Tag - video-games

 
 

VIDEO GAMES

Tokyo Game Show opens to the public on Sept. 28 full of cosplayers promoting a full slate of new and upcoming titles.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 26, 2024
Tokyo Game Show 2024 stacked with big returns and hyped announcements
PlayStation returns to Tokyo Game Show for the first time since 2019 as Japan's biggest gaming show opens to the public on Sept. 29 and 29.
The Nintendo Museum opens to the public on Oct. 2, but unlike the company's all-ages games, the new attraction may be geared more toward older rather than younger gamers.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 25, 2024
A first look inside the new Nintendo Museum
Set to open on Oct. 2, the gaming giant's newest foray into real-world experiences shows flashes of the same creativity that made the company what it is today.
Shop manager Komura poses with a signed Metal Gear Solid box at Super Potato, a shop selling vintage video games and memorabilia in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, on June 18.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 22, 2024
Japan is next level for retro game collectors
Game Boy cartridges, Sega Dreamcast consoles and antiquated arcade machines await tourists in some of Tokyo's stores.
Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are suing video game developer Pocketpair for patent infringement.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024
Nintendo sues 'Pokemon with guns' maker for patent infringement
"Palworld" — which sold more than 5 million copies in just three days — features weapon-wielding player avatars and monsters that look similar to Pokemon.
Japan might have created the PlayStation brand, but the cost of the latest generation of the console will exclude all but the most hardcore fans.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 18, 2024
PS5 Pro price is a sticker shock for the country that made the PlayStation
With even an entry-level PS5 now costing some ¥72,980 following the latest hike last month, an entire generation of Japanese could be cut off.
Intel in 2022 lost out on a contract to design and fabricate the chip for Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 6.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2024
How Intel lost the Sony PlayStation business
A dispute over how much profit Intel stood to take from each chip sold to the electronics giant for the PlayStation 6 gave a leg-up to AMD, which clinched the deal.
Cosplayer Xu Yunting (left), dressed as Jesse, a male character from the video game Light and Night, and video game enthusiast Feng Xinyu visit a crafts shop during their 'cos commissioning' date in Shanghai.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 11, 2024
'Dream men': Female cosplayers in China fulfill fantasies for young women
A trend called "cos commissioning" is allowing young women in China to perform idealized heteronormative relationships — with other women.
The PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console is priced at $699.99 in the United States, and ¥119,980 in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 11, 2024
Sony prices PlayStation 5 Pro game console at a hefty $699.99
In Japan, the midgeneration console is priced at ¥119,980, compared with the standard PlayStation 5 digital model's ¥72,980 price tag.
Held annually in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is the world's largest gaming convention, meaning it attracts attendees and exhibitors from near and far.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 7, 2024
Traveling to Germany is ‘worth the cost’ for Japan’s indie studios
"Nothing beats seeing players' faces as they play our game in person, and getting to ask them directly about their experience, both positive and negative.”
Attendees play the For All Time mobile game on smartphones at the NetEase Games booth at the Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 30, 2024
Tencent and NetEase rethink Japan approach as game strategy stalls
The companies are reconsidering or scaling back many of their investments in Japanese studios, after years of spending yielded few hit games.
The surprise 19% price increase comes even as PlayStation 5 sales have slowed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024
Sony hikes PlayStation 5 price in Japan citing cost volatility
The surprise move comes even as PS5 sales have slowed and Sony is widely expected to refresh its offering with a revamp of the console in coming months.
A cardboard cutout of the Monkey King character, or Sun Wukong, from the Chinese action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is displayed on the day of its launch in Beijing on Aug. 20.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2024
Black myth, Black samurai and gaming nationalism
While China has to date enjoyed success in mobile and PC gaming, those lucrative sectors carry relatively little prestige. That makes Wukong’s breakout a landmark event.
Black Myth: Wukong has sold over 10 million copies in less than a week — by far the best launch of a Chinese-developed single-player game in history.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 27, 2024
With Black Myth: Wukong, China is now a force to reckon with in AAA games
Can China’s first AAA gaming hit bear the weight of the cultural baggage it’s being burdened with?
Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 26, 2024
TikTok tourists trample on Angkor Wat in viral Temple Run recreation
Some of these viral videos have received more than 2 million views and inspire copycat versions daily.
A wall mural depicting Nintendo's Super Mario characters in an underground walkway in Kyoto. The company will open the Nintendo Museum in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024
Nintendo to open museum showcasing video game history this fall
The museum in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, will feature vintage video games and an interactive shoot-em-up with Super Mario characters.
South Korea's League of Legends player Lee Sang-hyeok (center) reacts after winning a gold medal in esports at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sept. 29, 2023.
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2024
Many young Japanese believe esports has a future in the Olympics
More than 40% of people in their 30s and younger in Japan think that esports will be an Olympic sport in the future, a survey has found.
What is known as real money trading in online games is rife with issues, including account hijacking and fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 8, 2024
Man arrested over alleged fraud involving Sega's in-game money
The suspect allegedly collected money by offering to sell the in-game currency at one-twentieth of the listed price on "real money trading" websites.
The judge and last year's winner, Lettie Shiels, sits in the dressing room during the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya on Saturday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 4, 2024
Transformative hobby: Going for gold at Japan's World Cosplay Summit
The three-day event in Nagoya drew thousands of fans — many keen to show off their own costumes.
Kingdom Hearts-inspired action-adventure game Luminous Nights was one of many indie titles that had to fight for attention on an increasingly crowded show floor.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Aug 3, 2024
Bigger than ever, BitSummit’s indie spirit wears thin
As the indie game show grows, the question looms as to whether its current trajectory continues to be true to its original spirit.
Gamers can play Assassin's Creed Shadows as either female assassin Naoe or Yasuke, a Black samurai.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 25, 2024
Assassin's Creed makers defend 'creative liberties' in Black samurai row
UbiSoft, the game's maker, said its Assassin's Creed games aren't meant to be perceived as factual representations of history or historical characters.

Longform

A woman passes an "akichi" (vacant lot) in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. The capital is littered with such small lots in part because of Japan's aging and shrinking population.
Dealing with rising land vacancies as Japan shrinks