Popular Capcom video game Sengoku Basara is being turned into a Japanese TV drama called Sengoku Basara Moonlight Party. The show stars Gackt and hunky dudes like Kento Hayashi, Hide Tokuyama, and Kouhei Takeda—all wearing silly costumes.

These outfits would not be silly in a Sengoku Basara video game. But this isn't a video game. In real life, the get-ups appear utterly ridiculous. That's the rub—these characters are based on historical figures. (Check out how they looked in real life.)

"I can only see this as some sort of joke," a Japanese net user wrote on bulletin board 2ch. "Did someone lose a bet?" asked another.

Between saying these simply looked like pricey cosplay, like something out of an adult movie or just awful, the general consensus was that the outfits were lulztastic. "I'm not familiar with the games," wrote one 2ch user, "and these outfits are actually so awful that I want to watch the show."

Sengoku Basara Moonlight Party gets its costume party started on July 12 when its first episode airs.

【ドラマ】 実写版「戦国BASARA」のキャラクターがひどすぎると話題に [痛いニュース]

It's the Independence Day holiday here in the United States. Consider yourself free to talk about the games you're playing, loving and hating, don't you? Then, head over to Talk Amongst Yourselves, the place where we gather on a daily basis to discuss all things video game and existential. Go to the TAY forum at this link and do what you've always done: share your thoughts and opinions on the things you're passionate about.

Man, if only the upcoming 3DS game based on Adventure Time was some kind of side-scrolling platformer that blends the show's unique art style with pixel graphics and...oh. That's exactly what it is.

Very good, very good.

These tiny shots can be found in this month's Nintendo Power magazine, and while there's only two of them, that's two more screenshots than we had yesterday.

The best part? The article teaser reveals that the biggest inspiration for the game is Zelda II.

Adventure Time [Nintendo Power]

Back in 2007, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto talked about his regrets over the ill-fated Super Mario Bros. movie. According to Miyamoto: "The one thing that I still have some regrets about is that the movie may have tried to get a little too close to what the Mario Bros. video games were. And in that sense, it became a movie that was about a video game, rather than being an entertaining movie in and of itself."

Miyamoto hasn't stopped thinking about movies. At a recent Nintendo meeting, he talked about Nintendo's plans outside of the game industry:

I often think of other things, such as what the future of the Japanese movie industry will be like. I do not have any concrete visions yet, but I am trying to keep my eyes on a variety of fields and to find any small possibilities for Nintendo to be involved in one way or the other. I should be careful about telling you about these things and I would like to add that we are not announcing any concrete business plans here.

This sounds more like oh-I'm-just-tossing-this-out-there instead of a we're-making-more-movies! Fair enough.

Past cartoon forays aside, Nintendo has made steps towards animation in the past few years, such as the Animal Crossing anime. It goes without saying that the Pokeémon cartoons are now a long-standing cultural mainstay.

Well, let me toss this out there: instead of live-action films like the Super Mario Bros. flick, cartoons seem like they'd be a much better fit with Nintendo—and Miyamoto. Anime just makes sense. A Nintendo animation studio makes sense. Do it, Nintendo, dooooooooo it.

The 72nd Annual General Meeting of Shareholders [Nintendo via CVG]

As a kid, I can still remember getting that gold NES Legend of Zelda cartridge and popping in the game for the first time. It was the start of Link's journey—and the start of mine. I'm willing to bet, I wasn't alone.

Link is not only one of Nintendo's most iconic characters; he's also one of gaming's. Fans love him—they love dressing up as him, little green hat and all.

Here, on Who Wore It Best?, we try to suss out who pulled off the best Link. Think of this being like a dinner party at which two people showed up in the same outfit. Here, they showed up as the same character: Link.

So who wore Link the best? Have a look through the gallery, filled with Links and links to their websites.

[Adella]
[Amouranth]
[CommanderBunBun]
[KiSaGaaNe-Kanda]
[Knightfourteen]
[LilleahWest]
[Lye1]
[Mailyann]
[manolo-kun]
[mrkittycosplay]

[nekomatalee]
[Osaka-Ze-Knucklehead]
[palecardinal]
[Pandothiel-Elrond]
[pikminlink]
[rmthompson]
[shinigamy-haruhi]
[thatbloodypirate]
[Tri-Heart]
[Vrendowl-OToole]
[WammysAngels]
[yuanie]

Sony recently bought Gaikai, an online cloud gaming service. The purchase might do more than offer a window into the PlayStation 4. It's also a sign of things to come for Sony's non-gaming products.

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Andrew House told The Wall Street Journal (via Eurogamer) that using Gaikai tech in Sony products other than its game machines is "absolutely within the frame".

"It's recognition on Sony's part that the cloud and cloud streaming technologies are going to have profound and possibly a very positive impact on not only our game business, but also in the way our consumers interact with and obtain content in general," said House.

So, Sony televisions, computers, tablets, and cell phones all sound like potential homes for Gaikai. First up, Sony plans to use the streaming service with the PlayStation, but House did not give specifics as to when that will commence.

Sony Shifts Toward Streaming Games [WSJ via Eurogamer]

Yurina Kumai towers over other Japanese popstars—literally. At 176cm, she's by far the tallest member of her group, Berryz Kobo. Sure, that's "only" 5 feet 9 inches (some now wonder if she's actually taller), but your typical Japanese pop star is much, much shorter.

The discrepancy becomes evident when Kumai stands next to her contemporaries—or appears on TV, for that matter. When she's on television, either has her head cut out of frame or writing accidentally appear over her eyes.

Japanese variety shows are cluttered with subtitles and graphics—often so the show can highlight certain things people say or clue viewers in to what's going on future events.

Just like when short popstars are paraded out in front of tall models, this tall popstar is paraded out with short popstars.

【画像あり】熊井友理奈ちゃん（自称176cm） [アルファルファモザイク]

Being a female pro gamer is not easy in South Korea. In that male dominated world, Seo Ji-Soo (aka ToSsGirl) was a pioneer. She was also the country's last active female pro-gamer. "Was", because as of this month, ToSsGirL will retire.

Known as "The Female Lim Yo-Hwan", Seo decided to become a pro-gamer after seeing Lim play on TV. By the time she was 17, she qualified for the female StarCraft league—a league that she would later rule. Once the female league was disbanded, Seo switched to the male league, where she played well, but did not dominate like she had previously.

"I'm sorry I couldn't meet expectations with stellar play," Seo said late last month (via Naver). "I'll never forget the love I got because I was a pro-gamer."

Seo played Terran for the STX SouL team and she is determined to move on to the next chapter in her life.

There will be a retirement ceremony for Seo during a league game on July 17. We wish her luck with whatever her strategy is next—whether she rushes in or takes it easy.

'스타크 얼짱녀' 서지수, 결국 못버티고… [Naver]

Manga artist Hirohiko Araki, creator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, is 52 years old. I would say he looks really good for 52 (he does), if he hadn't looked the same for, oh, the past thousand years.

Every year that Araki's photo is released, people online in Japan enjoy comparing it to his photos for the past several decades. The man has not aged.

You can see how they match up in the timeline that starts in the year 3000 B.C., when Araki was really born.

荒木飛呂彦が52歳になったよおおおおおおおおお [2ch]

Fancy costumes! Naked people! Doing it! That's the pitch, and in Japan, adult video makers try to appeal to otaku (geeks) with flicks featuring porn stars dressed up as video game characters. Sounds like sexy time, right? Eh...

In visual mediums—whether that be video games, movies, or whatever—the background is extremely important. It can make or break the scene. It sets the stage.

The vast majority of video game parodies, however, don't give two fucks about background, which is fine when you have people bumping uglies. But when you have folks dressed up as characters, it ends up looking...odd.

But so does most cosplay, especially at events. When cosplayers are posing in convention halls, the effect is lost somewhat and many times you are left with a person who is simply dressed up as a character. However, when cosplayers have proper portraits done with suitable backgrounds, the spirit of the character can often come across better. That's the problem with most of these dirty flicks—they're people in outfits. It's all artifice.

Granted, it's not always so cheap. Adult star Ran Asakawa was at the forefront of the video-games-with-screwing genre at the turn of the century with elaborate costumes and decent enough production values.

Website Cosplay JAV is cataloging many of the video game and anime based adult flicks. There are a buttload! The site is largely safe for work—as safe as a site that chronicles Japanese adult movies can be. Make that, how ridiculously out of place the video game and anime inspired parodies can be. Have a look.

More Here [Cosplay JAV - NSFW]

Electric guitar plus bathtub does not equal K-On! It equals a bad idea.
How do I look? Standing on this apartment balcony?
Nice cabinets.
Loading a gun. Next to a cheap stereo.
Sometimes even Chun-Li likes to stroll around the neighborhood.
"Whatcha doin'?" "Oh, just makin' a cosplay outfit while...wearing a cosplay outfit."
Yep, Morrigan.
The King of Fighters? No, bathers.
That sofa.
There's nothing very King of the Pirates about this living room.
Mmm...pizza with tabasco.
Nice locker.
Yep, Fujiko Mine. In some dude's living room.
Mai Shiranui and Chun-Li talking smack to a group of hostesses. No, really.
There's nothing Final Fantasy about this room. At all.
Twister?
Even Dragon Quest characters need to take the bus.
Got the fan heater on I see...
There's two of them. Geddit. Two?
Sofa meet concrete wall.
"Whatcha doin'?" "Oh, just cutting carrots."