The upcoming Bayonetta 2 is a Wii U exclusive. Nintendo, not Sega, is now publishing the game. You know what that means?

Yep, it probably means that the character of Bayonetta will pop up in the upcoming 3DS and Wii U Smash Bros. games. This, of course, would not be the first time a "non-Nintendo" character appeared in a Smash Bros. game. For example, Snake from Metal Gear and Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog appeared in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Hey, Sonic is a Sega character, just like Bayonetta!

If Bayonetta does appear, she'll probably be a secret character. Her appearance would be in line with what Platinum Games said about growing the Bayonetta brand and having it reach more gamers via Nintendo.

There is ground for this speculation: Earlier this past spring Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Smash Bros., visited Platinum Games. He took the following photo:

Of course, none of this has been confirmed. It's all speculation—but pretty good speculation, I think.

And since Namco Bandai is developing the new Smash Bros. games, don't be surprised if Namco characters also pop up—and Bandai ones, too!

Gerücht: Erscheint Bayonetta im nächsten Super Smash Bros. als Charakter? [NTower]

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Earlier this month, cops in Tokyo's Shibuya stopped a person dressed as an anime female (see above). The mask is called an "animegao" (アニメ顔) or "anime face".

According to Japanese publication Tokyo Sports, the police stopped the cosplayer, asking, "Why are you wearing that mask?" The anime faced cosplayer replied, "That, I cannot say." The police, however, had the cosplayer write down his or her name and address.

The perplexing scene was supposedly happened upon by a Tokyo Sports writer, who noted just how odd—and freaky—the whole thing was.

渋谷に現れた謎の"アニメ顔"少女 [Tokyo Sports]

Just over three weeks ago, the 18-year-old series Rurouni Kenshin made its return to the Japanese consciousness with the release of the series' first live action feature film. But not content to hit just one genre of popular media, a Kenshin fighting game was released that week as well, giving long-time fans more Kenshin at once than they've received in over a decade. But while Rurouni Kenshin Kansei is amazingly true to the series, the very fact that it is such a good adaptation plagues the game as much as it helps it.

Good — True to the Kenshin Story

Rurouni Kenshin Kansei is an excellent adaptation of the Rurouni Kenshin story. The game's story mode contains nearly every fight in the entire series, and lets you participate in all of them. All your favorite characters are there—and more than a few you probably won't even remember.

Before and after each round, there are mini-cutscenes which take stills from the anime or use the in-game engine to set up the story behind each fight. Moreover, the game even covers the third major story arc that was only in the manga (though it was briefly touched on in one of the OVAs).

Good — Optional Objectives

The best thing about how the fighting system works in Kansei is that each move or combo you perform nets you experience points. These experience points are then used to strengthen the attacks of your characters. The enemy characters level up in strength over the story campaign as well so if you reach a battle you can't win, you are always able to farm experience points and level up your characters.

But combos are not the only way to gain exp. Each fight has a score of optional objectives—like "get a 10-hit combo" or "finish the enemy with a special move"—that provide fun and interesting reasons to fight in ways different from just punching your opponent until you win. Also, each stage has a special objective that tasks you with reenacting the Kenshin story. Completing these objectives unlocks new characters for versus and survival modes.

Mixed — A Slow Fighting Game Where Timing and Combos are Everything

In a day and age where Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Super Street Fight IV are the kings of the fighting genre, the speed of Kansei seems downright slow. However, the game seems designed this way to allow even novice players the chance to make their own devastating combos. Moreover, three times per match, each fighter can slow down time for a few seconds to chain combos together for massive damage. To dissuade people from using the same move over and over, there are diminishing returns on most moves, preventing the simplest of juggles from being used repeatedly. However, it is possible with certain characters to create a combo that juggles your enemy for their entire life bar, making it effectively a one-combo-kill. This, of course, touches on the main problem of the game: it is horribly unbalanced.

Bad — Terrible Balance Issues

Above I mentioned that Kansei was very true to the Kenshin story and why that was a good thing. It is also the game's greatest weakness. By the very structure of the story, the farther you go in the game the stronger the enemies become—not only in raw power but also in moves and combos. As the main—and strongest—character, Kenshin starts with an amazing move set that can keep pace with the increasing strength of the enemies. Other characters are not so lucky.

Yahiko and Kaoru are just this side of useless. They have no long combos, they're terribly slow, and their moves are all painfully realistic (i.e. attacks straight out of the martial art of kendo). Meanwhile, the people they fight against are far superior characters, with crazy combos and far more powerful attacks. This is made all the worse since, in story mode, the enemy characters they face are leveled up. You must waste tons of your hard-won exp to boost Kaouru and Yahiko so that when their crappy attacks do hit, they cause enough damage to give you a chance at winning.

Final Thoughts

Rurouni Kenshin Kansei is really a game for die-hard Kenshin fans only. While it is very true to the franchise in story and style, balance issues make it useless as a fighter when it comes to any kind of competitive play.

Rurouni Kenshin Kansei was released on August 30, 2012, for the PlayStation Portable in Japan. There are no plans for an international release.

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See Kenshin Return to Action in This New Fighting Game

Two-and-a-half weeks ago, popular 90's anime Rurouni Kenshin exploded onto the Japanese cinema scene with the series' first live-action movie. However, that was not the only Kenshin-related item to get a release that week. More »

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This summer, cosplayer Li Ling was booted from China Joy, the country's largest game show. She was appearing at the booth for ZQgame, who contracted the model to promote its new Saint Seiya game. Ling's appearance and outfit was orchestrated game PR.

Dressed as Athena, Ling caused quite a stir. Her revealing costume showed off more than her underpants—way more. Her outfit was dubbed "vulgar", and she was banned from the show after her first day on the job.

Since then, she's talked about the incident. Recently, she said that the costume, which the developer had seemingly provided, was too small and ill fitting. Uh, yeah.

Ling also said she's fired her manager and decided to do more freelance modeling—which tend to involve her in various states of undress. Most recently, she's appeared in a series of photos that have her covering her topless body with a keyboard. The photos appear to be connected to, surprise, an online game company.

Before this incident, Ling already did this sort of modeling—but this must be the first time in China that someone has built his or her entire career on being booted from a game show.

世界中に拡散した「性器丸見えコスプレ」をした女子が活動を再開 / 事件の真相も激白 [ロケットニュース]

Last week, Capcom announced that everyone's favorite blue-suited defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, would be returning as the protagonist of Ace Attorney 5. While it may not seem like that long since he last starred in an Ace Attorney game, it has actually been eight long years (five in the West). And his return is the best possible thing that could happen to the series.

By the time Phoenix bowed out of the spotlight in 2004, he had already been the player character in 12 of the series' 14 cases (over the course of three games). Frankly, his story was winding down and there was nothing more to glean from him involving his past, personality, or his relationships with the series' other main characters. Thus the only thing to do was move on to a completely new set of characters. And so the fourth game in the series came along with the new lead character Apollo Justice.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney was set seven years after Trials and Tribulations and featured a largely new cast. (Un)Fortunately, one of the few returning characters was Phoenix himself—and he was in no way the same as we left him. Dressing more like a hobo than anything else, Phoenix was portrayed as a disbarred, single-father, card shark. So even though the series had a chance to explore the life and motivations of an entirely new character, the driving dilemma of the game wasn't centered around Apollo, his past, or his interactions with other characters; The dilemma was "what happened to Phoenix." So, in reality, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney was as much a Phoenix Wright game as the previous three. And while this practically made Apollo a non-character in the whole scheme of things, it also had the effect of making Phoenix once again a character with a ton of room for development.

With the conclusion of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix found his name cleared and so with his return to law, the stage is set for Ace Attorney 5. And thanks to the Apollo Justice time jump, questions abound. What happened to Maya and Pearl? Where are Miles Edgeworth, Franziska Von Karma, and the others from the prosecutor's side? How will Phoenix react being in a court after eight years on the sidelines? Will Phoenix's years as a parent have any impact on the way he handles himself as an attorney? And speaking of Trucy, what happened to Apollo and her after their tale reached its end?

Unlike back in 2004, it seems that there is much new to learn about Phoenix and he has many mysteries yet to solve. I, for one, am excited to join him in solving them.

Japanese game studios, Square Enix included, generally don't like cameras poking around where they make games. There are obvious reasons for that, such as designs or game info leaking out. Another reason is that, you know, people are trying to work!

Still, Square Enix allowed its own cameras into a Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII meeting as well as into the studio. If you've ever wanted to see where your Final Fantasy games are made, here's your chance. And if you've always wanted to see a Square Enix helmet, hey, there's that, too!

LRFFXIII制作現場探訪 [YouTube]

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Okay, this sounds cool: Sister site Kotaku Japan points to an app called Manga Camera that can make your photos look like Japanese comic book panels.

If you've ever read manga in Japanese, you'll be happy to know that Manga Camera has an array of onomatopoeic words with melodramatic shading. So go ahead, make your dull iPhone photos far more thrilling.

撮影した映像を漫画の世界に落としこむ「漫画カメラ」が面白い！ [Kotaku Japan]

漫画カメラ [iTunes]

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Japanese fighting game Dead or Alive features a bevy of curvy ladies punching and kicking each other in the face. For years now, the DoA's have been talking up two things: Fighting game mechanics and boob physics.

So when the Entertainment Software Rating Board had a crack at the latest DoA, Dead or Alive 5, it sure hit all the high notes: Here are the memorable bits:

Most female fighters are dressed in revealing outfits (large amounts of cleavage); their breasts sometimes jiggle while standing or fighting. Some bikini-style costumes (with thin strips of cloth) barely cover fighters' bodies, exposing large amounts of breasts/buttocks; one hologram-like figure appears to be nude-though her reflective skin obscures any discernible details (i.e., nipples or genitalia). In Photo mode, players can zoom in on fighters' cleavage or underwear as they pose for the camera. Some scenes are coupled with sexual innuendo (e.g., "Pleasure me," "Enough with the foreplay.").

Dead or Alive is rated "M" for "Mature". So is this ESRB rating description.

Dead or Alive 5 [ESRB Thanks, mr_raccoon!]

McDonald's Japan has decided to bring the rest of the world to Japan via fast food. Well, not the whole world. For the burger joint's latest campaign, it's only been France, India, and Australia.

As Snacktaku's embedded emissary in Asia, I take snack sampling very seriously. Snackology is an extremely important field, and one must continuously consume greasy or sweet (or both) treats in the name of study and research. That said, I missed the French sandwich and ate only half of the Indian one (my kid ate the other half; it was okay!).

But I got the whole Australian sandwich to myself. Thing is, it didn't look very "Australian". And I say this as someone who has seen an Australian.

To be fair, the other sandwiches were about as culturally accurate as "It's a Small World" at Disneyland. Before we dig into what would make this sandwich (or burger) more Australian, let's get a lay of the land—er, plastic tray.

The Aussie Deli is how McDonald's Japan sees sandwiches in Australia. Okay, we got that! That's the snack concept, or as I like to say, the "snackcept". Unwrapping the sandwich reveals a bun, lettuce, bright orange cheese, and pastrami. There's some sort of vegetable relish and mustard.

Okay, let's stop right there.

Look, I'm not Australian. I'm a Texan, and I've seen the misguided, though tasty, attempts of McDonald's Japan to make a Texas Burger. Ever since then, my McDonald's dinning experience in Japan has not only been through the prism of a snackster, but a cultural snackster. Let's not rely on McDonald's Japan to bring us the most accurate global taste experiences—but still, let's not discount the wonders that McDonald's Japan can offer.

That being said, McDonald's Australia has a very different take via its own local menu, with the McOz burger (a Quarter Pounder with a slice of beetroot) and the Serious Lamb Burger. Australians take their snacking very seriously.

Yet, the Aussie Deli is not a very serious sandwich! Ask any Australian (or, well, Luke Plunkett), and they'll tell you: If McDonald's Japan had used roast beef, it would have nailed this sandwich. Yes, of course, Australia has pastrami, but roast beef is much more of a sandwich staple. But in Japan, roast beef is pricey, and knowing that, pastrami just feels like a cheap substitute.

But for this burger's snack concept (sorry, snackcept), pastrami will have to do. The commercials promoting the Aussie Deli talk about how "wild" it is. This isn't just trying to capitalize on Australia's rugged stereotype, but also on the notion of "wild" (ワイルド) in Japan. More recently, a popular comedian named Sugi-chan has made a career by showing how wild he is. (Inconsequential game connection: Sugi-chan is now appearing in 3DS ads.) As a cultural snackologist, I immediately think, yes, this Aussie Deli is trying to cash in on the notion of wild. But is it wild? Time to follow that question with another question.

Have you ever had a so-so pastrami sandwich? Not great, not awful, just regular old supermarket pastrami on bread. Well, that's what the Aussie Deli tastes like. It's not exactly a snack sensation. You bite into the sandwich, and it's the standard one-two-three punch of pastrami, cheese, and bread. The relish, well, I don't quite remember the relish. That's never a good sign. Though, the mustard did give the sandwich some much-needed tang, though the cheese version mutes that somewhat. The Aussie Deli does come in two platforms: with cheese and without. If I were to have another go at the Aussie Deli, I'd circle back around with the non-cheese platform.

While being an embedded snack emissary in Asia has opened up a realm of tasty treats, it has left a large void in a basic food group: the sandwich group. Japan is especially bad at sandwiches. The country does bread very, very well. Likewise, Japanese burgers can be triumphant. Sandwiches, however? They can get downright shocking, causing one to suffer from lack of proper sandwich nourishment.

So keeping this culture construct (snackstruct, rather) in mind, the Aussie Deli, as average and pedestrian as it truly is, actually comes up a winner. In Japan, for the sandwich starved, who don't care about what a real Australian sandwich or hamburger looks like, here's a passable pastrami sandwich that should've been called "McGood Enough." Now that would've been wild.

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Tokyo-based game company Square Enix announced that it believes the third-party server, which hosts its online shop, was breached.

While the landing page can be accessed, the Square Enix Online Shop is currently offline and clicking on the Japan catalog brings up a notice about the hack.

Square Enix is currently assessing the extent of the breach and trying to determine what, if any, personal data was compromised.

"To this point, we have not identified any personal data that was actually downloaded and/or removed from the server," Square Enix said in an official notice.

According to Square Enix, the server did contain non-financial data, such as names, mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. It did not contain credit card info for US customers. Regardless, Square Enix is recommending that customers monitor their credit cards for suspicious activity.

"We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the suspension of the Square Enix Online Shop," the company stated. "We take data security extremely seriously and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused our customers and fans. We appreciate your patience and support at this time."

The Square Enix Online Shop opened in the West back in 2007.

Square Enix Online Shop [Official Site]

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