Sorry for not posting earlier. I've been tied up with other things this week and haven't really had time to sit down and write posts for BBI. I've got quite a bit of catching up to do as I haven't really posted anything since updating the site last month. Therefore some of the "news" I am posting won't really be news anymore, but I shall post it anyway so that I can use the post as a record of links and things.

 
BBI update info

Anyway, I'll start with the site update. Regular visitors to the site (not sure I actually have any of those...) may have noticed the changes in the site at the end of last month. Installation of the new site design went ahead without any major problems. It does admittedly look somewhat like the old one, so I will quickly run through a few of the changes.

Firstly, and most noticably, are the aesthetic changes. The colour scheme has been brightened up a bit as I felt the old one was a little grey at times. Maybe it's a bit too bright now and detracts too much from the text, but I'll see how it goes. The title thing at the top of the main page has also been removed as it served no purpose and wasted a good deal of screen real-estate. One new feature of the new design is the navigation bar at the top of each page. In addition to giving you your current location, it will also allow you to jump back to "parent" pages of the page you are currently browsing - because I'm too lazy to put "back" buttons on each page.

The second, and arguably more important change, is the shift to UTF-8 as the transfer encoding scheme for Bokeboke Island. I made do with ISO-8859-15 in the old design, but my growing desire to include Japanese text on pages, especially with the upcoming features sections, meant that the new design would have to use an encoding which could support Japanese text. UTF-8 seemed to be the best option, so that's what I went with.

The Features section is also new, incorporating the Osaka Shopping Guide (which still hasn't been uploaded -_-;) and a few other things. I intend to rearrange the gallery section at some point in the future too, to allow it to hold short stories as well as images.

 
Minamicon 10

I spent last weekend at Southampton for Minamicon 10. As always, the committee worked tirelessly to ensure a good time was had by all. There were a number of changes to the convention this year, most of which seemed to work quite well. The new-style opening ceremony which presented good Saturday evening mingling opportunities as well as a splendid buffet was, I thought, a particularly good idea. I will have to see if I can get a few photos up later.

 
The usual news stuff

As I said at the start of this post, a lot of this is now going to be out of date, but I'm posting it anyway so I can keep track of things.

I'll start with Tales news. Namco USA has announced that Tales of Symphonia will be getting a US release in July this year. I think I'm going to have to give in and buy a cube now. -_- The official US site will be in place soon. Namco have thoughtfully provided an email address - tales@namco.com - that you can use to send in any ideas you have for the site. Or to lambaste them for making stupid statements in their press releases, such as "The Tales series dates back to 1995, when Tales of Destiny was first released on the SNES."

The Tales of Phantasia OVA also seems to be on schedule. Kousuke Fujishima has been working alongside fellow Tales veteran, Tokuyuki Matsutake, to produce some excellent character designs. The 3-part OVA will be exhibited at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, opening Thursday, March 25th.

Animate.TV have a short streaming trailer available for viewing, here (ASX, 2:11). If your connection isn't up to streaming, or if you want to download the trailer, I have made a mirror available of the WMV here.

Sticking with Namco, the Soul Calibur movie appears to be back from the dead. After the previous attempt a couple of years ago which quickly fell apart, Namco are trying again, this time with Warren Zide at the helm - the guy responsible for bringing the world such teen trash as American Pie and Final Destination. We shall have to see if the soul is still burning this time next year or whether the film will be scrapped yet again.

Onto Clannad news now. Yes, Clannad news! Key fans can now laugh in the faces of the non-believers - those who said it would never happen. Clannad is finally complete and will be released to the world on the 28th of April, priced at 7,500 Yen (ex. tax). The first pressing edition will include a soundtrack arrange album. The Clannad page has now been updated with the final game specs. Key will be taking preorders until midday on April 6th via their preorder page. Softbank are also publishing a fanbook entitled Pre-Clannad, released on April 14th. This will include the usual staff interviews, character profiles, etc, as well as a bonus CD containing demo movies and a number of BGM tracks taken from the game.

Speaking of Softbank, ZDNet Japan recently went through a number of major business changes including a major rebranding, resulting in the creation of a new site - ITmedia. All of the Softbank Games content located at the former ZDNet site has now been relocated to ITmedia and can now be found here. My favourite SBG section, GA Graphic, also moved along with it.

There have been a few other site renewals recently. The Magi-Cu web site has gone through a small redesign following the name change of Magi-Cu Premium to simply Magi-Cu. Also, earlier this week, the International Ragnarok Online site underwent a major overhaul. They seem to have based their site on the current version of the KRO site.

IRO players can also look forward to the long awaited Juno patch, due on Sakray on March 23rd, and (if all goes well) the main game servers on April 13th. As well as the new areas (including, of course, the city of Juno itself), the update also incorporates the 2-2 job classes - Crusader, Sage, Bard, Dancer, Alchemist, Rogue and Monk. Gravity have also hinted at a few client updates. Expect me not to be around much for a week or two following the launch date. ^_^

Quick ren'ai adventure news now. Petitferret have teamed up with WellMADE to bring their popular adventure game, Popotan, to the PlayStation 2 The game was released on the 11th of this month and, according to the emerging reviews, is a faithful port of the PC version. So... buy it if you liked the PC version and want to play it again with lower-res graphics...

Following the accouncement last month in which LucasArts metaphorically shot themselves in the foot - with a rocket launcher, the obligatory campaign site appeared. Go to SaveSamAndMax.com and show your support for the zany duo.

Finally, I leave you with news of this, the latest game in the PS2 Simple2000 series (also known as the "THE" series). For anyone who's ever wanted to fly around in a helicopter gunship and defend the world from 48-metre-tall women...

Hello! I had intended to update this log a little more often, as I did last year. Instead, I have been selfishly enjoying myself. ^_^ It's now midday on Sunday so the con is beginning to wind down. It's been a rather good convention this year - congratulations to the committee for some superb planning. I'll say more about it when I get back.

Registration has just opened in the lobby, and already a large queue has formed stretching all the way back to the conference rooms. It looks as if Minamicon 11 will be sold out within a few weeks. Assuming, that is, there are any places left after the registration session today.

Yay! A double post. And it even doubled up the text in the double post! (*SoZ receives a double-double points bonus*) I'm not sure why I hit the back button. Nokia phones don't ask if you want to re-submit form data, apparently.

Oh well. I'll correct all of the mistakes on Sunday. There are likely to be several more before I get back. Remember that you can click on "News" in the menu to see all of these posts, rather than just the last 5 shown on the front page. In case I get carried away and fire off a new post every hour in an attempt to beat my boredom while waiting for trains.

(Update: Double post eliminated. ^^)

Well, my Minamicon weekend hasn't got off to a good start. The District and Circle line services have been suspended due to a "security alert", meaning I will miss the train I had intended to catch from Waterloo. It's cold and wet and really not the sort of day where you want to sit on a platform bench for half an hour.

Upon reaching the platform, I also remembered that I had forgotten my shaver. I suppose I could use the ones the hotel provide, but I would like some skin left to shave in the future. If you're looking for me this weekend, I'll be the ball of fuzz.

Well, I had hoped to get a new update done before I headed off to Minamicon. Unfortunately, I have been very busy this week, and now on the night before I head off to the con, although I at last have time, I am very tired. I had lots to talk about too - the Clannad news, the ToP OVA... still, it will wait I suppose, although I've been meaning to talk about both of those things for over a month now and they don't seem too relevant anymore.

The new site design is up now, as you may have noticed, and seems to be working reasonably well. If you encounter any errors, please let me know so I can fix them.

Anyway, I'll be away at Minamicon for the weekend. I may update the site while I'm there or I may not - it depends what I'm doing and whether I find myself at a loose end at 6 O'clock in the morning again.