Hey girlfriend! The other day I was in this forest, and this warcat feline warrior thinghy ambushed me! I got so pissed thinking about the last fight I got with one of these creatures and I pouted and boom! It disappeared!

And there was this time…I had my new fur boots get all muddy walking through a potato patch. I wasn’t really happy about it, why can’t a girl walk through a nice plain without getting her boots dirty. It is too much to ask for? Well guess what? I pouted again, and it was a dancing plain! The grass were so happy to see me! I’m happy when things make me happy.

Daddy said that when I’m pouting I’m unstoppable and I get whatever I want! When in doubt, pout! Wait, you got to hang up the phone now? You’ve got better things to do? Why you little frog… I want to talk on the phone with you!!! *pouts…*ribbit…ribbit

The game is out now. It’s a pretty interesting RPG, with a bratty, selfish protagonist and a pouting system that changes the conditions of the game for better or for worse. Click here for purchase information.

Actually, the title ought to be singular as I only bought one movie this month. I spent RM 70 bucks purchasing a second hand Speed Racer Blu-Ray without asking much questions. It turned out to be a US Region Blu-Ray in immaculate condition and it came with a bonus DVD AND the digital copy of the movie.

Speed Racer is actually a pretty good movie with really great visual effects even though they are an acquired taste for some people. I make it a point to recommend the movie to anyone given the chance.

Play-Asia is selling a rather interesting Speed Racer Japan – Mach Gogogo Tribute Album, so do check it out here if you have the time.

Looks like Optimus Prime has taken the plunge and formatted himself to be a Robo-Q! What’s a Robo-Q? Robo-Q are small robots, measuring 3.4 centimetres in height. According to the product description, these robots are remote controlled and come with sensors to help them navigate (or pursue) obstacles when in A.I mode!

Produced by TakaraTomy, Robo-Q R/C Transformers: Convoy (a.k.a Optimus Prime) is scheduled to hit the shelves in May 2009. The tiny Autobot leader has a pre-order price of USD 41.90, so if you are interested, be sure to check out this page.

For even more Robo-Qs, check out this listing here.

Eagerly awaiting Street Fighter IV for your console of choice? Well, these might not quell your thirst for action, but would make for very nice poseable decorations. Neca’s Street Fighter IV Series 1 is out now, and you need not defeat Shen Long to get ‘em all .

Featuring old favourites Ryu and Ken, as well as newcomer Crimsom Viper, these official figurines (licensed from Capcom) stand at around 170mm to 180 mm in height and have over 30 points of articulation (25 for CV). Check out the following pictures:

Price tag for each figurine? USD 19.90. Interested? Click on the names above for further details.

Hmm. I should have pointed out that in the last video game box art post, that Western box art tend to depict the protagonist as heroic whereas Japanese box art borders on the nonsensical.

Case in point: Wario Land Shake a.k.a Wario Land Shake It in its American release:

The North American cover has Wario shaking up a bad guy, in a rather macho/tough guy pose. And of course, the reward for shaking a bad guy up is coins (at least in the game..don’t do this in real life).

On the other hand, the Japanese cover depicts Wario as a greedy bastard (even his tongue is sticking out) shaking up a money bag for more moolah to come out, which is closer to the true nature of Wario as a character (he is a not really nice fella).  And look at all the loot he has amassed.

Fireworks and firecrackers. They are pretty much a bane to anyone who wants a good night sleep. Originally a Chinese invention and one that was most commonly used to celebrate Chinese New Year in Malaysia, you can find almost every race playing with these noise makers during their own festivals.

It’s quite easy to read about Malay kids loosing bodily appendages playing with homebrewed “Meriam Buluh” during Raya or encountering Indians playing with firecrackers celebrating Deepavali.

What’s a safer way around fireworks? My tongue in cheek reply would be through a Nintendo DS. That’s right, the console is a good way to experience the beauty of fireworks and also shoot down enemies in a shmup called Big Bang Mini!

Will it Work?

Shmup? Fireworks? One would normally associate top-down shmups with piloting a vehicle (usually a plane) through a level vertically and shooting out lines of lasers or missiles or a combination of both. However Big Bang Mini defines conventions, first by having you flick fireworks at targets and secondly you can’t move your “ship”, a triangle while shooting fireworks.

This creates an interestingly complex gameplay out from a simple gameplay (flicking fireworks). Hitting targets would cause them to drop stars. The more stars you collect, the closer you get to completing the level. However, since you can’t move your ship and shoot at the same time, you can only shoot several targets before frantically moving your ship to collect the dropped stars.

One Hit Kill

Missing a target will cause debris to fall and this will also cause you to be more careful when flicking fireworks since one hit from the debris and it’s game over…so PAY ATTENTION!

The Bottom Line

Bing Bang Mini is quite an experience as far as shmups go. No bullet porn here, but pretty pretty fireworks. Do check it out. Click here for purchase information.

IGN DS has an article on Japanese games that they would love to see translated and made available in the States. Should they need to convince Nintendo to do so, they should point out to Nintendo that there’s an active community out there striving to translate these Japanese works and these guys look to be really adept at doing this.

One just needs to visit the a popular DS/GBA forum to find people working on patching Japanese ROMS with English translations. Among the games that have been translated and ready to be downloaded include Daigasso! Band Brothers, Jump Ultimate Stars, Pokemon Platinum and Soma Bringer, with a whole bunch more in the works. You can find some of the games translated to other languages such as French or Russian!

So Nintendo (and fellow publishers on the DS), while you are dilly-dallying about bringing Japanese titles to the English speaking world, enterprising individuals and teams are working on translating your works to English and releasing these fan-translated games for free! So hurry up with the official translations already!

Come to think of it, this situation reminds me of fan-translated anime and manga that were all the rage when I was in college like….4-5  years ago. Look how far we have come..now even games are getting fan-translated .

My PAL SNES looks exactly like the Japanese Super Famicom, except that the words printed on either console. In any case, have you ever wondered the total number of games released on the Super Famicom?

A quick lookabout the interwebs put about the count to be around 750-800. That’s way off the mark since the Super Famicom 1445 Title Complete Coverage Book, which keeps tabs on ALL Super Famicom titles, puts the count at (if you haven’t guessed it already), 1445.

The book is chokeful of screenshots, release date information and game descriptions for the 1455 SFC games released between 1990 to 1999. The page count: 193.

Do note that the entire book is in Japanese. Interested? Click here for details.

Dear McDonalds, am I supposed to feel as confident as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese (QPC)? No, if I were a QPC, I would be having a nervous breakdown over the fear of being eaten shortly after being taken out from the kitchen to the counter. Not to mention that I would also feel fat and cheesy as well. That doesn’t inspire much confidence eh McDonalds?

I can’t help but notice that the Killzone 2 insignia on the Killzone 2/PS3 bundle (here) looked really similar to that of the infamous Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) logo.

According to Wikipedia article, the SS (a.k.a Protective Squadron) was

“a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Führer’s “Praetorian Guard,” the Nazi Party’s “Shield Squadron” and a force that, fielding almost a million men, (both on the front lines and as political police) managed to exert as much political influence as the Wehrmacht.

Built upon the Nazi racial ideology, the SS, under Heinrich Himmler’s command, was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis during the World War II, and most of the worst of those crimes.”

Now, I understand that Killzone 2′s plot involves a futuristic, space opera version of the rise of Hitler in the form of the game’s antagonist Emperor Scolar Visari. But putting that SS logo look-alike right on the box, is the same as putting the Nazi swastika on the cover of a Call of Duty or Medal of Honor game in my book.

Furthermore, this Sony PS3/Killzone 2 with its offensive box art is available at Australia, one of the countries that were destinations for Jews post-World War 2.

Addendum: Is Sony courting controversy with this box art? Luke Plunkett of Kotaku correctly pointed out that the Helghast are supposed to look like Nazis, but I would also like to point out that no other Killzone 2 cover has the insignia…so why now?