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Signed guitars, DS systems and more in Play for Japan campaign
The Play for Japan campaign, an initiative by the video game industry to raise funds for relief in Japan from the recent tsunami and earthquake, has revealed several eBay auctions over the past week. All proceeds from the winning bids will go to the earthquake and tsunami relief funds in charities such as the American Red Cross or Global Giving, and considering the type of items up for auction, these organizations will (hopefully) see a good amount of money from Play for Japan. Here are some highlights:
- Nintendo DS signed by Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and Charles Martinet
- Limited-edition Raving Rabbits figurines
- Yamaha APX-15FM acoustic guitar used to compose every Silent Hill game to date
- Final Fantasy VI Advance Collection
You can find all listed auctions at the Play For Japan site, here. And if you’re looking to donate more while fulfilling your passion for video games, check out a special fighting game tournament hosted in Irvine, California called Fight for Relief (featuring globally known pros like Justin Wong and Alex Valle), as well as an hour-long special by a united video game industry titled Gamers Heart Japan, to air on certain outlets on Sunday, April 3rd.
Source: Play for Japan
Nintendo 3DS breaks sales records for Nintendo handhelds
Nintendo’s handhelds have historically sold well, thus ensuring its dominance in the market, but according to a press release, first-day sales for the Nintendo 3DS have been better than any Nintendo handheld to date. Considering this is from the company that made “Game Boy” synonymous with “handheld video game device”, this just might be a Big Deal– though when contacted by IGN, a representative of Nintendo stated that the exact numbers will only be made public on April 14th, “when first-week U.S. sales figures will be tallied by the independent NPD Group.”
Source: IGN
No More Heroes inspires massive art contest with massive prizes
Writer-slash-game designer-slash-Attract Mode representative Matthew Hawkins has teamed up with video game shop Jap-Sai and Grasshopper Manufacture to kick off an art contest with a grand prize of nothing less than– well, a lot of exclusive/rare Grasshopper swag. Grasshopper Manufacture is known for developing games like Killer 7 and No More Heroes, and Matthew Hawkins (otherwise known as FORT90) is looking for an illustration of any female character from a Grasshopper Manufacture game for the next issue of his zine, FORT90ZINE. Prizes will include such things as postcards only available with preorders of the XBOX 360 and PS3 versions of No More Heroes, a No More Heroes artbook/guidebook, a No More Heroes 2 comic (including panels from game-within-a-game Bizarre Jelly 5), and a Killer 7 art book autographed by Goichi Suda and other developers. (Also, a bunch of shirts.)
Photos and contest guidelines are available on this entry from FORT90’s blog.
Source: Fort90 Journal
In other news…
Jill and Wesker star in a new Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D trailer; plenty of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition figurine codes; Reggie says 3DS (in current form) will last through holidays; Nintendo dismisses 3DS headache complaints
