Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Stallone Writes Well. No, Really.
11:40PM Brian Ashcraft | To: Crecente From: Ashcraft RE: Busy Day Yah, had a bit of a busy day myself. I spent most of the morning translating that interview I did. I combed through my notes for that article as well. Then! I called a foreign country for another big mag article I’ve been trying to set up for months. Literally. Like I kinda feel like either they’re A) too busy to talk or B) too lazy to talk or C) both. It’s been kind of frustrating, but I spoke to someone there in that country who can help out. And tomorrow, I must call for another mag article. Boy, this note is vague as hell! And ranty. Boo me. This morning’s Japanese breakfast was GOOD. Like not too heavy at all, and I was totally full from like 8am to 2pm. Tomorrow, we’ll probably eat donuts. Yippie. More »
Bogost! Colbert! Talking!
11:20PM Brian Ashcraft | As mentioned earlier. So if you don’t have a television or live in a country with foreign TV, watch away. More »
Britain Bans PS3 Ad Featuring Bald Man In Bathtub
11:00PM Luke Plunkett | You can show a lot of things in an ad these days. Bums, bits of tits, it’s all fair game. One thing that’s not cool to show, however, is a little bald European man sitting in a bathtub, especially when said European is a mercenary, holding a gun and saying he listens to Puccini. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority have banned an internet ad featuring Kovac, one of Sony’s “This is Living” PS3 ad campaign characters (you may also be familiar with half-naked girl sitting on the can). In the short ad, some text is shown that reads: You on my side? Listen up, I’ve killed for less. The music plays Puccini in my head. More »
Stranglehold Demo Shooting Up Live
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | The Stranglehold demo has hit Xbox Live. I’m a really big John Woo fan, so downloaded the 1.3 or so GB demo. And waited for three hours as the thing downloaded. (Is it just me or do some demos take way too long to download?) Played through the whole thing. Looks good! Slow-mo is fun! And was tickled to see John Woo as the bartender serving Chow Yun Fat a drink. Nice touch. Thing is, I’m on the fence about getting the PS3 or the Xbox Live version. I’d sure like to see Hard Boiled in Blu-ray… More »Nintendo “Unlikely” To Fix Freeloader Issue
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Nintendo’s Wii update, which borked Freeloader compatibility, has upset a lotta PAL users. Greatly. Datel’s Freeloader was all we had! It was the only way we could play many Gamecube games on time, and some games at all! And now it’s gone. Gone forever (just like most peoples Gamecubes when they bought a Wii). Nintendo Europe have told Eurogamer that:
because it isn’t an official product approved by Nintendo, there was nothing it could do.
Technically, that may or may not be true. Doesn’t make the hurt any less, especially as with few decent Wii games on offer and prices constantly sliding, there’s never been a better time to catch up on any US or Japanese Cube games you may have missed first time around.
Wii update breaks Freeloader [Eurogamer] More » 
Gaming Hotel Tour
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | A while back, we posted about San Francsico’s Hotel Tomo. It’s a renovated Best Western that was recently re-opened earlier this summer. The regular rooms are a little over $US100 a night and feature 26 inch LCD flat screens, wifi and J-pop murals. Not a bad deal! The “gaming suites” boast a 5×8 screen, LCD projector, a Wii, and a PS3. The rate? $US500 a night. That’s A LOT. A week there, and shoot, you could buy all that crap yourself! The geeks at Geeksugar swung by the hotel to check things out. Click below to check that out. Hotel Tomo [Geeksugar] More »Australian Sales Charts
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | With school holidays over, Australia’s sales charts return to some semblance of normality. It’s still split between PS2 and DS games, of course, just the titles are a little more recent, a little less geared towards the “school holiday clearance” end of the market.
1) Mario Party 8
2) Guitar Hero 80s
3) MotorStorm
4) Pokemon Diamond
5) Pokemon Pearl
6) Transformers
7) Rugby 2008
8) SingStar Pophits
9) Brain Training
10) SingStar Pophits Bundle
[charts courtesy of GfK] More » Haruhi Dance All Over Japan
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | To hold you over until the PS2/PSP Haruhi Suzumiya games hit! Since enough time has passed to waste that freakzoid iDOLM@STER-meets-Haruhi clip out of my brain, I quite enjoyed this one of YouTuber Maggie M. doing the Haruhi Dance all over Tokyo, Kyoto and Nijo. She explains: How I recorded myself was basically slyly pulling out my video camera, handing it to a nearby friend, doing the dance (with no music to follow to) and then escaping. Sadly, due to some areas, I went too fast at times (especially areas where I saw guards). To let you know, I got caught by an officer on Harajuku Bridge (the footage is not there). I almost got caught two other times at Nijo and Tokyo Tower. Throughout the video, you may see my eyes looking in other directions. Ha! The clip is a bit longish, but wonderfully dorky. Nice job, Maggie M. More »
Xenosaga Anime Kicks Off This Month
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | American Xenosaga fans with a fear of Japanese digital versatile discs, your two-year wait is over. The quicker-than-playing it animated adaptation of the series is about to kick off on the Anime Network, with the first episode scheduled for August 30. Don’t have the Anime Network? Then it’s coming to DVD on September 11, courtesy of ADV Films. The Anime Network [via Game|Life] More »
