I love this new Japanese "sentai style" flash game made to promote AXE in Japan that I just found on mixi (even tought I confess that I don't like Axe smell).

I know, I should post aboutmy visit to  the Tokyo Games Show, but you will get everything from the videogame mega blogs and actually I'm more inolved in junk diving in Akiba than shopping for the latset videogames... Anyway, while Ievan Polka, singed by Atsune Miku, is going to be the next Crazy Frog (almost for the Nico Nico community), other Vocaloid 2 videos are getting on...

An artist drawing Miku on his PC (background music is a meadly of Miku videos like this)...

Moe parody of Japanese JR station announces.

Doki Doki Shinpan Forza Motorsport 2 IDOLM@STER 360 DS MASHUP

Few hours ago Mad video posted a new video mashup dedicated to Neon Genesis Evangelion and the legendary otaku jpop idol unit Perfume!

On november 3rd there will be a Vocaloid 2 "Hatsune Miku" only doujin event held in Tokyo so the Vocaloid 2 mania seems spreading out from the Nico Nico users.


Vocaloid version of Idolm@ster Go My Way song.

Ievan Polka,

This doujin masterpiece has been created with Vocaloid 2 and went straight on top of my ipod playlist! I hope Konami will change its mind on doujin culture and produce an official CD of this arrangement!

Sega Race TV is a fun old school racing game that runs on Lindbergh board. Right now the game is still in development but it seems already a pretty solid and fun racing game. It will be release early next year and I really hope this game will bring back back the Sega we loved in the 80s and 90s...

Update: a lots of videos from AM show has been posted on Youtube like Mamorukun ha noroware te shimatta! (GRev), Death Smiles (Cave) + Death Smiles Live, Tekken 6, Basara X, Quest of D: The battle Kingom, Chase HQ 2, Eternal Wheel, Pokemon Battrio, DragonBall  DataCardass game, etc...

Update: Arcade Renaissance.com posted some impressions from the game.
Update: Game Video posted a trailer of the game.


D1GP, from Taito,  is a arcade racing drifting simulator dedicated to the japanese D1 series.  The D1 Grand Prix was the vision of a Japanese car enthusiast and magazine publisher Daijiro Inada, founder of the Japanese auto tuning title, Option Magazine and the Tokyo Auto Salon (our friend, the japanese Idol, Amano Ai appeared as a Race Queen model in the august issue of Option Magazine).




CHASE HQ 2 is the next gen version of the legendary arcade game from the 80s...

Today we visited the AM show in Makuhari Messe and we spotted the Robo Catcher: a Ufo Catcher (claw vending machine or toy crane machine)  that features a Robo One class robot (Kondo KHR) . It will be distributed in Japanese videogame centers from november. (Thanks to our shitty camera we used a photo from Robowatch). A prototype version of this ufo catcher has been posted back in february.

Update: a YouTube video of Robo Catcher.

Today during the AM Show in Makuhari Taito showed the upgrade of the arcade version of HALF LIFE 2 (released in Japan last year in june). This upgrade will show up in a couple of days in Japanese Game Centers and features new weapons, new missions and new maps.

(via Ping Mag)  Illustrator Ken Taya works as environment artist for  Halo 3 at American game developer Bungie. He happens to be a bilingual Japanese-American Nisei, for ’second generation’. What does it mean to work in a game environment with this mixed cultural background?  Read the complete interview after the jump.

Today I want to introduce a japanese online shop held by a friend. What I like of this shop is that it gives the nearest Akihabara feeeling when I'm not in Japan: the game selection is great and here I can buy arcade games and Akibakei goods at reasonable prices (I hate  online shops that sell common games like NEOGEO  Fatal Fury Special AES  with a markup of 400/500% of akiba street price)...

Samurai Girl photobook from Julie (aka Amano Ai) is nearly sold out on Amazon.com 
Seems that the success of Ai chan new Idol DVD is pushing a lot of idol fans to buy her
photobook too. We hope that sooner or later Julie will produce Amano Ai DVD cause it would be really cool to watch an idol DVD  shooted in places like the toys room or geisen featured in these photos instead of exotic places like Bali or Hawaii...
 

We love Julie's psychedelic otaku World. She is our Alice in Otaku Wonderland!

Frog Port is a new japanese retrogames online shop that has opened today! It's the first reasonable priced shop of this kind (almost if compared to some crazy Ebay bids) and there are a lot of masterpieces to discover (but of course not everything comes cheap especially for products imported to Japan from USA)!  Even if you are not an online shopper browsing trought Frog Port pages will introduce to many obscure retrogame treasures...

Today  Cesa posted the guidelines for bloggers who want to post the widget (ブログパーツ) of Tokyo Game Show 2007. The html code can be found on the official TGS page and is avaible in two versions: 200 x 200 pixel and 180 x 180 pixel. Bloggers will be able to win a free pass for TGS  (on general admission days). Deadline for application is september 12th but seems that airplane tickets for foreigner bloggers will not be provided by Cesa.

Today we found some links to japanese media coverage of Ai Chan first DVD Release:

Ascii.jp: “逆輸入アイドル”天野あいは、ちょっぴりMな電脳系!?

Sponichi: 天野あい　逆輸入アイドルが初ＤＶＤ

Akiba Keizai Shinbun: 「オタクアイドル」天野あいさん、秋葉原でDVD発売記念イベント


Exciter Magazine featured one page deciated to Amano Ai DVD and Julie art photos.
There are other magazines and newspaper who coeverd the event but I can't find out all the names... damn, I should study more kanji!
Anyway I'm pretty impressed by Ai Chan because she is getting a lot of coverage without the support of a big media company. I think her really cool artworks  are helping being noticed by magazine editors and journalists.

The japanese retrogamer Gyusyuabu has recently updated his net radio dedicated to
retro japanese PCs like the X68000, MSX or PC98. He got a superb selection of old computer games tunes and created a really cool interface for his net radio (he even implemented a "request"
  function so that any user can put his favourite songs in the request queque). For the copyrights paranoids ot there: Gyusyubu's radio playlist doesn't contain any JASRAC song and he ripped the music straight from the games (not from CDs) so this radio is should be 100% legal (almost in Japan).

Touhou Video 6: Get A Mac
Original version

(via Sshiori) Mac vs PC  Doujin parody of the original japanese TV commercial.

Escalator to idol paradise...


Live event held at Ishimaru Game One at 4pm last saturday.


After the event Ai Chan has been interviewed by several japanese newspapers. 


Amano Ai with her new DVD: "Love Potion"...

(post in progress)

We had  a great time attending, with the legendary Danny Choo, the Amano AI DVD  release events held in Akihabara last saturday (tomorrow I will post more photos)!
Ai chan DVD is on sale on Play Asia: the first orders will be shipped with a free second cover sleeve signed by Aichan!! And the order placed before 30th september  will automatically join a Lucky Draw to win one out of five exclusive Amano Ai photographs.

 
This is a video made by  Patrick Macias  chef-editor of the magazine  OTAKU USA. The video has been recorded during the live show held last saturday in Yamagiwa Soft (Akihabara - Tokyo).
Patrick poster more pics opf Ai chan on his blog.

Play Asia ha iniziato la vendita online del DVD di Amano Ai per il mercato europeo e americano! I primi che ordineranno il DVD riceveranno una seconda copertina autografata e chi ordinerà il DVD entro il 30 settembre potrà vincere una foto autografata di Ai chan!

Our friend Asapon (japanese professional modeler of several figure masterpieces) told us that in november Yujin will release a gatchapon R Shooting Video Game History Gashapon: a series dedicated to some of the most famous shoot'em up from the 80s and 90s! Coloring is still in progress and we look foward to see the definitive colors of this must have gatchapon series!
Update: Mark points out that NCSX started preorders for the  SR Series at the beginning of august. If you are in Europe you can preorder here. If you are not scared by japanese language you can try your luck here with tons of shops selling this collection at a really good price!

(Fonte BoingBoing) Sul sito Worth1000 sono raccolte alcuni fantastici lavori di Photoshop con finte vecchie pubblicità di prodotti attuali. Questa del Wii è irresistibile!

La nostra amica Amano Ai ha appena postato sul suo blog una foto degli slip per ragazza ispirati a Space Invaders. Si era già visto qualche cosa di simile in precedenza ma questo modello viene venduto in una confezione che riproduce esattamente i vecchi cabinati giapponesi.
 

Dopo anni di assenza, grazie alla leggendaria Pirate Bay, torna Suprnova.org il tracker che ha fatto la storia di BitTorrent.
(fonte Forevergeek - disclaimer: scaricare file di cui non si hanno i dirittti è illegale)

La "nostra"  idol Amano Ai (apparsa varie volte nella riviste Hobbymedia:  Gamers, GX e XRC CARS) ha appena prodotto il suo primo DVD intitolato LOVE POTION e sabato, presso due negozi di Akihabara, presenzierà due eventi live  in cui incontrerà i suoi fan. Uno dei due eventi é già sol d out con oltre 200 prenotazioni!!
Tutta la redazione augura ad Ai Chan buona fortuna per questo primo DVD (in vendita anche nel famoso shop online  Play Asia).
 

Oggi e' il primo giorno del Comiket: la fiera del fumetto (doujin) piu' grande del mondo.  Sul prossimo numero di GAMERS troverete un reportage completo, per il momento vi consigliamo di leggere il reportage di Shingo.

Lo confessiamo: siamo dei blogger fortunati!! Stiamo facendo le valige per andare in Giappone per la stagione degli eventi otaku: Comiket, Wonderfestival, Jamma, TGS, etc. (un ringraziamento speciale alla JAL per l'ottimo sake che servono anche in classe economica! Kampai!!)  Ci scusiamo anticipatamente se per qualche giorno il blog non sara' aggiornato!
Gomennsai!!

Riceviamo dal nostro amico Madrigal e volentieri pubblichiamo l'annuncio della sua ultima creazione: una multicart per la leggendaria console a 8Bit Creativision! Verranno prodotti solo 100 pezzi quindi consigliamo a ogni retrogamer di affrettarsi a ordinare la propria copia!


Multicart V1.0
For "creatiVision" console/computer, made by VTech in 1981 (Hong Kong), distibuted in Japan by Cheryco in 1982
Limited edition, 100 numbered copies only produced!

Price: EUR 42,95 or US$ 57,95

Multicart informations

- the only existing homebrew cartridge for creatiVision
- deluxe full colour cardboard box with internal cartridge holder
- 12-page booklet featuring instructions for all included games
- 8 Mega-bit EPROM including up to 32 ROM games/programs
- professional PCB featuring a 5-way DIP Switch to easily select included ROM games/programs
- 100% compatible with creatiVision, Dick Smith Wizzard, Funvision, Rameses, Laser 2001 and Salora Manager
- specially designed plastic case with classic title stickers
- 6 cardboard joystick overlays, for use with all featured games/programs
- currently featured ROM games/programs:

Air/Sea Attack
Astro Pinball
Auto Chase
BASIC creatiVision 1982
BASIC creatiVision 1983
BASIC VTL V.1 1983
Chopper Rescue
Crazy Chicky
Crazy Pucker
Deep Sea Adventure
Ha.P. Monitor
Locomotive
Mouse Puzzle
Music Maker
Planet Defender
Police Jump
Soccer
Sonic Invader
Stone Age
Tank Attack
Tennis (Coca Cola)
Tennis (Dick Smith)
Tennis (Wimbledon)
Werben Informieren (German)
Werben Informieren (English)

          
         (prototipo di lavorazione)

(fonte Rabbid News)
Ai tanti che ci hanno scritto per protestare sul fatto che i loro amati videogiochi vengano "sporcati" da immagini e video di ragazze sexy che pubblichiamo su GAMERS rispondiamo con una delle immagini pubblicitarie (ufficiali) prodotte dalla Ubisoft per promuovere Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 per il Wii...  è bello sapere di non essere gli unici appassionati di videogiochi e ragazze! ^_^

(fonte Neogaf)

(fonte Neogaf)
Ecco i dati di vendita in Giappone nella settimana fra il 16 e il 22 luglio.

01. [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 14 (Konami) - 153,266 / Novità
02. [WII] Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen... (Square-Enix) - 53,557 / 358,000
03. [WII] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Wii (Konami) - 47,995 / Novità
04. [NDS] The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo) - 46,762 / 631,000
05. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 40,270 / 1,911,000
06. [NDS] Mushi King Super Collection (Sega) - 32,713 / Novità
07. [NDS] Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo) - 31,120 / 426,000
08. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 29,124 / 1,523,000
09. [NDS] Naruto Shippuuden: Strongest Ninjas Unite 5 (Takara-Tomy) - 27,809 / Novità
10. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) - 20,669 / 4,635,000

11. [NDS] Detective Saburou Jinguuji DS:  (ArcSystemWorks)
12. [NDS] More Brain Age (Nintendo)
13. [NDS] My Housekeeping Diary (Nintendo)
14. [NDS] Chibi Robo! Park Patrol (Nintendo)
15. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
16. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond (Pokémon)
17. [NDS] Brain Age (Nintendo)
18. [NDS] More English Training (Nintendo)
19. [NDS] Animal Crossing Wild World (Nintendo)
20. [NDS] Saiyuki: Gold and Silver Conspiracy (D3 Publisher)
21. [WII] Momotarou Dentetsu 16: Trip to Hokkaido! (Hudson)
22. [NDS] Pokémon Pearl (Pokémon)
23. [PS2] Shounen Onmyouji (Kadokawa Shoten)
24. [NDS] English Training (Nintendo)
25. [NDS] Kirarin Revolution: Mezase Idol Queen! (Konami)
26. [PS2] Super Robot Wars: Original Generations (Banpresto)
27. [NDS] Mega Man ZX Advent (Capcom)
28. [NDS] Itadaki Street DS (Square-Enix)
29. [NDS] Kanji Brain Test 2M (IE Institute)
30. [NDS] Yoshi's Island DS (Nintendo)
31. [NDS] Common Knowledge Training (Nintendo)
32. [NDS] Prof. Layton and the Curious Village (Level 5)
33. [WII] Donkey Kong Jet (Nintendo)
34. [PS2] Nodame Cantabile (Banpresto)
35. [NDS] Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan (Hudson)
36. [NDS] Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii... (Nintendo)
37. [WII] Super Paper Mario (Nintendo)
38. [NDS] Monster Farm DS (Tecmo)
39. [PS2] Monster Hunter 2: Dos (Capcom)
40. [NDS] Listen! Write! Increase Vocabulary!  (Benesse)
41. [NDS] Detailed Japanese History B Total Training (Bandai-Namco)
42. [PS2] Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3 (Banpresto)
43. [WII] Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo)
44. [NDS] Reading Training (Benesse)
45. [PSP] Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile (Sony)
46. [NDS] Touch! Bomberman Land Star... (Hudson)
47. [NDS] Kekkaishi: Tale of the Raven Forest (Bandai-Namco)
48. [NDS] Kanji Test (Rocket Co.)
49. [PS2] Sengoku Basara Double Pack (Capcom)
50. [PS3] My Summer Vacation 3 (Sony)

NDS - 33
WII - 8
PS2 - 7
PSP - 1
PS3 - 1

Aggiornamento
(news originale: 20 luglio)

Kotaku ha appena postato la nuova copertina di Wired di agosto con una ricetta/guida per creare la torta Wii di Martha Stewart!
L'articolo, o meglio l'intervista a Martha, è stata realizzata dal nostro amico Mark Frauenfelder che è uno dei co-fondatori* della rivista Boing Boing che da qualche anno da pubblicazione cartacea è diventata un blog di enorme successo.
Sul sito di Wired è possibile leggere l'articolo in inglese.

* L'altro editore di Boing Boing magazine era Carla Sinclair che oggi è l'editor della leggendaria rivista di "techno bricolage" MAKE  Magazine.

I nostri amici di Heisei Democracy hanno appena postato il quarto episodio di HDTV dedicato ad Akihabara: la terra promessa per ogni otaku!

Questo adattatore, WiiKeyBoard, permette  di colelgare una tastiera PS/2 sul Wii per giocare con titoli come Phantasy Star Online o utilizzare il GC-Linux. Con una piccola modifica questo adattatore permette anche di collegare al Wii un joypad originale del Super Nintendo.

Il leggendario gruppo Studio Siesta ha appena postato la demo di Trouble Witches: uno shoot'em up che verrà venduto durante l'edizione estiva del Comiket.
 

Oggi, durante il Gravity Festival 2007, la Tailandia dopo una finale infuocata con la Corea ha vinto il titolo di campione mondiale di Ragnarok Online! La  squadra delle Filippine si è posizionata al terzo posto battendo la Germania.

Today, the finals of RWC2007 has been held during the Gravity Festival 2007. Thailand beated South Korea and won the finals and became the Ragnarok World Champion 2007. Philippines won the third place.

Reported by Dong Soo “Luie” Han

Oggi, durante il Gravity Festival 2007 (Corea del Sud), oltre alla finale del campionato mondiale di Ragnarock Online si poteva provare la nuova beta di Pucca Racing per PC: un clone di Kart Rider (che a sua volta era uno spudorato clone di Mario Kart) dedicato a Pucca, la mascotte coreana più famosa del Mondo.  Nel gioco si possono selezionare Pucca, Garu, Abyo, Ching e Tobe per gareggiare in una delle 12 nazioni disponibili.


Clicca qui per vedere un video di Pucca Racing.


(fonte INQUIRER.net)

Un altro reportage sulle bellezze coreane potete trovarlo sul blog filippino Waukster.

Il programmatore hacked2123  ha appena svelato un metodo per far girare le copie backup su PS3  che va ad aggiungersi ai due già noti: il PS3 Linux Method e il  PS3 SAK v1.00. La nostra sensazione è che per la prima volta  ci sia veramente poco interesse per l'hacking di una console Sony (al contrario i chip per il Wii stanno riscuotendo un successo
incredibile).

Fonte Neogaf: dati vendita Hardware e Software in Giappone nella settimana fra il 9 e il 15 luglio.
Purtroppo per Sony i giochi per PS3 sono solo una curiosità per pochi giocatori giapponesi che ormai considerano il DS come la vera piattaforma di gioco...

01./00. [WII] Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (Square-Enix) - 305,254 / NEW
02./01. [NDS] The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo) - 69,896 / 584,000
03./00. [NDS] My Housekeeping Diary (Nintendo) - 46,947 / NEW
04./05. [WII] Wii Sports (Nintendo) - 44,767 / 1,877,000
05./04. [NDS] Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo) - 38,647 / 395,000
06./08. [WII] Wii Play (Nintendo) - 28,747 / 1,494,000
07./02. [NDS] Chibi Robo! Park Patrol (Nintendo) - 26,907 / 72,000
08./00. [NDS] Kirarin Revolution: Mezase Idol Queen! (Konami) - 24,573 / NEW
09./00. [NDS] Monster Farm DS (Tecmo) - 21,914 / NEW
10./00. [NDS] Mega Man ZX Advent (Capcom) - 21,379 / NEW

11./09. [NDS] More Brain Age (Nintendo)
12./00. [NDS] Saiyuki: Gold and Silver Conspiracy (D3 Publisher)
13./10. [NDS] New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo)
14./03. [PS2] Super Robot Wars: Original Generations (Banpresto)
15./00. [PS2] Pop'n Music 14: Fever! (Konami)
16./13. [NDS] Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)
17./06. [NDS] Itadaki Street DS (Square-Enix)
18./22. [NDS] Pokémon Diamond (Pokémon)
19./15. [NDS] More English Training (Nintendo)
20./12. [WII] Donkey Kong Jet (Nintendo)
21./14. [NDS] Brain Age (Nintendo)
22./17. [NDS] Animal Crossing Wild World (Nintendo)
23./30. [NDS] Pokémon Pearl (Pokémon)
24./20. [NDS] English Training (Nintendo)
25./00. [NDS] Death Note: The Successor to L (Konami)
26./00. [360] Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubi Soft)
27./21. [NDS] Kanji Brain Test 2M (IE Institute)
28./00. [PS2] Memories Off #5 Encore (CyberFront)
29./18. [NDS] Listen! Write! Increase Vocabulary! Initial English Training (Benesse)
30./25. [NDS] Yoshi's Island DS (Nintendo)
31./19. [NDS] Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (Nintendo)
32./26. [NDS] Momotarou Dentetsu DS: Tokyo & Japan (Hudson)
33./16. [PSP] Ratchet & Clank: Going Mobile (Sony)
34./24. [NDS] Prof. Layton and the Curious Village (Level 5)
35./07. [PS3] My Summer Vacation 3 (Sony)
36./27. [NDS] Common Knowledge Training (Nintendo)
37./28. [WII] Super Paper Mario (Nintendo)
38./33. [NDS] Detailed Japanese History B Total Training (Bandai-Namco)
39./11. [NDS] Doki-Doki Majo Shinpan! (SNK Playmore)
40./40. [WII] Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo)
41./23. [NDS] Reading Training (Benesse)
42./34. [NDS] Kekkaishi: Tale of the Raven Forest (Bandai-Namco)
43./00. [PS2] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Capcom)
44./36. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom)
45./42. [NDS] Kanji Test (Rocket Co.)
46./39. [NDS] Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (Nintendo)
47./38. [WII] Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Capcom)
48./37. [NDS] Phoenix Wright 4 (Capcom)
49./00. [NDS] TOEIC Test Training DS (IE Institute)
50./00. [NDS] Tetris DS (Nintendo)

NDS - 35
WII - 7
PS2 - 4
PSP - 2
PS3 - 1
360 - 1

On 13th september Suntory will release the FINAL FANTASY VII 10th ANNIVERSARY POTION to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the  msot famous Final Fantasy episode. We hope this time they will work on a better taste and a better bottle design (last year attempt to recreate the Final Fantsay XII potion has disappointend japanese gamers).

La Suntory  ci riprova: Il 13 settembre la ditta Suntory la FINAL FANTASY VII 10th ANNIVERSARY POTION per festeggiare il decimo anniversario del più fortunato capitolo della saga SquareEnix.