Why in the world are we Americans so afraid of sex? I understand that we are used to violence in videogames. But how is seeing sex or "two men kissing" more damaging to a child than a "graphically severed human head".

The included poll was conducted by WhatTheyPlay, a website dedicated to presenting videogame news to parents. The poll was informal, but it still disturbing to see that sex is so overwhelmingly taboo when compared to explicit violence. Thanks to the John Davison Blog for the heads up.

When I was 8-12 years old, Nintendo Power Magazine was my Bible. Even before I had a Nintendo Entertainment System I would beg my friends to let me read their newest issue of Nintendo Power.

This was in the midst of a videogame Golden Age. Game companies hadn't figured out the gaming business just yet, so you'd have a huge variety of games. At the time, Nintendo Power would commission artists to do illustrations of new games that would be included in the pages of the magazine alongside screenshots of the game.

There was one particular artist who stood out to me. His art was sophisticated when compared to the cartoon-like styles of the other artists. But at the time I hated his unrealistic approach to color.

I would later discover that this artist was Katsuya Terada. Since his time as a Nintendo Power artist, he's made quite the name for himself as the character designer for Blood: The Last Vampire, the live action Cutie Honey, and the live action Devil Man. He also created a Monkey King manga and has a slew of really beautiful art books.

With age, I can see his obvious influences. His early work SCREAMS of Metal Hurlant and Moebius. His later work feels a lot like Frank Frazetta and Simon Bisley's painted work. But somewhere in it all, you can still feel a sense of originality.

Back during his Nintendo Power days, his illustrations of Dragon Warrior/Quest, Faxanadu, and Final Fantasy sold me on those games. Below are my favorite illustrations he did for Zelda. You can see a wonderful collection of his Zelda illustrations HERE.

I plan to pick up and play Ninja Gaiden DS this weekend. Although Team Ninja's best known for pushing the newest gaming systems to the limits (as the do with the DEAD OR ALIVE and NINJA GAIDEN games), this time they decided to deliver a game on the portable Nintendo DS. It's an action game that uses the stylus controls for 95% of gameplay. Game producer Itagaki claims it's the fasted Ninja Gaiden game yet (and if you played the Xbox/PS3 Ninja Gaiden game, that means it has to be pretty damned fast!). I heard the game's brief and little on the easy side, but I still want to experience it firsthand. The video sheds some light on gameplay.

While Muttpop hasn't been able to make a videogame yet (let's keep praying, folks!)... French-based designer toy maker Rolito has! And what a fine game it is!

Patapon is a unique rhythm/strategy game on the Sony PSP that is built entirely around a world created by Rolito. Using rhythm based drum patterns, you control a tribe of Patapons in battle with other tribes and monsters.

Rolito's work translates brilliantly to the gaming world. At $20, it's a must buy for any PSP owners.

As a bunch of little guys trying to do big things, Muttpop is always rooting for the little guys! The Behemoth, in my mind, is to videogames what Muttpop is to toys. They're a group of talented individuals determined to make games their way and used their own money to make them.

Their first game, Alien Hominid, was a great riff of the classic Contra/Metal Slug formula. The game was fun but BRUTAL (reminded me of my old NES games). I kept on playing to experience the wonderful boss battles and universe.

I liked Alien Hominid so much that I contacted Behemoth way back in early 2005 to see if they'd be interested in doing a game based on Tequila and the Luchadores5. Keep in mind, this was BEFORE we even had Tequila sculpted. At this point, Muttpop was in it's formative stages. All I had was Gobi's turnaround for Tequila and about 20 of Bill's pencilled pages of Luchadores 5.

I sent Behemoth co-owners Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp an e-mail suggesting a Luchadores5 multiplayer beat-em-up videogame with boss battles against Dr. Destruction and his Formidables, the Tiki Warriors, and Gojira. Dan Paladin responded with a very kind e-mail saying he LOVED the Luchadores5/Tequila universe and would look into the possibility of collaboration with his business partners.

Dan got back to us and said they wouldn't be able to work with us since his business partners wanted to own the intellectual property of anything they worked on... something that would (obviously) be impossible with our characters. My heart was a little broken. I fell in love with the possibility of such a collaboration. But I completely understood their reasons.

Since then they have been working on the wonderful Castle Crashers. It's a 4-player beat-em-up side scroller that feels a bit like Sega's Golden Axe. The scope and inventiveness of the Castle Crashers universe is even greater than Alien Hominid. Every creature and environment revealed thus far has been stunning!

I look forward to getting my hands on this game. But there will always be a part of me that will be a little sad that we could not find a way to collaborate on a Luchadores5 game. Maybe, some day...

Castle Crashers is expected to debut on X-Box Live and the Playstation Network sometime this year. In the meantime you might want to check out their recently unveiled Developer's Blog.

I now found the character that I'll be playing when Street Fighter IV arrives in the US: El Fuerte!

I'm pretty disappointed with the design (CAPCOM: HIRE GOBI TO REDESIGN EL FUERTE!)... but it's still cool that they are incorporating the culture and fighting style we love to this classic fighting series.