Square Enix has announced the official time slot for Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep in North America. It’s going to come out this summer. Just in time for summer break! More »

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From Ziggytek: NPD reports that for the first time in several years, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has earned first place in the monthly gaming console sales rankings. The 360 moved 422,000 units. Meanwhile, over in Japan, Sony’s PSP go continues to be a disaster, with 3-month sales totals of only 17,618 handhelds. More »

The Brown Eyed Girls are looking eerily beautiful in this fairy tale based photoshoot. They should do more photoshoots like this! More »

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I hope you’ve gained some insight from my PART I of my PSP Dissidia bundle review, so this is the final part conclusion to the blog set. More »

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Alas, my very first portable gaming system. Although I’ve been playing games since 1984, I never was fortunate enough back then to get a regular black and white Gameboy, especially not the Neo Geo pocket or Atari Lynx. Don’t know what these things are? If you don’t that’s fine, just keep it to yourself and don’t ask me what Moses was like during his teens. More »

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I have nothing else to wish for this Christmas and I felt my heart thumping when I saw pictures of the life size Gundam in Japan. And since I love gundam so much, why not. It’d be kinda useless but I want one anyways. It looks like it has a lot of space inside so maybe it could make a nice room. Or some sort of tree house. I heard that the head can move too. Sounds like a really cool gimmick. More »

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Final Fantasy XIII is not the only highly anticipated game coming from Square Enix in a few months. The newest installment to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Birth By Sleep, is almost out in Japan and will soon have a release in the United States as hinted by Jesse McCartney’s Twitter about the dub. More »

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From Rekuru:

This console generation, home to high definition gaming and wii-mote waggling, genres like shooters have seen an explosion of interest with games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Gears of War, Resistance: Fall of Man, Killzone 2, Halo 3, and much more. While that’s all well and good for shooter fans, there are some gamers that have been all but left in the cold. Let’s face it, not everyone enjoys shooting things in the face. What about RPG (that’s role playing games for the uninitiated) enthusiasts? This generation, there has been very little in the way of RPG’s and while the future release of Final Fantasy XIII may help change that much like it’s predecessor VII did for the Playstation, it still doesn’t change the fact that there is a major RPG drought at the moment. What’s a gamer to do? Enter the Nintendo DS. More »

From Wirebot:

Although Alexa already mentioned this new piece of hardware, I again wanted to draw attention to something that is both a blessing and a curse to the world of gaming. 1up.com has posted a gallery of them comparing the new Nintendo DSi XL to other portable devices. More »

From Wirebot: Just two days after Japanese business newspaper Nikkei Shimbun published a rumour that Nintendo will update their current DSi with a larger 4 inch screen, Nintendo announced the DSi LL. This update was planned after customers wanted a larger screen. More »

The highly anticipated PSP game finally has a set release date (although only for Japan unfortunately). More »

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Atlus has spoiled gamers with artbooks, plushies, and soundtrack cds with their lineup of video game releases. Now they will do the same for the rerelease of the Shin Megami Tensei Persona game on PSP (originally released on the PS1 in 1996). The soundtrack of the game is redone by Shoji Meguro, famous for the soundtracks of Persona 3 and 4. More »

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With all this talk about Final Fantasy 13, how about Final Fantasy 14!! Haha, it’s funny that this is even being mentioned since 13 hasn’t even come out yet. I guess Squenix thinks we can drool over two games at once. They think too much of us!

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Tomorrow is Japan Day in New York City. If anyone is going, you just might find me there. I might be the only girl wearing a Ningin t-shirt. I dunno how yummy the food will be, but it should be fun to try! For now, here’s a list of tasty Japanese food to look at.

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Even though the economy has been pretty bad, things are pretty good here for Ningin and our parent company. So we’re looking to do some expansion. One immediate expansion that we have in mind is a new gaming site which we hope to launch in the next couple of weeks. We’re going to have both paid blogger positions and a couple of internships which won’t be paid. More info after the jump. More »

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The hit anime Toradora will be invading the PSP on April 30. It is already available for preorder; however, most have already been taken. The game storyline is said to be completely different from the anime and novel; however, the anime voice actors will be the same.

In addition to the game, an extra DVD will be included that features a director’s cut version of a Toradora! Anime episode, the original novel and manga. Also a feature called “Motion Portrait” will be applied and the characters will be displayed with animations in the conversation parts. So no more single screen expressions! More »

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First Dissidia, now this? I haven’t even finished Star Ocean… my PSP has been working overtime lately, no thanks to the newest installment of DJ Max Portable, titled “Black Square”. And let me tell ya… it’s incredible.

Clazziquai Edition just came out a month ago, so the timing of this release may seem a bit early - but remember that CE was a sort of beginners-only release to introduce new players into the frenzy that is DJ Max, and BS is the “official” next game in the series. More »

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Did you hear yet? Square Enix has just released the latest Final Fantasy game for PSP, titled Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Now, I don’t want to sound too excited here, but considering that I played through FFVII Crisis Core no less than three times, I was pretty FREAKIN STOKED when I heard Dissidia was coming out. However, as I’ve always been a fan of the traditional Final Fantasy RPG, I wasn’t without a little doubt as to whether Dissidia would work out - after all, previews and trailers of the game show that it is - get this - a fighting game. That said, it still looked freakin cool, and Square Enix’s previous offerings on the PSP haven’t really been turn based either (Crisis Core, Star Ocean), opting for a shorter, faster paced battle system most likely to remain consistent with the portable on-the-go nature of the console. I’m no stickler for any particular genre - if it’s a good game, I’ll play it! More »

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Oh man oh man it’s finally out - the latest installment of the DJ Max Portable series on PSP - Clazziquai Edition! Loaded with songs from Korean Acid Jazz/Electronica/R&B fusion band Clazziquai, DJMPCE isn’t the “official sequel” to DJ Max Portable 2, but rather a side title of the main series (similar to Guitar Hero Aerosmith). With new modes like 2 button and 4 button FX, CE is geared towards newcomers that might have been scared off by the difficulty of the first two games.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, DJ Max Portable is what I would call “DDR for your thumbs”… or better yet, a much more polished version of Beatmania. Notes fall down from the top of the screen and you must push the corresponding button at the right time - proper timing results in a song that sounds on-rhythm! Clazziquai includes 2 button (up/left and triangle/circle), 4 button (left, up, triangle, circle), 5 button (left, up, right/square, triangle, circle), 6 button (left, up, right…), and 4 button FX (adds R and L) modes to suit your skill level as you familiarize yourself with the gameplay. Trust me - it’s not easy when you first start out, but once you get the hang of it, pushing those buttons and hearing the notes becomes some kind of aural crack…

What really makes DJ Max special is a combination of great songs, amazing gameplay, perfect execution, and endless replay value. That, however, doesn’t make Clazziquai Edition perfect - it’s far too easy, there’s only 48 songs (compared to the 100+ in DJMP2), the note charts aren’t as fun - but make no mistake, it’s still a fabulous game with great music. More »

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Square Enix really knows how to impress an audience. At Tokyo Game Show, they featured four Kingdom Hearts trailers, one of which was the upcoming DS game: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

The trailer featured various mind blowing teasers that included Organization XIII members, the return of Riku and Mickey, various ass kicking and a new character, Xion. The drama didn’t just stop there, at the end the words “February 2009” flashed leaving me completely thrilled and depressed. Note that this is first to be released in Japan leaving the rest of us non-Japanese speakers to wait it out in the cold.

In addition to the DS game, Square Enix plans to release Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep for PSP and Kingdom Hearts 3 for rumored PS3, both of which are still TBA. More »

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