Here's a word for you: wasamon. Don't bother trying to look it up in your Japanese-to-English dictionary -- you won't find it in there. In fact, most Japanese won't understand what you're saying if you bandy this one about. This is one of the few words which I can guarantee are unique to the Kumamoto dialect of Japanese. It means something like "people who buy things only because they are new and interesting." It can also refer to the quality of being new and interesting, or to the stuff that's new and interesting.

While the word isn't widely used, the concept of wasamon is evident whenever you walk into a convenience store or supermarket. No matter what the time of year, there will always be something new and seasonal on sale. Very often, it'll be something that you really wouldn't think about buying, but then again, there's this compulsion to get things just because they're "limited time only"...

And really, how else would you explain the plethora of KitKats, soft drinks, or *shudder* Pepsi's Cucumber Mist soda? That the last item on that list made any sales at all is a testament to the power of wasamon.

I was introduced to the term after I bought a bottle of the new Pepsi White yogurt-cola soda, just out of curiosity. For the record, while it's not that good, it's still light-years better than Cucumber Mist.

A maid? A maid. A maid. A maid! Everybody ought to have a maid, everybody ought to have a serving-girl, a loyal and unswerving girl, to putter around the house...

Okay, kudos to anyone who can tell me what I just made a reference to.

The Japanese fetish for maid outfits is both well-known and fairly disturbing. Like it or not, it tends to find its way into every imaginable niche of the gaming market, and not even the newest of technologies is safe. Ever hear of "augmented reality technology"? It's the term for when live video imagery is altered and presented with a combination of real and virtual components-- practically in realtime, three dimensions, and interactive. An example would be the way they put down lines and other markers on the field during football games to show where the first down was, for the benefit of the viewing public. Other areas of research combine webcameras and special add-on technologies which, when seen through the camera and specific software, well.. let's see for ourselves:

Meet Cyber Figure Alice, a fully virtual mini-maid. The primary hardware involved is the little cube on which she stands. That part goes wherever you wish. When the camera's on, however, your computer screen has more to show. With the standing cube and the pointer stick, you can interact with little Alice however you wish (which, given the extent of the Japanese fetish, can be taken to some disturbing levels). She can be poked, prodded, undressed, redressed, and for all intents and purposes molested -- all the while being saccharinely cute. Beyond the cube items, there are also various cards which carry their own virtual identities and with which little Alice can interact in a variety of ways. But don't take my word for it, see for yourself.

I would say "get a girlfriend," but I'm kind of afraid to see what the programmers might do with a suggestion like that....

In all the worlds of Final Fantasy, few villains stand out the way Kefka Palazzon does. This guy's got it all -- creepy laugh, maniacal wardrobe, blind obsession, complete lack of moral compass, and quasi-divine magical powers. Bonus points are awarded for successfully breaking the world like an egg and then remaking it in his image (cracked, warped, and steadily losing sanity). He's been the subject of much fan art and fan fiction -- some of it halfway decent, if I do say so myself. If any one villain can steal the show in Square Enix's upcoming Dissidia, it's this guy.

But who to pit against him? Of the sixteen or so playable characters from Final Fantasy VI, half of them have a grudge to settle. There are his fellow generals whom he betrayed, the two brothers whose castle he burned, the member of the rebel organization he crushed, the knight whose family and kingdom he poisoned... Really, this guy knows how to make enemies. Programmers are fans, too, and like most Japanese fans would do, they went with the easy choice -- the girl who transforms into a naked glowing purple chick. Really, wouldn't you do the same?

The game's story mode looks a little weird, as much a chessboard as it is a battlefield. As your characters manouever around, they fight monsters, gain items or money, or even find powerful summoning spells. All this consumes Destiny Points, which can be augmented by performing certain tasks -- possibly dependant on the square on which your character is located. There seem to be plenty of story sequences and villains from various games participating.

Only a few weeks to go till this one is released, so I guess we'll know more soon.

When last we looked at Destiny Links, Bandai-Namco's upcoming game for the DS, we met a choice of playable characters: the street urchin, the minstrel, the alchemist, and the mechanic. This time around, we get to meet four more.

The treasure hunter in the upper left of the cast page is working for a mysterious patron, and tries to grab what he can, when he can. The privateer opposite him isn't much nicer, though I like the nod to Cap'n Jack Sparrow. The medic is a student of the Royal Academy, and is looking to sharpen her skills and get some nice samples to help with her graduate thesis. The Royal Cadet had barely taken her place in the Queen's Guard when Her Majesty sent her on a wild goose chase to Amazia. More and more, it's looking like each character has an actual story connected to them, despite the lack of names. I wonder at the point of assigning specific ages to characters, though.

Your eight playable characters have six choices of equipment to wield. One-handed weapons hit fast but not hard, while two-handed weapons are the opposite. Guns hit from afar but need line of sight. Musical instruments have a shorter range, but affect the entire area around the player. Science books allow access to all sorts of wonders, while medical texts patch things up when it all hell breaks loose. Each character has a particular preference for various equipment, but if necessry you can equip them with pretty much anything.

Finally, what exploration game would be complete without the shovel? If it's gems and ore you want, you'll have to dig for it.

Dimple games is taking the term "net troll" into a whole new direction with the main characters of Net Ghost Pipopa! Pipopa@DS.adv. Based on the anime by TV Tokyo, this action title revolves around little digital imps who run around fighting Net Monsters and, as a side-effect, ridding systems of bugs and viruses.

We mentioned Gadget Robo a while back. Well, it's going to be on sale sometime in the next week or so, and now we have screenshots for you. Enjoy.

I don't have much to say here, apart from wishing my loving girlfriend a happy birthday. I am forever grateful that she continues to put up with my nonsense, most of the time.

And that's the news from Hi-no-Kuni,

Your man in Japan,

Gaijin Monogatari