It’s a little weird, normally Japanese games start off in Japan and then localized into English later, but that’s how it’s shaking down. To make it up to Japanese audiences, Japanese gamers are getting a “HOPPER’S Edition” box set, including a DVD movie called “No More Heroes 1.5,” a fan book and soundtrack CD. Preordering the game will also net collecters the No More Heroes 2 “Erotica Comic.” That should go hand in hand with purchases from the No More Heroes lingerie line – no, seriously. There’s a lingerie line inspired by NMH.

The No More Heroes 2 box set will be available in Japan this October for ¥8,980 – or about $102 in U.S. Dollars.

[source] Famitsu

But recently, blogging on the Mistwalker site, the 47-year-old Sakaguchi claims that The Last Story “might be my last work,” stating that he’s poured all of his energy into it.

Could it really be? This IS the guy who’s “Final” series is currently up to 14 official installments, with certainly more on the way. But you never know, maybe Sakaguchi is ready to hang up his hat. Mistwalker has not seen the success with its games that he’d created at Square back in the day, and the guy may just be getting tired of it. 2006′s Blue Dragon was received with only moderate success at best, and while 2007′s Lost Odyssey fared significantly better, it doesn’t seem to have been enough.

If The Last Story really is Sakaguchi’s final fantasy, we can only hope it lives up to the standards and high bar he’s set over the years, so as to bow out on a positive note, and not just some mediocre offering somewhere in the middle. The guy’s been in charge of too many masterpieces to go out with a whimper and not a bang.

[source] Mistwalker

Preordering Sonic Colors for the Nintendo DS or Wii from Gamestop nets you this amazing/ridiculous Sonic the Hedgehog hat. Preorder hats are becoming more and more of a thing, considering similar deals happened with Scribblenauts’ Rooster Hat, and Persona 3 Portable’s Junpei Hat. Even Modern Warfare 2 came with headgear of some kind.

So who’s in for a Sonic hat? Would you even wear it? Would you wear it in public?

[source] Gamestop

Check out the trailer and see!

Disappointingly, the game doesn’t look nearly as vibrant as its concept art lead us to believe.

The game is set on an island, and specifically wealthy city that happens to be a strategic defense and transportation port and key to an empire. Within the island city resides a mysterious, magical power.

The Last Story is due for release this year in Japan for the Nintendo Wii.

[source] Nintendo Japan

But according to the Mainichi Daily News, the “mean” version of Mickey Mouse has been taken out of the game, because it didn’t click with focus testers.

“People don’t like it when you mess with Mickey,” said creative director Warren Spector. “We did a focus test that was really eye-opening for me. There was a biker dude saying, ‘Oh, I’d never play a Mickey Mouse game,’ and then we showed him images of a changed Mickey. I was sitting there thing, ‘You’re gonna love what we do,’ but he said, ‘No! Don’t mess with my childhood.’”

Now instead, when Mickey does something naughty, he’ll simply take on a smudgier, less clean look. Developer Junction Point revealed that there are possibilities that will lead to multiple endings of the game, so player’s choices might still impact the game more than we think. However, the game’s hero will look the same as he always has, without any real change at all.

“Sometimes you go too far to find out where too far is,” said Spector.

[source] Mainichi Daily News

This new GoldenEye isn’t being worked on by Rare and/or Nintendo, as the original was. Instead, it’s being developed by Eurocom and Activision.

It’s still a first-person shooter, and it’s still based on the 1995 Pierce Brosnan movie. But now, it features the Daniel Craig version of James Bond, and not just in likeness. The story also plays up an international banking crisis instead of a Cold War problem. But many of the situations are still the same, and players will travel to various locations around the world – a dam, a statue park and St. Petersburg, Russia where there will still be a chase involving a tank.

The levels in the new GoldenEye aren’t all recreations of the original levels either. In some cases the locations have been changed. In some cases, the events change. It’s almost like a what-if version of the original GoldenEye story.

Many of the classic weapons make a return, like the Klobb, though it’s been renamed the Klebb. And while they’re not in yet, sticky mines will most definitely be back. The health system has changed too, now Bond will regenerate health like pretty much every other FPS hero does these days.

In multiplayer, the maps will be familiar, but the layouts won’t be the same. It’ll be presented in four-player splitscreen, but will also feature eight-player online, and will have experience point/perk system, like Call of Duty. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk let  you move and aim, and waggle is your melee, but your different buttons will reportedly be mappable.

It’s important for folks to remember that this isn’t a 1 to 1 conversion of the original game. It’s both an update and in some ways a reinvention for modern times. It looks good, and early reports are saying it plays great, but nobody should go into this expecting to feel like they’re playing on their Nintendo 64 all over again. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

GoldenEye will be available as a Wii exclusive in November.

A sidescroller with an incredibly unique art style, where everything looks like it’s made from fabric and yarn, it’s going to be quite an interesting experience!

It’s slated for release in 2011.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 – Episode 1 is due out in the latter half of 2010 for pretty much every platform out there..