That Stupid Napoleon Dynamite Title

When Napoleon Dynamite was released in Japan way back in 2006, it wasn’t called Napoleon Dynamite. It had a dumb name. Because of that, in 2013, there are apologies. Instead of Napoleon Dynamite, the flick’s title was Bus Man (バス男 or “Basu Otoko”). The name and even the movie’s poster art were supposed to ride…

The fan-made Final Fantasy VII Web Series is “the subject of an intellectual property dispute,” according to its Kickstarter page. There’s also a link to a takedown notice, sent by Square Enix, in which they request the removal of the Kickstarter page as the project “is in infringement of [their] copyrights.”

Burger King Employee Makes a Bed of Buns, Pisses People Off

Well, at least he’s not licking them, I guess, making out with them or whipping out his privates, like some fast food employees have done in the West. Make that, former fast food employees. This photo was uploaded by Japanese Twitter user @inotayuta, whose account has since been deleted. In the pic, he’s sprawled out…

If You Like the Ace Attorney Series, You’ll Like Dual Destinies

Just over a week ago, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, the first main series Ace Attorney game in over five years, was released in Japan. And while real time has passed, not much has changed in the world of Ace Attorney. It is still filled with excellent mysteries, crazy characters, and over-the-top courtroom drama. [This import…

Here’s an Odd-Looking 3DS Attachment

Gaist Crusher is an upcoming 3DS game from Capcom and Treasure of Sin & Punishment and Ikaruga fame. Gaist Crusher is aimed at kids. And it has one strange-looking add-on. See that? That’s a special cover that players can use to attach various “Gai Metals” to their 3DS. Each Gai Metal can transform into various…

The New Ace Combat Hits This Year, Will Be A Free-To-Play Game

Today, Namco Bandai announced that the recently revealedAce Combat Infinity, their newest entry into the long-standing Ace Combat series of flight-action games, will hit the PS3 “later in 2013” as a free-to-play title. Infinity will have both a single-player story campaign and team co-op multiplayer at launch, and is said to “combine features that are…

Red Data Girl Is a Different Kind of Fantasy Anime

As the spring anime season hit its mid-way point, I called Red Data Girl one of the five anime you should be watching. And while it is definitely one of the more low-key anime in that bunch, it is also the most real on an emotional level. Good – A Modern Japanese Fantasy Tale When…

Have Japanese Art Styles Gotten Better? Or Worse?

Time marches on. Things change. So do styles. But how did Japan’s animation and manga styles evolve? Twitter user @mayousa_desuga uploaded the above comparison between two children’s book versions of The Little Mermaid: one published in 1985 and the other published this year. The story is the same, but the art style is… different. It…

In This Cross Between Tetris and Lemmings, You Play A Cat Scientist

A mad cat scientist, mind. Mousecraft’s Greenlight page poses the question: “Ever wondered what a cross between of Tetris and Lemmings would look like?” Well… no, but now that you’ve asked, color me interested! Still heavily in development and having just hit alpha, Mousecraft, once it grows up, will be a game where your task…

Amazing Fireworks for Japanese Comic Book Nerds

It’s summer! All across Japan, there are huge (and impressive) fireworks displays. And yesterday, some of Japan’s most popular manga characters got their own. Above is a fireworks version of Doraemon, the popular robotic cat from the future. For years now, Doraemon fireworks have been launched into the air. There are also Hello Kitty fireworks.…

Stop Me From Buying More Fantastic Persona Figures, Please

Indulge me my current fascination with Persona figures, but each time I see one, the bar gets a little higher. Take this Elizabeth figure from Persona 3 (appearing here in her Persona 4 Arena guise). Part of Bandai’s D-Arts line, she’s highly posable, and comes with some cool accessories like her tome of quests/personas/whatever, a…

LEGO FTL Ships Will Probably Try And Kill You Unexpectedly

Builder and designer CrashSanders has come up with some fantastic ideas for a LEGO set based on FTL, the space-faring roguelike that tries to kill you every time you move. They’re small designs, using only a few pieces each, but they do a great job of nailing the look of each of the game’s most…

Watch Dogs Dusts Itself Off And Tries Again, Tries Again

Ubisoft goofed up yesterday, releasing a Watch Dogs trailer that looked pretty terrible even by current-gen standards. Today, they make amends. As someone with a decent PC, and who’ll have at least one of the next-gen consoles at launch, this is what I’m getting mildly excited for.

It’s A Crying Shame This Video Game Never Got Made

Rodrigo Ribeiro, a senior concept artist at Spark Unlimited (and formerly of Insomniac), recently published these images of a game that sadly never saw the light of day. Pity. Because I’m completely in love with the character designs. The style of the guys and girls below falls somewhere between “Gorillaz” and “The Goon”, which pushes…

Original Actors Recreate “Wicket vs Leia” Bit From Return Of The Jedi

There are some Star Wars actors who would like to think that part of their lives is now over. And then there are others, like Carrie Fisher and Warwick Davis, who are more than happy to re-enact a classic scene from Return of the Jedi thirty years after the movie was first released. This clip,…

The Xbox One Is Apparently Designed To Stay On For TEN YEARS

People used to laugh when Sony said the PS3 was going to be around for a decade (even though it was a totally fair thing to say!), so I can only imagine those same folks’ reaction to word that the next Xbox isn’t just designed to be around for a decade, but stay powered on…

79 Words You Might Be Mispronouncing, From ‘GIF’ to ‘Zooey Deschanel’

At first, I was sure I’d know the correct pronunciation for all 79 of the words Mental Floss‘ John Green lays out in this video. But I gotta admit, once he got past the halfway point, he started getting to a few that I regularly mess up. “Triathlon,” and “Etcetera” are among my mispronounced words.…

So…after watching Fennekin, one of the starters in Pokemon X & Y, use the move “Glow Punch” in the latest Pokemon trailer, any bets on whether it is (or evolves into) a fire/fighting type…just like the last few fire starters? I’m sure that for many, the mere idea elicits a reaction much like the end…

A Lovely Intergalactic Puzzle Game From An Unexpected Source

From Firebrand Games, a studio that’s mainly handled ports and licensed games, comes a beautiful puzzle game about exploring a universe in a state of decay, breathing new life into the stars. How odd. I mean, considering Firebrand’s most recent release was the relatively horrible Fast & Furious: Showdown, Solar Flux is not the sort…

John Carmack Talks Xbox One Backlash And Kinect Privacy Concerns

Super-whiz programmer John Carmack thinks some of the “witch hunt” against the Xbox One was unjustified, but he didn’t love all of the Microsoft’s original policies, either. In this clip from his marathon Quakecon keynote, Carmack forecasts the inevitably of cameras like Kinect and seems less excitable than most about machines that are constantly checking…