NEWS: Sunday Update

Big exciting news from me for this week, my first official escapist feature is now live! The feature is about mechs in videogames. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I knew I was going to step on a lot of toes by not including every single mech game and anime, but I feel like I covered the most important stuff. Please check it out below, and I hope to be able to deliver more features in the future.

So I'm at week three of four weeks of straight elementary school and the summer vacation can seriously not come any faster. I'm dying here. It's great fun, the days go by quickly, and the kids are great (most of the time) but Lord Jesus am I exhausted at the end of the day. At least i'm getting plenty of exercise.

I'll be visiting Australia from the 2nd of August till the 12th, and I'll possibly be going on a roadtrip to Osaka and Hiroshima after that, so next month you'll probably not see too much of me.

Here's last week's news:

• Street Fighter IV DLC Adds Five New Characters

• Pokemon X and Y Trailer Reveals Some Version Exclusives

• The Power Jacket MK3 Is a Real-Life Aliens Power Loader

• New 3DS StreetPass Games Now Available on NA Systems

• Captain Olimar Will Return In The New Super Smash Bros.

• Viscera Cleanup Detail Is a Space Station Janitor Sim

• Team Fortress 2 Gets Massive Update

• Rockstar May be Making PC Ports of Its Latest Games

• League of Legends' Newest Champion is Lucian, the Purifier

• Nintendo Tried to Block Evo Streams

• Obsidian Would Love Another Chance at Fallout

• The Last of Us Sells Over 1 Million Units Per Week

• Vivendi May Siphon Funds From Activision Blizzard

• Gearbox Boss: More Borderlands and Aliens DLC Inbound

Story of the week:

• Level 5 Character Poll Seized by Trolls. Level 5 Rolls With it

Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!

NEWS: Sunday Update

PHEW! It's been a couple weeks since I last updated the blog! Really sorry about that, I've been in over my head at both of my jobs. At school, it's now week three of four straight weeks of elementary school. Anyone who's ever taught it knows that it's fun, but it's so exhausting! As for the Escapist, I've been commissioned to write a feature article about the history of mechs in videogames. Look forward to seeing that by the end of this week.

Last week, I went to Nasu Highland Park. It's a theme park near where I live that I shied away from going to for the longest time, because a friend of mine who has lived in Japan a lot longer than me told me it was "shit" and to "not bother." I'm really glad I disregarded that advice, because it turned out to be one of the best themepark experiences I've ever had! Sure, it wasn't as glitzy or glamorous as Disneyland, but it was half the price, had little to no lines, and still had some pretty freaking sweet rollercoasters.

Check out this video my friend Jerry made about the whole experience:

On to the last couple week's news posts! Sorry to give you such a big dump all at once:

• Xbox One's Launch Titles Include Dead Rising 3, Killer Instinct
• A Link Between Worlds Is Not a Sequel, But Not a Remake Either
• Xbox One Games Will Still be Playable When Servers Shut Down
• The Witcher 3 Features 36 Alternate Endings
• Update: Xbox One E3 Demos May Have Been On Windows 7
• Mad Max Won't be Set in Australia
• Smash Bros. Director Is Stressed Out Deciding The Roster
• 3DS System Update Brings New StreetPass Games
• Screen Australia Injects $6 Million Into Dying Games Industry
• Rumor: Game Sharing Coming To Steam
• The LEGO Movie Assembles in 2014
• Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Pulled From Stores
• Adam Orth To Give Speech On Online Toxicity
• DoTA 2 Ditches Beta Keys
• Bethesda Hasn't Given up Hope on Wii U, Vita
• Dragon Quest X is Coming to PC
• Wolfenstein's Hardest Difficulty Will Make You Cry Blood
• Armikrog Wii U Version is on The Table
• Undertale Dev: "Every Monster Should Feel Like an Individual"
• Update: Saints Row IV Refused Classification in Australia
• State of Decay Also Refused Classification in Australia
• Smash Bros. Director Justifies New Character Choices
• Broforce Unites 80's Action Bros In 2D Side-scrolling Broship
• Blood Dragon Sells Over Half a Million Copies
• Xbox One Designed "With Advertising in Mind"
• Kirobo Will be Japan's First Robot Astronaut
• BioShock Infinite DLC Info Coming Soon
• Nintendo Loses Complaint Against "wiiu.com" Owner
• Former Dev: WoW Has Killed the MMO Genre
• Diablo III Console Version Makes it Easier to Get Loot
• Walking Dead: 400 Days Out This Week, Free on Telltale Store
• Minecraft Version 1.6 Out Now, Adds Horses
• Worms Dev: Why Bother With DLC When You Can Have Mod Support?
• Journey Dev is Excited For Kinect 2.0
• Real-Life Resident Evil Simulator Comes To Universal Studios Japan
• Natural Selection 2 Adds Female Marines
• Pokemon X and Y Trailer Shows Off New Features
• American McGee on Publishers: "News Flash: Things Cost Money"
• Final Fantasy VII is Now on Steam (But Not in Japan)
• New Study: No Link Between Games and Anti-Social Behavior
• ESEA Faces Lawsuit Over Bitcoin Mining Scandal
• Skullgirls PC Beta is Now Avalaible
• Satoru Iwata Refuses to Layoff Nintendo Employees
• Razer CEO: No PS3 Accessories Because I Barely Play Mine
• Microsoft Struggles to Adapt Xbox One to Japan

Top three stories:

Ellen Page: Naughty Dog Ripped Off My Likeness

Nintendo Fans Fight For Region-Free Consoles

League of Legends Oceanic Servers Now Available

Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!

NEWS: Saturday Update

Hey guys. Getting back into the regular swing of things these days, nothing too special happened to me over the week. I'm heading in to Tokyo tomorrow to watch my friend Joe play Taiko at the "Sanja Matsuri," which is one of the three biggest matsuris (festivals) in all of Japan! I went to watch him play last year, and while the immense crowds were pretty claustrophobic, it did make for a great day. I also plan to go down to Akibahara in the morning, because apparently I hate having money.

Last year's Sanja Matsuri

Bit of Steve's Game Blog news today, you may have noticed a change in the title from "Saturday Roundup" to "Saturday Update." This is because I have a lot of friends and family that read my blog, but aren't too interested in videogames. So, I thought I would use these regular Saturday updates to post a bit of a recap of what I'm up to in Japan, such as what I've just written about the Sanja Matsuri. As well as giving something for those interested to read, I feel it also adds a bit more personality to what is otherwise just a list of straight-up news articles.

Anyway, without further ado, here are this week's news stories:

• Indie Devs Aren't Happy With Steam Greenlight
• Play With Nvidia's Lifelike Human Face Render
• Behold Detroit's Glorious RoboCop Statue
• Capcom Explains Why Ace Attorney 5 Is Digital Only
• 3DS XL Evolves Into Limited Eevee Edition In Japan
• You Can Play The Ace Attorney 5 Demo For Free (In Japanese)
• Nintendo Direct Airs Today, Focuses on Upcoming Wii U Titles
• You Can Play The Last Of Us While It's Still Downloading
• New Super Luigi U Gets Standalone Retail Version
• Robotic Boogaloo Is TF2's First Entirely Community-Created Update

Story of the week:

• Nintendo Suddenly Claims Ownership Of Many YouTube Videos

Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!

NEWS: Monday Roundup

Hey guys. I was back in my old stomping ground Nakagawa for a homestay/rice planting weekend, so I was unable to update my blog. I had a blast, I stayed with the families of two of my old students. We pretty much just hung out all weekend, playing videogames and watching movies. It really made me miss Nakagawa town, and also my own family back home.

Saki, "Mr. Grumpy," Tom-chan and Me

Sorry it's a bit late, but here's this week's stories:

• Netflix Debuts Arrested Development Season 4 Trailer
• Activision CEO Worried NextBox, PS4 May Have "Slow Start"
• Swindle Dev: How Can Consoles Improve Ties With Indies?
• Blizzard Confiscates Gold From Exploiters, Donates it to Charity
• The IT Crowd Gets Together For One Final Episode
• Original Sonic to Get "3D Classics"-Style Remake On 3DS
• Ubisoft Fires Assassin's Creed Creator
• Nintendo's Wii U Showcase is Too Cool For a Press Conference
• Patch 3.0 For SimCity Promises to Fix Traffic (Again)
• Valve Wants to Use Your Sweat as a Gaming Device
• Michael Biehn: Dev Already Has Blood Dragon Sequel In Mind
• Sony Exec: PS4 Versions of Multiplatform Games Must Be The Best
• Ex-Dreamworks Animator's Ghost of a Tale Shows Off Its Assets

Story of the week:

• Pedal-Powered Roller Coaster Features at Bicycle Theme Park

Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!

NEWS: Sunday Roundup

Hey guys. Yesterday I went to the Bicycle Theme Park in Gunma, so I didn't have time to do the Saturday roundup. Expect some awesome videos from my friend Jerry Jacobs in the coming week.

Now that I'm writing daily news stories for The Escapist, I've decided to collate all of the articles I post during the week right here on Steve's Game Blog! Here's this week's stories:

• Indie Dev Announces Official River City Ransom Sequel
• Refurbished 3DS Now Available From Nintendo's Official Store
• PhysX Real-Time Fluid Physics Are Crazy Realistic
• Helm's Deep is Coming To The Lord of The Rings Online
• Lost Spirits of Kael Is "a Mix Of Shadow of the Colossus and Dark Souls"
• Star Citizen Creator: Kickstarter Model Is Here To Stay
• PayPal Halts Crowdfunding Payments To Skullgirls Dev
• Futurama Has Been Cancelled (Again)
• Portable SNES Upgrades Play Famicom, Genesis, And GBA Games
• Mother 3 Fan Translation Team Offers All Assets To Nintendo
• New App Allows You To Take 3DS Screenshots

Story of the week:

• New "Winter" Biome In Upcoming Terraria Update

Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!

REVIEW: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)

Hey guys. I'm proud to show you my first, paid review for the Escapist magazine. This is the first of hopefully many reviews, stay tuned for more:

Review: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!