Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Random Strangers Praticing English
11:40PM Brian Ashcraft | To: Crecente From: Ashcraft Whew! Back in Osaka. Just in time for dinner. And dinner was okonomiyaki and yakisoba. No kidding. True Osaka food. Damn, it’s good to be back. More »
LocoRoco PS3 Dated For Europe
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | Surprise, Europe: LocoRoco PS3’s not months away. It’s days. SCEE have confirmed that the “game” will be available next Thursday for the low, low, looooowww price of £1.99/€2.90 (USD$4). Bargain? Hardly. Remember, this is more screensaver than game. So is it worth it? Depends! You’ll either be paying peanuts for a LocoRoco-lite, or waaaaay too much for a useless screensaver. All depends on how empty that glass in front of you looks. LocoRoco PS3 next Thursday [Eurogamer] More »Drinking Free Joe In Ritzy Ginza With PSP2K
11:15PM Brian Ashcraft |Japanese Ladies And Matching Shirts
10:50PM Brian Ashcraft |
Square Enix Moves Into Ad-Driven Casual Gaming
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | Final Fantasy? NOT casual. No room for in-game ads, either! Which means there’s a gap in Squeenix’s catalogue. A gap that’s being filled by a partnership announced that will see Square Enix and Japanese portal site Nifty team up to provide a whole bunch of casual, ad-supported games. Square provide the games, Nifty provide the portal, and ads that appear between levels provide the cash money. Square Enix ventures into ad-supported casual games [Develop] More »New Lost Odyssey Trailer
10:00PM Luke Plunkett | Here’s the new Lost Odyssey clip Ash was talking about, which was shown at Microsoft’s pre-TGS presser earlier today. Some of it’s recycled from the first one, but most of it’s new. Still got no idea how it plays, but at least it looks nice. More »
So What Did Rockstar Change To Get Manhunt 2 Released?
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | IGN know, they’ve just sat down with a copy of the new, ready-for-release cut of Manhunt 2. So just what, exactly, is the difference between it and the original, not-suitable-for-release version? They report that the victim of the censor’s blade has been the game’s death sequences, those little cutscenes you got when successfully bringing an opponent down via stealth. One, involving a set of pliers and a man’s kenobis, has been completely removed. All other kill shots have been graphically edited, so that the camera darkens and blurs, obscuring just what exactly is going on. You can still get the rough idea (ie knife to face), just not in the same vivid detail as before. Manhunt 2 Wii Update [IGN] More »
Yakuza 3 Announced
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Big day for announcements! The latest issue of Famitsu contains one about Yakuza. Specifically, that Yakuza 3 is coming, it’s coming for the PS3 and should be out in Japan sometime around Spring next year. No pics or further info just yet, but hey, this news is brand new. Give it time to settle, let it catch its breath before demanding things like screens. They won’t be too far away. Yakuza 3 annoncé [Famitsu, via Jeux France] More »
Mushiking Fans Threaten Real Beetles With Extinction
7:30PM Luke Plunkett | Mushiking’s a big hit in Japan. How big? Kids don’t just want to collect digital bugs, they want real bugs. Even ones that don’t live in Japan, and cost a tonne of money to import. And it’s driving one species to the brink of extinction. A rare stag beetle, which is only found in Turkey’s Amanos Mountains, is being picked clean by “bounty hunters”, keen to snatch up the bugs and sell them in Japan for as much as Â¥40,000 (USD$350). Crazy. Course, collecting bugs and pitting them against each other is nothing new to Japanese kids (the game is, after all, cashing in on the pastime), but Mushiking has really spurred on the hobby. Welcome to 2007, kids. Video game puts bounty hunters on the trail that could wipe out the stag beetle [The Times] More »
