• Kotaku East

  Man Gets Hello Kitty Haircut To Amuse His Father

  When your loved ones are down, you’ll do anything to cheer them up and make them laugh. For 50 year-old Hu Han-yan, getting his father’s spirits up meant one thing: a Hello Kitty haircut. According to Taiwan’s TTV News, the man’s 84 year-old father was feeling ill before the spring festival. Hu, a successful businessman…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Move Over Romance, It’s Time for the Killers

  The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was a Chinese historical fiction novel written in the 14th century, and it wasn’t about romance at all—well not romance as in love. It is a story about the struggles of three kingdoms and their battle for power and dominance over China. The story is full of treachery and…

  By Eric Jou Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  The Girls Are Fake. The Sausage Party Is Real.

  Today is Valentine’s Day in Japan. The day is slightly different from its American counterpart—2012, more so. Early this morning, gamers lined up so they could spend the day with someone special: their virtual girlfriends. Love Plus is a dating simulator. New Love Plus, released today for the 3DS, is the latest in the series.…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
• Kotaku East

  Kotaku East Starts Now

  Kotaku East runs from 4am to 8am EST. For more info about Kotaku East click here

  By Brian Ashcraft Published February 14, 2012
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  Kyuss: Whitewater

  Warning: things are about to get a little personal. This is my favourite song of all time. No, really. It’s my favourite song on my favourite album from my favourite band, ever It’s Kyuss at their best. Epic. Cruisey. Yet also bringing a rolling thunder. If Scott Reeder (bass) and Josh Homme (guitar) died tomorrow,…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  Mario Propaganda Keeps Bowser’s Home Fires Burning

  Fernando Reza, who floored us last year with his set of Mushroom Kingdom propaganda posters, is back in 2012 with another set, again showing the conflict from the bad guys’ point of view. If you’re interested in picking any of these up, they’re actually available from Fernando’s store, linked below. WW2 PROPAGANDA PRINTS [FRO DESIGN…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  This Skyrim Costume Turns Dovahkiin Into DovahCuddle

  Legendary Crafts make beards. And helmets. And make them all out of yarn. Crocheted by hand. Their crochet skill is maxed out at 100. This particular offering is based on the trademark appearance of the Dovahkiin from Skyrim, with his horned helmet and braces. The beard, well, that’s user-defined, but if you’re not making giant…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  The Very Best In Cosplay: Lindze

  Kotaku’s journey around the very best cosplayers in the world continues this week with a look at American costume builder, model and make-up artist Lindze. A make-up artist by trade, Lindze is an example of quality over quantity: while her portfolio may not be packed to the gills like many other prominent cosplayers, when she…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  There Might be an LA Noire Sequel. Some Day.

  With its original developers shut down and with a story that ends rather conclusively, you wouldn’t think Rockstar’s LA Noire would be in line for a sequel. But it might be. Maybe. A Rockstar representative writing on the company’s official site has posted “don’t count out the possibility of a new game in the L.A.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  Wait, it Costs $40,000 to PATCH a Console Game?

  Well, this is bananas. According to Double Fine’s Tim Schafer, the cost of getting a patch up on a modern console (presumably he means the Xbox 360 and/or PS3) is $40,000. That’s not to upload downloadable content. That’s just for a patch “Those systems as great as they are, they’re still closed”, Schafer told Hookshot.…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  Hideo Kojima Thinks He’s Ryan Gosling Now

  The man? That’s Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima. The jacket? That’s a replica of Ryan Gosling’s from the movie Drive. With Hollywood’s big night looming, a little Oscar party cosplay, perhaps? [Twitter]

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  Watch Someone Play Mass Effect 3 for 60 Minutes

  Many people already have access to the Xbox 360 demo for Mass Effect 3, so naturally, there are people recording the thing like crazy and uploading videos to YouTube. Here are just a couple of them. The first clip will get you some character creation and the intro. The second clip will get you the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
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  CultureTotal Recall

  The Amazing Place Where Mario & 80’s Pro Wrestling Came Together

  That amazing place being the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, which in these episodes below went all-out and brought in both Sgt. Slaughter and Rowdy Roddy Piper as guest stars. Aside from their wrestling fame, you may know the Sergeant as a GI Joe character. You should also hopefully know Piper as one of the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 14, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  Winter Isn’t Coming, It’s Already Here

  The real stars of video games aren’t the characters. They’re awfully fickle, and easy to kill. But background art? It’s forever. Welcome to Background Story, which will run most days as part of our new, expanded Total Recall programming block [via noirlac]

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2012
• CultureTotal Recall

  The Only Japanese Video Game Starring…Bruce Willis, Mike Tyson and…Alfred Hitchcock?

  If you’re the kind of person that believes violence isn’t the answer, then I have just the game for you. I hope you’re good at trivia questions instead, because otherwise you won’t get far in SNK’s 1991 quiz-em-up Quiz Daisousa Sen – The Last Count Down. Also, you’ll be off my team for the pub…

  Luke Taylor Published February 13, 2012
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  Total Recall Starts Here

  Total Recall is evolving! Gone is the once-every-day-or-two single feature about the history of video games, replaced with a daily block of posts running between 11pm and midnight ET. Confused as to what the hell these “blocks” are? See here!

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2012
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  The Dothraki Have No Word For ‘Valentine’

  Greetings, camp Kotaku, and welcome to the evening open thread. Have you had an enjoyable Monday? We sure have. We’ve debuted a couple of our new programming blocks, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. And hey, there’s a third one coming up in 30 minutes! In the meantime, here is a thread in which…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 13, 2012
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  Why You Can See Morrowind From Skyrim

  Last year, intrepid tinkerers on the PC version of Elder Scrolls V found the game didn’t just include the landmass of Skyrim. You could also, with a little work, visit other parts of Tamriel, like Morrowind and Cyrodiil, the settings of Elder Scrolls III & IV respectively. It was…a little odd. So we asked the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published February 13, 2012
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  Happy Valentine’s Day, Zelda! Here, Take My Heart

  Aww, that is one adorable Valentine’s Day card, custom-made by Adam Bing. Now if only Link could actually find Zelda to give it to her… (Via Albotas on Tumblr.)

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 13, 2012
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  Call of Duty: Police Warfare is a (Very Cool) Fake

  The Call of Duty franchise has covered almost every corner of the globe, from snow-capped mountains to the streets of suburban America. But it’s never strayed too far outside of its military roots. What if there were a Call of Duty game that put you into the shoes of a different type of enforcer—namely, a…

  By Kirk Hamilton Published February 13, 2012