Gamertell

Gamers who have been looking forward to Street Fighter IV will be comforted by the fact that the title will appear on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 17, 2009.

As for the arcade circuit, however, Street Fighter IV will not place an appearance there, according to Capcom’s senior director of communications and community, Chris Kramer, as quoted by this article on Edge Online.

Of course, this news, while tragic, is not really surprising considering that…

MORE »

Patapon 2: Donchaka drops in Japan on November 27, 2008, Thanksgiving! What perfect timing - give PSP owners something to be thankful for. So it is no surprise that a demo of the game has appeared on the Japanese PlayStation store, ready to be downloaded with anyone who has a Japanese PlayStation store account.

I downloaded Patapon 2: Donchaka last night, using my Japanese PlayStation account and my faithful PSP. Its a fairly substantial download, coming in at 87mb, but it only took between 10~15 minutes to download and install the demo on my system.

The demo begins with a bit of exposition, showing the Patapons and Zigoton building a ship and crossing the ocean in search of “IT”...

MORE »

When gamers think of electronics and video game shopping in Japan, most people name Tokyo’s Akihabara as its epitome. However, not many may know that Osaka, Japan, has an Akihabara equivalent named Den-Den Town.

Much like Akihabara, Den-Den Town is chock full of otaku goodness. Just a few years ago, one could actually count the number of video game and figure specialty shops on one hand but now it seems to have experienced a growth explosion.

Den-Den Town (Nipponbashi) is short for Denki no Machi (which means Electric Town in Japanese) and as a place that was once famous for its variety of…

MORE »

Well, it’s happened. Important Importables has reached a hallmark - 50 columns. After running for almost a year, I decided a bit of a celebration was in order. So I asked Gamertell’s editor what would be a good way to celebrate the occasion. His answer was simple - compile a list of 50 reasons why gamers love Japan.

I’ve been poring over everything I know about Japanese culture. The result is a massive list of 50 things gamers love about Japan. I’m certian you’ll find a few things on here you love. If you think I’ve missed something, be sure to hit the “comments” link below and let us know.

Without further ado, 50 reasons gamers love Japan…

MORE »

Siliconera is reporting that the next installment of the Dragon Quest/Warrior franchise is on its way to North American shores.

Titled Dragon Quest V: Hand in the Heavenly Bride, the game will be ported to the Nintendo DS like the series’ last release, Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, and has the release date of February 17, 2009.

The game was earlier ported to DSes in Japan only but now…

MORE »

It’s not concrete but Kotaku picked up a report from Japanese gaming goodness Famitsu, that Chrono Trigger DS will come with one additional ending as well as the all new “Character Mode.“

What could the newest ending to the smash hit RPG behold? No one yet knows as there weren’t any details but would you…

MORE »

Its surprising the success Japanese mascots can find. (No, I’m not talking about Mr. Sparkle.) I’m talking about characters who were originally designed to act as a mascot for a company or product, which suddenly reach new heights of popularity and become a marketable figure on their own.

So it isn’t surprising when these icons suddenly get their own video games. After all, if they’re successful and popular, chances are their creators will want to make as much money off of them as they can. Today, Important Importables is going to look at Dejiko, Domo-kun and Docomodake, three mascots popular enough to merit their own games.

So it isn’t surprising when these icons suddenly get their own video games. After all, if they’re successful and popular, chances are their creators will want to make as much money off of them as they can. Today, Important Importables is going to look at Dejiko, Domo-kun and Docomodake, three mascots popular enough to merit their own games…

MORE »

Title: Pet Shop Monogatari DS
Price: $48.90
System: Nintendo DS
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Taito (Dream Age Collection)
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Pros: Simple controls, huge selection of pets to discover, variety of items to accessorize pets, many locations to explore, not having to clean any pet dander
Cons: Simple game play may become repetitive, trial and error pet catching can become frustrating, lack of ability to actually pet animals
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 88/100; B+; ***1/2 out of five

With Taito’s infamous Mama making the leap from cooking (Cooking Mama) into gardening (Gardening Mama), it was only a matter of time before Mama would spread her bountiful cheerfulness and optimism into yet another game. Pet Shop Monogatari DS (PSMDS) revolves around the newly opened pet shop in Greentown where you, the player, and Mama are in charge.

Click through for the full review…

MORE »

Happy Halloween everyone! In honor of the spookiest holiday of the year and the fortunate (or is it misfortunate) coincidence that my column would land on this date, I decided that it would be a good day to honor some particularly spooky Japanese video games.

All of the games below have never been released in the US, so hopefully you’ll learn about something scary and new that would delight while possibly frightening you. Then tonight, go out and trick or treat, party, watch a spooky movie or play a spooky game in honor of the holiday. I’m having two wisdom teeth removed today, so I know I’m in for a fright…

MORE »

As the DSi’s Japanese release date of November 1, 2008, draws near, Nintendo has decided to release a trailer which details the system’s functions. The trailer features an announcer describing the Nintendo DSi’s various features and comparing its size to the original DS Lite. While I think that the DSi’s new features will impress players who desire to see Nintendo follow Sony’s lead of adding ‘additional features,’ it will seem out of place for gamers who expect the system to maintain Nintendo’s ‘games-first’ mentality.

Click through to view the trailer…

MORE »