Sometimes you settle in for some PC gaming or web surfing. And you just don't get up. You can feel your bum go numb and the chair meld into your skin. Surely, you know the feeling.

If so, maybe the above internet-produced desktop design would appeal to you. And if it appealed to enough people, it would probably end the world as we know it. Meh, who needs that anyway? We've got computers!

"Haijin" (廃人) literally means "a disabled person" in Japanese. However, it's now also being used to describe those who are addicted to online gaming, "netoge haijin" (ネトゲ廃人). The term first appeared in 2009, when the Japanese media started reporting about those who played lots of online games. Some of the TV news pieces were questionable, like this 2010 report, which featured one gamer with a bottle to urinate in.

Regardless of how accurate the reporting in Japan has been, a thread popped up on 2ch, Japan's largest bulletin board, in which folks designed desktops which used human waste to power the computers, under the premise they would lead to the ruin of humanity.

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Yes, the individual is sitting on a toilet. In the toilet, it says "electric generation" (発電 or "hatsuden"). Under the computer, it says "electric power utilization" (電力 or "denryoku"; 使用 or "shiyou").

Features were added, such as this reclining chair back.

Someone pointed out it wasn't possible to *coughs* pleasure oneself, so a fleshlight like device was added. Hands free?

Then a fan that uses excess heat from the computer was added. That's sensible.

Finally, someone asked if there was a way to grow food, using electric power and excess heat from the computer. It was decided that bean sprouts were best, so that's why there are bean sprouts below the computer.

Ladies and Gents, the end of humanity.

廃人生産機発明したｗｗｗｗｗ [Game News 2ch]

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For months now, Japanese manga artist Tadatoshi Fujimaki has been dealing with repeated threats. There is a vendetta against him, which has produced numerous threatening letters containing suspicious chemicals.

As previously detailed, the threats are apparently from one angry individual who seems intent on stopping Fujimaki from promoting his manga Kuroko's Basketball. The threats are frightening and relentless.

However, as noted by Yaraon! (via ANN), Fujimaki wrote in an upcoming issue of Jump Magazine about a recently cancelled Kuroko's Basketball stage event, apologizing to those who were looking forward to it, but noting the safety issues at hand.

He also said that he would not stop writing Kuroko's Basketball, declaring, "Even if something happens, I will keep working hard on this story, without rest."

Considering how terrifying the threats have been—from stabbing to arson to chemical threats—it is brave of Fujimaki to stand up for himself and his work.

『黒子のバスケ』作者「本編は何があっても休まず頑張っていきます。」 [Yaraon! via ANN]

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Unicorns are the stuff of, I dunno, unicorns. They're fantasy! This isn't the 1600s, and we know better. But in North Korea, which sometimes seems like it's stuck in the 1600s, the government's central news agency is running a story about a unicorn lair. That's correct, a lair where a unicorn lived.

Here is the entire article, because honestly, it must be read to be believed—or disbelieved. Whatever. It's bananas. I'm posting the article as it appears on the country's official mouthpiece's site, if anything, for proof that it actually did. Have a look:

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North Korean propaganda can get interesting (if you haven't seen it, the Vice documentary is definitely worth watching). But a unicorn lair? To prove Pyongyang was the capital of Ancient Korea? Really?

It's like the North Korean government is getting revenge against The Onion for naming Kim Jong-un the sexiest man alive.

Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed in DPRK [Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via @chicoharlan via @taniabranigan via BeijingCream]

Some things can be finished quickly. Some things take time. The Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII logo, it seems, took time. A lot of time.

On the game's official Twitter, someone from the Square Enix publicity department said "it took an exceedingly amount of time to arrive at the design". Creating it was a long process of trial and error and took "a long time"; this symbol was inspired by the motifs of metal and lightning.

After saying that the symbol does appear in the game's story, the PR person asked people on Twitter what their thoughts about the logo were.

While some did say they liked the logo, others said that Square Enix needed to develop and release games faster. Others brought the inevitable complaints about Final Fantasy Versus XIII being M.I.A.

I've always thought the Lightning Returns logo was somewhat reminiscent of Skyrim's logo—not necessarily a bad thing! But, as Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase previously told Kotaku, "There is no relation to Skyrim whatsoever." The logo was designed to reflect the newness of this game. Full stop.

After revealing that Square Enix spent a year on the Agni's Philosophy demo, now is probably not the best time to say it also spent loads of time on a logo. Stuff like this isn't done overnight, especially if you want to get it right. Maybe quality or perfection should be the focus, not work hours.

長い時間をかけてようやく生まれたこのシンボルは [@LRFF13]

今回作ったこちらのロゴは [@LRFF13 via オレ的]

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Eiichiro Oda writes and draws the biggest selling manga of all time, One Piece. Oda didn't do that by sitting around on his ass. Well, actually he did, because he works from a desk. But he sure didn't make One Piece so successful by lollygagging around.

In a recent manga interview, Oda was asked about his workday. He replied, "Well mornings...I get up at 5am, and I work until 2am. It's normal for me to sleep from 2am to 5am." This is something the 37 year-old manga artist talked about earlier this year. But, man, 21 hour shifts. That's a long day.

Then, when asked about his days off, Oda replied, "I have no days off. If I had them, I'd want to go on vacation with my family. I just want to go outside, it doesn't matter where. See, I don't get out much."

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Hello, workaholic! Obviously, this guy works way too much—which we already know—but that's probably because he's incredibly driven and loves what he does. Still, this dude needs a day off.

尾田栄一郎「朝5時に起きて深夜2時まで仕事。休みは無いです」 [暇人＼(＾o＾)／速報 ]

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The conventional wisdom has always been Japan loves role-playing games and dislikes first-person shooters. First-person shooters, pundits said, were popular only with Western gamers. The pundits and conventional wisdom, it seems, are wrong.

In its debut week, Call of Duty: Black Ops II on the PS3 is the second best selling game in Japan, moving 197,350 units. If you add in the 22,177 copies the Xbox 360 version netted, Call of Duty: Black Ops II sold 219,527 copies, surpassing the 213,414 physical copies Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold. That's impressive! (Even more so when you factor in the bellyaching surrounding the game's localization.)

And it's even more impressive when you look at what rounds out the top five: new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Hot Shoots Golf 6, and Super Mario Bros. 2. It's like a game that does not belong.

For years, Western games—or "yougee" (洋ゲー) as they are called—were looked down upon by Japanese gamers. Yougee literally means "Western" (洋 or "you") "game" (ゲー or "gee"). It's not uncommon for Western things to be labelled, such as "youfuku" (洋服), which means "Western style clothing", or "youshoku" (洋食), which means "Western food". Both are extremely common in Japan, and nobody really makes a conscious distinction and no longer really sees these as "foreign" or the "other". These are things, such as blue jeans, that came from the West, but are now produced within the country.

However, the term yougee, as Square Enix president Yoichi Wada once pointed out, has had a "discriminatory meaning" in Japan and was clearly used to separate any other games developed outside Japan. This is something Square Enix has worked to change, and the company is publishing Western titles like Call of Duty. Wada wasn't being hyperbolic; there was even a catchphrase online that summed up Japanese players' attitudes towards Western games: "Yougee wa kusogee" (洋ゲーはクソゲー) or "Western games are shitty games."

But in the last few years, things have really started to change. First-person shooters like Halo have developed an increasingly hardcore fanbase in Japan, which is limited somewhat by it being on the Xbox 360 and most Japanese gamers not owning one.

While Western gamers might debate whether or not Call of Duty is in decline, there are Japanese gamers who seem to really enjoy the series and haven't tired of it—yet. All those arguments you used to hear as to why Japanese gamers don't like first person shooters—such as that FPS games make Japanese people sick or that Japanese players prefer to see the character—go out the window when a title moves 200,000 copies in a week. I expect the sales numbers to be significantly lower next week, but I also expect Western games to do better and better in Japan.

Last year, I interviewed Fumito Ueda, the creator of The Last Guardian. During our talk, he said he was concerned that the same thing that happened to Japanese movies would happen to Japanese video games: for movies, the budgets got bigger and bigger, and today, most of the feature films shown in theaters aren't Japanese.

Western games, too, are getting bigger and bigger, and because of that, more and more Japanese players are attracted to the impressive graphics and production values—the whole spectacle of multi-million dollar projects like Call of Duty. For many Japanese players, Western games aren't shitty games, anymore.

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In 1999, Buzzfeed's Josh Fjelstad really, really wanted an N64. And hey, it was 1999, so did a lot of kids. But what Josh did to actually get one was... different.

Instead of just asking, or sulking, or whatever else kids do to try and get their way, Josh sat down and wrote a letter. He made a pretty strong case! One which the clip-art at the end completely undermines, but hey, he was a kid. And it worked. A week later, he got his N64.

How To Convince Your Parents To Let You Get An N64 [Buzzfeed]

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Guillermo Del Toro had been helping out on a video game with THQ before, well, THQ basically ran out of money. But that doesn't mean the game is dead.

Movie site Bloody Disgusting is reporting that the game idea, which is actually planned to be a trilogy, was shipped around to other studios and... picked up by the very first place he went.

They don't know where—given it's a movie site, the info may well have come from that side of the business—but if true it's certainly good news for fans of Del Toro, horror games and Lovecraft.

UPDATE—Ah, seems they're referencing this IGN interview, where Del Toro says "We were going to go to a lot of developers after THQ, but it seems like we're going to be developing it after the first meeting we had. I can't disclose where it was, but we went to a great developer on the first meeting and it seems that they're picking it up because they love the package."

Lovecraft Fans Rejoice! Del Toro's ‘Insane' Has Been Picked Up By A New Developer [Bloody Disgusting, via Develop]

Long Ouyang is a concept artist who works at WETA, they of The Hobbit, District 9 and Lord of the Rings fame. He's previously done some game work, including iOS titles. Anyway, today is a good day to show off his stuff, because chances are you saw some of it earlier this week.

Where? In the art leaks from Destiny, the next game from Halo creators Bungie. Ouyang's piece showing a starfighter pilot was one of the images the makers of that third-party document thought was so perfect they used it to sell Destiny's universe, and it's easy to see why.

Because Ouyang's art is freaking awesome. So awesome that you should check out more of it on his blog and CGHub page (thanks Concept Art World!).

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they're big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".

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Last night, an Australian TV commercial for the Wii U came on. My wife looked at it, then at me, then back at it, then at our Wii, before finally asking "wait, don't we have a Wii? What's this?"

While a single anecdote, it sums up my biggest concern for Nintendo's new console, at least in its early months: its message. Its marketing. A console's capabilities and even its software are irrelevant if it's not sold properly, and where the Wii was clearly sold as a new, revolutionary device, Nintendo's messaging for the Wii U has been a bit of a mess, one that starts from the very top. With its name.

By calling it the Wii U, and not the Wii 2 (or an entirely different thing), and by using old Wii Remotes in much of its advertising, Nintendo has failed to differentiate the product from its predecessor. At least at a glance. Now, my wife, she was quickly informed that, no, this is a new console, like how the PS3 followed the PS2. But not everyone is going to have someone "in the know" sitting next to them to explain the difference when they first come across the system.

Which is leading, as we've found, to a lot of people having no idea what the hell a Wii U is. Like Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States.

We had a bit of a chuckle about that yesterday, but even the most casual search on Twitter shows she's far from alone. While the word "Wii" is almost universally recognised after a six-year run as one of the hottest consoles of all time, with near-unprecedented mainstream appeal, "Wii U" seems to have some folks awfully confused.

It's easy to laugh, as readers of a video game news website, but put yourself in their shoes. You're up to your neck in news and information about video games, of course you know what a Wii U is. But if you're just some regular user, a casual player, and you own a Wii then see a commercial where people are still using Wii Remotes but on a different box that's got kinda the same name, what are you going to think?

Well, you're going to think a lot like these folks are thinking.

Now, this won't be a long-term issue for Nintendo. In 12-24 months, after enough market penetration and advertising, I'm sure most people will have an idea what the new console is all about. But boy, I bet that right now, someone at Nintendo is wishing they'd gone with a different name.