Canned Dogs

The MGS4 launch was today and the guys that like buying new releases and putting them on auction to make a profit are apparently having trouble selling the MGS4 Premium Pack as the earliest auctions today have already started ending at prices that go below the retail price on day 1.

The reseller’s thread on 2ch was turning into hell as people try to figure out how to get rid of the PS3s without making a big loss. I guess Sony really made sure that they had lots of extra of Premium Packs to feed the demand!

Chugoku Shimbun says that the “Dagger knife”, a knife that has an edge on both sides, that was used by the killer in the Akihabara stabbing incident is a popular item called “Dagger knife” that is present as an item in popular video games such as Dragon Quest.

Yomiuri Online agrees and reports that the “Dagger knife” is a weapon used in popular video games and the “Dagger knife” is very popular among young teenagers. The police is now discussing countermeasures to possibly tighten the regulation on the possession of knives with long blades. (The current regulation only requires registration if the blade is longer than 15 cm)

Zakzak reports that doujinshi was found in the Akiba killer’s room, and according to his colleagues, he likes to sing “lolicon anime songs” and proclaimed that he only likes 2D girls. The Akiba killer had also previously said that he likes Akihabara and had showed his colleagues around the area to places such as maid cafes.

Zakzak continues reporting on the killer’s interests with games and CDs that the killer had given to a friend, including doujin games such as Eternal Fighter Zero and Chantelise, and the killer reportedly loves a certain “Moe anime girl danmaku shooter” for the PC.

Yahoo reports that Masuda Hiroya, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, has responded that they will try to see if they can regulate dangerous information on the internet in response to the fact that the Akiba killer had posted on a cellphone bbs (not 2ch) about his plans to kill people in Akiba hours before the incident but the authorities did not manage to detect it.

Also, Asahi reports that the police have announced that all the bystanders that tried to save the people that got stabbed should go for a blood test, because one of the males that died had an unnamed disease that can possibly spread by direct contact with his blood.

Video game bars like 8bit cafe and 16shots where you can have a drink while playing old console games have been popping up in Tokyo recently (mainly in the Shinjuku area), but for some reason there hasn’t been any of them opening in Akihabara yet despite Akiba being a central hub for video games stuff.

Game Bar A-button will be the first game bar to start in Akihabara opening on the 10th of July, and the bar currently offers a selection of 53 consoles, ranging from the newest consoles like the Wii, PS3, and the 360, to the really old like the SG-1000, Cassette Vision and the Nintendo Color TV Game 15. They even have the Dreamcast HKT-01 for some reason. All these consoles are always ready and are playable upon request on the 42 inch LCD or one of the smaller LCD screens, and if you don’t like retro games on LCD, there’s a 21 inch CRT TV that can be used.

And in Akiba fashion, the owner apparently does not only want to be focusing on console games, but also wants to try to introduce doujin games, doujinshi, eroge, anime and manga to people in the bar.

Also, the owner of the bar is also the owner of the site Shinsei Multi Oukoku, so some people might already know him. I’ve probably been sporadically visiting his site since… 1999 or 2000.

EARL.BOX has gotten an early July issue of Dengeki Bunko magazine and has confirmed that the rumoured Dengeki Bunko crossover RPG is true. The game will be an action RPG and is tentatively called Dengeki Gakuen RPG. The console is still unannounced and they’re planning to release the game this winter.

Dengeki Bunko publishes stuff like Shakugan no Shana, Spice and Wolf, Toradora, To aru majutsu no Index, Kino no tabi, Shigofumi, Baccano!, Boogiepop Phantom, Inukami and… a lot of stuff. So there’s going to be a lot of characters. (I hope)

Ashinaga ojisan, best known for having made that Habanero-tan house game many years back, is apparently now developing a game of the same style called Kumatanchi for the DS together with Vanillaware.

Scans from doujin do~raku: 1, 2

Basically you play the role of a zoo keeper who’s looking after this bear called Kumatan and you feed her and train her for shows and stuff. the game will last for two weeks in real world time and will continue even when it’s switched off. The game is slated for release this summer.

Edit: I just remembered that the artist for Habanero-tan is an employee in Vanillaware and he got to work Grim Grimoire and Odin Sphere, I guess that’s where their link is.

Chunsoft has announced that “428″ (pronounced Shibuya) is in the works for the Wii and it looks like it is the spiritual sequel to their legendary sound novel “machi” which was ranked #5 in Famitsu’s top 100 games ranking as voted by readers during their 900th issue.

The game involves the player playing from the viewpoints of multiple people in the city whose seemingly meaningless actions end up affecting each other in big ways. It is not known how many main characters this game will have, but the original game had 8 characters.

Though it doesn’t look like the original writer Nagasaka will be back to write the story since they didn’t get him for Imabikisou…

Scans: 1, 2, 3

Little Busters! Ecstasy is going to be 2 DVDs and the recommended disk space is now 5gb, up from 3.5gb in the original.

Gamepot’s Pangya collaboration event with Hatsune Miku was a new song and a new in-game Hatsune Miku costume. Though it sounds like there is still more to the collaboration that will be revealed on the 22nd of May when it officially launches.

The Xuse guys have formed Eternal and announced their first game after moving to Will. The other Xuse scenario writer has released a doujin game. Still waiting for Xuse to announce that they’re closing…

Sekai de ichiban NG na koi took only 40 days to make. Basically only the scenario was done on September 20th when they started the project, and they aimed to complete it by 22nd November. They actually needed to hire 9 other colouring guys to keep up with the pace that the artist was producing the art at.

Melty Blood Actress again was shown at the Sega private show 2008 spring, but yeah, nothing really new that wasn’t already known before. No additional characters revealed yet, still scheduled for summer release.

Scans of the flyer from am-net: 1, 2

Niconico douga has announced today that they are starting a new video service called spike niconico channel which will be for games that are being distributed by spike in Japan. It currently has trailers games such as Bioshock and Tomb Raider, and they hope to expand to have gameplay videos and interviews.

Now I’m sure it’s completely unrelated but on the same day, niconico has started deleting tons of gameplay videos of Nintendo-owned games due to “requests from the copyright holder” such as the videos of people playing modified versions of Mario and Pokemon, and the videos of fully automatic Mario which had been pretty popular, and especially the recent one of the gumi kyoku. (it’s still up on youtube)

As a result of the deletions, the total number of videos viewed across all videos in niconico douga has dropped by 20 million views today.

I don’t know if it’s just Nintendo or if they’re planning to eventually remove all gameplay videos from the site, but this sucks.

The release date for Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper has been announced along with the contents of the limited edition set MEGAMORI BOX. They’ve also revealed that Irisviel will be playable in the game, and at this rate I guess Iskander and moe moe Waver Velvet will be appearing in the game too.

Also the limited edition set will contain tarot cards from 23 different illustrators including ex-SNK illustrator Shinkirou, master of Charlie Sheen faces. Together in the set is a binder book for the tarot cards, a 72 page settings book, a drama CD, and a special DVD.

That’s almost enough extras in the limited edition set for people to buy the set for the extras and ignore the actual game!