I'm seriously considering picking up one of these Monster Hunter 4 'face covers' for my 3DS XL

The question is: which one should I buy? (Assuming I wind up buying either of them, of course.)

I'm currently leaning toward the one on the right, by the way--which, according to the folks at play-asia.com, is the "Postman Version."



Should any of you want to purchase one or both of these adorable 3DS LL/XL "face covers," the "Postman Version" can be pre-ordered here, while the "Otomoairu Version" (the green one) can be pre-ordered here.

Oh, and both will set you back just $19.90 (apiece) when they're released on Sept. 14.

An idea I could really get behind: Kevin Bolk's Manimal Crossing comic

Sadly, the above-mentioned idea is "just" a one-off, Animal Crossing-inspired comic that was created by cartoonist Kevin Bolk at the moment.

Who knows, though--maybe Bolk will create a whole series of Manimal Crossing strips (pun intended) if this first one really takes off.



To see more of Bolk's work, by the way, visit kevinbolk.com and/or kevinbolk.deviantart.com.

(Via mascotcomic.com)

Super Dead Mario

I love pretty much every aspect of the following piece of art, produced by the always creative Oskunk, but my favorite part, it has to be said, is the mushroom with the X-ed out eyes in the lower-left corner.



To see some more of Oskunk's wicked (I mean that both literally and figuratively) creations, check out his Flickr photostream and/or his blog, Custom Art.

Box art déjà vu

A few weeks ago, the folks at Nippon Ichi opened the proverbial floodgates related to its upcoming (it'll be released in Japan on Sept. 26) PS3-based ARPG, Arcadias no Ikusa Hime.

Shortly after it released a bunch of stunning screenshots of this Odin Sphere-esque game, in fact, it also unveiled its beautiful box art:

Call me crazy, but the first thing that came to mind after I stumbled across the box art above was the imagery that will front Japanese copies of another coming-soon-to-a-store-near-you PS3 title, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Granted, this kind of "arrange all of the game's characters in a circle" design is hardly new--see the cover art produced for Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, among others--but I was still a bit shocked when I realized just how similar the two examples above are to one another.

See also: 'Let's Play: Which Box Art is Better? (Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn edition)'

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Week Four

Last week was another noteworthy one for the residents of Animachi. Case in point: Mayor Aino found the village's first mushroom growing beside one of its many "special" tree stumps.

She also shot down its second golden slingshot. (Bryan nabbed the first a week earlier.)

As for Bryan, he was stoked to stumble upon the Able Sisters working away on the rainbow shirts that surely will be worn by Animachi's citizens during its upcoming gay pride festivities.

Speaking of gay stuff: Bryan paid a visit to Dunwich (of The Dunwich Hoarder fame) early in the week so he could spend some time ogling the muscle-boy signs that sit outside Mayor Terry's pad.

While there, he discovered that someone named Butch will soon move into town--and then made a mental note to return with "housewarming gifts" (let your imaginations run wild) as soon as that happens.

Bryan also make the trek to Mamemura, the village maintained by Anne of the Chic Pixel blog, last week.