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Japanese hospitals want Dementium off store shelves
Dementium: The Ward hit Japan this year (along with a colorful launch event for the game), yet is now enduring its first public outcry in the country. According to Yahoo! News (and Google's translation tools), the Japanese Association of Psychiatric Hospitals has requested that the title be removed from shops instantly, arguing that the game could instigate "discrimination and prejudice" against sufferers of psychiatric disorders. Interchannel distributes the game in Japan, and has yet to comment, but Mike Wilson of [U.S. publisher] Gamecock did proffer a view to MTV Multiplayer, stating that the criticism is down to a "lack of understanding or appreciation (and therefore fear of) games outside our little sub-culture." He also confessed to being "thrilled" by the extra attention the game has enjoyed as a result; as the game failed to penetrate the Japanese top 30, we know what he means.%Gallery-4929%[Via MTV Multiplayer]
Chi's Sweet Home is very sweet indeed
Chi's Sweet Home is a manga and anime series about a lost kitten who gets adopted by a loving family. Interchannel-Holon is turning it into a heartbreakingly cute DS game that combines comic-style storytelling and graphical text adventuring with adorable and weird minigames. Depending on the date, different minigames will be available, ranging from throwing a ball for Chi to ... kitten sumo? It also includes the requisite interactivity, allowing you to pet, feed, and otherwise care for little Chi.It's easy not to love the soulless, polygonal Nintendogs, but Chi's face could easily sway even the most stalwart pet-game hater. This isn't a standard pet game, in any case -- it's an adventure game starring a pet.
Asylums, nurses, and gore: Dementium's awesome Japanese launch event
Dementium: The Ward launches in Japan today, and Japanese publisher Interchannel-Holon could not have found a more perfect venue to promote Renegade Kid's horror title*. "Alcatraz E.R." is a novelty restaurant in Tokyo's Shibuya ward with a mental asylum theme where patrons must announce their blood type before entering. They are then handcuffed by girls dressed as nurses who serve up food in surgical trays and drinks in hospital drips.In other words, it's a totally amazing and ideal place for a Dementium promotion. Hit the break for more gory pics of the press-only event (our invites must have got lost in the mail). * Admittedly, they could have used an actual abandoned psychiatric asylum, but that probably comes with its own issues.%Gallery-4929%
Green game Ecolis now requires less green
With Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest already out in the U.S. and due for Europe on June 13th (interestingly, with the original Japanese title, Ecolis), there's no reason why anyone should import the Japanese game, right?Play Asia thinks differently and has marked down the environment-conscious RTS to an unbelievable $5! That's banoodles! Basically, starting today until next Tuesday, the game is now cheaper than most of the meals on Arby's menu! You could buy Ecolis/Eco-Creatures for less than the price of a chicken sandwich, a drink, and curly fries.Speaking of Arby's curly fries, how frickin' delicious are Arby's curly fries? Maybe you should go out and buy some anyway, that way you can eat them while playing Ecolis. It might cheer you up after hours of navigating the game's Japanese menus and frustrating controls.%Gallery-4106%
Premotional Consideration: Eco-Creatures
We usually wait until Sunday to post our Promotional Consideration pieces, but we already have something very special planned for tomorrow's column and we didn't didn't want to hold onto this Eco-Creatures: Save the Forest ad for too long lest you completely forget about the colorful game. The environment-conscious RTS's release went mostly ignored around these parts -- blame it on the rain Shiren the Wanderer. To make up for it, we've torn out and scanned a page advertising Eco-Creatures from this month's issue of Nintendo Power. Hit the "read" link or the image above for the full piece. The recycling arrows integrated into the screenshots are a nice touch!%Gallery-4106%
