Hey! Everyone's favourite retro gaming idol Haruna Anno has some harsh words for you illegal downloader pirate people. Very harsh.

How harsh? This harsh: "[Not paying for games] is the same as not paying your dinner tab or shoplifting," she blogs during a break from writing "Chrono Trigger" in Japanese calligraphy. "It's stealing. Don't think you've really played the game if you've done this... I do not think people who don't buy the games have the privilege to enjoy them."

Well, that wasn't that harsh. Still. Remember, this is coming from a person who once played Chrono Trigger for 36 hours straight. She's the anti-Rola Chen and so not joking around. Haruna Anno is serious business.

DS版『クロノトリガー』が発売前に流出に [杏野はるなの日常。via Sponichi Annex] [Pic]

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Over the weekend, I stayed at home at waited for the baby to fall out of my wife. (It didn't, but rather, hung around in her womb and listened to my Prince albums.) On Saturday and Sunday, Osaka played host to the Games Japan Festa 2008. (Like I said, I was at home, with the wife, Prince records and a catcher's mitt.) The event is nowhere near the size of TGS, but Famitsu was there, reporting long lines for Metal Gear Online: Meme Expansion. The wait reached 90 minutes — compare that to the brisk 15-20 minute lines for The Last Remnant.

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The new SEGA arcade "image character" has begun his SEGA arcade image character duties! Aren't you excited? I'm excited. (You should be excited.) To review, previous image characters include MEGUMI, Yuko Ogura (twice!) and Satomi Ishihara. The new SEGA arcade image character is Jpop boy band singer Haruma Miura (pictured), breaking the string of females before him. As SEGA's image character, his face will be plastered all over SEGA's domestic arcades, perhaps enticing more females to venture inside. Says Miura:

Being photographed while gaming is a first for me. Initially, I was nervous, but gradually I relaxed and forgot all about that and just enjoyed the game. This isn't just work, it's also play... I don't really know what's best for me to do, but personally, I want everyone to know how much I enjoy game centres so they can see the appeal — especially now [in this heat], game centres are refreshingly cool.

Seems like a nice enough kid, even if he's misguided in his choice of coats. Hit the jump for another shot of Miura.

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Nintendo's Japanese ads are smart. They don't just feature famous celebrities, but former-bikini-girls-turned-mainstream celebs. That's curvy cheesecake pin-up turned actress Eiko Koike on the new Wii Fit TV spot. Sure, the Nintendo ad isn't gratuitous in the least, but it certainly doesn't turn its back on Koike's most famous assets. This isn't the first bikini girl to shill Wii stuff. Earlier this spring, Swimsuit idol Aki Hoshino appeared in Mario Kart Wii spots in a mini-skirt.

They've both done some risqué stuff in the past — nothing X-rated. Google if you like! Just know: These sorts of celebs advertise all kinds of stuff in Japan, so it's not totally unusual to see that here. Either shows how mainstream these models are or how progressive Nintendo's Japanese advertising is. Hit the jump for the Hoshino ad from earlier this year, via Jean Snow at Game|Life.

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If you've spent time on the Japanese nerd internet, you've seen images like this: Pin-up model posing with game hardware. Very common! This, this one's got a little more. That's curvy swimsuit model Yuuri Morishita holding the pricey and hard-to-get Baby Milo/Bape limited edition Nintendo DS. While we noticed that this DS was somewhat popular, we haven't actually seen a non promo image of the Bape DS! So here it is. With this lady. And look at that, the limited edition DS looks like a regular DS with stickers on it. A shot of the DS on what looks like Morishita's mattress or something.

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Nope, that isn't a homeless cheerleader squad accepting donations. Well, they are accepting denotations, but they're not homeless. That's idol group Chu!Lips (a Japanese pun on "kiss" and "tulip") collecting pocket change for the World Wildlife Fund. Why would Akihabara pop idols be doing that?

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Just because space cadet Yuko Ogura is no longer Sega's "image character" doesn't mean we can't post non-news about her. Oh no. Once a SEGA spokesperson, always a SEGA spokesperson! Above is a an official Yuko Ogura LIVE MASK. Just take a gander at that! Are you creeped out? We are totally creeped out. And it takes a lot to creep us out.

Eds Note: To bring everyone up to speed, Yuko Ogura was a two-time SEGA "image character" and even appeared in a SEGA produced kids' show. Ogura claimed to be from an apple-shaped star called Korin, but has since shied away from that nutty claim realising that people don't take seriously girls who say they're aliens. SEGA has since replaced Ogura with the more normal Satomi Ishihara.
Ogura Mask [Tokyo Times]