Over at Hardcore Gaming 101 (which needs an RSS feed already, so we don't forget it!), there's an excellent two-page article discussing Capcom and Clover's God Hand, the PS2 title which debuted in the States earlier this year to alternately mystified and grinning reviews, and has clearly sold not a jot.

There's a handy, if stylized intro, too: "God Hand is the brain child of Shinji Mikami. After finishing off Resident Evil 4, Mikami moved to Clover Studios... After leaving Capcom Production Studio 4, Mikami had a meeting with Atsushi Inaba (Viewtiful Joe, Okami). Mikami brought up the issue to Sushi that action games today were all about weapons and not about fist fighting anymore. Gone were the days where you only had one button, two fists, and five different bad guys to beat down. That was the feeling Mikami wanted to capture."

There's also some great info on specific changes in the Western version: "When brought across the sea, several changes were made to the game to prevent confusion. The most minor change is the renaming of the God Reel, now called God Roulette. One item in the game called Chihuahua Curry was changed to Puppy Pizza. Curry is a popular delicacy in Japan, while here in America it is relatively unknown. Another change includes the removal and addition of a new attack. In the Japanese version, Gene had a pan technique he could use from the God Reel."

Apparently: "For a small bit of damage, a pan will fall from the sky and knock Gene on the head, granting him invinciblity for a couple of seconds. Why this was removed is beyond me. Maybe it was the sense of humor, maybe it was because in super plays, people were abusing it. But then again, the whole reason anybody would use this technique was to sacrifice a small bit of health for invincibility. Instead, we got a new move called Head Slicer. The only thing special about this move is it's ability to remove an enemy's head. No blood, only a decapitation that works randomly." Great! And nice work, HG101.