The Best Japan-Only Games of 2012

Japan: The birthplace of Mario, Sonic, Final Fantasy, and Street Fighter—just to name a few. Each year scores of games are made and released here. The best of these come to the West—or rather most of the best do. Each year, a few great titles manage to slip through the cracks for whatever reason and…

Make My Battles Active-Time

I love JRPGs. Since discovering them in the sixth grade, I have played dozens upon dozens of them. But my primary reason for playing them has always been the plot—the epic 40-plus-hour adventure. The battle system, on the other hand, has tended to be rather a boring chunk of useless padding—it’s just something that comes…

Custom Metroid Action Figures Wage Epic Desktop War

Pictured above, two action figures. One, a custom piece based on Figma’s Samus (it’s got stuff like a new head), the other, a way more custom piece showing a Chozo. Both were done by Jin Saotome, a master toysmith we’ve featured here many times before. What’s cool about the Chozo is not just how he…

Behold, A Portal Gun. Signed By Valve.

Let’s say you’re a Valve super-fan. I know I’m reaching somebody out there with that label. And you want to buy yourself something nice. Something Valve-related that nobody else has. Forget lithographs or coffee mugs. You need to get this. It’s a replica Portal Gun signed by the development team. All proceeds go to charity…

There’s Another Deus Ex Movie Coming, And It Looks Amazing

This isn’t an official project. Let’s get that out of the way first. That’s still cooking. This is, believe it or not, a trailer for a fan-made short film, put together by a (relatively) small crew and making the most of some very talented actors, effects people and martial artists/stunt performers. This trailer, and the…

The Best Walking Stick On Earth is A Bungie Walking Stick. With a Sword In It.

When Brian “Joram” Little was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, his friends—a group formed having played classic Bungie games Myth and Myth II—decided to get together and get him a present. He’d said, maybe as a joke, that “I will NEVER use a walker, but I will accept a lacquered black stick topped with a silver,…

A Black & White Look At Diablo III

Jean-Baptiste Monge is an accomplished fantasy illustrator, whose sketchbook style makes his drawings look as much like field journal entries as works of art. Monge was one of the artists who worked on Blizzard’s Diablo III: Book of Cain, an art book and guide for the action RPG released late last year In the gallery…

There Was, However Briefly, A Minecraft Christmas Song On The British Charts

There’s a Minecraft Christmas song. It’s by Area 11, a band from England. As of two days ago, it was apparently just outside the top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, given a massive boost by the popular Minecraft community program Yogscast. Those fearing that video game communities can somehow and suddenly sabotage the record…

You’re Not Getting Zelda LEGO, But You Are Getting Back To The Future LEGO

You asked for it, quite literally, and now you’re getting it: a small, but charming set of Back to the Future LEGO. Picked as part of the company’s Cusoo initiative, which rewards popular fan-made sets with the chance of becoming real products, next year we’ll be getting… something. The original plan from creator Masashi Togami…

Don’t Look Now, But People Are Talking About Mother/Earthbound Remakes/Re-Releases

Nothing shows Nintendo hates you more than the fact only one of the three games in the Mother series has ever been officially released in North America (while poor PAL territories haven’t seen any of them.). So tread very carefully around this talk from series creator Shigesato Itoi, who has taken to Twitter to say…

What Happens If You Actually Try An Assassin’s Creed “Leap Of Faith”

I’ve sometimes wondered, at least on the shorter ones, whether Assassin’s Creed’s “leaps of faith” were actually doable. Like, from a few stories up, some hay might actually break my fall, you know? Glad to see I’m not alone. A Leap of Faith [andrewmfilms]

This Persona 4 Arena Figure Forges A Bond That Cannot Be Broken

I don’t own too many video game figures. Thanks to my newfound fascination with Persona, that may have to change. For example: I would gladly put this garage kit figure of Elizabeth and her persona Thanatos pretty much anywhere in my house. The figure is the work of “Mr. Etsuo,” and you can see more…

These Geeky Facebook Timeline Covers Are Awesome

Me, my Facebook cover is boring. It’s just a picture of a K-Pop star. Other people have actually taken advantage of Facebook’s cover layout to make something awesome or creative. Here are a few standouts—the one above makes it look like a guy is actually playing Angry Birds, which is great. (Make sure to click…

How Tomb Raider Helped One Gamer Develop Confidence And Independence

There is something about the way women are stereotypically socialized—to be meek, to be reserved, to be safe—that can feel limiting, sometimes frustrating. Don’t go out at night. Don’t wear something that is too revealing. Don’t go alone. And if you defy these edicts, if something happens to you—then it’s your fault. You asked for…

Where Does The End Of The World Find You?

The end of the world is nigh, right? That’s what we’re told at least. But instead of packing my bags out of habit more than any real function, I’m sitting here wondering how I’d really spend my last days. Would I be cuddling the new kitty that I’m fostering? Would I be frantically calling up…

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe says that he’s becoming a playable “hero” character in XCOM, thanks to an upcoming patch.

This Boss Boss-Music Spins Sexy NiGHTS Into Saxy Dreams

Here’s a quick story. I was in New York last weekend, hanging out at Kotaku friend and columnist Leigh Alexander’s apartment. We were going through her PS3 library looking for random stuff to play, and we dug into the PSN re-release of the Saturn game NiGHTS into Dreams. Okay, cool, I know a bit about…

Check Out The Marvelous Soundtrack For The Adventure Time Game

You may have heard that the 3DS game Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage? is a lot of fun. The soundtrack is a lot of fun, too, and the game’s publishers have posted the entire thing to Soundcloud. You can check it out there, or listen right here: The music was…

The Year In Music At Kotaku

Nietzsche once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Imaginary philosopher Richard Riemenschneider once said, “People who begin articles with Nietzsche quotes are the worst.” Let’s agree to meet somewhere in the middle. And with that, let’s look back at the best of Kotaku Melodic this year. The idea of doing discrete Kotaku “Programming…

Remember to charge your phones and tablets and stock up on chargers before midnight Mayan time, in case you survive.