In case you missed it, a few excerpts from Arcade Mania appeared in last week’s issue of Metropolis (760), and can be read online here.

As previously mentioned, the book is already out in Japan, and can be ordered from a few places (you’ll find links on the book’s official site). The same edition comes out in the rest of the work in January.

Now that’s what I call good character creation: CheapyD in Saints Row 2. You can see his sweet ride here. I just wish we had the same console version (I have the PS3 version), for some crazy co-op action.

Update: And the Saints Row 2 Community gets wind.

Where have I been? Blame Tokyo Game Show fatigue. Haven’t stop with the gaming though — of course — and here’s a list of what is occupying my gaming life these days.

• Dead Space (Xbox 360)
• Mercenaries 2 (Xbox 360)
• Saints Row 2 (PS3)
• Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360)
• Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)
• Wipeout HD (PS3)
• rRootage (iPhone)
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
• Trauma Center 2 (DS)

Because of this month’s crazy release schedule, I also have LittleBigPlanet and Fable II on the way, and then will be getting Fallout 3 next week.

I don’t even want to start thinking about November yet.

I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who didn’t get a beta code for LittleBigPlanet. This makes me sad.

I know that Mercenaries 2 got very so-so reviews when it came out, and I could agree with most of them when I started playing the game’s solo campaign — good fun, but could have used a lot of polish. But I’ll say this: I just spent the last few hours playing online co-op, and it’s a hell of a good time. In fact, it’s quite possibly one of the most fun online co-op experiences I’ve had yet. Give it a try.

I cannot stop playing Infinite Undiscovery.

Silly name aside, this is probably the best JRPG I’ve played in years, and it’s all because of the combat system. Finally, an RPG from Japan — and not Zelda — that offers super fun real-time battles. I actually don’t mind grinding in this, because I enjoy encountering enemies so much. Presentation is of course top notch. I have been playing every night until 2-3am, and I can’t remember the last game that had me playing that much (and so late).

Anyone else enjoying it? Before I got it earlier this week, I was playing Tales of Vesperia, which I was also enjoying, but just not as much as Infinite.

Patrick Macias takes on Rambo in Tokyo — nice smirk.

This is the t-shirt I was wearing today, while out and about in Beijing, and then as we headed to the city of Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, where I’m staying now. Had a lot of people looking at me, but still not sure if it was because of the t-shirt, or because I’m a waiguoren.

Yeah, I know, it’s the latter.

Oh man, this is so great: a collection of faux Atari 2600-era covers, featuring modern games.

I’m leaving in a couple of hours for a 9-day trip to China, and of course I have my game gear ready. New to the family is the iPhone, and so I figure I’ll probably finally get to finish Spore Origins. On the PSP, I’ve been playing Killzone: Liberation and Crisis Core, and will see if I can finish those. On the DS, I’m looking to shoot my way through Metal Slug 7, and maybe finally finish Soul Bubbles.