Super Final Street Fight!

The Super Street Fighter IV new features drip-feed splurged ever so slightly this week, with not one, not two, but three new characters unveiled for the next instalment in Capcom's scrapper.

Busting out from the original Street Fighter game and the Street Fighter Zero/Alpha series is Muay Thai fighter Adon, an annoying screamer of a character who I've never got on with. By the looks of things, I will have no desire to address that situation.

More exciting for me is the inclusion of Final Fight legends Guy and Cody, who have also appeared in the SF Zero series. Guy is a ninja, so he's a guaranteed winner in my eyes, while his jailbird chum Cody is a street brawler. But you already know this. At least someone would, if anybody was reading. Good grief.

New trailer below, with the three newly announced pugilists, plus the previously unveiled Juri, T Hawk and *spit* Dee Jay.

Still hoping to see Makoto or Ibuki from Street Fighter III, but we'll just have to wait I guess. Fingers crossed!

Strobo Nights in thigh high socks

Been meaning to post up Strobo Nights to my blog for ages, as I like to have my fave J-tunes on here so I can find them easily. Decided there was no time like the present and tapped in the title to YouTube. Got the usual returned files, but something new caught my eye. And here it is.

No idea who this girl is, but she gets points for cute dancing, points for bunches, and bonus points for thigh high socks. If only the X-Factor was more of this and less shitty Mariah/Cheryl/Robbie wannabes, I might actually have something to watch on a Satruday evening. A man can dream!

J-pop earworm of the week: Utada Hikaru - Travelling

I've had a shitty few weeks, with this current one being the worst of all. House sale falling through, house purchase collapsing because of it, and a death in my wife's family have kinda sucked the fun out of life.

Luckily I've got tickets for Hikki's February London show at the Islington o2, so there's some light at the end of this particularly dark tunnel, and I can't bloody wait. I'm already mentally preparing a dream set list, but tbh as long as she does Hikari and Travelling, I'll be a very happy boy.

So here, for all the people who don't actually read this here occasional blog, they are. The video for Travelling has more than a touch of New Order's "Blue Monday" about it, but I won't hold that against it...

Mari Yakuza!

Fast becoming the ex-Momusu of choice for Japan-o-phile gamers (i.e. me) Mari Yaguchi expands further on her gaming credentials by appearing in the forthcoming PS3 title Ryu Ga Gotoku 4, or Yakuza 4 as it's known over in the West.

Everybody's (i.e. me) favourite pint sized j-starlet already provides a column for Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, and has a long running obsession with Dragon Quest on her DSi. She's also no stranger to videogames, having appeared in digitized form in the Morning Musume Space Venus game for PlayStation 2, and in chibi form in the Mini Moni Shakatoo De Tambourine and Mini Moni Step da Pyon games on PSone. For my sins, I own them all. Good grief...

This is the first time she'll play a character other than herself though, appearing as a therapist in a massage parlour in the Yakuza game. Although she's still called Mari, so it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for her midgesty.

Here she is in the game, and in real life. Not a bad likeness, although maybe that head is a wee bit too big...

Fortunately, it's not likely to arrive on these shores (the third instalment never did), and I don't have a PS3 anyway, so I'm safe from the wife's wrath for now...