Tatakau!

This is it. It is certified. The Big Three are gonna go at it right here right now at the times listed below at this year's E3 Expo in Los Angeles, CA!

Microsoft Corporation Press Conference - Monday June 1, 2009 at

12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
11:00 AM Central Standard Time
10:00 AM Mountain Standard Time
9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time

Nintendo Ltd Press Conference - Tuesday June 2, 2009 at

12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
11:00 AM Central Standard Time
10:00 AM Mountain Standard Time
9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time

Sony Computer Entertainment Press Conference - Tuesday June 2, 2009 at

2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
1:00 PM Central Standard Time
12:00 PM Mountain Standard Time
11:00 AM Pacific Standard Time

Watch it live or DVR (Digital Video Record) that shit starting Monday June 1 on G4 which is available on digital cable, or satellite. Avoid that internet streaming bullshit because you won't get 60Hz video. In others words the quality will be straight garbage.This is gonna be epic. The E3 2009 Expo whcih is basically the games starts after the Sony Press Conference on Tuesday June 2 thru Thursday June 4.

http://www.e3expo.com/

Import Sakusen 3/29-4/4

This is the release list of imports here is as follows for this week. *(asterisk) denotes that the software is the Asian version.

Sony PLAYSTATION 3

Winning Post World/KOEI

Nintendo DS/Lite/DSi

Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell / Disney Interactive
New Shikakei Atama o Kore Kusuru DS / IE Institute
Pachi & Slot Hisshoubon / Dorasu
Pro Yakyuu Famista DS 2009 / Bandai Namco Games
Doala de Wii / Tera Box
Winning Post World / KOEI

Nintendo Wii

Doala de Wii / Tera Box
Winning Post World / KOEI

Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)

The Legend of Heroes Gagharvtrilogy White Witch (PSP the Best) / Bandai Namco Games
The Legend of Heroes IV: Akaishizuku (PSP the Best) / Bandai Namco Games
The Legend of Heroes V: A Cagesong of the Ocean (PSP the Best) / Bandai Namco Games

Sony PlayStation 2

Winning Post World / KOEI

Microsoft XBOX 360

11 Eyes: Cross Over / 5pb
11 Eyes: Cross Over (Limited Edition) / 5pb

Cool week for imports so your paper ain't gonna run out. Aight?

Sqaure Enix/Edios takeover. The finish.

She's right now like WTF about this news. Square Enix has officially been approved by Edios shareholders for the takeover bid of of 84.3 million Euros or as of today's dollar rate $112,033,700 million. May 6, 2009 is when it's official. The last merger between Squaresoft and Enix in my view wasn't favorable as the creative talents of both companies have been hindered. Where's my sequel to Bust A Move Dance Summit 2001?

Media Create 3/16-3/22

This is the listing of the Media Create sales report for the week of March 16-22.

Software sales listing
1) (Nintendo DS) Super Robot Taisen K (Namco Bandai) 117,000 / New release
2) (Sony PlayStation 2) Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2009 (Konami) 50,000 / New release
3) (Sony PlayStation 2) Amagami (Enterbrain) 42,000 / New release
4) (Nintendo DS) Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 39,000 / 428,000
5) (Sony PLAYSTATION 3) Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 36,000 / 148,000
6) (Sony PLAYSTATION 3) Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 29,000 / 410,000
7) (Nintendo DS) Rittai Picross 3D (Nintendo) 24,000 / 62,000
8) (Sony PlayStation Portable) Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 23,000 / 506,000
9) (Nintendo Wii) Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Konami) 22,000 / NEW
10) (Sony PlayStation Portable) Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (KOEI) 19,000 / 335,000

Hardware sales listing
1) Nintendo DSi/71,233
2) Sony PlayStation Portable/65,765
3) Sony PLAYSTATION 3/25,435
4) Nintendo Wii/18,095
5) Nintendo DS Lite/8,948
6) Microsoft XBOX 360/5,441
7) Sony PlayStation 2/5,067


http://www.m-create.com/ranking/#top

No surprise at SRT. The DSi's sales of course was because of Super Robot Taisen K. However it's still very discouraging though that Japanese gamers themselves have declined by 6 millon and then so is the birth rate. They need to relax. The XBOX 360 is on the way to one million. Just remember that new releases for Japan and Asia are on Thursday unlike here in North America when it's on Wednesday.

New Atelier IP on PS3!

Famitsu has a load of screenshots of the latest installment of the Atelier series, Atelier Rorona.
http://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/1222820_1407.html. Looks very good for Gust's first PS3 game. On the way.

The greatest Blu-Ray ever?!?

Don't miss out. Preorder now! This is the Limited Edition that includes the world exclusive demo of Final Fantasy XIII. The game. Full HD 1080p. The movie. Full HD 1080p. Get down on this April 16.

http://www.shopncsx.com/ffviiacblurayle.aspx

Ikusei. Lets get it going. I'm still thinking about this OnLive games on demand service and let me tell you something. It's not gonna be good. But for who you may ask. First off definitely Microsoft. The service's online features basically cuffed up Microsoft's efforts for the last 4 years. Massive spectator, the fact that you can visually see exactly what your friend's playing, etc. I got done listening to 1up's podcast and it's perfectly expected how their Microsoft bias showed up again. One of the guys was bitter about the fact that Steve Perlman of OnLive brought the idea to realization and even went as far as to say that Microsoft should buy his company. WTF?!? More like shut the fuck up. Unfortunately though it is the future of gaming. Now publishers can dictate the game in ways that will most surely only benefit them i.e. downloadable content but on a much grander scale if we let them. I haven't purchased not one single downloadable content yet.

I watched the trailer for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and yeah it fits the title more than the premise. No more massive decapitation techniques which basically means that the violence has been toned down. This was due likely to the fact that Ninja Gaiden II on the 360 ran at 540p (so did Tekken 4 on the PS2) because of the effects and mad slowdown. Youske Hayashi is the new leader of Tecmo's Team Ninja in which he was under Itagaki's instruction. I still can't wait for it. Fall '09.

Quantum of Solace is out today on Blu-Ray. The North American version of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete is due June 7th. Sword of the Stranger is due on June 16th. Enough said.

The CryENGINE 3 looks cool. I don't understand why they numbered it 3 when 2 was basically superior in ways. This version is just one to make Crysis available to consoles. I think they did it so that when PS4 is out then at that world exclusive conference in the future it'll be title CryENGINE 4 in conjunction.

Firmware 2.70 is more than likely due this week along with the patch for Resistance 2. Among features is the ability to have dual (maybe more) Sign In to PSN, voice messaging, and chat within different functions. As with any firmware I'm always careful not to update until a couple of days later. I will never forget the disaster that was 2.40. God of War III will not be locked at 60fps at this time although it isn't gonna be out within a year. My money's on 1st quarter 2010. Sony's SDK (software development kit) just got a huge drop in price. Now the hardware, SDK DECR-1400A is down from $10,000 to basically $2,000. No more bullshit excuses about the PS3 being too expensive to develop for.
In other news not related to the Gamer Developers Conference Gust's announced a new RPG for the PS3 in the Atelier series titled Atelier Rorona and Compile Heart is releasing Agarest Senki Zero the sequel to 2007's Agarest Senki and is due this June.

Satoru Iwata President of Nintendo Ltd and formerly of Hal Laboratories (Smash Bros. and Kirby) announced that Wii has surpassed 50 million and also revealed a new Zelda IP titled The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks. Finally there is a solution to the Virtual Console problem and it starts with Wii System Menu 4.0. It will now introduce the ability to save Virtual Console games on an SD memory card up to 32GB! That's 240 games! 'Bout time. Huge news for Square fans. Final Fantasy IV The After Years is on the way as well the WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a Darklord but what may very well be the OF COURSE moment is the fact that the pure original 1987 version of Final Fantasy will be released on the Virtual Console! If Dragon Quest is next then forget about it.

Infinity Ward's Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is set to release on November 10, 2009.

Ignition which distributes SNK Playmore's titles (well almost as there's no Doki Doki Majo Shipan) put up an official NA website for The King of Fighters 12 and yes they are marketing it already. There's an official tournament in which I already registered to get into in Los Angeles, California in which you can win a chance to get a free spot in if you register at http://www.kingoffighters12.com/.

Some big news from GDC. First off of course is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. For the first time ever in the IP (intellectual property) it will feature online co-op. Also huge news (for those who know) Momiji will be playable! What?!? All this crazy talk. She was in one of my top DS games of all time (Sonic Rush is still at the top) Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. Speaking of portables I found a original copy of Final Fantasy Tactics The War of The Lions for the PSP for only $10 at Walmart! Yes Walmart is one word now. ?

However a HUGE announcement was made today and that of course is the cloud computing platform called OnLive. It was in development for 7 years and let me just give you the facts. It runs on internet broadband. The maximum resolution it can do is 720p/60fps or HD for short. It does spectator functions that Live or PSN could only dream although MAG is very ambitious in it's own right. Already the top Western developers i.e. Take Two, EA, etc have signed on for development. In short this is the supposed one console future platform that such developers as Silicon Knights' Dennis Dyack have been praying for. No console war. No competition. Nope. Competition is neccessary to advance the industry. Basically I think only lazy developers as the hardcore gaming community so elegantly put it are clamoring for this concept simply because the challenge is not there. Here's the link to the interview from Steve Perlman President and CEO of OnLive Inc. Basically this is games on demand. The technology though already exists. It's called Remote Play on the PS3 to PSP.

Part 1 http://www.gametrailers.com/player/47079.html
Part 2 http://www.gametrailers.com/player/47081.html

Import Sakusen 3/22-3/28

This is the release list for imports as follows. *(asterisk) denotes that the software is the Asian version.

Sony PLAYSTATION 3

Monsters vs Aliens/Activision
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania/THQ
James Bond Quantum of Solace/Square Enix
Mahjong Kakutou Club / Mahjong Fight Club Konami the Best version/Konami
NBA 2K9/Spike

Nintendo DS/Lite/DSi

Akai Ito Destiny DS/Alchemist
Keitai Sousakan 7 DS: Buddy Sequence/5pd
Kirihara Shoten Forest: Eigo @ DS/Ertain
Nintama Rantarou: Nintama no Tame no Ninjutsu Training/Russel
Space Invaders Extreme 2/Taito
Toudou Ryuunosuke Tantei Nikki: Aen no Koufune/fonfun
Will O' Wisp DS/Idea Factory
Will O' Wisp DS Linited Edition/Idea Factory
Eikou Seminar Koushiki DS Kyouzaki: Chuugakkou Eitango - Eitan Zamurai DS/Educational Network
Eikou Seminar Koushiki DS Kyouzaki: Shougakkou Eigo - Eitan Zamurai DS/Educational Network
Hachi-One Diver/Electronic Arts
Hoshizora Navi/ASCII Entertainment
Inu Kaisha DS/Cyber Front
Kabutore FX/Konami
Metal Fight Beyblade/Hudson
The Prince of Tennis: Doubles no Oji-Sama (Boys, Be Gracious!)/Konami
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009/Konami

Nintendo Wii

Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu/Sega
Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu (Chou SOS Danhiro Collection)/Sega
James Bond: Quantum of Solace/Square Enix
Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's: Wheelie Breakers/Konami

Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Dragoneer's Aria (PSP the Best)/Nippon Ichi Software
Hayate no Gotoku!/Konami
Hayate no Gotoku! Limited Edition/Konami
Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable*/Nippon Ichi Software
Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable Limited Edition*/Nippon Ichi Software
Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable*/Bandai Namco Games

Sengoku Tenka Touitsu/System Soft
Sunday x Magazine: Taisen Action/Konami
Will O' Wisp Portable/Idea Factory
Will O' Wisp Portable (Limited Edition)/Idea Factory
Mana-Khemia/NIS America

Sony PlayStation 2

James Bond: Quantum of Solace/Square Enix
NBA 2K9/Spike
Rogue Galaxy Director's Cut (PlayStation2 the Best)/Sony Computer Entertainment
Sengoku Tenka Touitsu/System Soft
Slotter Up Core 11 Kyojin no Hoshi IV/Dorasu
Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced/Alchemist
Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced (Limited Edition)/Alchemist
Vitamin Z/D3 Publisher
Vitamin Z (Limited Edition)/D3 Publisher
Wild Arms: The Vth Vanguard (PlayStation2 the Best)/Sony Computer Entertainment

Microsoft XBOX 360

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania*/THQ
James Bond: Quantum of Solace/Square Enix
NBA 2K9/Spike
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 3 Bundle (Chinese Version) (w/ Dance Mat)/Konami

Accessories due this week are basically only for the PSP and are listed below

Face Cover Portable 3 (Black)/Hori
Face Cover Portable 3 (Silver)/Hori
Face Cover Portable 3 (White)/Hori
Grip Attachment Portable 3 (Clear)/Hori
Inner Ear Earphone Portable (Black)/Hori

For me the omega release is of course my girl Haruhi from the ultra popular anime The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi staring in yet another game Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu. This game basically a cruise ship, time warping, and yeah...3D action adventure genre based game Can't wait. The import is almost here and that is that mufuckin' Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete I cannot wait to watch it in 1080p. Oh yeah and it comes with a demo and that's it. I'm just playin'. Final Fantasy XIII with that. As Sean John would say take that, take that, take that.

Dojo

Yeah yeah. Today since it's Sunday is the perfect time to talk about the reason I became an ethusiast in the interactive entertainment industry in the first place and that my friends is Japanese games. I started importing in December of 2000 when I was in Jacksonville, Florida after playing Guilty Gear X on one of my favorite platforms of all time, the Sega Dreamcast. Afterwards I knew that the game wasn't coming to North America/NTSC or Europe/PAL territories and this was certified after the worst news I've ever experienced was announced when Sega Enterprises declared that they was leaving the hardware business on January 31, 2001. Well I touch up upon Sega and my history at a later date but right now I wanted to talk about imports. Now many people are confused as to why people who play games go out of their way to import from Japan/Asia or Europe. It all comes down to censorship. See here in America sex is frowned upon. Last year a survey was conducted in which the most feared thing in which parents fear for their children is sex in gaming but I'm not gonna get into all that since I don't have much time left. The deal is that when a game is translated to English the translation gets lost most of the time, and the thing in which I absolutely cannot stand is dubbing. In numerous cases it has been revealed that dubbed (foreign to native voice over) content actually censors the original dialouge just to get around the Electronic Software Ratings Board or ESRB or for what people may view as controversial such as anti American sentiment.

Well first an import game costs more. Lol. Second you mostly have to find out whether the game is region locked or not. Third if it is region locked then you have to find way to play it on your console. Usually a mod chip a disc utility will take care of this. Finally you have to find an import store. Some cities have this. In this country the mecca of import gaming is the state of California. Websites that I recommend are the National Console Support Inc. based in Flushing, NY and their website is ncsx.com and either Play-Asia which is play-asia.com, HimeyaShop at himeyashop.com, or YESASIA at yesasia.com. I'll get into a lot more about importing when I get back from work. Slash.

Unsheathing...

Well I'm gonna get right at it. For those who don't know me, I am an enthusiast in the interactive entertainment industry. ? if you want to know more. Yeah I know. O.K. Here we go. I can't wait for GDC otherwise known as the Gamers' Developers Conference which starts on Wednesday March 25, 2009 and you can catch visual information on G4TV's X-Play at 8:00pm EST/7:00 CST but this is my blog so that's where it ends. What I'm looking foward to is Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Now let me throw on that. The reason why it's called Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is because Microsoft owns the publishing and distribution rights to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden 2. Reason they did it was so to avoid Sony Computer Entertainment or SCE from doing what just happened last week and release an updated version of the game on their platform i.e what they did with Ninja Gaiden. I can't wait 'til tomorrow as they will reveal more info in San Fransisco, CA.

Next I want to touch up on the National Product Data otherwise known as the NPD. Last Thursday it was released as the following in regards to hardware.

Nintendo Wii 753,000
Nintendo DS 588,000
Microsoft XBOX 360 391,000
Sony PLAYSTATION 3 276,000
Sony PlayStation Portable 199,000
Sony PlayStation 2 131,000


In software it was as follows.

1) Wii Fit w/ Balance Board (Nintendo Wii) 644,000
2) Street Fighter IV (Microsoft XBOX 360) 446,000
3) Street Fighter IV (Sony PLAYSTATION 3) 403,000
4) Wii Play w/ Remote (Nintendo Wii) 386,000
5) Killzone 2 (Sony PLAYSTATION 3) 323,000
6) Wii Mario Kart with wheel (Nintendo Wii) 263,000
7) Call of Duty: World at War (Microsoft XBOX 360) 193,000
8) Mario Kart DS (Nintendo DS) 145,000
9) New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo DS) 144,000
10) Guitar Hero World Tour (Nintendo Wii) 136,000

Yeah I got something on that. Despite the fact the 360 has about twice the install base in North America compared to the PS3 in regards to Street Fighter IV, it outsold it by only 43,000 says a lot and don't even compare it to worldwide sales which is what I follow unlike too many out who ride on NA numbers but yet wanna bring up Japan when it's convenient i.e Star Ocean 4 (I see you Xbots). Nintendo has the best business model right in which where Sony's destined one day. It's still predessor versus successor. Yeah what's that gonna say about another one of my most anticipated titles later this year, Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion. Jin finally unfortunately fell since he is a tragic hero and I'm hype to see why and what happens then. Oh that and the gameplay of course lol.

Just got done listening to the Warzone which is on it's 36th episode. Great format. They talk about the game and if you wanna get and let them come correct then you can unlike DLB Network's. That guy's podcast is very irritating to listen after a while. No mention of White Knight Chronicles, Ryu ga Gotoku 3 or the fact that they don't know about Professor Layton. What?!? Come on man. Well enough about that and on to nitty gritty.

I'm still waiting on my copy of The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match as I recently got The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. Also Quantum of Solace on blu-ray is on the way. My friend got Ryu ga Gotoku 3 and defeated it. I'm on Street Fighter IV and will get that Platinum Trophy. Someday I'll have time to get it done. The problem with most tournament players here in the US is that when they don't create situations very well. In other words they play textbook. I create them. That's what separates the best from the rest. This is starting to get pretty addictive and will do this a lot more often. Gotta watch State of The Union with John King. Slash.