For those fans of the seminal ramen-cult film, Tampopo, video game giant Namco plans to launch a theme park dedicated to these underappreciated bits of gluten. This is from the press release, via BoingBoing:

Today, [game company and Katamari Damacy publisher] Namco announced plans to open a ramen noodle theme park in the southern Japanese city of Nagoya. The “Nagoya Noodle Shop Alley,” due to open for business on February 25, is meant to introduce visitors to the history of ramen noodles and the different types of ramen available around Japan. [ …]

The visual theme of the park is intended to reflect Japan in the pre-war 1930s, but the ramen on offer are to represent the “new wave” of noodle development around the nation.

Amy pointed this out to me earlier in the week. Worth a read. Goes into the fascinating game design theory and process for Cranium‘s games, and some of the things they are working on for the smaller gamers among us. My brother Seth gave me Cranium for my birthday this year, and it’s clearly a great product. LINK (NYTimes, Free Registration Required, Archived after Two Weeks)

No, it’s not a new razor. The wrapping has come off some early screenshots of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 4, and boy does it look great (via Joystiq). Reportedly coming in Spring 2005, Gamespot is showing some great screenshots, and has a short preview. GameGossip has some alternate screenshots, too. By Spring, I’ll have to be using the headphones when playing this one, with the expected baby Trotz probably not taking so well to the sound of Willie Petes ‘xploding all over the place.