While it doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know, G-Para has a preview for Trigger Heart Exelica with high resolution screenshots and some illustrations.
Between Grasshopper's involvement in the recent Samurai Shamploo, Nanaon-Sha's DS version of Tamagochi, and a publishing deal with Q Entertainement for their handheld games, the Bandai side of BandaiNamco has recently been the home of many studios of a rather outcast nature, prone to cult followings by a few gamers. The publisher is going one step further in that direction by having Dream Factory produce a new title for them. Dream Factory, I remind you, was the ex-darling of the fighting game scene with their groundbreaking Tobal series. Alas, their following entries Ergheiz and The Bouncer kind of killed the buzz around them, and a large chunk of the original staff had left when Kakutou Choujin - seen by many as the studio's nadir - came out on Xbox (though we did find a defender of the game). Their latest known production was the largely unnoticed Yoshitsuneki for Banpresto in late 2005. With the forthcoming Kakutou Bijin Oolong, Dream Factory is adapting a recent manga and anime featuring a young and bosomy girl that enjoys breaking arms and fighting grizzlies with her crazy martial arts techniques. According to competent authorities, it's a rather poor license - one of those B-grade shounexploitation series that get broadcast at an hour when correct animations and clever storylines are not a major preoccupation for the young male viewer. Dream Factory has been working on some UFC and Pride fighting games after Kakutou Choujin, so it should play close to those. Check some images on GameWatch.
I might have noticed it a bit too late, but the famous actor and director... no wait I am mistaken, the famous programmer and game designer Ron Gilbert will be visiting Paris, France this week with Clayton Kauzlaric for business matters. Gilbert is beloved by all for SCUMM, Maniac Mansion and the early Monkey Island games, among other achievements within the adventure genre. Kauzlaric worked on games such as Secret of Evermore, Total Annihilation and the recent Voodoo Vince. The duo is responsible for the webcomic Grumpy Gamer, available on Ron Gilbert's weblog of the same name. They are apparently cruising the world to find some publisher for a project of theirs. I guess Nobilis might be their target in France, or at least would be a clever contact for their mentioned "adventure/RPG" game. My reason for mentioning this ovious decoy for a romantic trip is that Gilbert and Kauzlaric evoked the possibility of a casual meetup with fans, which has finally been planned for next Saturday. The meetup is in part organized by Nordine and Lama, two fine gentlemen from the Push-Start community. It's a pretty cool idea, and they apparently still have room for a few people who would want to come with them... though you should hurry up as their official deadline for taking part was last night. So if you live in or plan to visit Paris around that date, and if one of your lifelong dreams was to meet some of the few respected members of the industry, register at the Push-Start forums and ask politely.
From the usual sources, doujin and freeware highlights of the last few days... or weeks (sorry I've been busy). Arguably the two most popular names of the japanese freeware scene are in the spotlight again. Pixel, which gained international fame with his mesmerizing action-adventure game Doukutsu Monogatari (a.k.a. Cave Story), is back at it with a not yet named shoot'em up(?) project. There is a useful and up-to-date translation of his comments which you can find here. And this weekend, the cult-followed Kenta Cho released his newest game: Mu-cade (or more accurately, μ-cade). Cho recommends the use of a joypad with two sticks to appreciate the game. Here is good opportunity for Xbox 360 users to try their nifty joypad on a PC, as Mu-Cade shares some similarities with the Xbox Live! Arcade hit (and rather vapid game in this writer's opinion) Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. An intriguing echo considering how Bizarre Creations' little software seemed inspired in part by Kenta Cho's earlier works. And as we announced last january, Globule uploaded a free version of Cubic 3 on the circle's website.
Rectangle's Raiders Sphere series has set the doujin standard for flight sims in the arcade tradition à la Ace Combat. The game is popular enough to have its own wiki, IRC channel and a quite active 2ch topic. After numerous updates for the second episode, the circle finally announced Raiders Sphere 3rd. Not much information has been unveiled yet. To proceed on 3D doujin games, there are a bunch of interesting polygon-based fighters to watch for this year, such as Fatal/Fake, for which you can see a bunch of new screenshots here. There's also a new demo version of Iron Duel to download. And last Comiket's freshest game, Gunners Heart, is now available at Toranoana.
On the more traditional 2D front, check the websites of Arm Joe and Monster for respectively an upgraded version and an online trial to download. Roni also noticed Axel City, made with Fighter Maker. Looks sweet. Shooter fans would rather download the sample tunes made available for the promotion of Suguri's official soundtrack, and check out new images from promising projects such as Rayging Blue 2, Magical Pop, and Ichigo Citron's Melon Squash. That last game will be released on March 10 but, according to Roni, the circle accepts international preorders (which is uncommon enough to be worth mentioning) by sending them a mail in english at the address "otoiawase~at~w-canvas~dot~com". Whereas fans are waiting for a trial of Murasame's next project , the popular and almost decade-old circle released a nice freeware called Starleaf (go here and download the link next to the little banana). Murasame were the guys responsible for Dicing Knight, winner of the WonderWitch GP2002 and last official game of the WonderSwan. There's also a nice run & gun in the news, Saagyuda! from Milk Tank, but beware for plenty of un-worksafe material. You can download a trial version and demo movies here.
Spring 2006 will be an interesting time for japanese baseball fans, as the genre's two historic series plan to seduce them with different approaches. With over 13 million games sold since its Super Famicom debut, Konami's Pawapuro series is by far the most popular baseball series in Japan. Yet its sales have been suffering in comparison with Konami's other major sports franchise, Winning Eleven. The Japanese professional baseball league keeps fading in popularity. Younger generations are more attracted to soccer and most of the talented Japanese baseball players have left for the (North-American) Major League Baseball. As we said in June 2005, it was therefore inevitable that the studio in charge of the Pawapuro series, PawaPuro Production (ex-Diamond Head), has ended up working on a Major League version of Pawapuro. Jikkyou Powerful Major League (already nicknamed "Pawamajor") will feature all teams, stadiums and players of the MLB. It will include the series' trademark Success Mode, a very popular adventure mode with a different scenario in each episode. Though there is almost zero chance of it happening because of the game's peculiar aesthetics and the current exclusive deal between TakeTwo and the MLB, this is also the first time a Pawapuro game has the potential to be localized in the US market. Pawamajor should be released in japan this spring, though no precise date has been confirmed yet.
In early April, PawaPuro Production will also release Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Portable on PSP. It will be compatible with the PS2 versions of Pawapuro 12, Pawapuro 12 Ketteiban and the forthcoming Pawapuro 13 (to be released in Summer 2006). This version is quite anticipated by fans because it seems to follow the evolution of the main series, whereas previous handheld episodes developed their own gameplay and modes under the 'Pawapoke' (Power Pro Kun Pocket) license. From the Gameboy Color to the Nintendo DS, the Pawapoke spin-off series created its own audience and legacy. Two episodes were released on DS in 2005, Pawapoke Koushien and Pawapoke 8. They both sold poorly (and were rather disappointing), and as a consequence Konami is coming back on GBA with their newest episode Pawapoke Dash. This one will be released at the end of next march. Aside from two Saturn games and one Dreamcast edition, the Pawapuro games have traditionally been released on Sony and Nintendo machines. At the last TGS, Konami announced they would pursue the main series on Playstation 3 but held no announcement concerning the Revolution.
Before Pawapuro kicked in, the most popular baseball series in Japan was Namco's Family Stadium series. The "Famista" games on Famicom pretty much set the basis for how to turn baseball into a videogame, and Pawapuro took a lot from the series. Though Nintendo's Baseball on Famicom is actually the most successful japanese baseball game of all time with 2.35 million copies sold, Family Stadium is considered by japanese consumers as the grandfather of modern baseball games and the only other series to have had passed the million mark with a single episode - and did so three times. Famista totalled over 2 million copies sold, Famista'87 did around 1.30 million and Famista'88 ended just above 1 million. Yet unlike Konami, Namco has had issues with its series and failed to keep it highly popular over the years. The publisher has progressively switched to a more realistic approach (both in terms of gameplay and representation), mostly to set itself apart from Pawapuro. Since 2002, Nekkechuu! Pro Yakyuu has been Namco's main sports series on PS2. Its solid sales make it the second most popular baseball series behind Pawapuro, though it is tailed by Konami's own "realistic" representation of japanese baseball, Pro Yakyuu Spirits (which is actually an offspring of a long series of games that one could argue began with the excellent Yakyuu 68 on Sharp's X68000, which itself was inspired by Jaleco's popular Moerou!!Pro Yakyuu series on Famicom, but I don't want to bother you with too many anecdotes).
After a first attempt at changing the series name in 2005 with Baseball Live! 2005 and its tepid sales, Namco decided to finally revive the legacy of Famista. Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the original game, Pro Yakyuu Nekkesta 2006 will feature a "Famista 2006" mode that will go back to the gameplay and sprites of the Famicom version. You can see some examples on GameWatch. In contrast, the other modes will feature some of the most realistic character models on the PS2. To be released in march, it will compete with Konami's Pro Yakyuu Spirits 3, released around the same period on PS2 and Xbox 360.
One year ago, Ecole released an arcade version of Melty Blood: Re-Act for the NAOMI platform, co-developed with the original creators, Type-Moon. Rumors of a port for PS2 started soon after, due to the company's comments on a console version, but it hasn't been until today, almost one year later, that it has been officially announced via Famitsu Magazine. No DC this time, you see. Thanks to Game Boku Tenin no Tawagoto.
News: Street Fighter Alpha Anthology screens and some historic ranting
Compiled from US media, you can see them all here. They confirm that it's a Capcom USA product (most likely using a partial emulator) which will suffer from the 'fake-low res syndrome' once again. A low-res-designed game needs a true low-res display to get a proper on-screen presentation, and the American company also fails to realize that 'Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold' was the name they used for the Western version of Street Fighter Zero 2 Dash, not Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha (the actual game included in this compilation) despite the popular belief. They both were enhanced versions of Street Fighter Zero 2, the former for the domestic market, the latter for the arcade one, but with certainly different features. Even more amusing, though, is the fake, nonsensically-illustrated flyer they have invented for this game and the select screen. Does Capcom USA hate the fan? They probably hate even themselves. Some Street Fighter II Dash Turbo screens for the Xbox Live Arcade have also appeared, by the way.
Among japanese publishers, Capcom¹ clearly is the biggest supporter of the PSP right now. Its AreKore series received rather tepid results but the publisher has finally been rewarded with the success of Monster Hunter Portable, a game with high sales, and the first major hit for the console in Japan (and Monster Hunter Dos on PS2 is apparently enjoying very strong sales for its debut, installing the series as the publisher's new hot IP). They unveiled two new PSP games at their Capcom Press Event in Las Vegas. Power Stone Portable is a compilation of the two rather cultishly loved Dreamcast fighters, whereas Capcom Puzzle World will feature a few arcade hits such as Super Puzzle Fighter IIX and a few Mitchell² games: three episodes of their famous Pang series, and the rather obscure Block Block. This one was a "tatefuu block kuzushi" or, if you prefer, a breakout-like game using a vertical screen display. Will they go for the vertical mode for the PSP? <Brandon's note: This game will actually be in the US Capcom Classics collection for PSP, I've been told. And in the US one at least, they have a variety of display options, including a vertical mode.> There is also a very hot GokuMakaimura trailer to watch.
¹Speaking of Capcom: they plan to bring adaptations of all three GBA episodes of Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) to US cellular phones later this year. No words on the original GBA versions being eventually brought to the western world in their natural form. (via GA-F)
²Speaking of Mitchell: their DS adaptation of Puzz Loop will also be released in the USA this spring, under the name Magnetica. (via dsdsds.net)
You read about it everywhere, now read about it here! Nintendo will launch a rather classy Mother 3 Deluxe Box for the japanese launch of the GBA game on April 20. Aside from a copy of Shigesato Itoi's much awaited sequel to Earthbound, people who pre-order the box will get a red Gameboy Micro with a Mother 3 faceplate, and a cute badge. Starmen.net is providing a complete translation of the game's japanese website, including a newish update with screenshots.
Rumors: Trademark patents
February 20, 2006, 08:46 AM
by chazumaru, via japanese trademarks office - [permalink]
It's never a bad thing to check out applications for trademark patents, since it gives an idea about what some companies may have in mind for the next few months. Some of these names end up being filed only to use for completely different and unexpected reasons, but you never know... For instance, it won't surprise anyone that in late 2005, Nintendo submitted names to Japanese copyright authorities such as "Dairantou Smash Brothers" (and its nickname "SmaBro" - better known as Super Smash Bros. Melee), "Luigi", "Wario", "Made in Wario", "Donkey Konga", "Yoshi", "Famicom Wars", "Ten Eighty" or "Metroid". Those would be obvious upcoming titles on either DS or Revolution or both. Same goes for Bandai copyrighting a new Digimon game.
However some other applications might be a tad more surprising, such as Konami registering "Snatcher" again to wreck havoc with Kojima fans (and register a mysterious "i-Revo" next to it) <edit:let me precise this - though they are directly under each other in the list, it under no circumstance implies they are inevitably connected. Also, Gamasutra has an entry on i-Revo>. Meanwhile Namco seems in the spirit of reviving old licenses with entries such as "GalagaLive", "GaPlus", "Pac&Pal", "Pac-Mania" and adding "Dream Food Stadium" and "DFS" to their list of demands. Don't get your hopes too high, but at least you've been warned.
Warashi's forthcoming arcade game Trigger Heart Exelica got a proper website recently. There's not much it in aside from an MP3 file for the nice stage 1 music to download, which shows that the game's throwbacks to the 80s don't end with the title and the character design. Just today though, the game system, coupled with some screenshots, has been explained. It's here.
Thanks to Alpha Station's website and Ojakan we can see all of the new videogame flyers from the AOU convention at high resolution (which included the announcement of a new Chase HQ arcade game from Taito, by the way). War of the Grail (Capcom's first game for Taito's Type X + system), Exelica, Soul Calibur III Arcade Edition, Pink Sweets... some really good artwork there. You even can get a printable version for the full Ibara Web Manga from Ojakan. Check them out.
The official site now has a Flash version of the game for folks to roll around with. The play mechanics are different, but the principle is pretty much the same as before, and results are quite stunning. You can make just one Katamari bigger, or work up to six simultaneously.
The first episode is now on-line here. Not top quality, to be honest, but hey, it's free. To complement it, Taito has uploaded (in two parts) the promotional video for the PS2 version of the game, confirming that the Arrange Mode is the basis for Kuro. There are only some minor cosmetic differences, from what we can see. And finally, don't miss Cave's own report for the AOU 2006, full of (pink) pictures.
Milestone's Radirgy has just been released on Dreamcast, and some game shop workers have annouced that it's coming to the Game Cube (March 30th) and PS2 (May, 25th). The latter will extend its name to 'Radirgy Precious' (our guess from that crappy romanization from the source), so we can expect some sort of extras. And so the story repeats as it did with Chaos Field. As you can see, Metal Slug 3D is also scheduled for May (no, it's not cancelled, sadly) as is Ryuuko no Ken ~Ten-Chi-Jin~.
Everyone -- and I mean everyone (note: linked entry is just two slots beneath this) -- is guilty of going nuts over this new Bomberman game for Xbox 360. I do believe Brandon Sheffield and myself got all of the giggles out of our system after the Xbox 360 press conference at Tokyo Game Show 2005 (it took us about an hour of constant references to "(Insert Game Name): Act ZERO!!"). The first important thing to note about the game is that the Bomberman character as we know him was originally compromise on the dark sci-fi vision of the game makers, who, you know, had originally just wanted to make a game about robotic beings trapped in an underground arena, forced to fight against one another with bombs. Remember that, at the end of the Famicom game Bomberman, your character turns into a human. Meditate on that for a while; now realize that Hudson Soft is trying their hardest to get the Bomberman we know up to speed with their original vision. Or at least, just pretend, okay?!
Now see this. This is Bomberman Bakufuu Sentai Bombermen, which is a really dumb title. This game is being released by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan on the PlayStation Portable, uh, on March 9th, 2006. It is, essentially, Bomberman. It has apparently flown under everyone's radar, probably just because they hear the name and think, yeah, it's another attempt to cash in on people's money by putting a pseudo-popular puzzle game on PSP. Which, well, it is. However, what's most interesting is the character design. For me, at least, first seeing these characters was a bigger "What the hell?" than first seeing Bomberman: Act Zero. They're big, brawny, muscular, multi-colored "superhero"-like Bombing Men and Bombing Women. They recall some kind of "Power Rangers" aesthetic. Have a look at the screenshots at that Game Watch article and wonder. I'd thought originally that this game was some kind of knock-off, though no. Hudson is definitely behind it. Curious.
It's as though the character designs are positioned as the step between the Bomberman we enjoyed while listening to anime theme songs and drinking fruit punch, as children, and the Bomberman we're going to control while listening to black metal and drinking Mountain Dew, as bitching adults, come this May. Note that, in this game, you can choose an original Bomberman, though if you do, he looks overtly, artistically "pixelated." This is Hudson's way of telling you: "If you want to play as this little guy with a clear conscience, just play it on Sega Saturn. The future is here."
The game is being released simultaneously with remakes of Intelligent Qube and XI (aka Devil Dice 2). Each one includes a demo of the other; you can play the demo version of one game wirelessly against someone who has the full version. Hey, that's not money-grubbing at all!
Courtesy of Fabien, this video capture of a japanese TV show features the DSlite as well as some of the games and peripherals unveiled yeasterday. Not subbed, but you wouldn't learn much that we haven't covered anyway. GameWatch also offers an intrusive look on the handheld, says Iggy.
Alright so Hudson did warn us they would go for something "different" with the Xbox 360 version of their Bomberman franchise. But really... This? And this! What the hell!?
Bomberman Act: Zero will heavily focus on Xbox Live battles. There will be two different rules, the "standard bomberman" mode and a most peculiar "first person bommer" mode. It is not a typo, since the katakana confirms the pronunciation. This mode apparently mixes Bomberman with FPS-style deathmatches, although it doesn't look like the game is played with an actual first person view. Head-scratching, to say the least. On a related note, Hudson recently updated their Tengai Makyou Ziria page.
[edit] Microsoft notices the game, changes its top guy in Japan.
As announced last week, Famitsu has some new information on Tekken's PSP version. The game is a port of Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, an arcade evolution of Tekken 5 mostly known on the fashion front for introducing the gothlolicious Lili. However the "5" figure was removed from the PSP title, possibly to entice people who already bought the PS2 port of Tekken 5 to get that version as well. As is tradition, Namco will add a bunch of extras such as new customization items and a mini-game. Tekken 5 and Tekken 5 DR are both quite popular and praised, so there are reasons to be hopeful. Via Duckroll.
Nintendo held another of those DS press conferences last night and, as their own website reports, a bunch of interesting information was revealed there. While Nintendo is facing serious hardware shortages in Japan with the current DS, they plan to ship a million units of the new model in its first month. The DS Lite will be released on March 2nd, accompanied by titles such as Squenix's Seiken Densetsu DS Children of Mana and Mitchell's Shunkan Puzz Loop. Satoru Iwata of course went back over Nintendo's successful results of last christmas and confirmed that their new flagship handheld now has seven "million sellers" in Japan (and two more games should reach the mark soon). Among those, Doubutsu no Mori was the first DS game to reach the two million units mark in Japan, Nintendogs has sold over five million units worldwide and Bandai's Tamagotchi is the first third-party million seller on a Nintendo system in years. The DS is now expected to become the fastest system to ever reach ten million units sold in Japan, and a bunch of big games will be released throughout the year to make this happen.
Nintendo announced the much awaited New Super Mario Bros. would be released in May, whereas Tetris DS will be released (at a lower price than most other games) in April. Of course, the company is aware of how popular its Touch Generation series has been with the japanese audience so far. Three new titles have been anounced: Kanji sonomama DS Rakubiki Jiten, DS Bimoji Training and Shaberu! DS Oryouri Navi. The first one is a kanji learning utility, the second one a calligraphy practicing software, and the last one an interactive cooking guide (not to be mistaken with Taito's Cooking Mama). The previously announced Tabi no Yubisashi Kaiwachou DS will be released in march for a budget price. The first five volumes of this "assisting and translating tool for japanese tourists in vacation on a foreign country" will focus on China, South Korea, Thailand, Germany and the USA.
Third party developers naturally have much more faith in the system than in the Gamecube - hence Gyakuten Saiban 4, Super Robot Wars DS, Shin Sangoku Musou DS, Mario Basket 3 on 3, A.S.H., Final Fantasy III, Tales of the Tempest and sequels to Tamagotchi and Mushiking have been mentioned during the conference - including new screenshots for some of them. For instance, those tiny pics of Winning Eleven hint that KCET is porting the engine of its late PlayStation versions (which, from WE4 to WE2002, mark when the series dramatically ramped up in Japan and Europe). Judging from the popularity of the series worldwide and the successful sales of the PSP version, Konami has a major card to play here, and they unsurprisingly confirmed the game would support the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Finally, Nintendo announced the upcoming release of two new peripherals. In june, they will release a Nintendo DS Browser for 3,800 yen, in cooperation with Opera Software (they have their own announcement page on the subject), so you can rub insert credit news with your tactile screen from anywhere you want. And Game Gear fans will shed a tear with the release of the "1-Seg" TV Tuner, which allows to surf channels on the touching screen while watching TV on the upper screen. That one will likely not make it outside Japan, though.
For a while now, a few of us hoped Microsoft would use PangYa as a strategic element of the Xbox360's asian policy: Xbox Live! seemed to fit the game nicely, the japanese division needed a reputed golf game to attract more clients and it would have been a nice killer app for the korean market as well. It never happened for some reason. Until now! PangYa will finally see the day on the next generation of hardware via a little expected Revolution port from Tecmo, which the company discretely announced today through a PDF report on their website. In a bit less than two years and through successive korean, japanese and western versions, PangYa has established itself as a compelling and highly popular online multiplayer golf game. Korean producers Ntreev and HanbitSoft based their business model on the local trend of proposing a free game with customizations you buy. It will be interesting to see how Tecmo adapts it to the system's peculiar controller, and if players' customization will be managed with microtransactions or via a different system. SkattoGolf Pangya Revolution is announced as part of the launching line-up.
The insertcredit.com 2006 valentine goes to: periborg's eiji morikawa
I first met Eiji Morikawa at Tokyo Game Show 2005, where he was demonstrating his "Periborg" ("Peripheral Cyborg") line of game gadgets at the Hori booth. He works for Hori. You know that famous Dragon Quest Slime Controller by Hori? Yeah, that's Morikawa. See, Hori always makes bizarre theme controllers, and they're normally just laughed at. Well, the Slime Controller was a huge hit of pop-culture proportions.
Morikawa is concerned that people are growing out of touch with the very essence of games. He claims that gamers are becoming "game fetishists." He agrees that controllers are growing scary. He thinks fourteen buttons is too many buttons. He's very excited about the Nintendo Revolution.
His Periborg products are designed to bring the excitement "outside" of a game. His first device in the soon-to-become-legendary series is the "Ore Commander." "Ore" is a Japanese masculine pronoun for "I." "Hori Commander" was the name of Hori's first successful product -- a replacement controller for the Nintendo Famicom, which included auto-fire. He says that the prevelance of auto-fire even today is curious, because it indicates game designers have yet to understand "the true element of physical love" between gamer, game, and controller. Putting the auto-fire inside the controller removes the magic. Morikawa, noting players' laziness about pounding buttons, decided to make an auto-fire function that "allows the game to require rapid pressing, allows the controller to remain a controller, and allows the player to feel that he has changed."
In other words, the Ore Commander consists of a rubber-band-equipped finger clip attached to a wrist-mountable battery pack by a cyborg-looking wire. There are two motors in the finger cover. One motor sits above your finger (or thumb)'s first knuckle, one over the second. They are timed quite precisely, so that if you let the (fully exposed) tip of your thumb hover over a Sony DUALSHOCK 2 controller button and then flex it ever so slightly, your thumb tip will begin to vibrate. You will feel your finger pressing the button thirty times a second. The speed is variable, and can be set as slow as five times a second.
The best part of the Ore Commander is that, every time you use it, you think, "I don't really need this." You realize that thirty times a second is not really that fast. (Hudson's Takahashi Meijin can do 80 times a second without any peripherals.) Morikawa says that it's "Not even really a game peripheral." When asked what it is, then, he says "It's a Periborg."
Future Periborg inventions include the Electric Wang Show, a USB-compatible shoulder-band which displays one of 100 user-input messages, allowing you to communicate with people, without speaking, while playing a game. As with the Ore Commander, which can also be used to massage your temples or whatever else you want (a warning on the box says "FOR USERS OVER 18 ONLY"), the Electric Wang Show, inspired by the handwritten, dry-erase message bands worn by Japanese construction workers, is positioned in the world of games while simultaneously reaching out of it.
Tomorrow sees the release of the Shock-C, the second Periborg to go on sale. The Shock-C involves no batteries at all; rather, designed and originally built by Morikawa himself, it is a pair of scissoring, knuckle-mounted plastic eating utensils, positioned so that you can hold something in your hands (like a game controller) while also eating out of, say, a bag of potato chips. The utensils themselves are a plastic fork and spoon, though they can be replaced with wooden (or plastic) chopsticks. I received mine yesterday, and they are gorgeously impressive. I would call them the "best game peripheral ever," and then probably get laughed at by someone, because "you don't need to eat while playing a videogame." Statements like that are the thing Morikawa's works aim to make us stop and reconsider.
Morikawa's friends include Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Rez fame); his fans include Toshihiro Nagoshi (of F-Zero GX). His peers include Keita Takahashi (of Katamari Damacy). His favorite game-makers include Yasumi Matsuno and Fumito Ueda. He studied engineering in college; he is a graphic designer and a skilled amateur electrician. He is twenty-eight-years old. He is well-versed in games. He's also a really nice guy.
I wrote an article about Mr. Morikawa for WIRED magazine; that issue (with LEGO men on the cover) is on sale now. Do check it out. Following the interview, Morikawa and I became rather good friends. We have curry every once in a while, and then play arcade games like Midnight Resistance in Akihabara; we comment on joysticks; we press buttons.
If videogame controllers were videogame reviews, Periborg would be insertcredit.com.
In Japan, on Valentine's Day, girls in the office give "chocolate of honor and humility" to male co-workers. Well, Morikawa's secret laboratory (oddly not an exaggeration) employs no ladies (he's mostly alone), so I hereby gladly seize this opportunity to wish Eiji Morikawa well. We offer him the first-annual insertcredit.com valentine for 2006. Warning, ladies: he is married.
You can see his products here, and you can buy them here. To commemorate the launch of the Shock-C, they're selling the Ore Commander and the Shock-C in one package, for 3,500 yen.
The picture at the top of this post, by the way, contains the slogan "Games move into the hi-def era," which sounds a lot more pretentious in Japanese than in English. Morikawa lifted it from the Xbox 360 advertisements running all over Tokyo back in December; like Hideo Kojima, he understands that "natural" is more important than "real," and the picture is a sly reminder that our own bodies are more high-definition than the most expensive television. It kind of reminds me of what Keita Takahashi said about how he'd rather design parks than videogames. Except less of an "apocalyptic artist" thing and more of a "this guy's funny" thing.
Morikawa will be on Japanese TV Saturday night showing off his various kooky things. I'm not sure which channel.
As a final note, if you wish to celebrate the Konami Week that's going on on the forums, be sure to play responsibly: play with Hori brand controllers. Please.
Cave's web page for the AOU updates almost every day, and you can now find three new Pink Sweets screens there. They persist on upscaling them so click here for the rebuilt versions. A promotional video of Pink Sweets for the AOU is also announced, while the second episode in the Ibara Gakuen series (which serves to promote Ibara's figures set) is now available.
G-Para has a mini feature on the game now with the screens at their actual resolution. Good to see we weren't wrong about the graphics, isn't it? Thanks to Majoria News for letting us know.
As if to celebrate the expletiveKonami Week going on at the insert credit forums all week, the first scans of Bokura no Taiyou DS are available on 2ch. They indicate that the series will drop its trademark sun sensor and instead opt for an in-game weather cycle (shown on the top screen at all times). But Shinta Nojiri, who is responsible for the series since the beginning as well as the "TobiAc!d" 3D spectacles for Metal Gear Ac!d², might have another trick up his sleeve and it wouldn't be surprising if inserting any of the three previous Boktai games in the GBA slot somehow interfaced with the DS version.
The French aren't satisfied with producing merely Tanguy when it comes to the best in video game covers - Duracell, consisting of Frenchman Andrew Dymond, a drum kit and some synth triggers, performs, most notably, a blazing cover of the Space Harrier first stage theme available in video and MP3 form from his (sparse) website. He's clearly a big fan of Lightning Bolt, having performed in a tribute to them (also available from his website) and that should clue you into the kind of high energy, abusively beat-laden noise that you should be letting into your life right now. I particularly recommend viewing the videos, to enjoy his playing style and to watch people watching him - either unable to comprehend what is happening, or completely unable to dance to the wildly changing rythyms.
Just a note to confirm the statement we hid in a post last week so the net wouldn't catch fire with it. Nippon Ichi is indeed bringing Blade Dancer to the US, along with Disgaea 2 (shockingly!). In other news, I totally got one of their plushie prinnies last night.
Back in June 2005 we reported the announcement for the PS2 version of Utawareru Mono, one of Aquaplus' most unique RPGs. But news of the project has been pretty quiet til now. The official site is finally up, with not much other than a nice story section and the confirmation of the excellent (Brandon's opinion) Flight Plan as the co-developer. Don't expect it to be released before this summer.
<Brandon's notes:> The Story section should give you an idea of why we're so obsessed with whatever Aquaplus does - they're also responsible for the To Heart series that's inspired so much excellent doujin work. Though you'll only hear music and see a few static images, there's a decidedly timeless oldschool flavor which you'll no doubt pick up on. As a side note, utawareru mono loosely means 'an object of admiration'.
News: Commercial Breaks: The Battle for Santa's Software
It's been doing the rounds as a torrent for a while now, but now that it's appeared on YouTube it's as good a time as any for us to link it. Commercial Breaks - The Battle for Santa's Software is fascinating look at the internal machinations of UK software companies Imagine and Ocean in 1984, as well as a nice blast of nostalgia for anyone used to tape loading games. The documentary covers Imagine's implosion due to mismanagement and the demands of 'Bandersnatch', one of Spectrum gaming's most legendarily hyped games, never to appear, later released by Psygnosis as 'Brataccas' on the 16-bits. A nice companion piece is the coverage in a blistering article from January 1985's Crash magazine- still an utterly essential piece of games journalisim. The documentary also covers Ocean's clever image management with a slightly less cynical eye.
Thanks to all at the World of Stuart Forum for the heads up.
As a supplement to Recap's post below, the Mushihimesama DVD is being put out by INH, which doesn't sound very exciting until you spell out their full name - Insanity Naked Hunter. They have some other nice superplay DVDs out there, which you can see samples from if you look. Not only STGs, but also 2D grapplers such as Fighters History Dynamite, and the lauded Starting Over Hyper Street Fighter II DVD. They also do specialty soundtracks and things. Quite a nice company, all six people that work there. Expensive DVDs, but they tend to sell out fast whenever any import retailer gets them in, so if you see any, might want to grab them. They have a superplay for Trizeal's XII Stag coming up in April - if anyone's interested in me doing a dissection similar to the one below for Mushihimesama, send me an email.
INH is releasing this superplay DVD + arranged BGM CD + booklet combo next week and you can now check the contents on its website. Some sample videos there (about half-way down) to see what you are getting, along with a couple of wallpapers featuring brand-new illustrations made especifically for this production.
Brandon's notes: Among the superplayers will be Clover-YMN, part of the Clover group of which the famed Clover-TAC is a member (we've mentioned him plenty of times if you don't know who he is). Clover-YMN has the original (PS2) mode covered, Enabler-T.S is doing the maniac mode, and relative superplay newcomer TGA-RET is doing the ultra mode. From what I've read he's only known for his Mushihimesama work so far - ditto Enabler-T.S. Clover-YMN seems to be the main star of the disc, aside from the obvious other extras.
Way of the Rodent, which is quite a good webzine if you've never seen it, has a new issue up. It includes features such as their typical quirky interview. This time it's with Trip Hawkins, and is basically awesome. An excerpt: Did you ever meet the heavy mob from Atari back then? Was it literally like dealing with the Sopranos? Looking at the pictures now it seems that way.
Oh yeah, of course! Jack Tramiel was fond of showing us his serial number from the concentration camp. These were very intense and aggressive people.
So yeah. Also includes an unrequited love note for the C-64, and a technical article from a homebrewer for the Pokemon handheld. If I owned my own magazine, it'd probably look like this. But on paper! There are also reviews, but who wants to read those? Read the Peter Molyneux bonus feature and feel important for getting the references, instead.
So onto the shirts part - WoR has come up with some shirts, many of which are completely excellent. A Tetris shirt that says 'Nevermind the Blox' in the Sex Pistols font? Well, that's clever!
GameWatch has some new images and bigger illustrations of Osawari Tantei Ozawa Rina, still scheduled for a spring release on DS. Unlike most japanese detective series, this one opts for a SCUMM-like gameplay - which sounds smart considering the presence of a tactile screen. The upper screen will have Rina give away her thoughts and therefore a few hints to help the player solve investigations.
I forgot to mention, when discussing Play Asia's big New Years Sale that they have the GP2X on discount for $170. Also, there isn't a second edition of the console yet - just firmware upgrades. The unit remains the same!
Some thoughts about the discounts. Unfortunately Londonian Gothics isn't on sale - that game needs to be $20 before I'll buy it. As a side note, I've noticed (via my affiliate data) that a number of people purchased some interesting stuff due to the sale, and I think it speaks to our general good taste: obviously a lot of people got Rez on the cheap, but a lot of folks also picked up the Game Machines encyclopedia, and DJ Max. Those are a bit obvious, but I think it's rather cool that some people picked up the totally bizarre, nearly homoerotic Garouden Break Blow, which we mentioned in september (official site here, movie here). Good eyes. It seems not many people noticed that some of the Simple series is on sale for half, with The Shooting (Double Sheinryuu)+Helicopter pack going for $10, which is actually three games (one of which I reviewed once) on two discs. With Love Smash Tennis 5.1 for $5 and the very new all-star fighting festival for $10, you should get to clicking before someone else does. I actually missed Love Tennis on my first check through, so BACK OFF.
It's quite a well-loved comic and animation series based on a game's company mascot, so it's not really surprising that Binchou-Tan is getting a PS2 game. It's thanks to Famitsu that we know the first details. It'll take the form of an adventure game with nicely drawn hi-res bitmap graphics, and will be produced by Marvelous Interactive. Nothing else for now, but rather promising nevertheless.
This year's All Nippon Amusement Machine Operators' Union (which most people only know as 'AOU'), is coming up on Feb.17 and Feb.18. It should confirm the current trend of trading card-based games, the growing disinterest of Capcom and SNK in this once-lucrative market, and also show that the outrageous domination of Sega has been tarnished by the demise of the Atomiswave. We now have a close to complete list of the companies and games presented. The most important information is of course the absence of SNK Playmore (as of right now) which, combined with their absence at last AM show gives more credit to the theory that they might soon leave the arcade game market. Tecmo, River Service, Katou and Aruze have not yet confirmed their presence either. Grev is rumored to show something. Here is a current list of what is known to be shown, classified per publisher and with the developer in parenthesis:
AMI Pink Sweets (Cave)
Ibara Kuro -Black Label- (Cave)
Unless you have a personal grudge against Recap, you can't have escaped those two.
Able Sangokushi Yuuki (unknown developer)
Kuru Kuru Chameleon (Star Fish)
Tsuushin Taisen Mahjong Touryuumon Version up (Yuki Enterprise)
They might also host an unknown game from Mile Stone. Kuru Kuru Chameleon was released on PSP last january. The arcade version runs on Naomi, hence making it yet another potential "final Dreamcast game", although Sega recently claimed Under Defeat would keep the crown. The developer Star Fish was already responsible for recent DS releases such as Wizardry Asterisk and Super Black Bass. We mentioned Yuki's Touryuumon recently via its Xbox 360 adaptation. Between the recent release of Sega's MJ3 and the AOU 2006 unveiling of Mahjong Fight Club 5, this new version might have a hard time finding an audience. The Sangokushi game is apparently just an online card/trump game in the same vein as the recent mahjong titles. It will only be presented in video form.
Capcom War of the Grail (Capcom)
Rockman Exe (Capcom)
Various medal games
War of the Grail has been in development for quite some time now. It might find an audience among Monster Hunter fans, since it is apparently Capcom's new hot license. Rockman Exe is a clever move, awkward they did not think of that sooner.
Konami Nothing confirmed yet...
...but these titles are a given, according to Hamapika-Ya: Beatmania IIDX 13, Mahjong Fight Club 5, Hammer Punching, DDR SuperNova, Winning Eleven 2006, Game Robo, Grand Cross, Giga Drake OnLine, Pleasure Party and the awkwardly Killer7-inspired Cooper's 9.
Sega Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega)
The House of the Dead 4 Special (Sega)
Virtua Striker 4 Ver.2006 (Sega)
Touch de Zunou (Sega)
Rumors project that Sega will also show After Burner Climax, Psy-Phi, Exelica, Metal Slug 6, as well as any SNK game that might show up, and a new title from Yuki. System16.com already has images of Virtua Striker 4 ver.2006. Sega might also show an arcade cabinet with the PC version of Ford Racing Full Blown running on it, for promotion purposes.
Taito Half Life 2 Survivor (Valve System)
Shikigami no Shiro 3 (AlfaSystem/Skonec)
Both run on Type-X, naturally. Moss and X-Nauts should also show some yet-unannounced titles in Taito's booth, and the presence of Homura 2 is heavily rumored. No sign of Squenix's involvement with Taito to be seen yet.
Bandai-Namco Nothing officially confirmed
For their first joint effort at AOU, Bandai and Namco should rely on safe licenses such as Time Crisis 4, Druaga Online, Taikou no Tatsujin 8, Soul Calibur IIIAC and some Gundam game(s).
Banpresto Nothing officially confirmed
Bandai's self-sufficient offspring is focusing heavily on card games to take on Sega's recent hits. After Gundam and Digimon to counter Sangokushi Taisen and Mushiking respectively, the next universes to be turned into arcade card battle games will be Dragon Ball Z and Tamagochi. Kinnikuman should also appear on their stand.
Ascii announced what games will be featured in their upcoming mook Yomigaeru PC-8801 Densetsu Eikyuu Hozon-ban ("the legend of the resurrecting PC-8801, eternal conservation edition"). As you can guess, the mook is dedicated to the glory of the PC-88 series that defined japanese PC gaming for most of the Eighties, was home to a tidewave of cult adventure games and RPGs from companies such as Enix, Falcom and Nihon Telenet, and eventually led to the slightly more internationally known PC-98 series. The games featured in Ascii's mook will be The Black Onix (published by BPS), Fire Crystal (BPS), Archon (BPS), Muteki Keiji Daidageki (FamilySoft), Hydlide I/II/III (T&E Soft), Super Taisenryaku (System Soft), Harakiri (Game Arts), Uddeipoko (dB-Soft), Riglas (Random House), Final Zone (Nihon Telenet) and Dome (System Sacom).
Our favorite Japanese writer/celebrity Shigesato Itoi has been trickling out information about his new game, the ten-years-in-the-making Mother 3, sequel to Mother 2, which is one of the best games ever, anyway. It's been said (by Itoi himself) that not a screenshot of the game will be revealed before the release, perhaps even on the back of the game's box! Amazing. You can view his new periodic updates page right here.
Now for the important part: a lot of game and music fans (correctly) regard Mother 2's soundtrack, by the illustrious Keiichi Suzuki, to be the best-composed videogame soundtrack of all-time. They should be delighted to know that Itoi has decided to make a piano recording of the song available to all of the internet today. The game will release on April 20th; Itoi says, "It'd be really nice if people would play this song everywhere before the game is released." In the spirit of Itoi's entrepreneuristic philosophy, I have hosted the song here. Just because I'm curious to see how many people download it from me.
The song is called "Mother 3: Love Theme." The similarity to "Eight Melodies" from Mother 2 is quite striking. It sounds like something you'd hear at a jazz bar, or when a department store is closing for the evening and they want to depress everyone out.
The story of Mother 3 is, at this point, mostly unknown (the canceled Nintendo 64DD version was apparently about a man, his son, his dog, and a pig emperor (perhaps Pokey from Mother 2)), though chances are it will be a more overtly sad story than Mother 2 (which was only conceptually sad). The blurb that will appear on the box (and posters and promotional materials), according to the newest information, is
"It was bizarre. It was fascinating. And then, it was devastating."
Again, Itoi's skill with the Japanese language is amazing. I'd recommend reading the essay I linked above, and especially this one, if you can read the language and/or are learning. Learn his vocabulary (I can recommend a good program with a lightning-fast built-in Japanese dictionary that I use at work), and you'll impress every man, woman, and child in a ten-meter radius. As long as they're Japanese.
In the spirit of slow information leaks, I'll explain something about Mother. You remember the guy in the beginning of Mother 2, who tells you all the people in town were afraid of the meteorite, though he was okay, because he eats garlic? (I love that guy. Probably because I love garlic.) He asks you to read the sign by his house. He says, "That's what I do. I write signs." Years ago, this is how Itoi explained himself. He doesn't write essays or videogames or stories or novels; he writes signs.
Now: the Japanese word for "blurb," such as the blurb that appears above, is "Copy." Itoi originally gained fame as a master copy-writer. And by "copy," I don't mean articles -- I mean the Japanese concept of "Copy." Itoi's passion is in sentences, not paragraphs, pages, chapters, or complete works. All the Citizens of the Internet currently cursing Itoi's wicked and "unprofessional" means of PR clearly don't understand that in his vision, there is no success and no failure. There are only sentences, readable in or out of order, all containing the same heart.
In closing, Mother 3 will be a superstar. It will come to your town if you'll just give it time. Be patient; don't expect it to teach you how to live. Live how you will. Be gorgeous. When it comes, learn something, brush your teeth, and then go to bed. Good night.
I've waited and waited for someone on the internet to say something about Blade Dancer, and it just hasn't happened. So here you go -- the official site for Blade Dancer: Sennen no Yakusoku ("The Thousand-year Promise"), an original traditional RPG for the Sony PlayStation Portable, by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and former Sega studio Hitmaker. The game has nice, clean art and an intriguing post-Final Fantasy IV semi-real-time battle system that implements a special meter shared by both the enemies and the player characters. You use the meter to execute special attacks; the more of the meter you use, the stronger the attack. The system focuses on tempting you to save up the meter as much as possible, yet forces you to balance it out by unleashing specials before the enemy can.
It's basic two-button stuff, yet it still feels deep. The game also sports a wireless LAN mode where you can penetrate dark, moist dungeons with your character of choice, along with a friend's choice of one of his one-player quest characters; this makes it kind of like Diablo. You get to keep the experience points and treasure!! And those four characters it fixes into your party are lovely; it has nice towns, too. At first it looks something like SCE and Climax's Tenchi no Mon, though in execution, it's actually quite a bit better. It's being released in Japan on March 2nd, for the low (high) price of 4,800 yen. I'm sure it'll be released in English, so do be on the lookout for it. <Brandon's note: I predict by Nippon Ichi. Wait and see!>
Or -- actually! No, import away! Why should you import? Well, because one of those four fixed main characters is voiced by none other than our favorite guy Akio Otsuka! I'll give you five seconds to guess which of the main characters -- the plucky, young, blue-haired, sword-wielding kid (Shane), the dancing green-haired girl with the magic staff (Faris), the long-eared, weepy fairy (Tess), or the giant, burly, robust, beaded-necklace-wearing, giant-cudgel-swinging philosopher-monk Gorthan -- Akio Otsuka plays!
Give up? Why, it's Gorthan, of course! I remember reading something in Famitsu a few months ago about that Ninety-Nine Nights game for Xbox 360 that Tetsuya Mizuguchi is dipping his finger into, and how the female warrior (no, not the little pasty-thighed female witch with the creepiest face ever rendered in a videogame) was named "Inphyy." I remember writing somewhere that "Inphyy" sounds too much like something a Korean dude (or little girl) would name his Diablo II sorceress, and that something like "Gorthandra" would sound a hundred times better. And now here's Akio Otsuka, playing "Gorthan"! I'm sure he'll earn a place in our hearts next to Solid Snake and Batou.
For more information on the voice-actor of our generation, you can most definitely check out his work on Hideo Kojima's audioblog, which is awesome even if you don't understand it. That link also leads you to a good summarized resume of Mr. Otsuka.
In closing, in memory, let's take a quick look at some head shots of Mr. Otsuka's most memorable characters -- how diverse and different they are, each in their subtle ways. <Brandon's note 2: check the alt text on these.>
The 14th of february is only a week away, and here is a nice Valentine card which takes its inspiration from Wanda to Kyouzou / Shadow of the Colossus. The drawing comes from Beavotron, of the Penny Arcade forums; it came to this reporter via the insert credit forums, where Valentine Day also rhymes with FKW.
News: Metal Guiar Solid: Snack Idem (featuring Gila!)
Haughtier than Snake. Hardier. But especially... cheaper. Indeed, they want it to be a 'high-budget motion picture of zero-euros cost which parodies one of our best loved games in an almost paranoiac manner'. It's the second project from the Spanish group 'El Corral', though its director is better known through the recent 'fan-fiction video' (as he prefers to call it) Nintendo On, which unofficially (and indeed 'fictitiously', albeit very professionally) anticipated the Nintendo Revolution system prior to past E3. The promotion trailer for Metal Guiar Solid: Snack Idem - now availaible on their website - reveals some insane jokes aimed, we're afraid, only at Spanish aficionados, although you may enjoy the amazing special effects (don't forget this is a homebrew production) and visual humor focused on the MGS series even without understanding a word. There is no release date for the movie but it should be downloadable from their website within this year. Thanks to the Gamerah guys for providing us with first-hand info.
Doujin highlights of the last few days, from the usual sources. Zepy on MMC boards spilled some interesting beans on the results of the biggest erotic game release of last year. Fate/Hollow Ataraxia ended the year at 154,015 copies sold, making it the best selling "eroge" of all time in Japan in place of its predecessor Fate/Stay Night, as we mentioned a while back. It is mentioned again here because Fate's creators, Type Moon, come from the doujin scene and the universes they created continue to fuel a large part of the current doujin scene. (For the record: To Heart 2 X-Rated, the adult-only redux of a PS2 release, ended the year at 110,393 copies sold and is now the third biggest seller of all-time behind the two Fate games.)
In other news, Snowman is an action-puzzler that fits the season. The shooter Tobi Marisa and run&gun Blood -Over-, both quite hyped, got new demo versions - and so did the peculiar Nekomimi no Kakera. There are also new images of Thoho Soccer to catch on its official page. I know very little about Ika to Tako / Tokyo Gelatti, only that they are a duo known for visual novels, sound dramas and adventures games with a much-appreciated graphic style. They have a bunch of new screenshots for their upcoming detective visual novel Maxima 2. They also have a kinky "block kuzushi" (breakout-type game) to try on their website.
Two western games also made the freeware news recently. Lyle in Cube Sector is a cute platformer which takes its inspiration from a few classic standards, from Doki Doki Panic to Metroid and Doukutsu Monogatari. The music looks inspired (or directly taken from?) the european demo scene of the Eighties, which is another nice retro touch. The other game is an amateur project that is getting some attention since a possible Xbox 360 Live Arcade version has been evoked by its author. Some of you will notice a striking and admitted ressemblance, for a lack of stronger words, to Omega's popular Every Extend. A good reason to remind you of its forthcoming PSP version by Q Entertainment.
In celebration of Chinese new year, Play Asia is having a rather huge sale. More than 2,000 items have been discounted, including Dororo for $6 (chinese version), japanese PS2 version of Rez for $13, Biohazard 0 for $15, and a host of classics, toys, and movies. As a bonus, there's also a contest drawing. Just look for the sale symbol in the right hand side (as seen here or to the left), and the more of those types you purchase, the more entries you get into the drawing. Prizes for the lottery include a japanese Xbox 360 with two games, japanese ps2 and two games, DS Lite plus one game, a GP2X, or vouchers for future Play Asia purchases. Pretty good deal, really. Be aware that, being a sale, a lot of this is overstock. The good thing about that is it usually means lots of limited editions reduced by about half. So keep an eye out.
Instead of being honest about liking porn games for porn's sake like the rest of us, noted curmudgeon Toastyfrog, AKA Jeremy Parish, really likes Tomb Raider. He even wrote this intelligent thing about it, which almost makes me feel bad for making fun of him, but not quite. It's also worth noting that he's been putting up his old game content in his wiki. His pre-1up articles have always been quite good and very personal, so give them a look. Not that his 1up articles aren't also good! In unrelated news, Nich Maragos interviewed a guy from Irem about Bumpy Trot/Steambot Chronicles. Yay!
It's true! Has a touch panel and everything! Well...it's mostly true. Longtime friend to ic Vander Fujisaki pointed us to a Game Watch article with further details. The system, called the Beena, is made by Sega Toys, and is basically the Pico reborn, though while the cartridges are the same size, the Pico carts won't work with the new unit. It actually says 'advanced Pico' just above the Beena logo. Take another look at that last image - touch panel...'training game'...sign of the times!
The graphics do look a bit sharper now, but I'd imagine it's the same architecture. The lineup currently boasts the normal japanese childrens licenses, such as Anpanman, Doraemon, and now Mushiking, of course. The big shocker for me is seeing Pokemon in there. A Nintendo game for a Sega console. That's progress!
While it's primarily postioned as an educational tool, some of these do look profoundly game-like, which is damn exciting, even though it shouldn't be. It's been endorsed by educators as a tool for intellectual and moral (!) training. But I can't help but get excited by the prospect of actual games on this thing, though I'm sure that won't be happening any time soon. There's a car game which teaches safe driving, and has a rumble function...that's pretty close!
Differences from the Pico include: ability to play without a TV, use of a second pen for two players, data saving, score ranking, and playtime can be set by a parent to an alloted slot. Other exciting things: it uses a battery to keep the time. If light strikes the innards of the Beena (ie if the cart isn't set right) it won't operate properly. Demons! The unit costs 13,440 yen, and carts are quite expensive, ranging from 4,000-7,000 yen. anyway, it's all very exciting. Long live Sega.
News: Ibara Kuro ~Black Label~ first official details
While it doesn't reveal anything 
Between 
I might have noticed it a bit too late, but the famous 
Spring 2006 will be an interesting time for japanese baseball fans, as the genre's two historic series plan to seduce them with different approaches. With over 13 million games sold since its Super Famicom debut, Konami's 
After a first attempt at changing the series name in 2005 with 
One year ago, Ecole released an 
Compiled from US media, you can see them all 
Among japanese publishers, Capcom¹ clearly is the biggest supporter of the PSP right now. Its 
You read about it everywhere, now read about it here! Nintendo will launch a rather classy 
Warashi's forthcoming arcade game Trigger Heart Exelica got a proper 
Thanks to Alpha Station's 
The official site now has a 
The first episode is now on-line 
Everyone -- and I mean 
Alright so Hudson did warn us they would go for something "different" with the Xbox 360 version of their Bomberman franchise. But really... 
As announced last week, Famitsu has some new information on Tekken's PSP version. The game is a port of 
Nintendo held another of those DS press conferences last night and, as their own website 
For a while now, a few of us hoped Microsoft would use 
I first met Eiji Morikawa at Tokyo Game Show 2005, where he was demonstrating his "Periborg" ("Peripheral Cyborg") line of game gadgets at the Hori booth. He works for Hori. You know that famous 
Morikawa's friends include Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Rez fame); his fans include Toshihiro Nagoshi (of F-Zero GX). His peers include Keita Takahashi (of Katamari Damacy). His favorite game-makers include Yasumi Matsuno and Fumito Ueda. He studied engineering in college; he is a graphic designer and a skilled amateur electrician. He is twenty-eight-years old. He is well-versed in games. He's also a really nice guy.
Cave's 
The French aren't satisfied with producing merely 
Just a note to confirm the 
Back in June 2005 
It's been doing the rounds as a torrent for a while now, but now that it's appeared on 
As a supplement to Recap's post below, the Mushihimesama DVD is being put out by 
INH is releasing this superplay DVD + arranged BGM CD + booklet combo next week and you can now check the contents on its 
I forgot to mention, when discussing Play Asia's big 
It's quite a well-loved comic and 
This year's All Nippon Amusement Machine Operators' Union (which most people only know as 'AOU'), is coming up on Feb.17 and Feb.18. It should confirm the current trend of trading card-based games, the growing disinterest of Capcom and SNK in this once-lucrative market, and also show that the outrageous domination of Sega has been tarnished by the demise of the Atomiswave. We now have a close to complete list of the companies and games presented. The most important information is of course the absence of SNK Playmore (as of right now) which, combined with their absence at last AM show gives more credit to the theory that they might soon leave the arcade game market. Tecmo, River Service, Katou and Aruze have not yet confirmed their presence either. Grev is rumored to show something. Here is a current list of what is known to be shown, classified per publisher and with the developer in parenthesis:
Our favorite Japanese writer/celebrity 
I've waited and waited for someone on the internet to say something about Blade Dancer, and it just hasn't happened. So here you go -- 
Give up? Why, it's Gorthan, of course! I remember reading something in Famitsu a few months ago about that Ninety-Nine Nights game for Xbox 360 that Tetsuya Mizuguchi is dipping his finger into, and how the female warrior (no, not the 
Haughtier than Snake. Hardier. But especially... cheaper. Indeed, they want it to be a 'high-budget motion picture of zero-euros cost which parodies one of our best loved games in an almost paranoiac manner'. It's the second project from the Spanish group 'El Corral', though its director is better known through the recent 'fan-fiction video' (as he prefers to call it) 
Doujin highlights of the last few days, from the usual sources. Zepy on MMC boards spilled some interesting beans on the results of the biggest erotic game release of last year. Fate/Hollow Ataraxia ended the year at 154,015 copies sold, making it the best selling "eroge" of all time in Japan in place of its predecessor Fate/Stay Night, as we 
In celebration of Chinese new year, Play Asia is having a 
Instead of being honest about liking porn games for porn's sake like 
It's true! Has a touch panel and everything! Well...it's mostly true. Longtime friend to ic 
Differences from the Pico include: ability to play without a TV, use of a second pen for two players, data saving, score ranking, and playtime can be set by a parent to an alloted slot. Other exciting things: it uses a battery to keep the time. If light strikes the innards of the Beena (ie if the cart isn't set right) it won't operate properly. Demons! The unit costs 13,440 yen, and carts are quite expensive, ranging from 4,000-7,000 yen. anyway, it's all very exciting. Long live Sega.
