Big red bow? Check. Simple dress? Check? Jiji, the cat? Check. All that's missing is a broomstick and a little Yumi Matsutoya.
Somewhere between the skimpy midriffs and hot pants at a recent Japanese cosplay event, there was this lovely Kiki from the Ghibli classic Kiki's Delivery Service. That's cosplayer Kuroneko as Kiki.
Click on the lower corner to expand the images to full size.
超コスプレ博inTFTSP コスプレSUMMERエキスポ2012 -コスプレ彼女 その1- [アサガヲBlog]
Most of the West might not give two farts about Monster Hunter, but Japan adores it. Capcom's monster hunting series is appearing at Osaka's Universal Studios Japan this summer in giant statue form as part of "Monster Hunter Real 2012".
By "real", I'm assuming they mean "herky-jerky"?
Last year, Universal Studios Japan held "Monster Hunter Real 2011", and if everything goes according to keikaku, it will hold "Monster Hunter Real 2013" next year!
"動く"大迫力の実物大リオレイア希少種をムービーで撮影。USJで7月20日から開催される「モンスターハンター・ザ・リアル 2012」前夜祭速報 [4Gamer]
The Playstation Vita hit stores in Japan on December 17th, 2011. Since then, sales performances for the powerful little handheld have been… "Not meeting expectations" would be a mild way of stating it.
This week, Weekly Famitsu covered the past 6 months of the Vita's fight in the game market. As of July 7th, the Vita has sold a total of 790,633 units. Compared to the 3DS that leads the console pack with 6,472,484 units sold, that's pretty abysmal, considering the Vita came out only 8 months after the 3DS. Launch week was the most fruitful for the Vita, marking up over 300,000 units sold, but the numbers dropped dramatically over the following week, settling at just over 10,000 units a week after 5 weeks out in the market. Since then, the Vita has managed to maintain a fairly steady pace of roughly 10,000 units a week. The only major spikes in sales have been recent with the release of Persona 4: The Golden (over 30,000 units sold that week) and the Crystal White model Vita (over 20,000 units sold that week).
Software-wise, the Vita has yet to have a million seller in Japan. The top selling game for the PS Vita has been Persona 4: The Golden with 188,782 copies sold (No info as to whether this number contains online sales as well). While the number 1 game, Persona 4: The Golden is a recent release (June 14th), the number 2 game at 118,985 copies sold is Everybody's Golf 6 which was released last year and on launch day (December 17th)… That should be something of a troubling fact to Sony.
At present, sales for the Vita are fairly stable. Last week had the Vita selling 11,544 units. Compared to the majority of other consoles, that's relatively good in terms of numbers. The only consoles to outsell the Vita were the PS3, with 14,297 units, and (of course) the 3DS with 51,930 units. Unfortunately, when you look at the fact that the PSP, a 7 year-old console, sold 10,627 units, reality kind of sinks in heavily.
User feedback from Vita owners on the whole has been positive. In a questionnaire to users, nearly 70% of responders said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the Vita (790 valid responses) showing that the Vita itself is on the whole, a very solid system. The graphics are gorgeous, the system and controls are solid (after a few initial hiccups), and a great deal of advancements and improvements can be seen from lessons learned in the past. Overall, the console holds a great deal of potential. But potential doesn't sell a game console. The Sega Dreamcast was considered ahead of its time in many aspects, but it only enjoyed a shelf-life of less than 4 years… When asked what they would like to see for the Vita in the future, over 70% of users responded that they want a larger software lineup, showing, what is quite obviously, the Vita's greatest weakness.
Long story short: Put out stronger games, Sony.
Note: SCEJ Marketing & Online Service Senior Vice President, Katsumi Oikawa has stated in an interview that for this year's Tokyo Game Show, Sony "will be focusing more on the PS Vita." Hopefully, we'll see the Vita pick up steam in the days to come.
ファミ通.com [ファミ通.com]
The vast, vast majority of Japanese game studios are bland, boring office affairs. Even the entryway for Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters is nothing to write home about. This, however, is. So start writing.
Level-5, the folks behind those Professor Layton games, have a truly spectacular corporate digs. Internal design and architect company Noa did Level-5's HQ and offered a peek at the studio's offices, meeting rooms, and awesome rooms.
Back in 2010, Level-5 showed off many of these rooms (but not all). Level-5's headquarters was amazing then and still amazing now. And is it me, or do these folks want to make a Star Wars game? (Or a Spider-Man game? Or both?)
Noa Style [Official Site]
After being unveiled at the Level-5 World 2011 last year, news about Level-5's new open world RPG, Fantasy Life, remained mostly silent. Now, with a release of "2012" and only about 5 months of the year left, new information is slowly trickling out.
Set in the world of "Fantazeel," Fantasy Life is an open world RPG where players create their own avatars, select one of twenty jobs and, from the looks of it, do whatever you want. Sort of like a cute simplified version of Skyrim, but with less dirt and arrows to the knee.
Information released from Level-5 show the main city of "Kulburk" which will serve as players' base of operations. The city is divided into three sections: The main street, the craftsman's ward, and the downtown area. The main street houses Kulburk Castle, the library, barracks and various shops. The craftsman's ward, as the name implies, contains the workshops for the different crafters in the city and will likely be a regular location for players with crafting jobs. The downtown area serves as an entertainment district, marketplace and a social gathering location.
Speaking of social gathering, one of the bullet points in the promotional video calls the game a "social encounter RPG," however other than the fact that the game will utilize the wireless "surechigai tsuushin" feature, very little has been revealed about the social interactivity aspects of the game. Level-5 has always made fairly solid and creative games, so there's little doubt that Fantasy Life will at the least be an enjoyable game, but honestly, you'd think that after nine months of silence, they'd reveal a little more information...
The exact release date for Fantasy Life will be announced next week.
『ファンタジーライフ』手のひらの上に広がる、自分だけのファンタジー [ファミ通.com]
Q Entertainment's MMORPG Ninety-Nine Nights Online, the MMORPG version of Ninety-Nine Nights, is shutting off the lights on September 27 and going offline. Goodnight, N3 Online! [Game Watch Impress]
Longtime card maker turned video game company Nintendo is readying two sets of Kirby playing cards. Starting this August, a blue set (above) and a green set (same, but green) will go on sale in Japan for ¥1,050 (US$13) each.
星のカービィトランプ [任天堂]
Studio Ghibli revealed that Princess Mononoke is coming to the London stage. Theater company Whole Hog Theatre will be doing a production of the 1997 anime next April at London's New Diorama Theatre.
The stage version is a collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Whole Hog Theatre, and it has been in development for over the past year. This "epic ecological fable" will feature original music and large puppets crafted from recycled materials. Tickets can be pre-ordered right now.
Above is the first image from the production.
'Princess Mononoke' at the New Diorama Theatre [Whole Hog via Twitter via ANN via Japanator]
Yesterday at an anime festival in Shenzhen, China, a cosplayer showed up dressed as a female spirit. Dressed? Did I say dressed? Silly me.
The cosplayer showed up as the Chinese apparition Nu Gui, but the crowd that gathered was very real. Dressed only in a flesh colored skivvies and wearing nipple covers, the cosplayer draped herself in long-flowing hair.
Nu Gui (女鬼) is a vengeful ghost with long locks, who usually is seen in a white dress and often seduces lecherous men to kill them. Here, she's unclothed and posing for pics.
While not technically nude, police apparently took the woman away—probably for indecency.
(The media referred to this cosplay as Nu Gui; however, some readers have pointed out, perhaps this woman is cosplaying as Alma Wade from F.E.A.R.)
深圳动漫展裸女"求包养" 引观众围观 [Yahoo! China via Heaven]
