Brian Ashcraft

The Most Expensive Wii In The World Is A Rip Off

Recession? What recession? Liverpool England’s Stuart Hughes likes to cover electronics in gold, call them SUPREME (his caps, not mine), and ask INSANE (my caps, not his) prices for them. His latest project is the Nintendo Wii SUPREME, for which he wants the equivalent of US$483,883. The console contains 2,500 grams (88 oz.) of solid…

Spoilers: What Do These Final Fantasy XIII Dungeons Have In Common

Yes, yes, what do they have in common? Click on straight though — possible spoilers ahoy. FFXIII dungeon maps have been popping up online. And the ones that have been have something in common. Can you figure it out? (The could be what Famitsu was referring to when it said the story was linear.) Final…

Michael Moore Not So Impressed With Akihabara

It’s Tokyo’s geek mecca — Akihabara. Games shops, arcades, manga, anime, figurines and maid cafes. You name it, they just might have it. A Japanese TV program gave filmmaker Michael Moore a tour. The above image has a Japanese subtitle of the director offering this insight: “Lots of unnecessary things are being sold here.” He…

Not Yet, Sorry, Not Yet

Final Fantasy XIII is released only on the PS3 in Japan — as seen on 2ch.

Modern Warfare 2 Spiked Xbox 360 Console Sales In Japan

For a Western FPS with a subpar localization, Modern Warfare did extremely well in Japan. Compared to the rest of the Western world, it didn’t. But what about the Xbox 360? According to early sales figures, over 10,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold the week that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launched in Japan.…

A Closer Look At Final Fantasy XIII Unpacking

Kotaku columnist Tim Rogers gave us a fetishistic video look at just how long it can take to open Final Fantasy XIII — here is a slow, static look at the unboxing of the FFXIII box. Entirely shaky cam free. FINAL FANTASY XIII 本日発売、どんな感じなのか早速買ってきて開封してみた [GIGAZINE]

Japan Comes Out For Final Fantasy XIII In Droves

Once again proving that lining up for video games is a national pastime, Japan came out cued up for Final Fantasy XIII. There have been longer lines for game launches in Japan; however, these lines were especially impressive considering that FFXIII went on sale mid-week. The “main” countdown launch was at retailer TSUTAYA in Shibuya…

Any Movie Recs? Any?

To: Totilo From: Ashcraft RE: It Was Like Magic, But With An Xbox It actually takes me a day or two to get used to hearing English all the time. Like, I have to ask people to repeat things and whatnot. And then, by the time I’m about to leave, I’m all used to being…

The Saboteur Sabotages The Live Action

Pandemic Studios and EA have released a couple live action clips for The Saboteur. They’re short, sexy and have nice music. That’s all you need, no? Well, almost.

Square Enix: Platform Holder Not Surprised By Death of Consoles

Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada looks into his crystallis ball and sees a future in which consoles are simply not necessary, reiterating, what he said in November. “But let’s say in ten years time what we traditionally call ‘console games’ simply won’t exist,” Wada told Develop. “The exact timing at which it will go away…

Final Fantasy XIII Coming To PlayStation Home For Free

To mark the one year anniversary of PlayStation Home in Japan, Sony is teaming with Square Enix to offer Final Fantasy XIII themed goodies. Oh, goody! Besides avatars of FFXIII characters, Lightning, Snow and Sazh, there are also items like FFXIII monsters. Available for free until January 14, 2010.

The PS3 Star Ocean 4 Trailer You Hoped For

Square Enix trailer has released the second trailer for the tri-Ace developed Star Ocean 4. You might remember this game when it was released on the Xbox 360 in February 2009. The PS3 version of the game will be out in February 2010 and will feature additional languages and additional characters in the hopes that…

A Million Copies of Inazuma Eleven 2 Shipped

Level-5, the Fukuoka-based developer behind the Professor Layton games, also has a highly successful series with soccer RPG Inazuma Eleven. When Japanese kids aren’t watching the anime or reading the comic, they might be playing the DS games. Or they might be going to school, eating dinner or doing their homework. Japanese kids are busy!…

This 15-Year-Old PSP Character Is Missing Something

It’s a mystery, but not! The released art for PSP game Misshitsu Sacrifice from Japanese publisher D3 appears to have forgotten things — namely, underpants. 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…

Prince of Persia Flick, A Look Behind The Scenes

After an endless slew of ho-hum video game adaptations, Prince of Persia appears to be something to get excited about. This is from the same folks who turned a Disneyland ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, into popcorn entertainment. This short featurette features interviews with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Mike Newell, actress Gemma Atherton, actor Jake…

Interested In Japanese Wii And PS3 Total Sales?

Enterbrain, the publisher behind magazine Famitsu, has collected and crunched the new life-to-date totals for the Wii and the PlayStation 3. As of December 13, the Wii has sold 9,048,012 units since it went on sale in Japan, while the PS3 has sold 4,020,563. The PS3 experienced a significant spike in sales this year. In…

Halo Wars…Clay

Microsoft’s Halo Wars is popular enough to merit its own line of toys — official toys. It also is popular enough to merit a line of rip off toys that come packed in clay. Because if you are going to rip someone off, do it with clay. “It’s one of those kits where you get…

Final Fantasy XIII PS3 Trophy List (What We Know)

As the FFXIII juggernaut continues to rumble through cyberspace, details about the game are continuing to tumble out. A early look at the game’s PS3 Trophy list looks like this: Bronze Assault Ruby – Master the Attacker Role Destruction Sapphire – Master the Blaster Role Guardian Topaz – Master the Defender Role Hex Jade –…

Watch The Fate/stay night Movie Trailer

Fate/stay night? It’s an incredibly popular visual novel from Japanese developer Type Moon that has been spun off into manga, anime and even a fighting game, Fate/unlimited Codes, published by Capcom. It is also getting an animated feature this January. Dubbed Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade works, the feature features the cast and crew of the…

I Am In America

To: Crecente From: Ashcraft RE: What Elevators Teach Us And horribly jet lagged. Very very jet lagged. Long flight, cranky baby. But glad to be back in Texas! So far, we went to the supermarket and looked at all the different kinds of cereal. It’s nice to be in a place that considers cereal a…