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This whole game seems like a metaphor for my childhood, in that the main character is perpetually sad, wet, and invisible. Don't ask.

Donkey Kong returns to Returns with some changes, but is it enough for players to ret...come back?

More bank robbery for your PC and/or PlayStation 3, if you're into that kind of thing.

Here's what's going on at Talk Amongst Yourselves, Kotaku's reader-written blog: DanimalCart eloquently discusses Anita Sarkeesian's sexism in gaming videos, DamsonRhee refuses to let Ghost Writer die (again), and SylverFyst shares some reader-friendly comics of the DC variety. And you can always go join the voices talking about video games and life in TAY Classic and in the TAY: Open Forum.

One minute you're relaxing in an upscale coffee shop in the heart of the big city, the next you're in the back of a moving truck, holding on for dear life as a sea of hungry humanity surges against you. This is World War Z for iOS and Android, and the situation isn't pretty. Based on the upcoming movie adaptation of Max Brook's historical record of the great Zombie War, the mobile game presents a more personal look at how to survive in the post-undead world. The player takes on the role of Doug, a man with an obvious military background who is trying to reach his son a midst the chaos of a global zombie outbreak. The problem is his son is in Japan, and he's in America. Luckily Doug has the skills he needs to survive. He's handy with firearms. He swings a mean crow bar. His insatiable curiosity has him rifling through papers and tapping at computers as he navigates abandoned buildings, something I would not give one shit about if there were zombies flooding — literally flooding — the streets of the town I was in. He's even got people skills, which is how he hooks up with an altruistic helicopter pilot promising to wait for him atop a tall building until nightfall. There's a real story to the World War Z game, cleverly unfolding through a series of cell phone conversations between Doug and his fellow survivors. Over the course of several conversations we learn more about our heroic avatar. We might even begin to root for him, which is generally a bad idea where zombies are concerned. They're the epitome of hopelessness, when they aren't relegated to set dressing for a morality play about humanity or the government being the real monsters. Gameplay consists of a mix of exploration and combast, similar to Phosphor Games Studio's previous Unreal Engine 3-powered offerings, The Dark Meadow and Horn. Expect things to touch around every corner. Books give experience points. Documents give experience points and unlock journal entries, fleshing out the game's back-story. There are computers to tap, bodies to check, bullets to collect — Phosphor Games really wants players to explore, even if it means rushing headlong into situations where you're facing off against every dead thing in town. It's pretty amazing how well World War Z covers its bases, control-wise. There's a casual tap-to-move. There's the finger slide. There are virutal joysticks, should you prefer. Shooting can be automatic when a zombie is in your sights, or the much more challenging free aim, because you don't need no help. Despite all of the cloning needed to get hundreds of figures on screen at once, knocking over vehicles and making a genreal nuisance of themselves, Phosphor manages to once again demonstrate their mastery of the Unreal Engine 3 on mobile, pulling off a game that could easily pass for a last-gen console offering. What impresses me most is how they still took the time to make sure the zombie hordes had appropriate levels of lens flare. For a movie tie-in, World War Z is much better than I expected it to be. It feels a lot like Horn and The Dark Meadow stuck in a blender with zombies, messy but satisfying. Not a bad way to end the world. World War Z Genre: Survival HorrorDeveloper: Phosphor Games StudioPlatform: iOS, AndroidPrice: $4.99 Get World War Z in iTunes — Available Today on Google Play / Amazon App Store

When Danny was sixteen, he started collecting Japanese swords. But after he saw The Last Samurai as an adult, he knew swords weren't enough. He wanted his own suit of samurai armor. So, he spent two years of his life making one. Danny, now 42, is getting a great deal of attention online in Japan for his homemade yoroi (armor). Originally, Danny ordered a replica samurai suit from America, reports LabaQ (via 2ch). The armor was too small for him, so Danny decided he needed to make his own. With the help of a metalworking craftsman friend, books, and the internet, Danny began work on a suit of samurai armor. The process was long and taxing: The small metal plates were hammered by hand and then strung together by over 700 feet of rope. The suit weighs nearly 80 pounds! Danny even decided to make a full set of weapons and a flag for his set of armor. The suit isn't for display only, and Danny, a bank teller by day, regularly cosplays with his wife, who dresses in a kimono. Online in Japan, many people seem impressed by the suit. "Sorry for thinking that this was going to be some crappy cardboard outfit," wrote one commenter. "This is high quality," added another, while yet another thought the outfit looked like something worn by a mid-level boss in Capcom's hack-and-slash game Onimusha. Others pointed out the slight discrepancies in the samurai armor, but most were more than willing to overlook any nitpicking. Perhaps one commenter summed it up best: "Danny isn't *crag*ing around." No, Danny is not. ベルギー人「日本のサムライが好きすぎて…」戦国武将のヨロイを造って本気のコスプレ [LabaQ via 2ch] The Golden Dragon [Danny's Site] 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.

Leave it to a game about cloning to strike out and establish its own identity with an entirely unique aesthetic.

This is Nao Nagasawa. She's here to unleash fists of fury. And do so at the office, apparently! With Wong Kar-Wai's Grandmaster coming out in Japan, website Movie Enter! thought it would be a good idea for Nao Nagasawa to show off how Chinese martial arts can be used in your daily life—whether that's dealing with creeps, vending machines, or even office romances. The result is a series of amazing GIFs. (You might need to wait a few seconds for them all to load.) But what if you like your co-worker? Well... And after all that fighting, you get really thirsty. Of course, this isn't serious! And as far as movie promotions go, it's pretty clever. Nagasawa is especially good at pulling off the kicks and attacks. She's appeared in Super Sentai (Power Rangers) and Kamen Rider shows since 2002, so no doubt, she's had her share of martial arts training. オフィスでの護身術から恋愛術まで！ [Movie Enter!] 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.

Adorable, but melancholy and dreary. For the sake of my sanity, I really hope those two get a happy ending. Rain, Sony Japan's platforming adventure, comes to the PlayStation Network this fall.

In Hong Kong, Starbucks patrons are upset and for good reason: the coffee chain's Central Hong Kong branch has used "toilet water" to brew coffee since it opened two years ago. According to Apple Daily, a staffer would push a cart into a men's restroom in a nearby parking garage, fill it will water, and then push the cart back to Starbucks, where the "toilet water" would be then filtered. This would happen up to seventy times a day. The bathroom faucet was used because there was no nearby water source. The faucet that Starbucks used was only a few feet away from a urinal. There were concerns about hygiene, and Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department told Apple Daily that this Starbucks' use of water was not within regulations. Since this discovery, the department has apparently issued a warning to the coffee chain's Central Hong Kong restaurant. Ben Cowling, associate professor from the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, told HK Magazine that filtering the water should remove harmful bacteria. However, a purifier would be necessary to remove the smaller-sized viruses that could be present in the water. But that wasn't his only concern, HK Magazine pointed out. "If the staff need to frequently visit the toilet, they may increase the risk of bringing other pathogens from the washroom into their food and drink preparation area," Cowling added. Patrons are understandably upset. One woman told Apple Daily that it was Starbucks' responsiblity to have a clean water supply, no matter the cost. "People with common sense wouldn't have used the water from toilet pipes," said a male Hong Kong resident. Many Starbucks patrons expressed uneasiness about the whole situation. While it might be debatable whether what we all are drinking is technically "toilet water", the thing that many patrons seem to find most offensive is where the water was taken from—literally, a faucet next to a urinal. "Making huge profits globally but chose [SIC] to use toilet water for making coffee in that store rather than spending a few cents to use distilled water," wrote Hong Kong resident Kevin L on the Starbucks Facebook page. "We pay a few dollars to buy a cup of coffee (and you know your profit margin) and we get this kind of disrespect for our mind and health!" On Facebook, Starbucks Hong Kong issued this reply: "Please kindly accept our apologies for the concerns raised by the coverage on the water source at the Bank of China Tower store. While the water used at that store was drinking water and certified as safe, we would like to clarify any misperceptions, as quality and safety have always been our top priority. We are now using distilled water to serve that store while we work with all parties on acceptable options." The Starbucks began using distilled bottled water this past weekend. Starbucks Hong Kong [Facebook] 中環STARBUCKS公廁攞水沖咖啡 [Apple Daily] 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.

Hey guys. Classic Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic is out on the iPad this week. Expect more coverage from us in the morning.

Surprise! Bioware's classic Star Wars RPG has surprise-launched for iPad. But do the port's touch controls hold up?

Let's not pretend the Oculus Rift is just for games, people! There are a ton of other uses for the pioneering virtual reality headset. Like this one, which lets you virtually watch a movie. At the cinema. Which isn't as stupid as it sounds. The easy way out would just be to play a movie on the Rift's screens, but since that would defeat the purpose, the Korean developer behind VR Cinema 3D got clever. They've created a virtual cinema, which the Oculus lets you walk around inside. So yeah, you can sit down and watch the movie, or you could...get up and move around. If you're one of the lucky ones with an Oculus Rift dev kit, you can download the software here and try it out yourself. VR Cinema 3D for Oculus rift [YouTube, via PA Report]

Jan Ditlev Christensen is a Danish concept artist who works at IO Interactive, the developers behind games like the Hitman series. Prior to that, he worked at Deadline, where he worked on games like the Watchmen prequel and the cancelled Faith & A .45. You can see more of Jan's work at his personal site and CGHub page. 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. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!

There are "remakes" of classic old games that throw out what's often the most nostalgic part: the box art. Then there is Rise of the Triad. The 2013 remake of the cult PC shooter from 1995 might be making radical changes to the game itself, but it's stayed faithful to the iconic cover art, copying just about everything, from the poses to the outfits. Bummed that her hair was changed, though. My teenage self loved her as much for her perm/wave/whatever as the more...obvious reasons.

Hardware: Shipbreakers, a strategy game being made by some of the guys behind the Homeworld series, has looked very gorgeous for a very long time. Problem is, in all that time, we'd never actually seen any gameplay footage. Time to fix that, with this surprisingly candid and lengthy footage of the game in action. You don't need me to tell you that some of the art and effects here will move Homeworld fans to tears.

The weird but gorgeous iOS platformer, Badland, has ten new levels available now. The new levels introduces more powerups and puzzles for your little flying critter to take on. All of the new content is free in the update, and developer Frogmind says more will come in late June or early July.

Badland recently won the Nordic Game Conference's Indie Sensation award, and boasts over 150,000 players according to Frogmind. You can download Badland, with this free update, on the App Store for $3.99.

This is a real commercial for a real piece of hardware. It's for TrackingPoint, a company that makes laser-guided rifles. The clip above is billed as a "3D Video game-style teaser". You'd think the idea of sci-fi rifles turning real combat into a video game would be the craziest thing about it, but nope. For one, the timeline is a little confusing (shouldn't the grown son of an Afghanistan vet be shooting at aliens from a flying car?). And secondly, hunting for food and keeping cougars away from livestock? What is this, 1850? Going back to the guns, though, from a purely technical point of view, it's some fascinating tech. The more you see of it, the more you realise why they went with a video game-themed commercial. Especially since their live-action demonstrations are...unsavoury. The tech, which they call PGF (Precision Guided Firearm), works just like a video game sniper rifle, allowing the user to "tag" targets, after which a computer system calculates all the variables involved (wind speed, target movement, etc) and tells you whether your shot is going to hit or not. At least it does in theory. Even PGF's info page reads like a game manual, right down to the icon system that looks like something you'd bring up with a d-pad. [via Geekologie]

Hey, the first episode of Tiny Barbarian DX is out! Get it here.

Maybe because it had a relatively strong lead female character, maybe because it had some hunky dudes, maybe because everyone just likes lions, I'm not sure, but when I was growing up, Voltron was one of the few series the girls in my class liked almost as much as the boys. We're all being catered for today as grown-ups, then, as the cast has been reimagined by artist Josh Burns as some very realistic dreamboats. Well, most of the cast. There's only so much you can do with Pidge. You can see the complete cast at the link below. Voltron [Josh Burns, via Laughing Squid]

Warhammer Quest, for iOS, is out today. By all accounts, it's fantastic.

Rayman Jungle Run is available on Windows Phone 8 now, following its launch on iOS and Android in 2012, and a Windows 8 launch earlier this year. Rayman Jungle Run is $3 for Windows Phone, and we think it's definitely worth the price.

This isn't old-school Mickey Mouse—no, it's Fleish & Cherry in Crazy Hotel, an puzzle-heavy adventure game with a fantastic art-style. Look at this animation. It's so pretty. The premise, according to the Steam Greenlight page: In Toonville, Fleish the Fox is the star in vogue, featured in all the shorts recorded at this city where the toons live. Jealous of his fame, his enemy, Mr. Mintz, always attempts to ruin his adventures, by capturing his girlfriend, the charming Cherry. But the events will take an unexpected turn, when Mr. Mintz decides to kidnap Fleish instead, and bring him at the top of a hotel under construction. This time, it will fall to Cherry to muster her courage and overcome the craziness awaiting her through the multiple floors of the building, in order to rescue her beloved. Put on her high-heel shoes and save Fleish the Fox! The real star here are the visuals though. Have some more screenshots, where you also can see the dialogue system: What a beauty. The game is currently raising money over at IndieGoGo, if you'd like to offer some support.

Not all music can survive the a cappella treatment, let alone the "Geekapella" treatment. Goofy dudes (Max and Sam) singing geeky music, sort of in tune and sort of out of tune… a lesser theme song might lose some of its dramatic heft. Not Metal Gear Solid. No, when the heroic theme entered at 2:22, my first thought was, "Wow, even in this goofy version, the MGS theme kicks *crag*ing ass." That version was pretty fun, but let's go ahead and listen to the version from MGS2, as well. Oh, yeah.

Not the console itself, says Avalanche Studios Boss.

There's been a lot of talk of used games lately. But for all the theorizing and opinion-lobbing about the impact used games may or may not have on the video game industry, it can be tough to tell just how much of a part they play in our readers' lives. So tonight, I'm gonna turn it over to you. I put together a few polls to try to get a sense of how used games factor into our readers' purchasing habits. One thing to note: Since purchasing PC games is such a different beast, let's keep these polls limited to consoles with physical games and leave PC games out of them. (Sorry, PC games!) Granted, that's worth keeping in mind when weighing these polls' value, but at this point PC games and console games are different enough that I'd like to keep them separate. These polls aren't particularly scientific; if you have any other questions you think would be good to ask, please share in the comments, and maybe we can do another collection of questions a little ways down the road. Thanks for voting!

To be fair, there aren't a ton of Game Boy masks out there. A Game Boy isn't exactly something people like to wear on their face. Even so, this badass cyberpunk Game Boy mask is something else. According to Tiny Cartridge, it's a part of Tsuyoshi Morita's Game Boy inspired collection, Thunderbox. If that sounds of interest, here's a bunch of other pictures from that collection. And here are some Game Boy mask pictures: (Via Tiny Cartridge)

Professor Layton series developer Level-5 is working on a trio of role-playing games for mobile platforms in Japan, according to a report in this week's edition of the Japanese magazine Famitsu.

Heading up the series is Wonder Flick, a loot-based RPG featuring a soundtrack by Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Other announced games include the railway simulation RPG Majin Station and Chikyu Kaimetsu teki B-kyu Kanojo, a post-apocalyptic adventure starring a cast of female mercenaries.

Level-5 registered a series of trademarks earlier this month pointing to these upcoming releases. Judging from the gameplay descriptions Famitsu provided, the trademarked name Rare Drop Boukensha Note was apparently an alternate title for Wonder Flick.

All announced games are set to premiere in Japan by the end of the year.

In response to my readers' desperate cries for healthy things to eat while playing video games, three weeks ago I reviewed the offerings of Graze.com, a UK-based natural food delivery service that's slowly moving into U.S. territory with their tiny boxes of natural foods. Well that was it. Now I'm on the radar of every healthy snack provider in the world, and Snacktaku will be about healthy things from here on out, starting with Nature Box, a healthy snack delivery service with much bigger boxes. Oh you know I can't give up the horrible things — not for long, at least. It's just there is no service that will send me four different pizzas or burgers every month (if I am wrong about this, contact me immediately), and I am enjoying the novelty. Shortly after my Graze.com review I was contacted by Amanda Natividad of Nature Box, who offered a very compelling reasons to give her product a try. Unlike Graze.com, which is currently limited to one referral code per member in the U.S., anyone can join up with Nature Box right now, scoring a selection of five different snacks (totaling 15-20 servings) per month for just $19.95. So yeah, this is a service you can actually join. And look at the monster box they send. That is a box filled with nature right there, no two ways about it. What's the difference between Nature Box and Graze.com? Well, Nature Box gives you a whole bunch of healthy snacking goodness all at once. You've got 15-20 servings of whatever varieties they're sending out that month, tailored to your dietary concerns and ready to be tossed into the car for a road trip with the kids. Graze.com sends a small box with four single-serving items every week or two, nice for a single person, not-so-nice if you want to share. The benefit of Graze.com is the variety, along with the fact that, should you not enjoy one of the snacks sent, you don't have another two or three servings sitting around in a bag, making you feel bad about it. It's a matter of frequency. Well, that and the ability to just sign up and go, which you can do with Nature Box, should you dare. Amanda graciously arranged for a box of snacks to be sent my way. Taking into account my general dislike of almonds, she picked five of her favorite Nature Box selections, packed them in the eponymous box, and then spent a couple of weeks no-doubt wondering if I'd ever get around to reviewing them. And here we are. Let's do this. Zesta Fiesta Mix Nature Box doesn't screw around with zesty. When they call something Zesta Fiesta Mix, it's going to zest all over your mouth. This particular vehicle of zest purveyance contains corn sticks, jalapeno peanuts, garlic peanuts, chili lemon peanuts and spicy pumpkin seeds, all adding up to an amazing burn that lingers long after eating. It tastes like it should do horrible things to my intestines, and yet it is a kind mix, only hurting me because it loves me. Well, mostly loves me. The final ingredient in this mix is almonds, which dammit, we talked about almonds, Amanda. Southern BBQ Sunflower Kernels I've never been a huge fan of sunflower seeds, but I am not averse to eating large mouthfuls when someone else has peeled the shell away to reveal the meaty kernels. These particular kernels are infused with a Southern BBQ flavor, an appropriately vague name for the hint of smoky tang lurking between bites. Sunflower kernels aren't the best means of conveying flavor, but they fill the mouth wonderfully, as long as you don't start imagining they are tiny beetles. I imagined they were tiny beetles. Don't do that. Blueberry Nom Noms I am a huge fan of using internet nonsense to name food. Blueberry Nom Noms are a pleasing mass of oats, honey, blueberries, dark chocolate and mystery, arranged into a thick and chewy snack that's much more bitter than I expected. It's almost too mature a taste for a snack named for the onomatopoeia of a hamster munching a carrot. Whole Wheat Figgy Bars This is not a Fig Newton. A Fig Newton is a tiny processed square that vaguely hints and the sweetness of real dried dates and cake-ish cookie coating. This is not that. This is a Whole Wheat Figgy Bar, a truly meaty mouthful of wholesome goodness. You remember wholesome, right? They used the adjective in all of those commercials back when we were kids. Well, this is what wholesome tastes like. The package came with five individually wrapped bars, in an attempt to keep me from eating them all in one sitting. Foolish plastic wrapping. Peppery Pistachios I have never sat down with a bag of pistachios with the intent of opening them and eating them — it always seemed like far too much work. That, and there was an incident with pistachios back when I was a child that I'd rather not get into. Suffice it to say, I was not pleased when one of the Nature Box selections was Peppery Pistachios, but I soldiered on. WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN EATING PISTACHIOS? I blame all of you. These are amazing little snacks. Crusted with salt and pepper while still in their shells, bursting with flavor in every bite — such a pleasant sting. And what a wonderful means of trasport! After the explosion of peppery goodness is gone, the empty shells can be suckled to savor its memory. Plus, having to shell my own damn nuts means I don't eat them all at once. Are all pistachios so good? Have I wasted my life? Probably, yes. ——————————————— All-in-all, Nature Box did a fine job of delivering healthy snacks to my door. The selection was nice and varied. There were some old favorites, some new surprises. I'd like to think I learned something about myself , as well as Amanda's ability to ferret out almonds. The only downside is that opening one of these boxes starts a timer that expires in one month, and when you've devoured all of the seeds, nuts, figs, shells and nom noms, there's nothing more coming for another (checks watch) month. If you have the self-control to dole out the natural goodness over time, then by all means, get yourself up inside that Nature Box. If you're me, feel mildly ashamed of yourself, and then buy yourself something pretty because you deserve it, sexy.

New York City-based independent developers Heartonomy are bringing a unique sort of multiplayer strategy game to iOS this summer, and for some odd reason they named it StarLicker, which really negates the need for any explanation of gameplay. Okay fine, it's a game where you and another player alternate setting up attack patterns and defending against them. One player sets up attacking units, arranging them about a base of sorts. Once the attacking units are in place, the defending player then attempts to absorb as many of the incoming bullets as they can in a fixed amount of time. It's like a real-time strategy game had sex with a bullet-hell shooter and had a baby. And they named it StarLicker. There's a beta coming up for StarLicker, and it will be your only opportunity to tell people that you're in beta for a game called StarLicker. You can sign up for it and find out more about the game here.