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All seven Harry Potter eBooks available for the first time, for Reader™ Wi-Fi® by Sony and Sony Tablet™ S. Find out more: http://bit.ly/GXqJVr. Harry Potter ...
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Visit www.fullybookedonline.com/yourstory We got together with some book lovers to talk about what they love to read! What was your own Harry Potter experien...

E3 Is Being Built, Right Now. Here's What It Looks Like.

Gaming's biggest show doesn't kick off until next week, but expert teams of booth fairies and constructobots are already hard at work building E3's cavernous displays.

If only the real show was this spacious. Or quiet.

You can see an interactive 3D panorama of the floor below; squint and you can already imagine what each booth's secrets reveal (spoilers: PR staff and sweaty control pads).

E3 2013 [360 Panorama, via Wario64]

Kotaku

I Wish America Had Local Game Coverage Like This

I end up watching a lot of news in my line of work, and one thing that is frequently hammered home is this: mainstream American media doesn't know what they're doing with games.

Across the board what you see on television (with the exception of business reporting) is at best marginally competent and at worst ignorant and hyperbolic. Which is why I find the BBC report above about the Game Republic showcase, as well as this story yesterday, so refreshing.

The clip above, taken from BBC Look North in Yorkshire, is an example of how local news should be approaching games coverage. It's positive, upbeat, approachable and sees the game industry for what it really is: a cultural asset and a viable career path.

Kotaku

What Are Your Used Game Habits Like?

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!

Kotaku

Sunday Comics: With Friends Like These ...

Welcome to Kotaku's Sunday Comics, your weekly roundup of the best webcomics, chosen by our readership. The images enlarge if you click on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner.

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Nerd Rage by Andy Kluthe. Published May 24. Read more of Nerd Rage

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Penny Arcade by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. Published May 24. Read more of Penny Arcade

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Awkward Zombie by Katie Tiedrich. Published May 20. Read more of Awkward Zombie

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Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly Turnbull. Published May 24. Read more of Manly Guys Doing Manly Things

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Brawl In The Family by Matthew Taranto. Published May 24. Read more of Brawl In The Family

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Nerf NOW!! by Josué Pereira. Published May 24. Read more of Nerf NOW!!

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Brentalfloss the Comic by Brent Black, Andrew Dobson and Dan Roth. Published May 22. Read more of Brentalfloss the Comic

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Virtual Shackles by Jeremy Vinar and Mike Fahmie. Published May 22. Read more of Virtual Shackles

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Corpse Run by Alex Di Stasi. Published May 20. Read more of Corpse Run

Kotaku

Normal Human Beings Likely Won't Play The Xbox One Like This

Phil Spencer, Microsoft Game Studio's vice president, has a relationship with games that seems kind of terrifying. VideoGamerTV recreates it here, and it may give us an early glimpse at what using the full extent of the Xbox One's capabilities may be like.

Seriously though: do any of you actually play games like that? I can barely listen to music while writing!

The Xbox One Experience (VideoGamer.com) [VideoGamerTV]

Kotaku

T-shirt purveyor Meatbun is having a Memorial Day sale, in which objects of art like these two Kotak

T-shirt purveyor Meatbun is having a Memorial Day sale, in which objects of art like these two Kotaku t-shirts are on sale for $ 5 each. You should buy them all. All of them.

Kotaku

Van Helsing Does Diablo. At Least, That's What This Game Looks Like.

NeocoreGames' The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was recently released on Steam to little fanfare. It looks fairly impressive for a $ 15 RPG, even though I get Diablo vibes so strong I can practically hear the menu music. They made a hell of a launch trailer, at least.

Kotaku

Sure Seems Like Jaleco Is Either AWOL, Or Worse, Dead

Remember Bases Loaded? And Wii role-playing game Ougon no Kizuna (above)? Or that Japanese truck driving game? The company known for those titles, Jaleco, seems to have fallen off the map.

This afternoon, Kotaku phoned Jaleco's Tokyo office. There was no answer, and a recording said the number was "no longer in service". As noted via Biglobe News, the official blog for Jaleco president, Takayasu Katou, is also no longer online.

First reported back in 2009, "Jaleco" was sold off to another company called Game Yarou. Around that time, Jaleco claimed that it was working on new titles. Later that same year, Jaleco did invite users to submit designs for a game called Wizman's World—a stunt that apparently backfired in an amusing way.

But since summer 2011, Jaleco hasn't updated its website. It's unclear wasn't going on. Jaleco president Katou was also one of the industry's more outspoken characters. Online in Japan, people seem worried about this seemingly sudden disappearance.

If Jaleco went under in 2011 and is no more, one of the sad things is how long it took the internet to realize this.

Kotaku will update this post, should Jaleco comment on its status.

ジャレコ加藤社長のブログが消滅 / ジャレコの電話も不通で社長の生存確認できず [Biglobe]

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, Facebook. Your 'Like' Button Is Ugly. Here Are Better Options.

Can you guess which games each of these icons represent?

I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty tired of seeing the bulky, medical-blue 'Like' button on every website and, increasingly, coffee shops and other random locations boasting their profile pages and begging for interest.

But if they were video game-themed, like those above, they might be more fun and less of an eyesore. Maybe Facebook could take some cues from the artist, Lucas Felipe.

Now you just have to guess which icon matches which game, using our nifty image annotation feature.

YouTube has issued a statement following recent issues like the one surrounding Nintendo and various

YouTube has issued a statement following recent issues like the one surrounding Nintendo and various "let's play" video creators. It basically amounts to "hey, take it up with the publisher".

Iron Man? More Like Golden Man

This morning we're looking at the art of Justin Fields, who over the last few years has worked at some of Hollywood's best concept and effects studios, such as The Aaron Sims Company, Amalgamated Dynamics and Halon Entertainment.

If you've been to the movies lately you've probably seen his stuff; Fields got the chance to contribute to Iron Man 3, and is also working on a number of upcoming films like the Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

And games? He most recently worked on Blink, an impressive first-person stealth title that we've covered previously.

You can see more of Justin'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!

Kotaku