Well, the 3DS keeps thumping right along. As of May 20, it's passed the six million sold milestone (6,017,206 to be exact) since going on sale in Japan. Congrats! [Famitsu]

With the illegalization of complete gacha being made, multiple social game companies have already either made changes to their applications or simply made new ones. The question is, are those modifications any better than what we had previously.

The problem with complete gacha was that it required the consumer to obtain the entire in-game item set to finally have a chance to draw another rare item. Meaning, you could be spending tens of thousands of yen on the gacha, and you may not even meet the requirement to draw the item you were hoping for.

KLab, a social game company that was one of the quickest to declare the end of complete gacha, has recently introduced a new gacha-based game, Shin-Sengoku BUSTER. KLab believes to have "solved" the problem by making a new kind of gacha where you will not draw the same item twice. You are still required to complete the in-game item set, but you are assured the final rare item by drawing all the items. Each gacha is 1000 yen, roughly 12 USD, with ten items to complete the set. Meaning if you wanted the final rare item, you'll end up spending more than 100 USD on it. The only difference from complete gacha is that you won't have to draw the gacha endlessly.

Another company, Bandai Namco Games, has modified their Gundam Card Collection game and rid the system of complete gacha. But now, users complain that the chances of finding rare cards in a normal gacha are too low. With the requirements to complete in-game card sets to obtain the rare cards gone, the probability of finding one seems to be far more difficult. Numerous complaints can be seen on forums, such as "At least with complete gacha, we knew if we were getting close to the rare item or not." There is a video on Nico Nico Douga where one user spends 75,000 yen (943USD) on a normal gacha, but ends up drawing no rare cards.

The restriction on complete gacha seems to be hurting all social game companies, but the modifications they seem to be making are not exactly what the consumers desired. Complete Gacha? More like, completely gotcha.

コンプガチャを失った、ソーシャルゲームの「次の一手」は [IT Media]

With the illegalization of complete gacha being made, multiple social game companies have already either made changes to their applications or simply made new ones. The question is, are those modifications any better than what we had previously.

The problem with complete gacha was that it required the consumer to obtain the entire in-game item set to finally have a chance to draw another rare item. Meaning, you could be spending tens of thousands of yen on the gacha, and you may not even meet the requirement to draw the item you were hoping for.

KLab, a social game company that was one of the quickest to declare the end of complete gacha, has recently introduced a new gacha-based game, Shin-Sengoku BUSTER. KLab believes to have "solved" the problem by making a new kind of gacha where you will not draw the same item twice. You are still required to complete the in-game item set, but you are assured the final rare item by drawing all the items. Each gacha is 1000 yen, roughly 12 USD, with ten items to complete the set. Meaning if you wanted the final rare item, you'll end up spending more than 100 USD on it. The only difference from complete gacha is that you won't have to draw the gacha endlessly.

Another company, Bandai Namco Games, has modified their Gundam Card Collection game and rid the system of complete gacha. But now, users complain that the chances of finding rare cards in a normal gacha are too low. With the requirements to complete in-game card sets to obtain the rare cards gone, the probability of finding one seems to be far more difficult. Numerous complaints can be seen on forums, such as "At least with complete gacha, we knew if we were getting close to the rare item or not." There is a video on Nico Nico Douga where one user spends 75,000 yen (943USD) on a normal gacha, but ends up drawing no rare cards.

The restriction on complete gacha seems to be hurting all social game companies, but the modifications they seem to be making are not exactly what the consumers desired. Complete Gacha? More like, completely gotcha.

コンプガチャを失った、ソーシャルゲームの「次の一手」は [IT Media]

Well, not just your displeasure—the entire world's. In Tokyo's geek district Akihabara, adult novelty toy maker Tamatoys is selling "schoolgirl urine scent" and "schoolgirl armpit scent".

Previously, Tamatoys sold bottled schoolgirl smell. It also sold striped underpants for cross-dressing men.

These latest products claim to be the "real scent of girl", created by a "scent specialist" and offering a "realistic" odor for those who can stomach the scent—or the idea of the scent, or the idea of buying the scent, or the mere concept of these goods.

If you are going "what the hell" right now, do not feel alone. People in Japan are thinking the exact same thing.

According to Akiba Blog, which smelled both scents, the pee fragrance was "fruity", while the sweat one was, well, the stinkier of the two.

Both are priced at ¥1,480 (US$19) at Akihabara's Lammtarra, the scents are adult gag gifts that will probably do just that: make you gag.

女子校生の聖水＆ワキの匂い １０ml小瓶入り　「世もまつってレベルじゃねぇぞｗｗｗ 」 [Akiba Blog]

Last week Kotaku brought you word of The Legend of Alfur, a Japanese-made first person shooter, developed by a small indy game studio using the Unreal Engine. With Japanese-made FPS titles being something of a rarity—especially compared to how many are developed in the West—this seemed the perfect game to check out in more detail. Hoping I had found a diamond in the rough, I went into The Legend of Alfur cautiously optimistic. Sadly, it only took me a few minutes to find out that The Legend of Alfur isn't very good.

Despite the constant screen tearing, the game started well enough. Leon and his older sister, Shalnawaz are out hunting deer when suddenly they spot a pillar of smoke rising from their village. But before they can get there, they are surrounded by soldiers, packed into a truck, and taken far into the neighboring nation. Yet all is not as it seems. During a pit stop, they overhear the commanding officer and his second in command arguing. Suddenly, there's a gunshot, a handgun tossed into the truck at their feet, and the second in command yelling that "the prisoners" just killed the commander. Framed for the officer's murder, Leon and Shalnawaz must escape and travel on foot across the enemy nation to return home—all while being hunted by the true murderer and his legion of angry soldiers.

As far as first person shooter plots go, that's a pretty decent setup. It explains the conflict, defines the character motivations, and even has voice acting that really sells the story. From the opening on, though, it goes downhill. The story from that point is told by showing the nation's map while the enemies' character portraits pop up to give exposition through speech bubbles. It's still fully voice acted and somewhat interesting, but with almost no visual component, it's much harder to get in to.

While the story has at least a few good things that can be said about it, there is nothing good to say about the actual gameplay. It is simply terrible. Basic movement is hindered by constant clipping errors that get you stuck on what appear to be flat surfaces, and crouching has almost zero effect other than to slow you down.

Worst of all for an FPS, the iron sight aiming mechanic is flat-out broken. When trying to aim down the sights, the gun blocks almost the entire screen. Even if you do line up an enemy through the sights, it won't hit him as the actual gun model is misaligned with the actual targeting reticle. The only gun not affected by this error is the sniper rifle; so expect to be sniping for the entire game or shooting inaccurately from the hip.

As there are two protagonists in this game, you are able to play as either while the computer handles the other. It is probably no surprise at this point that the AI, too, is terrible. Your partner AI is suicidally gung-ho to a fault; and while your sibling has a ton of HP, should he or she die, it's game over. You're only control option is to call your partner to your location. However, once your partner reaches your location, he or she will immediately turn around and charge the nearest enemy. The enemy AI acts exactly the same way—when it's not glitching out completely. So should you get too close, mass amounts of soldiers will charge and overwhelm you. You simply can't reload fast enough to kill them all. Basically the only way to make it through the game is to stand back, snipe, and let your sibling be bait for the mass of completely identical soldiers.

While it's true that The Legend of Alfur is a PC budget title (retails for about $15 US), it isn't even worth that much. I understand that indy studios have limited resources, but this is currently on par with an alpha test version, not a version ready for retail. And while there is a core here that would make for an exciting FPS title, the game is just this side of un-playable as it stands now.

Over the years, sticker picture ("purikura" or "print club" in Japanese) machines in arcades have offered an array of features. They've removed blemishes for perfect skin and have even sported virtual hair extensions. But one trend hasn't gone away: big eyes.

And it hasn't gotten better. It's gotten worse.

During the mid-1990s, Atlus (with some Sega help) developed the first sticker picture machines. The machines were wildly popular throughout much of the decade. Atlus left the sticker picture business in 2009.

Here is a collection of Japanese sticker machine photos with virtually enlarged peepers that look like something out of anime. The results are, to be nice, horrifying.

This big eyed trend isn't only a Japanese thing, but has spread throughout Asia and even the West.

最近のプリクラ目でかくしすぎワロタｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ [妹はVIPPER]

Especially when it's the Queen's Gate version of Tekken 5 character Lili Rochefort.

Queen's Gate was originally a Lost Worlds style "combat picture book game" and has been published in Japan for the last couple of years. In three words, it's pure fan service.

Queen's Gate features only female characters and has showcased the likes of Iroha (Samurai Shodow), Mai Shiranui (The King of Fighters) and Dizzy (Guilty Gear). Ditto for Tekken's Lili.

This 1/8 scale figure will be out this fall in Japan. It's priced around ¥8,000 or US$101. Check Japanese blog Moeyo in the link below for more, highly revealing high kicks. Then again, maybe don't.

豪快ハイキックパンチラフィギュアが再び登場 HJ「クイーンズゲイト 格闘令嬢リリ 2PカラーVer.」製品版レビュー [Moeyo.com]

Yesterday, much of Asia and parts of North America witnessed a solar eclipse. The result was beautiful. However, add in some welding masks and some little kids, and the result was adorable.

Check out the above gallery, with pics of miniature eclipse gazers from across Japan.

溶接面で金環日食を楽しむ人々 [Naver via RocketNews]

Zombies. They are everywhere, and Japanese games are no exception. However, while in the West a shotgun blast to the head seems to be the most efficient way of killing them, the Japanese have instead found the "natural enemy" of the walking dead: schoolgirls.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in Suda51's upcoming title, Lollipop Chainsaw, where a cheerleader must fight her way through hordes of zombie-fied students with nothing but her acrobatics and the game's titular chainsaw. However, Lollipop Chainsaw is far from the only Japanese game to pit schoolgirls against zombies. After all, earlier this year the Xbox 360 saw its own release of a game starring a zombie-killing, chainsaw-wielding schoolgirl: Onechanbara Z Kagura.

The ninth title in the Onechanbara series, Onechanbara Z Kagura brings on two new main characters: the bikini-clad, katana-wielding Kagura and her younger, chainsaw-sporting sister, Saya. Together, these two vampires (yes, vampires) slaughter their way through thousands of the undead with reckless abandon—and more than a fair share of bad Engrish. To see how the game looks in action, check out the video above.

Onechanbara Z Kagura was released in Japan on January 19, 2012, for the Xbox 360. There are currently no plans for a western release.

From June 5 to June 7, Nintendo will be rolling into E3. Its E3 presentaiton and software showcase will be broadcasted live via Facebook. Why Facebook? Because Nintendo likes it. GEDDIT? [E3 Nintendo]