Every once in a while, it’s nice to look back at a developer or publisher to learn more about them and acknowledge the good they’ve done in bringing people worthwhile games to play. A major player in Japan is Marvelous Entertainment. Surprisingly, people may not realize that Marvelous may have even had a hand in more »

Gamepark Holdings had an idea. It wanted to create a handheld device that could be used for gaming and other means, but also had no restrictions. The company was made up of workers from GamePark who had originally developed a handheld device of that nature called the GP32, and GamePark Holdings wanted to continue that more »

With visual novels suddenly starting to appear more often outside of Japan and Aksys’ latest risk undertaking the translation and localization of Fate/Extra, it seems like a good time to look at one of the best known and most popular visual novels out there, Type-Moon’s Fate/stay night. This first commercial already famous doujin creators of Tsukihime managed to be such a success, despite its original release as an adult bishojo game, that it ended up crossing over and becoming an all-ages hit, as well as inspiring a manga, anime, light novels and additional games….

Sometimes, import games and consoles aren’t the right gift. I mean, the language barrier could be too much to overcome. Plus, they’re usually twice as expensive as a game from North America. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for easy to find items though. There are tons of fun little gadgets and goodies from Japan that don’t need any translation to love! And, so you don’t have to sift through all of them, I did!

So here we go, with a pretty brief look at six different items that would work as gifts for the picky people on your list who won’t be satisfied with a gift that’s easy to find and from their own country!

The holiday season is fast approaching, which means it’s time for an Important Importables tradition. Yes, it’s time for our gift guide extravaganza. We’re starting off, as always, with our portable games gift guide. All of the following are import games you may want to pick up for a special someone.Now, before we start, don’t expect to see any 3DS games. The system is region-locked, which makes importing a pain. You’d actually have to make sure the person you’re buying for has a Japanese 3DS or actually buy them a Japanese 3DS to go with the import game. It’s a hassle, so we’re only focusing on the region-free import DS and PSP games this year that can play on any DS or PSP, regardless of where you originally bought it…

Otome fans all throughout North America rejoiced when Aksys announced it would bring us Idea Factory’s PSP game, Hakuoki: Shinsengumi Kitan as Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. 2012 is still a long ways away though, and that’s how long we have to wait before we’ll actually get to play it in English. In the meantime, here’s a brief recap on Hakuoki to help get you up to date on the series, anime and real Shinsengumi.

We’re now in the generation of hard drives, SD cards and even the occasional memory stick when it comes to backing up game saves. It almost makes it hard to believe that a few years ago the standard method was memory cards, plastic blocks gamers would shove into consoles or controllers so they could save their game progress. At the time, memory cards were the thing. They offered a sense of freedom gamers hadn’t had before, allowing them to take their game progress on the go with them, not bound by on-cartridge memory or those loathed passwords.

Some companies decided that maybe they should take memory cards a step further. Not only have these devices hold onto our valuable game data, but allow them to be game playing devices as well. The results were Sony’s PocketStation for the PlayStation and Sega’s Visual Memory Unit for the Dreamcast. Sony’s PocketStation crashed and burned, while the VMU could be helpful, but never really reached the iconic status Sega hoped for. This week, let’s learn a little more about both of them…

If you’ve played any Japanese video games, you’ve likely been exposed to Japanese pop and rock. After all, companies like to use popular songs, or songs from popular artists, as the themes for their games. Every once in a while in Important Importables, it’s nice to highlight some of the bigger artists. These are people that are exceptionally talented performers, whose music you may have been exposed to and not even realized it. This week, we’re taking a quick look at Ayumi Hamasaki, a pop singer who’s been a powerful and influential figure in the music, entertainment and fashion business in Japan since her start in 1998.

Kurayami no Hate de Kimi wo Matsu is undoubtedly unique. It’s not often you find a dark, serious adventure game about a serial killer that also has dating simulation aspects. Honestly, it’s probably the first and, while there are a few minor disappointments, it offers a really intriguing experience to anyone willing to play. Just brace yourself if you decide to take a route where the heroine sides with the villain.

For an indie, Japanese computer game that’s seven years old, Cave Story has carved quite a place for itself in the hearts of gamers. If you try it, it’s easy to see why. The solid story, gameplay and quality of even the original release are what makes it such a memorable adventure. While the basic fundamentals are relatively simple, there are plenty of secrets that make the original worth playing. Meanwhile, the more modern adaptations also have their own little hallmarks that have helped endear this surprising game to a new audience.