Pikmin is coming to the Wii U, and from the footage Nintendo showed today, the game is coming along very well. The HD graphics are expected to bring Pikmin to life like never before.
Please be aware that while the game is HD, these internet screengrabs are not!
Nintendo Direct 2012.12.5 [Ustream]
Nintendo unveiled its latest party game, Game & Wario. In one of the games, five players can play, but four of them don't need controllers. At all. Just good eyes.
The game is called "Fruits". In it, the player with the GamePad is a thief, and picks up the four or so fruit (in the demo, it was apples). The player with the GamePad knows which character he is, but the other players, who don't have controllers, must stare at the TV to see which person in the crowd is the thief. They're the G-men.
The thief can even use manholes to "warp" around the town. Then, after the time is up, the G-men must pick the the thief out of a line-up.
Game & Wario has sixteen games total, including one called "Gamer" in which you try to hide that you are gaming on the GamePad from your parents. Game & Wario will be out in the first part of next year, and it looks like it'll be another strong entry in the Wario series of party games.
Nintendo unveiled its latest party game, Game & Wario. Like other Game & Wario games, it only needs one controller. Five players can play, but four of them don't need controllers. At all. Just good eyes.
The mini-game is called "Fruits". In it, the player with the GamePad is a thief, and picks up the four or so fruit (in the demo, it was apples). The player with the GamePad knows which character he is, but the other players, who don't have controllers, must stare at the TV to see which person in the crowd is the thief. They're the G-men.
The thief can even use manholes to "warp" around the town. Then, after the time is up, the G-men must pick the the thief out of a line-up.
Game & Wario has sixteen games total, including one called "Gamer" in which you try to hide that you are gaming on the GamePad from your parents. Game & Wario will be out in the first part of next year, and it looks like it'll be another strong entry in the Wario series of party games.
Nintendo Direct 2012.12.5 [Ustream]
Coming in early 2013, Game & Wario is the latest entry in Nintendo's series of Wario party games. Outfitted with 16 games, Game & Wario can support up to five players and needs only one GamePad.
Nintendo Direct 2012.12.5 [Ustream]
For years, anime fans have been complaining about crap dubs. It's either the result of amateurs or celebrities who simply don't fit the role. Now it's Japan's turn to nerd rage.
"It's just as everyone says, the dubbing is horrid," wrote one individual on Amazon Japan. The Avengers didn't exactly have a smooth rollout in Japan, but it did go on to dazzle audiences. Those who skipped the subtitled version in favor of the dubbed version were not happy campers, however.
Up until The Avengers, Hollywood comic book movies like Iron Man, Thor, or Hulk all used professional voice actors. They're pros for a reason—they're very good at their jobs. And in Japan, there are fandoms surrounding voice actors, with fan clubs and glossy magazines dedicated to them.
For some characters in The Avengers, pro voice actors were replaced with actors. Not every actor is a brilliant voice actor. Naoto Takenaka, a fantastic performer, voiced Nick Fury and was joined by actor-comedian Hiroyuki Miyasako as Hawkeye and model-turned-actor Ryoko Yonekura as Black Widow. They are also quite popular as celebrities in Japan, appearing in commercials and on variety shows, as well as TV dramas and films.
Online in the Amazon Japan reviews, the hatorade was less directed at Miyazako (many said he did a good job with Hawkeye), than the other two. The feeling was that they poisoned the water, clashing with the pro voice actors, such as Keiji Fujiwara as Tony Stark.
"Those celebrities they got to do the dub were friggin' awful!" wrote one comment. "For the best movie, I wanted the best voice actors," wrote another. People wrote that they cancelled their Blu-ray pre-orders, and much of the blame was also directed at Disney Japan, which released the flick, for bringing on these celebrities abroad to do the voice overs and—probably more importantly—promote the film. These are the folks that appear on the red carpet (see the below photo, courtesy of TimeWarp).
Japanese fans might be rather strict about voice acting, seeing how there often seems to be a tremendous appreciation for what professional voice actors do in movies, video games and anime. The irony is that Naoto Takenaka, who does have a powerful voice, has done numerous voice acting gigs for some time, such as for the Ice Age movies and even voicing Bruce Wayne for the Tim Burton Batman flicks. Earlier this year, he did voice acting work for Sega's sci-fi game Binary Domain.
The reason for this backlash is probably connected to another voice acting uproar from summer. Ayame Goriki, one of this year's most popular young female performers in Japan, voiced the lead role in Ridley Scott's Prometheus. In the eyes of fans, she wasn't a trained voice actor, and this seemed like the film's Japanese distributor cared more about doing PR than doing a top notch dub.
The next time you silently rage about crap dubs in a game or anime you love, realize that there's somebody in Japan still seething about how Nick Fury and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw were ruined.
Sales figures are typically pretty boring! Except for when, they're interesting. And by interesting, I mean telling.
Recently, Sony held the PlayStation Awards in Japan. This is a publicity stunt—and usually a dull one at that—in which Sony gives awards to those domestic studios which sell a certain number of units, such as over a million and between half a million and a million. Platforms include the PSP, the PS Vita, and the PlayStation 3, hence the name of the event.
This year, the sales figures were based on the units sold in Japan between November 1, 2011 and October 31, 2012. In previous years, the numbers were based on a similar time frame. The key difference was both the games and the game-buying audience, which is increasingly being lured away by smartphone games.
The PlayStation Awards have been held every year since 1995. As Mainichi points out, this year was the first in seventeen years that there was not a million-selling game at the PlayStation Awards. That's right, there wasn't a million seller on the PSP, the PS Vita, or the PS3. Meaning big games like Final Fantasy XII-2 and to a lesser extent Resident Evil 6, which was released in early October, didn't hit that magic number. Ouch.
A year to remember for Sony, this ain't.
レイステーションアワード ： PSソフト、ミリオンなし 初回以来17年ぶり [毎日]
「PlayStation Awards 2012」開催 [Game Watch Impress]
A Japanese model builder showed off this set of 1/35 scale cats on FG Site. If you build models in that scale, you might be familiar with 1/35 animals that can populate, for example, World War II backdrops, etc.
Made from metal, these were sculpted by a pro model maker named Solo and do a fantastic job of capturing feline traits on a very small scale. They're even more adorable while snuggling up on someone's thumb.
These cats were released through Aurora Model.
ゆび猫 (1/35スケールのペット） [FG]
Last month and this month, Nintendo is busy launching the Wii U. And next month? It's busy not releasing games in Japan.
The company's January schedule, which was recently updated on December 3, is shockingly empty. Here, have a look for yourself:
Yikes! That's pretty freakin' dry! At the very, very bottom, there's one Wii U game coming out, a new Fist of the North Star game from Tecmo Koei. The rest of the calendar is just barren, with Nintendo seemingly nursing a Christmas comedown or recharging its batteries.
Yes, Nintendo just released a new piece of hardware and a bunch of games, and, of course, Nintendo can update this calendar in the future. But right now, January isn't even tumbleweeds for Nintendo in Japan, because at least tumbleweeds are something.
発売カレンダー [任天堂]
It doesn't matter if you saw the original Star Wars movies when they first hit theaters or caught them much later. Star Wars has been capturing the minds of folks for generations, thanks in big part to memorable characters like Princess Leia.
Tough, no nonsense Leia is iconic. And so are the outfits she's donned, providing cosplayers with ample fodder, whether that's the ubiquitous metal bikini or the far more sensible Hoth outfit.
The above gallery has a sample of some—not all—of the best (and most interesting!) Princess Leia cosplay there is. Have a look as you try to figure out who pulled off the best Leia.
Click the lower corner of each image to expand to full size.
[Benny-Lee]
[EveilleCosplay]
[gbright1]
[HeatherCosplay]
[Ivy95]
[Lola-Gainsborough]
[love-squad]
[lunamaxwell]
[Riddle1]
[RinakinSkywalker]
[saraqael]
[Scruffy Rebel_1]
[sebastiansfangirl]
[shanna-jones]
[Sheikahchica]
[Tatter-Hood]
[thatbloodypirate]
[Vanwolfe]
[Virchan]
I don't know how they got this cat to sit still long enough to get the costume on, let alone how many scratches and hisses they took as a result, but it doesn't matter. For their heroics, we get to see a cat dressed as...a catbus.
My Cat is a Bus [sweet ipomoea, via neatorama]
