It's been a long while since I watched the Matrix movies, but watching this 'speedrun' rendition by 1A4STUDIO brings it all back to me—including how silly and absurd some parts of the movies are.

Also—obviously, the bullet time in the movies is rather 'video gamey,' but this highlights that those aren't the only things that come off that way. But what really makes this is the bevy of small, cutesy details. I think I like this better than the film!

Speedrun: Matrix in 60 seconds [1A4STUDIO Via Laughing Squid]

Does the world still care about Japanese role-playing games? Do people still want to buy them? Do they still deserve our attention?

Ask your average gamer—or your average game developer—and they'll tell you that the JRPG is a dying genre. They'll tell you that Japanese RPGs haven't evolved, or that nobody buys them anymore. That JRPGs are too niche to bring to America. That the style isn't worth anyone's time.

America disagrees.

For a long time now, I've been arguing that JRPGs are under-appreciated—that the genre is far more diverse and interesting than people believe. I've also argued that the fanbase for JRPGs is larger than most people think it is.

Robert Boyd thinks so too. Boyd, an American indie developer who makes turn-based, Japanese-style RPGs, believes that there are tons of westerners who would happily buy more JRPGs or JRPG-style games. If only there were more to buy.

"I think the market for quality JRPGs outside of Japan is grossly underestimated," Boyd told me in an e-mail yesterday.

His proof? Boyd's 2011 game Cthulhu Saves The World sold 300,000 copies on PC alone—and another 100,000 on mobile platforms and the Xbox indie marketplace. Cthulhu Saves The World is a traditional turn-based RPG that in many ways emulates classics like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. It's also funny, charming, and interesting in its own way. And it's a big success.

Granted, Cthulhu is a cheap game, and Steam has promoted it a few times with bundles and sales. But those are massive numbers even for a $3 game, and Boyd believes his JRPG isn't an anomaly.

"Zeboyd Games is a two-man studio and we made Cthulhu Saves the World in under a year (and not even working full-time on it)," Boyd said. "Not only that, but at the time, we had very little previous development experience. If we were able to find that kind of success with our low-budget JRPG-style RPG, I don't see why a bigger studio with a solid understanding of the genre couldn't find even more success with bigger-budget higher priced games."

There are some other Westerners making JRPGs—Adam Rippon's Dragon Fantasy has been a success on iOS and will soon be on PS3 and Vita, and a number of developers have started Kickstarters for JRPG-style games like Echoes of Eternia. But Boyd thinks the market is still untapped.

"PC in particular has exploded in the US over the past few years thanks to Steam's growing popularity and the rise of indie games," Boyd said. "And yet there are still very few JRPG-style games being released professionally on the PC."

You don't have to be an indie to get an audience—despite common consensus, big-budget console JRPGs have also found a fair amount of success over the past two years. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told me he was quite pleased with Xenoblade's sales when we chatted last year, and Xseed has said that The Last Story is their most successful launch to date.

Most recently, the stellar Ni no Kuni tore up the charts in early 2013—according to one person in a position to know (who spoke to me under condition of anonymity), Namco Bandai was very pleased with the RPG's sales in the United States. Although the publisher has yet to say anything about the game's reception, Ni no Kuni was the number-one seller in the UK in January as well.

People want to play good JRPGs. Just look at the charts for February's PSN sales, via Sony:

Yeah, that data happens to coincide with Square Enix running a sale on Final Fantasy games for half of February, but it's not a coincidence. People aren't just buying up old Final Fantasy games because they're cheap. People are buying them because they want to play great JRPGs.

So let this be a message. To a few different groups of people.

To Japanese publishers: Bring your games to the west! If they're good, people will buy them. Word will spread. We'll help.

To game developers: Make JRPGs! They're not obsolete. People want to play them. Not every role-playing game has to feel like Skyrim or Mass Effect. There are a lot of different styles to play around with.

Most importantly...

To gamers: Speak up! Let your voice be heard. Support great JRPGs. Spend your time telling companies like Square Enix that you want to see games like Bravely Default come to the West, and tell indie developers that you'd love to see them make more JRPGs.

Don't lose faith, no matter how many people tell you that this is a niche, undesirable genre. The numbers tell a different story.

Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET.

In light of SimCity's disastrous launch week, publisher Electronic Arts has suspended the marketing campaign for the game, according to an internal email obtained by Polygon.

The email, which was sent to all of EA's marketing affiliate partners, informs them that EA is deactivating links through LinkShare and that "we ask you to please remove any copy promoting SimCity from your website for the time-being."

From Polygon:

"To be clear we are continuing to payout commissions on all SimCity sales that are referred, however we are requesting that you please stop actively promoting the game," the email reads. "We will notify you as soon as the SimCity marketing campaigns have been resumed and our promotional links are once again live in the Linkshare interface. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause, and we thank you for your cooperation."

Yesterday, Maxis general manager Lucy Bradshaw assured Kotaku that they are adding servers in an effort to get the game running stably. "Our priority now," Bradshaw said, "is to quickly and dramatically increase the number and stability of our servers and, with that, the number of players who can simultaneously access the game."

We've reached out to EA for comment, and will update when we hear back.

I always felt as though my Journey character would've been pretty good at the violin. And what do you know, that seems to be the case, as demonstrated by violinist Taylor Davis in this new video tribute.

I liked this video, partly because it's more reserved than the more histrionic exploits of Lindsey Stirling, as much as I enjoy her antics. Though I have to say, I couldn't help but wonder what the actual recording of Davis playing sounds like, given that she's playing the violin with gloves. I bet those are some funny-sounding outtakes.

I've been waiting to see more of the world of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The downloadable game looks so different than most of the games that Starbreeze has put out and seems to be an eye-catching mix of exploration and co-operative puzzle-solving. The twist, though, is that you'll need to co-operate with yourself. Specifically, each thumbstick on a gamepad will control one of the game's siblings.

I really like how characters will react differently to each Brother. It's not the most novel mechanic in the world but it does resonate with how kids from the same family can rub adults different ways based on their personalities. Brothers will cost 1200 MS points on Xbox Live when it comes out this spring; pricing for Steam and PSN is still pending.

The fear of the unknown is powerful. Darkwood takes that idea to heart: it's a top-down procedurally generated survival horror game. This means that every time you play, you'll experience something different.

Adding to the tension is the fact that the game features roguelike elements and permadeath. You'll also be able to craft items, build barricades, and naturally, explore.

The footage above is of Darkwood in a pre-alpha stage, but even this early on, you can see both the eerie atmosphere and some of the mechanics in-play. Looks like a game to keep an eye on.

The city in the above image was created in the beta for the new SimCity and demonstrated that, as always, if gamers can draw some male genitalia into a game, they will. Really, they will.

Previous SimCity games only let players draw straight rodes into their cities. The new game lets you draw curved roads, meaning this kind of city couldn't even be erected in the older games.

The image above (sans Kotaku censor fish) was posted to the r/gaming section on Reddit yesterday by a user named EunByuL, but I can't tell if he or she is the creator. If anyone knows, say the word and I'll give proper credit.

Given that strangers can build cities that connect to yours in this new SimCity, I imagine that a penis-town like this could suddenly become a sister-city to whatever fine metropolis you're making. Will SimCity moderators flag it or ban it? I guess we'll see (or will we?). The game is rated E10+, though there's a massive loophole: "Includes online features that may expose players to unrated user-generated content (Windows PC)." Given that the game is always-online, make of that rating what you will.

So what drives people to do this kind of thing in the first place? Believe it or not, I'm looking into that. More of that later.

For now...

Here's another one, also from the beta:

Holy crap. Kotaku reader Will Turnbow and his wife made this cake for their daughter's tenth birthday, and I think it's no exaggeration to say this is the coolest thing you'll see today.

Based on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the cake includes Skyloft, the Sealed Grounds, the Faron Woods, and a ton of characters and other intricate details from the game.

"The Temple entrance is 6 batches of Rice Krispies and the backside of the temple is 9 cakes stacked as high as we could make it," Turnbow writes on his YouTube video's description. "The small tower on either side are styrofoam wrapped with fondant. My wife made and painted all of the characters out of clay except for Link (I was able to use my Figma Link)."

Insanity. Nice work, Mr. and Mrs. Turnbow.

It's been a huge week for mobile running games. There's a new Temple Run that's tied to Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful. Mini Ninjas went for a jog, Sonic the Hedgehog busted out time-tested moves, and the Monday Night Combat folks launched the Outland Games. All of these running games based on popular properties, and I'm saving crude polygonal kittens from pixel fires.

There's just something incredibly charming about Jones on Fire, finally released this week on iOS (Android coming soon) from Glass Bottom Games. It might be all the kitties. It could be more than that.

Originally designed during a BlazeJam benefit for those affected by the 2012 Colorado wildfire season, Jones on Fire has evolved into a simple and elegant little running/kitty-saving game with a striking retro look.

You play as Emma Jones, firefighter and cat lover, as she makes a series of mad dashes from the safety of her firehouse to a raging inferno in order to save as many cats as she can before they are completely engulfed by flames and eaten by the homeless (the homeless are not in this game). She runs, jumps and slides through the fire and the flames, an army of cats slowly amassing behind her, worshiping her as a god (probably). If she makes it back to the firehouse she can move onto the next level. The goal, as in life, is to rescue as many cats as she can before she dies.

Okay, she never dies. Should she lose her last life the kitties drag her back to the firehouse to start it all over again.

There isn't much to the game, which suits me just fine. There aren't any power-ups to pick up — just cats. There are some upgrades and items you can purchase from the in-game store, but nothing too complex or complicated.

Jones on Fire is just a simple little bit of fun developed by a person who probably thought I'd go through this entire app review without mentioning her name is Megan Fox (no relation.) It's quick, cute, and it sounds wonderful, thanks to a chippy-tuney soundtrack from Michael Nielsen and Nathan Madsen (now available on Bandcamp). As an added plus, it confuses the hell out of my cats. I'd pay nothing for that sort of entertainment a dozen times over.

Jones on Fire

• Genre: Runner
• Developer: Glass Bottom Games
• Platform: iOS, Android (coming soon)
• Price: Free

Get Jones on Fire on iTunes

The man known as Lord British has been gone from video games a long time. Yeah, he's had the whole space travel thing going on. And there was a messy bit of business where he got half a million dollars stolen from him to buy fancy magician paraphernalia. But it seemed really weird that Richard Garriott—an iconic creator responsible for the super-successful Ultima series—was staying away from video games for so long.

He never stopped thinking about making games, though. Garriott has been working on something and now he's ready to show it to the world.

Garriott came to Kotaku's Manhattan offices to offer us a first look at Shroud of the Avatar, the new role-playing experience that he's been quietly building with a small team in Austin. He wants the game to free players from always having to be an intrepid hero character and promises that you'll be able to have a rich varied experience as a normal townsperson who isn't hungry for combat. Like many an old-school developer nowadays, Garriott plans to get funding for Shroud of the Avatar via Kickstarter. The project page just went live and you can find it here.

And here's a livestream of Garriott talking about Shroud of the Avatar at South by Southwest.

During his time at Kotaku NYC, Garriott also talked about his own personal history as a game designer, talks about why he prefers making games for PCs and why it's better that Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts is back at making games instead of movies. He also explains the difference between a role-playing game and an RPG and shares his theory on the kinds of cyclical changes that hit with every hardware cycle—and why he's sick of that merry-go-round.

The interview above is a sprawling but fascinating 25 minutes. If you just want a look at gameplay from an early build of Shroud of the Avatar, then click on the second video for a run-through of the work-in-progress game. Without Garriott's essential early work, subsequent successes like Planescape: Torment and Wasteland probably wouldn't have been possible. The spiritual follow-ups to those titles have been big crowdfunding successes. It'll be interesting to see if Lord British's next big gamble will find the same kind of success.