Bayonetta recently received a 40/40 in the Japanese magazine Famitsu. It was released here last week and we picked it up for look to see if lives up to the magazines claims. Please remember that is a Bayonetta review of the finished Japanese game it is possible changes will be made before the game gets its release in the west. Bayonetta is a third person action title in a similar vein to the ... more.

In case you were wondering what had happened to the Famitsu articles, they're still here; but, due to outside commitments, they were on hold for a while. Now, our Famitsu feature is back, though the format is a little different. Instead of lumping everything together, we'll be keeping reviews, news and sales figures in their own separate articles, to give you better coverage. First come the... more.

Okay, no write up this week. The TGS previews have left me drained, and I still have a "Final Thoughts" piece to write for my own blog, and an interview with The Behemoth’s John Baez (producer) and Dan Paladin (artist) to transcribe. So this is my apology for my lack of time this week to write it up. I did have a flick through. There was very little news, focusing mostly on TGS after thoughts... more.

To the people who don’t know what Dynasty Warriors is, it is what you thought you wanted side-scrolling beat ’um ups to evolve into when we hit the Playstation 2 generation; fields of mindless enemies that you are able to mow down like grass. The sequel, Ninety-Nine Nights II (N3II for short), continues this trend of over-powered warriors hacking their way through fields of lesser men, women a... more.

A quick stop by Q-games booth allowed me a chance to play their upcoming Pixeljunk Shooter. As the name would suggest it is a shooter, and controls similarly to a twin stick shooter but a press of the right bumper is required to fire. Thus you have one stick to navigate, one stick to control ship direction, a fire button and a grapnel that can be used to interact with environmental elements and pi... more.

It has been more than six months now since the gaming world exploded on Resident Evil 5’s portrayal of race. It feels like every major gaming enthusiast site had something to say about it. Opinions have ranged from indignant to uncaring, but whatever your stance it was a debate worth having. Many of the articles had some interesting points to make, many even reconsider my own position. The more ... more.

First, I must apologize. My Thursdays are traditionally busy affairs; I work 12 hours and rarely get a break. That doesn’t quite excuse my misinformation in recent weeks, as after five years in Japan I finally realized yesterday that Famitsu actually hits shelves on Thursday mornings, not Friday. Sorry about that. Most notably in this issue is a massive number of games which grace the revi... more.

It is only since I started writing about Famitsu that I have begun to realize just how popular it is. It hits specialized outlets on Thursdays but most find it at conveniences store on Friday mornings. If you are hoping for a copy at your local store come twelve o’clock however you may find yourself out of luck such is the popularity of the weekly magazine. Outside Japan there are very few sp... more.

For those who don't know the most popular Japanese gaming magazine is the weekly Famitsu. Here in Japan, print is far from dead, and every week convenience stores restock their ample shelves with entertainment and fashion magazines as well as the ubiquitous manga and, well, porn... Famitsu itself actually touches on far more than just games. It looks at most aspect of youth entertainment incl... more.

Last week, Media Create's sales charts had Playstation 3/Yakuza 3 taking the overall hardware/software sales respectively in Japan. This week Playstation Portable and Playstation 3 top the hardware charts, with the Playstation 3 version of Resident Evil 5 leading the software sales. (more...)... more.