japan

Game preservation faces a lot of unique challenges, but one of its major obstacles is opposition from organizations who don't believe the public should have access to remote libraries of games. Earlier this year, for instance, the ESA's lawyer Steve Englund was quizzed on the topic of game...

The popular Japanese games store Friends has announced it will be closing down at the end of August, as recently discovered by the Twitter user @Grandmaster2048. Friends is one of many game stores that can be found in Akihabara and is primarily known for selling video game soundtracks...

Famitsu's weekly physical sales charts have arrived, and it paints a very familiar picture. Luigi's Mansion 2 HD continues to suck up the rest of the competition, shifting 33,828 copies in the week of 1st to 7th July. In fact, the top three is exactly the same as last week — Animal Crossing...

It's time for another look at the Japanese physical charts courtesy of Famitsu and, surprising nobody, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD has scared off all other options in its debut week. Nintendo's latest remaster comes out on top of the pile this time, with a tasty 88,425 copies sold. Its predecessor...

Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has confirmed in a recent interview with Bloomberg (thanks, VGC) that he is not interested in revisiting the franchise. Granted, given that he left Square Enix in 2003 to establish Mistwalker, this shouldn't necessarily come as much of a shock, but...

It's no secret that AI, and specifically generative AI, has become more and more prevalent in recent years, but if you're concerned about Nintendo utilizing the technology in its game development, then you can put those fears to rest... at least for now. During the company's recent annual...

A new range of lifestyle products has launched exclusively at the Nintendo Kyoto store, each representing a collaboration between the Big N and a local retailer. Of course we want them. Of course they look amazing. The list of gorgeous Nintendo Japan products we'll probably never get the...

Famitsu is back with the latest look at the Japanese charts and last week's champion, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance has dropped to second thanks to the arrival of a new DLC-packed edition of Elden Ring. Yes, the new Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Edition on PS5 has taken the gold this...

Not so long ago, we reported on the fact that the Sega Saturn Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Blue Destiny games were getting cool action figures, and now the spiritual sequel to those games is getting its own model kit. Gundam Side Story 0079: Rise from the Ashes launched in 1999 on the...

On June 7th, Capcom announced via a trailer at Summer Games Fest that M. Bison would be one of the four characters included in the year 2 roster for Street Fighter 6. But only recently, it has come to people's attention that his legendary Japanese voice actor Norio Wakamoto won't be returning...

Nintendo has announced it is releasing a new physical version of Splatoon 3 in Japan next month on 18th July 2024. This new package will come bundle with a copy of the game, the Expansion Pass (including Inkopolis Plaza and Side Order) as well as a three-month Switch Online subscription...

After 13 years, Capcom is going to officially translate and release Ace Attorney Investigations 2. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit will be coming west later this year, as part of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection. It'll...

A new offline meeting space called the Hakuba Virtual Off Center (HVOC) has recently opened in Nagano, Japan for fans of the Virtual On series, giving players a special place to meet up and play all of its original arcade entries (h/t: Game Watch/Forbes). Virtual On — just in case you've never...

The latest Japanese charts are in, courtesy of Famitsu, and while it's certainly a pretty quiet week for video games, it's nevertheless yet another win for the Nintendo Switch. After playing host to the PS5's Stellar Blade in recent weeks, the top ten once again belongs solely to the Switch...

It's official, folks. After being rated by the ESRB back in April, Aksys Games has today announced that Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU will receive a Western release this Autumn. The game was originally announced in last year's Japanese September Direct with an English-language release for...

Back in 1993, Sega released SegaSonic the Hedgehog in Japanese arcades. Controlled using a trackball, it is notable for featuring Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, and was developed by Sega's AM3 arcade division. It's also one of the only Sonic titles to not have been...

Minecraft has now turned 15 and as part of the celebrations, the official manga (which originally made its debut in CoroCoro Comic in April 2020) will finally be released in English. VIZ Media is handling the localisation of Minecraft: The Manga, with it expected to launch at some point in...

Back in 2011, Sega released one of its oddest pieces of hardware yet – the Toylet. Developed by Sega R&D1, it effectively turned going for a piss into an interactive entertainment experience; it comprised of an LCD screen, a motion-tracking sensor (to detect the player) and a downwards-facing...

It's time to take a look at the weekly Japanese charts from Famitsu (by way of Gematsu) and it's a rather quiet one this time, folks. The PS5's Stellar Blade holds onto the crown for the third week in a row (though Paper Mario will surely shake things up next time) and Ring Fit Adventure has...

While the pandemic led to a surge in prices for retro video games in the United States after years of the hobby already getting absurdly expensive, the opposite occurred here in Japan where you couldn't walk into a used games store without tripping over good deals. In 2021, I was able to get...