Tsuchinoko

@Zael That would just be gender equality

Hmm, I missed the part about her claiming to be a designer now...

I usually don't talk about this, here goes:
As a member of the LGBT community (wow it is weird typing that) who has lived in Japan for years, it is always a weird bit of culture shock to see news stories from outside the Japanese bubble. Japanese people can be really reserved about these kinds of topics, which is not at all a comment on how they really feel and act towards different people when they happen upon them. Japanese people can be really open and nice to people from all walks of life, they're just not used to talking about controversial topics openly.
That being said, I'm a little delighted by the hiring of an outspoken person who supports gay rights and women's by a mostly Japanese, mostly male development team.
Also, isn't she a social media manager? Does it matter if she hasn't specifically played the MM games before? She doesn't have anything to do directly with the development of the game. She oversees the community forums and the kickstarter page. I don't see why people would be upset about that.
My biggest concern is that if the doesn't handle this position in accordance with her job, and instead uses this to push issues outside of her range of responsibility. I think someone who is campaigning for LGBT and women's rights would be a good fit for such a position, but is handled the wrong way could really upset fans more so than create an understanding and compassionate social community for the game.

@Bliquid So are you saying that any company should just be able to make a game as part of an existing franchise without the rights to the title?

@ACK Or you could just, you know, import a Japanese 3DS.

Also, I wouldn't say the criteria for these models is PAINFULLY specific, since Flets Hikari is one of the most widely used internet services here in Japan.

Its a cartridge with the bundle, which I preferred since I have the game box and instruction manual and everything was included. It was the same with the MH3G 3DS bundle.
I don't mind a digital download for certain titles, but I wanted my MH to be tangible.

I got my MH4 3DSLL. Its so pretty. But I got the black one. I'm no nervous about it getting scratched. I got a case for it, but still...

@shinpichu But so are you. And twice you shot down someone's comments about how they wanted it to win and how much they liked it. If you didn't think it was a masterpiece, that's fine, but let other people have their say. I haven't seen you shoot down any other games on this post.

@shinpichu We get it, you don't like the game, but it really is your opinion. I think its an amazing game and one of my favorites. I'm surprised at the lack of attention that its gotten in the west. Here in Japan it was a huge hit.

@Barsteward1 That could just be your opinion. I bought the game when it first came out and I think its amazing.

What a cool name for the new character. Magnolia

I just downloaded the demo! I haven't tried it yet.

Nintendo was really smart with this one. They took one of the most successful smart phone games and sought to bring it to the 3ds in a greatly expanded version.

If the game was released on the 3DS it would have sold better.
That being said, I'm waiting for my 3DS Pikmin game Nintendo! I think many people would love to have it!
That's a huge drop in sales for the PSP. Glad we got a nice bump in sales for the 3DS, even though we didn't have any huge new release games, other than that One Piece game I guess, but it didn't really seem like a system seller to me.

I had no idea this game is directed by a female director. I feel like that's still a rarity in games.

@Angelic_Lapras_King No, haha, no 2DS sales, as it is not being sold in Japan.

@WingedSnagret 3DS sales are at around 14 million units in Japan. The population of the country is at just under 120 million. That's a little over 10% of the population. I wouldn't generalize and say that's MOST people in Japan. That's still a lot of units sold for a console, and its already outsold the Wii's lifetime sales. troll face

I'm not surprised at the dip in sales. There's been a surprising lack of new releases, particularly first party. We don't even get the new Zelda title until right after Christmas.
I'm happy that people will still support Nintendo here with whatever comes out, since Daigassou is the only first party game to be released for a while. I'm not sure what new releases are coming up, but hopefully we get a nice big wave of them coming in soon.

@Bliquid A company called Paritybit.
And for those that don't know, Calcio is the Italian word for Football/Soccer.

@Christopher I don't know if anyone cares about this, but here's a link to the South Korean Nintendo Direct. The presenter is named Hiroyuki Fukuda, and his Korean sounds really good, though I do hear a bit of a Japanese accent so I'm guessing he's not a Japanese Korean. And Tsujimoto even speaks a bit of Korean too! Though they go right to Japanese with Korean subs after.

http://www.nintendo.co.kr/nintendo_direct/index.html

@DavidHolliss That is the estimated release window, even though its extremely wide and unofficial.

@Spoony_Tech I guess I can see that point, I just wish people weren't such drama queens though. Now something like the Bravely Default or the Etrian Odyssey IV announcement were on much less stable ground, but people have to trust that Nintendo has their back with the MH series, since all of the games that appeared on Nintendo consoles have gotten released in the west.
The release in South Korea is a pretty big thing though, as there are many fans of the MH series in that country, but console game releases are really inconsistent.

@Ecto-1 Isn't the Nintendo Direct about previously announced 3DS games?

Anyway, here's a bit of a word to those getting angry/sad about not having a MH4 release date (only a little more than half a year after getting the giant behemoth of a game that is MH3G/3U), unlike a western release, a release in South Korea isn't a sure thing.

Ugh, Puzzle and Dragons, or Pazudora as we're used to calling it here in Japan, is soooooo heavily advertised. I've seen more money put into the ad campaign for that game than some big console games. The thing is, it looks really generic too, but everyone knows about it because commercials and print adverts are everywhere...

It is possible that this is either a temporary removal, or they are removing it for a different reason other that discontinuing it (update, though since its only in one region i doubt that).

I second (or third, or eighth) the GBA games idea. I would love to have them on the 3DS. Truth is, even just looking at the GBA Ambassador games list, I'd gladly buy them all, as they're great games. I'm thinking its an eventuality, even if its not for the current handheld console, it has to be a reality sooner rather than later.

Also, the Japanese VC/e-shop really has been putting in the extra effort lately. I mean, we're even getting Mighty Switch Force next week! I know that doesn't seem like much, but its not common for us to get non-Japanese developed games on the 3DS like that. I mean I know its took a long time for us to get many western developed VC games as well (at least until the GBC Rayman game).

@Capt_N I do know that the Japanese VC is fairly different than the western versions. We do have set schedules, as well as consistent pricing that is very easy to understand and always rounded off. FC/NES games at 500 yen, GG games at 300 (very cheap!), GB games at 400, and GBC games at 600. It never changes!

Mini report from Japan! We've been getting a healthy dose of new games for the GG, GB and GBC recently. I'm pretty happy with it.

Wait. I'm confused. What exactly is this game? Isn't this basically a Kunio-kun game? Because we've been getting new entries of that series on the 3DS in Japan except the backgrounds are much more detailed and there's a lot of different playable characters. We just got a 3rd 3DS game in August.
So...what is this then? A different take by a different company? Why is this being done by on kickstarter is there's official games coming out in Japan that they can just localize?

Joysound is a fairly huge Karaoke chain here in Japan.

I guess many Japanese are used to some lyrics in western songs, especially by certain artists as being dirty, or controversial. Many Japanese songs, even ones by artists that consider themselves "hardcore", don't have lyrics like this. Plus the concept of "swearing" is very different in Japanese, almost non-existent except for a few instances but I've almost never seen those words used in music.
I can see how Joysound might not censor the game properly or at all if the censorship was left up to them, or even to Nintendo of Japan, but NoA or NoE should cover the censorship in their regions if their customers might find it offensive.

With how common this is, I don't think its melodramatic. Plus, its still illegal when it does happen. I remember several of the Mario knockoffs and sometimes straight up emulated Mario games that appeared not too long ago.

Its not an actual separate character. This picture is up on the website, but he wasn't added to the character roster like the other reveals.
It makes total sense, and just like what ninjapenguin1 said, this could happen with the Villager too. I'm actually thinking it might happen for the pokemon trainer as well, since they're all games that feature non-gender specific roles that can be given any name by the player.

@LUIGITORNADO That's completely your opinion. I love my 3DS, and am saving up for the LL. Please don't assume your opinion speaks for everyone.

@Titanics Honestly, I don't agree with your opinion, but what I can agree with is that Sonic's popularity has long since faded, especially in Japan. He was popular in the master system/genesis era.

@ValentineMeikin Back before the Wii U came out, I was telling everyone that, even just looking at the press materials, that it would fail badly. To me it looked like a system that was geared for westerners. Many younger Japanese just starting out that play games don't have huge living rooms, or the need for multiple accessories to play their games. The fact that one can watch TV and play a game, or move it to family style and play together seemed like a cute idea, but with the current Japanese lifestyle it just totally didn't fit. Many Japanese people get married older, and up until that time live in smaller apartments, usually alone (like me), or they live with their usually much older parents. There's no way the style of this hardware would fit. I work with children a lot, and I've never heard of them sitting at home playing their games on a huge tv, or with their parents. Its also one of the reasons that the XBOX and the Kinect was completely ignored here, it just doesn't fit.
Add all of that to the fact that many Japanese have long commutes to work, and it all equals to them choosing portable systems instead of big bulky consoles that take up space.
I think what keeps the PS3 in the charts is the fact that it is a simpler sell. No gimmicks (other than the Move, but that seems like it isn't totally necessary), plus for many Japanese who want to play big giant RPGs or even western style games like GTA, its a good fit.

I think Nintendo should have foreseen this, since it has all been part of a growing trend for years. I mean, to me its totally fine if they want to try to make a home console that fits the western market if its obvious that most Japanese are going to go with the portable option, and that has been proven with the 3DS since its the biggest console this generation, but then that makes the Wii U look like even more of a gamble.

I don't think Nintendo needs to do anything with the other companies, but what they do need to do it to put more of their efforts to the console that they know will succeed. Just look at the numbers. The 3DS (in both its forms, or even separate), always outsells the Vita and PSP.

@KrazyBean The genesis/master system games sold well, but the last time a Sonic game had a well-received game debut in Japan was back in the days of the Dreamcast, with Sonic Adventure.

But really, with the mediocre reviews for Lost World (and recent titles as a whole), are people that shocked that the game didn't pull him out of the ditch he was in? And the game was actually reviewed a little better by the Japanese critics. His reputation is fairly bad though.
Oh yeah, and if you want to count the Olympic games as Sonic games, those do fairly well in Japan.

@ShadowFox254 Not a factor, since this is a Wii U game and those are 3DS games. But what IS a factor is the low sales of the actual console, and the limited knowledge that people have of Rayman here. Also, I've seen next to no advertisement for this game at all.

And please people, can we keep this about the game. I'm detecting some comments that are nearing trolling and somewhat rude. I know I'm one of the only Japanese citizens on this site, but still.

@gingerbeardman&Mooglemuffins Don't generalize too much. Actually Studio Ghibli has more in common with European animation than Japanese in many cases (many Ghibli films are pseudo-European inspired), and some French films do quite well here.
The thing is, Rayman is just not well known here at all. I kinda forgot he even existed. Its pretty obscure, and considering the poor performance of the WiiU, that only makes it worse.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see an amazing short film done in a French animation style, there's the beautiful Oscar winning short film La Maison en Petits Cubes by Japanese animation company Robot.

How about an actual Mario Galaxy 3 or Mario Galaxy Wii U. That game and its sequel were probably the best advancement that the Mario series had in terms of graphics and style that the series had in a long time. Also, with the Galaxy theme, the games could basically have any sort of levels that they wanted, even ones that played with gravity and space as much as they wanted. With Mario 64 it seems they were mostly sticking to a certain kind of reality, but in the Galaxy series, it was way more open.

Whether they keep the same story as the previous Galaxy games is irrelevant (though I like Rosaline/Rosetta as a character), I just like the freedom they had to create the most interesting and innovative worlds ever.

Just wondering, since this article doesn't mention that, and (as is often the case), the wording on the rewards tiers and what is an add on, what is an exclusive for backers, and what is part of a stretch goal seem to be not completely clear in some areas. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they can't edit the rewards tiers after the original posting, but can talk about added rewards in updates.

But it doesn't seem like Earthworm Jim will be DLC for everyone to play, just a reward for backers.

Wasn't it said that Earthwork Jim will only be available to people who pledge a certain amount of money as a reward, and not a normal part of the game?

Its all good. I'm hoping that both games make their goals, which is why I wanted to bring it to the attention of the writer of this article, in the hopes that he'd write an article for Knite and the Ghost Lights. Any publicity that game can get will help, especially since its in its last week of funding. I've seen a lot of games on kickstarter get nearly 50% of their funding in the last few days though.

Even though I live in Japan, and might never get to play these kickstarter games, its fun to help people out

@AndyGreen If you want an idea for another game you can promote on here, there's another current Kickstarter project that could use some attention.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2011341880/knite-and-the-ghost-lights

I found this earlier today. Knite and the Ghost Lights. Very charming with the look of a stop-motion animation film. Wii U is among their target consoles.

After watching a few kickstarters come and go, I honestly don't think 375,000 is too far out of range. Its highly possible. Keep watching this one.

Just to confirm, no the Japanese player is not swearing in the video, he's just frustrated.

@Caryslan People shouldn't be so quick to generalize what sells in Japan and what doesn't. Remember, Skyward Sword actually did rather well in Japan, and Phantom Hourglass did really well.

People are always talking about the sales of Zelda games being low in Japan, when that's not true, Sonic games are harder to talk about in this way, since he's not really been a big seller for a long time. But that's not only the case in Japan now, is it? I think Sonic is unreliable as a franchise, and that's why many Japanese game buyers don't automatically go for his games, unlike Monster Hunter or Pokemon, or Mario, or depending on the console and the timing, Legend of Zelda. I say this because after doing some research, I've found that actually even though the console Zelda games do merely okay, the handheld Zelda's, including Ocarina 3D, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks were all high sellers. It seems that one of the things holding back Wind Waker HD might have been the console it was on. Hopefully this common expression about Zelda games in Japan can be put to rest.

I honestly don't know what will happen with Sonic Lost World. It just seems that, unlike our friends Pokemon and Monster Hunter, its just not easy to tell.

EDIT: I just did a post on the A Link Between Worlds thread comparing the sales for Wind Waker HD to other recent titles (WWHD's 30,000 versus, say Phantom Hourglass at 304,000, or the original Wind Waker at 360,000).

Just for fun I looked at the sales of all the Sonic games. Yikes...Saying that Legend of Zelda and Sonic are both low sellers is a huge disservice to the Zelda series. Other than the Olympic games titles, they are sell horribly, and I mean ALL of them.

Just compare Sonic Colors. The Wii version did first week sales of 4,301, and the 3DS did 2,944. Even just comparing that to Skyward Sword's 198,719, or Spirit Tracks at 306,830 is really unfair.

I wouldn't expect Sonic Lost Worlds to pull the Wii U out of its ditch. If any game was going to do that, it wouldn't be a Sonic game.

@AdvanVC I don't think the release of 3D Land was the sole reason that the 3DS turned around to become the biggest console in Japan, and a major player in the western market, There was a lot of factors.

@redsoul91 Japan doesn't really have a huge "holiday" shopping season like many western countries do. I wouldn't hold my breat for a sales hike on that day if we aren't getting one normally, unless a lot of huge games are coming out in December.

Like I said, more of the same. The top three console spots were taken by handheld consoles. Its just where Japanese gaming culture is, and has been leading to for quite a while. Its also one of the many reasons that Microsoft isn't a huge gaming presence here.

More confirmation that handhelds are where its at in Japan. Glad both 3DS models are doing well, with both doubling their sales from last week. Not surprising Tomodachi Collection and Animal Crossing are still on the top 20 after all this time.
Mario and Luigi still being there impresses me. I heard a lot of good things about the game. I'm tempted. Luigi's Mansion 2 fell off, but it was there for a long time.

Didn't the west just get 3G/3U not that long ago. You couldn't have finished it so fast as to be that frustrated with a wait for a release announcement for this one.
Anyway, this model looks really awesome, but I've already a place in my heart and money in my next paycheck for the black 3dsLL.

@unransomsan Dude, I'm a Japanese citizen, I know way more about this than you. Like I just said, its overly exaggerated, I didn't say it was untrue. I thought it was a bit offensive that you take a post that is about a Japanese train sim and automatically you talk about train groping, even though (since you know so much about it) this game takes place really far away from Tokyo all the way in Gifu and has nothing to do with that.

And come on, the Tokyo women's trains are not called "grope trains", that's a bit much. Couldn't you just let an article about a game dealing with trains in Japan be just about trains?

@Ernest_The_Crab Yeah, that would be nice.

What would be cool, and I highly doubt they would do this, is instead of color swaps for alternate costumes, they used actual alternate costumes for the characters, for example a few of the various Zelda designs, or maybe for Mario his different colors for his upgrades like the fire flower or metal mario.
Skyward Sword Zelda's design was cute for that game, but for fighting, showing a tough Zelda, the Twilight Zelda was the best.

Thinking we should get another character reveal soon, in the next week or two.
Not really sure what new characters will pop up, though I'm sure that Krohm or Lukina, (or is it Lucina? I don't remember the westernized names) should be revealed soon. I'd love for them both to be in.

What I'm really nervous about is the redesigned Zelda. I'd love for it to not be changed too much from the Wii version. That design was really cool looking. Skyward Sword's Zelda was a bit...you know, wimpy, especially compared with Twilight Princess' Zelda.