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W/ Megami 77 out, it's not hard to grab scans, especially Haruhi ones, so i mind as well post some of 'em (2 of 3). The Hisayuki Queen's Blade poster makes the issue all worth it.
@ss was not included ;)
There's not much game news i want to mention that was made during the day. "This is Living" is supposedly the slogan for the PS3, not officially confirmed for US or JPN though. There's the Ryu ga Gotoku 2 (aka Yakuza 2...1 comes out in the US next week...2 comes out Dec.7 in JPN) news. There's the ongoing PS3 info which i find ho hum along w/ Assassin's Creed being officially confirmed that it's not PS3 'exclusive' after months of rumours. It's exclusive ala Resident Evil 4 GC exclusive. FFXIII and FFXIII Versus will be shown at TGS in video form, 13V is suppose to show and have some new material. R7 is getting more media. Kenshin PS2 does a minor update by adding another clip. DBZ SN gets more coverage (sick). Then there's the new PSP model talk (2...that gps add-on...meh) as well Tales of Destiny PSP release date (Nov. 22).
Big Wii Zelda News is suppsoedly expected on Fri. On the 360 side, Operation Darkness has sorta caught my eye recently. It's by Success, the same company that brought you Wrestle Angel :P (which reminds me that my import store has that on hold for me). Official site can be found here. I'm mainly intrigued by teh awesome art by Yoshio Sugiura. Lastly, Famitsu reviews, none are particularly interesting 'cept may for PSU.
Phantasy Star Universe (PS2, Sega): 9 / 9 / 8 / 9 - (35/40)
Kangaeru Exit (PSP, Taito): 8 / 8 / 7 / 9 - (32/40)
Kengo 3 (PS2, Genki): 7 / 6 / 6 / 6 - (25/40)
Blood+ Final Peace (PSP, Sony): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40)
Pilot ni Narou! Flying All-Stars (PSP, Marvelous): 7 / 7 / 6 / 5 - (25/40)
Idaten Jump DS: Moero! Flame Kaiser (NDS, Taito): 6 / 6 / 5 / 6 - (23/40)
Unou no Tatsujin: Hirameki Kosodate My Angel (NDS, Bandai Namco): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40)
The focus of this post is mainly about my purchase of Xenosaga III: Also Sprach Zarathustra.
As w/ tradition, i usually post my NTSC US games (i never bother JPN for some reason). Got the game today along w/ my free preordered artbook.
This preorder bonus is decent but obviously isn't as cool as episode 2's preorder where i got a Xenosaga 1 Movie DVD that let you watch a good chunk of episode 1's (neverending) cutscenes in both English or Japanese. I know the JPN release got a bonus dvd along w/ other goodies but i prefer to play my text/story heavy (especially in xeno's case) in English. I'm also not 'that' big of a xenosaga fan (though i am for xenogears) so i don't really care that much for the extras (i'm poor as it is). On to the artbook, it is a Brady one and pretty crappy IMO. It's almost 50 pages and contains a few decent artwork of the characters, e.s' and 2-3 pages of concept art. There's nothing particularly new that i haven't seen on the web before. So if you don't get or can't find this artbook, don't worry cuz you're not missing much. Just go for the JPN guide or artbook (if there is one out right now, i don't know cuz i haven't checked). Lastly i just want to mention that i knew the game was censored beforehand (thanks to gaming forums) but i don't particularly care since the previous ones had their share of censor and editing. I have the JPN movies anyways, so i can watch 'em in all it's uncensored glory if i wanted to (as well as listen to the much better voice acting), so it really doesn't bother me. I'm also not sure when i'm gonna play this as i got 100's of games (literally) to go through and finish. W/ KOF 2k6, Yakuza and Okami coming out soon, there's more to be added to my huge backlog.
I'll finish off w/ a few samples of the artbook
as well as a other random art (official and unofficial) and (inferior IMO) Xeno II Shion swimsuit.
Aug. 31 4:48 PM EST Edit - This is for Somber:
I'll add one more tidbit to this edit since i'm the gaming guru :D...2chan shares a famitsu scan w/ about the November 23rd Jump Ultimate Stars before any game site, though Ruliweb members are always quick on the ball ;)
I'm back after my vacation to the west coast and i'm still getting used to the time zones again. Got back yesterday morning. didn't go to vegas which i had first planned as that's been decided for spring. the trip was awesome though. i spent most of the time in L.A. and did a road trip to San Fran while going to other places. Anyways, what's a total surprise was this Amazon Japan package.
These stuff were supposed to ship in September w/ My-Otome vol.9, however, AJ decided to partially ship it! X( So now i'll be charged on customs for this partial shipment :(. So yeah, this pack includes My-Otome vol.7 & 8 w/ First Press 'photographs' (below...i had to include the Simoun ad ^_^) as well as my 'All about G.J?' official fanbook.
Y'all know (or should) that i'm a huge Toshihide Sano fan as well as a G.J? fan. I've been a fan of G.J? games ever since it's inception (in 2002), spun off from main company teck arts. Thus, i've been a Toshihide Sano fan since 2002 since he does all the artwork for the G.J? games. Which is why i bitch or compliment when his art is turned into anime. So imagine my excitement when i found out about this book from Shingo at HD. The All About G.J? book is your usual HCG book as it collects artwork from the games itself. Like the profile art and a few of the in-game cgs, but of course not all. There ARE some promo art like ones on telecards (sweeet). The book covers all the works from G.J?, from 2002 to 2006. Akibakei Kanojyo, Futago no Bosei Honnou and Ane to Boin are given the most coverage while their newer titles like 7nin ONLINE and Tsuma to Mama to Boin are given less coverage but still a considerable amount (no promo arts for these two ;_;). The book is 193 pages and is of great quality. There's also a foldout poster w/ one side featuring Renka in mahou shoujo outfit and the other side featuring Hatoko (Akibakei), Tomoe (Futago) and Rurisu (Ane) fully nude. Was this book worth the 3,200 yen? Definitely, if you dig Sano's beautiful art. Heres some safe shots that were hard to find :D:
Now that I'm back I definitely need catch up on some games as well as hentais + some doujins (T2's Bleach was AMAZING). Though w/ hentais I only have 2 more to watch for the month ^^. Jokei and Mana were AWESOME as expected. I'll have Jokei theme set up as well as my never ending ongoing mizugi theme.
on a somewhat game related news (to the above pic): Melty Blood: AC Version B, includes playable white len and extra 'quick action' button.
I've been posting some news about the My-Otome PS2 game and the Animesuki forum. so go there to check it out. That's it for gaming news of my interest as i don't feel like posting much of 'em.
I'll end off w/ my neverending mizugi theme w/ a Sano pic, since it WAS the focus of this post ;).
I'm just about done everything for my trip (i hope my buddies are). Even though the above image isn't part of my theme, it sorta fit my title. but yeah, here's a mizugi pic i promised (as the Tenamonya Voyagers one is more just underwear). Another one from Sora no Iro Mizu no Iro w/ Asa and Natsume/Na-chan. This time in Kuroda style!
A rant post if you're interested in reading (+ some gaming shit). i'll have my mizugi pic/post later today. Anyways, i've been on the fence about preordering the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society DVD. DVD details and announcement were announced a some weeks ago and is quite tempting. The movie will be shown in September on SkyPerfect TV, its usual broadcaster. So i'll get to see whether it'll be worth owning on R2 right away. I know i'll be getting the movie eventually (being a SAC Motoko whore). However, w/ the lack of subs on such a story/dialogue driven movie that contains an unsurmountable amount of 'geeky' tech lingo (which is hard to translate), it'll be hard to swallow and watch on R2 raw unlike the other R2s i own. If you haven't heard, here's what the DVD includes: it'll be an uncool 10,290 yen (or a somewhat cool 7,718 yen at AJ right now). 5.1 DD (yeah no DTS) & 16:9 ratio (duh). First Press includes 288 page data collection book. Extras (w/ every release) include a 30 min. bonus DVD that has features like a special talking about the Laughing Man & Individual 11 story as well as interviews w/ the staff and an interview about the Nissan Car Concept. There's also a new 5 min. Tachikoma Days, Tachikoma 'making of' and a 16 page booklet. Depedending on when the R1 hits and what features will be on the R1, i'm currently leaning towards it. I'm pretty sure Manga Bandai will get all the stuff from the R2 (+ DTS) except for maybe the 288 page book. But who knows, they DID do Official Log 1 and hopefully they'll take the time to make this FP collection book available & translated. So yeah, i'll see as my November order is packed (ZHiME Zwei + old orders) as it is and w/ the Wii coming out, i'll be such a poor boy. So i preorder and push it back w/ other orders unitl if i find out the full skinny on the R1.
Some game news i'd like to mention:
'PS3' size comparison w/ Xbox 360
Final Fantasy XII Regular Edition Cover (it's nice but i already got the much better CE preordered)
Yoshi's Island 2 NA cover
Japanese can't wait to kill zombies as US version of Dead Rising is being sold at shops for 8,400 yen (about 72 USD). For those who don't know, DR JPN version comes out Sept. 28. and the game is region free.
Melty Blood: Act Cadenza is doing really well as 70k copies were shipped out and almost sold out on it's first day.
Well, i'm not a big Final Fantasy III fan (as i don't care for RPGs on portables), i had to share some of the sweet wallpapers the official JPN site put up (in the 'Downloads' section). CG shots taken from the ONLY CG movie in the game (yes it was confirmed to be the only cg movie by the director himself), which is the intro/opening.
Finally i just want to rant on how another portable fails against the Invincible Nintendo, the PSP. PSP has been getting bad raps as it's too pricy (it is) and there arent' much games that are original. LocoRoco is getting bad press from the JPN themselves. Tekken isn't doing great (maybe NB will be smart and release it on PS2 to actually profit). Doubts about the PS3 connectivity. EA says it's no fun, and when the biggest 3rd party publisher in the world says that and wants to focus on the DS, you know the system will only be second best. Hence the rumoured price drop and the fact that ZERO PSP games are in the Top software sales (monthly) in States (w/ only a couple in JPN). While i don't expect the PSP to go away as it's backed up by Sony unlike the others (ie. SNK..*sniff sniff*), Sony IS losing a lot of money as it doesn't have enough 3rd parties that are interested anymore despite the power in technology. it's an Xbox vs. the PS2 where Nintendo DS has all the support despite being inferior. The only hope that the PSP might bounce back and stay close in the race is for a Final Fantasy remake to take advantage of it (but why do that when you can remake it on current consoles or next-gen) or something close to a main FF game. Crisis Core: FFVII may be able to do that since it's riding on the ass of a popular franchise (you KNOW Dirge is gonna do well in the states too when it's released in a few days despite it being pretty mediocre). So unless Square Enix saves them w/ CC (which i doubt will, but may bring the margin a bit closer), back off, as you can't touch Nintendo in this territory...heheh.
Been packing for my trip most of the day after work and now i'm dead beat tired. I can't wait though, only 3 more days. N E wayz, site's been a lacking on some real chicks and since some DOA: Dead or Alive movie media has finally started showing up, i decided to post my fave chick of the movie, Holly Valance...SMOKING! But it's also my excuse to post some movie news as i'm a movie buff too. She's definitely the girl that caught my eye when the movie was first announced and then i scoured the internet for pics and vids being the perv that i am ^^. Her playing Chrisite is cool. but yeah, DOA will definitely be a movie to be checked out on video or illegally on the internet :P. U know it's gonna be shit and i feel sorry for Corey Yuen. I hope it does somewhat decent (yeah...right). Anyways, I hope some of the fights will be cool as Colin Chou/Ngai Sing (known to play as bad guy in quite a few HK movies but his good guy roles are cool too) and Robin Shou, who's mostly known for Mortal Kombat movies, but his best was in Tiger Cage 2 w/ Donnie Yen...check out this clip! TC2 is a very awesome movie and if you're a HK fighting movie fanatic like me, do yourself a favour and track it down. However, Shou's role seems small, it says he plays "Pirate" at IMDB ;_;. Chou's gonna be Hayate, so hopefully he'll have some decent screen time as the guy's the only real martial artist there (aside from Chou) who's got skills and not get jipped...*ahem... Matrix 2 & 3 ...ahem*. So yeah, here's a smoking DOA clip showing off Valance kicking some arse and showing some boobage (YAY) and the DOA posters....ugh...'cept for Christie and Ayane. Why couldn't they get someone hotter for Helena, and Pressly as Tina...so trailer trash. I would've done fine w/ some no name hot California chick but Jamie...WTF!
I'd also like to share some new The Departed shots. Some would know (mostly Chinese ppl) that this is the remake of the awesome Infernal Affairs (featuring Tony Leung and Andy Lau). I've been anticipating this since it was announced almost 4 years ago. The trailer went up a few weeks ago if you haven't checked it out. The cast is awesome and i mean, come on, it's Scorsese (!)...Taxi Driver guy...Raging Bull guy. This guy so needs an Oscar. The cast is star-studded packed, though i wish they some famous female celebs for the movie, though i understood why they didn't, as famous HK celebs Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen had minor roles, though the female playing Sammi's role seems to have a bigger role and is fleshed out more.
Another note that i'd like to make in which JoBlo reports, is that Philip Seymour Hoffman will be working w/ Charlie Kaufman on Kaufman's directorial debut movie, SYNECDOCHE!!! I'm a fan of both these guys. Been a Hoffman fan ever since Magnolia and then Almost Famous (and if you remember, Crowe's my fave director). I then remembered after Magnolia, his role in Boogie Nights...fuck. But yeah, i remember watching it again and dug his acting skills more, but also cuz Paul Thomas Anderson is coo. Been a Kaufman fan since almost the beginning w/ Being John Malkovich and been loving every single one of his scripts (the guy's a screenplay writer if ya didn't know, him + spike jonze = orgasm...they're amazing together). BJM and Adaptation best represents how awesome the guy his and he totally MIND FUCKS you. Movies that make you think, be confused and go "WAT THE FUCK?!" Movies like those are what I crave for. Eternal Sunshine comes in third as it does mind fuck you but not as hard as the latter ones. Human Nature and Confessions were meh as they were pretty tame and normal but still interesting as you do see a bit of his "WTF" moments but nothing drastic or crazee. Yeah, i'm excited for this.
But yeah, no game news 'cept 2 i want to note: Road to Infinity 3 site is up (there's 2 new vids as well)!! a new promo cm/trailer!! - the CM is nothing special if you saw the 12 movies on the site previously as well as this one.
PSP $149 price drop for the holidays? - guess it's about time i finally pick one up for meself instead of mooching ^^
And if real chicks turn you off (WTF is wrong w/ you? :P ^_^) and u come to my site for 2D chicks (or CG sometimes), i give you more Asa ;).
Yes, that is some nippilage you see there ^^. HAWT. Thank 'Yuu'. 4 more days before I leave on vacation to the West Side, so don't expect any updates for about 2-3 weeks unless i happen to have some free time.
On the Hisayuki front, i announced the Zwei DVD details at the animesuki forum today. Basically what i said was: it's gonna be released on Nov. 24 (old news), it'll be 16:9 ratio w/ 5.1 Dolby Digital (SWEET). the first press includes a CD w/ a new song as well as a special illustration collection and some picture label amongst other things. The price for the LE is 7,140 yen and the RE (which doesn't include and FP stuff) will retail for 5,250 yen. The series is 4 episodes/volumes in total and will come out every other month. I've already preordered it from Amazon JP (which of course is only 5,355 yen, still pricy for one episode). The 3,938 yen RE is here. I would also like to mention that the official site updated today. The CD section updated w/ the release date of the PS2 game single. the net tv page updated w/ the dates and times of the next couple of episodes (yay, more mika tomorrow) but the biggest news is the announcment of a new book titled "舞-乙HiME ヲトメグラフ". It's an A4 size book and is 20 pages. It's retailing for 2,310 yen and will be released September 27. The ISBN is 4-7580-1066-8. You can definitely expect me to pick this up soon after it's release.
In other Hisayuki news, the Dendoh site updated the Story, Character and Mech section. Strange as they should've done so when the show was on. I can't wait and so want this.
Finally, some new scans of Shinseiki GPX Cyber Formula Road to Infinity 3. Nothing new as the new teams have been shown before in a previous scan (which i was lazy to cover). Maihara (love that 'Mai') and Rei from Phoenix Japan are hot as is the chick from Team CF Ground. I'm dying in anticipation for this game as i did w/ 2. Full scans at my source Ruliweb.
I'm lazy on the gaming news today but i'm sure some have heard of the Sega Genesis Collection officially announced today. This should come as no surprise as i first posted about it some months ago from Joystiq. Anyways, go to the big games sites (ie. IGN, Gamespot, Ruliweb, 1up, Jeux-France, Joystiq etc.) for the list of the 30 games (it's quite an awesome lineup though, some i wanted are missing ;_;) as well as the official Press Release.
I'll give one gaming tidbit though...ouuu...200 (!) games planned for PS3 (apparently). There's some support for ya!
edit: i decided i'd like to add some game news until my real post later today
Wii prerelease games and dates (hint hint...official?)
Ruliweb notes that the DBZ SN site updated w/ Paikuhan (nice), Sauzer (coo), Zangya (SWEET!, been waiting to play as her again since Super Butoden 2 on my Super Famicom) and Garlic Jr. (meh).
DoAX2 site
More One Piece Wii scans from JF
Naruto Konoha Spirit scans from JF
Bleach Blade Batters PS2 scan from JF
since i somewhat covered the PSP Blood+ game, i'll mention that Ruliweb post a CM of the adventure animation game. so yeah, on gameplay, just pick and choose and watch the sweet movie.
US FFXII site
Most importantly, Famitsu covers what their mag covered plus more of SGPXCF RtI3!!! yaaaahhhh! Rena and the other race queens looking awesome in this sequel. <3 some of the new outfits.
@ss was not included ;)
This preorder bonus is decent but obviously isn't as cool as episode 2's preorder where i got a Xenosaga 1 Movie DVD that let you watch a good chunk of episode 1's (neverending) cutscenes in both English or Japanese. I know the JPN release got a bonus dvd along w/ other goodies but i prefer to play my text/story heavy (especially in xeno's case) in English. I'm also not 'that' big of a xenosaga fan (though i am for xenogears) so i don't really care that much for the extras (i'm poor as it is). On to the artbook, it is a Brady one and pretty crappy IMO. It's almost 50 pages and contains a few decent artwork of the characters, e.s' and 2-3 pages of concept art. There's nothing particularly new that i haven't seen on the web before. So if you don't get or can't find this artbook, don't worry cuz you're not missing much. Just go for the JPN guide or artbook (if there is one out right now, i don't know cuz i haven't checked). Lastly i just want to mention that i knew the game was censored beforehand (thanks to gaming forums) but i don't particularly care since the previous ones had their share of censor and editing. I have the JPN movies anyways, so i can watch 'em in all it's uncensored glory if i wanted to (as well as listen to the much better voice acting), so it really doesn't bother me. I'm also not sure when i'm gonna play this as i got 100's of games (literally) to go through and finish. W/ KOF 2k6, Yakuza and Okami coming out soon, there's more to be added to my huge backlog.
