Abdulaziz Alhamidi

Valve, the company behind Portal, Half-Life, and digital video game download service Steam, has delayed the launch of its first pieces of hardware, pushing the release window of its Steam Machines and Steam controller from 2014 to 2015. In a post on Steam, Valve's Eric Hope suggested the release dates were pushed back to allow the company to work on the controller, after live playtests with wireless prototypes generated a "ton of useful feedback." While Hope said that feedback means Valve will be able to make its Steam controller "a lot better," it's also keeping the team behind the project "pretty busy making all those improvements."

Valve's Steam controller, first announced in 2013, is the result of more than two years of research and...

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Though we're pretty sure that time travelers don't exist, people were working on hypertext -- used by web browsers to retrieve connected information -- long before computers. It even predates the ideas of a certain Vannevar Bush, the man generally...

If you need cash and don't mind chasing Twitter clues around San Francisco, you're in luck. A group called @HiddenCash, apparently led by a wealthy real estate developer, has decided to try a "social experiment" by sharing their good fortune with...

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Starship, the studio that MotorStorm creator Martin Kenright founded, has unveiled a new lineup of its intellectual properties focused on cookery, games, and lifestyle products.

The Liverpool digital entertainment company is creating cross-genre products. Kenright has assembled some creative professionals to focus on original content in the e-health, children’s gaming, and lifestyle sectors.

The first product is CyberCook, the first truly interactive cookery platform. Featuring the world’s first “hyperrealistic and time-sensitive cooking simulation,” CyberCook is a next-generation ecosystem for cookery.

“There has been no major step change in the evolution of consumer cooking experiences in over 20 years,” said Kenwright in a statement. “The 19th century had cookery books, [and the] 20th century had TV, analog media, and live shows. Direct-to-consumer has come of age, with mass technology ownership allowing us to move beyond existing channels into a brave new world called CyberCook.

“It’s an experience second only to real cooking, a genuine game-changing platform with infinite opportunities for collaboration, partnerships and social media.”

He also revealed a children’s adventure game series, Playworld, which enables kids to both create and play. It is targeted for kids 5 and up, and it runs on mobile devices.

“We’re out to empower kid’s creativity,” he said. “Playworld offers children the ultimate craft-creation tool, but it’s the amazing surprise inside that really sets it apart. Kids will love it, but parents will love it even more.”

The first versions of CyberCook and Playworld are set for a fourth quarter 2014 release on smartphones and tablets.

Kenright also unveiled the e-health and lifestyle product Forget-Me-Not, a memory aid with multiple patents pending, which Kenwright describes as a “wearable second brain”.

“In five years, I fully expect memory aids to be as ubiquitous as hearing aids,” says Kenwright. “We’re now in a position where we’re waiting for the hardware to catch up with what we’ve created. We need the use of low-energy chipsets in the wearables sector to increase massively before the true power of Forget-Me-Not can be fully realised.”

Kenright said that virtual reality applications of these IPs are very much a part of the studio’s future plans.

“We’ve been flirting with VR for more than 20 years,” he said. “Make no mistake — that expertise will be put to good use. We’re thinking about returning to our roots with a wicked twist. Original, made-for-VR propositions are on the way. It’s truly a case of ‘watch this space’.”

Starship launched in 2013 and has 20 employees.

One of the things I've noticed about living in Japan is that the country's non-native speakers are fuck all at using the fucking f-word.

Good thing there's a new book that aims to correct that! As noted by Kotaku reader Chris Hill, Japan recently got a new English instruction book called How to Use Fuck (正しいFUCKの使い方 or Tadashii Fuck no Tsukaikata). The book gives examples and explanations so people in Japan can improve their f-bomb abilities.

[Pic: takesh_s]

[Pic: Chris Hill]

As noted by website Hayabusa.bz, the book even provides a detailed explanation of what the fucking word.

Besides teaching essential phrases like "What the fuck?" and "fucked up," the book also explains how to correctly use "shit," "damn," and "hell." Important stuff!

[Pic: tmynkym]

Which looks more enjoyable? The book that tells you how to say, "I brush my teeth" or the one that teaches, "fuck off." Fucking A, that's an easy choice.

This reminds me of English Words That Don't Appear on Tests, but with bad words. How to Use Fuck also comes with an audio CD, so people can practice their accents. You know, so as not to fuck up the pronunciation.

WORKS : 正しいFUCKの使い方 [Naijel Blog]

『正しいFUCKの使い方 -学校では教えてくれない、取扱注意のfuck、shit、damn、hell-』 [Hayabusa.bz]

"正しいFUCKの使い方" [Hidden Champion]

@Brian_Ashcraft I think you'll also appreciate knowing this exists. [@RaptureBurgers Thanks, Chris!]

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.

Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

Tina Fey in college.

Act sober…. act sober…. [x]

The creator of the gaming sensation Flappy Bird now says he is bringing the game back. In an interview with CNBC, Dong Nguyen said the new version would be a multiplayer game that is "less addictive" than its predecessor. Nguyen famously pulled the game from app stores amid worries that the game's millions of fans were spending too much time playing the game.

Flappy Bird, which asks players to navigate a blob-like animal through a fiendishly challenging series of green pipes, became a sensation earlier this year. Its legend only grew when Nguyen removed it from app stores, leading to an army of clones that dominated the charts for weeks. On CNBC today, Nguyen said the original game has been downloaded more than 50 million times. The...

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Apple may add Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre to its executive team upon completion of its rumored $3.2 billion purchase of Beats Electronics, reports Billboard.

The move would make sense considering that Apple put a high value on marketing. And even though neither Beat’s headphones or streaming service are innovative products, Interscope co-founder Iovine and Dre have been successful in transforming the company into a powerhouse largely though marketing. That is something Apple probably wants integrated within its executive team.

If true, it would add yet another bullet point to the pair’s already-impressive biographies, which also include having their names on the “Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy,” a four-year arts and entrepreneurship degree, at the University of Southern California.

While there’s been no word on exactly what Iovine and Dre will be doing at Apple if the sale does happen, Billboard’s sources state that Iovine would likely assume a role managing all of Apple’s music strategies and relationships — something he’s more than qualified to do.

Billboard’s sources also indicated that an announcement from Apple might be coming soon. Specifically, Apple may make an announcement at its Worldwide Developers Conference a few weeks from now.

Should Dre appear on stage at WWDC, it wouldn’t be the first time he addressed a crowd of Apple fanboys. Dre’s first appearance came in the form of a iChat video congratulating Steve Jobs on the launch of the iPod and iTunes Store years ago.

Get off the stupid message boards…

Get off the blogs (including this one)…

Get off the video games…

Remember what Dani Bunten (of M.U.L.E. fame) said on his death bed: “I regret that I spent so much time in front of a computer.”

“It’s your life — but only if you make it so. The standards by which you live must be your own standards, your own values, your own convictions in regard to what is right and wrong, what is true and false, what is important and what is trivial. When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else or a community or a pressure group, you surrender your own integrity. You become, to the extent of your surrender, less of a human being.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Zoe Quinn doesn't just make heartfelt, experimental games like Depression Quest. She's also pretty set on becoming a cyborg, judging from the cyberpunk as hell implants she's gotten over the last couple of years.

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This just aired for the first time during tonight's 24. Young Batman. Not bad! Gotham airs this fall on Fox.

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CEO Bobby Kotick has revealed that Activision is spending $500 million to try and make Destiny a hit. That's half a billion dollars, which is very likely more money than has ever been spent on a video game before. Dang.

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Google Maps for iOS and Android is getting a big update today, bringing stronger support for offline maps to both platforms, adding in lane guidance when driving, and integrating Uber as an option for getting around. Among the most helpful of the updates will certainly be offline maps, which is now front-and-center on iOS for the first time and in a more robust form on Android: after searching for or tapping on a location, Maps will display an option to save that area for use without an internet connection. Google is introducing a way to manage those offline maps too, allowing users to see what locations they have saved through their profile.

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Why walk when you can Uber?Turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps is also getting a lot more helpful with today's update. In the US, as well as parts of Canada and Japan, Maps will now tell drivers if they should stay in their lane or move over to a different one when they're approaching an exit or a turn. The update will also put drivers just a tap away from changing to an alternate route, rather than leaving drivers stuck with whatever route they initially chose.

Maps is also building Uber into its options for getting around. In certain cities — presumably those where Uber operates — anyone who has Uber's app installed will see a "Get an Uber" option along with an estimated transportation time when searching for public transit or walking directions. It's an interesting integration, especially given Google Ventures' sizeable investment in Uber. Uber is certainly at the forefront of taxi apps, but it's far from the only option available in many big cities.

Correction, May 6th, 2:05PM ET: Offline maps were previously available on iOS through an easter egg, in which typing "OK Maps" into the search bar would save whatever area was on screen. This article previously stated that offlline maps were coming to iOS for the first time.

Microsoft has a ton of original TV shows in the works for the Xbox One, and no series has been quite so anticipated as the Halo show being executive produced by Steven Spielberg. But now, Variety is reporting that Spielberg's Halo may not actually be an Xbox exclusive — a decision that would mean Microsoft is giving up its biggest draw to Xbox's original content push. A deal is reportedly underway to develop the series alongside Showtime, which will air the episodes first before they head over to the console. It's not stated how long the window would be between their airtimes.

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Mascot GIFs (Part 1) [x]

Previously: Goat GIFs, Dog Fails GIFs

Apotheon Coming to PS4







Axiom Verge: Sci-fi Sidescroller coming to PS4, Vita















RPG Platformer Chasm Coming to PS4 This Year









Drifter Coming to PS4 and PS Vita









Escape Goat 2 Coming to PS4











Jamestown Plus Coming to PS4 This Summer









Nidhogg on PS4: Sidescrolling Competitive Fencing Action







Spelunky Coming to PS4









Ironclad Tactics Coming to PS4







Skulls of the Shogun is rolling onto PS4









Source on PS4: Evolving The Adventure









Starwhal: Just the Tip Flopping to PS4, PS3

If you’re a gamer, lag is one of your worst enemies. But what would it be like if you experienced lag in real life? Imagine how frustrating that would be!

Introducing Living With Lag — a cute experiment put on by an internet provider called Ume. Using an Oculus Rift development kit, a Raspberry Pi, noise cancelling headphones and a webcam, Ume’s thrown together a fun social experiment. The webcam captures both audio and video and repeats it to the Oculus Rift via the Pi at a variable delay to show the effects of slow internet speeds.

They attempt four different scenarios. Ping pong is pretty much impossible. Dance class is just embarrassing. And attempting to cook or eat is absolutely hilarious. They even try bowling, which also proves more difficult than you could imagine!

Stick around to see for yourself.

In the end it’s still a commercial, but heck — good job Ume!

[Thanks Brandon!]

Filed under: Virtual Reality

A Villareal fan throws a banana at Dani Alves before his corner kick. Dani Alves, a prominent victim of racism in Spain, eats it.

Alves: “I don’t know who threw the banana, but I’d want to thank him. It gave me energy to give 2 more crosses that ended up in a goal.”

The mysterious Japanese manga author Tsugumi Oba is returning to the comic book world after a two-year hiatus this May with a new manga called Skip Yamada-kun.

Oba, who wrote the popular manga series Death Note and Bakuman, is writing the new manga for an upcoming special 35th anniversary edition of Shukan Young Jump magazine called “Jump” meets “Girl” SPECIAL COMIC, which will hit books shelves on May 8. And unlike his past comics that were serialized across several magazine issues, this new manga is a single-issue standalone story.

Oba, who in the past has partnered with the illustrator Takeshi Obata, will be collaborating for the first time with Robico, the creator of the hit manga My Little Monster. Both Death Note and Bakuman were illustrated by Obata and this will be the first manga by Oba to use a different illustrator. Fans of the secretive manga author are a little skeptical of Robico—who is well known for love-themed manga—but are cautiously looking forward to seeing a new side of Oba.

Little is known about the plot of the new manga expect that Skip Yamada-kun will center on a junior high school student who “hates troublesome things” and always looks for the easy way out. Although the publisher hasn’t given out many details, they have said that “something” appears to this junior high school student. Judging from the promotional art, the “something” seems to be a remote control, which hopefully can provide a much more meaningful plot device than the 2006 Adam Sandler classic Click.

This latest work by Oba will likely cause fans to look for further clues about the true identity of the manga artist that he has managed to keep secret despite the huge popularity of his manga series. Some have theorized that Oba is actually the pen name for Gamo Hiroshi who wrote the bizarre superhero manga Tottemo! Luckyman in the 1990s. Proponents of this theory point to how the maing character’s uncle in Bakuman works on a very similar superhero-themed manga and how Light Kangami in Death Note goes to a cram school that offers a “Gamo Seminar.”

Whatever the identity of Oba, it’s clear that the reclusive manga author knows how to create a popular comic book story. And even if some don’t appreciate the complex plot lines of Oba’s past stories that involve a magical notebook that kills anyone whose name is written it it, we imagine fans will be lining up to buy the 340-yen (US$3.30) magazine come May 8.

If you’re a fan of Oba’s past manga series, we would love to hear in the comments below about your initial thoughts on the upcoming manga and whether you think it will be worth the two-year wait!

Feature Image: Natalie
Source: Naver Matome

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• Comic Walker app launches with 18 manga titles in English
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Origin: Death Note author to pen first new manga in two years
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As far as we know, no actual meth was inhaled during the making of this sonically glitchy, visually twisting interactive art project. Methlab Agency is just the name of the label that Memory of a Broken Dimension’s Ezra Hanson, a.k.a. XRA, collaborated with to bring together shrill, metallic-sounding beats with his trademark swirl of hypnotic, abstract, grayscale software. From poking around Methlab's website, they remind me of a noisy Planet Mu if that helps any. 

The project, simply called Methlab // XRA Interactive Collaboration, is not dissimilar from many others like it where you navigate cool-looking abstract shapes while listening to cool-sounding electronic music. But the differentiator is that this one is engineered by XRA who has art house skills at stitching together glitchy, digital wefts from binary code.

You can check it out below then play it here.

Kadokawa Acquires Dark Souls/Armored Core's From Software Kadokawa announced on Monday its financial results for the period ending in March 2014. In the results, it revealed that its board of directors decided to acquire 80% of the game maker From Software and make the smaller company a subsidiary. Kadokawa will be buying this stake of From Software from the game maker's previous owner, Trans Comos, and the transfer will conclude on May 21. The Kadokawa Group plans to have From Software, along with its existing Kadokawa Games, as its core game companies to expand its business. From Software developed the Armored Core franchise, the Dark Souls franchise, the Tenchu franchise, and other popular game titles for consoles and portable systems. It was established on November 1, 1986, and it has 268.5 million yen (about US$2.6 million) in capital. As of October 2013, it has 230 employees. animenewsnetwork.com - Press release (PDF)

New Fatal Frame Game Announced For Wii U The last time Tecmo Koei announced a Fatal Frame game, it was Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, a remake of Fatal Frame II. Now, it looks like a Nintendo platform will be getting another Fatal Frame game, as Famitsu reports that a new title in the series is being developed for Wii U. According to the report, the new game is being developed by Tecmo Koei and Nintendo. While details on the new game are light for now, the report also reveals that there are mixed media projects for the series being planned. This includes films, light novels and comics. More details on the new Fatal Frame Wii U title and other media projects will be revealed in the near future. siliconera.com

You'd be forgiven for thinking horror games have lost their edge lately. The current torchbearer is Amnesia: start with a weird fiction pedigree, keep the player on her toes with careful formal elements, and pop in a horrific slavering hellspawn when all else fails.

Games like Slender and its YouTube-ready ilk have nixed the first two, leaving a spare, often-generic level design that disperses jump scares with unflinching repetition. Lord knows how many Slender-likes populate Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter, but it's a formula that sells.

One thing you cannot accuse the freshly Kickstarted OMORI of is exploiting a formula—unless you somehow count “lysergic surrealist RPG” as a formula, in which case let's make more of those.

The game comes out of a blog run by artist OMOCAT; a blog which follows bona-fide hikikomori Omori (wait a minute...) as he talks to himself and his cat, listens to The Smiths, and occasionally points a knife at the bridge of his nose.

Not your typical protagonist, even for a self-released RPG Maker game, but OMOCAT says she's “always envisioned OMORI as a game,” and it seems to have blossomed into something quite interesting.

The point of reference seems to be Yume Nikki, both for the phantasmagoric day-glo aesthetic and for the willfully obscure narrative, which traps Omori in "white space" like an abstract take on Silent Hill 4. But between the warped battle system – like your usual Active Time Battle, except instead of casting Fira or Dispel, you tell your character to “Calm Down” in the face of what appears to be a hybrid shark-plane – and the promised loads of NPCs, dungeons, and quests, plus the eerily sweet soundtrack, the game has earned enough goodwill to muscle past its $22,000 goal in less than two days.

With 43 left to go, we'll see just what OMOCAT has planned for Omori– hopefully he's not too shy to attend his coming-out party. 

wildpens:

This baby knows. [x]