This is Capy Fine Racing GP, from Psychonauts and The Cave developers Double Fine, and the people behind Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Capybara Games. It will be released at PAX East, on floppy disks.

Yes, floppy disks.

"The game will be released on the 3.5″ floppies that come inside the Capy and Double Fine limited edition boxed bundle, AKA the retail version of the Steam bundle that we just launched which includes both studios' Steam games," Nathan Vella, Capybara Games' co-founder, told Edge. "We only made 200 boxes, and even then some of the floppies might not work, but the people who buy them will be allowed and encouraged to share the game."

Capy Fine Racing GP is gonna be a third-person racer in the vein of Sega's 1986 arcade game OutRun, starring characters from both developers' games. Vella also added that it was only intended to be a fun extra, and not an actual game. "It's just something we did for pure fun and loving the idea of doing cool shit with our friends...while it's totally a real game, it's also not at all a real game."

Capy Fine Racing GP to debut at PAX East [Edge]

Apparently spotted at a Sam's Club supermarket in Beijing, these pears have been shaped so that they resemble babies. Because that's so not creepy.

The image of the pears first popped up on a Chinese social networking site. According to MIC, a journalist followed up, but couldn't find the pears. The supermarket staff supposedly said they were sold out and didn't know when they'd be getting more.

But there's a context for all this: Experts say the pears look like mythical ginseng fruits of Chinese folklore. In the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, the fruit is shaped like a young human head, and it takes ten thousand years to ripen. The individual who takes a bite can then live for another 47,000 years.

These, however, are pears that have been placed in molds to make them look like babies. A marketing ploy! So if you buy some, don't wait ten thousand years to eat them. They'll totally go bad.

hexiaotao [Weibo via Beijing Morning News via MIC]

Stone statues play a prevalent role in Japanese life. You see them at Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines, and you also see them in front of houses and businesses or in gardens as decoration. Ditto at cemeteries.

Japanese stonemasons are called "sekizaiya-san" (石材屋さん) or "sekizaiten" (石材店). They primarily focus on carving grave stones. The vast majority of Japanese are cremated, and in most areas, you must legally be cremated. However, a small percentage of people in the countryside are buried in the ground.

Graves consist of a large stone that sometimes looks like an obelisk on which the family name is carved. Stone craftsmanship is, thus, of the utmost importance, and to show off their abilities, sometimes stonemasons carve out much more than just tombstones.

There are the usual Buddhist and Shinto stone statues, which are found in temples and shrines, or used as protective markers on roadsides (more here).

Next to the Buddha statues, there might be cute traditional yokai characters like the tanuki. Or, occasionally, you might spot newer characters, like Pikachu from Pokémon or Mickey Mouse. People in Japan, too, are sometimes surprised when they happen upon, say, Hello Kitty or Ultraman carved in stone.

A few times I've actually seen stone versions of cartoon characters at shrines and temples. They certainly weren't placed in places of worship and were used more in a decorative sense in the garden, much like a garden gnome in the West. They're there simply because someone likes the characters.

However, for a country that has traditionally placed statues of spirits for good luck, stone statues of today's mythical creatures, whether that's Pikachu or Godzilla, don't seem all that out-of-place. They're modern day folklore.

石像って [ウルトラ博物館]
固そうなアンパンマン [固そうなアンパンマン]
金庫屋 [女性金庫診断士ちょこっと日記]
日本の墓石二大巨頭、松原・内藤 [隣の夫婦のブログ]
暇なんで [とりぷるふっく]
石材店 [B-LABO]
宇都宮駅東カオスランド [ひばらさんの栃木探訪]
石の多田 [ながいタウン]
いらっしゃいませ [篠﨑石材店]
< ahref="http://zeon1971.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-370.html">石材店の前で撮った珍百景 [Zeon]
こんなところにｋｉｔｔｙちゃんが [中年オヤジのKLX放浪記]
ゴジラで～す！ [かわちのはむちゃん]
石材やさん [テオドラさんの旅行記]
松月院前の交差点近くの石材屋さん [赤塚溜池公園のスナップ]
このまちの人たち、おもしろすぎる [竹田城]

As I've been working my way through Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix this past week, it occurs to me just how much I dislike the Japanese cast of the games in the collection—which, given how bad English dubs can be, is pretty surprising. But it isn't that the Japanese voice actors aren't good, rather it's that I miss the Disney voices I grew up with as a kid.

One of the main reasons Kingdom Hearts is so successful is that it is driven by childhood nostalgia—be that Disney nostalgia or Final Fantasy nostalgia. Watching how these Disney worlds diverge from their usual stories because of the inclusion of the Heartless and our main characters is a good 50% of the series' fun. But without the voices we've come to know and love, everything seems more than a little off.

Some characters, like Mickey and Donald—and to a lesser extent Goofy—sound remarkably like their English language counterparts. And yes, Donald is just as hard to understand in Japanese as he is in English.

Of course, when playing the Japanese versions, these similar voices only serve to make the completely different voices of other characters seem all the more jarring

Many characters just end up with generic voices. Scrooge McDuck, for example, sounds like a stereotypical old man in Japanese with no hint of a Scottish brogue.

And as for the original, non-Disney Japanese cast, while none of them are bad, none of them quite live up to the big Hollywood names attached to the English version of the game. I personally love Haley Joel Osment as Sora, and the inclusion of Christopher Lee as Diz is a real treat.

Of course, as these are the normal Japanese voice actors for these Disney characters in Japan, I'm sure the English voice track would sound just as strange to Japanese. But, you don't have to take my word for it. Check out the video above to see for yourself.

We've been playing BioShock Infinite, but we can't tell you about it just yet. In order to get our early copy, we agreed to stick to the embargo set by publisher 2K Games, which is up on Monday.

But we can tell you about IGN's exclusive review of BioShock Infinite, which went live tonight. So above you can find our Official Kotaku Review* of their review.

*Warning: review may not be an Official Kotaku Review. Kotaku holds no responsibility for any damages that may occur to anyone thinking that this is an Official Kotaku Review.

Long have I been contemplating a QT marathon, and this illustration from Sharm Murugiah, which re-imagines the famous filmmaking foot-appreciator's oeuvre as classic Penguin paperbacks, is gonna tip me over the edge.

It's been ages since I last watched Jackie Brown, and I only saw Inglourious Basterds the once. I recently re-watched Kill Bill Vol. 1 and I thought it was OHkay, but not as good as I remembered. Which makes me think I'll like volume 2 a lot more this time around.

Everyone having a good week? Anyone arrived in Boston and all set for PAX? Further thoughts on Django Unchained? Talk PAX, Quentin Tarantino, feet, or anything else, here or in Talk Amongst Yourselves forum. Have good chatting, and if you feel a slight sting, ignore it. That's just pride fuckin' with you.

(Via The A.V. Club)

If it's a big-budget game, you can (cynically) count on at least one thing: a stoic-looking guy incorrectly holding a gun on the cover. It's a trend in the same way blue-orange movie covers are a trend. Covers rarely break that mold, but according to Gamespot, Quantic Dream is doing it with Beyond: Two Souls. And this is that QD were pitched the idea of having Ellen Page's character holding a gun.

Judging from Gamespot's interview with Quantic Dream co-founder Guillaume de Fondaumière, it's obvious that Quantic Dream wants to carefully manage the image of Beyond: Two Souls. It can't seem like a mindless action game. While there is some action in the title, it's not what the game is about on the whole—and the cover needed to communicate that. GameSpot writes:

So did anyone involved in the game try to pitch that Beyond's front cover be a figure of Ellen Page's character holding a gun? "Yes, and we categorically refused it," said Fondaumière. "It's kind of natural for agencies, you know, who are far away from the project, to pitch you different things. 'It's a video game? Okay, it needs to have a gun otherwise it's not even a game.' But our job, with David [Cage], is to make sure that everyone understands what is specific about this game and to make sure that we have the right pack shot, and the right imagery supporting the project, and the right image is being communicated to the public."

It's almost like miracles do happen. Of course, if that wasn't interesting enough, here's the reason why a protagonist holding a gun was rejected: to reach a mature audience, and to speak to women. Apparently the game shares similarities to media women like or something—here's hoping that this doesn't mean the game is taking cues from shit like Twilight. (Nevermind how dicey that idea is.)

I guess it speaks to the more "contemplative" gamer? Maybe? Who knows. To the gamer that dreams of running free in the woods? Honestly between the cover and the name of the game, were I not following Beyond: Two Souls, I'd have zero clue what kind of game it is.

Quantic Dream refused gun-toting Ellen Page cover for Beyond: Two Souls [GameSpot]

There are several cool video-game themed Monopoly sets out there, but I'd be hard-pressed to think of a cooler one than this homemade Red Dead Redemption set put together by Redditor inspirermeg.

From the imgur description:

This was a 2-week project at school, so though I'm happy with the result - I wasn't able to completely finish the project and perfect it (The hotels/houses are the same and better player-bricks? are needed.(The requirements were only the box, the board game itself, Working playerbricks, 3 card examples... though I made them all)) Spent an approximately 8 hours designing and 4 hours printing, taping, glueing and cutting everything. The product contains all the property cards, chance-cards, luck-cards... and the board game, of course.

Get a load of this action:

Yes. I would play it.

(Via Reddit.)

After LucasArts' brilliant 1993 game Day of the Tentacle, cartoon-style point-and-click adventure games slowly became their own sub-genre. Although the genre has had its ups and downs, these games are still around: Think Gemini Rue or the new Broken Sword.

Here's our collection of the most beautiful cartoon-style adventure games.

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror (1997 - PC/PlayStation, 2010 - iOS)

The Curse of Monkey Island (1997 - PC)

Runaway: A Road Adventure (2003 - PC)

Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer (1995 - PC)

Discworld II: Mortality Bytes! (1996 - PC, 1997 - PlayStation, Sega Saturn)

The Last Express (1997 - PC, 2012 - iOS)

Ace Ventura (1996 - PC)

King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (1994 - PC)

Lesuire Suit Larry 7: Love For Sail (1996 - PC)

Toonstruck (1996 - PC)

and as a +1, a sad reminder that we almost had a Warcraft adventure PC game,

WarCraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans (cancelled in 1998)

Any other adventure games in this style that look good? Post them in the comments section below.

sources: Adventure Gamers, HardcoreGaming101, The Last Express FB, Wowpedia, The Discworld Game Pages

Proven countless times over the past several years alone, video games are a form of entertainment uniquely suited to communicating serious subjects in an interactive fashion — far more effectively than reading a book or watching a documentary. Unfortunately Apple wants nothing to do with that sort of communication, so UK developer Littleloud's Sweatshop HD had to be removed from the app store.

Anyone with any level of understanding that's had the opportunity to play Sweatshop HD (you can still play the free Flash version here) knows the defense-style game isn't about glorifying the practice of hiring underage workers to toil away in unsafe conditions to create designer clothes for wealthy foreigners. Instead it's an exploration of the pressure put on people in all aspects of the sweatshop business model. It's about raising awareness, and communicating the sick feeling one gets when seemingly the only way to win is to subject workers to dangerous conditions.

The game showed up on iOS in late November of 2012. It was pulled last month. Speaking to Pocket Gamer, Littleloud's head of games Simon Parkin said that "Apple removed Sweatshop from the App Store last month stating that it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop."

Littleloud attempted to clarify the game's intent with a disclaimer, calling it "a sympathetic examination of the pressures that all participants in the sweatshop system endure." Unfortunately the changes were not enough to see the game returned to the App Store.

While Apple's guidelines have led to many games being rejected for downright silly reasons (Japanese enemies in a World War II game? No way.) Others, like Owlchemy Labs' Smuggle Truck, sought to take on serious subjects from a perspective that advocacy groups found irreverent and Apple ultimately found too controversial, much like it has with Sweatshop HD. It's highly unlikely we'll see Littleloud replace its characters with stuffed animals, as Owlchemy did to transform its banned game into Snuggle Truck.

Given the size of its market, it's quite unfortunate that Apple has decided to take this sort of hardline stance on game approvals. The platform's reach could prove invaluable in advancing awareness and understanding of serious topics, but with each banned game, Apple's position becomes clearer — iOS is not a place for serious games, and other developers are beginning to get the message.

Introversion Software's Prison Architect is currently available for play through Steam's new Early Access program for PC — a platform that remains a bastion for serious indie games.

At least for now.

Sweatshop HD is the latest victim in Apple's war on serious games [Pocket Gamer]