Bayonetta Message Board older than one year ago

#holidaycards Look! 2011 is one pharyngeal-jaw strike away from being even merrier. More »

As ludicrous as Bayonetta is, it was actually much tamer prior to launch. Platinum Games has released some pre-production B-roll, revealing the title's initial menus and gameplay -- specifically of note about the latter is how slow the game was and how much inappropriate slowdown it once employed.

It takes a certain kind of person to assemble and paint a 67-piece, 1/4-scale model of Bayonetta. It takes another kind of person altogether to spend ¥48,300 ($575) for the privilege to do so.

#toys It takes a certain person to prepare themselves to spend half a grand on a Bayonetta figure. More »

Sega's Bayonetta will be released as a budget title in Japan on September 2 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As Andriasang (rightly) points out, the cover art for the budget release is demonically ugly, so it's a good thing that it can be reversed to reveal an awesomely artistic pink cover.

Checking with Sega about the excellent twitch-action title releasing at a budget price internationally, a company representative told us the publisher had nothing to announce at this time. Then again, Bayonetta currently retails for a budget-friendly $40, but you can certainly find it for less.

Or maybe it was, if you like sweet box art!

Something's going down later this week.

#gallery Because it exists. And if you've got money, then you could buy it. I guess. More »

#book The pistol-heel-wearing heroine of self-titled action game Bayonetta is getting an art book. It's on sale! Let's have a look. More »

#toys Yeah, we've seen our share of Bayonetta figures before. Thing is, there was always something wrong with them. Big heads, small heads, always something not quite right. This custom piece gets things right. More »

You had plenty of ideas for how to spend that Jackson burning a hole in your pocket. Maybe you were going to feed yourself or make a donation to your favorite charity, but we thought you should know that Amazon has discounted the PS3 version of Bayonetta to $20 for the day. It's almost destiny, right?

We understand the PS3 version is the lousier incarnation of the game, so if you've got two Jackson's buried in your pocket, you could instead snag the Xbox 360 version for $36 and change (and still have enough left over for a light meal). Either way, you owe it to yourself to sample Platinum Games' unique brand of craziness -- trust us.

#anime Fresh off Hosting E3, the Los Angeles Convention was turned into this year's home for the Anime Expo late last week and over the weekend. And you bet there were cosplayers. More »

#toys There have been Bayonetta figures before. This Bayonetta figure, though, is not Bayonetta. It's Jeanne. Not as iconic, perhaps, but she's definitely more feathery. More »

#screengrab Platinum Games' good witch Bayonetta gets the pin-up treatment from comic book artist Adam Hughes—"I have no idea what they are using it for," he says—in a piece commissioned by Sega. As seen (larger) at Hughes' deviantArt page. More »

#nsfw Bayonetta is one sexy game. The main character, Bayonetta, is encased in a full-body suit made of human hair and struts around in high heels outfitted with pistols. See? That's hot. And is fertile ground for porn parody fan art. More »

Well, not the actual Bayonetta. The sassy lady is not for sale. She's also a fictional character, but that's neither here nor there. However, the PS3 version of the game is currently on sale at Amazon for the staggeringly low price of $32.99. That's practically half-price for an action game whose protagonist is practically half-naked the whole time. You'd better grab it while you can, though, the sale is only on for one day or until the stock is depleted.

#xbox360 Japan isn't only The Land of the Rising Sun. It's also The Land of Xbox 360 Indifference. There must be a way to double weekly consoles sales. Turns out, there is. More »

Microsoft is putting on its best marketing face to try and sell some Xbox 360s in Japan, hence a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle -- last week's rumored bundle. The new pack includes a copy of Forza 3 and Bayonetta on top of all the usual trimmings that come with an Xbox 360 Elite -- all for a cool ¥29,800 ($319.48).

It's one of the more unique software bundles we've seen, to tell the truth, but a nice way to entice Japanese gamers. Each title comes from an opposite side of the spectrum: Forza 3 is a diehard racing sim with an emphasis on cool, calculative driving, whereas Bayonetta is a frenetic action game with an emphasis on giant, ambiguous animals and riding motorcycles in space.

The bundle is available to Japanese consumers right now.

[Via Kotaku]

Sega recently posted quite the surprise for its investors: a revised earnings forecast. In an interesting turn of events, Sega has foregone the doom and gloom of having to admit it will likely earn less money during its Q4 2010 forecast -- the period between December 2009 and March 2010 -- for something a bit more on the cheery side: profits!

First, Sega estimates net sales of ¥380 billion ($4.08 billion), a 9.5 percent decline from its previous estimate of ¥420 billion ($4.51 billion) -- wait, we thought we had good news in here? Aha! Here it is: net income.

Sega previously forecast net income of ¥15 billion ($161 million), but has now adjusted that to ¥18 billion ($193 million). This spontaneous spike in cash money is attributed to "improved profit margins in the pachislot and pachinko machine business and amusement machine business." We imagine sales of Bayonetta and Aliens vs Predator also helped.

And in case you're wondering what the difference between net sales and net income is: Net sales accounts for the total profits a company makes based on the products it sells, while net income takes into account net sales and other operating costs, such as licensing fees and taxes.

[Via GameSpot]

#sega But you can't play it. Sorry! More »

#religionweek Whether it be action title Bayonetta, fighting game Guilty Gear or role-playing game Rune Factory, habit-wearing characters have made appearances in video games. Many Japanese games simply use nun accoutrements. But why? More »

#clips I know, we've been trying to restrict April Fool's stuff to a single post, but since this clip - of Bayonetta re-imagined as an 8-bit side-scroller - isn't really a joke or a scam, it's worth a closer look. More »

#clips The gag's played out fifteen seconds into a 47-second clip, but I digress: this is Bayonetta. Being played by...Bayonetta. While Bayonetta watches. More »

#nsfw If you know Godzilla films, no doubt you think this cosplay is amazing. If not, you probably think its...something. More »

#sega Sonic the Hedgehog may be Sega's most recognizable cash cow—those Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games titles are huge—but the successes of Bayonetta, Total War and Football Manager may represent a new wave of Sega franchises. More »

Look, alright, we'll level with you -- we've got a short supply of schweet schwag hanging around Joystiq Prizeland as of late. That should at least partially help to explain last week's absence of a contest. We also kind of felt like you might've been overloaded with games during our holiday giveaways at the end of 2009. What's that? No, you say? Well we suppose that the first few months of 2010 are unusually flush with quality content, so giving away a bit couldn't hurt, right?

We certainly hope a nine foot tall bullet witch will do it for you, because that's what we've got. One lucky winner (chosen at random) takes home Bayonetta on Xbox 360, chosen from the comments below (please leave one and only one) that are left in the next 24 hours. You tell us what you think is the most annoying song you've ever heard used in marketing a game and you may very well win yourself a vidjagame. How about that?!

• Leave a comment telling us what you think is the most annoying song you've ever heard used in marketing a game.
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, due in part to our aversion to snowy owls).
• Limit 1 entry per person per day.
• This entry period ends at 11:31AM ET on Monday, February 8.
• At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Bayonetta for Xbox 360 ($59.99 ARV).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

SEGA's sexy title impresses.

After surviving harrowing losses of ¥22.8 billion (nearly $254.8 million) during its fiscal year 2009, Sega Sammy Holdings (parent company to Sega, which you've probably sussed out) has managed to revive its faltering bottom line. According to the company's latest financial report, Sega Sammy brought in a net income of ¥16.9 billion ($189.5 million) during the first nine months of its fiscal 2010 (April-December 2009).

This income came in spite of the fact that Sega's total game sales had dropped 13 percent from the same 9-month period the previous fiscal year -- however, thanks to the company's massive restructuring last February, operating income skyrocketed to ¥28.8 billion (about $323 million), which more than softened the blow. The company's highest-selling title was, alarmingly, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, with 5.6 million units sold (and probably counting). Bayonetta, which was only available in Japan (released October 29) during the period covered by the report, came in a distant second with 1.1 million units sold.

It looks like the company's managed to recover from an extremely painful fiscal 2009 -- but at what cost?

If you've been playing Bayonetta on PS3, there's a chance you've been making sandwiches just as often as you've been vanquishing virtual angels. We admire your productivity during the loading screens, but perhaps it's time to accept the aid of Sega and Platinum Games. The developer has confirmed the worldwide availability of a title update that allows the game to be installed to the hard drive. All you have to do is boot up your game and you'll be prompted to download the update. Of course, you've also been known to make sandwiches during installations, so ... well, they must be really delicious at this point. That's a win, no matter what.