In the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 game, there's a scene where Naomi Hunter and Sunny Gurlukovich cook three sunny-side up eggs on a frying pan. The tender sequence is punctuated by a cooking timer in the shape of a no-nonsense duck. To get the cooking time for the eggs proper, Sunny sets the GA-KO Timer so that it'll shake and sing out "Dah-Dah" when the eggs are ready.
Konami brings the GA-KO Timer home this summer but the company transitions the product into a more useful GA-KO Alarm Clock which tells time and gets you out of your slumber with insistent "singing" sounds. Note that the duck's wings are on its hips which means you better get up when the alarm sounds off.
The product measurements are H:160mm x W:102mm x D:107mm and the clock runs on two AAA batteries. The clock is constructed of ABS but the timepiece face cover is polycarbonate. The distributor's solicitation notes that only 2000 units will be produced and preorders are welcome today.
NCS started reservations a few months ago for a Square Enix exclusive (http://member.square-enix.com) soundtrack which collects 24 tracks of music from various Squaresoft games including FFVII, Front Mission 4, and Saga Frontier. After waiting patiently, the soundtrack is now in stock and shipping to all preorders. Similar to the Mario Galaxy OST Platinum Edition which was exclusive to Club Nintendo, the Square Enix Music Vol. 1 soundtrack is only available on Square Enix's website for members. The track list starts with J-E-N-O-V-A from the FINAL FANTASY VII Original Soundtrack and follows up with The Man with the Machine Gun which was originally from the FINAL FANTASY VIII Original Soundtrack. Many more selections from popular soundtracks stream afterwards...
Milestone's new Shokera Renai Otona no Tame no Metabo Dassutsu Training software + accessory pack is designed to help users keep track of their daily caloric intake and exercise. The software runs on the NDS and serves as a diet diary to record your daily meal regimen. Photographs for roughly 500 dishes are included in the food database in case you're not sure what a hamburger looks like. Two accessories are included - a plastic pedometer with belt clip which tracks your daily walking distance and a tape measure so you can measure how big your belly is. If you're pudgy and want to lose the tire around your stomach, you can track your eating habits and exercise over a period of time and then reduce the consumption or boost the exercise accordingly to meet your target weight.
A breathless audience of over 120,000 players has already enjoyed the visual novel charms of Hanayoi Romanesque on their mobile phones. Those throngs are clamoring for more so Marvelous brings the game home for a bigger and brighter adventure to explore.
Players take on the role of a school teacher named Tamami Kirihara who works at an academy that's been around since the Meiji era. The scions and other blood relations of the prominent Housyou family attend the school but they're all cursed. Tamami happens to be able to view the curse known as "Logos" on the boys and she's also able to lift the curse and free the lads from its effects. Along the way, Tamami may find romance with one of the Housyou sons. Hanayoi Romanesque is a interactive romance adventure that's targeted at girl gamers. By reading a lot of text, looking at nifty artwork, and making a few choices during the story, players help Tamami find love. Some choices will take the Tamami to different scenarios and conclude her story in different ways which opens up the replay potential for the game. Upgrades in the PS2 update of the game include full voice acting for the characters and new CG events.
Boys Love games aren't screaming up the sales charts but they have their loyal audiences. Sometimes all one can hope for is a successful niche in the wild, woolly, and fickle world of gaming. Togainu no Chi was originally released for the Japanese PC in 2005 and has garnered a devoted (mostly female) fan base over the past few years. The backdrop of the game is a dystopian Japan after the ravages of a third World War. The story follows the tribulations of a reluctant warrior named Akira who fights for his freedom in the Igura Tournament which is administered by a drug kingpin. Fighters in the Igura battle each other to the death and gather their opponents' dogtags as they move their way up to the final conflict against the kingpin of the Vischio mob.
The mature content in the PC original has been wiped from the console conversion of the game to make it somewhat family friendly. The characters in the game are invariably chiseled, dark, somber, and apparently appealing. The PS2 version features a new character named Yukihito who's voice is provided by Hiroshi Kamiya, a new opening movie, exclusive CG events, and updated music. Every copy of the game will ship with a bonus dogtag and a True Blood Remix audio CD.
The limited edition of Togainu no Chi includes a book titled "TOSHIMA 20XX Periodical Report" which is bundled with the game DVD inside a nifty slipcase. The book is all about... Togainu no Chi.
Boys Love games aren't screaming up the sales charts but they have their loyal audiences. Sometimes all one can hope for is a successful niche in the wild, woolly, and fickle world of gaming. Togainu no Chi was originally released for the Japanese PC in 2005 and has garnered a devoted (mostly female) fan base over the past few years. The backdrop of the game is a dystopian Japan after the ravages of a third World War. The story follows the tribulations of a reluctant warrior named Akira who fights for his freedom in the Igura Tournament which is administered by a drug kingpin. Fighters in the Igura battle each other to the death and gather their opponents' dogtags as they move their way up to the final conflict against the kingpin of the Vischio mob.
The mature content in the PC original has been wiped from the console conversion of the game to make it somewhat family friendly. The characters in the game are invariably chiseled, dark, somber, and apparently appealing. All orders include a bonus dogtag and a True Blood Remix CD.
Year in and year out, NCS can rely on Konami to release a few new versions of Powerful Pro Baseball on the popular consoles of the day. About a decade ago, the consoles of choice were the Sega Saturn and Playstation. This year, the PS2, Wii, and PSP will all get the 2008 versions of the Powerful Pro game. Maybe one day, the PS3 will supplant the PS2. In any case, it's the Playstation Portable's turn this week.
Jikkyou Powerful Pro 3 features updated 2008 season data for all twelve professional teams, updated uniforms that the players wear, and the latest player stats. A number of game modes are playable including:
» Success Mode - Create a baseball player who starts his career in high school and makes his way to the major leagues.
» My Life Mode - Join the big leagues as a rookie and be a team player.
» Pennant Mode - It's a new season and the pennant race is on
The controls rely on a cursor targeting system where every pitch or swing of the bat is governed by a reticule which pinpoints the area of impact. The fielding isn't as precise as the pitching and batting but players in the infield or outfield can efficiently sidle left and right to home in on grounders as well as fly balls that pop upwards momentarily. Two players can link up wirelessly to play a versus game.
Back in the summer of 1986, Bandai released a fitness game titled Family Trainer: Athletic World on the 8-bit Famicom which shipped with a flimsy mat controller. The idea was to get kids off the couch and in motion with simple mini-games that were played by stepping on the circular cues located on top of the mat. Sales were mediocre and Bandai eventually abandoned hopes of starting a video game fitness craze.
Fast forward two decades later and Bandai's at it again. Emboldened by the recent success of Nintendo's Wii Fit, the company revives Family Trainer for a new generation of gamers. Similar to the original incarnation, Bandai includes a flexible mat controller with the game which looks suspiciously like Konami's dancing pad. The mat is designed for use by one or two players who are able to step lively side by side. This means the entire brood can take turns engaging in gaming exercises which take place upon the mat controller. That's not all folks - the Wii Remote is also used in some games for arm waving antics so the whole body gets a workout.
Bandai touts over 15 cooperative and competitive games in Family Trainer including one where players make like lumberjacks and leap over rolling logs by jumping on the mat.
