The PlayStation 3 had been out for several months when I started looking into buying one. My PS2 was making loud grinding noises and I feared it was on its last legs. Moreover Sony had just announced that PS2 backward compatibility would be cut from the next model of PS3, so it seemed as if it had become a "now or never" situation. So I imported a 60GB American PS3 for my PS2 games and American DVDs (and PS3 games of course). Everything went well for just over two years. Then, just as my platinum for Uncharted 2 was in sight, I got the "Yellow Light of Death": I pushed the power button one day, the power light blinked yellow, and the system shut off.

The Yellow Light of Death is the PS3's way of saying that for some reason the PS3 cannot boot up. This system failure can be caused by several things—like problems reading the hard disk or Blu-Ray drive—but the most common issue is on the motherboard. Sometimes the PS3 gets so hot while running games, the solders that hold the GPU and CPU to the motherboard can actually melt, breaking the connection between those chips and the motherboard. (This is also the cause of the "Red Ring of Death" so feared by Xbox 360 users).

The first thing I did upon getting the Yellow Light of Death was to contact Sony Japan support about sending in my PS3 to be fixed. I was told, however, that they could not repair an American system at the Japanese service office so I would need to send my PS3 internationally to Sony America for a fix. As Sony America charges $150 for a Yellow Light of Death repair and shipping costs looked to be $70 or more each way, it was obviously cheaper to buy a new PS3. Moreover, Sony America will often send a refurbished system to you instead of fixing the one you sent in—and the refurbished system will often lack PS2 backwards compatibility.

So it looked like the only thing left to do was buy a new Japanese PS3 Slim and cry about my loss of PS2 backwards compatibility. But what about all my saved data? I didn't want to give it up. Of course, at first I thought I could just swap my old drive into the new system. However, after doing a bit of research online, I found out that PS3 hard drive data can only be read by the PS3 that wrote that data originally.

But then I ran across numerous online tutorials showing how to fix a PS3 plagued by the Yellow Light of Death. For only the price of some screw drivers, a heat gun, and some thermal grease (about $40 total), I could fix my broken PS3. Now I am not the kind of person that feels comfortable messing around with circuit boards; but with my PS3 no more than a $400 paper weight, I figured I really had nothing to lose. Following the guide of YouTube user Gilksy, I took apart my PS3 (as you can see in the video above) and reflowed the PS3 motherboard. This was done by using the heatgun (think super hot hair dryer) to melt the solders around the GPU and CPU and then letting the chips settle back into their original places. After that, all I had to do was put the PS3 back together. Surprisingly enough, it worked.

Reflows like the one I performed can last anywhere from a few days to a year, but they are, in the end, a temporary solution. The solders are guaranteed to break again eventually, forcing you to repeat the process. Mine only lasted three days. But in those three days, I had backed up my data so I wasn't all that depressed when I finally gave in and bought a new PS3 Slim—this time with a three-year extended warranty.

And remember that PS2 I said was on its last legs back in 2007? Well, the old girl is still going strong today, a full eleven years after I bought her—though she still makes those worrisome grinding sounds….

There's a new cop on the beat in Kyoto's Miyazu City: a four legged one. And he's ready to help squash fraud.

The cat was discovered as a two week-old stray, and the local police station eventually took the feline, named "Iemon", in. And this past April, the cat joined the force.

Iemon helps with scams. In Japan, old people are often targets of "Ore-ore" fraud. "Ore" is the masculine pronoun for "I", and tricksters often call old people, pretending to be their sons and asking for large sums to money wired to them.

Iemon's role is to help the scammed elderly open up and feel more comfortable talking to officers. A cat in uniform will do that.

振り込め詐欺:猫の駐在さんが防止に一役　京都 [毎日]

In Japan, where the PSP isn't dead, the latest Kenka Bancho will be out this summer. Check out the game's trailer. Warning annoying guitar music.

『喧嘩番長Bros.』プロモ映像公開！"塔京"の名所も多たくさん登場 [GPara]

In Japan, where the PSP isn't dead, the latest Kenka Bancho will be out this summer. Check out the game's trailer. Warning annoying guitar music.

『喧嘩番長Bros.』プロモ映像公開！"塔京"の名所も多たくさん登場 [GPara]

This year marked the first year in Japan that the sale of adult diapers surpassed baby nappies. The country's population is declining. The country isn't going gray. It already is.

What it's not doing is going extinct.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there was a huge youth boom in Japan that reflected a baby boom. In years past, Japanese families were large—before World War II, they were even larger. Companies catered to youth culture. In those decades following the war, toy makers did big business, and Nintendo struck gold with the Famicom. But as the Post War generation settles into its senior years, that means more and more companies are targeting them. With games like Brain Age, Nintendo was very much on the forefront of this. And as Japan grays, there is more catering to seniors, such as putting more medical facilities in shopping malls. Arcades have now become hangouts for many seniors—something that was unimaginable a decade ago.

It doesn't stop there. According to website The Tokyo Reporter, mature women or "jukujo" are finding increased favor as models, hostesses, and, yes, even adult film actresses. In Japan, "mature women" are women in their 30s and 40s—ages that should be considered young in youth-crazy Japan. The country currently has one of the highest population of people aged 65 and up. However, Japanese youth culture is not finished. It remains vibrant and interesting as ever. And, no, the country isn't finished either—though Fox News recently said the "entire nation could go the way of the dinosaurs".

The declining population is a problem. In Japan, like many nations, health care costs are ballooning, and without a growing population, the pyramid scheme it's based on is in danger. Also, yes, the population is on the slide. And yes, it will get drastically larger. All of these issues are worth exploring and discussing—intelligently.

Fox News based its report (which you can view here) on data by Hiroshi Yoshida, an economics professor at prestigious Tohoku University. The report was circulated throughout in the Western media, with Professor Yoshida saying, "If the rate of decline continues, we will be able to celebrate the Children's Day public holiday on May 5, 3011 as there will be one child."

The year 3000! Just think about what life was like a thousand years ago—it wasn't even remotely like our lives today. Did people a thousand years ago foresee cars, video games, and heck, even countries like the United States?

Yoshida has a population clock that's tracking this—a website that needs a serious redesign. And his data needs a serious rethink. That's all it is: data. His numbers are utterly meaningless. He's assuming that everything between right now and one thousand years from now will remain utterly static.

For example, right now Japan is not aggressively pursuing immigration to increase its population. But if you compare its policy now to, say, just over a hundred years ago, it's become far more progressive—for Japan. Remember, this is a country that closed itself off from the entire outside world for centuries. Japanese people weren't even permitted to leave the country under penalty of death.

In the decade plus that I've lived here, Japan has changed. And Yoshida is assuming that during the course of the new thousand years, the country (and the world, for that matter) won't change. It will. There will be wars, there will be booms, and there will be depressions. The number of infants will increase and they will drop. Just like they have in the past.

Going back and looking at predictions from the year 1012 must be equally amusing.

---

This last weekend, Sony kicked off a nationwide promotional tour for the June 7 release of Tokyo Jungle at Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara. While the event consisted of little more than a spokesperson and two demo stations, I was able to spend almost a half hour with Sony's newest big name PS3 title. The demo consisted of eight stages, each a tutorial for a given aspect of the game.

The first stage introduced movement and sneaking. As a cute little Pomeranian dog, I had to run from grass patch to grass patch in a deserted Tokyo street, avoiding a pack of hungry hyenas.

The second stage was the same map, but this time I was a cat stalking a rabbit. After getting within range, a fussy lock-on sight (shaped like a pair of fangs) appeared on the rabbit. When it came into focus, I was able to pounce for a one-hit kill.

Stage three was the combat tutorial. As a mangy Beagle, I had to fight off a hyena. Upon landing a series of paw-swipes, I was able to stun the hyena and get a fatality strike (biting out its jugular) before it recovered.

For the fourth stage, I continued as the same Beagle as before. This time I was taught to focus on dodging attacks so that I could follow up with a fatality. To test what I had learned, I faced off against three hyenas.

The fifth stage showed what it was like to play one of the herbivores. As a small Sika deer, I moved through the same area as when I was the Pomeranian, again sneaking past the hyenas. This time, however, I had to make my way to several small trees and eat their fruit without being spotted.

The sixth stage was by far the shortest as all I had to do was take my little deer, outrun a hyena and hide in some tall grass until the caution meter fell to zero.

Level seven took place on a much more open map right outside of Tokyo's Shibuya station. Now as a Golden Retriever, I had to travel across the animal-infested map, marking my territory. Sadly this was done by sniffing the ground and not by the lifting of a leg.

Now that I had marked out my territory, level eight was spent defending it to attract a mate. For each animal I killed and ate, I gained experience points. After a few kills, I'd leveled up and became more attractive to my potential mate. Finally, after taking down a bird, deer, cat, several sheep, chicken and almost a monkey (fast little buggers), I reached the max level: Boss. Then all that was left was to take my mate to the tracks above Shibuya station and make some puppies—but no humping action here; just a sniff of the butt before a fade to black. When the lights came back up, I was no longer controlling the dog, but rather the litter of puppies. Seconds later, the demo ended.

I enjoyed my time with Tokyo Jungle. The concept is novel and the gameplay unique. It was easy to pick up and play and each new animal I played as was a treat. The enemy animal AI was great as well. While bigger animals would attack without forethought, the smaller animals would scatter and run. However, if you were injured enough, even the weaker animals would stop running and attack. While waiting in line to play, I even saw a dog mauled to death by a wild chicken.

However, despite all the good I saw, I am worried as all the animals in the demo played basically the same. There was nothing different in controlling the Pomeranian, cat, Beagle or Golden Retriever. Only the deer played any differently, and that was only because it had no pouncing attack. I fear that while fun and novel in the beginning, the concept may wear thin if all the animals handle identically.

Other than that, the only issue I had was with the platforming. While the game is a 2D sidescroller, there is still a fair amount of depth between the background and the foreground—just like in most classic beat-em-ups. Because of this, jumping aim must be perfect or you can land in front or behind what you are trying to jump on rather than squarely on the target. If there is any part in the full release where quick, precise jumping is needed, this may prove to be a real problem.

However, as it stands now, Tokyo Jungle is the Japanese game I am most looking forward to in the coming months. Stay tuned to Kotaku for our import preview upon the game's Japanese release early next month.

The homepage for the upcoming Pokémon game for the DS, Black and White 2 has been updated with some news and new features of the game, including movie making.

The starter pokémon is the same as its previous version; Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott. But instead of Professor Juniper greeting you in the beginning, it will be a grown up Bianca. Your other rival from the previous game, Cheren, also makes an appearance as a gym leader. Aside from those two characters, the previous game's champion Alder, and the antagonist N will be making appearances as well.

There are other new features, too:

-Poké-wood
This is a new mini-game where you direct a film, picking your lines and settings to create an your very own original movie. You can choose your Pokémon for the cast and have your monster star the film, too.

-Pokémon World Tournament
The World Tournament facility will let you fight against gym leaders and champions from previous versions of Pokémon. The player can decide for it to be either a single or a double battle, and using your Wi-Fi connection you can fight against other special trainers as well.

No word whether your Poké actors will trash their trailers and enter rehab. Knowing Nintendo, they won't.

Official Pokémon Black and White 2 site

Earlier this month, Astana, Kazakhstan played host to an international military equipment expo. You know, like E3, but with real guns, real tanks, and real fighter planes. So nothing like E3, then.

Still, there were grenade launchers, sniper rifles, and an array of combat vehicles and aircraft—basically, a bunch of stuff you can see in war-based shooters.

Those attending could check out sample weapons at any of the kiosks. You? You can check out the photos in the above gallery.

Оружие XXI века [Vox Populi via English Russia]

Japanese games get pigeonholed: Young characters with big eyes swinging big swords. Screw swords, give them guns!

Independent game developers Ayaemo Research Institute's latest project, The Legend of Alfur, is a PC first-person shooter.

There are shades of Sega's Valkyria Chronicles, which was a third-person shooter. But make no mistake, The Legend of Alfur is a first-person shooter, and it was even developed using an Unreal Development Kit. Honestly, I am trying to think of another Unreal-based Japanese-made FPS, and I'm coming up with...nothing.

On May 11, The Legend of Alfur was released on the PC in Japan for ¥1,500 (US$19) for the package version and ¥1,000 ($13) for the download version.

Ideal for those who like cute voices, big eyes, and big guns—whoever the hell you are.

「アルフール小国物語」予告編 [Ayaemo]

Japanese games get pigeonholed: Young characters with big eyes swinging big swords. Screw swords, give them guns!

Independent game developers Ayaemo Research Institute's latest project, The Legend of Alfur, is a PC first-person shooter.

There are shades of Sega's Valkyria Chronicles, which was a third-person shooter. But make no mistake, The Legend of Alfur is a first-person shooter, and it was even developed using an Unreal Development Kit. Honestly, I am trying to think of another Unreal-based Japanese-made FPS, and I'm coming up with...nothing.

On May 11, The Legend of Alfur was released on the PC in Japan for ¥1,500 (US$19) for the package version and ¥1,000 ($13) for the download version.

Ideal for those who like cute voices, big eyes, and big guns—whoever the hell you are.

「アルフール小国物語」予告編 [Ayaemo]