According to a spokesperson, "It was supposed to be 'PURLISHER' with a 'R' there and not a 'P'."

The game, which allows players to get "drunk" with karaoke singing bar hostesses, featured a promotional campaign that played on the idea of pure. The game's official website asked visitors, "Do you have a pure heart?" Nothing says pure like drinking with hostesses!

"Purlisher" is a pun on "Publisher" — not a very good one, and one that would have also been viewed as a misspelling. It has nothing to do with puppy dogs.

However, the spokesperson says he was in Saudi Arabia at the time, and was trying to explain the idea of having the trailer read "Purlisher" via an international call. "Somehow," the spokesperson adds, "it ended up with a 'P'."

【冬休み特集】「ドリームクラブ」2009年を振り返る—イケないドリームエックスクリエイト代表とピュアなスタッフさんにインタビュー [GameSpot Japan]

This promotional image features more of 15-year-old Miki than perhaps she'd like to be shown. And as the Japanese internet has pointed out, this game makes it appear as if all the young heroines cannot be bothered with dressing themselves properly. Underwear is important!

Except in the bath.

Misshitsu Sacrifice is a psychological adventure thriller out next February in Japan. It is rated ages 15 and up. There's blood, too.

『密室のサクリファイス』ヒロインのミキは完全に穿いてない少女 [チラシの裏でゲーム鈍報]

There have been many calls for the game to be released on the PlayStation platform, and someday I want to answer them.

Dream Club is set in a night club and features a drinking system called "IIS," which has players control their drinking using the Xbox 360 controller's analog stick and try to get the hostess shitfaced so she'll talk about personal things she normally wouldn't. "IIS" stands for "Interactive Inshu System" with "inshu" being Japanese for "drinking alcohol."

There's a system for talking with the hostess as well. Called "ETS" (Emotional Talk System), it gives players three response choices using the X, A, and B buttons on the Xbox 360 controllers. Girls also sing songs for customers and dance and wear costumes and stuff.

『ドリームクラブ』プロデューサー 「PSフォーマットでも出してくれという声が多いので、いつかはその声にお応えしたい」 [はちま起稿]

Second, D3P will release a DS title based on Aardman Animation's Shaun the Sheep TV series on February 6, 2009. When Kotaku visited D3P's press event last week in New York City, we got to take a look at the Shaun the Sheep game, and we also recently spoke to D3P of America's executive vice president Yoji Takenaka about the agreement and the new titles.

"Coraline is a movie for kids, and it's part of our global strategy to bring good kids' properties to the video game market," said Takenaka. "Also, Coraline opened up a relationship with Universal Studios, a major studio, and I am very excited by that."

Gaiman's dark fairytale story had its disturbing moments, so we were a little surprised to hear that it's being adapted as a stop-motion animated kids' flick, and asked Takenaka for more details.

"It will skew toward the younger demographic," said Takenaka, "but there's something in there for everyone."

Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick will be heading up the film project, and the animation will be filmed first in 3D, starring Dakota Fanning in the title role. Coraline discovers a secret door in her house that leads to an alternate life that seems better at first, but quickly grows sinister.

"It's a very stylish movie and we love the story. We see opportunity there, and so we decided to take this property and make a game out of it."

It isn't the publisher's first partnership with a film studio, after doing Aardman's Flushed Away based on the Dreamworks Pictures film.

"We're very much enthusiastic any time we have this kind of opportunity, so I'm excited," said Takenaka. "We are here to support the kids' market."

Shaun the Sheep will be a DS exclusive, and Takenaka said it was the right time to do the game as the TV series, already well-received in the UK, began to gain popularity in the U.S, running right before Hannah Montana on the Disney channel. Takenaka expects the game will release simultaneously, or close to it, in both Europe and the U.S.

"We are making an adventure game showcase of the very funny and very memorable moments in the show, and it has an immediate hook with the sense of humor," Takenaka explained.

When I had the Shaun the Sheep game demonstrated for me at the D3P event, it did indeed look to be a kid-friendly adventure game with minigames at intervals making full use of the DS functionality - like "blowing dry" each fluffy sheep after they'd been washed. In the section I saw, the player guided Shawn around the farm with the stylus, tapping various objects in the search for a lost flock. There were also well-rendered images from classic moments in the show that the player would receive as rewards for success.

Takenaka said the kids' product line was a major part of the publisher's strategy, but not its entirety. "Our strategy is, right now, 50-50 divided between kids' games and original IP. As you know, we brought Dark Sector just about a couple months ago, and Dead Head Fred last summer, and Earth Defense Force. So we are bringing more contents in the future."

D3P also plans to continue moving into the area of digital distribution, as it did when it brought Puzzle Quest to Xbox Live Arcade. "We enjoy the success on XBLA with Puzzle Quest, and it's one of our top sellers in the last year. We would like to keep going and bringing very great games, intriguing games... we are here to support Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and PC downloadables, and we are ready to move forward onto Wii Ware."

Some of these downloadable titles, said Takenaka, will be specific to one platform, and others will be available cross-platform.

While only Shaun the Sheep was available to view at D3P's recent press event, Takenaka said he'd seen the Coraline game in progress, and that he was excited about how it was coming along.

"She is cute!" He said.

Even I sat up and took notice, though. Bangai-O Spirits, developed by Ikaruga creator Treasure, is hardcore oldschool, from what I could tell by looking, with richly-detailed 2D sprites and both horizontal and vertical scrolling. The awesome thing about it is the full realtime level editor - if you're having a hard time, you can build yourself a little wall, or plow yourself a new path.

You can also build your own levels from scratch, but even that's not the best part. The best part is the way you can share levels with your friends. No need for Nintendo Wi-Fi. No need for DS codes. Okay, so I'm easily impressed by science and technology, but I think you guys will think this is very, very cool.

You can save the levels you make as sound files, just like the way old data cassettes used to do. When you save a level, it makes a sort of rush-and-whirr sound the way a modem does. You can record it to your PC, save it as a Windows media file or whatever you want, and then put it on a website or email it to a buddy. Anyone who downloads the sound file simply plays it into their DS microphone, and voilà - your friend now has the level you made.

If your friend is with you, of course, you just play your sound file on your DS directly into your friend's mic. I know that this is actually ancient technology, but I was totally dazzled to see it repurposed like this. The wonders of human advancement!

It's was the first time I've ever worked in a bathing suit, so I was a little worried at first. Though, the costume was really cool, and I was able to play the part. We filmed during the winter, so it was a little chilly. I don't think you'd see a person dressed like this in winter.

Off-beat D3 Publisher is bringing Earth Defense Force X (now retitled Earth Defense Force 2017) to the States. The EDF series originally appeared on the PS2 under the Simple 2000 label, but has since moved to the Xbox 360. The campy third person shooter lets characters shoot up giant bugs and robots. And who doesn't like that? So the big question is what language the game will be in. Says D3P's Brian Etheridge:

We had considered it [subtitling the game] for a time. Since we know this game has a cult following here in the US, we wanted to keep that level of authenticity. However, after some discussions, we decided that the voice-over was too important to leave the player in the dark like that. Your squad members are constantly shouting out advice and pointing out incoming enemies. We felt that it might make the game too tough if you weren't given those clues, so we've now reverted to recording all of the VO in English. It really adds a lot to the game.

I like that the localization was done not to drag in B-grade Hollywood stars, but to make sure that players could follow game play. The hardcore most likely have already imported and played the Japanese version anyway. Good move. Brian Ashcraft

D3 Talks English Version of EDF [Siliconera]

Our favorite zombie-slashing cowboy hat-donning boa-wearing bikini killer, Onechanbara's Aya gets new duds in the next-gen Xbox 360 sequel Onechanbara VorteX. Looks like there are dress-ups for the character's head, arms, legs—along with tops and bottoms for the character to wear during the hacking and the slashing. Don't just think of them as new outfits for Aya to wear, but new outfits to cover in zombie blood. Brian Ashcraft

Onechanbara Dress Up [Costume GET!]

With a title like that, logic says WTF has to suck. The D3 game, also called Work Time Fun or Baito Hell in Japan, isn't getting the best critical reviews. Some of the negative love is probably due to an unnecessarily complex mini game system. Players start out with four mini-games and must "buy" new games from in-game paychecks. Unlike the short and sweet Wario games, the WTF minis are meant to be played for several minutes at a time, and that sounds like no fun at all. What. The. Fuck. Brian Ashcraft

WTF Is Tedious [Aeropause]