Koji Igarashi came to America a few weeks too early. He won’t have a chance to take in a screening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” for some time.

The father of modern “Castlevania” came to Konami’s media event in San Francisco last night with a whip in hand to announce the latest Nintendo DS platformer, “Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.” The same whip was at the table where I interviewed him.

With the latest “Indiana Jones” adventure arriving in theaters next week, I asked Igarashi if he was a fan — he said very much so. Responding with a loud “Ooooooh!” and raised eyebrows, he followed that with a look of disappointment. He’s flying back to Japan later this week, so he’ll have to wait for the Japanese release.

Sorry, Iga! Look for more with Iga — including an update on whether he’s figured out a way to make “Castlevania” finally work on the Wii — next week.

This fall, there will be three options for gamers interested in joining a virtual band: “Rock Band,” “Guitar Hero IV” and Konami’s newly announced “Rock Revolution.”

Konami revealed “Rock Revolution” last night at a media event in San Francisco. It was their first announcement of the night, and it was met with surprised (and confused) looks from the audience.

“Rock Band” is already out, “Guitar Hero” is the established name — is there room for another set of peripherals? I decided to step up to the game’s drums — which features six drum buttons — and find out if I’ll be cluttering up my living room even more this fall…

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At an Electronic Arts event last night, I touched one of my most desired games of 2008: “Left 4 Dead” from Valve and former “Counter-Strike” contributor Turtle Rock Studios.

There’s nothing I love more than a good horror movie, especially those involving zombies. It’s as though “Left 4 Dead” was a game made just for me.

Good horror games are few and far between. Good horror games involving group cooperation are fewer. Do they even exist? The last one I can remember is “Resident Evil: Outbreak” — and we all know how that one turned out.

Thankfully, “Left 4 Dead” looks to be much, much better. It’s not even a fair comparison.

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“Phantasy Star Online” remains one of my most treasured online experience. I haven’t found a game that’s since stacked up.

Naturally, you might think I’ve tried “World of Warcraft.” I haven’t. I’ve avoided all MMOs after having a less-than-stellar experience with “EverQuest II.” Too much aimless wandering around, too much forced group work. I didn’t play for very long.

That’s my impression of most MMOs. I’ve yet to see one that acts much differently. So when presented with a chance to check out “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning” from EA Mythic, I told content director Destin Bales about my genre apprehension.

Bales responded with some very interesting ideas that just might convince me.

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I didn’t mean to, but I lied yesterday.

I ended up buying two WiiWare games. Jason Cipriano pointed me towards a trailer for ‘Defend Your Castle” and reminded me it was only $5 — I was sold.

But I wouldn’t blame you for feeling as though you were cheated out of that $5. “Defend Your Castle” isn’t very fun in the early going. It’s downright boring, actually.

But stick with it, at least until round 15 after about 30 minutes of play, before passing final judgment. That’s when the game finally decides to kick into gear.

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I didn’t go to bed until almost 3:30 A.M. last night, even though I have a busy week ahead of me (not to mention my boss, Stephen Totilo, will be in my neighborhood).

The late night session wasn’t because of “Grand Theft Auto IV,” but Steven Spielberg.

There aren’t many games that can convince me to keep playing past midnight. I usually run out of steam as one day rolls into the next, and when I’m done playing games, I’ll pop in a movie instead.

Not with “Boom Blox,” though. “Boom Blox” keeps asking me to put the Wii back on. Why? Let me explain…

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Nintendo of America launched their WiiWare service this morning, with six games coming along for the ride — “Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a King,” “Pop,” “Defend Your Castle,” “LostWinds,” “V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack” and “TV Show King.”

I already have “LostWinds” downloading.

How about you?

Nintendo’s launch doesn’t include my second most wanted WiiWare game — the spectacularly stylized “World of Goo” — but “LostWinds” and “Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King” aren’t bad for headliners.

Then again, I only really anticipate picking up “LostWinds,” unless word-of-mouth tells me otherwise. Tell us about your WiiWare buying (and playing) experiences in the comments.

One of the reasons I struggled with my short hands-on demo with “Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi” was an awkward control scheme.

I was forced to use the stylus for certain actions and the A/B/X/Y buttons for others. Switching between the two made holding the DS a little awkward.

That won’t be an issue next time I play it, though. No one told me there were multiple control schemes available in “Mushroom Men,” one of which is completely stylus based (just as I’d hoped!). The title’s public relations team recently relayed these details to me.

[Update: We’ve since been told the controls are a work in progress. Rest assured, however, there will be multiple configurations available, including one that’s entirely stylus-based, when the game is released later this year.]

If someone’s holding an event for a game, journalists will be there. It doesn’t matter what game; someone will show up. It’s easy to understand: open bar, free food, good people and (hopefully good) games.

Even if the event’s game doesn’t necessarily grab you, sometimes I can’t resist finding out how an event will play out. That’s why I headed out to a celebration of “Big Buck Hunter Pro” last week.

Yes, “Big Buck Hunter.” The infamous bar gun game.

The event was held at the appropriate, but undeniably creepy, Big Foot Lodge. You need not much look much farther than the décor to grasp why the Big Foot Lodge was picked.

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I’m not the only one who has compared the insanely addictive “TypeRacer” to educational typing tool Mavis Beacon. The creator of the game Alex Epshteyn told me so over e-mail.

Epshteyn is a 26-year-old programmer who created “TypeRacer” all on his own (play it here, if you missed it). He’s been programming games for years, including a multiplayer strategy game influenced by “Master of Orion” and a multiplayer take on “Desktop Tower Defense.”

All of his creative works play on the competitive nature of gamers. Epshteyn even likens “TypeRacer” to an emerging sport. “Typing is a skill that can be improved with practice and pitted against people, just like any athletic pursuit,” he said.

He’s not a hardcore gamer. Epshteyn hasn’t even played “Typing of the Dead”! For the developer of a typing game, that’s just criminal. But I’ll let it slide.

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