High Dynamic Range Lying

2006-11-01T01:19:00.000-08:00

High Dynamic Range Lying has moved! It can now be found at its new home, at http://www.hdrlying.com, hosted by those wonderful folks at wordpress.

From here on in, HDR Lying on Blogspot will not be receiving any updates, so please update your bookmarks accordingly!

Thanks again,

Nayan Ramachandran
Editor-in-Chief

2006-10-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

Artbook Bonanza Power Hour

One of the biggest benefits of being a gamer in Japan, is the ready access to high quality art books. Unlike in America, where one has to hope that the preorder bonus for an anticipated game has an artbook included, Japanese book stores sell video game artbooks in the same section as video game strategy guides, and for a pretty reasonable price.

For those who wanted better quality photos of the Okami art book I posted some time ago, I have included extra photos.

Here are a few sample photos of the ones I've picked up recently:

Sengoku Basara 2

Baten Kaitos

Biohazard Ad Arts Collection

Capcom Design Works

Okami

Kazuma Kaneko Collection: Shin Megami Tensei 2

For those curious, the entire collection of photos was taken with my Casio W41CA cell phone, at 1600x1200, and then resized to fit the blog.

Not pictured are a few artbooks I left in the US, including: Xenosaga Episode 1, Biohazard Archives, and Soul Calibur 2. I intend to pick up the Tales of the Abyss artbook some time this weekend, but whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen.

2006-10-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Same Game Time, Same Game Channel

Growing up as a young lad in the wilds of suburban Toronto, Sam and Max Hit the Road was one of my most treasured games. I remember the first time I walked into my local EBgames and saw the game sitting nonchalantly upon the new releases shelf. I knew nothing of the game, but was immediately drawn to its absurd but incredibly well detailed cover art. I knew nothing of Steve Purcell, or Lucasart's SCUM adventure system, having grown up on Space Quest and King's Quest, but the box itself was beyond enticing.

Being a young lad with no real currency to my name, I had to resort to purchasing by proxy. Selling a game's worth to my parents, as any seasoned gamer knows, is a job in and of itself. Not only do you have to explain why they should spend their money on you, but you have to deflty avoid the pitfalls that will break the deal almost immediately (violence, gratuitous sex, and inane imagery, just to name a few).

As one could imagine, I failed several times to sell my parents on Sam and Max's worth, usually drawing out the mother response: "Maybe it would make a good Christmas gift." I was met with that response no less than a dozen times, but my young spirit prevailed. I knew they would crack long before I would. Repeated visits to the store during sunday shopping finally wore on my parents, and Sam and Max was soon mine.

I remember finishing the game in what seemed like a week. Despite finishing it so quickly, I returned several times, for the gameplay, for the witty but ridiculous banter, and for the world that seemed so wacky and outside the norm, that believing in its existence became more than just a passing fancy.

Years passed by, and for more than ten years, fans like myself had not been satiated by the continuing adventures of a dog detective and his psychotic rabbit sidekick. Telltale Games finally announced some months ago that they would be handling the continuation of the psycho duo's adventures, on the PC no less. The twist, as there always is one, is that the game would be presented through episodic content.

Episodic content is a strange beast, that, except for a few small and largely unpublicized experiments, is an untested concept in the realm of gaming. Some years ago, in university, I thought about developing a first person adventure game in the vein of Hideo Kojima's Snatcher, delivered in episodic content. The game would make heavy use of the official forums, creating story elements based on the ideas presented by posters, as well as trying to address questions about the story that fans wanted to explore more.

Exploring the advent of episodic content in the current climate of gaming, there are successes, and failures. One of those failures would have to be Half Life 2's expansion episodes. While the games themselves are incredible, and offer a great gameplay experience, they don't follow the cohesive set up that episodic content requires to keep the attention of its fanbase.

One of the marginal successes, was Capcom's Eldorado Gate for Dreamcast, which was a 7 part episodic RPG, that got little recognition outside of Japan, and similar distribution.

It soon occurred to me, that given the failures and successes in the concept, there are a couple things that can make or break the entire pitch of episodic content:

1) A modular front end. Quite simply, what a frequently released episodic game requires is a front end that provides content creators (artists, writers and the like) with a base foundation that makes inserting content easy and painless. If creating content for one given episode remains easy to pull off, then you are less likely to be met with delays.

2) A master plan. Every game needs a plan about where it's headed, before it even gets there. To beat an old cliche to death: "Start with the end in mind."

3) Technology that's not necessarily cutting edge. The sad truth about cutting edge technology is that creating assets and environments requires a lot of time and energy; possibly more than what is available when your team is creating game content on a fixed schedule. This is one of the biggest problem with Valve attempting to release Half Life 2 expansions as episodic content. The assets and technology required to create each episode is wholly time consuming, which creates delays, and defeats the very purpose of episodic content in the first place.

4) Community involvement in the process. One of the common complaints I hear about episodic content is that it's merely a new way to make microtransactions more palatable to the consumer. Episodic content has definite advantages, but how does one capitalize on those advantages? The easiest way is to allow fans to have a hand in the direction the game takes. The game is episodic, so the story is living, breathing, and constantly changing. A constantly evolving and living world is one of the bigger advantages that episodic gameplay has over a single boxed version.

5) Introduce new gameplay mechanics in each new installment. This isn't to say that each game should be a complete overhaul fromthe last installment. In fact, this is quite the opposite. Slowly build on what the player knows, and offer a small new addition to the gameplay each installment, so the player doesn't feel as if the episodic content is not just a hacked up version of an otherwise full game.

6) Make it small. Provide 3 to 4 hours of content for a low price (offering segments for $20 is way too much considering the recurring payments involved in evolving content). This not only provides enough gameplay for new players to get a taste of the game before plunging into what can only be described as an investment, but it doesn't feel like a serious hit to the wallet in the event that the player decides to continue with the series. One great way to alleviate buyer's remorse over something like this would be to provide the first episode free after a few installments of the series have been released, and the series has begun to develop some noteriety. A free first episode would only serve to increase your audience.

Much of this needs to be addressed, but these aren't the only keys to success. One of the biggest parts of appealing content is finding the correct audience. One thing that developers need to realize, is that episodic content might not actually apply to the same audience that buys boxed copies of final games. There is bound to be overlap, but it may be time to carefully consider who episodic content really applies to, before heading into this new foray head first.

2006-10-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. Clover. We hardly knew ye. :(

Okami will forever be remembered as one of my favorite games of all time. May each team member find a team has incredible as the one they were blessed with during their time in this incredible studio. We hope that you continue to push the envelope, creating incredible games that don't quite fit the mould, and look to change the way we look at interactive media.

2006-10-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

Totaka Kazumi, a composer on a number of Nintendo developed and published games, has a long running secret that most gamers have no idea even exist.

Here is the secret behind Totaka's song.

2006-10-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

The P is for Pandemonium

Playstation 3 preorders in America have been surprisingly orderly, mostly facilitated by the conservative unit forecast provided by retail giant Gamestop, which swallowed up its competitor, EB Games, back in March.

Gamestop publicly announced to american consumers that preorders for the playstation 3 console would be available come Tuesday 10th, but in extremely limited quantities. Most stores were allotted a measly 6 units, two of which could be preordered by store employees, while certain larger (or merely more fortunate) stores were blessed with a paltry 16 units.

Gamers arrived at store fronts at 5am, hoping to get their hands on the few preorders available at the local store. From all reports, preorders went rather routinely and smoothly. As quickly as it began, it was over. That is, in America.

Here in Japan, circumstance has put many gamers on edge. Despite the console launching in the land of the rising sun nine days before America, we are not only cursed with a quarter of the units, but most stores have no idea if preorders will even take place. Rakuten, Amazon, and even Tsutaya seemed completely in the dark about how they would go about holding preorders for the Playstation 3 system.

Going into a local store and inquiring about a yoyaku (the japanese word for reservation) usually garners the usual japanese response: "I'm sorry, but we have no begun reservations yet. Please be sure to check back often."

Websites have begun to spring up, with a huge chart of online stores, and when they are likely to begin preorders for units. Some site have even announced when they will start preorders online; something that is completely alien to those accustomed to american websites, that quietly open preorders for new hardware.

This alone isn't enough. Most stores are adhering to the age old "first come, first serve" mentality, which, given the product in question, is likely to cause pandemonium. Uncertainty has become the name of the game, and it feels as if even Sony themselves doesn't know what's going on.

As I write this, I'm camping a certain popular online store, waiting for preorders to open later today. I've become a slave to consumerism, but it's a sad truth that I will be able to easily justify when I have a machine in my hands that will take care of my gaming needs for the next six years.

This is going to happen all over again, once Wii hits in December.

2006-10-08T03:40:00.000-07:00

The one chip wonder

I've been looking to buy an MSX computer for some time now. Back last August, when I had visited Tokyo on vacation, I had the choice of either an MSX, or a Neo Geo AES system, and I bowed to the power of Metal Slug and King of Fighters. The AES was finally mine. One of my life gaming goals had finally been fulfilled. But the quest continues.

It looks like my job has been made even easier, though. The good people at D4 Enterprises will ship the 1chip MSX on October 12th.

The feature list for the new 1chip MSX is pretty outstanding as well:

･MSX2 with 256kB RAM
･Kanji support
･MSX-DOS2 support
･PS/2 connection
･2 MSX joystick ports
･2 MSX cartridge slots
･SD/MMC flashcard slot with native FAT16 support in MSX-DOS2
･Composite and SVHS TV output
･VGA monitor output
･2 cinch audio outputs
･FPGA I/O pin (40 pins and 10 pins)
･2 USB ports
･32MB SDRAM
･Externals size About 135mm×156mm×32mm

< accessories >
･AC adaptor
･Instructional Manual
･Attachment CD-ROM
(Source code and development environment software.)

In addition to its small compact size, I'm happy to see that it includes USB ports, keyboard support, joypad functionality, and even flash memory functionality. It even contains proprietary VGA adaptor support; something most major console manufacturers today seem to have either implemented half heartedly, or completely forgotten about it.

The 20,000 yen price tag might be a bit steep for those looking to dabble in the MSX library casually, though. The sleek design and copious hardware support, though, make it a must have for me, and probably many other obscure gaming computer fans.

The official website states that only 5000 will be made and sold, so it's a good idea that I try to get my hands on one as soon as possible.

The official 1 chip MSX site can be found here.

2006-10-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Is Halo 3 an allusion to the Battle of Thermopylae?

With the release of Ghost of Onyx, Eric Nylund's 3rd book in the Halo universe, my brain has once again been looking back to the story of Halo. Granted, the games themselves don't seem to shed any light on the literary or historical significance of naming conventions in the series, but rather it is the peripheral material that targereally shines in this regard.

I thought about the similarities between the story of Halo and the famous Greek and Persian battle that was forever used as a teaching tool to describe superior training, equipment, and strategy.

I`ll quote Wikipedia, as there`s no point typing it again:

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass, Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history. A small force led by king Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I could pass.

After several days of confrontation the Persians attacked but were defeated by heavy losses, disproportionate to those of the Greeks. This continued on the second day but on the third day of the battle a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks, revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. With the rest of the army dismissed, King Leonidas stayed behind with his bodyguard of 300 Spartans and the 700 man Thespian army even though they knew it meant their deaths, to allow the rest of the army to escape.

Many may theorize that Reach was the allusion to the ancient greek battle, but this has flawed reasoning. For one, Thermopylae was the first step in the Persian empire`s absolute failure to take Sparta from the Greeks. Despite surviving heavy losses, the Persian empire was forced to retreat, and was later defeated on a different front.

At Reach, while the spartans stayed to fight the covenant, the alien forces bulldozed through Reach, and continued on to destroy more and more of the human fleet.

There are a couple reasons Halo 3, the last stand on Earth, could be an allusion to the Battle of Thermopylae:

1) While in the game, Master Chief is mentioned to be the last remaining spartan, there are at least 4 others that were rescued in the books. I know that Bungie wants to seperate the two to avoid confusion for those who don`t read the book, but a short conversation inserted in the game to explain their appearance would be enough.

2) The very obvious: The superior training, tactics, equipment (somewhat) and courage are possessed by none other than the Spartan units in the Halo Universe. This is exactly the same in Thermopylae. 300 spartans held off an entire persian force through a narrow passageway.

3) On Volume 2 of the Halo 2 OST, Marty named one of the songs "Finale: Thermopylae Soon." Hmmm.

If this is indeed an allusion, we could take it one step farther. We could make more connections and predictions:

1) In Thermopylae, the greeks were betrayed by Ephialtes, who gave the persian army another path into greek land. Could this be the same thing with earth? Could someone betray the human fleet (Cortana?) during the final battle on earth, which could lead to a Thermopylae style conflict?

2) The thespians, citizen soldiers (opposed to the professional Spartans who were trained from birth to fight to the death), refused to leave when dismissed by Leonidas. Could we see this dedication in Sarge`s troops? Perhaps even the Helljumpers, despite them being career soldiers as well.

3) The Spartans delayed the invasion of greek land, but at a great price: Leonidas was killed, as were all 300 spartans. When Xerxes of Persia recovered his body, he ordered that he be beheaded and crucified. He regretted the event afterwards, and the body was returned to Greece 40 years later, where it was buried with full honors. Could we see the death of Master Chief by the end of Halo 3? Something else to consider...

Just some things to think about as we near the release of Ghosts of Onyx on October 31th. Anyone interested in checking out more information about this incredible historical battle can check out the wikipedia link here.

2006-10-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

I won't lie. I love the aggravation of scratching at shrink wrap over a new game. I love popping a disc or a cart into a system for the first time, and anticipating the game as everything begins to hum and come to life. I love letting the introduction cutscene of a game roll infinitely while I pour over the full color glossy pages of a manual. I love all of these things so much, I'm afraid to see it disappear. I might not be happy with the future of gaming.

A cadre of big names in the industry, namely SCEA's Phil Harrison, have said many times that the future of gaming lies in digital distribution. Discs, boxes, manuals, brick and mortar stores; all of these things may be a thing of the past sooner than we think. Many of us imagined that it would at least be another 10 years before we had to say good bye to a physical collection.

We've had PC distribution services like Steam on our doorsteps since the Source engine was announced by Valve, and Half Life 2 was revealed to be in development. Since then, we've been seeing countless PC games available for download from Steam, including Ragdoll Kung Fu, Sin Episodes, Darwinia, and the recently released Defcon.

Digital distribution had already become a reality, but it was more an exception, rather than the rule. That is, until now. With Sony revealing their plans for Gran Turismo HD, we are moving closer and closer towards the future that many collectors fear. Gran Turismo HD will offer a barebones "classic" package that will include no tracks or cars. Players will be able to purchase the cars and tracks that they want for small nominal fees, and possibly trade those cars with other players.

How does that connect to digital distribution? Other than the tenuous link to microtransactions, common sense would dictate that selling a boxed version of GT HD without tracks or cars included would not only be fairly discouraging to consumers who didn't know about its features before buying it, but it would be completely useless to those without an internet connection. On the other hand, if you offered the classic package only to those with an internet connection, you would already be serving purely to those with the means to purchase more content for the game.

As we all see Sony changing their tune on movie distribution on PSP after the failed UMD movie format, many journalists are theorizing that the PS3's distribution tie to bluray discs may not be as certain as once expected. Harrison himself was quoted as saying that he wouldn't be surprised if the PS4 didn't have a drive for physical media. It's entirely possible to assume that the PS3 may be the bridge between physical media and an entirely digital distribution method. Closer to the end of the system's life cycle, we might find less and less disc releases, and more digital releases, heralding the beginning of an entirely digitally distributed gaming future.

I have my concerns about digital distribution, past the simple and irrational need to collect. Many of my fellow gamers seem to share the same worries:

1) What happens when a game developer or publisher goes under? If my storage medium for the downloaded product corrupts, how will I download the game again? Will I have to repurchase the title?

2) What happens if I get a new unit that the game is released for? (this worry was alleviated when I purchased a Japanese 360, and moved all my downloads and achievements over to it by simply retrieving my gamertag from Microsoft's databases)

3) What happens if I want to purchase an old title? Without physical distribution, there's no way for me to scour small game shops for hard to find games. (then again, with digital distribution, no game would be rare or hard to find, I suppose)

4) Doesn't digital distribution open the flood gates for the use and abuse of microtransactions, seen in the likes of Lumines 2 for Xbox Live, and Gran Turismo HD?

These are just a few legitimate concerns lifted from a much longer list. It's not to say that the future is nothing but bleak. What's more important is that companies take a long hard look at the new pitfalls and issues that are created by entirely changing the way games and media are distributed to consumers.

I just hope the option to acquire a physical copy remains.

2006-10-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

October is a quiet month in Japan. It's just the quiet before the storm, though. With the Wii, Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Gyakuten Saiban 2 DS, the Playstation 3, and a host of other titles looking to find their way onto my shelf, I can appreciate a month where my wallet isn't screaming uncle. I decided to pick up Front Mission 5, a title I had held off on picking up for some time, and I'm really glad I finally picked it up. Here are the initial impressions on the game I posted on GAF this morning:

So I picked up Front Mission 5 yesterday, despite the fact that it's been out for ages. Front Mission 3 was one of my favorite games on the PSone, and I really enjoyed the Front mission 1st remake for Psone as well. FM4, on the other hand, was an unmitigated disaster to me.

I am happy to report that so far, FM5 is positively badass. FM5 seems like a sort of epic conclusion to the series, for a number of reasons:

1) The game takes place over several years, intersecting with several of the FM games at points.

2) For the first time, you play completely from the perspective of the USN (where in all previous games, you played from the perspective of the OCU, the war rivals of the USN, or only partially from the USN perspective).

3) The title "Scars of War" really explains the somber mood of the game. The game details the life of Walter Feng and how through the years, even as a child, war continues to change and alter his life.

They've changed a couple things in the game that I was actually pretty surprised about. For one, there is now friendly fire, so if you have a unit between you and an enemy, you will hit the unit if your weapon is a shotgun or a machine gun. Also, spray from shotguns and machine guns sometimes miss enemies and hit allied units residing behind the target. Missiles seem to be smart enough to go over allied units, though.

Also, one of the coolest parts of the game is the way attack turns use a FAR more cinematic camera than past games, making it look like a CNN news report than a movie (a slightly shaky cam to illustrate a hand held camera). Some camera shots circle overhead, much like a news helicopter feed would.

Customization for the mech seems to be much improved, too. As you tune and modify parts, your mechs will slowly change in appearance as well. There is also the ability to rename and recolor the mechs, which was present in FM3 (though I'm not sure about FM4, as I played very little of it).

I have a long day of work ahead of me today, but I really look forward to coming home and playing a few hours of the game tonight. I'm really loving it so far.

I'm going to plunge head first into the game over the coming week, and post some more detailed impressions on the game. I really hope this hits US, but the chances are looking rather dismal.

More detailed impressions to come in the near future.

2006-10-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Okami art book hit stores on the 28th, and I managed to pick up the last copy at my local store. Unfortunately, my camera was, again, out of batteries, so i had to take some interim photos with my ke tai. I'll try to take some actual camera photos this weekend.

The cover of the book. Really beautiful stuff.

Some sample art from the game itself.

A real surprise. A Dragon Quest style 8 bit representation of Okami's world map.

Some sample pictures of the game's sheet music. If you look closely, you can see 8-bit versions of all the game's major characters lining the pages.

As far as I know, the book is backordered at every import store, and many book stores here in Japan haven't gotten any copies at all. Hopefully it becomes a little more widely distributed in the coming weeks. Everyone needs to pick up this gem.

2006-10-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Joystiq posted a pretty awesome flash sample of the Mii character creation system that will ship with the Wii come launch. I decided to try my hand at it, and managed to make a character that looked somewhat like myself. I added a goatee, despite not having one anymore. It was more to add another common point of definition.

For those interested in trying out the flash, you can find it here.

2006-09-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

I intended to wait until sunday to sit down and write something thoughtful about Rocket Slime (Slime Mori Mori 2, here in japan), but having plowed through the game in under 2 days, I was worried the impression the game left with me would be lost by then.

On monday night, after a short drinking session, I was berated by several GAF members (namely Dragona) to pick up Rocket Slime. I felt rather silly that, despite Slime Mori Mori 2 being available in Japan for the last 5 months, I never really got around to picking up the little gem, for a variety of thinly veiled and silly reasons.

I finally broke, and used some points to pick up the game (I also sold back my copy of God Hand...shush, don't tell anyone), and arrived at home. I left the game sitting on my couch for a good 20 minutes, checking news and eating dinner, before I finally broke down, cracked open the case, and popped the pint sized card into my DS Lite.

Friends had raved about the game's tank battles, so despite some initial ambivalence towards the initial level of the game, I plodded on. As I finished the first stage, and the early events of the game unfolded, I was met with a horrible realization: this is a collectathon!

This isn't to say that collecting something in a game is bad. In fact, it's quite the contrary. Unfortunately, I have a terrible habit. I often miss 1 or 2 pieces of something I must collect...out of 100. There is nothing more annoying than missing 1 or 2 pieces, and having no idea where you missed them, and no idea where you have and haven't been.

In Slime Mori Mori 2, you save citizens of the slime kingdom from evil, and 100 of the slimes are scattered about the levels. As usual, in every level, I would miss 1 or 2. Why 1 or 2? Often times, the ones I was missing were grouped together in a room that I had completely disregarded for god knows what reason. For those who are truly worried about my wellbeing, I did indeed find all 100. Crisis averted.

The real meat of the game is the tank battling, though. While the game proper, most of the time, is a zelda style adventure game, everything you do in the game flows into the tank battles. Items, health, rescued slimes; everything is geared towards improving your tank for upcoming battles.

Tank battles themselves are genius. For once, I actually couldn't figure out how it could have been done on a system without two screens. On the top screen, the two opposing tanks sit, firing volleys (or straight shots) of random items at each other to cause damage. On the lower screen, you control your slime hero, and run around either loading cannons with ammo, or infilitrating enemy tanks in an effort to throw their operation into disarray.

The most classic technique is the ability to launch yourself from your own cannon into the enemy base, and then proceed to demolish machinery in the enemy tank, not only causing an ammo shortage, but also preoccupying the enemy crew long enough to disrupt the firing flow.

The concept of a Zelda style game with tank battles seems disjointed in concept, but the flow of the game is so ingeniously devised, that it makes one wonder how Slime Mori Mori as a game survived with that vital puzzle piece tying the entire game together into a unique and addictive package.

I hate to give letter or number grades in reviews, and instead favor the binary "buy" or "don't buy" scheme that should have been adopted by gaming publications eons ago.

Regardless of that useless prattling, I would have to say that Slime Mori Mori 2 is a "buy," though I'll admit, there was no trying point counting or feature weighing to come to that conclusion. The game is downright fantastic.

2006-09-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

X06 has brought a wealth of announcements: Halo Wars, Wingnut Interactive, and even an exclusive Splinter Cell game for the 360. I enjoy my 360 (despite being in Japan, which automatically makes me the laughing stock of my local community), and i enjoy the odd game that releases for the system, but X06 has been, largely, a rather mundane occasion for me, apart from one single announcement:

DOOM. On XBLA. With Thy Flesh Consumed. 4 Player online co-op over Live. TODAY.

Those that grew up without Doom have my sympathies. The pixelated visceral gut punch of Doom was a masterpiece of ultraviolence and midi music when it was first released in the early infancy of the first person shooting genre. Those only privy to Halo and its ilk would probably find Doom wasted on them. The XBLA incarnation intentionally (or perhaps unintentionally) plays upon the nostalgia of old school FPS gamers like myself.

Doom for Xbox Live Arcade is PC perfect, from start to finish. For a game originally tooled for the PC, the 360 controller works without a hitch. Despite never playing Doom with a controller in the past (and staying with the PC version almost exclusively), I found myself racing around E1M1's hangar like a pro in under a second flat.

The achievements are rather inventive. Apart from the regular mundane achievements that one would expect (finishing episodes on Hurt Me Plenty, for instance), the game also offers a plethora of side achievements that I already found myself trying to achieve when I was a young tyke.

As I mentioned to a friend over Live chat, finding secrets in Doom, for me (and I suspect many of those who downloaded it yesterday and today), is not a game of chance. It's a perpetual struggle with my own memory, hoping to recall the smooth path through each level I had mastered and perfected after countless hours playing Doom on the PC.

Now I just need to find someone to fucking play the game with me on Live! Play with me, you dorks!

2006-09-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

I forgot to take a photo of the rabbite fan I got at TGS. The other side is a Chocobo from Chocobo's Magic Picture Book for DS.

This fan is fucking awesome.

2006-09-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a lot of comments on the Wii post, saying that region free was proven false by Nintendo of Europe. While they have indeed denied Kaplan's remarks, NOA still insists that the system is region free. A thread on the subject has been plaguing GAF for some time, and no one really knows the answer. Journalists and developers I've talked to don't seem to know one way or another either.

It's really bizarre. A representative from NCL should dispel the rumors one way or another. Knowing it's not region free would be just as helpful as knowing it is, at this point.

2006-09-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hey all. I just got back from Tokyo Game Show, and I am absolutely bushed. Met a lot of new people there (including 1up, IGN and Game Informer folk), as well as saw a few guys I already knew (two guys from Capcom, and a host of others).

I made a really long post on GAF with some TGS impressions and photos, so I'm going to save some energy, and paste all of it in here. Enjoy the regurgitation!

Photos after the Microsoft Party:

I'll start with just a couple photos after the Microsoft party on the night before our visit to TGS. The whole shindig was rather boring, and there wasn't even any alcohol there.

We did get a grab bag of not-so-goodies, and I took a few photos.

Gears of War JP sticker. Boring. Next.

Ah! Here's something interesting! An XBLA point card. We later found out it only had 100 points on it. We couldn't even buy a picture pack with that. :\

Here's sp0rsk trying to use the Xbox Live radio with retractable headphones. Not only do the headphones not effectively retract, but the radio itself didn't work.

TGS photos:

That's sp0rsk's head in the shot. He was taking a photo and had no idea I was as well. That's the entrance to TGS.

The It's A Wonderful World booth at Square Enix. I had to wait for 20 min to play the game, but it was worth it. It really hooked me, and I love the battle system.

This is the SNK stage where they announced KOFXII would use new sprites. As you can see, they're talking about KO2MI2 here.

EDF3 in action. Was lots of fun, and had some good texture work on the main character, but in general, didn't feel like it added anything.

The Xbox booth. Looks far more grand on the outside than the inside.

A Trusty Bell station. I really liked what I played of the game. The on map enemies had zero AI, but the actual battles were fun and felt fairly original.

360 with the HD DVD add on next to it...and a very very cute japanese girl behind it.

A project sylpheed station. I really enjoyed this. Can't wait to pick it up on the 28th.

A crappy angle of the Sony booth. When I saw it, I was really taken aback. It took huge real estate, and basically screamed "Okay, you can start. We've arrived."

One of my favorite booths. I didn't get a chance to take photos of the inside of the Gyakuten Saiban 4 booth (only this sign), but inside it was a big mock courtroom with DSes set up in a square running GS4.

DMC4. Own.

DQM booth. I really enjoyed what I played. It looks really promising.

There was absolutely no line to play Bleach DS 2nd. Which worked for me, because I was pumped to try it out. The demo had only two new characters playable out of the 6 that were choosable: Urahara and Ikkaku. Urahara was awesome. Didn't get to try out Ikkaku.

The Capcom booth, running a video of Lost Planet on the big screen.

Kojima and Murata doing to the Hidechan's Cafe stage show. They showed some very cool footage of the Kojima Prod. team doing more field training for MGS4.

The same terrible mass that sp0rsk took photos of. This was a veritable bermuda triangle. Konami, Sony and Capcom were the three corners, which is what made it so goddamn terrible. Namco Bandai had a tales of destiny stage show going on at this point, which made it worse.

The playable demo booth for Heavenly Sword. After playing it, I felt completely underwhelmed. The camera was way too zoomed in, the combos felt phoned in, and there was no tactile, visual or auditory key to show that I was actually pulling off counters. In general, I was underwhelmed.

Cute japanese girls playing Bleach Wii. Wii was at the show to take photos of (holy crap that thing is TINY in person), but it wasn't playable for the regular greasy masses. Understandablem considering no Nintendo reps were present at TGS.

Impressions:

It's a Wonderful World for DS:

I only played IAWW's battle mode in its entirety, so I'll share my impressions on how it works. The bottom screen is the male character, who is who you control most of the time. All attacks are different movements with the stylus. To move your character, you touch your character and drag the pointer around to move him. Attacking enemies is slashing them. Casting fire is dragging the stylus around the screen in lines or circles. Casting lightning is poking enemies.

The top screen is the female character, and she is mostly auto controlled. She has attacks that are controlled by using the dpad. She does this herself, but if you control it, you can cast the attack faster (right right, up, right right right, which you can do as fast as you can, but the computer will take its time).

It seemed like every time you do a certain attack with the girl, you get a card on the bottom screen. 3 cards allows you to pull off a super attack. I couldn't figure out why there were different cards, or how the different cards affected anything, though.

Heavenly Sword for PS3:

After playing it, I felt completely underwhelmed. The camera was way too zoomed in, the combos felt phoned in, and there was no tactile, visual or auditory key to show that I was actually pulling off counters. In general, I was underwhelmed.

Motorstorm for PS3:

Motorstorm is an absolutely beautiful game. When opponents crash, it's really spectacular. They twirl out of control and parts start to fly in different directions. The framerate chugs a bit at points, but in general, it's really solid.

The maps seem really exciting and don't give you a defined track, maintaining that offroad feel. The biggest problem is that the races feel like everyone is driving at 10km/h. If they sped it up a bunch, we might have something!

Genji 2 for PS3:

I bought and played Genji, and was totally unimpressed. As Bebpo from GAF once said, it's a great 2 hour game that goes on for 10 hours. That was one reason I was apprehensive about actually waiting in line to play Genji 2 at Sony's booth. I was totally floored when it finally came time.

I was presently surprised to find that the open war scenes were actually quite chaotic, and motion blur was used sparingly and effectively to subtly show quick movement. There seemed to be a slight overuse of bloom, but the effect served its purpose in most cases.

The quick slash system from the first game has returned, with some new twists. Major enemies (like the famous giant crabs) had multiple different ways to take them down, facilitated by the different character's strengths. One thing I liked was that the characters could be changed on the fly, unlike the first game, where you had to return to your base and speak with the character to take control.

The biggest problems I found with the game were in fact not the control. There seemed to be frame tearing and framerate issues in certain parts of the demo, especially the demo's waterfall area. Hopefully things like that will be fixed soon.

Bleach DS 2nd for DS:

I was a huge fan of the original Bleach for DS, and a huge fan of the manga of its namesake. Bleach DS 2nd doesn't seem to mess too much with the formula, and that's definitely a good thing. They added a timed bar for specials, so if you get knocked down, you can't retaliate with a special immediately.

The demo only had 4 player free for all to play, and 6 selectable characters, but two new characters, Ikkaku and Urahara, were playable in the demo. I only had time to try out Urahara, but he played very differently from other characters. Many of his moves actually used Ururu and the other store employees, which was an interesting twist on the super move list.

It's really a shame that the Guardian Heroes style mode wasn't sampled in the demo, as I'm sure that would be a must buy feature for both fans of the series as well as those who have never read the manga, but just love Treasure games.

That's all for now! I'll try to update with more impressions later.

2006-09-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

Nintendo had its Japanese Wii conference yesterday, so there's a worldwind of information to deal with. Most of you who read this blog probably already know the gist of the news, but I'll recap real quick, regardless:

- 25000 yen for the console
- The console comes with Wii Sports and one Wii remote
- It will release in the US first on November 19th, and then in Japan in December.
- Zelda Wii will be available at launch
- Mario Galaxy will be a 2007 release.
- A host of games was announced, including Sengoku Basara (which I will annoyingly call Sengoku Basara Thwii), and Biohazard Umbrella Chronicles.
- Virtual Console games will range from 500 yen to 1000 yen, depending on the legacy content's original home console.
- MSX joins the leagues of Virtual Console games.
- 30 VC games are announced for release by the end of 2006, with 10 new VC games hitting each month.

That's the major news. One piece of news that seemed to slip through the cracks for most people is confirmation by NOA executive Perrin Kaplan that the Wii (at least in the area of first party releases), will be region free. That's right. It looks like next gen is a land of region free. I hope Sony and Nintendo's region free content proves to be more wide spread than Xbox's spotty at best unlocked content.

I need some time to let all of this sink in, so I will wait until sunday to post my thoughts on the announcement. Catch you then!

2006-09-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

I've had about 5000 yen worth of points sitting on the membership card for my local game and book store. Up until two days ago, I had little direction as to how I would wisely spend this new found bounty. I was tempted to buy something that was expensive that I wouldn't normally spend money on, as these points could be categorized in the "free money" section, right under jacket change and botched lottery winnings.

Sp0rsk over at GAF had been trying to sell me on Sengoku Basara 2 for months prior to obtaining these points, but with a mountain of games to play, I had quietly ignored him. I had played a little bit of the original Sengoku Basara, and really enjoyed it, but the US localization of that terrible hose beast Devil Kings had soured me on the thought that Capcom knew what it was doing with a Sengoku Musou clone.

When I arrived at the store on sunday afternoon, though, I was surprised to find a copy of Basara 2 (normally at 6400 yen) down to 5700 yen for just a single day. With my digital bounty, the price of the game would become a measly 700 yen. I was willing to risk 700 yen on a game that potentially could suck. After all, the points I had gained were from purchases I would have made regardless of a point system that, refreshingly, isn't designed to fleece me of my earnings.

I decided to make an outing of the whole thing, and traipsed over to my local ramen shop, and ordered the biggest meal they had on the menu, in honor of this momentous buying occasion. As an aside, the biggest meal they have on the menu is a ramen and tuna chauhan combo, that costs a whopping 1050 yen.

After getting my fill, I made my way back home, and popped the game into my slender JP Ps2 (which humorously sits atop my gargantuan hard drive housing US PS2). The first 20 minutes of gameplay left me rather underwhelmed. "Well, it was only 700 yen," I thought, as I played through the first mission as Date Masamune. I finished the level after a little trouble, and turned off the PS2 to read some manga.

I returned 20 min later in hopes of redeeming the game in the eyes of my wallet. I turned the PS2 on once again, and tried another mission. I was pleased to see variation in the move set between characters, and found that I had been playing the game all wrong with Date (I won't go into the details, as it's rather embarassing now that I think about it). After getting a handle of how the game is supposed to be played, I charged right in and began conquering battle after battle with multiple "Extreme" versions of famous sengoku generals. The game had me hooked.

At the present, I'm still only going through story mode. I've finished the story mode for 5 of the original characters, and am working to finish the story mode for the rest of the originals, as well as the newly joined set of unlockables. The game has me by the balls, and i don't find it likely that it will let go until I've beat the shit out of its various modes.

2006-09-03T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why 360 is failing so badly in Japan? It could be the marketing.

I snapped that at Yodobashi today, when I was picking up Tingle DS. The TV commercials are actually worse, if you can believe that.

2006-09-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

I finished FF3 on Thursday night, with a final time of 38 hours and 42 minutes. The final dungeon was some hardcore RPG action. While I took out the 5 bosses in the lower part of the dungeon and then saved, I had to proceed to the upper floors and deal with 6 bosses in a row (along with numerous random battles) without the ability to save.

Post Mortem: The game is fantastic. While the lack of top screen is downright criminal, and inexcusable, it rectifies the dismal situation with excellent graphics, gameplay, and balance. The game is as difficult as you want it to be, rather than so easy that you find yourself not wearing armor just to have some fun. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys class based RPGs in the least. It's hard not to enjoy FF3.

I journeyed to Yodobashi Camera today, to pick up Tingle's Rose Colored Rupee Land. It's a fantastic game so far, and it's heavy on the gambling. Your life is how many rupees you have, but everything in the game requires payment. Of course, the problem with that is that you don't know how much they want, so you have to guess.

If you give too much money, you've wasted valuable rupees. If you under pay, you lose what you tried to pay with, AND have to try again. That can be a fairly trying when you're a little low on rupees, and you waste them all in a failed attempt to bribe someone for information.

I need to play more of the game, but so far it seems excellent. It makes good use of both screens (unlike FF3), and while movement is on the Dpad (or the face buttons if you're left handed), you touch objects on the touch screen to interact with them. An interesting premise that seems to work out fairly well.

More information later.

2006-08-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this photo to me, and I got a pretty big chuckle out of it.

Apparently it ran in South Carolina, and was pulled from billboards within a day of being up. No surprise there.

What the hell is wrong with America?!

2006-08-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was complaining about FF3's lack of top screen usage in battle. It actually gets worse. Scholars have the ability to scan enemies, yet their scan data doesn't display in the top screen. It displays in the main battle screen! WHAT THE FUCK.

Seriously guys. Lame.

2006-08-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Rurouni Kenshin PS2 game hits Japanese stores September 4th. The Kenshin fanboy within yearns to pick it up, despite my strong suspicions that it will indeed be the worst possible video game realization of Kenshin's masterfully written second story arc.

Rurouni Kenshin, for those who might not know its pedigree, was a long running manga in Shonen Jump, and followed the life of Kenshin Himura, a wandering samurai with a reverse bladed katana. There is far more to the story, but I would rather not reveal it for those interested in reading the manga or watching the anime.

The game seems to be based on the Shishio story arc, which was the best written, and most popular throughout the manga's life.

No word yet on a US release. Here is a magazine scan with some shots from the game, courtesy of the Megatokyo forums:

SCAN

2006-08-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post a quick screenshot of the rare instance where Square-Enix used the dual screen to its full potential in FF3.

Very cool stuff. I'm really enjoying the game. Tomorrow I won't be teaching classes until 5pm, so I'll have a healthy chunk of time to really knock through the game. Wish me luck.

2006-08-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

On my way to work today, I picked up my preorder of Final Fantasy III for DS. While I'm usually against remakes, FF3 is great for a few key reasons:

1) It was never released in North America for NES, so it's like a new game for me.

2) They completely remade the graphics with some nice CG, and complete in-game graphical face lift.

3) They rebalanced the jobs so that, god forbid, you don't need a specific job to defeat a particularly difficult boss creature.

4) There's a pretty interesting story this time around. Instead of starting with all the characters, you now start with just one of the characters, and have to collect the other three over time, akin to modern FF's.

Playing FF3 on a handheld is absolutely geared towards me. With all the commuting and time I spend at the office, it's nice to be able to crack open the DS on the train, or play a dungeon in between a few classes, instead of wishing I was at home gazing at my TV.

The battle system itself is fairly old school. Instead of picking party orders as their turn comes around, you issue battle orders to your entire party at the start of the round. This makes planning much harder, as at the beginning of a battle, you have no idea who your healer should cure next.

I also find the battle speed a little slow for my taste, but still fairly bearable. It's definitely fun. There's no question, there. After playing the streamlined and smooth battle system of Persona 3, FF3 is a definite change for me. Hopefully it won't take too much time to adjust. Here are a few photos I took of the box, and the game running on my DS Lite. Sorry about the photo quality, but these were taken with my cell phone during a break at work.

You might notice that the in-game screen has the world map on the top screen. This is only during overworld travel, and town travel. Curiously, while in dungeons, and while in battle, the top screen, is completely blank! Square-Enix decided not to add anything at all to look at on the top screen. Even a sky view during battles would have been nice. With a black screen on the top during battle, it can feel a little claustrophobic. I eventually got over it, but it still nags me.

I'll post with more impressions later.

2006-08-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

I fucking love Club Nintendo. Run by a point system that only japanese Nintendo fans can access, Club Nintendo passes out free goodies to loyal fans. In each of the new Nintendo games, a small slip of paper with a code is placed behind the manual. The code, when input on Nintendo's site, adds a number of points to your overall total, which you can later trade in for cool nintendo products. Codes depreciate over time, so Nintendo rewards gamers for picking up games just after they release.

Last week I finally got the first game released by Club Nintendo: Game and Watch DS Collection. Here are some fapworthy photos:

The back cover

The shipping box, complete with delightful grammar mistakes

Good stuff. My next target is the set of Mario Hanafuda cards. I may have to take up Hanafuda just for those cards.

2006-08-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

As I sit on my excrutiatingly low japanese couch, with my huge american legs outstretched to the other end of my apartment, my blood pressure is rapidly rising. Despite all the good will and faith that Microsoft has displayed in the form of creating Xbox Live, a truly viable and revolutionary console online service, they have finally found the way to fuck it up. It was only a matter of time.

Many people argue that Microsoft is no different than any other game manufacturer: they all just want your money. While, of course, a company does indeed want to make money, no company has displayed a sheer bloodthirst for money so ravenous, that they are willing to introduce a service that is intended to overtly fleece gamers in the worst imaginable fashion: consumables.

Described by 1up.com's Luke Smith as a commodity that can be purchased, and then later repurchased, the idea of consumables is that one would presumably purchase this item on marketplace, where it would eventually decay over time. That's right, folks. It would actually eventually decay and disappear, forcing you to repurchase the same item. It's like buying food, except you can't eat it, and Microsoft is fucking you in the ass at the same time. Doesn't that sound enticing?

What I fear is how far developers are willing to go with the idea of consumables. Will frustrated preteens be able to purchase an invincibility potion to defeat a particularly hard dragon? Will racing fans have to purchase gas for their McLaren F1 at the correct current exchange rate for Japanese oil? Will I have to purchase ammunition and upper tier, decaying weaponry for Halo 3?

Only the future knows what kind of bullshit Microsoft has in store for us. I fucking hate this bullshit.

On a quick note: Luke also mentioned that MS is specifically steering publishers from offering free game content on marketplace, citing that companies had already set a precedent with a specific pricing model.

I fucking hate you Microsoft. Choke on a fucking dick.