Brian Ashcraft

Game Journalist In Murder Suicide

Former game journalist Jason Montes, 33 years-old, and his estranged spouse, 25, were found dead by police on January 11. He is suspected in this apparent murder suicide. The bodies were found at the home of his wife Serena Montes. Police reported that a man in the area had threatened suicide, and when they arrived…

Small Car Or Big Car, That Is The Question

To: Crecente From: Ashcraft RE: Mailbag: From Two Years of Harassment to the Anthropology of Kotaku I drive a compact car — streets are narrow where I live. What’s more, living in a big city in Japan, you don’t really need a car per se. However, with small kids, I do find myself using the…

Sony Financial Forecast Round-Up

Sony released its revised financial forecast, and now we’re releasing a round-up of that revised financial forecast coverage. Many international Japanese companies are facing hardly favorable economic conditions. Not only has the global market cratered, but the value of the yen has shot up. Sony isn’t alone by any means. Here’s the forecast round up:…

Sony Planning “Headcount Reduction” In Game, Music, Movie Divisions

Job cuts are part of those restricting and cost reduction measures Sony plans to kick into high gear. Scariest of all, they involve a clinical sounding “headcount reduction.” Earlier today Sony stated a more ambitious company-wide cost cutting initiative would get the corporation back on track. For its motion picture, music and game divisions, the…

Final Fantasy XIII Site Bringing Trailer

Now, whether it’s a new trailer we don’t know. According to website Final Fantasy-XII.net, the clues to what the site can be found by decompiling the game site‘s flash. Forum member byoushinn discovered two files called “ff13-trailer-sd.flv” and “ff13-trailer-hd.flv” in the official FFXIII site’s flash. So two trailers, we assume, one HD. The countdown site…

Cave Announces Gothic Lolita Shooter Sequel

Developer Cave’s horizontal shoot ’em up arcade title DeathSmiles is getting a sequel. It’s called, you’ll never guess, DeathSmiles 2. DeathSmiles 2 will be officially announced at AOU 2009 arcade amusement expo according to a recent Cave financial report. DeathSmiles 2 is slated to be on display. The game’s prequel first hit Japanese arcades in…

Sony Will “Accelerate” Cost Saving Measures

We’ve already heard from Japan’s Nikkei Daily what Sony plans to do to cut loses. Now, let’s hear from Sony. Today Sony announced measures to improve profitability and drive growth — in short, start making money again. The three areas of focus according to the corporate giant: • Structurally reform Sony’s core electronics operations to…

Rejected Dead Rising Titles (And Why No Photography In Dead Rising Wii)

In the latest Bionic Commando podcast, there’s a list of rejected Dead Rising Xbox 360 titles — plus a response why there’s no photography in the upcoming Wii version. First, Bionic Commando producer and former head of localization Ben Judd runs through the rejected titles for the original Dead Rising. Keep in mind, these were…

Sony Revises Earnings Forecast, Game Revenue Down

Sony has announced a revision of its consolidated forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. How’s the gaming division doing? While the company is forecasting ¥260 billion (US$2.95 billion) in operating income losses and ¥150 billion ($1.68 billion) in net income loses. According to Sony, “In the Game segment, operating income (loss) is…

Mario & Sonic Getting Winter Olympics Game

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games was a big hit for SEGA. Big hits typically mean one thing: Sequels. According to this “exclusive” for Spanish Nintendo magazine Nintendo Acción hints at Mario and Sonic teaming up again for a winter games version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Here’s a translation from…

SEGA Is Counting Down To… A WiiWare Game

That SEGA countdown clock (oh how we hate countdown clocks!) may still be counting down, but the game’s already been revealed in this week’s Famitsu. The game is called Pole’s Big Adventure and being produced by Takao Miyoshi (Phantasy Star Universe). The game is a tongue-planted-firmly in cheek send-up of retro side-scrolling Famicom games. The…

New PSP Title Offers Blasts of 30 Seconds Gameplay

Upcoming Yuusha 30 (Brave 30) has players save the world in four different game modes — 30 seconds at a time. Each mode has its own main character and gameplay mode: A brave warrior in a side-scrolling action game, princess in a shooting game, a demon king in a strategy game and a knight in…

Judas Priest Singer Trademarks Game Name

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford (aka “Metal God”) has copyrighted the title of a video game: Metal God. Clever, huh. The trademark was filed on January 11 of this year and covers “computer games; video games; and game controllers for computer games.” Details about said games are scant, and it might be to protect “Metal…

Wash Your Hands? Gargle?

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Podcast Guest Editor ‘Cause man, people in Osaka apparently do it like crazy — Osaka’s children have the cleanest hands and clearest throats in the nation. Mrs. Bashcraft has always told Mini-Bash to wash his hands and gargle after he returns from being outside. She does it. Her family does…

Only One Xbox 360 Game Made Top 100 Sellers of 2008

Crunching the sales data from game publication Famitsu, we have a breakdown by platform of the 100 biggest selling games of last year in Japan. Here goes: DS: 47 games Wii: 15 games PSP: 15 games PS2: 12 games PS3: 10 games Xbox 360: 1 game And that one Xbox 360 game is Tales of…

Different Ways To Play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

Actress Airi Taira isn’t only starring in the live adaption of manga 20th Century Boys, but also these new Square Enix ads. Lucky her! The TV spots are for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time and show how the game can be played with the Wii, the DS, your friends and a cat. That’s…

SEGA Staff Cuts Confirmed

The rumor that SEGA of America made thirty of its employees redundant is not a rumor. Confirming the lay-offs, a SEGA rep. stated, “Sega of America has grown at pace with the booming videogame industry, but at this time of economic recession, harsh retail landscape, and the reality of business challenges to profitability, we must…

Barack Obama Doll Relaxes With Miniature Famicom

Okay, the gaming connection? Slim at best and pretty much stops at the title. But hey, yesterday was the inauguration. If you’re cool with all that, read on. A 1/6 scale version of the new President is relaxing under a kotatsu. There are mikans and a nearby Famicom — not a Wii. But really, consider…

Peter Moore Thinks World of Goo Devs Can Teach EA Stuff (Like Leave EA?)

Back when Peter Moore went all “WTF” to Eurogamer, the EA Sports exec was baffled about World of Goo making the Top 50 games of 2008. “World of Goo? I’m sure it’s fun,” Moore then blogged, “and the reviewers certainly loved it, but surprised to see up so high.” Well, the exec has finally played…

Three New Final Fantasy XIII Screens (So, So Sazhy)

Last week, new Final Fantasy XIII scans appeared in Japanese magazine V-Jump. And this week? Those same scans appear in the upcoming Famitsu. But, Famitsu being Famitsu, there are a few new scans — three, actually. They’re of Sazh Katzroy and his magnificent hairdo. 2chan