Checkpoint: Vesperia, Tokyopop, Akiba

- The Xbox 360 version of Tales of Vesperia will be released in Japan on August 7, as freshly announced by publisher Namco Bandai; but there is still no word on the PS3 version, which was temporarily confirmed last month. The game will also be released during August in North America, however the poor Europeans have had their assholes abused yet again: no Tales of Vesperia for us until 2009.

- Manga publisher Tokyopop will cut the number of titles it publishes in the UK by 20%, according to The Bookseller (via ANN). The move comes in response to the restructuring of its US parent company, which expects to suffer a 50% cut of its annual manga output.

- In more uplifting manga news, One Piece vol. 50 sells 1 million copies in one week - compared to just over 900,000 copies of Naruto vol. 42 since it was released six weeks ago.

- As feared, last Sunday's Akiba massacre has led to the abolition of the "pedestrian paradise" - meaning that the roads will no longer be closed to road traffic on Sundays. The news oozed via Japan Probe, who report that "sources have said [the suspension] will continue until at least the end of July". Not to mention the increased number of police forces patrolling with night sticks in their hands. Understandable paranoia, I guess.