An Explosion of Awesome, maybe.

Pics of Frank West in Tatsunoko vs Capcom
source: Geraldo Beedog (JOURNALISM!)

Yuri on the Chalkboard. (this story rules)
source: Moritheil

Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes! Awesome Sauce! (Woo! Masamune Date!)
source: Nintendo Life

Rabbids Go Home Trailer

Do want.



source: Kotaku

Little Pile o' News

The internet is most bountiful today! Here are some things of interest

New Street Fighter IV rankings, for console versions. Lots of changes (except the top 2...stupid turret Sagat 0_0)
via Kotaku

More good Wii news from the Game Developer's Conference
Play Games Directly From Your SD Card.
also via Kotaku

Final Fantasy IV : The After Years - confirmed for WiiWare. Let the happy dance begin!
via Destructoid

More information on Oracle: The Cure
via IGN

2009 Spring Anime Preview at AnimeVice. 30 new shows to get involved with.
via...AnimeVice. (duh)

Samurai Showdown Anthology Delay

Samurai Showdown Anthology was initially due to drop in stores in December. However, when I double checked today, it wasn't even on EB Games website. A quick Google search shows me that the date has been pushed back to either 2/24/2009 as seen here - or just a generic 2009. I was looking forward to playing all 7 games and not buying them individually on the Virtual Console. Now I get to wait. Again.

Castlevania Judgment Launch Trailer

Everyone is already proclaiming this game will stink. It's not likely to be the next Soul Calibur, however that does not mean it won't be fun. There are crummy fighting games that are quite fun (Bloody Roar, anyone?) I won't write this game off yet.

This trailer is beautiful. The music is wonderful. The character designs I am not sold on, but I'm biased because I'm not a fan of Death Note artist Takeshi Obata.



Click here if you'd prefer the higher res versions that G4 has to offer.

My Aquarium on the VC

Just found out that My Aquarium dropped for the VC and picked it up immediately. This is my kind of download. I can't really keep a real aquarium in the house, so I'm happy with a virtual one.

The small fish are very small on the screen, but after watching the trailer (below) I see that they are most likely fry (baby fish) that I need to feed so they can grow. There are a bunch of 'locked' fish that I can't see yet, so game-like aspects have been attached onto the download. I look forward to relaxing and watching my fish grow.

Lego Batman : Nightwing

Goku called, he wants his hairdo back XD

Quick Post - MK & Castlevania

Some good news about Mortal Kombat vs DC. Chew on that, haters :P
source: Kotaku

New trailer for Castlevania : Judgement. Seems a bit stiff but it's too early to call just yet. I so could have done without the Death Note creator for character design. Maria looks like Misa Misa ~_~;

Link Drop - Atlus Compels Me to Game edition

Gaming... I still do it! I swear! It's just in smaller doses these days - as seen by my focus on casual games on the Wii and DS games I can take with me.

Well I caved in today and put a fiver down on Izuna 2. I will allegedly get a mini poster upon pickup. Atlus really sold me on the new tag system and the crapton of playable characters added. Well done Atlus, you win this round.

Speaking of Atlus, they sent me a wonderful email announcing Persona 4. Oh snap! Enjoy this video as much as I did.

in other gaming news:

The Wii gets a fighting game! And it's Castlevania! Neat!
source: Kotaku

Japan gets a D. Gray Man video game. Meanwhile I turn tints and shades of green with jealousy. Gah I hope this show takes hold in the US like Naruto and Bleach did. It utterly deserves to.
source: insert credit

Kotaku uncovers the Samba De Amigo maraca attachments for the Wii-mote. Cha cha CHA!

Cool website, nice design - Girls Don't Game

Spend more time online, but maybe a little less money. Yet another MMO is released on the masses - Dream of Mirror Online.

Found a great wii-friendly radio station called Finetune. Check it out, it's good times.

Link Dump - School Ate My Soul Edition

Due to the aforementioned Soul Eating (not the anime :P) here are some links from a few days back.

Twitter hits Japan. Japan hits back. I suspect this may have added to the increased viewings of the 'fail whale' last week. Unless it didn't.

In other twitter news, you can now go to Twiddict.com if the whale has reared it's blow hole and you just must post. From the Twiddict site: avoid life-changing withdrawal symptoms during Twitter downtime. We'll make sure your tweets end up where they belong.

I really like the fact that Twiddict exists. I tried Plurk and frankly, it doesn't light me afire. I think Twitter will fix it's 'issues' sooner or later. I hope.
sources: Japanator and Laughing Squid's twitter feed.

Devil Doll of W/R fame (OTP dammit!) found some Wolverine and the XMen images from the upcoming show of the same name. I see no Rogue. WTF, mate?

Tony Bedard (currently writing Birds of Prey) chats with CBR about BoP. He's no Gail Simone - (who is, really?) but I like his work so far.

You want to levitate? Done! Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation
source: Dosh Dosh's twitter feed

Kotaku investigates the rumor of a Castlevania game for the Wii and it's manga counterpart.

Do your gaming systems suck up too much energy? Maybe! (unless you're a Wii owner :P)
source: Lifehacker and Wii Fanboy

Regarding Nintendo Online

I don't have an XBox 360 and Nintendo is just now getting the Wii online properly - so I really do not have any in depth knowledge on how playing online 'should' work, aside from not getting disconnected all the time.

I have heard complaints about Mario Kart Wii not having voice chat capabilities and how that is a sin against fanboys and girls everywhere. (as seen in this VG Cats comic - nsfw due to penis hat reference) I have to say, for the most part - I disagree. I really have no desire to sit there and have a total stranger call me every name in the book. Let's be realistic here - Mario Kart causes large outbursts of profanity. (if it doesn't "yer doin it wrong"). With the giant amounts of items getting tossed at you (my personal most painful was the Blue Shell/Lightning/Ink combo one after the other) you are bound to want to question the lineage of the other players. Loudly.

Nintendo finally seemed to cave in and be labelled the 'family' system and markets it as such. Do you really want to go online to risk your grandma or your little brother getting profaned at? Not so much, then Nintendo would just catch crap about 'Oh, this is terrible, you marketed this as a family system' - when, in fact, they have absolutely no control of what people will say to one another. The only viable option was silence.

Personally, I would have liked an option where I could hear my friends and my friends only. Then, I could call my friends whatever I want (and vice versa) as they have earned the right to be sarcastic and mildly abusive (as that is how we do). This would also work for families as you can see what friends are in the Mario Kart online room with you and deal with them accordingly if they get out of hand.

As it is now, my friends and I are installing Skype on our laptops as a stopgap so we can get on with yelling at each other or laughing at each others misfortunes. It's an extra step, but one we are all willing to make.

Side note: I play Waluigi on Wario's Bike and for some reason his voice seems to be louder than many of the other players, so I often get a kick out of that. He already says plenty by himself, without me adding to it.

Snowboarding Envy

Shaun White Snowboarding is what SSX Blur should have been. I guess it was too early when they were developing Blur as the balance board had not been released in the US.


• Wii Balance Board Integration – Get yourself into the game like never before by using the Wii Board to control your rider. Control your carves, jumps and grinds with the intuitiveness and fun of having a snowboard in your own living room.

• Everyone plays, no one waits – Engage in a seamlessly integrated multiplayer experience for two to four players, where every player is active in the game at all times.

Kotaku has the press release (and screens) here.




sources: Kotaku & XPlay

Japanese Get WiiWare Mahjong

and I am insanely jealous. For reals Mahjong - not American solitare version.

Mahjongg Wii: Ide Yousuke no Kenjou Mahjongg (Ide Yousuke's Healthy Mahjongg) is a Nintendo-developed, multiplayer mahjongg game with Mii integration and online play.

Read the article at Nintendo Wii Fanboy.

Blog Dump - Bumpy Chin edition

Jean Skrull What.
Comicvine got sent some promo art with Jean/Phoenix as a skrull...because she wasn't insidious enough to begin with? I think Cyclops is acting quite Skrullish myself. So do the comicvine dudes.

Cleaning Game is Quite Dirty
Canned Dogs has found quite an inappropriate Wii game - Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper. You must stop the king of dirt from dirtying your school. How this ends up with half naked girls eating banannas and popcicles while seemingly participating in a wet tshirt contest, I have no idea.
Read Zepy's Article here. He has a link to pictures. His link is worksafe, the pic links, not so much.

Dungy Ahoy.
Being a native Floridian, it's my duty to report that Tony Dungy (former Bucs coach) will be on the cover of NFL Head Coach 09. Grats, dood.
Kotaku article here with press release.

Death of Stage 6!
Got this information dropped straight into my email box last night. Stage 6, (aka, we did youtube right) is closing down. Too expensive to run, apparently. Sucks. ;_;

"... we plan to shut down Stage6 on February 28, 2008. Upload functionality has already been turned off, and you’ll be able to view and download videos until Thursday. So that’s where we are today. After February 28, Stage6 will cease to exist as an online destination."

Topless Robot Rocks the Info
Topless Robot reports that the Justice League dvd is dropping this week. In addition, they also found a really nice Street Fighter 4 video.

Mario Kart Wii

For some odd reason, I'm not particularly excited about Smash Bros Brawl. Yes, I know I am in the broken minority. Mario Kart for the Wii, however, makes me full of fangirl glee.



Video found by Rob @ Topless Robot.
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/02/wii_mario_kart_preview_lies.php

blog dump: end of semester edition

Hi there. Wow, it's been a long semester, but now it's over. Holiday shopping looms. Don't know if that will be more or less stressful. Anyway, enjoy this blog dump. I enjoyed having time to parooze my rss feeds. <3

comics
Witchblade 112 preview up at CBR. First Born epilogue. I should probably get around to reading issue 3, huh?

File under: FINALLY. -
Udon Announces new Street Fighter books.
Initially reported by Majoria's News.
then Kotaku found it later.

NYT interviewed Gail Simone and I found it to be quite an interesting read.
source: VS-blog.com

games
King of Fighters Max Impact Regulation A combo videos (aka KOF:MIA) here.
source: Cyberfanatix.

Iron Man game footage @ Kotaku. It's pretty, but does it play well? Probably not.

Virtual Console games are region locked AND country locked, so your friends in Japan can't buy you that cool VC game you want. Sorry, bubba.

Also, hey look, a thwomp!
source: Wii Fanboy

Tekken 6 arcade intro dropped at SDTekken.com

figures
Buso Renkin figs @ Kid Nemo. Kazuki, Papillion & Tokiko. Reasonably priced too. I'm torn between Papillion & Tokiko.

No Stereo for YOU! (Wii GH3 owners)

So digg has dugg (hur!) up some evidence that Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii is not in stereo. It comes out of both speakers, but both speakers are sending out that groovy mono sound. That's no good.

Also, Judy Nails has a giant pumpkin head.
Give me back my Pandora!

Sega Superstars Tennis

Item originally found at dsfanboy.

So, Sega is making a tennis game. Okay, but not earth shattering. The exciting bit is the character lineup that will be playable!

From the press release: SEGA Superstars Tennis has over 15 playable SEGA idols including Sonic the Hedgehog, AiAi from Super Monkeyball fame, Ulala of Space Channel 5 and Amigo from Samba De Amigo. In addition to their own unique attributes, each character will also come equipped with their own superstar tennis skills, putting a whole new spin on each match played!

full press release here

The even better news is that this game will be released on pretty much all of the current and/or last generation systems. (PS2, PS3, XBox 360, Wii, DS) Superstars Tennis drops early next year. (My Wii may end up with a second tennis game!)

Neo Geo on the VC

via my buddy Sharp, who found it on Kotaku - Great news for the fighting game fans (yes there are some of us left and we are rabid)

NEO GEO games will be available on the Wii Virtual Console!
Read the entire thing here.

The three they are starting off with are Fatal Fury, World Heroes and Art of Fighting. Naturally, being gamers, most Kotaku readers / posters complained. This was my two cents:

I think I'm the only on in here that's actually pleased to see some of these old fighters on the VC. They can only post so many rpgs and side scroller action/adventure games. Personally, I'm very excited about World Heroes. Would have preferred WH Perfect - but hey, they have to start somewhere.

For those that keep talking about these games being available on compilations, let me tell you, it is a giant pain to find the Fatal Fury Battle Archive vol 1.

Petey Piranha's SSBB Debut!

Smash Bros Dojo has revealed Petey Piranha - as a boss character in Super Smash Bros Brawl: Subspace Emissary (side scroller adventure game). He has 2 cages that he attacks with - one has Peach in it, the other, Zelda.

"You can save either Zelda or Peach, depending on which cage you damage more and subsequently break. What will happen to the one you don't save?"

Tough decision...