Illustrator CheLA77's original characters Bunny Police 01 and Bunny Police 02 are now figures from Luminous Box. Pre-orders are open at AmiAmi for 27,700 yen each, with release scheduled for June 2027. Both 1/6 scale figures feature the characters' plump, curvaceous body lines.
First Gear will release three 1/50 scale painted die-cast finished models of Komatsu construction machinery, imported and sold by Platz in September 2026. The lineup includes the compact hydraulic excavator PC78US-11, the large bulldozer D475A-8, and the motor grader GD955-7, each with moving parts and detailed interiors.
IO Interactive announced on August 20 that sales of its James Bond game 007 First Light have surpassed 4 million units. The game launched on May 27 and sold 1.5 million copies on its first day, then held that pace to reach the milestone in roughly three months. The studio posted the figure on its official website and on social media, thanking players for joining Bond's return to gaming. 007 First Light is an action-adventure title developed and published by IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series. It is the first new Bond game in about 14 years, following 007 Legends from 2012. The project was announced under the working title Project 007 in November 2020, and the official name was revealed in June 2025. The story is an original origin tale not based on any film or novel, starring Patrick Gibson as a young James Bond, a Royal Navy aviator recruited by MI6 who earns his 00 status while training in the revived 00 Section. The game is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version planned.
astragon Entertainment and Simteract released a multiplayer trailer for Bus Simulator 27, showcasing cooperative play for up to four players. Set in Felicia Bay, the game features over 45 licensed buses from 13 manufacturers. It launches September 8 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S with cross-platform play.
Dengeki Hobby Web's latest Amazon hobby new arrival ranking places the Hot Wheels Car Culture Aero Styles Custom '70 Chevy Nova at number one. The list includes a revived Gundam Leopard model kit, a new Max Factory figma, and several other Hot Wheels premium cars.
Bethesda Game Studios announced the 'The Slasher' update for Fallout 76, launching September 15. It introduces Gen 9 Boost for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with native versions, performance and stability improvements across all consoles, plus new content and a legacy seasons system. The update is free.
The Asia Model Association Japan Central Association (AMA JAPAN) has been established as the Japan base of the Korea-headquartered Asia Model Association. It will hold the 2027 AMA JAPAN AUDITION starting August 2026, recruiting women in two age categories. Grand prix winners earn the right to represent AMA JAPAN at the 2027 Seoul event.
Sony Interactive Entertainment released Gran Turismo 7 update 1.71 on August 20 at 15:00 JST. The free update adds four cars: the Toyota Mark II Tourer V '97, Toyota Chaser Tourer V '97, Hyundai Ioniq 6 N '25, and Caterham Seven Superlight R500 '08. New race events and a Scapes feature are also planned.
Newcore Games showed 7Trials at BIC2026, where it won an award in the general action category. The roguelite action game casts the player as a contract-worker death god fighting through 49 days to become a full-time employee. The studio says the story is not the focus; action comes first.
Dengeki Hobby Web interviewed Bandai Candy Division developers Keisuke Iida and Yohei Nagasawa about the SMP Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon AAP07: Balteus model kit. The pair discussed how the project began, why Balteus was chosen as the first unit, and the challenges of building a large-scale model with a 156-tube missile launcher.
IDOLiSH7 members will appear in original COCO'S costumes and mini characters for the collaboration campaign 'Welcome to COCO'S! Delivering Seven-Colored Happiness to You!' at family restaurant COCO'S locations nationwide from August 27 to October 7, 2026. The campaign includes exclusive clear cards, song-inspired menu items, voice content, and lottery prizes.
The real Honda CB750F ridden by Baribari Densetsu protagonist Koma Gun is on display at an Initial D pop-up shop at Aeon Mall Takasaki through August 20. AUTOart 1/12 scale models of the CB750F and NSR500, each with a Gun Helmet, are also on display and for sale.
Alibaba released the open model Qwen3.8 27B on August 15. Third-party analysis from Artificial Analysis on August 17 gives it an Intelligence Index of 52, tying GPT-5.6 Luna, and an Agentic Index of 51, surpassing GPT-5.6 Terra and Claude Opus 4.8. The model runs locally.
Armor Games Studios announced that Warfare 1776, a new real-time strategy game for PC via Steam, has surpassed 20,000 wishlist registrations in less than a week since its announcement. Developed by Con Artist Games and Monstrum, the game follows the lineage of the Flash-era hit Warfare 1917 and inherits systems from the Warfare Legacy Collection.
The volunteer team behind the Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mod CyberMP released footage from its second semi-open test. Up to 66 players connected to one server simultaneously, racing, driving cooperatively, and battling in large-scale chaos. Stability held with 30 to 40 players but dropped as numbers rose, an issue reportedly fixed during the test. A release date remains undecided.
Xiaomi announced on its official website and X account that it will unveil the REDMI Note 17 Pro Max 5G on Friday, August 28. The teaser highlights a 10,000mAh battery, a step up from the recent 7,000mAh devices. The listed specs include a 6.83-inch 1.5K OLED display, Snapdragon 6 Gen 5, 12GB of RAM, a 50MP camera with OIS, 100W fast charging, and IP68 water and dust resistance.
StickyStoneStudio announced Grampage: Life at 67 on August 18. The 4-player co-op robbery game for PC (Steam) launches in 2027. Players control elderly people who break into homes to fund retirement, with PvP betrayal mechanics. Residents react to sounds and proximity voice chat. Only one player can secure retirement.
viviON Lab released the psychological short horror game 7 Days To Think About It on PC via Steam on July 16, 2026. It is the new work of Silver978, developer of Looking Up I See Only A Ceiling, and the first title from viviON Lab, a business launched by viviON Inc. The game tasks players with memorizing a room that changes with multiple anomalies, then answering a projector quiz from a mysterious man. Wrong answers set the player back days, and three mistakes end the game.
Mazda released a teaser video on August 15, 2026, for the MAZDA RX-VISION GT3 EVO, an evolution of the RX-VISION GT3 CONCEPT racing car in the Gran Turismo series. The car was first shown at the Gran Turismo World Series 2026 Round 2 Tokyo event. It is scheduled to appear in Gran Turismo 7 within 2026.
The fan-made novel game Lain: Protocol 7, based on Serial Experiments Lain, has released a trial version on itch.io. The project, crowdfunded via CAMPFIRE, has raised over 11.75 million yen against a 2 million yen goal. The trial lasts 20 to 40 minutes.
ByteRockers' Games announced a partnership with Elysium Game Studio for NEO BERLIN 2087, a cyberpunk detective game set in 2087 Berlin. The game follows detective Nolan as he investigates a conspiracy while protecting Natalie. It launches in 2028 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a gamescom 2026 media preview.
The staff for The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Finals Members Decisive Match, the sequel anime to The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Semifinal, unveiled a new promotional video, key visual, four additional cast members for Spain's national team, and a September 30 premiere on Friday. The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo on September 30 at 12:00 a.m. JST (effectively October 1) and will also air on TV Osaka and TV Aichi. The sequel depicts the battle to decide who will represent Japan in the finals match against Spain. The newly announced cast includes Tasuku Hatanaka as Julio Roman, Reiji Kawashima as Mars de Colón, Ryūho Nagaoka as Silva Serra Banbieri, and Megumi Han as Sedah. Film actor Yū Shirota voices Romeo Fernandez from Spain. The four-member unit Aozu, composed of Ryōma Echizen (voiced by Junko Minagawa), Kunimitsu Tezuka (voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu), Syusuke Fuji (voiced by Yuki Kaida), and Shuichiro Ōishi (voiced by Takayuki Kondō), performs the opening theme song "Walls And Bridges." Keigo Atobe (voiced by Junichi Suwabe) and Yūshi Oshitari (voiced by Hidenobu Kiuchi) perform the ending theme song "Kinkanshoku phenomenal."
Spiritale is taking orders for a 1/7 scale figure of Mirko from My Hero Academia. The figure depicts the pro hero seated on rocks with a hand forming rabbit ears. It includes two face plates, an original version and a provocative tongue-out version. Orders close September 7, with shipping planned for March 2027.
The King's Pudding project from the IDOLiSH7 app is collaborating with BS Asahi's Kitchiri Ojisan no Tenya Wanya Cooking. Actor Kenji Endo attempts pudding making for the first time, with Yotsuba Tamaki appearing via a letter. The episode is exclusive to TVer from August 14 to September 12.
IDOLiSH7, known in Japan as Aina na, will hold a collaboration campaign with family restaurant chain Cocos starting Thursday, August 27, 2026. The announcement came via Cocos' official X account on August 6, along with a teaser site. Newly shot visuals of the members will be used, and full details arrive August 19.
Sammy Networks will hold a VTuber team battle on its PC pachinko and pachislot game 777TOWN.net across two days in August 2026. Twelve VTubers split into three teams will compete in a payout battle, with viewers able to join by playing four target machines during a support period. The winning team receives yakiniku gift certificates.
Initial D and Seiko have collaborated on a chronograph watch inspired by Takahashi Keisuke's RX-7 FD3S from the Akagi RedSuns. The watch features a yellow dial, black bezel, rotary engine rotor motif, and a RedSuns logo. It is limited to 1,995 pieces, priced at 65,780 yen, and on sale from August 3, 2026, at PREMICO's online shop.
Bandai's Premium Bandai store is selling the RG 1/144 RX-178 Gundam Mk-II (Keroro Spec), a collaboration gunpla with a color scheme inspired by Keroro Gunsou. The kit costs 4,180 yen including tax and ships in October 2026. It includes a full-color package illustrated by Mine Yoshizaki and an original marking sticker sheet.
D4 Enterprise began free distribution of the FM-7 version of Star Arthur Legend Planet Mephius on Project EGG on August 11, 2026. The 1983 adventure game from T&E SOFT is available at no cost to monthly service subscribers. Players guide Star Arthur across Planet Mephius in search of the legendary sword Reysword.
DeepGrove announced Maple-Preview, a small AI model that runs on iPhone. It is a mixture-of-experts model with 20.2 billion total parameters and 1.49 billion active parameters. DeepGrove says it processes 13 times faster than Bonsai 27B on iPhone. The model is open and available under the MIT License.
Kadokawa is releasing six dedicated paint colors for the Full Metal Panic! ARX-7 Arbalest plastic model, supervised by mecha designer Kanetake Ebikawa. The 15ml bottles include AS general black, AS general gray, AS white, AS violet, AS dark blue, and AS yellow. Each costs 638 yen and ships in February 2027.
Design Coco has opened pre-orders for a 1/7 scale figure of Hololive English -Myth- member Ninomae Ina'nis, based on the AXGRIT original world concept. The figure depicts Ina'nis in a poised pose with a gentle smile, featuring detailed hair sculpting and a clear-parts jacket. It is priced at 35,970 yen and available from August 5 to November 5 via Cocostore.
DeepSeek has released DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731 as an open model under a commercial-use license. The MoE model has 284 billion total parameters and 13 billion active parameters. Third-party tests by Artificial Analysis rate its intelligence on par with Google's Gemini 3.6 Flash, and it outperforms GLM-5.2 in coding and GPT-5.6 Luna in agent performance.
MangaGamer released the global version of Rose Guns Days Season 2, a hardboiled action ADV by 07th Expansion, on Steam on July 31. The game, set in a fictional Japan that surrendered after a natural disaster before the atomic bombing, supports HD upscaling and costs 1,700 yen, with a 10 percent discount until August 14.
Bandai is releasing two volumes of ticket-sized random cosmetics inspired by IDOLiSH7 characters. Each volume has eight types, priced at 770 yen including tax, and is scheduled for release in August 2026. The tri-fold mounts contain a multi-color powder usable as eyeshadow, blush, or highlighter.
Anime and manga accounts celebrated International Cat Day on August 8 with cat-themed art and messages. Participants included Cyberpunk 2077, Pragmata, Inherit the Winds, Black Torch, Akira Failing in Love, Kodansha, and Kojima Productions, among others.
Bandai Spirits announced a ROBOT魂 action figure of the Ingram Plus (AV-98Plus) Unit 2 from the new anime Patlabor EZY. Preorders open August 3, 2026, with a January 2027 release. The figure includes weapons, hands, an alternate head, and a newly sculpted Type 17 command vehicle.
Luminous Box has opened pre-orders for two 1/6 scale figures based on CheLA77's original characters, Bunny Police 01 and Bunny Police 02. Each figure is priced at 27,700 yen on Amazon.co.jp and is scheduled for release on June 30, 2027.
Electronic Arts released Madden NFL 27 Arcade Edition on Apple Arcade on August 6. The game is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV with no ads or in-app purchases. It features the Ignite engine and includes franchise and quick play modes. Retro Bowl College+ also launched on the service the same day.
Yuto Nakajima's first photo exhibition, '7okyo color space/Tokyo Color Space ~#COT7DF~,' opens August 7 at Sony Imaging Gallery Ginza. The show pairs street snaps he shot over seven days with portraits of him as a subject, plus a making movie. A linked pop-up store runs in Harajuku.
Creepy Nuts will hold the domestic arena tour "Creepy Nuts ONEMAN TOUR 2027" from February to May 2027, with 12 shows across 8 cities and about 120,000 attendees expected. Fan club advance tickets open August 6. The unit also plans a new song, "Running Wheel," for August 19.
BeamNG.drive version 0.39, released July 30, includes a major graphics overhaul that replaces the conventional ACES tone mapper with tone mapping technology from Gran Turismo 7. Polyphony Digital presented the technique at SIGGRAPH 2025 and released C++ sample code under the MIT license. The update also adds HDR support for Vulkan and Direct3D 12, a UI overhaul, and a revamped photo mode.
2K released the official gameplay trailer for NBA 2K27 on July 31. The game launches September 4, 2026, with early access on August 29. A live stream, Preseason Breakdown: NBA 2K27 Game Information, airs August 19 at 2:00 AM Japan Time on Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, and X. New features include expanded badges, unified Auction House, and a neon-lit City.
Mod developer and streamer Blurbs live-coded a prototype vehicle speed-up mod for Cyberpunk 2077 during a Twitch stream. The mod made cars appear from nowhere and crash violently, prompting comparisons to the Carmageddon mod for Grand Theft Auto IV. He eventually stabilized the chaos using a collision-handling method.
Seven titles end service in August 2026, led by DONUTS' idol rhythm game Tokyo 7th Sisters, which closes August 12 after roughly 12 years and 6 months. The roundup also covers Tenkei Paradox, the Rosidere puzzle game, Counter:Side, and others, with refund procedures detailed for paid currency.
Gravity Game Arise announced the final 12 titles for Jaleco Arcade Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on August 6, 2026, completing the full 32-title lineup. The most notable addition is Chimera Beast, a side-scrolling shooter that never received a commercial release and appears here for the first time. In the game, the player evolves their body by eating enemies, with the evolution path changing based on which prey is consumed. Vol. 1 gains six titles: P-47 ACES, a 1995 shooter featuring real fighter planes; 64th Street, a 1991 belt-scrolling action game set in 1930s Chicago; Best Bout Boxing, a 1990 versus boxing game; Baltrilick, a 1986 sci-fi tank action game; Pinbo, a 1984 video pinball game; and Chameleon, a 1983 fixed-screen action game. Vol. 2 adds Big Run, a 1989 3D racing game; Psychic 5, a 1987 exploration action game; Second Earth Gratia, a 1996 sci-fi shooter; Chimera Beast; Exerizer, a 1987 sequel-like title to Exerion; and Kick Off, a 1988 arcade soccer game. Both volumes are planned for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, with release dates and prices to be announced. A playable demo will be available at Tokyo Game Dungeon 13 on August 8, 2026, where attendees can receive a half-cut sticker.
Polyphony Digital and Sony engineers detailed their experimental work at CEDEC 2026, where they built a display exceeding 10,000 nits and a camera capable of shooting HDR to create an end-to-end pipeline from capture to display. They showed Gran Turismo 7 on the setup, describing the result as wonderful. The team stressed that the goal was not a brighter screen but richer contrast and density of expression.
Hermestage Inc. announced the 7th edition of V-Plane, its immersive planetarium event where VTubers guide audiences through a star-filled sky. The event is scheduled for August 29, 2026, in Tokyo, with this year's theme being "Summer Festival." Performers include Hanano Elenoa (Quintin), Kokona Miko (Espoiris), Kazahana Nozomi (Espoiris), Yamitsuki Ririmu, Hinanogi Maya, and Kuzirano Aika, with Kasuga Nozomi joining as a guest voice actress. Kuzirano Aika handles planning, while astronomy commentator Karasaki Kenji provides supervision and Planetarium Works LLC cooperates on the production. Ichijuku drew the main illustration, Hiiragi Mamo the deformed illustration, and Nickel Ame designed the poster. To promote the event, newly drawn main posters will be displayed at 40 post offices across 21 prefectures from August 18 to August 30, 2026. Commemorative goods, including tenugui-style cloth posters, acrylic keychains, glass wind chimes, acrylic stands, and happi coats, went on sale August 6 at 18:00. The venue will also feature photo panels of over 50 VTubers, a lottery for life-size panels, and a limited quantity of special uchiwa fans for visitors.
Electronic Arts announced EA SPORTS FC 27, launching worldwide on September 25, 2026, with early access for pre-orders of Ultimate editions starting September 18. The game introduces The Grounds, a social hub and street soccer mode, and brings back Alex Hunter as a mentor. Kylian Mbappe is the cover athlete.
The Japan eSports Association announced on July 23 that the National Prefectural eSports Championship 2026 Online will be held December 12 and 13. The main titles are eFootball, Gran Turismo 7, and Puzzle & Dragons, with Puyo Puyo eSports as an exhibition match. This 8th edition is a special tournament ahead of a format change and is the first online edition since the pandemic.