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First Look At Last Story Art
The Last Story, the upcoming Wii role-playing game, is the newest title from Final Fantasy designer Hironobu Sakaguchi. Previously, all that had been shown of the game is a logo. Until now. Last Story game art has popped up online. Keep in mind, this is game art and not game graphics. The images are of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 11, 2010 -
2010, The Year of Tron Legacy Billboards
Tron Legacy won’t be out until this December, meaning there’s plenty of time for Disney to promote the crud out of the flick. Know what that calls for? Giant billboards. Lightbikes! According to /Film, Disney bought the billboard at Santa Monica/Westwood in LA for the whole year. Since last December, Disney has been rotating out…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 11, 2010 -
Play With Me
A life-sized pixel person with a crotch joystick standing at attention. It may be art, but it’s perfect for hanging coats and hats. Titled Play With Me, the painting is by Silvio Porretta, who has been a game industry veteran since 1990 and a not-so-subtitle commentary on phallic imagery. The work will be part of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 11, 2010 -
The Final Prince of Persia Movie Poster
This is it, here we go. From “Courage” to Russia, there have been a couple of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie posters. You are looking at the final one. It is a tweaked version of the earlier North American poster, but with added Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley. Ben Kingsley makes everything…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 11, 2010 -
Here Is Some Info About Final Fantasy XIV
Upcoming online role-playing Final Fantasy XIV will take place in a sci-fi meets fantasy universe. That we know. But that’s not all. According to recent Japanese game magazine articles, there’s more. Much, much more. Website FFXIVCore.com has a long laundry list of all the nitty gritty, but here are some selected highlights: • The PC…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
I Really Dig This Lady, She’s Cool
To: Crecente From: Bash Cleaned out a bunch of CDs this morning. (CDs, I know!) Found a bunch of old UA discs. Back when we were dating, Mrs. Bashcraft gave me a couple of UA’s CDs. I always feel tremendous gratitude when someone introduces me to music I end up loving and cherishing. UA is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
Maybe The Best Akira Bike Model…Ever
With the Hollywood feature film version of cyberpunk yarn Akira languishing in development hell, it’s good to know something connected to the landmark manga and anime is progressing well. This model of the “Akira bike”, or Kaneda’s powerbike, is still in the production stage blog Otaku2.com points out, so the final version might be slightly…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
Wii Remote Controlled Laser Pew-Pew!
Inventor-by-day, DJ-by-night Henry Strange’s latest creation is a laser beam that is controlled by a Nintendo Wii Remote mounted in a white, plastic gun casing. This is Henry’s walk through. It does have a laser pointer, which probably could put someone’s eye out or blind them or something horrible like that. But do not worry,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
What Does Japan Really Think About Game Consoles?
Ask Google. The Japanese language version of the search engine catalogues the most popular searches. Those automatically pop up when searching. So what displays for the Nintendo Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox 360? The thinking here is that by listing what Japan searches for, this will provide a window into what the country is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
Pretty Girls, Telling Time For Yakuza 4
From Yakuza 4 branded noodles to Yakuza 4 branded booze, PlayStation 3 Japanese gangster game Yakuza 4, like the prequels before it, has gone a little crazy with the promotional push. And it’s not stopping there. Yakuza 4 is partnering with iPhone app Bijin-Tokei (“Beautiful Woman Clock”), which features a new beauty every minute holding…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
God of War III Demo Looks Different From Final Game
The God of War III game demo was first revealed at the E3 2009 gaming expo in Los Angeles. The game will be released this March. And my, how the game has changed. For the better, too. The DigitalFoundry blog has side-by-side comparisons of the demo and the final retail game. Things to notice? The…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
Proposed Virtual Child Porn Law Trucking Along
Won’t someone think of the children? The imaginary children? Don’t worry, Japanese politicians are. The Tokyo Metropolitan government is moving forward on legislation that sets out to ban provocative “visual depictions” of characters who appear to be 18 years-old and younger. According to website Anime News Network, the proposal, submitted on February 24, would amend…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
A Week In Comments
I Was An Xbox Live Celebrity, For One Night Only Comment by: The Forgetful Brain Nominated by: puresewas1de I think one of the keys is anonymity. And the fact that every Xbox comes with a microphone (even though a lot of the harassment you got, came by way of message). There’s a massive portion of…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
China’s Cutest Comic Book Artist
Xià Dá is a 28 year-old Chinese manhua (comic book) artist. Japan has just fallen in love with her. Her work has been translated into Japanese and is being serialized in Japanese manga Ultra Jump. While she certainly does appear to have comic chops, that’s probably not why her photos are rampaging through the Japanese…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 10, 2010 -
Dwindling Tokyo Game Show Hopes To Be World’s Biggest Game Gathering
From a Japanese game developer saying that the Japanese industry was “finished” to lower attendance, last year’s Tokyo Game Show was disastrous. This year can only go up. Hopefully. This year’s TGS is the 20th Tokyo Game Show, and organizers have announced “a new midterm vision of becoming ‘The No.1 Information Network in the Asian…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010 -
What Is America Famous For?
To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: GDC: Day Zero Mini-Bash has started to write complete sentences. So this afternoon he drew pictures of flags from different countries and then wrote a sentence or two stating what they were famous for. When he got to America, he asked me. I said “baseball, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, hamburgers,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010 -
Rumor: Goodbye Ugly PSP Color!
There are many PSP colors. Loads. And apparently, there will be one less. According to a Japanese retail blog, the “bright yellow” PSP-3000 will not longer be shipped to shops. Released in 2009, it seems that the color is one of the least popular PSP-3000 colors, if not the least popular. That probably means it…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010 -
In Japan, Getting A Tattoo Means You Can Never Go Home
At last night’s launch event for Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada showed up with a Fal’cie symbol from the game tattooed on his hand. He tweeted that he “probably” would not be able to return to Japan. Wada, of course, was being lighthearted. The tattoo, of course, is fake. It appears in…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010 -
God of War III Sex Mini-Game, Exposed!
Like previous God of War games, God of War III has sex mini-games. Because a mini-game is pretty much what sex is, isn’t it? The scene takes place in Aphrodite’s Chamber, and was almost cut. “It was more a debate between me and several of the story writers,” God of War III director Stig Asmussen…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010 -
Microsoft, Poland Is Pissed Off
The Xbox 360’s online service Xbox LIVE is available in 26 countries. Poland is not one of them. The service is available to other European Union countries, but it is not officially available to Polish gamers. (Those with broadband connections and American credit cards can apparently get online.) Polish gamers are claiming that as a…
By Brian Ashcraft Published March 9, 2010
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