How Japan’s Nuclear Fears Are Manifested in a Cartoon Character

Many Japanese are anti-nuclear—and for good and obvious reasons. The nuclear disaster at Fukushima has made many question how safe nuclear power is, resulting in the country’s decision to take 48 of its 50 nuclear plants offline. It’s also why the government is pledging to end its dependence on nuclear power in the future. But…

You’ve Probably Never Seen Japanese Beef Promoted Like This

Kagoshima black beef is some of most delicious wagyu Japan has to offer. Most people in Japan probably already know that! Still, to help get the word out, this special character was created. His name is Kagoshima Kuroushi, which means “Kagoshima Black Cattle”. He’s a macho wrestler. Because nothing says delicious Japanese beef like a…

Project Zwei, Shinji Mikami’s upcoming “pure survival horror game”, has an official site. Platform TBA.

Black Ops II Zombies Leak All Over the Internet [Correction]

Footage of Black Ops II Zombies has hit the web. Have a look, courtesy of As discussed by YouTube user xFlandies, gameplay footage of Black Ops II‘s zombie-infested maps made their way to YouTube, but have since been pulled. Videos of Black Ops II Zombies have been making their way online since late last week.…

F**k You, Ugly Pikachu!

Earlier this month, the fifth annual Wenzhou International Animation Festival was held in China. There were cosplayers, anime, and truly frightening Pocket Monster statues. These photos appeared on Taiwanese site CK101, and show how pleased at least one attendee was with the large Pokémon pieces. The statues, which ranged from 2 to 4 meters tall,…

I’m Only Scared of the Dark When it’s Full of Crazy People

We caught a first look at it a couple of weeks back, but here’s a longer, better look at Outlast, an upcoming survival horror game from Red Barrels, a new studio made up of former Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted and Splinter Cell developers. If you’re not a fan of the setting up top, you’ll hopefully like…

If You Buy The Game Of Thrones’ Throne, You Either Win Or Go Broke

Take a look at the image above from retailer Thinkgeek, and consider the company’s love of joking around, and you’d think it’s a hoax. Especially when you look at its $30,000 price tag. But no, the production images (and $1800 postage) suggest this replace Game of Thrones…throne is an actual thing, which takes 6-8 weeks…

Next Time You Have Sex In Front of a Webcam, Make Sure It’s Turned Off

It’s been, what, only a few weeks since Slooshi was caught jerking off on camera after a League of Legends livestream event? Well, looks like somebody – and by somebody, I mean World of Warcraft player murdaralph – didn’t learn their lesson. Having finished a Mists of Pandaria livestreaming session over on Twitch, murdaralph shut…

Ten Minutes That Remind You Why Skating Video Games Are Awesome

This ten-minute clip, by Helix Snake, is in order, with #50 at the beginning. So you can imagine how good things are getting by the time we get to the top spot. While laughs and stupid crap are the order of the day, you should watch the whole thing, because in between all the slapstick…

Welcome Back, Fancy Pants!

Our week-long downtime meant no Fancy Pants last week. Bummer. Thankfully, just as we’re back at our own digs this week, we’re also back with a look at some of the week’s best cosplay. A word of warning: if you’re the type who doesn’t like the way Photoshop is slowly blurring the lines between “cosplay”…

Mass Effect Toy Turns Commander Shepard Into Sparkly Burns Victim

Aaarrgghhhh my eyes These Play Arts Mass Effect figures looked so good when we first saw them! And while all the production copies of other Play Arts figures I’ve looked at here on Kotaku previously have been just fine, something’s gone very wrong with Commander Shepard, who between initial prototyping and being boxed for sale…

Gamers, Relax, Windows 8 is Fine (For Now)

Windows 8 has its problems. Some of these are immediate, others hypothetical (and potentially graver in nature). But I’m finding, as I write this using the operating system, having been playing games using the operating system, the negativity over Microsoft’s latest Windows seems a little extreme Sure, the Start screen is annoying, and the way…

See How Much Work Actually Goes Into an Amazing Cosplay Outfit

The superficial appeal of cosplay is the quality of the still image. How good a costume looks, or how much like a character the particular cosplayer seems to appear. The real craft, though, comes behind the scenes. Anybody can put some lycra on a model and call it cosplay, but the true artists make their…

The Week in Games: Wake Up, John …

Halo 4 isn’t the only one coming out of hibernation this week. It’s the biggest video game doing so, as you can see by the fact the only other first-run console release is NASCAR The Game: Inside Line Also of note: anthologies for Saints Row: The Third (comprising all DLC) and Mass Effect (all three…

Talk Amongst Yourselves is where you can talk about everything you’ve been dying to say the past week. Welcome back.

Kotaku is Back—and Fully Operational

Welcome back to Kotaku The site and all of its features are now fully restored after a nearly weeklong outage brought on by Hurricane Sandy. The entire staff thanks you for your understanding and your readership as we continued our work with a different web presence this past week. We’ve imported all of the stories…

Sunday Comics: Dressed to Kill Yourself

Welcome to your Sunday read of the week’s best in web comics. Make sure to click on the expand button in the bottom right to enlarge each comic. Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie published Oct. 31.—Read more of Virtual Shackles Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich published Oct. 29.—Read more of Awkward Zombie…

Bring Wreck-It Ralph to Your 3DS With These Mii Codes

Jordan White, the founder of StreetPass NYC (a 3DS meetup organization) sends along these four Mii QR codes from Wreck-It Ralph, which released on Friday. If you want to trick out your Mii like one of the film’s characters, there’s Ralph and his adversary Fix-It Felix, plus Sgt. Tamora Calhoun from Hero’s Duty and the…

These Old Folks’ Reactions to Black Ops II Are Adorable

Gather a bunch of 50- and 60-year-olds in a focus group, show them Black Ops II‘s violent, self-regarding trailer, and ask them what they think. Recipe for incomprehending outrage and comedy gold, akin to the infamous “Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2,” stunt EA pulled, right?. Not really. Asked why the game is so popular…

There Are At Least 4,294 People Playing Halo 4 Multiplayer Right Now, Three Days Before Launch

We’re up to 4,294 people playing Halo 4 online right now-at least. We can’t co-op, but we do have the breakdowns for competitive multiplayer and the story based Spartan Ops. Yesterday, there were at least 495 people playing the game online. This is a nine-fold increase. Halo 4 will be officially released on November 6.…