Game demos are unfortunately a dying breed. While broadband has made it easier than ever to distribute demos to PC and console gamers, they've become more expensive and risky to make. They seldom come out before the full game, especially for AAA games. Developers realize their games are crud and that a demo is just going to make people not want to buy it.
Without Japan, video games would not be very fun. Atari's early work was important, but Japanese developers, publishers, and hardware makers were responsible for almost every major advance in video games for the first 25 years of their mainstream existence. In recent years, it has often been said that they have become less relevant than Western developers. In the indie games movement— (our area of greatest interest here at Indie Games Ichiban)—Japan does not have anywhere near the presence th...
I will be adding the weekly mystery game/box/chest contents here with the newest on top for quick reference.
Nissan said Thursday it will add automatic emergency braking (AEB) capabilities to one million models of its cars and trucks in the US by 2018. But the Japanese carmaker largely remains an exception among mainstream automakers by offering the system as standard.
Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto's medium of choice is none other than your simple household table salt, fragile and completely ephemeral. Yamamoto creates beautiful installations with the medium, salt being a strong symbol in Japanese death culture (as well as several other cultures around the world: Hinduism, Catholicism, Egyptian and Aztec mythology).
Anna The Red is the greatest Bento artist I have come across on the web. She's so highly regarded she even did an ad for Google. Check it out: For those of you who don't know, Bento is a "single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine". When bento is arranged in an elaborate style (such as people, animals, characters, plants, etc.) it is referred to as kyaraben or charaben (a shortened version of character bento).
This how-to video is for anybody looking to gain lean muscle right in the convenience of your own home with little to no equipment. The intensity and variety of these exercises makes for an effective muscle-building workout. Standard Pushup
Join the A-TV science superstars and find out how to make a cabbage indicator to determine whether a substance is an acid or alkali.
Not since JC de Castelbajac's infectiously fun LEGO fashion line have I seen such energetic geek-inspired ware. Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga pays homage to ye olde 8-bit days with his extensive catwalk of video game inspired womenswear—ranging from dresses to suits to streetwear. The pixel-printed Fall/Winter 2011/2012 collection debuted during Tokyo Fashion Week under his label Anrealage. Not only did the models don classic pixel prints, but they also strutted to a live pianist perfor...
While most people go to great lengths to conceal their emotions, Japanese company Neurowear is offering a product that would reveal states of tension, excitement and relaxation—all by the up-and-down motion of a pair of cartoony cat ears. Necomimi is a "new communication tool that augments human’s body and ability." The device reads your brain waves and communicates your emotions before you even open your mouth:
So very pointless, yet unquestionably spectacular. The best kind of "art" performs no other function than to delight the viewer, and Japanese YouTube user Denha's complex marble machines do just that. But are marble machines art? You can call them that—or toys, scientific contraptions, engineering feats—but however you choose to label them, the best marble machines are complicated, skillfully crafted, and driven by the principles of potential energy, kinetic energy and gravity.
Daito Manabe is awesome. Last we heard of him, he was setting up Japanese school girls with glow-in-the-dark grills. Before that, he was playing himself like a human drum kit. And before that, he was just plain old electroshocking himself. In his most recent appearance, he takes his electro-pulsed facial twitches to the stage, with fellow artist Ei Wada, before an audience at Berlin’s Transmediale Festival.
If you're like me, just the idea of skydiving triggers nearly-pee-in-the-pants petrification. But with a little imagination, plus Google Image Search and a projector, and all of us ninnies out there can pretend to do the real thing:
Planning a trip to Japan? Your basic sushi etiquette isn't quite enough. You'll need to know the right things to say, the right way to kneel, and the right way to consume. Click through for AskMen's top 10 rules on authentic sushi eating.
Japanese artist and visual designer Akira Nakayasu creates robotic plants that not only respond to human touch, but anticipate human touch.
Careful or you may find yourself crushing on this cute little Android named HRP-4C. From the head up, the Japanese robot could easily be mistaken for one of her human backup singers. Freaky! Previously, Robot Dance Off Gets Creepy.
Anna the Red, the internet's resident Queen of Bento, has created an elaborate Halloween Bento Box based on video game Costume Quest: "an adorable role-playing adventure game created by Double Fine. It takes place on Halloween night, kids in costume trick-or-treating and fighting monsters to save a kidnapped sibling while collecting costumes."
A team of Japanese researchers have developed an airbag system for the exterior of the car, rather than the interior, with the purpose of protecting pedestrians.
Hongkiat has compiled a collection of beautiful examples of "Bokeh" photography (1, 2):
Japan rules cosplay culture, and these superfans are no exception to the rule. Tokyo Fashion hits the streets, Fruits style, capturing these top-notch, über stylish fashion homages to the infamous Lady Gaga.
You'd think a Hummer couldn't get any more over-the-top (unless you're talking a horse-drawn Hummer or remote-controlled Hummer, of course), but Japanese tuner Calwing’s US division, 213 Motoring has come out with a Hummer boasting a whole extra set of wheels. I'm not quite sure why this is necessary, but nonetheless, Bornrich reports:
Ok... so this is a CAKE! site... but I'm open to lots of desserts... and these Japanese Kit-Kat flavors are just too weird. Check it out:
Horticulture mad-science offers a slew of marketing possibilities. How is it that our grocery stores aren't filled with Mickey Mouse shaped melons or, as in the case of Chinese farmer Hao Xianzhang, baby shaped pears? Xianzhang isn't the first to come up with the idea of young produce grown into a specifically shaped mold; the Japanese have been growing square shaped watermelons for the purpose of refrigerator space efficiency. And (as pictured below), decades ago an Ohio farmer grew a real-l...
If you don't have the backyard space to make a Japanese rock garden where you can spend long afternoons meditatively raking ripple-like patterns into the sand below your feet, settle for the next best thing by making a simple, miniature zen garden that can easily fit on the corner of your desk or nightstand.
If you've ever popped the hood of you car and went, "I can do that," then you're about to get your chance. A Japanese company called Modi-Corp has unveiled its plans to release a kit that will let you put together your very own electric car. Granted, it's not that impressive of a vehicle. Actually, the "Pius" is just a one-seater and somehow strangely classified in Japan as a "motorized bicycle." The "car" will only be able to reach top speeds of up to 21 mph, making it more of a go-kart than...
Here ya go, a collection of the web's nerdiest Mario-mania. C'mon, who doesn't love Mario? Check it out. Everything from tattoos to cake decorating to knitting to bento to stop-motion animation.
I have to say, this is one beauty pageant I wish I had attended. The Nail Queen 2009 Awards Ceremony was held at the Tokyo Nail Expo 2009 this past November.
Beautifully constructed wooden SuperCar Maniwa manufactured by Sada-Kenbi. The wooden Japanese car goes for $44,000. Wow. That's a lot for a toy. However, this baby is street legal and can go up to 90km per hour (that would be 55mph).
As November was coming to an end this year, the "6th Robo-One Gate in International Robot Exhibition 2009" dance competition took place. The contenders are just a little bit creepy, to say the least. Particularly exhibit A, Britney Spears wannabe, "LOVE & JOY, Yuhi Kimura", by Doka Harumi.
Can't help but smile at this goofy, endearing nerd "master" (Vitalijus Rodnovas) guiding his copy-cat protege robot (coined Waldo). The rig allows Waldo to mimic Rodnovas' body movements in actual real time.
Kogoro Kurata, master ironsmith, known for his massive, impressive metalworking. His creations are awe-inspiring. Any blacksmith or engineer would agree.
A group of industrious, like-minded friends built this amazing DIY metal motor home from scratch, converting an old semi into luxury-style living.
Yuto Miyazawa kicks ass at electric guitar. Seriously, this kid is out of this world. What other nine-year-old is invited to perform Crazy Train, on stage, with Rock-n-Roll God Ozzy Osbourne?
A brand new Japanese prototype offers users the ability to manipulate real 3D forms, employing a touch interface with a squeezy, rubbery feel.
There's been a lot of craziness from the far East lately on WonderHowTo... A Chinese farmer builds an army of robots, a Thai baker makes horror movie-esque bodies out of bread, a Chinese James Bond enthusiast hacks together his own submarine, and don't forget the Japanese cooking show narrated by a poodle named Francis...
Sure, unrolling toilet paper and tearing it from the roll is not difficult. But if Lego Mindstorms can do it for you, why not?
Fact: the banana is the perfect food. It is a potassium packed snack, CD scratch remover and a prank device.
Yesterday was simple paper airplane replica of an F16 Fighting Falcon. Today, something other worldly. Vincent Floderer has mad originality creating origami figures. This Frenchman is widely regarded as the master of a form called Crumpling. Sea urchins, coral, mushrooms. The realism is breath-taking.
Most stateside gamers have probably never heard of Level-5. If they have, it's more than likely due to the charming and maddening line of Nintendo DS puzzle games, Professor Layton. Some might even remember Dark Cloud and its sequel from the early days of the PlayStation 2, and all eight of you PSP owners in the U.S. might recognize the epic Jeanne d'Arc. These games alone make Level-5 a noteworthy company, but they've quietly surpassed "noteworthy" status to become one of the largest and gre...
This summer, I am looking forward to eating light. Lately I've been eating a lot of cold noodles, whether it be pasta salads or cold soba noodles with vegetables. I took inspiration for classic Japanese soba tsuyu dishes to compose this dish. Mine includes four different vegetables and delicious crisp fried tofu. This version is really a 'Kitsune Soba'—in Japan, Kitsune Soba just means there are fried tofu slices added on top. This recipe is also vegan friendly.
