Japan Gaming Guide

The Japanese version of chess has a great deal to offer players of the Western variant. A number of the pieces share similar moves, although the character of the game is markedly different. All the pieces can be powered up when they get in the opponents half of the board which means sudden attacks can […]

The new DS game Legend of Starfish came out a couple of weeks ago. We haven’t tried this but you might want to take a look at the official site. Looks like a cute and cuddly action game. [Read]

While most of the world’s eyes have been on E3, the China Digital Entertainment Expo quietly went ahead in Shanghai. The annual event features a lot of the online titles popular in these parts. Booth babes are still very much in evidence here – no surprise then that one of the most popular games on […]

There’s a new Harvest Moon game coming to Wii this year. Famitsu published a whole bunch of screenshots. There are all sorts of animals to populate your farm with this time around. There are cows, sheep, horses, ducks, goats and of course your faithful pet dog. According to the text the farmyard animals will be […]

The latest Wario game comes to Wii later this month, Wario Land: Shake is coming out July 24th. Unsurprisingly, the game will involve shaking the Wiimote. A lot. You’ll shake to attack, grab items and shake enemies so that they drop those o so lovely coins. [Read]

Schoolkids in a Tokyo school got hit with the lucky stick recently. The Nintendo DS is being used to teach them English in classes. The whole thing is part of a trial by Nintendo – participating schools get 40 free DS consoles and English training software. English teaching is a bit patchy in Japanese schools, […]

Rainy season is in full swing – so why walk to the shops when you can download these: Famicom (500 points) Chack ‘n Pop Donkey Kong 3 Super Famicom (900 points) Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 Master System (500 points) Space Harrier Mega Drive (700 points) Shining Force 2: The Ancient Seal PC Engine (600 points) […]

A Tales of Vesperia demo hit the Japanese marketplace a few days ago. I took it for a whirl, and it’s pretty good. The graphics are absolutely phenomenal. The animation looks like 2d animation done in 3d if that makes any sense. It didn’t seem hugely innovative as far as the gameplay went. Click through […]

One of the downsides of the Wii is its draconian region protection. By design, you can’t play games from any other region. That’s a major headache for anyone foreign living in Japan because hardly any Wii games offer a choice of languages. Fortunately Datel’s excellent Freeloader let’s you get round the protection and lets you […]

The PSP is getting Phantasy Star Portable at the end of next month. Set in the world of Phanasy Star Universe the Sonic Team deeloped game will introduce us to new characters Vivienne and Helga. We’ll also get a character editor and local multiplayer. Click through for more screens. [Read]