Happy Birthday Helena!

Did you know January 30th is Helena’s birthday? I know now thanks to the Dead or Alive 4 calendar I got for pre-ordering the game.

I was thinking of other DOA4 related items to go along with the birthday news when I happened across this Geekonstun post. It shows some amazing shots from this Japanese videogame panties site. I wrote a post a while ago on an old work blog about the unusually plentiful variety of undergarments Team Ninja likes to include in their games. In it, I posted a panties pic of unkown origins, but now I finally know where it’s from. So here’s a belated credit to the hard workers at Pantser! You have to admire the artistic lengths Pantser must have gone through to capture Ayane’s reflection in the water pic below.


Although there are indeed panty shots-a-plenty in the game, the action moves fast enough where you’re never getting the leeringly long looks and details of these shots.

So where do panty designs fall in the world of Costume Get? I’ve included them when factoring certain costume rating before, but the DOA4 ones fall more squarely into the fetish category. “Isn’t obsessing over the costumes of game characters a fetish too?” Perhaps. But the world is all about blurred lines.

Um, yeah, so Happy Birthday Helena!

Rumble Roses massive costume upgrade

The original Rumble Roses had two costumes (four counting color variants) per character. Not that great. As regular readers know, I’ve been keeping tabs on the upcoming Xbox 360 version and had thought we were looking at maybe four to eight (if they did color swaps again) this time out.


To my surprise, there are going to be many more, including the ability to create your own character. By looking over recent videos, each character looks to have at least four more in addition to their character personality specific set of four. You can customize said outfits, and also adjust the wrestler’s body attributes. Yes, you can make the gals more top heavy, but I really like how you can make them more toned and muscular. A perfect compliment to a great outfit.


My favorite screenshot is the one above. Japanese vs. US schoolgirls. Nice.

My big concern is how over-the-top the sexuality in the game is, even more so than the original. It’s going to be hard to find play time in the house that’s for sure.

Rival Schools!

Capcom’s Rival School games (known in Japan as Justice Gakuen) featured a wacky cast of characters and outrageous fighting action, but never made much impact here. If you’re one of those dedicated few who love it, some new capsule toys are coming out in Japan this April. The costumes of the characters are hugely popular among cosplayers with good reason. They are eye catching in that somewhat familiar, but weird and sexy at the same time way (that’s a mouthful).


ne of my daily online addictions is checking on the Akiba blog. It’s like a good friend hitting all the cool stores in Akihabra and telling you in words and pictures what’s out there. A dynamite figure of Koyori from the Segoku Ace/Cannon games (a vertical shooting game series) was just released and it’s quite hawt. I would like to order one, but there really is no place I can display it. The wife would disapprove and I might get written up at work by HR. Oh well.


I also love how Akiba blog takes a pic of all the boxes the stores stock. It’s like you’re there, except you can’t pick up the boxes…or buy the things…or continue browsing the store for other cool items…sigh.

Superstar costumes

It's nice of Konami to offer their newest screenshot updates for Rumble Roses XX in zip format. The latest set features the Babyface Superstar costumes of Reiko and Dixie from many different angles.


I wasn't crazy about it in the first game, but I'm starting to warm to the idea costumes being associated with the different personalities of each girl. RRXX for the Xbox 360 now has a release date of late March in Japan, so hopefully we'll here official US news soon.

Lara Croft... you are out.

Is it possible to love videogame fashion and not like the real thing? It’s possible, but I for one like both, though not to the extent I would ever have a red carpet party or anything.

The second season of Project Runway on Bravo is underway, and like it’s predecessor, it’s good stuff. They repeat all the past shows before the newest one, so it’s quite easy to catch up. Check it out.

Books for costume fans

Continuing the theme of books costume fans would dig, we start things off with Figure Maniacs. This is pretty similar to the Replicant series of magazine/books (mooks). The main difference is that FM is a little bit more expensive and likes to show off more figure skin than Replicant.


Capcom Design Works is a must have, even for fans who already own the excellent Capcom Illustrations book. A few pieces do overlap, but there are tons of great, great never seen before art. Beware; there are bootleg versions of Capcom Design Works floating around. How can you tell the difference? The printing quality is not nearly as good, although it may be hard to know unless you’ve seen what it should look like. I bought one straight from a Kinokuniya bookstore to be sure.


I had a good laugh when I first saw the Rumble Roses 3D Photo Album. Yes, it comes with actual 3D glasses! It showed up at my local bookstore a while back and against my better judgment, I caved and purchased it. The book contains a good amount of CG art that has never appeared anywhere. There is a Rumble Roses Best Shots book that has a lot of the same pics, but I don’t own it so no problem there. Should you really buy it? All I know is, it sells out quite frequently. The store is up to their third restock of it.


Weapons sometimes add a thing or two to the look of a costume, so Arms magazine is worth a look. It’s a monthly look at the latest in soft air pistols (sort of like BB guns except they shoot soft plastic balls), as well as a few real guns, and media that feature weapons like movies, anime, and games. One issue had an extensive look at the guns in Metal Gear Solid 3. They’ve added a section about a year ago (maybe longer) where they dress up a model and she poses with various guns.

Rachel, Reiko, and Valkyries?

I had requests for pics so here they are! The two-volume Valkyrie Profile Materials books. With the upcoming PSP port and original PS2 games coming, I imagine there will be other great books released.


The fantastic art is featured heavily in the first volume.


The second book has more story and game information bits, but still plenty of nice visuals. Well worth it if you can find them at a decent price, or at all I guess.


Kotobukiya released three cool looking 1/6 scale Ninja Gaiden figures about a year ago. I was tempted to pick up at least Ayane, but didn’t and wasn’t that enthusiastic about the Ryu or Kureha figures. Now they are finally getting on the ball and releasing the fantastically costumed Rachel figure! She really should have been in the first wave. Needless to say, I’ve already pre-ordered mine (the figure is currently set for a May/June 2006 in store appearance). You can buy the import one earlier, but it’s going to cost you anywhere from $70-90 depending on shipping. The domestic release goes for $40, cheaper if you pre-order at some online shops now.


The updates keep coming on the official Rumble Roses XX site. The latest set of pics show off the better muscle detail, but more importantly the lighting that highlights them. This will be key in making whatever outfits are in the game look extra snazzy.

Chapter 42.6: Tragic Miscommunication and Rumor

My wife and I stayed up late last night – she, later than I – watching developments in West Virginia on the news of the trapped miners. We were amazed and pleased to hear the reports that twelve had been found alive. It truly sounded miraculous. I was most impressed with the woman whose uncle was believed to be the only one who’d perished. She was surprisingly calm and articulate given the situation, not distraught, and she seemed genuine in her happiness for her neighbors whose loved ones were reportedly safe.

As a reporter, I was a bit curious why there were no reports from officials at the scene. Everything seemed to be happy relatives, which makes for emotional television news, but is hardly authoritative. Rather than voice my questions at the television, I decided to go to bed. My wife stayed up, hoping to witness the promised march of all the survivors into that little church. She picked my book up off my chest, waking me somewhere around 2:30, and we went to sleep.

On the train this morning she called me with the awful news: all but one of the miners were dead; the lone survivor was in critical condition. The information that had been relayed from the command center had been tragically incorrect. Rumor had spread like wildfire, igniting every tender hope in that West Virginia community, and spreading through the television to the hearts of viewers. Now, my heart aches for those people whose emotions were so terribly torn asunder after hours – indeed, days – of agony. I can only imagine the pall that has fallen over that area.