The Best Things We’ve Found In the Wii U’s Miiverse

If you’d asked me a week ago what I thought the best feature of the Wii U was, I wouldn’t have thought ‘Miiverse’. But now that we’ve all had a chance to see it in action, my opinion is quickly changing. Sure there are terrible stick figures, but there are also some great and sometimes…

It’s Gameloft’s $.99 Thanksgiving Saletacular

Starting today and running through the Thanksgiving weekend, Gameloft is discounting a bunch of its $6.99 titles on Android, iOS and Kindle Fire to $.99, giving us something to do while camping out for Black Friday sales. As of this writing the Kindle Fire titles are already discounted. Still waiting for the Google Play and…

World of Warcraft’s 8th Birthday Video Spectacluar

World of Warcraft is 8 this year, so Blizzard put this video together highlighting… well, lots of gameplay. You could joke that the reason there’s no “then and now” shots is because the game has barely changed in that time, but seeing as it still attracts millions of players a month that’s probably more of…

Japan’s most often delayed console game, Daisenryaku Perfect, has gotten its seventh release date: Spring 2013

These Japanese Commercials Will Delight and Amuse You

The Wii U is out in North America, but Japan will have to wait until December to get the new Nintendo console. To build hype, Nintendo is now running commercials for the hardware. But that’s not the only game in town. There are entire channels filled to the brim with wonderful Japanese commercials. Some of…

The new Call of Duty: Black Ops II update fixes the Theater Mode error and the Scorestreak snafus.

Inspired by The Matrix, This Live-Action Video Game Is Now…a Video Game

Call it going full circle. Back in 2004, a Japanese game show called Run for Money appeared on FujiTV. The show had flourishes of The Matrix and a central premise that seemed more like a video game than a game show. Now in 2012, Run for Money has finally been turned into a hit 3DS…

For Three Hours, These Ladies Will Do Your Bidding

Making it in the Japanese entertainment industry ain’t easy. You need to stand out! And being cute is no longer enough. Just ask BiS. The group’s name stands for “Brand-new Idol Society”, and the girls have been doing an array of publicity stunts to build a fan base. Their latest? Auctioning themselves off to be…

7th Dragon Getting Another Sequel. It’s for the PSP.

According to the unpublished issue of this week’s Famitsu, Sega is launching a sequel to last year’s role-playing game 7th Dragon 2020 (pictured). The game will be out next spring. The sequel is apparently called 7th Dragon 2020-II and is set in the year 2021. The PSP game will feature a new job class (idols!)…

Further Proof that Rush Hour in Tokyo Sucks

The morning commute in Tokyo (or Osaka, or Yokohama, or any other huge Japanese city) can totally bite. As if you already didn’t know that. Photographer Michael Wolf documents that in his latest volume of Tokyo Compression. For years now, Wolf has been snapping photos from a train platform, capturing the cramped conditions of the…

This Is the Most Inappropriate PS Vita Game Yet

It’s called Monster Monpiece, and it’s a card-based game. That’s fine and all until you realize that it’s from Compile Heart, the folks behind Hyperdimension Neptunia. Oh, and that you have to stroke your PS Vita to play it. Developer Compile Heart loves making deliciously subversive games, and Monster Monpiece looks to be no exception.…

The Tough Women (and Bearded Lady) of Sailor Moon

A generation of Japanese girls (and, yes, boys) grew up watching the original Sailor Moon anime and reading the manga. No wonder Sailor Moon has become so iconic. No wonder people love dressing up as the characters. What made Sailor Moon so revolutionary when it debuted in the early 1990s is that it reworked both…

Heads up! Hulu Plus is now live on the Wii U. More here

Sure, Battlefield 3, Let’s Flip a Tank Onto The Roof of a Building

Battlefield 3 has some pretty realistic physics, but let’s not get carried away here. It’s a video game. Meaning those physics exist solely so people can do cool shit like flip a tank onto the roof of a building. I don’t want to know how much planning and trial-and-error went into this, but I don’t…

All I Want For Christmas is a Headcrab Zombie Action Figure From Half-Life 2

Supremely talented custom toy builder Jin Saotome is back with another masterpiece, this time featuring the Half-Life series’ most sharply-dressed bad guy, the headcrab zombie. Standing 7″ tall, the headcrab comes off to reveal a zombified skull inside. He’s also got a busted-open chest and some great blood detail. The good news? He’s for sale!…

Halo 4 Was Shaped, At Least In Part, By One Of The World’s Great Concept Artists

You’re in for a treat today. Today, we’re looking at a collection of Halo 4 art by Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier, aka one of the most talented concept artists in the world, regardless of the industry. Sparth’s ability to convey not just the look of a sci-fi setting but its mood is legendary, so it was…

Tolkien’s Estate Very Unhappy About Some Lord of the Rings Video Games

A lawsuit that began with spam emails and an investigation into slot machines has turned its great all-seeing eye to the world of video games, with Tolkien’s estate claiming that some of Warner Bros’ recent titles violate the company’s licensing agreement. Arguing that the licenses for merchandise granted to companies like Warner, New Line and…

When Should The Next Mass Effect Game Be Set: Before Shepard, Or After Shepard?

That’s the gist of a question put forth to Mass Effect fans today by BioWare’s Casey Hudson, who wants to know whether series fans want the next game in the franchise to take “place before the trilogy, or after?” How closely they’re going to be listening is anyone’s guess, since for all we know those…

When Your Job Involves “Painting Exposed Buttocks To Look Covered By Latex”

The video game industry isn’t all fast cars and trips to Japan. For every studio head basking in the glow of media attention there are 100 developers lower down the food chain whose job can be a little more mundane. Like the guy/guys/gals who had to paint some butts for a trailer. Speaking with GI.biz,…

The Great Mass Effect & Dragon Age Crossover Project

Artist Andrew Ryan has been working on this crossover for a while now, but today he let us know that he’s done. Finished. The worlds of Dragon Age and Mass Effect are now one. In the epic image below, you’ll see just about every major character from the Mass Effect series dressed up as a…