Thanks to the holiday season and the close of 2009, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve had the chance to write one of these. However that’s all old news and now that 2010 is here, it’s time to pick up another Highs and Lames! In this edition, it’s all about eroge and the all the fun things that they can do to improve your life. Did you know that a slightly ecchi workout partner can also be the key to finding a good night’s sleep? Well, you do now!

Soul Link Available Now, Cat Girl Alliance Available Soon: Starting with news closer to home, Manga Gamer announced over the holiday season that their latest release, Soul Link, is now available for purchase from their website. The sci-fi adventure created by Navel (Shuffle) takes place on a space station that has been taken over by a terrorist organization. Taking on the role of second year military cadet Shuuhei Aizawa, the game follows him and his friends as they attempt to take back control of station.

Meanwhile, JAST USA has announced on New Year’s Eve that their latest release, Cat Girl Alliance, has been given ‘Golden Master’ status and is in the replication phase even as I type this. The new game will be released on the G-Collections brand and focuses on the futanari (hermaphrodite) theme. J-List already has the download and physical versions already listed for pre-order. While I’m generally not really into the futanari theme (just not my thing), I’ll still probably check this one out if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity. Anyone else planning to close out the winter with some futanari school comedy?

AquaPlus to create 2D Fighting Game: At the AquaPlus Fiesta event held last week, visual novel publisher AquaPlus (Tears to Tiara, To Heart, White Album) announced that they would be working on a 2D fighting game. While details are still slim, Canned Dogs reports that sample footage shown at the event revealed characters from various games created over the last decade duking it out including: Rhiannon (Tears to Tiara), Multi (To Heart), Hakuoro (Utawarerumono) and others. Details for the game will be revealed later this year.

I have to admit up front; just the idea of two happy go lucky characters like Rhiannon and Multi trying to bitch slap each other into submission makes me giggle just a little too much.

Training with Hinako becomes Sleeping with Hinako: Last year otaku around the world got a little boost in their motivation to exercise thanks to Hinako. If you haven’t met her, Hinako is a 16 year old girl who “helped” otaku everywhere shape up by exercising with them while wearing very little animated clothing to cover up her bounciness. Now Hinako is returning in a sequel release which is intended to help otaku… sleep?

In the new Sleeping with Hinako DVD, users will get to watch Hinako sleep and decide her posture, dreams and other options via the menu screen. Now, before you perverts out there start thinking that this DVD is being released strictly so that you can watch an anime character sleep and have naughty dreams you’ve got a dirty little mind because Hinako is here to HELP you!

So, let’s say you’ve been having trouble waking up in the mornings. Alarm clocks don’t work because of snooze buttons and you can’t always count on someone being around to throw water on you (ah, childhood memories). With this release however, otaku will now have the option of setting up an alarm on the DVD. When the appointed time comes, Hinako will wake up and then help get you out of bed by whispering loving phrases like “Wake up you lump of shit before I whip your ass.” I’m sure there’s a certain beauty to that phrase which has been lost in translation.

Though I may be alone here but is anyone else even remotely concerned with the idea of leaving a DVD running all night long while you sleep? Just how many times will you be able to do that before you have to replace the DVD with a new one that isn’t burnt out from running for 8 or more hours every night? Oh well, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who don’t mind and have already preordered their DVD or Blu ray from Amazon.

Single of the Week

There weren’t any particularly exciting new releases this week and so instead, I leave you with one last bit of eroge: the very cool opening animation to Princess Waltz from Pulltop (localized by JAST USA). Enjoy and I’ll talk to you all tonight as I post up the first of, what will hopefully be many, new Funimation licenses!