Gaming News Message Board older than one year ago

We're between major conventions at the moment, not to mention between big game releases, so sadly, this isn't the biggest cosplay roundup we've ever had here on Fancy Pants this week. But the stuff that is on show this week makes up for downfall in numbers. As you can see above, Wreck-it-Ralph cosplay can be so good your eyeballs ache, but below you'll also see maybe the best Ezio outfit I've ever seen. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the bottom-right corner. Fancy Pants is Kotaku's weekly round-up of the best in video game cosplay (costume play), where fans dress up as their favourite characters. As seen on Forcebewitya. As seen on Malindachan. Elizabeth seen on AngelaBermudez. Crimson Viper seen on KOCosplay. As seen on ArtemisBerry. As seen on SakuraFlamme. As seen on twinfools.

According to this poster, beginning June 1, GameStop will no longer accept any PlayStation 2, nor any PS2 game, nor its accessories. We've reached out to GameStop for official confirmation, but this does not seem so farfetched. I traded in a Slim about three weeks ago and got about $12 for it in store credit, and considered myself lucky. Thank God I still had the video cable. Some PS2 titles have destroy orders placed on them—meaning that they have no trade-in value, and if a customer leaves the disc, to just throw it in the trash. And, of course, the PlayStation 4 is expected to get a close-up at E3 in early June. GameStop's refusal to accept a platform or its games and accessories for trade-in is typically the final Kübler-Ross stage in console grief. The PlayStation 2 ended worldwide production at the beginning of the year, following a 13-year run in which it was the undisputed best-selling video game console of all time, selling more than 1.5 billion copies of games. Hic iacet PlayStation. Rex quondam, rexque futurus. Goodnight, Sweet Prince [Reddit, via Destructoid]

If I learned anything this past week, it's that some people will find any context in which an ethnic slur is not an ethnic slur, or will find some justification for its use on something, from a video game to a football team. Really, the reactions were almost swappable. In Washington, rumblings that the Redskins might relocate to a stadium in the city limits sparked a city councilman's call for the team to reconsider its nickname of obviously racist origin—and the usual backlash against it. In video games, a student project out of the Netherlands billed itself as "Starcoon," borne of an understandable language disconnect but one that still invoked a top-five racial slur in the company of "spade," "spook," and the big N. "Starcoon," however, changed its name, recognizing the embarrassment it would inevitably suffer if the game became a success in an English-speaking country. Yes, right, the protagonist of the platformer is a raccoon. Unless the truncated word is preceded by "Maine" or followed by "hound" you will have a problem on this side of the Atlantic, and in this case, it sounded like a ridiculous sci-fi blaxploitation film starring Bull Connor as the villain. Wisely, the creators bailed on the original name, rebranding it as Curio's Starquest. The reaction was depressingly predictable. We're told all the time that the average age of gamers is getting older, but their emotional maturity and concept of life in a pluralist society seems to be stuck somewhere around the freshman year of high school. On average, it's a demographic no more sophisticated than a meathead sports fan. "Ever wonder why racial slurs for white people never caught on?" said this commenter in one of our posts on "Starcoon." No. Please, enlighten us. "Because white people have higher self esteem in regards to their racial identity." Yes, that's it. After everything they've gone through, for all for which they have stood, and suffered, ethnic minorities are simply insecure. Once they get over that, hey, racial equality. No, racial slurs against white people never caught on here because white people, through the laws, textbooks and periodicals they largely control, have a demonstrable, centuries-long head start on deciding what words get used, and how. One of those uses is in professional sports, where white people have such "higher self esteem" that thousands identify themselves, as fans of Washington's football team (or of other teams in high school), with a straight-up ethnic slur. "Redskin nation." "Redskin pride." They smear on warpaint and wear headdresses and go to the games. Then, when someone points out how childish all this is, the official newspaper of white people writes a hoary defense of the right to use the word, a vortex of circular logic that reads like an email from your grandfather with FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD:FWD: in the subject header. It doesn't matter if the entirety of an ethnic minority is or isn't offended by a word and it doesn't matter if you knew a black guy or a native american who has no problem with it. Good for him, though I doubt he actually exists. It doesn't matter if a majority in a poll say they're fine with the name, and it doesn't matter that the word is inoffensive if it describes peanuts or potatoes. And "political correctness," the "liberal media," and every horseshit straw man you construct has nothing to say here. What matters is that a billion-dollar business and its loyal consumers, in the year 2013, identify themselves with an insult. It matters that a term of derision, inferiority and hatred is being directed at the product on the field—by those who sell it and buy it. How is it different from "Washington Shitheads?" How is it even dignified? That is why "Starcoon" changed its name. That is why the Washington Redskins should change theirs. Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Sundays. To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

Morning Star, from Halo creator Alex Seropian and Seven Lights founder Tim Harris' studio, Industrial Toys, pits players against a variety of alien enemies in a hardcore FPS for mobile devices. The Renfield are a race of agile, bulldog humanoids subservient to the main conquering race, the Dust, who are vampiric monsters bent on destruction.

The Renfield take their name from Bram Stoker's Dracula and its secondary antagonist, R.M. Renfield, a psych ward patient with a penchant for consuming living organisms. In the novel, Renfield is under the control of Count Dracula, just as the Renfield in Morning Star are slaves to the Dust. Marvel artist Mike Choi designed the Renfield in Morning Star in one sketch, and from there the enemy has evolved into varying classes: sniper, trooper and "some surprises," Harris writes.

Get a good look at the Renfield on the Industrial Toys blog.

When I got the link from a friend on Twitter, I thought Candy Box was some kind of a test or a joke. Candies started accumulating, and the only button I could click was "eat all the candies." Gulp. Glump. OK. If eating sweets was a management sim, this would be the game. But I left the tab open, and returning about 30 minutes later to clear it out, I saw something a lot more complex. I could buy a lollipop. And a wooden sword. From an ASCII-rendered "candy merchant" who reminded me of Harvey Keitel in Taxi Driver. I picked up the sword. Now I had an inventory. Now I could go on a quest. "The aspect, 'Nothing at first, then it grows,' is my favorite part of the game," Candy Box's creator, aniwey, an 18-year-old university student from Caen, France, told me in an email. "So yes, it's absolutely intended." Released two weeks ago, Candy Box's curious combination of ASCII "graphics," role-playing elements and resource management has caught on with hundreds of thousands. It's something that can be a simple timekiller or a play-it-to-the-end obsession. Whatever time you wish to put into it, Candy Box is there, and if you just want to let it run, fine, when you come back, the lollipop farm will be harvesting a bumper crop, which has its own benefit. "I think the time element is mainly here so that we can do something else while playing the game," aniwey said. "It makes the game very simple; it doesn't use all the player's attention." Candy Box is built upon simple discoveries, so any description of its gameplay feels almost like a spoiler. It features all the staples of RPGs—hit points, scrolls, maps and magic items—but discovering how they fit together is the more edifying result of playing the game, rather than the brute force completion of a tough quest with a big sword and a ton of health potions. Its use of time is not much different from social games such as Farmville, in that you must wait to acquire enough candies (the game's currency), or in between quests after you fail or lose a lot of hit points. The hard-and-fast waiting times are reasonable (about 3 minutes after a failed quest; at maximum lollipop farm production, you can buy a magic sword from the enchantress after an hour.) Nothing forces you to invite friends or wait until tomorrow and, even if you did, you'd return to find a hoard of candies waiting to be spent on gear, or consumed to boost your health. aniwey says the game isn't any kind of a commentary on or parody of social games or video games, though. He did it as an exercise, following the completion of his last project. "Usually I don't make web applications, more like C/C++ things," he said, "but I wanted a change, and a game is fun to develop." (I asked if the Candy Merchant was a drug dealer, or if the candies were an allegory for drugs, and aniwey said no. "Nah, too sweet to be drugs. What kind of drug dealer would sell lollipops and weapons?") Originally, the game had just three quests and there were no items usable during them. (Strategic use of health potions, and managing the cool-down, lends a modicum of fast-twitch gameplay to the quest portion.) But as aniwey learned more about the programming language, he added in features to flesh out the experience. The latest batch of statistics shows nearly 350,000 gamesaves have been created, hinting at a viral hit. (Some of game's stats, like achievements or trophies, could be considered spoilers for the rest of the game.) I lost my gamesave when my browser crashed, but right now I have maxed the farm's lollipop production and fully enchanted my sword for maximum damage, making me this game's version of a tank, I suppose. A sequel is planned, thanks to popular demand. "I've gotten a lot of responses, a lot of emails," he said. "I don't know if I've made a 'hit game' but I think the kind of game I made has some future." Candy Box can take from two days to a week to complete, depending on a player's time, patience, and how he plants his lollipops. Every action you take seems to lead to a new discovery, except one. "Throwing the candies on the ground does nothing," aniwey said, adding a smile. To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

Let's spare a word of charity for Henry Gribbohm, who redefined "booby prize" when he spent his life's savings trying to win an Xbox 360 at a carnival game and walked away with an enormous dreadlocked banana, at the effective price of $2,600. That fairly calls for 'Shop Contest immortality, wouldn't you say? So make it happen. Our colleagues at Gawker supply this exploitable of Gribbohm, but the banana is partially obscured. All I can say is that a Google image search of his name turns up a lot more. And if that doesn't tickle your banana, here's a wild card: The juggalo from the Grand Theft Auto V trailers released this week. I'll accept submissions based on either. Source Image: Henry Gribbohm and the dreadlocked banana. Wild card: GTA V Juggalo. We've got a new commenting system, and while most of you are smart enough to figure out how to upload images, here are some simple steps to take for those less familiar with the practice 1. Create your 'Shop and save it to your desktop. 2. Go to the bottom of this post and click "Discuss." 3. This brings up a comment window. Click the icon that looks like a picture. 4. This brings up another window called "Insert Image." Click "Choose file" if you're uploading your 'shop from your desktop 5. Alternatively, you can upload the 'Shop to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. Then paste the image's URL into the field that says "Image URL." Note: this must be the URL of the image itself, not the page where it is displayed. That means the URL ends in .jpg, .gif, .png, whatever. 6. Add editorial commentary and hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, upload the image to imgur and paste the image URL as a comment. I promise I will look at it. 7. I'm not sure if we still have file size restrictions under Kinja but it's probably a good idea to keep your image size under 1 MB. This is especially true for animated .gifs. If you're still having trouble uploading the image, try to keep its longest dimension (horizontal or vertical) under 1000 pixels. Alright! Have at it. Thanks very much for your participation.

Atomhawk Design recently updated its Kickstarter page for The Realm with a new video explaining the game's design details. The video shows the game's designers elaborating on their inspirations for The Realm, including aspects of popular point-and-click adventure games the team avoided in creating the game, such as deep inventory management. Members of the Atomhawk team also describe the ways that the game's two main characters, a girl named Sarina and her golem friend Toru, interact to solve puzzles.

The Realm has 16 days left in its Kickstarter campaign to reach its goal of £195,000 ($297,000), of which the developer has currently raised £50,497 ($78,593).

Well, now. This .gif series gets a big ole George Takei "Oh my ..." It's just someone doing suggestive things to a Nintendo 64 controller, is that NSFW? Well, yeah, because I'd probably get arrested for showing it to a minor. It gets a lot steamier inside. Lawdy, I'm just about to fan myself over here. How long can this gentleman go? There is one more (by far the most NSFW) which you can see over on gugogif.tumblr.com [via Destructoid] To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

Welcome to Kotaku's Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner. Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published May 2. Read more of Nerf NOW!! Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published April 29. Read more of Penny Arcade Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published April 29. Read more of Awkward Zombie Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull. Published May 1. Read more of Manly Guys Doing Manly Things Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published May 3. Read more of Brawl In The Family Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth. Published May 2. Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie. Published May 1. Read more of Virtual Shackles Another Videogame Webcomic by Phil Chan and Joe Dunn. Published May 4. Read more of Another Videogame Webcomic Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published May 2. Read more of Corpse Run Nerd Rage by Andy Kluthe. Published May 3. Read more of Nerd Rage

Last week, Luis Tyler beat all you ever saw, gettin' in trouble with the law with 55 pounds of marijuana packed into a Pac-Man cabinet. This was a grand time to introduce him to the Kotaku 'Shop Contest, and it resulted in a first! The first ever tag-team overall No. 1, thanks to all-stars Sciteach and uscg_pa! Sciteach came up with the base "BONG" cabinet image, while uscg_pa, working independently, developed the screenshot it uses. When the two realized what they had, they activated Wonder Twin Kotaku 'Shop Contest powers to come up with the winnah. uscg_pa also had another finalist, and frequent fliers Snufkin and arniejolt also placed two. Enjoy the calvacade of silliness below, but first, the original exploitable everyone worked with: And now, the finalists! AlexBlomkvist arniejolt arniejolt burner07leroy ginger07snap Paterk Sciteach and uscg_pa Snufkin Snufkin Thorigim Timstuff toolsoldier uscg_pa VonEguT xbattousal666 To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.

It's been a cheerful day for video game crime news, hasn't it? First was the teenage father who sawed a former friend's neck down to the trachea over some Xbox Live name-calling. Now an Iowa boy says he killed and attempted to rape his mother after she took away Call of Duty. That's according to the 911 call 14-year-old Noah Crooks of Osage, Iowa placed on March 24, 2012, the night he shot his mother 20 times. It was played in court this week as his trial began. His mother, Gretchen Crooks, had confiscated his video game about three hours before she was shot to death, an act believed to spark the fit of rage that led to her killing. It was the first homicide reported in that town since 1898. “I’m not joking at all. She’s dead. I’m scared. I killed my mom with my .22. I don’t know why I did it,” he told the 911 dispatcher. "I tried to rape her. I tried to rape her but I couldn’t do it." He spoke of playing Call of Duty and said his mother took it away because he got bad grades. “Something just came over me,” he said. Crooks shot her with the .22 rifle he was given as an 11-year-old. Considering a 5-year-old in Kentucky just shot his 2-year-old sister to death with a candy-colored, small-size .22 rifle made especially for children, one would think this type of product or gift-giving practice should come in for a public ass-kicking, but I doubt it will. The defense opened its case on Friday with testimony from Noah Crooks' friends, one of whom played Call of Duty with him online. The testimony is meant to establish some type of rapid change in Crooks' behavior. Despite constant references to an attention deficit disorder and the rambling 911 call in which he appears divorced from reality, he did say, "I feel crazy and I know I’m not." Jury listens to 911 tape during testimony in Crooks case [Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette, via Destructoid. Image via KAAL-TV.]

This just popped up on Twitch, it's a livestream of pre-alpha gameplay of the long-lamented Star Wars: Battlefront III, by Past to Present Online. [Via NeoGAF] Watch live video from ptoponline on www.twitch.tv

Injustice yesterday copped to adding in Batgirl as a DLC character, so that's one down, two to go on that rumor (the others are believed to be General Zod and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.) There will be gameplay video of her "next week," but no specific release date was given.

That's no moon, it's The Moneysaver. Looking for the current Moneysaver roundup? Click here. May the deals be with you. The first thing you need to know is that it's FREE Comic Book Day. Click for all the details. We're rounding up the best deals today on everything Star Wars, and if you find a great one we missed, we want to see it in the comments. Head to io9 to share your favorite Star Wars .gifs! Scroll down now to save more money than you can possibly imagine. Media • Star Wars: The Original Trilogy ($33) | Amazon • Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy ($33) | Amazon Note: This is the last day for these Blu-ray sales. • Dark Horse May the 4th Megabundle ($100) | Dark Horse | Normally $393 | 129 Comics • 40 Star Wars Graphic Novels [Kindle] ($2/each) | Amazon • FREE Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 5, Episode 16 "The Lawless" | iTunes Games Gamefly | Use code GFDMAY20• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ($2.70) | Normally $10• Star Wars Battlefront II ($2.70) | $10• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition ($5.40) | Normally $20• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II ($5.40) | Normally $20• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy ($2.70) | Normally $10• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast ($2.70) | Normally $10• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga ($5.40) | Normally $20• LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars ($5.40) | Normally $20• Star Wars: Dark Forces ($1.40) | Normally $5 Note: The Gamefly games are 20% cheaper, but don't come with a Steam key. The steam games listed below aren't on sale on Gamefly, but the Gamefly games listed above are on sale on Steam, except for the LEGO games. Also, if you want to get Mac versions along with the PC version for certain titles, then buy from Steam. Steam• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II ($1.69) | Normally $5• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith ($1.01) | Normally $3• Star Wars Republic Commando ($3.39) | Normally $10• Star Wars Starfighter ($1.69) | Normally $5• Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes ($6.79) | Normally $20 • Star Wars Empire at War: Gold Pack (6.79) | Normally $20• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II ($3.39) | Normally $10 • FREE LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles | iTunes • Star Wars Pinball is available for 50% off on most platforms. Everything Else • ThinkGeek Star Wars 25% off | ThinkGeek | Use code MAYTHE4TH • Star Wars Mimobots 15% off | Mimoco | Use code SWBOTMAY4TH • Star Wars CuffLinks Sale | Cufflinks.com • Fathead 30% off Star Wars | Fathead • Star Wars Apparel 30% off | Junk Food Clothing | Use code MAYTHEFOURTH30 • 80'sTees 25% off Star Wars Merchandise | 80sTees.com | Use code May42013 • Barnes and Noble Star Wars Mega Sale | Barnes and Noble Keep up with Shane Roberts on Kinja and Twitter. Check out Dealzmodo for more great tech deals, and Deals.Kinja.com for even more discounts. This is a Moneysaver One-Shot, a post focusing on a single deal, sale, or category. Join us every weekday at 2:15pm EST for the full Moneysaver roundup, brought to you by the Commerce Team. We're here to bring Kotaku readers the best gaming deals available, and to be clear, we also make money if you buy. We want your feedback.

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ... QUOTE | “If your latest game doesn't do well that's probably the end of it for you no matter whether you're big or small.”—Dan Paladin, developer of Castle Crashers, talking about how unstable the industry is for both large and small developers. QUOTE | “We believe PS4 has everything required to stay competitive in this changing landscape.”—Quantic Dream co-founder Guillaume de Fondaumiere talking about how consoles and PS4 in particular will still offer compelling opportunities despite the rise of mobile and other platforms. QUOTE | “Mobile will become the primary screen for gamers.”—Juniper Research talking about the swift rise in gaming on tablets and smartphones. QUOTE | “'It's so far fetched that it comes to a point where it's kind of funny.”—Game designer Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, talking about why he likes to put over-the-top violence in games like Lollipop Chainsaw. STAT | 72% – Percentage of gamers playing online, according to NPD; this is up from 67% last year, and gamers are playing 9% more overall. QUOTE | “I don't think I'd spend $80 million on a risky title. I would spend $80 million on 80 risky titles.”—Compulsion Games' Guillaume Provost, talking about how he as an indie gamer would approach AAA publishing. QUOTE | “In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet.”—Thorsten Heins, CEO of Blackberry, showing the marketing savvy that's led to Blackberry losing the lead in smartphones. QUOTE | “Even though we have used bans, as a developer that is the worst action.”—Jeffrey Lin, lead designer of social systems at Riot Games, talking about how Riot tries to reform toxic players instead of banning them. QUOTE | “They're wearing it—hats, shirts, hoodies, backpacks, shorts, socks, flip flops and probably, if you looked, their underwear.”—Jon Buller, VP of swag maker Marketing Instincts, talking about how much gamers love game-related merchandise. STAT | $11.9 billion—Amount that the PC online game market in China will rake in this year, according to research firm Niko Partners; growth is expected to slow but still add more than $2 billion each year. QUOTE | “Next generation, everything's going to have to be destructible.”—Andrew Bowell, worldwide head of product management for Havok, talking about how physics is getting more popular in games. QUOTE | “Treat it like a book; why not make a movie where the game started?”—James McTiegue, director of V for Vendetta, talking about how to make a movie based on a game that won't suck. QUOTE | “Nobody wants to be told there are bugs in their work.”—David Deeble, former QA tester, talking along with other QA testers about how thankless and difficult their job can be. This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International Image by Shutterstock

What's that you say? Today is Free Comic Book Day? Why yes, I'll have that copy of Tales to Astonish #27 then. Oh, so some are free, but that one isn't. OK. Well, then why don't you call it "Free Comic Book Other Than Tales to Astonish #27 Day"? (Find your nearest participating store.)

Is it wisdom or is that the green talking? What's to say it can't be both?

There were some exciting video game happenings this week! Grand Theft Auto V got three new trailers—one big trailer?—for the three protagonists you get to control in Rockstar's next game. Bossman Stephen Totilo checked the game out for the very first time, and came away with a ton of details written with a ton of words. But he made you all a TL;DR version, too. We also debuted and completed a Visual History series of attractive video game characters through the decades. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon came out, as did Iron Man 3 (the film). Enough to keep you busy for a while. To see all of our best coverage of these things and more, check out Kotaku Selects, where I round up our best content. Up top is Blanka—who was always a favorite Street Fighter character of mine—designed by Carl Pearce. He's got another version up on his deviantART page, but I like this one more. It's also a little old, but it was brought to my attention thanks to Xombie Durge, and I just had to share. To contact the author of this post, write to tina@kotaku.com or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini.

Brad goes to Another World, Jeff lives La Vita Loca while voyeur mosquitos battle with chocolate swords.

Shin Megami Tensei games have typically always let you collect demon minions which you can then use in battle, ala Pokémon. You can "fuse" these demons to make new ones, but that's typically a solitary affair. In the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei IV, other players will allow you to perform special fusions via Streetpass. Streetpass is is a 3DS feature which allows 3DSes to communicate with one another and exchange information, even if the 3DS is in sleep mode. In order for it to work, other players must be within a certain range of a 3DS owner. Here's how the upcoming SMT uses the feature according to Siliconera: Players exchange Digital Devil Service cards over Streetpass. These show your character’s level, a demon you select, and a canned message. When you exchange cards with other Shin Megami Tensei IV samurai you might be able to do a special kind of fusion. As an example, Siliconera cites the adorable Jack Frost, who can acquire a black card which can then trigger a fusion that changes him into "Shemhazai." It's kind of like trade evolutions in Pokémon, except you don't need to exchange your minions—just cards. Which sounds better, frankly. Shin Megami Tensei IV releases this summer for the 3DS in the United States. (Via Siliconera)

This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. I probably wouldn't have noticed Mars: War Logs except for the PR email I received which included a line about how it had been influenced by the French film "Army Of Shadows." This piqued my curiosity for two reasons: first, it seems utterly astonishing to me that a game would advertise itself as being based on a 45-year-old foreign film that was buried for decades due to its politics. Second, after I discovered it via a feature on cult films, I watched it and enjoyed it, and have come to cite it as an excellent example of one of my favorite types of narrative: the resistance story.

Role-playing games have a long and storied association with resistance stories. Many of the classic JRPGs of the 1990s began with the premise that an evil empire or corporation was taking over the world (and probably awakening an ancient evil), and only you and your ragtag band of spiky-haired misfits could stop it. Final Fantasy 6's Returners and Final Fantasy 7's Avalanche were two of the most famous resistance groups of their era, but they weren't alone. The Suikoden games, The Secret Of Mana, Wild Arms, and Grandia all had the equivalent of evil empires of their own. It's not limited to that era and type: there are also modern JRPGs like Radiant Historia, as well as classic PC RPGs like Ultima 5, Ultima 7 and The Magic Candle 2.

Some games are all about shooting. Some games task you with exploring new worlds and embarking upon crazy adventures. And some games... let you walk through a graveyard. Boon Hill, a new Kickstarter project created by a guy named Matthew Ritter, wants to be that game. There's no way to win or lose in Boon Hill, Ritter says: you just explore, and read, and soak in the atmosphere. And... it sounds amazing. I don't want to imply the game is aimless. Boon Hill is about inferred stories, about the connections people have that continue even after they die. The graveyard tells many tales woven by those who've long since passed on: stories of love, life, sorrow, and joy, told over generations. The threads of narrative are woven throughout the gravestones for you to discover, if you have the inkling to look. A row of graves all with the same last name, most of them having died very young, suggests a specific set of circumstances. An epitaph that reads 'Survived by no one' is dour, yes, but clearly someone carried out their last wishes. Here, people are tied together by something as simple as similar birth dates, the places they were born or died, and even the styles of their grave markers. Subtle stories abound in the rows of stone. Ritter wants $5,000 to make it happen. You can check out the Kickstarter here.

You kids get off of my lawn! Damn, that really does feel good. I turned 40 on Wednesday, so excuse me if I didn't play as many gaming apps this week as you young people did. These old eyes aren't what they used to be. Okay, not an excuse. If anything I should be playing more apps, what with all the time sitting out on the back porch (we don't have a front porch), rocking back and forth in my chair and watching the weather. Or The Weather Channel app. Hell, technically old men don't even have to go outside anymore. In a few years I'll be downloading an app that delivers the same experience as walking outside and sweeping the leaves out of the driveway every 15 minutes, without having to deal with any whippersnappers. Some would argue that app is already here several times over. But it's none of this week's apps. These are spritely, virile games, filled with action and adventure and carefully considered strategy and wisdom — all hallmarks of a newer generation, except for the second two. Back in my day we would have skipped the first few paragraphs and gone straight to... What We Played This Week Angry Birds Friends - iOS, Android - Free The weekly Facebook tournament spills over onto Android and iOS, where the Angry Birds series has been just a little bit popular. A tad. Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte! - iOS - $2.99 Normally I take my own screens, but then normally I charge my iPad. Zoombies is another fresh game from High Voltage Software, who've been doing some great things on mobile lately. Take this, for instance — zombie animals. Why aren't there more zombie animals? Candymeleon - iOS - Free See, he's a chameleon, but he eats candy! CANDYMELEON! He's adorable, it's mindless fun, and it's free. I like that combination. Dark Avenger - iOS - Free The free-to-play Diablo clone with the amazingly generic name. Nice polish, good action, wildly derivative. Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy - iOS - $6.99 The incredibly complicated board game is now an incredibly complicated mobile game. An amazing digital translation, but you've got to be sharp and patient to win. LEGO Star Wars: the Yoda Chronicles - iOS - Free Star Wars is great. LEGO is great. The mini-games here? Not so great, but LEGO. Also, Star Wars. Rocket Patrol - iOS - Free A neat little fast-paced card game about the race across space. One of those quick-and-dirty affairs, where the players must choose to drop a travel card or drop a screw-with-your-opponent card. App Reviews for the Week of April 29 - May 3, 2013 Killing Yourself Is Fun In They Need To Be Fed 2 Every level of They Need To Be Fed 2 ends with you hurling your big-headed black and white body into the gaping maw of a carnivorous plant. Trust me, it's for the best. Read… Consider This Training For One Of The Best Fantasy Board Games Ever If Talisman Prologue is any indication of how the full version of the classic fantasy board game will pan out, then fans are in for a real treat when Talisman Digital Edition launches this summer. Until then, they can re-learn the ropes in this single-player boot camp.Read… A 30-Year-Old Fighting Fantasy Comes To Life In My Hands I was a little over 13 when I read the first book in UK game designer Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series of Fighting Fantasy books. Enhancing the page-turning elements of the Choose Your Own Adventure books with pen-and-paper role-playing game mechanics, the series instilled in me a voracious appetite for interactive…Read… This Is The Prettiest Game On iTunes, But Looks Aren't Everything I stare at the glorious handcrafted world of Blitz Games' Paper Titans for hours, lazily rotating each colorfully cobbled-together stage. I would gladly take a large stack of proto-form Titans, popping them out of their paper prisons and folding them to life with a flick of my finger. This striking setting cries out… Read… X-COM Makers' Mobile Monster Mash Conquers Hearts And Wallets Alike There's quite a lot of extra content available for purchase inHaunted Hollow, the spooky new iOS strategy board game from Firaxis, creators of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Between new creatures to add to your arsenal and special item unlocks, you could spend upwards of $17 on the free-to-play game, but that'd be stupid — the… Read… Star Command Is A Great Game, But Also A Kickstarter Warning For the last few days, I've been playing Star Command, a mobile game that's had people excited for a very long time now. Beginning life as a Kickstarter project, it's gone through several major delays, and arrives this week on the App Store an example not just of excellent portable strategy, but of the realities of… Read… Sometimes It's the Simple Things That Get Me There are times I want to explore near photo-realistic ancient temples, battling terrifying enemies with the aid of powerful magical artifacts. I have moments where all I want to do is spend hours building armies, evaluating troop strength and capabilities and devising strategies to take advantage of my findings. Read…

In celebration of Surgeon Simulator 2013 and the indie sensation that it has become: the most disgusting cake you have ever wanted to eat. Mmmm disgustlicious. Uncensored image follows. (Surgeon Simulator 2013 via Reddit) To contact the author of this post, write to tina@kotaku.com or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini.

We walked past this beautiful scenery every day in Iceland.

I’ll have a much longer piece on EVE Online next week, as I’m still processing Fanfest 2013. I’ve never spent so much time engrossed in a subculture that I have little personal context for, but it’s an experience I’d highly recommend. You probably don’t have to travel to Iceland to have a similar escapade, but if you have the chance? Go.

Drew is still chipping away at our hours of footage from that week, and it’s coming together. Both of us went to Iceland without doing much research about what we were going to cover, and while that sounds crazy, it paid off. We had booked a few interviews ahead of time, but the best stuff that came out of our six days abroad came from following our gut. Is this cool? Will our audience find this interesting? Do we find this interesting? Let’s follow the thread.

It’s similar to a piece of advice I gave in my coffee talk video from earlier this week. Someone asked about how to prepare for interviews, easily one of the most daunting parts of covering games, especially if you’re new. When I first started, I would meticulous prepare for my interviews by having a printed document with 20 questions or so. Little thought went into the interview itself. I would read the question, listen to the response, and then ask the next one on the list. As I became more confident in myself, I would rely on those questions less and less, until they became vague topics to fall back on if the conversation stalled. These days, I hop into the interview and figure the discussion itself will lead to something worthwhile. It’s no more of a calculated gamble than allowing a preconceived notion strangle where an interview goes.

I’m so glad the Interview Dumptruck exists now, too. Do you want the deep dive of people talking in what seems like a completely made up language? You got it. Do you want to see more about our escapades exploring Iceland, trying weird food, and get a contact high of EVE Online madness? We’ve got that.

There’s so much more to come. Hope you enjoy it. See you next week!

Hey, You Should Play This

• Candy Box by aniwey (Browser, Free) -- candies.aniwey.net

Another one of those games where I’m just going to ask you to trust me. Eat some candy, throw some on the ground. More importantly, be patient. Most importantly, wait as long as you can before looking up anything more about this game. If you enjoyed Frog Fractions, you’re going to fall in love with Candy Box, as well. This comes from someone who doesn’t eat much candy.

• no-one has to die by StuStutheBloo (Browser, Free) -- www.kongregate.com/games/stustuthebloo/no-one-has-to-die

If you’ve seen myself and other rambling about the Zero Escape series--999, VLR--and been intimidated by the amount of time it takes to see them to their conclusion and gain closure and understanding, consider out no-one has to die. It really is a condensed version of those games. This come with a warning: no-one has to die plays with very similar story concepts to the Zero Escape series. The revelations of both are part of the fun of playing both games. no-one has to die won’t ruin either game for you, but it’ll remove some of the guessing.

And You Should Read This, Too

• "*crag* Videogames" by Darius Kazemi

Designer Darius Kazemi makes a thoughtful argument about the reasons one tries to convey a message through a video game. I’d encourage you to read it first, but Kazemi supposes some creators try to cram their emotions, stories, thoughts into games as a form of validation that might very well be detrimental to what they’re trying to say. Another medium, perhaps art or writing, might be more appropriate. I sometimes wonder the same about my desire for games to become more emotional, more personally revealing. I still want them to do that, but am I spending my time effectively by spending so much energy searching for something that already flourishes in other mediums? Maybe I’m bummed I don’t read more books.

• "The quest for Shadow of the Colossus' last big secret" by Craig Owens for Eurogamer

Speaking of crazy gaming subcultures, Eurogamer highlights a series of truth seekers hoping to find the secrets buried away in Team ICO’s Shadow of the Colossus. It prompted me to wonder why I haven’t played it again after its HD release, but it also speaks to my fascination with players who invest far more into worlds and games than I ever have. I don’t regret having a thousand micro experience with games over a singular, concentrated experience, but one can’t help but be jealous at all the adventuring.

If You Click It, It Will Play

Crowdfunding Has Promise, Hopefully Developers Don't Screw It Up

• Surviving life as a young girl ain't easy, and SISSYFiGHT 2000 aims to prove that.
• Rex Rocket sure looks inspired by Mega Man, and you won't see me complaining.
• Anne sports some of the most gorgeous pixel art this side of Sword & Sworcery.

Missed the EVE Online Coverage We've Rolled Out So far?

• Gimme FTL Drives, Asteroid Mining, and Space Elevators
• Every Vote Counts in EVE Online
• What Drives a Man to Travel Thousands of Miles for a Game

Tweets That Make You Go "Hmmmmmm"

i really wish people would consider the game for what it is and stop talking about me for a second.

— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) May 3, 2013

I know. RT @qianbaou: come on man, I just wanted a kiss

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) May 3, 2013

Oh, And This Other Stuff

• Someone seems to have made game hacking accessible to the newb.
• As what it means to be a "game" splinters, are we forming regrettable cliques?
• Count on Wired's Chris Kohler to have the most poignant rip on modern Nintendo.
• Not everyone likes Phil Fish, but Phil Fish didn't make Fez by himself.
• I'm glad someone out there is playing history's terrible Star Trek games.
• A little history on the development of PlayStation 4, as we near the new Xbox reveal.
• Leaving the Internet for a year won't solve all of your problems, but it makes good reading.
• Kill Screen went looking for the game that designer Jason Rohrer buried in the desert.
• What happens when designers pull a prank on pirates. It's weird, depressing, and uplifting.
• Hideki Kamiya isn't afraid to make short games, and I expect more designers to follow.
• A designer says he'll never work on a first-person-shooter again.
• The Guardian has a wonderful graphic that breaks down violent content in games vs. sales.
• Some legitimate concerns about what it means to pluck players' stories for EVE Online's TV show.

Oh, you want to know about GTAV? Buddy, are you in the right place!

Did you know that Snoop Dogg (née ‘Snoopy’) has a game out today? It’s true! Its also doesn’t work half the time! Way of the Dogg is a downloadable game out today for XBLA. In it, you play a blacksploitation stereotype named America Jones (let that one really sink in) whose girlfriend is shot (it’s not clear why) after he loses a rigged, underground cage match. America swears vengeance against the poorly-explained villains and seeks Snoop Dogg (not Snoop Lion) to teach him the Way of the Dogg (not the Way of the Lionn). Oh yeah, Snoop Dogg lives in a Shaolin Temple where he trains in Kung Fu or something. Also, he’s high all the time, natch. It's basically a cell shaded, fighting rhythm game, in the style of PaRapa the Rapper or Gitaroo Man. Except it's poorly made, uses the GTA font and it doesn't work a lot of the time. When I played it, button prompts would sometimes not appear and pause menus would appear totally blank. Also, the word "Move" stayed on the screen for about an hour without going away. That said? You get to beat up a racist, fat cop on a pier while 'Who Am I? (What's My Name?)' plays in the background. So, occasionally, I found myself having fun — because there's something about playing a Snoop Dogg version of Elite Beat Agents, no matter how bad, that just kinda works on a conceptual level.

I've been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf lately, in preparation for a review next month. One of the staple features in the Animal Crossing franchise is a store run by a fox. The store sells rare items and art. Like, say, this fine statue here. Let's take a closer and uncensored look, shall we? (NSFW warning, I guess): ...yeah, that's definitely a dick. While it's possible this item existed in previous Animal Crossing games, its inclusion now comes as a slight surprise given the recent news of censorship in Fire Emblem: Awakening. We can't look at a racy butt but a fully exposed penis is okay? Then again, many censorship decisions don't quite make sense. Certainly not the decision taken with Fire Emblem, either. I mean, this was left in: Arguably, the reason the statue is okay is because it depicts "art," and so the exposed penis isn't offensive. Can that distinction be made? Some people would say Tharja's sexualized depiction is "art," therefore it shouldn't be censored. What do you guys think? In case you're wondering, I bought the statue. I just need to find a place in my house for it now.

She took her calculator to prom according to The Mary Sue. Because who needs a date when you've got a sharply-dressed calculator? More pictures here. I wonder if anyone has ever taken a body pillow to prom?

For as long as there have been Japanese role-playing games, there has been censorship. Since the NES days, Nintendo and other big Japanese companies have been quick to stamp their big black bars on anything that might be considered offensive to American sensibilities: alcohol, religion, sex, octopus statues, whatever. And JRPGs have been the biggest victim of this misguided crusade. There are tons of egregious examples. Dragon Quest's churches were transformed to Houses of Healing, perhaps because Nintendo believed that Americans do not go to church. During the Magicant sequence of Earthbound, during which our protagonist Ness is supposed to be totally nude, he got pajamas, perhaps because Nintendo believed that Americans do not get naked. Even today, Nintendo doesn't think American gamers should see everything that Japan sees. No thighs allowed. No bikinis, either. Putting aside the conversation about what's tasteful—or why Tharja would be wearing a swimsuit—I think we can all agree that this sort of censorship is absolutely asinine. So let's look back at some of the strangest and silliest examples. Here's an image from Suikoden, sent in by reader Ahmed just this week. In this scene, the characters Varkas and Sydonia have been tied up in the back of a mansion by some nasty soldiers from Suikoden's obligatory Evil Empire. There's really no narrative explanation for the crosses—at least in the English translation—so this act of censorship is rather mild. But if the developers at Konami wanted Varkas and Sydonia to be hanging on crosses, then we should let them hang on friggin' crosses. Then there's this bizarre choice, from Super Mario RPG: In the Japanese version of the game (left), Bowser's victory move is to cross his left arm over his right arm, which I guess is some sort of slang for "screw you" or "up yours." Nintendo changed this for the American version (right), in which Bowser raises his fists to the air in victory. Thank goodness. I'm sure fans across the country would have taken offense at the questionable hand gestures of a grumpy cartoon lizard. There's a great site called Legends of Localization, where Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin—best known for leading the Mother 3 translation project—writes all sorts of fascinating things about game localization. He's also got some great breakdowns of the changes made when Japanese publishers bring their games to U.S. shores. One example of a game full of weird changes: Earthbound. Japan's version: a bar. America's version: a cafe. BECAUSE AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE BARS. Here's another ridiculous one, also via Legends of Localization: In this scene, the heroine Rosa has been kidnapped by the villain Golbez. She's all tied up in some sort of diabolical trap. A big object is about to fall on her head. In Japan, it's a giant blade. In North America, it's a giant boulder. That's right. The folks who brought over Final Fantasy IV thought a blade might seem too violent, but they were okay with the image of a giant boulder crushing Rosa's skull. Okay, your turn. What are some of the most egregious examples of JRPG censorship? Post'em below. Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET.