I hope her next one is 'cute Chun-Li'

Boston-based artist Lindsay Small recently posted the following Street Fighter-inspired portraits on her blog, lindsaysmall.blogspot.com.

I'm not sure which is cuter: cute Ken or cute Ryu. For the time being, I'll go with the former--thanks to his cute quote ("I ripped my sleeves off") and his mushroom nose.

Small says she's thinking about "finishing out the cast." Here's hoping this talented artist does so sooner rather than later.

(Via capcom-unity.com)

'Gaming heads to a new chapter'

That's the official slogan of this year's Tokyo Game Show. It matches up nicely, I think, with the event's "main visual," created by Japanese illustrator Ippei Gyoubu.

Gyoubu's past clients include Konami and Sega, according to gamesetwatch.com--which may be why the image above reminds so many gamers of the art featured in the Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio.

(Via andriasang.com)

I'm guessing Microsoft is going to call it "Gulp!" or "Yikes!"

"It" being the company's hands-free add-on for the Xbox 360, heretofore code-named "Natal."

Why do I think its official name will be "Gulp!" or "Yikes!"? Well, the word on the street is that the peripheral is going to cost a whopping $149 when it's released later this year (supposedly on October 26).

The same source suggests Microsoft will offer up a bundle that contains the motion-sensing camera and an Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299.

Both price tags seem a bit steep to me, but who knows--if the peripheral is sold with a killer app (i.e. not Ricochet), it could catch on no matter how much it costs.

(Via edge-online.com)

I'd like to say this means I (finally) have to get a PS3 ...

... but I already own the PS2 versions of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and, well, I usually don't "double dip" when it comes to games.

Still, I'm sure many Team Ico fans will do just that if, as is rumored, both titles are slapped onto a blu-ray disk and released for the PS3 early next year.

Unfortunately for those same fans, this suggests that team's latest effort, The Last Guardian, won't hit store shelves until sometime next spring or summer.

(Via thesixthaxis.com)

A free RPG, you say?

Acquire, the Japanese developer responsible for quirky PSP titles like 100 Million Ton Bara Bara (aka Patchwork Heroes) and Yuusha no Kuseni Namaikida (Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!), is sure to turn heads with its latest release, a dungeon crawler called Bakumatsu Revolution, and not because said release is a looker.

According to the latest issue of Famitsu magazine (by way of andriasang.com), when Bakumatsu Revolution hits the the Japanese PlayStation Store on June 25, it'll do so with a price tag of $0. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you--the four-player RPG will be free.

Unfortunately, this blurry scan contains the only (currently)
available screenshots of Bakumatsu Revolution.

What's the catch? Well, it seems that Acquire is aiming to turn a profit on the game by charging users for downloadable content, such as additional items and scenarios. Still, unless the DLC is amazingly overpriced, Bakumatsu Revolution should be a no-brainer of a download for PSP owners who enjoy the occasional dungeon crawler.

(Via andriasang.com)