I nearly had to pick myself back up off of the floor after reading this. With little time left, Satoshi Kon drafted a letter to the world.

http://www.makikoitoh.com/journal/satoshi-kons-last-words

Thanks to SQ and Johnny for the link.

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It appears that talented anime director Satoshi Kon has left us at the age of 47. Two of his films in particular, Millenium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, are rare examples of movies I recommend to movie lovers that aren't necessarily anime fans. His other works such as Paprika, Perfect Blue, and the "Magnetic Rose" segment of Memories are all worth seeing as well.

Details are still sketchy; part of me hopes this is all some weird misunderstanding.

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Great article over at Boingboing, which is this obscure independent blog you've absolutely probably never heard of or been linked to. In the past five minutes or so, anyway.

So what happens when real Yakuza members play Yakuza 3?

I enlist the aid of a teenager to show the yaks how to actually play a videogame. Even then, it's tough going. Of the three reviewers, only Kuroishi manages to play it all the way to the end. Two of the three are missing their pinkies — in the old days, when a yakuza or his subordinates screwed up, they chopped off pinkies as an act of atonement — and this seems to affect their gameplay.

Overall, they gave the game high marks for accuracy.

"The breaded pork cutlet bento box is like mega power. More than ramen. That's accurate."

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Writing strategy guides based on pre-release versions of games is difficult, but that's how you get those guides on GameStop shelves by launch day.

Joseph Luster: "ROOM 212: It's a fairly dark void. Do not enter unless you wish to fall infinitely."

John Booty: "The Gatling Gun is as powerful as it is mysterious: this unearthly artifact is a single blue triangle with the words Note: Finish This hovering over it. What your opponents don't know is that you can use the 'i' in 'this' as an effective manual aiming scope."

Joseph Luster: "The final boss encounter has one incredible weakness. If you can get him to walk toward the STEEL WALL to his right, his face will, it appears, meld with the metal and get stuck permanently. Unfortunately, there is now no way to defeat him, but rest assured he won't be going anywhere. Turn off your console to end the game. Congratulations!"

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Do you know what I'm talking about? No, because there about fifty different Microsoft projects that could apply to. The latest example is the cancellation of their live, multiplayer game show 1 vs. 100.

Coverage can be found at Kotaku and the commentary from Penny Arcade is worth reading as well, as they made several appearances on 1 vs. 100 themselves.

The root problem at Microsoft is pretty easy to understand: the Windows and Office divisions of the company factually finance everything else they do. Nothing else has to succeed or make any money.

I mean, really? A product only available through Microsoft's $50/year gaming service, with tens or hundreds of thousands of users in a highly desirable demographic, couldn't make money? Really? Pretty much any online gaming entrepreneur on Earth would kill their parents for an opportunity like that.

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Relevant to your interests, maybe. Thanks to Violence_Jack-chan (who else?) for the tip.

Link: Original Reuters story.

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This country is highly flawed, but you know what?

I love this country so goddamn much and there's no place I'd rather be.

Happy Birthday, America.

I'm a bicentennial baby so I share a birthday with you! Except it's two hundred years later, and on a different day of the year.

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USA advances!

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The beach, my friends, is that way. Hey, it's more pictures from the best goddamn thing ever. And that thing was BootyCon 2010.

So tired. So very, very tired. Also so happy. What a great bunch of people.

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