For the next few days, Japanese import site J-List (aka J-Box for those younger than 18) has a buy-two-get-one-free offer.

From now until December 31, 2009, purchase any two games through the J-List website and you’ll automatically receive the adult dating sim game Snow Sakura (Windows, $29.95) free. If you’ve already purchased the game and buy two new games, you’ll receive a $15 store coupon instead. It appears the coupon will be good for any J-List or J-Box products.

JAST USA has also announced that the V-Mate authorization system for downloaded products has been eliminated…

It’s been way too long since I posted an update of the game-related and generally interesting items being offered at Japanese import site J-List and under-18 site J-Box.

To help bring everyone back up to speed, here’s a big bullet-point list of notable items currently offered on the site. Most are DS and PSP games as well as many figures based on various Japanese dating-sim games, so expect some professionally sculpted skin when you click through

The PlayStation 2 may be the role-playing game (RPG) giant today, but it wasn’t always so. Back in the early 1990s the Super Nintendo, aka the Super Famicom, was undoubtedly the place to go for a large variety of solid RPGs. It featured great games like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, Lufia, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG and Ultima. That may seem like a long list, but there were even more great RPGs which didn’t make it stateside.

At this point, it is possibly pointless to look for some of these old classics. They might occasionally pop up on eBay, but its not worth selling a kidney or lung to buy them. There are shady ways of acquiring these titles, but that isn’t recommended as it is illegal.

Today Important Importables honors Live A Live, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, Star Ocean and Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon: Another Story.

So now that the holiday has come and gone, you may be a bit upset as your Christmas grab bag was sadly lacking when it came to visions of video game goodness. A recent Play-Asia update has the cure if you’re a fan of the popular courtroom drama that is Phoenix Wright. One item is more »

Yes, the DS is a unique little handheld system, but it apparently isn’t unusual enough for some Japanese video game developers and publishers. They decide that it isn’t enough for their games to just have touch screen support, they need to branch out into uncharted territories. They need crazy, potentially useless, peripherals.

When compared to other handheld systems across the ages, the DS has acquired a collection of the most outlandish devices ever to be jury-rigged onto a system. So far the only useful additions have been a web browser and TV tuner, and sadly the TV tuner only works with Japanese television stations.

Not all of the peripherals are as insane as the others. It is a gradual slope from a cute gimmick to what-were-they-thinking. The thing is that the success or acceptance of one outlandish peripheral seems to encourage the creation of another.

So let’s look through the DS’s sordid past and discover just what people have been shoving into the GBA slot. Our journey begins with the Oshare Mahou Love and Berry card reader, and will take us through the Otona no DS Kao Training camera, Slide Adventure: Mag Kid slide controller and far too many Arkanoid DS paddle controllers.

For hardcore gamers a rare, imported game could make their holiday extra special. The only problems are that there are tons of games out there and they can be pretty pricey. Also the key is to find a game which is easy to play even if the only Japanese you know is “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto.”

So, for this installment of Important Importables, I’ve put together a small compilation of Nintendo DS, PSP, Playstation 2, and Xbox 360 import games which are sure to delight any gamer. You’re probably wondering why there aren’t any Wii or PS3 games listed here though. The fact is that there really aren’t that many games for those two systems in Japan that aren’t already available here. If there is a game that isn’t available here yet, it will be in a few months. Its pointless to import something when waiting two or three months will yield the same game, only in English and probably $20 cheaper.

Welcome to the first installment of Important Importables, a new column that will appear exclusively on Gamertell. Each weekend, Jenni Lada will point and stare like a giddy tourist at some the best, weirdest or simply her favorite videogame goodies not sold in the US. So get your PayPal password ready and clean out your more »

It is no secret that Facebook has sold out, capitalizing on it’s success to try and make more money. (Not many more features though. Of course it already is enough like Myspace as it is.) A new kind of vendor is placing ads on Facebook for the first time though. On November 9, 2007, Renchi more »