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Hachi Koi cancelled, Kurumi’s heart broken

Disaster! This week’s issue of Famitsu reports that Hachi Koi, the Nintendo DS dating sim from Electronic Arts Japan of all people, will not release next year or ever. Could this be a victim of EA’s decision to focus less on new IP, emphasizing established franchises instead? Probably not! My guess is this just wasn’t a very good game.

The game’s primary gimmick, “touch events” that allowed you to grope female students (e.g. suntan lotion rubbing minigames) already feels antiquated, thanks to three Doki Doki Majo games and their male equivalent Duel Love.

Hachi Koi’s other gimmick is more interesting — one of the game’s love interests, Kasugaoka Kurumi, is a full-figured girl, a rarity in most dating sims. In fact, developer Game Jouhou seemingly designed interactions with her to appeal to feeder fetishists, and at least one piece of official artwork hinted at a sequence bondage fans would appreciate:

Read More →

tags / hachi koi / kurumi / electronic arts / game jouhou / imports / famitsu / ec

/ permalink / / 3 months ago / Comments (View)

New character art for Shonen Kininden Tsumuji, EA Japan’s ninja-themed take on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (click for larger version). I took this snapshot from the action RPG’s new Japanese site, which also has a cool overworld map and some screenshots.

EA Japan also put out a new Tsumuji trailer, but the gameplay bits are sized too small to enjoy:

See also: More Tsumuji art

[Via GoNintendo]

tags / tsumuji / electronic arts / imports / ec / shonen kininden tsumuji

/ permalink / / 3 months ago / Comments (View)

King’s Bounty in under ten seconds. On the Retronauts blog, Lost Levels’ Frank Cifaldi explains how this could be: it’s a tool-assisted speedrun that relies on messing with the game’s random number generator and restoring saves until the game-winning item, which is randomly placed somewhere in the map, ends up right next to the player’s starting position.

By the way, it is super rad to get to read more retro stuff from Frank.

tags / king's bounty / frank cifaldi / retronauts / new world computing / electronic arts / jc

/ permalink / / 4 months ago / Comments (View)

Star Fox, Road Rash covers re-imagined by Matt Layzell.

I would buy games with these covers! In fact, I already bought these games without the covers. So long as I’m sharing Star Fox fanart here, I have to post this great Martijn “Super Silo” van Dam piece, taken from the upcoming Uber Games collection:

Adorable! (Starwing was its name in Europe)

Buy: Star Fox Command

See also: Muramasa fanart contest winner

[Via Superpunch]

tags / starwing / road rash / electronic arts / fanart / martin van dam / matt layzell / starfox / ec

/ permalink / / 4 months ago / Comments (View)
Hachi Koi's sorta NSFW Tetris web game →

The team behind Hachi Koi certainly is playing up the dating sim’s only distinguishing feature — its rubenesque love interest Kasugaoka Kurumi. After months of keeping quiet about the game (it was originally slated to release in Spring 2009), Neuron Age has put up an online Tetris-style web game featuring Kurumi.

The twist with the online distraction is that instead of colored blocks, you’re managing chocolate bars. It’s kind of an offensive way too handle her figure, but that’s not the reason why I marked this link “sorta NSFW”.

See, when you clear a line, a brief audio bite plays of what’s supposed to be Kurumi eating the chocolate, but it almost sounds like… something else. And that shiver of pleasure you hear while her mouth’s full implies that’s what the people who put this game together had in mind.

And when you clear four lines at once to get a tetris, you’re rewarded with even more suggestive sounds as Kurumi tries to push as much candy into her mouth, nearly choking on the sweets. Yeah, it’s pretty vulgar.

See also: Hachi Koi trailer (no gameplay)

tags / ec / electronic arts / hachi koi / imports / kurumi / tetris / neuron age

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

Tsumuji gameplay video from the Tokyo Game Show.

Yes, Electronic Arts Japan shamelessly ripped off The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, from its art direction to its stylus-only controls, but I like that you can crawl under the floorboards of people’s homes (01:00 mark) and eavesdrop on their conversations. It’s a very ninja thing to do in a game that’s supposed to star a young ninja but doesn’t present him like the black-clad badass stealth assassins we’re used to.

Also, what’s with outlets reporting that this game was just announced last night? We heard about Tsumuji months ago, and some of these sites even covered it back then!

[Via Pennywise83]

tags / tokyo game show / tgs 2009 / tsumuji / electronic arts / imports / ec

/ permalink / / 5 months ago / Comments (View)

Henry Hatsworth doll by Susan “Meri Greenleaf” Logue. Susan crocheted the British adventurere as a commission piece. Aside from the wire monocle, painted eyes and mouth, felt details, and polymer clay sword and teacup, the figure was crafted with acrylic yarn.

Buy: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure ($18.99)

See also: “Gentlemanly Discussion” by Jesse Harjunen

[Via Elfling Creations]

tags / henry hatsworth in the puzzling adventure / electronic arts / crochet / crafts / susan logue / ec

/ permalink / / 6 months ago / Comments (View)

Hachi Koi trailer (no gameplay) with Japanese idol Haruka Nagashima singing the game’s theme, “Ray! Flower”.

With SNK Playmore’s Doki Majo Plus now released in Japan and Konami preparing Love Plus, I forgot about Electronic Arts’s own love simulation title Hachi Koi — not that the game is particularly interesting, outside of it offering a more voluptuous love interest (Ms. Kasugaoka Kurumi) than most dating sims typically allow.

In addition to providing Hachi Koi ‘s theme song, Nagashima appears in the game as a green-haired idol that looks like a straight-up Hatsune Miku clone, though I doubt you’ll get to date her. This isn’t No-Ri-Ko, after all.

See also: Gameplay clip from Hachi Koi (this was funnier before Warner Music Group removed the accompanying audio of Frank Sinatra singing “Girl From Ipanema”)

[Via NicoVideo]

tags / hachi koi / haruka nagashima / ray flower / neuron age / electronic arts / ec

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

Mutant League: What might have been, and what was (even though I missed it)

The recent revelation of NBA Jam/Hangtime’s rejected Mortal Kombat court brought back old feelings of resentment over Mutant League Basketball, the third Sega Genesis game in Electronic Arts’ alternative sports series that was never completed or unreleased.

I played Mutant League Football and Hockey to death with my friends and cousins, and would’ve loved to have a monster-filled update of Arch Rivals in our after-school video gaming rituals, whilst avoiding homework and recovering from Batman: The Animated Series reruns.

Apparently, this wasn’t the only Mutant League game that went unreleased — did you know that there was a fourth title planned for the series?

In 1993, EA worked on a project called Mutant League Speed Demons, but the game was shelved for undisclosed reasons. Though someone stumbled on a prototype cart for the game last month, its data was erased.

I wonder if it was a Mario Kart-styled title? Or perhaps a motorcycle racer like EA’s Road Rash? After all, the other Mutant League releases were built on existing engines for the company’s other games (e.g. Madden ‘93, NHL ‘93).

Another interesting thing I stumbled on while researching the series: there’s a portable edition of Mutant League Football! The game was included with EA Replay, a 2006 compilation of the publisher’s classic console and PC games for PSP. I had no idea this existed!

The PSP version includes wireless multiplayer and even displays Mutant League Football at a higher resolution. Plus, it’s only $9.79 on Amazon! Not a bad deal seeing as it also includes Syndicate, Desert Strike, and more.

tags / ea replay / ec / electronic arts / mutant league / mutant league football / mutant league speed demons / mutant league basketball

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

Tsumuji, the hero of Shonen Kininden Tsumuji, or Legend of the Boy Ninja Tsumuji, Electronic Arts’s upcoming DS title for Japan (click for a larger version).

EA hasn’t talked much about this action-adventure game since announcing it in early May, but the company is currently showing it off at Japan’s World Hobby Fair this weekend at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

Shonen Kininden Tsumuji follows a young boy trying to save his family and friends from ninjas who’ve attacked his village. Armed with a giant magical shuriken nicknamed Wind Demon, Tsumuji fights his way through dungeons, where he can find more weapons and equipment hidden in walls and under the floor.

Here’s some great art EA released to show off Shonen Kininden Tsumuji several months ago:

tags / world hobby fair / electronic arts / shonen kininden tsumuji / ec

/ permalink / / 8 months ago / Comments (View)
Game companies as females →

Select Button has an entertaining thread comparing video game studios to female archetypes — since you need to be registered to the forum to view them, I thought I’d share a few here. I might paste several more later!

Taito:

“Like cheating with this somewhat happy and easygoing girl with cute sneakers.”

Electronic Arts:

“Like this boring office lady that when drunk starts telling you about the wild crazy shit she did back in the 80s.”

Platinum Games:

“A smart looking girl. You met her in the days when she was known under a different name. And she was into all the things that you liked as well. In fact, you kinda had a nerd-crush on her, but you never had the balls to tell her.

Now, after a few bad relationships with other men, she has changed her looks radically. She’s looking all tough now, with spiked hair and clad in leather regularly. But for you, she’s still approachable. You can even spot a few of her old charms underneath that hard exterior, and were she not dating three other men at the same time, you’d fall for her all over again.”

tags / ec / electronic arts / select button / taito / platinum games

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Hinata Koi (NSFW)

It took me a minute, but I finally figured out why this image on Hachi Koi’s official Japanese site seemed familiar; it looks like dozens of similar shots from Ken Akamatsu’s Love Hina manga/anime, except, amazingly, somehow more bawdy.

The hot springs, scantily clad girls, and tomboyish, short-haired girl (Kaolla Su!) are all staples of the Love Hina series — though I imagine the same is true for most “harem” manga/anime.

Publisher Electronic Arts is slated to release Hachi Koi in Japan this spring. I wonder if there will actually be any hot springs in the love sim!

See also: Pervy gameplay clip from Hachi Koi

tags / love hina / hachi koi / electronic arts / neuron age / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

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