From Wirebot:

With the holidays right around the corner and the recession in full swing there is no doubt everyone is feeling the pressure to pinch-pennies this holiday season. If you’re unable to shell out $60 for a new game for that special gamer on your list, here’s a thrifty list of ideas that won’t set you back anything more than a Jackson. More »

From Wirebot:

Growing up I can remember 1, maybe 2, really great games coming out every month. I rarely felt that I was missing much when my parents refused to buy me multiple $50 games a month. Boy, am I lucky I am not growing up in today’s crowded 3 console market or I would only get to play a quarter of the great games that are getting released on a monthly basis. Within the last 2 months, well over 10 A+ games have been released across platforms, the majority of them being cross platform and a couple of them paired with peripherals that escalate the price to over $100 a pop. My question is, how is everyone collecting funds to support their favorite obsession? I’m selling text books, re-selling free curb alerts posted on craigslist, and trading in more games than I should to GameStop. More »

From Wirebot:

We are coming close to 2010, which is promising to be a “Golden” year for gaming, with new technologies (example. Microsoft Natal) and innovations making their way to release. I’ve always considered myself a bit of pessimist, so forgive me if I sit over here on the other side of my computer fake sneezing and screaming “bull$h17!” at the top of my lungs. More »

It’s safe to say that November, aka Ninja Month, was the most awesome month for Ningin yet. We had 4 specials - Ninja Thanksgiving, Japan-a-thon, Vampire Special, and Gaming Special. We had 4 site launches, Wirebot for gaming, Swandiary for Vampire entertainment, Rekuru for Japanese Entertainment, and most recently, FlauntMe for Beauty. We had some big interviews - Rain, Boom Boom Satellites, and Takeshi Kaneshiro. And course, tons of giveaways, SS501 album+poster, 4minute album+poster, Red Cliff Movie posters, Ninja Assassin Gear, and Xbox + Wii game sytems. There’s also about a dozen Ninja Assassin movie posters sitting here that needs to be given out…later though too many contests running right now! I’m sure I’m forgetting more stuff. But isn’t that kinda a lot?? I hope you guys enjoyed everything! Not sure if we can continue at this pace forever, but there’s still a lot more stuff on the way! More »

32 Comments

What a week here on Ningin! It started with the Ninja Thanksgiving Special that we did with those ninja-holics on Wirebot and Rekuru. I had no idea we were gonna crank out so many ninja related posts — it was ninja-epic. Make sure to check all of it out if you haven’t! On Tuesday, I got to see Boom Boom Satellites in concert and it was awesome to say the least! On Wednesday, Ninja Assassin came out in theaters and Boom Boom Satellites came down to the Ningin office to hang out with us. It’s not everyday we have rock stars in our office, but it does seem to be more common now. The interview with BBS is schedule for tomorrow so be sure to check that out. We also got a few autographed stuff from them, so look out for that too. Then of course you have the Thanksgiving weekend where I ate till I passed out and had lots of catch-up sleep. What did you guys do for the holiday weekend? More »

39 Comments

By now most of you know that we’ve giving out game systems to random users. That’s not the only contest going on either. We have Ninja Assassin Gear, Justin Chon autographs on SwanDiary, Swarovski iPhone faceplate on Girlybubble, and ESPN Magazine subscriptions on BlitzNation. If you think that’s a lot, it’s just the beginning! Soon, there will be some sort of regular prize for all our sites like Xbox/PSN point cards on Wirebot, bobblehead dolls on BlitzNation, and so on. If you’re in the city of Rhode Island (why call it a state?) Wirebot is hosting a Guitar Hero 3 Tournament and giving out $100 in Amazon gift certificates. Btw, have you checked out our new Ningin-spin off site for Japanese entertainment, Rekuru.com? Jinra and the Ningin bloggers are hosting a Japan-a-thon special in honor of its launch. Wirebot is going Japanese too. It’s fun when sister sites work together! Expect a lot more of that going forward. Last but not least, we have a cool interview with Takeshi Kaneshiro who’s starring in the new Red Cliff movie out right now. Speaking of movies, I hear Ninja Assassin is coming out this Wednesday. It’s in your best interest to check that out. More »

17 Comments

This has been a tremendous year for Ningin and the parent company Mixr Media in general. We’re less than two years old and we’ve grown so much, in so many different ways. It’s all because of such wonderful, loyal readers like you. For that, the staff and I really want to show you our appreciation by doing our biggest giveaways yet, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 game consoles! More »

41 Comments

If one purchases the Nintendo Wii game Tales of Graces, they will receive a product code that will unlock a costume, in which its design, a collaboration with Namco designers, was influenced by BoA’s Japanese tour look. More »

13 Comments

The Japanese Maid Cafe has been the source of countless wet dreams for young male anime fans. Combining the twin joys of French maids with young Japanese women was a sure-fire marketing win, but then someone thought it would be a great idea to have those maids play video games and the idea went explosive. Thus the explosion of maid cafes around Japan. (I won’t even get started with the recent trend of Butler Cafes for women…) More »

18 Comments

Both the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii have come down in price to an affordable $200; if you’ve always wanted a new console but couldn’t afford it (or simply couldn’t justify the expense), now is a great time to buy- but which one is right for you? More »

56 Comments

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series was started on the Gamecube, and I played through the first one. The series I have to say, feels very different than you expect of Final Fantasy, and also odd to bear the same name. But anyways, the first game still received a decent, but not record breaking score. More »

13 Comments

The time is close to Halloween, and game developers have hurried to create some of their most gruesome work to date. Here are some newest games that received glowing reviews, or just seem too cool to pass up. More »

142 Comments

How many of you guys like video games? I’ve been thinking about video games a lot recently since we’re gonna be launching a video game website, Wirebot, soon. And you know what’s the first promo we’re gonna do when that video game website launches? Well, we been giving out posters, albums, and games. So the next escalation would be game systems! I can’t give an exact date of launch, but it’s sometime soon…very soon. More »

16 Comments

BoA appeared the other night at Tokyo Game Show hosted by Famitsu magazine. Famitsu is a magazine dedicated to pure video game coverage. But when it comes to BoA, they have no problems in bending the rules, hehe. More »

8 Comments

From Ziggytek: Ladies and Gentleman, introducing the Black Nintendo Wiiiii!!! Yeah, it’s here in the states but not being sold by Nintendo. If you want one, you need to get it from either eBay or another import online source. It’ll come at a premium, around $333, but we’ve all paid around that much for the first Wii, (well, some of us did to get it first), so this is nothing new for a Stealth Ninja like Wii. More »

From Ziggytek: The Black Wii has finally arrived in Japan and looks absolutely stunning. The Wii looks like a stealth ninja. It brings back memories of when Apple first released their iPod video in black. I went nuts and ended up buying on. If Nintendo ever releases these in the States, I’ll definitely be getting on even though, I haven no reason to get a Wii. Crossing my fingers these come to the stats by the fall or during the holiday season. More »

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 »

23 Comments

Lara and I ventured into New York City for this year’s NY Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center to see what was poppin’. We met up with some Ningin staff, caught a Yatterman screening and fangirled till our voices gave out. More »

38 Comments

Apparently, Nintendo is “recession-proof”, or so says this article. Even though South Korea is suffering from a pretty bad economic setback, people still want to have some fun in their life, which makes sense. And the DS and the Wii are great for casual gamers, which the article notes on how the gaming user-base has shifted here. Kudos to Nintendo for doing that, even if some their stuff is too cutesy/family-friendly and doesn’t appeal to me. I still love my DS, though!

Although I can’t help but wonder on how if the economy is pretty bad here, how can the South Koreans afford these extra stuff like games and other “frivolous” merchandises. If the poor economy affected me, I know I wouldn’t be spending my funds on materialistic items. But oh well. Whatever makes people happy.

12 Comments

Sometimes I wish I had a cheaper hobby. As much as I love video games, they really suck my poor bank account empty. It doesn’t help when I have the internet telling me what games are coming out in United States and what games are released in Japan, which I hope some of them do see English localisations! A girl can dream! Now I just need to conjure up more money for these games that interest me in 2009. It’s going to be another expensive gaming year. More »

13 Comments