Brian Ashcraft

Former Morning Musume Member Gets Her Blue Dragon On

No, that is not Blue Dragon creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Sorry! That’s former Morning Musume leader Miki Fujimoto, who had to leave the group after it was discovered she was dating a comedian. But hey, she married that comedian! No big whoop. She was at the Tokyo presser for the latest Blue Dragon title, Blue Dragon:…

Tekken, Fan-Made, Live-Action, Right Here!

We know that Kill Bill’s Chiaki Kuriyama won’t be in that Tekken movie (whenever the heck it’s released), but we’re assuming that Hollywood will again crush our hearts and make us sad. This fan film on the other hand… The DIY folks at Quantumoptic Productions whipped this up for a G4 video game trailer contest,…

Typhoon Incoming!

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Scare Tactics Raining hard here, and I wonder if Mini-Bash will have school tomorrow… Is it me or is the number of typhoons increasing?! What you missed last night Details About Project Natal Pricing Emerge Tretton: What’s Good for Sony is What’s Good for Gaming Meet Your GTA IV: The…

Now U2 Wants To Be In A Video Game

With the music business falling apart, musicians are hoping to get their cut of the music game pie — even The Beatles have their own Rock Band title! Now, it looks like Irish rockers U2 want in, too. U2 hasn’t lent their likeness to games, and from what bassist Adam Clayton tells USA Today, it…

Curt Schilling’s Studio Making PS3 Game? [Update]

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and his Massachusetts-based game company 38 Studios have been working on a MMO code-named Copernicus. What platform will it be coming to? 38 Studios has put up job listings for a Senior PS3 Programmer and a Lead Art Director to work on a RPG for the PS3. The studio…

Valve Has Edited Version of Left 4 Dead 2 For Possible Release

Three weeks back, Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board. The reason? The game “contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons aged under 18 to play.” Valve’s Gabe Newell admitted he was “a little surprised” by the decision, and the company has appealed…

Atlus Looking For PS3/Xbox 360 Programmers

Atlus, the game developer of all things Atlus, hasn’t really make the jump into high definition game development. That may change. There have been rumors flying that Persona 5 is coming to the PS3. Atlus is searching for a programmer to work on a PS3/Xbox 360 game. According to a job listing, qualified applicants should…

How Different Dating Games Are In Different Cultures

That’s a dating sim from Thailand called Re Angel has recently gotten a Japanese release. Cross culture exchange! But how different are these types of games in different countries. Here is Japan. And South Korea. China, this is from China. Hello Hong Kong! …America. Yeah. タイのギャルゲーが日本語版になって登場 [痛いニュース(ﾉ∀`) via DannyChoo]

New Prince of Persia Trademark Pops Up

On September 29, a trademark for “Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands” was filed by Jordan Mechner. Who’s Jordan Mechner? He’s the creator of Prince of Persia, that’s who. We’re not sure if this latest trademark is a game or some sort of tie-in for the upcoming movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.…

NieR Developer Calls The Wii’s Graphics “Harsh”, Wants HD Wii

Taro Yoko from Tokyo-based developer Cavia is hard at work on upcoming Square Enix published title NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant. While at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Yoko blogs, he caught some of the trailers at the Square Enix booth, including Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers for the Wii. “Honestly,” he writes, “Crystal Bearer’s graphics…

Details About Project Natal Pricing Emerge

At an Microsoft event today in New York City, exec Robbie Bach talked about how the pricing for the upcoming motion controls Project Natal will work. According to Variety, Bach said that the pricing will start high and decrease over time. “Relative to Natal,” said Bach, “we’ll see how the pricing cost works out. But…

Other Large Gundams In Japan

The giant Gundam in Tokyo’s Odaiba might be long gone, but our memories of it live on and on. Know: It was by no means the first giant Gundam. There have been others, oh yes. In the gallery, there are several big mechas: the totally unofficial 1/3 scale “Zeta III” in Okayama prefecture, some short-term…

Do You Know Whose Birthday It Was Yesterday?

Manaka’s! The character from Konami’s virtual girlfriend simulator for the Nintendo DS, Love Plus. As we posted back in May, the first part of the game is standard fare: Players court three girls, trying to get them to fall in love. That’s where most dating sims end — Love Plus is just getting started. The…

SNK Announces Metal Slug XX For PSP

SNK is bringing Metal Slug and its 2D graphics to the PSP this winter in Japan. The run-and-gun is a reworking of sorts of Nintendo DS game Metal Slug 7. While SNK is claiming that this is a brand new title, there does seem to be a series of kwinky-dinks regarding graphics and levels that…

So I Started Listening To CDs Again

To: Crecente From: Bashcraft RE: Frankenleg GROSS PHOTO. THANKS FOR SHARING. CDs? Remember them? Recently came into possession of a fairly nice stereo system. Until now, all of my music listening has been via Mac. Well, that’s true — when I first came to Japan, I used to listen to CDs. Everyone did at that…

Some People Were Given Uncharted 2

Last night, Sony held Uncharted 2: Among Thieves events at movie theaters in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Those that went got to play the game on the big screen, meet the devs and got something else entirely. Besides the standard t-shirt and neato bag, all those lucky enough to attend got a…

Batman Arkham Asylum Could Have Been Rhythm Action Game

Over 2.5 million copies of Batman: Arkham Asylum have been shipped. The game’s really good. It might have been different. According to GameInformer, the combat went through several variations: “The first one being a full rhythm action game! The second one was prototyped in 2D, which popped up whenever you got into a fight, and…

Nintendo: “Millions” Waiting For Nintendo Wii

Wii sales have been relatively sluggish this year. That’s changing as the Wii with its new price-cut heads into the holiday season. Nintendo dropped the price in North America from US$250 to $200 — similar price-cuts were announced for Japan and Europe. “There are literally millions of consumers out there who want a Wii and…

Box Art For Inevitable Left 4 Dead Sequels Might Look Like…

What we really want to see is Left 4 Dead 11. Above image, as seen on 2ch.

Nintendo Is The Best Company… IN THE WORLD

So says a ranking in business publication BusinessWeek. The top forty companies were rated on 2008 sales and international sales percentage. Consulting firm A.T. Kearney picked the best of the best from 2,500 companies worldwide. According to BusinessWeek, “Kearney then only considers those companies with 2008 sales greater than $10 billion, with at least 25%…