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Here's the full E3 demo of Airtight's Murdered: Soul Suspect, an action/adventure game with a cool premise. Well, okay, it's basically the same premise as the 1990 Patrick Swayze/Righteous Brothers vehicle Ghost, but hey, that could make for an interesting game.

This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. At first, Layton Brothers: Mystery Room comes across like a decaffeinated, oddly flavored cup of Professor Layton, shaken and stirred into something familiar, but not in an encouraging way. Gone are the prof and his boyish sidekick, in their place Layton's inspector son Alfendi and his tomboyish sidekick Lucy Baker. Framed as a murder mystery whodunnit, each of the game's cases is introduced with possible suspects, and Alfendi tells the player which suspects he thinks is the culprit - often with near absolute certainty, genius that he is. It's then up to players to scan the crime scene, question suspects, remove any remaining doubt and close the case.

Gone is the odd mix of brainteaser puzzles and rustic exploration, now an odd mix of 3D crime scene investigation and more familiar 2D choice-based questioning. Beyond the characters' narrative ties and charming art, it's hard at first to suss out the "Layton" in this iOS adaptation.

It doesn't help that the first two episodes - the only free episodes - are clumsy, and struggle to unearth a rhythm that comes easily to the DS and 3DS games. One minute I'm thoroughly checking out the crime scene, zooming in and out of the 3D environment à la Ace Attorney, the next I'm asking questions. Then suddenly it's back to the crime scene to re-click on clues I've already found. It's as jarring and unconvincing as Luke's accent but, unlike the whippersnapper's vocals, it does get better eventually.

I don't want to be mean here—heck, remember how much fun I had at that one furry party?—but it's difficult to watch this edited footage of a My Little Pony convention concert by Nick Irvin and not be struck by how awkward it is. To be fair, the furry party probably looked awkward as hell too. Nobody recorded that to my knowledge, though, thankfully. Ultimately, if these people are having fun, then....hey! That's cool. For reference: a "brony" is someone who is a fan of the cartoon show, My Little Pony. Best Of "My Little Pony Convention Concert" [Nick Irvin]

Citing supply chain shortages, a new report claims that Apple's revised 7.9-inch tablet won't arrive until next year.

We wrap up one of the App Store's biggest weeks ever by compiling all the major freebies together in one place, right here.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Steam Summer Sale. We're going to make things even easier for you today, and put all the best PC and Mac game sales in this post, even if they aren't directly related to the Summer Sale. Just like yesterday, we'll be telling you what to buy immediately and what to avoid like the plague. We will update the post regularly, including when the flash sales flip over. Stay tuned. Click here for yesterday's coverage and here for the current regular Moneysaver. Current community choice is still not that great, I threw in for Sleeping Dogs. • Flash Sale Legend of Grimrock | Could be cheaper, but not a bad bet. • Flash Sale Runner2 ($7.50) | Great Deal, price on this one has been sticky so far. • Flash Sale XCOM: Enemy Unknown ($10) | This is the sweet spot, easy recommendation. • Flash Sale Far Cry 3 ($24) | This is $20 like twice a week, pass. • Flash Sale Blood Dragon ($7) | Jump on it. • Chivalry ($6) | Pretty sure that's the lowest ever, go for it. • Surgeon Simulator Team Fortress 2 ($3) | Yep, do it. • Sniper 2 ($4) | This is a bad game, so unless you think you'll get $4 of distraction then pass. • FTL ($2.50) | Amazing game, matches lowest price, do it. • Anno 2070 ($15) | I know nothing about it but the pricing is decent. • Darksiders II ($10) | It's been discounted in crazy bundles for less than this, but I say go for it. • The Walking Dead ($6) | Aside from the Humble Bundle, this is the best price so far, and it's an awesome game, and you need it to play 400 Days. • Black Ops II ($30) | You don't really need my advice for this one do you? • FEZ ($5) | Matches lowest price, and it's FEZ, so yes, buy it. • Just Cause 2 ($3) | Yep, pretty easy recommendation. • Bioshock Infinite [Steam] ($26) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • Tomb Raider [Steam] ($15) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • Battlefield 3 Premium Edition [Origin] ($17) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • 17 Command and Conquer Games [Origin] ($8.50) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • Hitman Absolution [Steam] ($8.50) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • 48 Sega Genesis Games ($4.25) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE • Amnesia [Steam] ($2.50) | Amazon | Use one-time use code GOONCAVE The current set of 3 FREE games included with the purchase of a game from the Amazon Indie Store includes The MAW, Ticket to Ride, and Drip Drip. The indie game you choose to buy can also be discounted using one-time use code GOONCAVE 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. Join us every weekday at 2:15pm ET 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.

Snag one of the best phones of the year for $50 through Amazon's current price drop.

During a conference on Friday, Google chairman Eric Schmidt apparently just decided to walk around the press with what looks like a Moto X smartphone.

From what I've seen of it, The Puppeteer is a delightful upcoming PlayStation 3 game starring a boy in a cartoon play. Its creative director, Gavin Moore, doesn't believe players should have the option of playing as a girl in his game. "Why do we want girls to play girls and why do we want boys to play boys?" Moore asked freelance reporter Konstantinos Fotopoulos during a recent press tour for his game in Hamburg. "So I should as a game creator start pandering to public opinion?" The game developer and reporter were discussing the increased conversation among critics and journalists (that, yes, has included some Kotaku work) regarding the representation of women in games. We'd most recently talked to Nintendo's lead game designer Shigeru Miyamoto about both the rise of playable female characters in Nintendo games and the creator's thoughts on the relevance of the gender of his gaming heroes. The full discussion involving Moore's stance on these isues is on Fotopoulos' blog, as is an audio recording of it. There are certainly strong opinions about whether or not more games should give players the chance to play as characters other than the usual default male hero. Some offer the option to play as a female character. Some don't. And those that don't certainly risk losing players who want that option. For Moore, however, he feels the creative intent of his game is sound and that he's entitled to only give his players a boy to play. And he has seen both boys and girls enjoying playing as his male hero in a game that he also says has numerous strong female characters. "I think we should be making what we want to make, and if somebody is upset by that than please don’t buy the product," he said. "I grew up under strong women, I know how the women are strong and I love women. I think they are wonderful, but, I’m not going to change my creative vision over something because somebody tells me that that’s what’s important now. Because I don’t think that’s important. I tested this game with kids. Girls and boys. Not one of them has mentioned it. Not one of them cares. Now all of them had fun." You should read the rest of the interview on Fotopoulos' site. You may or may not agree with Moore, but you can't knock his willingness to engage it in a civil and thoughtful manner. To contact the author of this post, write to stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.

Surely, if you've watched a few Pixar films, you've noticed at least one of the many easter eggs that Pixar includes—they always reference other Pixar movies. It's a staple. Most of the films, for example, include the "Pizza Planet Truck" from Toy Story. At first glance, you might think it's just Pixar having fun and giving nods to their other work. Nothing that, you know, means something. But if you look close enough—as Jon Negroni does here—you might start noticing that there are threads that can theoretically tie all the films together somehow in a single timeline. Yes, things are about to get a little crazy up in here, but the way Negroni explains it, it makes sense. Here are a few snippets of his reasoning, centered around Brave—man, I didn't even notice the door thing, but it all makes sense! Brave is the first and last movie in the timeline. Obviously, this movie about a Scottish kingdom during the Dark Ages is the earliest time period covered by the Pixar films, but it’s also the only Pixar movie that actually explains why animals in the Pixar universe behave like humans sometimes. shpintv.com In Brave, Merida discovers that there is “magic” that can solve her problems but inadvertently turns her mother into a bear. We find out that this magic comes from an odd witch seemingly connected to the mysterious will-of-the-wisps. Not only do we see animals behaving like humans, but we also see brooms (inanimate objects) behaving like people in the witch’s shop. avorah.com We also learn that this witch inexplicably disappears every time she passes through doors, leading us to believe that she may not even exist. And then there’s Boo. What do you think happened to her? She saw everything take place in future earth where “kitty” was able to talk. She became obsessed with finding out what happened to her friend Sully and why animals in her time weren’t quite as smart as the ones she’d seen in the future. She remembers that “doors” are the key to how she found Sully in the first place and becomes… moviefanatic.com A WITCH. Yes, Boo is the witch from Brave. She figures out how to travel in time to find Sully, and goes back to the source: The will-of-the-wisps. They are what started everything, and as a witch, she cultivates this magic in an attempt to find Sully by creating doors going backwards and forwards in time. How do we know? In Brave, you can briefly see a drawing in the workshop. It’s Sully. randomassaultpodcast.com We even see the Pizza Planet truck carved as a wooden toy in her shop, which makes no sense unless she’s seen one before…(and I’m sure she has since that truck is in literally every Pixar movie). If you look closely, you can see the carved truck below. cinemablend.com You remember Merida opening doors and the witch constantly disappearing? It’s because those doors are made the same way from Monsters Inc. They transport across time and that is why Merida couldn’t find the witch. Woah. I'd seen many of the references that Negroni calls up here, but I never really imagined it could all be tied up in an insane timeline where magic and advanced AI exist. Using this framework, he stipulates that Brave's witch is the reason that the toys in Toy Story can exist, as well as personified animals/bugs, like in Ratatouille and A Bug's Life. The monsters, meanwhile, are likely mutated animals—which, given the events of Wall-E, where humanity makes the earth inhospitable, seems plausible. Things would mutate, right? Then we've got a theory on how Buy-N-Large slowly overtakes the Pixar universe: In the beginning of Up, Carl is forced to give up his house to a corporation because they are expanding the city. Think on that. What corporation is guilty for polluting the earth and wiping out life in the distant future because of technology overreach? Buy-n-Large (BNL), a corporation that runs just about everything by the time we get to Wall-E. In the “History of BNL” commercial from the movie, we’re told that BNL has even taken over the world governments. Did you catch that this one corporation achieved global dominance? Interestingly, this is the same organization alluded to in Toy Story 3: Toy Story 3 (Buzz’s batteries) In Finding Nemo, we have an entire population of sea creatures uniting to save a fish that was captured by humans. BNL shows up again in this universe via another news article that talks about a beautiful underwater world. I feel like I need to re-watch every single Pixar film now. You can read the nitty gritty details of Negroni's theory here. It's a doozy. The Pixar Theory [Jon Negroni] Top image via Collider

New Pokemon, new details, the introduction of O-Powers and much more.

Developer Impossible Studios was shuttered earlier this year, and now its only project, Infinity Blade: Dungeons, has officially been shut down as well.

Speaking on the Epic Games podcast, Mustard responded to fan concerns about the game, saying that the iOS dungeon-crawler's concept originated at Epic, and that it was an idea that Chair was "happy to support." Once Impossible was closed, however, the game was canceled, he said. He added that Chair still intends to work with the Infinity Blade universe in the future.

Fallout Nuka Break—Red Star is no ordinary Fallout fan film. It's a fan film that had "creative input" from Fallout developers such as Tim Cain and Chris Avellone—so it's no wonder that it's damned fantastic. You've got a little bit of everything here—from iconic armor, to traders, caps and even super mutants. It's pretty clear that this is a labor of love from Fallout fans and developers alike. Unlike the games, however, this film is more on the gritty side. Little traditional Fallout humor, although the serious tone allows us to see the stark realities of a post-nuclear world. This isn't the first creation by Waydide Creations, though. Two years ago, there was Fallout: Nuka Break—which you can watch here: Red Star, which is a follow-up, is the first in a series of fan-created films from Machinima Prime that will launch in the coming weeks.

Jalopnik The Ten Most Heroic Automotive Rescues Ever Caught On Video | Jezebel Amanda Seyfried Can't Fall in Love Unless Her Vagina Feels Sparks | io9 Major Reveals for Wolverine, Agents of SHIELD... and Pacific Rim 2? | Deadspin Local Reporter Hilariously Demonstrates How To Survive A Bear Attack

The Windows Phone version of Halo: Spartan Assault will come to the US exclusively via Verizon - at least initially. Verizon makes no mention of how long its exclusivity will last, noting only that Verizon customers will get the Halo spin-off "first." The game will be sold for $6.99 and will be compatible with all four of Verizon's Windows Phone 8 models.

If you don't have a Windows Phone (or a Verizon contract), Halo: Spartan Assault is also headed to Windows 8 PCs and tablets. The game is slated to arrive this month.

Playjam Head of Games Sameer Baroova is "absolutely certain" his company's left enough breathing room to ensure the GameStick will meet its August release window. The $80 Android console was originally due in April, but multiple delays have seen it beaten to market by the much higher profile Ouya, which launched earlier this month.

"There was a mad rush, and we underestimated the whole power of being a public product," Baroova told Joystiq, regarding the delays. The device's Kickstarter saw it raise nearly $650,000 compared to its $100,000 goal, courtesy of just less than 5,700 backers.

"The orders and pre-orders, and the number of backers on Kickstarter meant that our volume went larger, and the product feedback also meant that we had a lot more suggestions than we had originally planned [for]," Baroova added.

While he couldn't commit to specifics, Baroova told us he'd be comfortable saying more than 50 games will be available for GameStick at launch. '"At the moment we'e curating the [GameStick] store, taking care to bring content that makes sense on TV," he noted. "There are loads of Android games, but not everything will be a perfect fit for a brand new platform."

The Road to EVO—a series of tournaments leading up to the biggest fighting game tournament of the year—is coming to a decisive close. It's time for the Evolution 2013 tournament, which starts today in Las Vegas, and we're here to serve you all of the livestreams available to make you feel like you're sitting right there alongside all the viewers and fighters in attendance. If you're feeling generous, you can always buy a $12 premium ticket, the profits of which will go to a scholarship fund organized by NYU's Game Center. Otherwise, let's continue on to the free streams and their respective schedules (all in Pacific time). For the most thorough rundown of what EVO is—including the rules, what you should watch and even the lingo the fighting game community uses when discussing the matches—head over to Shoryuken's How To guide. Stream 1 Friday (PST) 8am-2pm: Super Street Fighter IV Pools 2pm-4pm: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Final 4pm-6pm: Persona 4 Finals 6pm-8pm: Super Street Fighter IV Quarter Final 8pm-10pm: Super Street Figher IV Semi Final Saturday 8am-2pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Pools 2pm-4pm: King of Fighters XIII Quarter Final 4pm-6pm: King of Fighters XIII Semi Final 6pm-8pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Quarter Final 8pm-10pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Semi Final Sunday 10am-Noon: King of Fighters XIII Final Noon-2pm: Smash Bros. Melee Final 2pm-4pm: Injustice Final (preceded by an Injustice Special Presentation) 4pm-4:30pm: Killer Instinct Demonstration 4:30pm-6:30pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Final 6:30pm-7pm: Special Presentations 7pm-9pm: Super Street Fighter IV Final Stream 2 Friday (PST) 8am-4pm: Mortal Kombat Pools 4pm-6pm: Mortal Kombat Semi Final 6pm-8pm: Mortal Kombat Final Saturday 8am-4pm: Injustice Pools 4pm-6pm: Injustice Quarter Final 6pm-8pm: Injustice Semi Final 8pm-9pm: Skullgirls 9pm-10pm: Divekick Stream 3 Friday (PST) 8am-2pm: Smash Bros. Melee Pools 2pm-4pm: Super Street Fighter IV Pools 4pm-6pm: Super Street Fighter IV Pools 6pm-8pm: Smash Bros. Melee Pools 8pm-10pm: Super Street Fighter IV Semi Final Saturday 8am-10am: King of Fighters XIII Pools 10am-Noon: Smash Bros. Melee Quarter Final Noon-2pm: Smash Bros. Melee Semi Final 2PM-4PM: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Pools 4pm-6pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Pools 6pm-8pm: Street Fighter X Tekken Final 8pm-10pm: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Semi Final To contact the author of this post, write to tina@kotaku.com or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini.

Here’s what’s going on Talk Among Yourselves, our reader-written blog: pyramidheadcrab muses over what a gaming version of Mt. Rushmore would look like, notgoodforyou offers some suggestions for games that should be on the Vita and etchedchamp explains getting hooked on Animal Crossing.

The Pacific Rim mobile game could never be anything other than an Infinity Blade-style swipe-fighter. Oh there were other game formats that would have worked just fine. Imagine a visual novel adventure with hand-drawn 2D battles between titanic robots and immense aliens, or maybe a Puzzle Fighter-esque game with a dual-sided board, to allow two players to operate a mech at the same time. So many possibilities, but none were ever going to happen. This is a movie game, and any mobile game based on a movie in which one or more characters is hitting something gets the Infinity Blade treatment. See Man of Steel. So yes, this is a series of one-on-one battles, in which the player must dodge, block or counter the enemy's attacks. It's a young genre that already feels tired, even when it's executed as proficiently as it is here. Through battle the player earns cash, used to upgrade robots and buy new weapons and skins for their battling behemoths. Missions take place around the globe, from ruined cityscapes to seaside fights with both combatants up to their ankles in ocean. At one point you fight this guy: He makes me happy. Also, there's a picture of Ron Perlman: He pretty much covers the $4.99 admission price. Reliance Games, developers of the After Earth endless runner and the Real Steel swipe brawler, really does a fine job of quickly pumping out quality movie tie-ins. The problem here is really the same issue that's plagued movie games for decades — an overall lack of innovation. I'd imagine it has something to do with the way film executives' minds work. What's a popular mobile game? Temple Run? Infinity Blade? Let's make that and paste our property over it. I'm surprised this didn't end up a Candy Crush Saga-style match-three puzzler — also a little disappointed, now that I think about it. Pacific Rim isn't a bad Infinity Blade-style mobile game. It's just another one. Pacific Rim Genre: Rock-Em, Swipe-Em Robots Developer: Reliance Games Platform: Android, iOS App Size: 263MB (iOS), 224MB (Android) Price: $4.99 Get Pacific Rim on iTunes — Get Pacific Rim on Google Play

Rovio is teasing a new Star Wars Angry Birds game, and strongly hinting it will take cues from the prequels.

Rovio teased a sequel, er, prequel to flingaway hit Angry Birds: Star Wars.

The company announced on Twitter: "Big new game announcement coming on Monday! #July15"

Ignoring the incorrect use of a hashtag there (#pedant), the tease also included the image found above. The picture is based off the iconic, evocative teaser that got us all so excited for Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, before our dreams were dashed by the realization that the movie was a steaming pile of bantha poodoo.

We've placed the Phantom Menace image after the break. The new Angry Birds game will be announced next Monday.

I still remember the first bad game that really burned me. The year was 2002. I was wearing out my copy of Dead or Alive 3 on the Xbox, and Jann Lee was my combatant of choice. I was a huge martial arts movie fan, and Lee’s silky-smooth combinations, flowing mannerisms and high-pitched shouts were spot-on. This game made me feel the way it should feel to play as a certain legendary martial artist with whom my character shared a last name. I fell in love with that experience, so when an actual Bruce Lee game – Quest of the Dragon – launched, I had to have it. Visions danced in my head of controlling a character who was as fast and as fluid against multiple assailants as Jann Lee. What could possibly be better than Jeet Kune Do in an action-adventure brawler? Turns out, pretty much everything on the Xbox could be and was better. Quest of the Dragon is an abomination. Enemies were boring and repetitive, combat broke down to spamming the same couple of combos, the graphics were substandard, and the controls, which should have let me massacre foes with the same beautiful violence that Jann Lee employed in DoA, were unresponsive to the point of being game-breaking. I was heartbroken, but more importantly, I was pissed. I had just blown $50 on one of the worst games of that generation, and when I finally beat Quest of the Dragon, it was done mostly out of spite. It had taken my money, so damnit, I was going to get my money’s worth. Perspective is a funny thing, because I look back now and I feel fortunate – yes, fortunate – for having played Quest of the Dragon. You see, I hadn’t thought much about that game until I picked up Sleeping Dogs last year, snapped off my first combo as Wei Shen, and marveled at how good it was. This was what a martial arts brawler should feel like, and as I tore through the game, I loved it more and more because it wasn’t Quest of the Dragon. Playing that terrible Xbox game gave me the baseline for everything a game could do wrong, and that perspective made me appreciate everything that Sleeping Dogs did right. In fact, I’ve started playing some of the worst titles available just to gain an appreciation for the quality of well-made games. You should too. The truth is, most gamers today rely on a steady diet of AAA titles to feed their video game appetites, and unless you have an unlimited budget, buying the wrong $60 game can be a significant hit to your allotted gaming fund. This is an expensive hobby, and that’s why video game reviews are taken far more seriously than movie reviews, and that's why keyboard scud missiles are aimed at any reviewer suspected of being bias or unfair. It isn’t until you play a game that does the little things wrong that you appreciate the ones that do them right. An odd thing happens when you’re only eating top-shelf steak; you start to lose taste of what makes it special in the first place. I see this a lot with series that are on regular release cycles like Call of Duty or Halo, or when franchises like Devil May Cry move in a new direction. You can dismiss it as trolling or fanboy ranting, but I’ve heard “that game sucks” in reference to good games from plenty of real, intelligent people who I know personally. Simply put, they’re wrong. Take Call of Duty. The plots might be contrived and the set pieces predictable, but nothing about Call of Duty on a fundamental level sucks. You want a first-person shooter that actually sucks? Play Darkest of Days, a mess of an FPS with invisible walls, glitchy aiming, glitchier enemies, and a preposterous time-travel plot. That came out the same year as Modern Warfare 2. Play it, and then try to tell me with a straight face that Call of Duty sucks. It’s impossible. If you only play a few games all year, I can see how your perspective gets skewed. If you only bought Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Halo 4 and Black Ops II last year, one of those games is going to be your least favorite, probably by a big margin, and it’s easy to say that your least-favorite game sucks by comparison. Little details that make a quality game so special like tight controls, reliable and consistent hit detection and physics, intelligent AI, lighting, and draw distance get taken for granted, because most quality games do those things well to begin with. It isn’t until you play a game that does the little things wrong that you appreciate the ones that do them right. I am a big advocate of playing terrible games for the aforementioned reasons, but I understand that you might be skeptical and wondering why you should waste time and money on a substandard product. Bear with me. My proposal: On the weekend before the release of a game that you are really looking forward to, pick up a terrible game in the same genre and revel in how awful it is. Gamestop has a fantastic used games return policy where you can return a used game with a receipt within seven days of purchase for a full refund, and since bad games tend to sell poorly, they can usually be found used for a few dollars apiece. This serves our purpose perfectly. As far as why you should invest the time, think of it as cleansing your palate with water in between drinking fine wines. You’re shocking your system, washing away the expectations of the last great game you played before starting the next great game anew. My proposal: on the weekend before the release of a game that you are really looking forward to, pick up a terrible game in the same genre and revel in how awful it is, much in the same way you’d watch a terrible movie. Excited for WWE 2K14 this October? Throw in Lucha Libre AAA Heroes del Ring for a few hours of sluggish wrestling and limited match types. Stepping back into Sam Fisher’s boots in Splinter Cell: Blacklist? Pick up Naughty Bear for third-person action/stealth done wrong. The best part is, there is almost always some fun to be had in a game, no matter its review score. After all, bad video games are the yin to good video games’ yang; there is always a little bit of bad in the good, and a little bit of good in the bad. Darkest of Days lets you go Rambo with futuristic weapons on Civil War enemies, which is as ludicrous as it sounds. No game has made me laugh harder than Rock Revolution the first time I heard its unlicensed cover of “Chop Suey,” which is a testament to all that is suck. And Quest of the Dragon? Well…. At least it has Bruce Lee on the cover. Seeking out bad games goes against everything we learn as consumers and gamers, but try it before you judge it. I promise that your gaming experience will be better for it. Cameron Gidari is a freelance writer and the author of Seattle Before8 and the upcoming Manhattan Before8. His work is featured on gidarimedia.com, and he can be reached on Twitter at CGidari.

In Japanese supermarkets, it's not uncommon to see Pokémon branded food. Usually, it's regular food, but with a Pocket Monster label slapped on it. There's one Pokémon food, however, that currently stands out. And boy, it stinks. This is Pokémon branded nattou. Nattou (納豆) is made from fermented beans. It's a slimy food that, if you are not careful, can make quite a gooey, stringy mess. Foreigners often say they hate nattou—that it's too slimy and smells like feet. Not all people in Japan like it, either. The stereotype is that people in the Kansai region (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto) do not like nattou, either. That's not entirely true, nor is it true that foreigners don't eat nattou. I like nattou! My kids, who are from Kansai, like nattou. Nattou is good. So how did the Pokémon branded Mizkan nattou taste? Like regular Mizkan nattou, which tastes just fine. Though, if you are a regular nattou eater (mmm, protein!), you'll already know that Mizkan doesn't package its nattou with mustard. And mustard and nattou are de-licious. If you've never tried nattou, and you get the chance, it's worth eating. Nattou is very healthy and even prevents things like blood clots. Even though it smells, there are brands that sell nattou that doesn't smell like dirty socks. Rather, as much like dirty socks. And this nattou is covered in Pokémon, so there you go. Previously, Kotaku covered some of the video game and anime themed foods you can find in Japanese supermarkets. If you missed that, have a look. 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.

After nineteen years and fourteen volumes, the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga finally came to an end this past week. During that time there have been an Evangelion anime series, five films, tons of games, and even numerous other manga. Yet, after all that, it remains entertaining enough to stand on its own. Good – Changes that Excite the Imagination From start to end, the Evangelion manga is filled to bursting with numerous tiny (and not so tiny) changes to the anime's story. Sometimes there are plot changes, like Rei launching in Eva 01 to fight the third angel before Shinji's arrival or Asuka and Shinji meeting at an arcade and not on the ship. Other times they are lore-based, like the number of overall angels. Moreover, character relationships—especially the ones between Rei and Shinji, Asuka and Shinj, and Kaworu and Shinji—develop in different, if not the opposite, ways from their anime counterparts'. Yet, at the same time, the manga manages to never stray too far from the source material. So, for the most part, these differences, while glaring to anyone who's a devotee of the anime, don't dramatically change how the overall plot unfolds. Thus, the manga balances carefully the new and the old—making each tiny difference seem world-changing in its implications while never breaking from the original story so far as to be unrecognizable. Good – Can Hear Other Characters' Thoughts But perhaps the biggest change between the anime and manga isn’t found in the plot or lore but in the way the story is told. In the anime we are only ever able to see into one person’s head: Shinji—and seemingly only at the moments when he’s on the edge of personal crisis. The manga, however, gives us much more access to not only Shinji’s thoughts but also the other main characters. Sometimes it’s just a simple random thought bubble, but in the cases of Rei and Kaworu, they each have several scenes where we are privy to all their thoughts. Especially in the case of Rei, this changes the whole way of viewing her personality when you can concretely know her thoughts, motivations, and memories. Good – More Back Stories Along with the many changes, the manga is also filled with numerous additions—many of which flesh out the back stories of the characters. The anime never really talks about Shinji's past after the death of his mother, but the manga has several scenes dedicated to what it was like before he returned to Tokyo-3 to be an Eva pilot. Kaji, perhaps the most mysterious character in the series, has an entire chapter dedicated to his origin story as a child growing up in the aftermath of the second impact. Gendo's motivations and his relationship with his wife are detailed more clearly; and a lot of “screen time” is spent on Yui, her relationship with the Evangelions, and her mysterious fate. It is an interesting look into what makes these characters act the ways they do. Mixed – Jailbait Nudity Let's be clear here, all the Evangelion pilots are 14 years old. And while it's not (except for one scene) presented in a sexual context, there is an awful lot of naked Rei as the manga version of the story nears its conclusion. And no, I don't mean the non-sexualized nipple-less nudity of the anime I mean full frontal nudity, nipples and all. Does her nudity add to the story in both characterization and in a deeper symbolic meaning? Yes. But it's still a drawing of a naked, underage girl. Random Thoughts – What Isn't There [This section contains moderate spoilers for both the anime and manga of Evangelion. Skip to the next section to avoid them.] The problem with being so immersed in everything Evangelion is that little by little, it all bleeds together. It’s easy to assume what happens in one telling of the story happens in all iterations of the story. But the Evangelion manga has many cuts as well as additions—and not just in the number of angels. Much of the relationship between Asuka and Shinji is absent. While she comes to befriend him, the vast majority of the scenes that build their tsundere romance are gone and she remains much more fixated on Kaji. Thus, it is the relationship between Shinji and Rei that becomes the focal point of the story. Her death and the climax of the End of Evangelion (now with Kaworu completely cut) are far more emotionally gripping than in the anime. In the end, it becomes not so much a story about a young man trying to deal with the emotional complexities of life (though, of course, that theme is still present) and instead becomes the story of a young woman quite literally giving the world to the boy she loves. Final Thoughts If you are a fan of Evangelion, either the original anime or the Rebuilds, the Evangelion manga is well worth a read. While different in many ways from the anime, these numerous changes serve to keep the manga interesting and keep it from devolving into a boring carbon copy of the anime. Moreover, if you are a fan of “what-if” or “alternate universe” retellings, this manga coupled with the original anime makes for a great experience. Neon Genesis Evangelion ran (intermittently) in Shonen Ace magazine from 1994 to 2009 and Young Ace magazine from 2009 to 2013 in Japan. Volumes one through thirteen (of fourteen) have been translated into English by Viz media. 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. To contact the author of this post, write to BiggestinJapan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan.

Japan doesn't have a monopoly on interesting and unusual commercials. Neighbouring South Korea has its fair share of peculiar ads. Some of them, like the RoboCop one, are classics. Others, you might not have seen. Have a look. CrusaderCast [YouTube] 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.

Shroud of the Avatar, Richard Garriott's recently Kickstarted spiritual sequel to his Ultima RPG series, looks pretty damn good considering it's currently just an early prototype. Here, Garriott narrates a short 11-minute walkthrough of some of the game's features they've been working on in the past few months.

As a critic, I always believe that a work should be able to stand on its own, that you don't need to be a fan of something in order to comment on an artistic work—be it a painting, play, game, or anime. But as someone who is very much immersed in the culture of anime, it is often hard to imagine how some of my own favorite series look to a non-fan. So I am always interested in seeing a review done by someone completely on the outside—as seen in this two-hour (12 part) video review of Madoka Magica. Chuck Sonnenburg, better known by his internet handle SF Debris, is not an anime fan. He is, however, a die-hard sci-fi fan. Since 2008 he has been producing video reviews of everything from Dr. Who to Star Trek, Red Dwarf to Babylon 5—and even, once, an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These reviews, while often filled with more than a little (vastly entertaining) sarcasm and snark, are excellent critiques filled with deep literary analysis and serious contemplation of the work. And while he has, because of fan requests, looked briefly at some anime in the past (the Evangelion Rebuild films, Ghost in the Shell and two episodes of Cowboy Bebop) he has never before looked at an entire anime series episode by episode—and certainly not one about magical little girls. But as fans of the show already know, Madoka Magica is far from your average magical girl anime. Rather, it is a brutal deconstruction of that very genre—which makes Sonnenberg’s commentary a very entertaining review. So check out his review of the first episode above—and then head on over to his homepage for the rest of them—to see just how well Madoka Magica stands up on its own when all the cultural anime context is removed. And remember kids. Just say no to bunny-cats. Bunny-cats are dicks. 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. To contact the author of this post, write to BiggestinJapan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan.

Not everyone in Japan loves Nintendo. Some people hate Nintendo. Like, really, really hate Nintendo. And online, those folks have nicknames for Nintendo diehards. Online in Japan, mean nicknames aren't unique to Nintendo fans! Previously, Kotaku covered the mocking monikers given to Sony and Xbox fans on Japanese gaming forums and in blog comment sections. Nintendo fans are teased with several nicknames; one of them can even be said in different ways. Originally, the dig against Nintendo fans was calling them "Nintendo shinja" (任天堂信者), with "shinja" (信者) meaning "believer" or "follower". Fans of other consoles are given similar nicknames; for example, Xbox fans are also called "Xbox shinja" (Xbox信者). The "Nintendo shinja" morphed into "ninshin", but is written with the kanji characters for "pregnancy" (妊娠 or "ninshin"), making it a pun of sorts. Haters can use the "ninshin" (妊娠) nickname to call a Nintendo follower and at the same time cover the insult with an infantile nuance. There is, however, another theory that says the pregnancy nickname is from another nickname: "Nin-God" (任神 or "Ninshin"). The character for god or deity (神 or "kami") can also be read as "shin". For example, it is the first character in the word Shinto (神道). The inference is that these fans view Nintendo as a god. Note that "Nin-God" (任神) isn't actually a real word, per se. This is the little Nintendo fan character. Note the word "pregnancy" (妊娠 or "ninshin") on the little guy's hat, and his rotund face. ASCII art versions of this character appear in Japanese gaming forums and blog comment sections. The other online nickname for Nintendo fans is calling them "pigs"—literally "Nin-pig" (任豚). This is another wordplay of sorts (yes, Japanese people love wordplays). "Nin" (任) is the same kanji character in Nintendo (任天堂)—and it's also a kanji character with rich organized crime associations. The second character represents "pig" and can be read as "buta" or "ton". Since it can be read as "ton", it does seem like a wordplay on the "ten" (天) character in "Nintendo". The result is "Ninton". Geddit? The other theory is that "Nin-pig" evolved from another religious imbued insult that says Nintendo's Buddhist fans see the game maker as like the Buddha. The result is a shortened phrase "Nin-Buddha" (任仏陀), which was then shortened to "Ninbuta" (任豚) or "Nin-pig". Because Japanese characters often have multiple ways they can be read, it's actually somewhat unclear how this swine insult should be read. There are even threads on 2ch, Japan's largest forum, in which people ask which reading of the insult is correct, Ninbuta or Ninton. Some say "Ninbuta", while others say it's "Ninton". Whichever you chose, the insult is the same: Nintendo swine. In the past, people have even uploaded photos of overweight individuals either playing Nintendo hardware or wearing Nintendo-themed items. It's not cool to make fun of people's weight! This, however, is done to reinforce the stereotype that all Nintendo fans are heavy. And it's not just assumed that Nintendo fans are overweight in Japan. Online, people also upload photos of obese foreign Nintendo fans to drive home the stereotype. Japan has the lowest obesity rate in the industrialized world. A lot of that is, of course, based on diet. There are also guidelines about obesity, so lots of people watch their weight very closely. Others say this causes discrimination. It does create an environment that some would probably say isn't exactly tolerant to folks of all shapes and sizes. That being said, recently "larger" sized variety show celebrities are becoming increasingly popular, which might reflect the country's own (somewhat) widening waistline. Still, dubbing Nintendo fans pigs or babies? This is not very nice stuff! But that's the point. These are insults designed to disparage. If Nintendo fans are called this, Xbox fans are called gropers, and Sony fans are called cockroaches, at least all the online nicknames are unpleasant, each in their own way. Internet forums aren't for the weak of heart, and Japan is no exception! 読み：ニンブタ [ニコニコ] 任豚 にんとん [d.hatena] 任天堂→任豚と呼ばれる理由を教えてください [Yahoo! Japan] 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.

When they posted it, Random Seed, creators of upcoming Mars-based survival-exploration title Lacuna Passage, called this video a "soundtrack spotlight." And that's what it is: a demonstration of the game's somber and beautiful soundtrack—accompanied by a deeply unsettling sneak-peek at... something.

Rather than let the unwashed masses make "Let's Play" videos of the upcoming Total War: Rome II, Creative Assembly and Sega have cut out the middle man and made one themselves. The chit-chat must be tolerated, because every chance to see this game in action is a chance you've got to take. I was initially bummed the studio's latest game was Rome II, so excited was I for some kind of Empire II/Victoria/US Civil War type of game. The more I see of this baby in action, though, the more I just don't care anymore.