See that up there? That's MadWorld, a newly announced game for the Wii, brought to you buy Platinum Games, which is what used to be Clover Studios.

Why is it awesome? Is it because of the art style? It's cool, but that's not it. The over-the-top violence? Still very cool, but that's not it either. It's the fact that it stars a buff manly man. More games need buff manly men!

There are way too many girly guys in video games. Japan seems to be in love with them, as they're always throwing in long-haired, "beautiful" men in the starring roles of their games. Well, Platinum Games (a Japanese studio) isn't gonna have any of that! They're throwin' in Buff Manly Man to tear out some hearts, impale people on spikes, and cut through them with chainsaws. Awesome.

Even Konami's getting a bit better at this...'cause the next Castlevania game stars an actual girl! ...yes, the girl isn't a manly man, but it's not a girly man either, which has been a Castlevania-favorite since Symphony of the Night. But, I hope they will some day get back to using the barbarian-like Belmonts of the old days. They were cool.

Kojima was recently quoted in saying that he believes that Western developers have surpassed Japanese developers. I'm inclined to agree. Not just because the Western guys have the knack for having the best graphics, the best physics, the best online, the lack of random battles, but because we accept the fact that manly men are awesome. Examples being Kratos, the Cole Train, Batman, Scorpion... Yeah, AWESOME.

Those Cho-Aniki guys were onto something.