An old dog, new tricks

12 October 08 | 22:40 | Posted by: Levi

Many in the games industry have been very vocal in decrying the business of selling used games. Their arguments are numerous and homogenous: games purchased second-hand don't compensate the creators for their hard work; second-hand resellers are exploiting the industry for their own greedy ends; second-hand sales leech revenue from the industry and will ultimately lead to less games being produced.

It's not hard to see their point when they're decrying the policies of a retail partner that actively encourages its customers not to buy the games new. At the same time, as a consumer, I value my rights when it comes to purchasing their product. If I don't care for the game, I can sell it to someone else. If I'm not sure I'm going to like it, I can rent it. I can borrow it from a friend. I can trade it with someone I know for a different game. I can even bring it into a chain video game retailer and get credit for a different game.

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category: games | forums | No comments | §

Good for what ails ya

12 October 08 | 19:43 | Posted by:

Tokyo Game Show is done, and I'm back in Tokyo (as opposed to outside Tokyo, where I was for Tokyo Game Show) for a couple of days to (hopefully) drum up some work. I think today I'm just going to lay in my hotel and quietly let my body heal, though. It's been a rough couple of days full of people. People are exhausting, as it turns out. I think I will avoid them for today. But it's all been for the best: we have at least two episodes of Bonus Stage in the bag now, and shockingly enough the sound quality for the episode of Retronauts we recorded last night while sitting around an iPod microrecorder is more than good enough to use as an actual podcast.

Also, last night we were able to hit a bar in Shinjuku that I've heard about for years: 8-Bit Cafe. As you might guess from the name, it's very video game oriented! It's a fairly small place on the fifth floor of a scary and uninviting building -- there's a Russian porn shop on the main floor -- but inside the bar is a huge collection of random old video game stuff. Sadly, they have a no-pictures policy, but trust me when I say it was vaguely like my definition of what the afterlife might be if I live a good life, except more crowded and with a lot more cigarette smoke. Lots of '80s memorabilia, including tons of Takahashi Meijin merchandise and an abundance of Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku goods as well. And a couple of game systems hooked up to a TV in the corner.

Somehow Sam and his friends and I ended up playing through Final Fight 2 for Super Famicom, which was a total waste of an hour. But worth it for the way Sam breakdanced the final boss right through his dojo wall, I think. Also, it gave us an excuse to imitate Haggar for an hour.



They also offered a small number of game-themed drinks. A few others had the Princess Peach, which was overwhelmingly Peach flavored. Me, I had the Doctor Mario. It was...Dr Pepper, mixed with something fermented, served in a Pyrex flask with a side of candy pills in a petri dish. Amazing.

Next up: Tokyo's other retro bar, 16 Shots.

category: games | forums | four comments | §

The galaxy is transforming into Shinya Arino

12 October 08 | 13:58 | Posted by: Nicola Nomali

Hey! Are you guys happy that Retro Game Challenge is on track for an American release?

Me, too! But what if I told you they just announced a second Game Center CX game in Japan?

...Yeah, that's about right.

category: games | forums | six comments | §

It came, it sold out, it angered

11 October 08 | 23:13 | Posted by: eirikr

I was planning on providing a rundown of my favorite picks from TGS this week, but my attention was diverted by Mega Man 9. Not necessarily by the game, mind you, but by the proclamation that Capcom was making the much-lauded MM9 press kits available to the public.

I was one of the many Mega Man fans who clamored to get even half a pinkie on one of them -- was fully willing to prostrate myself before Capcom, holding out wads of cash, just for the chance to purchase this completely ridiculous and unnecessary item. So how did it go? Well…

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category: games | forums | nine comments | §

Swarms

11 October 08 | 16:10 | Posted by:

From up here, they all look like ants. (But they don't crunch the same way when you step on them.)

Meanwhile, shooting for the first new episode of Bonus Stage is in the bag. Yes, you may celebrate.

category: blog | forums | six comments | §

Reignited and it feels so good

11 October 08 | 10:30 | Posted by: Nicola Nomali

When Odin Sphere debuted last spring, it was lauded as one of the most beautiful games ever made, and a shining star of hope for 2D relevance in the mean world of console games. Although it may have overreached by stretching its assets across a few too many game hours, it was undeniably a painstaking labor of love. The main regret, then, was that it was such an intimate, personal project, so many years in the making, that we weren't likely to see another to match its brilliance any time soon.

Which is why Muramasa: The Demon Blade (then known by its Japanese title, Oboro Muramasa Youtouden) was revealed to such amazement last September. Odin Sphere trailed its predecessor, Princess Crown, by a full decade, but here was evidence of "Princess Crown 3" not half a year later! Naturally, there was some skepticism that a company as small as Vanillaware could conjur an experience of the same quality in so short a time frame. And after the initial blurry Famitsu scans and shaky-cam trailer, no further details emerged, and the game slipped off the radar for over a year.

But here we are at TGS, and Vanillaware are eagerly showing off the fruits of their silent labor with gorgeous new screenshots, a playable demo with a slew of different environments, and best of all, an American publisher. Consider me back on the enthusiast bandwagon. In fact, I call shotgun.

category: games | forums | twelve comments | §

Now you know: I'm an expert

10 October 08 | 20:13 | Posted by: Kat

I've had relatively few dealings with the local media during my time in Japan. I don't watch a lot of television, and my only contact with NHK has been via the collector who comes to my door in an attempt to extract cash moneys for the greater good. That's when I turn off the lights and pretend that I'm not home. Because I'm a horrible person like that.

But despite my past transgressions, I have apparently been deemed a video game expert by the Japanese media. While I was waiting in line to play Gundam Musou 2 with a friend of mine, I got a tap on my shoulder.

"Hello," said the woman whose head you see below. "Are you a foreigner? Can you please do an interview?"

After checking to make certain that I was still a foreigner, I agreed. A moment later, I was being grilled with questions like "Why do Americans like Japanese games?" and "Has the financial crisis affected Japanese games in America?" Pretty hard-hitting stuff from the mainstream media!

My answers?

A: 1983 was an absolutely fantastic year for American gaming. Absolutely fantastic.

B: Yes.

Well, I might have gone into a little more detail then that, but I think that pretty much sums it up. When she finished, she gave a half-bow, thanked me, and said, "You are an expert!" Yeah, I kinda am. I'm glad that she noticed.

So keep this in mind from now on when you read my entries: I'm an expert. The Japanese media said so.

category: games | forums | ten comments | §

Junk food, eject; operation: gustatory delight

10 October 08 | 16:23 | Posted by:

You know, I'm not really an uncultured philistine; when I'm abroad I do like to take in actual cultural experiences. But at the moment, I'm way out in Chiba, which is basically Tokyo's New Jersey. There ain't much going out this way. So, rather than try to eke genuine Japanese heritage from countless square kilometers of warehouses and convention hotels, I must instead content myself to drink in the local cuisine. (Er, so to speak.) And by cuisine I mean "convenience food." So the report continues:



Japanese soft drinks are famous for their collectable "bottle toppers," which are little plastic toys they snap and seal over the lids to encourage you to buy lots and lots of said beverage. Common enough on the likes of Pepsi, but I was intrigued to see it's spread to coffee as well. And with Transformers, no less! Not that I care about Transformers, but it was a recognizable brand in this cold and distasteful world of anime panty-shots. So I bought some Boss Coffee Rainbow Blend. Not really sure what the "rainbow" bit is about, but it was pretty good -- a lot less sweet than most Japanese canned coffees. And it came with a Soundwave figurine. So, I guess this job's a success!



Less successful: "Muscat of Alexandria" Kit-Kat. The name seemed basically to be a fancy way of saying "grape," which struck me as a terrible mix of flavors for Kit-Kat. But my faith in the brand led me to take a chance.

Said faith, sadly, was not rewarded. "Muscat of Alexandria" is actually a fancy way of saying "seriously gross, dude." It's basically a white chocolate Kit-Kat (strike one) whose chocolate has been infused with the worst kind of chemical grape. It made those cheap off-brand grape sodas I used to drink as a kid seem authentic; it made grape Kool-Aid taste like a fine French vintage. It was Not Good. Recommendation: avoid unless forced to eat at gunpoint.



And finally, a pair of Mega Man E-Tank energy drinks. I haven't brought myself to consume these just yet, because (1) they were hard to come by; (2) I want to keep one as a collector's item if possible; and (3) if it's anything like other limited-edition branded energy drinks, it's not really intended for human consumption.

(Robot consumption, maybe, but not for humans.)

category: blog | forums | 17 comments | §

Are you okay?

10 October 08 | 10:43 | Posted by:

A lot of new 2D fighters on display at TGS, huh? Well, I guess that depends on whether you'd consider three "a lot." And also whether games with 3D characters count as 2D. Still! Big day for fans of the genre.

People have made light of Street Fighter IV copying II's roster and mechanics, but at least it's not the lone offender in playing it safe. Sure, The King of Fighters XII has gorgeous new, hand-drawn sprites, but c'mon, it's been a decade since they updated some of these characters. It's more an act of penance than evolution.

The addition of Sakura to SFIV's roster is one of the more telling signs of this reliance on series history. Storyline-wise (yeah, yeah, I know) there's no reason for her to be there, let alone in a schoolgirl outfit. Parish claims it's meant as parody, but I think he's just being charitable to Capcom on account of Mega Man 9. SFIV is really just a mash-up of Street Fighter's greatest hits (and, uh, Rufus). KoFXII's roster reveals about the same. Iori's been redesigned, but that primarily entailed relocating one of his belts, and Terry's back to his classic Fatal Fury jacket instead of his Mark of the Wolves look.

But these are fighting games. Cut them some slack; they have a hard enough time surviving without relying on their most valuable assets. And besides, solid mechanics usually trump bringing something new to the table. Oftentimes being a good fighting game is irrespective of being a groundbreaking one, and characters are, to a degree, window dressing under which the game is played. If copying Street Fighter II's roster wholesale means bringing back casual fans who fondly remember mashing-punch-as-Blanka duels, why the hell not?

category: games | forums | nine comments | §

Dinosaurs: now with blast processing

09 October 08 | 20:26 | Posted by: christopher

During this week's Sonic the Hedgehog-focused episode of Retronauts, Sharkey mentions a free, Flash-based game called Dino Run. He argues it's what would happen "if you distilled just the speedy bits of Sonic and made that the entire point." As someone raised on Nintendo consoles, my only real experience with Sonic was playing the game briefly with Genesis-owning friends. I tended to like the games until I got far enough that running fast became suicidal instead of fun, so I decided to give Dino Run a try to see how it creates a game based purely around speed.

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category: games | forums | seven comments | §

I guess I'm famous in Japan

09 October 08 | 16:36 | Posted by:

Yesterday on the TGS show floor, a woman flagged me down and asked if she could have a moment. Since she was a normal human and not one of those vinyl booth babe robots they send out to smile painfully at smelly nerds, I actually complied. She handed me a notebook whose cover said, "What is the coolest thing about Japan culture to you?" Then she asked me to draw my favorite thing about Japan. It was awkward and uncomfortable! So I drew the first thing I could think of, having just come from Square Enix's booth: a DS with a Dragon Quest slime on the screen.

Then she told me she writes for the Nikkei Daily and I realized that she was probably going to post my stupid doodle and a photograph of me drawing it to the Nikkei website. D'oh.

Then the marker she had given me to use exploded in a gout of fizzing black ink.

It's nice to know that being in Japan can still be a bafflingly surreal experience.

category: blog | forums | thirteen comments | §

From one corner to another

09 October 08 | 09:33 | Posted by: Nicola Nomali

If Nintendo making a new Punch-Out!! and publishing Sin and Punishment 2 hasn't convinced you that they still have love for the hardcore gamer, here's a sight that should warm your icy heart: The two games being promoted on Nintendo.com's front page right now, representing the Wii and DS respectively, are Wario Land: Shake It! and Kirby Super Star Ultra. See? They do care. And while the former turned out to be more of a rental than the transcendant 2D milestone we all wanted it to be, if you have any oldschool sensibilities whatsoever, the latter belongs in your DS.

It always surprises me when savvy gamers admit they've never played Kirby Super Star. Even though it was released post-PlayStation, I've always considered it one of the essential SNES titles, up there with A Link to the Past and Yoshi's Island. A solid base of Kirby platforming, augmented by over twenty special powers and move sets, spread across several varied game types, plus co-op equals something very much resembling perfection. Now DS owners (that is, you and eighty million friends) have the perfect opportunity to find out what they've been missing out on.

Which isn't to say those who have played Super Star to death shouldn't look into this; it just goes double for everyone else. Longtime fans can appreciate the complete visual makeover on display (impressive, given it was already one of the best-looking SNES games), as well as enjoy all the new sub-scenarios, which stand up to the originals for fun and invention. My favorite is "Revenge of the King," a subtly disturbing nightmare version of Spring Breeze, the first scenario of the game. That probably sounds too heavy for a Kirby title, but believe me; albeit in a very simple, Kirby-esque way, there are parts where the developers seem to have flown off into Kojima territory.

And on the off-chance that none of the new content appeals to you, hey: it's still portable Super Star. You can't go wrong.

category: games | forums | eleven comments | §