In an interview with the Studio Ghibli owned magazine, Neppuu, renowned animator Hayao Miyazaki discussed his distaste towards, well, just about everything tech related. His newest device to hate on is the iPad, or as he call it, the “game machine-like thing.” More »

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From Ningin: In July, Japanese video game publisher, Capcom (Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Resident Evil), will open up Capcom Seaside House, a themed shop and restaurant area located on the beaches of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. More »

Piggybacking off of the tremendous success freemium games like FarmVille have been having on social networking sites, Japanese game developer Acquire are bringing the free-to-play experience to home consoles for the first time ever with the RPG Bakumatsu heading to Playstation Network on June 26. More »

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From Ningin: A talented man in Japan takes you on one of Mario’s adventures in which he provides the music and sound effects using a single violin. The result? One sweet video. More »

From Ningin: A survey was conducted in Japan, asking 3,000 gamers what they’re favorite Square Enix game franchise was. Some titles that made it to the top 10 were surprising while others were predictable. More »

Famitsu, Japan’s #1 video game magazine, has awarded Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker a perfect 40/40 score. Only 13 games since the magazine was first published in 1986 have received the prestigious award. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the first and only game to receive a perfect score in 2010. More »

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From Ningin: This awesome Pacman artwork was created by artist Le Gentil Garçon in collaboration with paleontologist François Escuilié to create a realistic looking skeleton of this iconic character. More »

From Ningin: Atlus’s Trauma Team for the Wii (known as The Hospital- The 6 Doctors in Japan) is hitting North American shelves on May 18 and with it, different boxart than the Japanese version. More »

From Ningin: This person most really love playing video games. He’s playing MMORPG Eve Online while controlling 12 accounts at one time. Just look at all those computer screens! More »

Although there are some vague guidelines as to what constitutes a good game, the definition of one may vary from place to place. Video game preference, like any other aspect of life, is a cultural construction. Kotaku.com has recently revealed that the current top selling games in Japan are Final Fantasy XIII, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Yakuza 4. More »

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From the creators of the Xenosaga series, Monolith, comes a completely non-related (supposedly) game entitled Xenoblade. Well, Monolith has finally revealed the Japanese release date of Xenoblade: June 10th. More »

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I wasn’t sure if I should file this one under Peripheral Crazy or WTF Wednesday… but ultimately the WTF won out. There are plenty of… “creative” peripherals out in the gaming world these days, and it’s no surprise that arcade games are feeling the effects too. After all, wasn’t it the arcade machine that gave us fake guns to shoot things with in the first place? Well, a new peripheral has made its way to arcade games in Japan: a table.

The point of the game seems to be to disrupt people having dinner in a restaurant… by hitting a table peripheral that stands in front of the game. No, seriously. I have a video to prove it. More »

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From Ningin: This cosplay of Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII is so cool! The hair, costume and pose fits the character very well (actually, it’s a replica of an official picture of Lightning). More »

If you don’t know what Persona is, it would behoove you to do a quick Wikipedia search, read up about it, and then scour Ebay for copies of all the games. If you love Japanese RPG’s and you don’t know what Persona is, this blog post just might change your life. You could also skip the whole eBay thing and just wait for July, when one of the best RPG’s I have ever played gets released on the PSP! More »

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Square-Enix is reporting that 5 million copies of Final Fantasy XIII have been shipped around the world. 2 million were dedicated to Japan, while the remaining 3 million were shipped to other countries around the world. Square went even further with their bragging by announcing that over 96 million copies of the Final Fantasy franchise have been shipped around the globe. More »

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While U.S. gamers are just about ready to get their hands on Yakuza 3, Japanese gamers already have their hands on the franchises 4th outing. Yakuza 4 ships to Japanese retailers on March 18th, leaving U.S. gamers over a year behind. More »

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From Girlybubble: In a fit of madness, designer Helen Red Richards managed to produce one of the strangest mergings of technology and fashion I’ve ever seen. Combining the style and glam of the 1970s with old school GameBoys, she created several pairs of these funky shoes for a Nintendo campaign in 2001, which became a popular trend among the Japanese youth for awhile– or so they claim. More »

Yakuza fans rejoice! SEGA has announced the pre-order bonuses for Yakuza 3 and you’ll be pleased to hear that they aren’t skimping on the content. The add-ons range from costume variants, battle tournaments, and challenge packs. Additionally, if you pre-order from GameStop you get an extra challenge pack that includes 2-player mini games and even more alternative costumes. For a more detailed breakdown and pictures of the pre-order content keep reading. More »

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Two Japanese companies have posted their profit/loss sheets for ‘09, since the fiscal year ends March 31st. The big gainer is Square Enix, publishers of the mighty Final Fantasy series as well as Supreme Commander and Just Cause. Projected profits are almost twice as high as last year’s, probably thanks to the combined Japanese Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX launch in December ‘09. It’s not all good news though, with the quirky Nippon Ichi Software posting an absolutely insane 97.5% decrease in operating profits through the first three quarters of their ‘09 fiscal year. What’s up with that, dood? More »

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From Girlybubble: Sadly, I’m not an owner of a PSP but the PSP-3000 Sweet Limited Package, has got me wanting one in the worst way. The package is a collaboration between Sony and American fashion designer Jill Stuart. The bundle features a Blossom Pink-colored PSP-3000, a 4GB memory stick, a Jill Stuart cloth and a Jill Stuart-branded PSP carrying case. For the fashionista in me, this is one sweet deal. More »