Happy easter to all GAMERS!!

We are not dead: while I was travelling our provider decided to corrupt our blog database withou giving any support for recover so I'm moving the website to a new server withing few days!

I wish everyone to have a really fun easter eggs hunting with your sexy bunny!!!!

Amazon Japan has just started preorders for the Nintendo DS Korg DS-10. This card will be released on 24th July in Japanese shops.

Xeni at Boing Boing just made an update on a series of previous posts (on Boing Boing super blog) about pro-Tibetan-independence protests in Lhasa: violence grew dramatically today. Snip from report issued today by the US-government-funded news agency RFA, which has correspondents on the ground in Tibet.


With the Beijing Olympics of 2008 drawing closer, all eyes are on China as it prepares for the Games so I think that all gamers should push Sega to put Team Tibet as a playable team in multi million seller game "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games". Sega is a Japanese company so I think there is more than a chance to get/force them on board! 
FREE TIBET!

Our friend Jaime pointed us to Create Digital Music blog post (ok I've been offline for a week so 2 days ago in my analog world are still a news) about Korg working with AQ Interactive to release an
MS-10 analog synth emulator for DS!

Product info, specs, samples [AQ Interactive; English]

Blog [Japanese only]

Now I just wait that Propellerhead will wake up and produce my old dreasm: a DS version of Rebirth (I'm dreaming about a portable version of Rebirth since Game Boy Advance and the first time I saw the DS I tough that Roland sooner or later will produce a card with a 303 or a 909 emulator) !

Features:

• Dual dual synths: Two patchable virtual synths, with two oscillators each
• Drum machine: Four-part drum machines loaded with samples of the virtual synth
• Sequencer: 2 synth tracks, 4 drum machine tracks, 16 steps
• Effects: Delay, chorus, flanger
• Input methods: Touch-control screen with real-time sound control, a keyboard screen, and matrix screen

I'm in Italy right now and  my providercan't solve a technical problem started last weekend... actually I lived my firt offline week after 15 years and I understaood something: off line Italy sucks (ok if you like old buidingds and dead people paintings it can be a paradise...) !!

LoneWofl DS is an homebrew that looks like a professional release. I think F. Calendini made a great work and I'm curious if there is any non-Japanese videogame company that would ever pay someone to create a game like this.  Actually I think Salendini  created a game that could  be marketed like a European Professor Layton and the Curious village. This is a perfect example of the planning problems that make non Japanese videogame companies unable to produce a true DS game: this is a videogame based on old game books and if you speak to any "professional" videogame producer outside Japan I think they would never think about a project like this since a project team that is specialized in 3D realistic games don't have the skills to create  a simple game book like this (of course Calendini used an already written paper Game Book andused the work from the Aon Project to adapt it to the DS.).


"This project has begun as a way to learn how to program on the Nintendo DS. After seeing how the DS was used vertically as a book by some famous games, I thought it would be really cool to have some old gamebooks converted on this system.

For those who didn't know about Gamebooks, they were novels which had a nice success during the 80's, and which were allowing the readers to choose their own path by jumping from one numbered section to another, in a fun and interactive way. They were introducing the concepts of inventory, enemies fights, random dice results, and other nice ideas which were the precursors of what we find today in role playing video games.
The philosophy behind the port of the LoneWofl to the DS is to let the console handle all the rules related to combats, stats and so on, so the player can be really immersed in the story and doesn't need to bother with the gameplay elements.

For now, only the first volume of the series, called "Flight From The Dark", is available. If people show enough interest in this first book, other volumes will be ported too."

Download: If you are an happy owner of a flash card you can download the LoneWolf DS game rom here (this is a free game but if you like it please donate via paypal: all the money will be sent directly to one of the non-profit organizations Calendini is supporting).

Our friends at Albotas have spotted this really cool plushie of Gomez: a character from Fez, a game made by the Kokoromi Collective which won the award for Excellence In Visual Art at this year Independent Games Festival. Fez's chiptune soundtrack has been composed by 6955: a Tokyo based Canadian who is working for a Japanese videogames company (he also collaborates to the The King of Games commercial fashion line)

The Japanese magazine "Hoshi Navi" (published by Astro Arts) has just announced that this summer they will release "Starry Sky Navi": a stars observation software for Nintendo DS. The card will have a built in tilt sensor so that it will be easier to locate planets and stars and identify constellations. Both occasional or passionate stargazers and serious amateur astronomers will consider this card like a dream come true (no more laptops to carry with your telescope to run tracking programs).


In addition, there is a build in astronomical encyclopedia and it's possible to change time or place to simulate different sky views (like for example next year's solar eclipse in Hawaii).
A playable version for this software will be exhibited during the Photoimaging Expo that will be held in the Tokyo Big Sight from 19 to 22 march. I'm sure this will be a pretty popular card among Japanese boys who want to get the chance to watch the sky with a nice girl...

This is the chance of a lifetime!!  Total Media Agency is looking for people between 20 and 35 years old interested in producing Adult DVDs and Blue Ray. You will need to work from 10am to 6 pm and the salary is not bad: 250,000 yen to 350,000 yen with bonuses twice a year (+ transportation costs).

Click here to get to the official recruit page.

Destructoid's Japanator sends a message to ADV and all  stupid anime companies in Europe and USA complaing about fansubs:

"Perhaps if so many ADVs weren’t shutting up or stop crying, they might have figured out better ways to expand their licenses in a changing market."

Personally I love Japanator ADV Bunny and I think that companies against fansubs are like movie studios who tried to stop VHS and BETAMAX back then... Sooner or later companies like Dentsu (Geneon) will understand that advertising in fansubbed anime could be a great marketing channel to reach users who are really difficult to catch with traditional media...

Brian at Kotaku spotted this new AV DVD with five clones of Shokotan: the most popular otaku idol in Japan. I like Kotaku  and their Maximum Risky posts since is probably the only super blog that considers Japanese porno entertainment like videogames...

Videoludica, the videogame website created and directed by the game critic and  univeristy  professor Matteo Bittanti has just been renewed. Matteo's research focuses on the cultural, social, and theoretical aspects of videogames and the interrelations of popular culture, visual culture, and the arts. Brandon from Insert Credit, few years ago,  posted a great article about him!  
I like Japanese porno better than videogame critic but while Jav Talk is down I spend a lot of time on Videoludica. Videogame critic like bukkake?!

Sceen is the coolest digital culture magazine for gamers, hackers, modders and geeks.

"We’re curious. We swear by trial and error and the novelty of glitch. Our gear is just a ramp, our stunts are off the scale. After all, a bit of current is all we need to fire up a flaming trick — on any honest device. We probably wire up a bunch of them and bust a definition. Then add a dinky game controller to break the thinning ice. We code, we script, we mod, we marvel. And keep inventing as we play".

I'm among the editors but I'm not sure I still produced something that good to be published (but if you want to read something from me you can check the latest issue of the italian magazine XL published by Repubblica)... anyway this German publication is like Mondo 2000, Design Plex or Giant Robot: a magazine that you will keep for years.

Click here for more news or if you want to order your copy.

After Kotaku reported the new Kimi Kiss NEC Laptop a Japanese blogger created a new custom PC dedicated to True Tears: a romantic visual novel produced by La'cryma.  A PlayStation 2 port of this game will be released on March 13, 2008 while the anime series, started in January, is already being fansubbed.

Today Japanese blogs (like this) are spreading the rumor about a port of two legendary Shooting games from Cave: DoDonPachi DaiOuJou and Ketsui. It's still just a rumor  (I never heard anything about this during the Cave Festival 2007 I visited last december) but it's pretty credible since Ketsu is being ported to DS and the Microsoft console is considered by many Japanese producer a good (and reasonable) chance to get into the western market without spending huge money to pay Sony license.

UPDATE: Brandon on Insert Credit: This is now confirmed Famitsu, and they're coming this year. Huzzah! The ports are being done by 5pb who we made fun of just a few days ago. Generally a Galget maker, the Famitsu article says they've been 'hard at work' on arcade properties as well, so we shouldn't be worried. That's what they say anyway. The producer is Masaki Sakari, whoever that is...

(via HobbyMedia.it) Today the Japanese music label Avex released the new album from Halko Momoi. What makes this album interesting is the 11th song, Thunder Shot!, dedicated to the legendary TAMIYA mini4wd series. Halko seems to be a great fan of our akiba photographer Julie since her CD labels are strongly inspired by Julie's SAMURAI GIRL photobook (at the end what's better than girls and old videogames?!).
Click here to watch the Thunder Shot promotional video.


Maybe you never played with real Mini 4WD but if you are a retrogamer you probably have played one of the  Mini 4WD Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!! videogames (inspired by the homonymous manga from CoroCoro comics) on GameBoy, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn or PS1. Recently, the legendary shooting game power house CAVE, has release the Mini4WD online game! 

Japan is the land of moe manga and domino so seems natural that this Japanese otaku made a super moe domino with 5000 pieces to express his love for Hayate and celebrate her (virtual) birthday! I still love the old Domino Rally so maybe I will try to make a similar domino with an hentai character or maybe set up a pitagora machine (know in USA as Rube Golberd Machine)!

Click here for the video (You Tube).

Few days ago Julie sent us this super cool cosplay from a past edition of Wonderfestival!

Amazon Japan is selling old PS3 models at nearly double the price of the new 40 Giga. Meanwhile used console buyback price for the old Playstation 3 models (20/60 Giga) has more than doubled in Japanese shops: from 15.000 to 40.100 Yen for the 20 Giga Model  (from this Japanese blogger). Actually the used price is the same price the shops charged one year ago for a new console... 
Seems that Japanese gamers value the retro compatibility with PS2 titles more interesting than Sony expected...


(Buyback price for a PS3 one year ago)

I just found this interesting Japanese post about kogals and mini skirts: I think this is a clear  example of the superiority of the Japanese culture!

WTF: I'm on N4G with the most popular story of this weekend?!
Of course no, a user ripped my news just after I digged it...


I make this blog for fun and I actually I started it just for an article I'm writing about memetics applied to the blogosphere.
Yesterday I posted the news about Kojima complaining about the capacity of BD and I    digged it  (I got first time stamp) then...  other blog like this, this, this and some others sites took my news and repost without any credit...

But maybe it's just me and of course all these bloggers read Japanese and browse "famous" Japanese blogs like Hatimaki hunting for news... anyway the editor of   Playstation Beyond even credited the original blog for making the interview and he (like N4G site) also reposted the one year old Xbox360 18 discs box set prank)! Funny that no one understood that the Japanese title in the scan  reads clearly that  this interview comes from the Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu that in these weeks is celebrating the 1000th issue  released (I didn't point this in the post since I tough it was pretty obvious...)!
At the end memes spread with or without proper credits! This is good!


  (image fcourtesy of http://transtechsociety.org/blog/)

In this Japanese interview Hideo Kojima complains about the Blu Ray discs. The Metal Gear Solid producer considers the Blu Ray disc too small. Seems that the complete game couldn't fit in the disc and the Konami programmers had to compress some parts to save some space. This means that we will have to download something to complete the game install?!  DIGG THIS!