Oh ho! Been a while since we saw a salaryman themed arcade game from Japan. In this desk-flipping game you… well you flip your desk in a fit of rage and score points for style and destruction. Nothing anyone who’s worked in an office hasn’t thought of doing. Someone get the creator of this machine to mix with with Time Crisis and we’ll have the perfect postal game ever!

Thanks Nrg!

Like rain in the desert JRPGs on the PC are an extremely rare occurrence, good ones even more so (lookin’ at you The Last Remnant) so it is with great excitement that I report a very promising JPRG coming to steam in September. Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale is a little doujin RPG made in Japan and lovingly localized by Carpe Fulgur, a 3-person publishing company that couldn’t be more of an underdog even if they were actual dogs.

The game isn’t your typical JRPG with a whiny teenage boy unwillingly forced to save the world, it’s about a girl running an item shop and her fairy friend. It’s as much RPG as it’s a store simulator, letting you manage everything from prices to decoration. Recettear already has a demo out on Steam and it’s going for $17.99 in preorders and if you’re a PC gamer and have the cash I strongly recommend you buy it, we need to encourage more of this.

[Recettear On Steam]

Ahhhh summer, the tanlines, martinis, bikinis, and sadly me cooped up in my office looking at all the fun to be had outside. At least I’ll be taking my annual beach vacation in September woot! Thankfully my beautiful Destin Beach has been given the OIL FREE seal of approval. I’ll let you know if I find any tar balls while building sand castles.

Now for all my anxious readers, most of you are probably now getting back into the groove of school. Make this year the time to have that pretty gal swoon over you. For my ladies; today is the year you’ll have all the boys fawn over you, and for my geeks… keep leveling up. It’s time for us to look back and see what got you talking the most:

Death Of A Master: Satoshi Kon Dies

A sad month for many anime lovers. Satoshi devised complex stories woven into rich characters, accompanied by rich music. Khaim laments: This hits and blows real hard. This year and perhaps part of 2009 have been real hard for the otaku world and many encompassing fandoms themselves. The death of the creator of Shin-chan, the death of Nujabes, and now Satoshi Kon passing away, i can only feel someone is enjoying using the Death Note or simply put, things have been happening so quickly.

Quench Your Consumerist Thirst With Hello Kitty Water For $100

You may not understand or agree with Hello Kitty, but this little minx desperately wants to steal your heart; and make you broke while she’s at it. vay8 says: With five different colors available, you’d be crazy not to collect them all.

Bryan Lee O’malley On Scott Pilgrim’s Manga-Ish Roots

These is a lot of either/or for Scott Pilgrim,. Either you love it or you hate it. I cannot say I’ve seen the movie myself as I opted for the high-brow Piranha 3D. And yes the DDD made it much better.  But I do enjoy the comics. I agree with Kuroneko and Ximum on the movie feature reaching a cult status and selling incredibly well as a DVD. Although I do wonder if it would be made into a anime series…

Sega’s Yakuza 3 Reviewed By 3 Yakuza

Take a crime boss to play a game based on on said boss’ activities and what do you get?

Ironically, the sections that Shirokawa seemed to enjoy the most were cut out of the US version: mahjong, the sexual massage parlor, and the hostess clubs. After I explain to him what Sega cut from the US version, he said: アメリカ版を買った奴がかわいそうだ。セガＵＳＡが最低だね.(Translation: I feel sorry for the people who bought the American version. SEGA USA sucks.)

Damn…why do the States get jipped.

Fantastic Retro Demakes Of Current Games

With all the fancy graphics that are now pumped into most modern games, there is a nostalgia I get harkening back to the old days of gaming where 1 sprite would rule them all. Desfunk yells: 2d sprite work is a lost art these days! Those are SERIOUSLY badass!!!!

Well my friends, this concludes another wrap-up. These only work when you comment, comment, comment. So keep at it, join our FB group or RSS feed, but most importantly tell us how much we mean to you. We have feelings too.

Holy crap, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Japanese TV ad as unappealing as this one. When I first read the title I thought maybe it would be funny and at the very least some eye candy for our female readers for a change but no. This ad for a male hair removal kit features some overly smooth foreigners doing some sort of spastic dance that would make even the most flamboyant gay man feel like they should get some self respect and stop flailing around like sock puppets. Sorry girls, we still owe you.

[Japan Probe]

It had been a while since we learned anything new about The Secret World, the supposedly groundbreaking MMO from Ragnar Tornquist, the man behind The Longest Journey series. This game is looking really promising in that it feels a lot like a great single player game, much like TLJ and Dreamfall, which is what Tornquist excels at. There’s very little in the way of actual gameplay shown in this little featurette video but I like what I see. At the very least it will finally make way for another entry into the TLJ series, at the very best this could be an excellent MMO that elevates the genre, though even then I doubt it would become more than a niche title.

It’s been way too long since we last had a good samurai movie, hell, Sword of the Stranger, the last  good one was not even live action. This is creating a sad reality for Japan’s once thriving samurai actor troops. This Al Jazeera piece shows how deeply depressed their market is and how they’ve been relegated to performing at amusement parks. It’s very sad to see them like this while they are still as agile and skillful as ever. Perhaps they should take a page from the Warrior Hermit and go fight chickens.

[Japan Probe]

Telltale Games, the guys behind the excellent Sam and Max series of adventure games as well as the Strongbad game, Penny Arcade games and many others released a very intriguing teaser today which you can see above.

It’s apparently a crossover game involving TF2, or at least the Heavy, Penny Arcade, Strongbad and Max. At first this concept just strikes me as fantastic as I’ve long held that any game would be improved if you included the Heavy Weapons Guy in it. However, then you see two of the silhouettes holding cards and remember that Telltale did release a Poker game not too long ago and things get potentially a lot less interesting. What is it? No one knows but we’ll soon find out and we’ll keep you posted.

While on his deathbed awaiting the end of his life Satoshi Kon wrote a farewell letter to the world which now his family has published on his blog. Makiko Itoh, of Just Hungry and Just Bento fame, took to the task of carefully translating this letter into English, complete with cultural notes and explanations. The letter itself is probably one of the most touching document’s I have ever read. There is nothing I can write that can do justice to this document, here’s an excerpt.

I’d like to use this space to apologize to my relatives, friends and acquaintances, for not telling you about my cancer, for my irresponsibility. Please understand that this was Satoshi’s selfish desire. I mean, Satoshi Kon was "that kind of guy". When I envision your faces, I only have good memories and remember (your) great smiles. Everyone, thank you for all the truly great memories. I loved the world I lived in. Just the fact that I can think that makes me happy.

Please read the full letter; bring tissues, you will cry. May you live forever in the mind of the world, Kon.

[Satoshi Kon’s Last Words]

Talk about unrealistic expectations of beauty! In this Mezashi TV segment they take a look at the automatic face touch-ups photo booths in Japan are doing. Apparently normalizing the colors and adding some soft focus has been a staple for many years now but eye augmentation has proved so popular that now it’s making people look extremely freakish. I wonder how long until they outright replace you with a cartoon of yourself.

[Japan Probe]

Today Satoshi Kon, writer and director of such anime masterpieces as Perfect Blue, Paprika and Paranoia Agent has passed away due to pancreatic cancer complications, he was almost 47.

It is extremely sad for me to report his passing, Kon was, in my view, the single greatest mind in anime today. His works were truly rich and complex, they challenged the genre in many ways and left you feeling stupid and I mean that in the best way possible. His works made you think and second guess reality, all while presenting you with visually stunning worlds and sometimes even more stunning soundtracks (Looking at you Paranoia Agent).

This is truly the passing of one of anime’s great masters, the whole medium and industry are worse off today because of his death. Saying that smart, artful anime died today wouldn’t be an exaggeration if it were not for the many younger creators Kon’s work inspired. Let us mourn his passing and hope that the fire of his creative torch becomes a roaring one in the next generation.

May you rest in peace Satoshi Kon and thank you.