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Man Sells the Spoils of his Six Year Gaming Career for Thousands of Dollars

Man Sells the Spoils of his Six Year Gaming Career for Thousands of Dollars

The online role-playing game, Final Fantasy XI has garnered tremendous popularity within Japan, not to mention the rest of the world. Love of the game has grown steadily in the 11 years since its Japanese release in May of 2002.

Unfortunately, as gamers grow older and become busy with real-life responsibilities, they sometimes must set aside their virtual buster swords and magical mage staffs and focus on the tangible things in life. Luckily, there’s always a circle of lazy gamers ready to take their places! These impatient players are wide-eyed and eager to buy your character’s levels and loot off of you. Read More

SoftBank’s White Dog Gets a Free Rap and DJ App for iOS (and It’s Awesome)

SoftBank’s White Dog Gets a Free Rap and DJ App for iOS (and It’s Awesome)

Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank is seemingly never out of the news recently. In the past seven days, we’ve seen CEO Masayoshi Son put down a heckler on Twitter, offer his employees up to a month’s pay for mastering English, and now the company comes out with a genuinely wonderful free app for iOS in celebration of being Japan’s most popular telecommunications provider for five years running.

Officially titled 「ラップお父さん」 “Rappu Otousan” (lit. rap dad), the application is essentially a sound board filled with memorable lines uttered by members of SoftBank’s fictional White Family, as seen in commercials. As well as allowing users to annoy friends with one-liners like “Shut it!”, “What’s so funny!?” and even the company CEO’s famous “Let’s do it!” line, users can play and mix a variety of prerecorded rhythm tracks, making this app by far the most wonderful time-waster we’ve discovered so far this year.

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Rip-off or Coincidence? Tokyo University Students Win Prize for Video Remarkably Similar to Well-Known 2010 Creation

Rip-off or Coincidence? Tokyo University Students Win Prize for Video Remarkably Similar to Well-Known 2010 Creation

If no-one ever copied anyone else, fire would have died along with the first humans to create it. Social creatures that we are, human beings copy, modify and improve what has gone before in order to succeed; it’s just a part of life.

But when it comes to artistic creation, borrowing ideas from another person’s work isn’t usually looked on quite so favourably.

In September this year, a group of students from a Tokyo university received the first prize in the Shinjuku Creators Festa 2012 for a short film that shares more than a passing resemblance to Pixels, a video created by French film creator Patrick Jean in 2010.

Whether intentional or not, the similarities between the two creations are startling, land have led to an online debate, with many calling the young team’s work “a simple rip-off”…

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Help Pikachu and Pals Fight for Their Freedom! PETA’s Pokémon Parody Sends a Powerful Message

Help Pikachu and Pals Fight for Their Freedom! PETA’s Pokémon Parody Sends a Powerful Message

Hot on the heels of its highly successful Super Mario spoof animal fur campaign, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has launched a brand new flash game that centres on kids’ videogame favourite Pokémon, exposing the cruel truth behind the trainer / pocket monster relationship and prompting us all to think a little harder about how we treat animals.

The game, which mimics the style of the hugely popular videogame, has seen thousands of visits since its launch, and asks players to take on the role of captive pokémon as they battle with their abusive trainer for freedom. Read More

【TGS 2012】 The Creepiest Game of the Show (So Far): Leg Massaging Action

【TGS 2012】 The Creepiest Game of the Show (So Far): Leg Massaging Action

Tokyo Game Show: home to videogames, freebies, pretty girls and people who love all of the above.

Of all the titles I saw during my visit today, smart-phone game company mobile_one’s Kaikan Ashitsubo Massage (lit. Pleasurable leg massage) definitely wins my award for “Most Borderline Creepy”.  Read More