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Your Three Favorite Dioramas
Our Arcade Mania diorama contest has come to a close, and Kotakuland has picked the winners. What to see your favorite dioramas? Winners, please send an email to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom to claim your copy of Arcade Mania. Be sure to include your address and let us know if you’d like your copy signed. Arcade Mania is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 1, 2009 -
What’s Nintendo’s Year End Tokyo Stock Exchange Ranking?
Let’s take look back at something very exciting: Nintendo’s year end Tokyo Stock Exchange market ranking. What number did the company come in? Oh, the suspense! Here is the 2008 year end Tokyo Stock Exchange market cap ranking: 1. Toyota Motors: 10.160 trillion yen 2. NTT Docomo: 7.915 trillion yen 3. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group:…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 1, 2009 -
More SEGA Dreamcast Game Trademark Re-Registering Fun
SEGA has re-registered yet another trademark for yet another Dreamcast game. This time, it’s puzzler ChuChu Rocket. On December 22, SEGA U.S. re-registered the ChuChu trademark — one of many DC titles to get their TMs renewed. According to game site Siliconera, this year SEGA has re-registered trademarks for following Dreamcast games: Sonic Shuffle, Cosmic…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 1, 2009 -
Dumb Lady Physically Puts Credit Cards In Wii
There are smart people, and there are dumb people. Here is the story of a dumb person, her credit cards and a Nintendo Wii. Over at game forum NeoGAF, member HUELEN10 told the following tale. We cannot vouch for the validity of it, but here goes: My neighbors which I don’t really know to well…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 1, 2009 -
Uncharted 2 Also Takes Place In War-Torn Tibet, Has New Love Interest
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has a new game mechanic (stealth) and a new dead famous guy (Marco Polo). Both we knew. What are some things we didn’t know about Uncharted 2? Creative Director Amy Hennig tells EDGE magazine, “Our last story was about Francis Drake… Our ‘what if’ was: what if Francis Drake hadn’t died…
By Brian Ashcraft Published January 1, 2009 -
Alone With The Darth
New Year’s is around the corner, and what better way to spend it with Darth. Love the glasses. This entry is from reader Chris. Thanks for this, Chris! We’re giving away a copy of Alone in the Dark to one of you reader people. Here’s the contest: Make your own Alone in the Dark boxart.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 31, 2008 -
Square Enix Says Future Unreal Engine Use Will be “Case-By-Case”
Instead of using an in-house engine Square Enix used the Unreal Engine for The Last Remnant. This was a first for the company, and how was that? The game’s art director Yusuke Naora said it was “certainly slow going at first,” but the team got the hang of using the engine. “We were able to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 31, 2008 -
Door to Door Salesman Nabs DS
A thief pretending to be a door-to-door salesman peddling make-up was able to enter a UK resident’s home and swipe a Nintendo DS reports the Clacton and Frinton Gazette. The newspaper advises: “To guard themselves against distraction burglars residents should make sure front and back doors are locked at all times, look for logos on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
What Are Your New Year’s Plans?
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Here Comes The New Year Tomorrow is the New Year’s Eve in Japan. We’re gonna eat soba, which symbolize longevity, and I’ll probably polish off some sake, which symbolizes a good time. Mmmmm, sake. Later in the week, we’re gonna go to shrines and pray and toss money at the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
BioShock PS3 Japanese Ad Slightly Frightens US
Yes, BioShock, been there done that — even on the PS3. But the game is just hitting Japan this month. Here is the game’s official ad. Not sure if it’s just me, but it is actually kinda freaky. Is it just me?
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
IBM: World of Warcraft Is Good
It’s a seesaw. Somedays playing World of Warcraft is good, good, good. Somedays it’s bad, bad, bad. What about today? Today, David Laux, global executive in charge of games and interactive entertainment at IBM, tells us that WoW makes good human beings. This is in the wake of job recruiters avoiding WoW players. Here are…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Get Your Own Customized Japanese Arcade Chocolates
Anyone who has been to a Japanese arcade has seen sticker booths. Popular with young girls, sticker pictures these days can be downloaded straight to cell phones. That, and put on chocolate wrappers. Yum. Japanese chocolate maker Tirol has been offering its DecoChoco service since earlier this year. Users take pictures of themselves, upload them…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
You Can Stop iDOLM@STER Adult Videos But Not Macross?
Rui Saotome, the actress who blogged about her difficulties dancing in the now cancelled iDOLM@STER porn parody, is back. She now blogging about yet another adult film parody. Dancing, too. This time, Ms. Saotome is appearing as green-haired Ranka in a Macross Frontier send-up. She blogs: Today, TMA filmed the Ranka from XXcross cosplay. I…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Game Promotion Done Right… Until The Cops Show Up
Wanna know how to promote your game? With a bus. A giant bus. A giant bus with images of your game plastered all over it. And not just any bus, a Mercedes bus. A Mercedes bus with TV monitors looping your game’s trailer over and over and over again. Upcoming Xbox 360 title Chaos;Head Noah…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Four Titles Most Likely To Make You Throw Your Controller
It’s that time of the year. Time for lists. Website Bits, Bytes, Pixels & Sprites has a list of this year’s most frustrating titles. They are: HOME: “Having to wait for an arcade game to be unoccupied in order to play it was the final straw, and I quickly logged out before winging my controller…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Gackt, Your New Favorite Pachislot PS3 Game Sound Producer
Japanese musician Gackt in video games? Nothing new. Japanese musician Gackt making game music? New. For PS3 pachislot title Bounty Killer, out this past fall in Japan, Gackt did just that. The former Malice Mizer singer lent his likeness and music to the pachislot title. Check out the Bounty Killer tune called “Justified.” You can…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Konami’s PSP Shounen Fighter
Battle of the manga titans! Konami has announced a 3D PSP “action” fighting title featuring characters from Kodansha’s Shounen Magazine and Shogakukan’s Weekly Shounen Sunday. Both manga magazines were founded in 1959 and released a combined anniversary issue together — a PSP mash-up does not seem out of the blue. Here’s who is currently announced…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
PS3 Production Costs Have Dropped By 35 Percent
Do something long enough and you get better at it. Manufacture something long enough, and it gets cheaper. No surprise that Sony has cut the PS3’s component cost by 35 percent. According to research firm iSuppli, the first generation PS3 cost a hefty US$690.23, based on mid-2007 component prices. What about late 2008? Based on…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
“We Are Sorry About The Lots of Boobs Set”
Pure postal embarrassment. Members of erotic game maker AKABEi SOFT2’s fan club who ordered a set of boob-shaped mousepads got a surprised in the mailbox. The brown box the ¥15,000 (US$166) set of boob mousepads were packaged in was hardly discreet: The outside read, “Oppai ga ippai set” or “Lots of boobs set” in English.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 30, 2008 -
Alone In The Dark With Added Crecente Creepy
Burno sends along this entry. It is TOTALLY UNSETTLING. Adds Burno, “It’s AO, so you better get that trenchcoat and Fedora if you plan on picking this one up.” We’re giving away a copy of Alone in the Dark to one of you reader people. Here’s the contest: Make your own Alone in the Dark…
By Brian Ashcraft Published December 29, 2008
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