Spread the word: #Miiquality

Those of you who read my recent "Open Letter to Nintendo of America" should be well aware of the fact that I'm pretty peeved the company's upcoming--and otherwise completely enticing--3DS title, Tomodachi Life, presumably won't allow players' Miis to form gay, lesbian or bisexual relationships.

I'm not the only gamer upset by all of this, of course. A number of people in this NeoGAF thread about the game, for instance, also have admitted to being disappointed by it--with one of them being someone who goes (there and elsewhere) by the username of Tyeforce.

Tyeforce has done more than just express on an Internet discussion forum his displeasure with Nintendo of America's handling of the situation, though; in the last few days, he's started a movement, basically, that's centered around the theme of "Miiquality."


#Miiquality from Tyeforce on Vimeo.

The gist: if you'd like the brass at Nintendo of America to add same-sex relationships to Tomodachi Life, let them know by using the hashtag #Miiquality while on sites like Facebook and Twitter. (Or, as commenter Rob_in_Baltimore suggested here last week, you also can let them know by contacting them via the company's website or by signing this petition.)

Oh, and don't forget to show your support for (and stay updated on) this issue by following the Miiquality Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages--if you're so inclined, of course.

See also: 'The day we've all (or at least three or four of us have) waited for has arrived: Tomodachi Collection is coming to Europe and North America this June'

Say hello to my new Twitter header image

Those of you who frequent Twitter likely are aware that the site recently overhauled the design of its profile pages to make them look a bit more like the ones found on social-media rival Facebook.

I've avoided updating my Twitter profile page until now out of sheer laziness, but all of that changed last night because ... actually, I have no idea why it changed last night. Regardless, something prompted me to get off my butt and update my Twitter profile.

Sadly, my first attempts were kind of hideous (mostly due to my inability to find high-res images of certain Kuso Miso Technique illustrations). So, this morning I decided to make my own profile image. Not a Kuso Miso Technique-inspired one, mind you--I wish I were talented enough to do that, but I'm not.



No, the thing I came up with (above) is more of a doodle. Still, I think it's pretty cute--even if the rainbow flag being carried by the PC Engine on the left is a bit wonky. (The other systems are a Nintendo DS and a Sega Dreamcast, in case it isn't obvious.)

Anyway, head on over to my Twitter profile page if you'd like to see a much larger version of it. Or just go there so you and I can interact with each other in 140 characters or less.

See also: other gaming-related doodles I've whipped up over the years

Getting to know: Namco Gallery (GameBoy)

Remember how I posited in this recent post that the GameBoy version of Dig Dug never saw the light of day in the Land of the Rising Sun?

Well, it seems I was wrong.

Thanks to a helpful bit of cyber-sleuthing conducted by my Twitter pal Brian (aka iamnotagoomba, aka the guy behind the Japanese 3DS tumblog), I now know that the GameBoy version of Dig Dug was released in Japan--just not as a stand-alone title like it was elsewhere.

Instead, it was included on the second of the three Namco Gallery games that hit Japanese store shelves back in 1996 and 1997.

Each of these portable compilations contained four titles. The first Namco Gallery featured ports of Battle City, Galaga, Mappy and Namco Classic (a golf sim). The second included Dig Dug, Famista 4 (baseball), Galaxian and The Tower of Druaga. The third, Family Tennis, Jantaku Boy (mahjong), Sky Kid and Tower of Babel.

The fascinating thing about these ports is that although they're pint-sized--not to mention black-and-white, or rather green-and-white--versions of their arcade and console counterparts, they look and sound and play as much like the "real deals" as is possible given the hardware.

That's even more true when you stick one of the Namco Gallery carts into a Super GameBoy peripheral, as doing so injects each game with various amounts of color while also surrounding them with some pretty fabulous borders (see the screenshots placed throughout this post for evidence).

After dabbling with each of them over the last few days, my favorite so far is the second release--thanks mostly to the "New Dig Dug" mode that's included in Dig Dug.

The others are nice, too, though; especially the colorized versions of Galaga, Mappy (above) and Sky Kid.

See also: 'Four GameBoy titles I'm surprised never saw the light of day in the Land of the Rising Sun'

Cherry on top

Dublin-based Twitterer (and YouTuber) MechaGamezilla made my night (no, not in that way) last week when he drew Animal Crossing: New Leaf villager portraits for five of his followers.

My favorite of the bunch was his rendition of the punk-ish pup, Cherry:

His Ankha and Snake portraits (below and, er, below-er) are pretty awesome, too.

As for how they were created: MechaGamezilla shared with me that he began with pencil drawings on paper, then scanned them and colored them using Photoshop's pen tool.

To see his takes on Gaston and Muffy, check out the "photos and videos" section of MechGamezilla's Twitter page.

He likes Animal Crossing: New Leaf and he loves to abuse the screencap function

Those of you who frequent the comments section of this here blog (and to those of you who don't: why not?) may recognize the username Zaphod65.

Well, that same Zaphod65 has been posting silly, and even a bit saucy, Animal Crossing: New Leaf-inspired comics via Twitter for the last week or so, and as of Friday he's publishing them via a tumblog as well.

Here's an example of one that's both silly and saucy (in my humble opinion, of course):



To see more of Zaphod65's "The Dunwich Hoarder" comics (he's published nine as of yesterday), check out dunwichhoarder.tumblr.com at your earliest convenience.

And if your Animal Crossing: New Leaf itch hasn't been scratched after you finish perusing the above-linked tumblog, scroll through this recent blog post--devoted to my own playthrough of this uber-addicting 3DS title.

Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story fans take out their frustrations on Nintendo of America via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Well, it seems that a rather sizable contingent of North American Wii owners has had it with Nintendo's failure to localize its recent trio of top-shelf Japanese RPGs: The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade.

What are they doing about it? They're taking out their frustrations on the company via the usual channels--e-mail and snail mail, especially--but they're also doing so via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

For instance, nearly 3,500 comments in favor of a North American release for the above-mentioned games have been posted on Nintendo's Facebook wall in the last few days. Many similar comments have been aimed at the company's Twitter account thanks in large part to the folks behind Operation Rainfall.

Another way gamers are showing their support for a North American release of The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and Xenoblade: They're pre-ordering them (in the case of Xenoblade) and adding them (in the case of The Last Story and Pandora's Tower) to their wish lists on Amazon.com.

For more information on this campaign, check out this discussion thread at NeoGAF.com or click on the Operation Rainfall link above.

Yet another reason to love Hikaru Utada

While perusing Twitter yesterday, I was surprised to come across the following tweet from Japanese singer/songwriter/producer Hikaru Utada:

"I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day :) I spent the whole day playing Furai No Shiren 5 on my Nintendo DSi."

So, not only is Hikki cute, smart and amazing talented (click for proof), but she likes to play roguelikes? Sigh.

See also: 'I know it's a stretch ...' and 'Speaking of Utada ...'

Heartthrobs

Artist Curtis Bathurst recently CC'd me on the following tweet:

"When I was twelve, Earnest Evans was my 16-bit heartthrob."

Naturally, that got me thinking about gaming crushes. Honestly, I'm not sure I've had any. Of course, I've rarely fawned over actors or musicians, so maybe that's not so surprising.

Image taken from the splendiferous Segagaga Domain.

Still, I can understand why someone would consider a game character--especially a hunky one like Earnest Evans (above)--to be a heartthrob.

My question to anyone reading this, then, is: Have you ever had a crush on a game character? If so, which one(s)?

See also: 'Hubba hubba'

You say bento, I say brilliant

I love re-tweets. You know why? Because they make me aware of some awesomely random things, like the following Costume Quest bento box (created by the lady behind annathered.com):

(Software consultant and ludologist Jason McIntosh is responsible for the re-tweet that made me aware of the above-mentioned bento, by the way.)

Anyway, if you think Anna's Costume Quest bento is awesome, just wait until to see some of her other creations--like this Katamari Damacy bento, or this Noby Noby Boy bento, or this Tingle bento. (I also like this Pink Castle Crasher bento quite a bit.)

To see more photos of her Costume Quest bento (and her other bentos, too), check out her Flickr photostream.

Follow me

I know this is hard to believe, but I don't actually spend all of my time blogging about games or reading about them on other blogs. (Oh, or playing them.) Lately, for instance, I've been tweeting about them, too. (Don't tell the husband.)

What? You didn't know I'm on Twitter? Well, I am! Here's where you can go to follow me, if you're interested: 

https://twitter.com/thegaygamer

Speaking of following: If you're a regular reader of this here blog, you may want to do yourself a favor and click on the little "follow" button on the right side of the screen. (You may have to scroll down a bit to see it.)

Don't worry if you're not at all interested in following me on either site. I won't mind. OK, maybe I will--just a little--but I won't cry. At least, not much...

See also: 'Tweets of the day'

Tweets of the day

If you're like me and you follow a lot of gaming folks on Twitter, you've likely seen a lot of Kinect-related tweets in the last few days.

As a result, the following tweet from Ian Bogost (posted about an hour ago) literally made me laugh out loud:

"The amount of Kinect coverage is completely out of control and possibly irresponsible."

(Actually, one of the Kinect-related tweets he posted yesterday was even funnier: "Kinect is like an alpaca for your Chevrolet. A universal remote for your ficus. A kleenex for your toilet paper.")



This tweet, from Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander, also made me chuckle:

"Ladies and gentlemen, today, we are all controllers. But do we want to be?"

All kidding aside, are any of you buying Kinect today? If so, let me know what you think of it. I'm curious!

Marvelous may (finally) have a hit on its hands

Marvelous Entertainment has published a number of magnificent games in the last year or so, including Little King's Story, Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Rune Factory Frontier. Unfortunately, none of those titles lit up the sales charts in any region.

Well, the Tokyo-based company may finally have a hit on its hands with the recently revealed iPad title, Followars. After all, it makes use of everyone's favorite social networking service, Twitter.

Described as an "RPG-style fighter" by the knowledgeable folks over at 1up.com, Followars connects to your Twitter account and creates an in-game character based on your follow count, Tweet count and other bits of information.

"It plays out something like chess," designer Kenichi Nishi told Famitsu magazine recently. "Two players gather around a single iPad and battle each other. Depending on the results, you'll be able to earn experience points and have your characters improve their skills and such."

As of now, Followars is without a release date or price, though both are expected to be announced soon.

(Via andriasang.com and 1up.com)