video gaems

Metal Gear cardboard box wedding ad full of crazy, bittersweet belly laughs, just like the games

For months, there have been rumblings of discord between video game publisher Konami and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain director Hideo Kojima. First Kojima’s name, one of the most respected in the industry, was scrubbed from the game’s packaging, and now the popular opinion seems to be that once The Phantom Pain is a completely done deal, Kojima will pack up and leave the company where he’s worked for decades, meaning someone else would be tasked with carrying on the legacy of Metal Gear, a franchise so ground-breaking and successful it literally changed the industry.

But none of this drama seems to have adversely affected The Phantom Pain’s development, as advance reviews of the title have been glowing. And perhaps even more baffling is that even as this might be the end of an era, the series has in no way lost its sense of humor, as seen in this bizarre yet emotional Metal Gear Solid V TV commercial starring an about-to-be-wed bride and groom, dressed in their finest Metal Gear-style cardboard boxes.

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Ramen as religion? Gainax co-founder’s game has you run noodle restaurant with divine help

Anime studio Gainax has had a steady stream of animated successes since catching lightning in a bottle with 1995’s Neon Genesis Evangelion. Eva was actually Gainax’s grand return to animation, though, ending a four-year drought in which the studio didn’t produce a single anime of its own.

Gainax wasn’t spending those four years slacking off, though. The company branched out into video game production, with its biggest hit being Princess Maker, in which the player serves as guardian for a young girl in a medieval fantasy setting. The brainchild of Gainax co-founder Takami Akai, who also handled character designs for the game, Princess Maker was so popular that six sequels were made, and the franchise is credited with helping to popularize the “rearing” genre of Japanese games, in which gamers take care of an in-game character or pet as it grows.

It’s now been eight years since the last Princess Maker title was released, but Akai is back with a new game that deals with a subject close to the hearts and stomachs of many people: ramen.

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