It's been fun

Now that I've turned in my research paper, and have finished all of my other classes, I finally have time to play games instead of just writing about them. So, no more posts from me after this one, but just for the sake of anyone reading this who wants some recommendations on good Japanese games to play, I thought I'd list some of my favorites.

Persona 4 (this one should be obvious)
Persona 3: FES or P3P
The Legend of Zelda (the entire series, but especially Majora's Mask)
Fire Emblem: (Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn)
Pokemon Blue (Red is for losers!)
Chrono Trigger
Tales of Symphonia
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy XI (this game will eat your life--play it at your own risk! I mean it!)
Harvest Moon
Eternal Sonata
Super Mario Galaxy (especially if you are on painkillers. I played this when I got my wisdom teeth out, and became one with the universe)
Ace Attorney (do yourself a favor and play them in order. Start with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)



Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Fire Emblem: Awakening to finally play. I'll see you around.

Arcades in Akihabara

Whenever I went to Akihabara, I was amazed at the towers filled with electronics.  Akihabara is known as “the electric city” pretty much for this reason.  You can get any sort of console, electronic part, or any video game you’re looking for.  In some of these towers were stories and stories filled with arcade games.

I spent more time than I would like to admit hooked to the arcade games.  There were floors filled with fighting games, floors of music/rythm games, floors for racing games, etc.  On some floors, there were tournaments with 30 or more people competing in Gundam or Persona Arena. Overall, it was an exciting and slightly overwhelming experience.

What I left out of my Persona 4 presentation

First off, since more people than I had anticipated didn't want to be spoiled, and others said they wanted to play this game after hearing my presentation, I have to say that I didn't get to any of the really spoilery stuff since I ran out of time, so if you plan to play the game don't go to the rest of the article after the jump. Just for the sake of people who may skim this opening paragraph:

SPOILER ALERT! END OF THE GAME DETAILS FOLLOW

Tail Concerto

My brother got a demo copy of the Japanese version of this game as part of the Underground Jampack disc series,  when he first bought his PlayStation in 1998.  I would spend hours playing the first level over and over, in a language I couldn’t yet understand, because this game was just so much fun.  Years later, I got my hands on the full version. Even though it’s a much older and less well-known game, its creative and unique approach at the adventure genre has given it a permanent place as one of my favorites.

The main character, Waffle, is a dog police officer who rides a mech, flies a zeppelin and is tasked with capturing naughty kittens wreaking havoc, all on his day off.  The kittens are led by a gang of three pirate-cat sisters, Alicia, Flare, and Stare. The only way to stop the kittens is by trapping them in bubbles (all of course for the sake of non-violence and family friendly-ness).

Check out this bubble action below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_OaeZX6uyg

Sequel to A Link to the Past announced!

This is pretty specific, but it's so exciting, I have to post it. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is getting a (currently untitled) sequel for the 3DS, which I never thought would happen. At the time of its release, the 1992 Action-Adventure was heralded for its engaging gameplay, excellent music, and (for the SNES) crisp graphics. In my opinion, it still holds up. If you haven't played it, I highly recommend buying an SNES and a copy of the game (definitely don't use an emulator like ZSNES to play a ROM you downloaded from a site like emuparadise.org) and experiencing it for yourself.

 
 

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/17/new-zelda-game-announced-for-nintendo-3ds

Hatoful Boyfriend: The Satire Dating Sim for Pigeon-lovers

Hatoful boyfriend (a pun between "heartful" and "hato [pigeon]") is a parody dating sim made for the PC and MAC.  Instead  of choosing from male or female human characters you would normally expect to find in a dating sim, you date, yes, pigeons.  Of course very few visual novels in this genre are as simple as just choosing who to date, they contain plot twists and characters with incredible backstories.  Hatoful Boyfriend takes this to a satirical extreme.

In this game, you star as a bright human girl who is accepted into a prestigious school for pigeons.  Your character has to be very smart, because the game subtly reveals it takes place in a dystopian future.  Even though it appears to take place in current day, human beings now live in caves and normally have a very primitive level of intelligence, with pigeons as the new master species.

Your choices include a psychopath school doctor, a wealthy, but aloof classmate, a ghost, your best friend, and more.  There are eight potential pigeons to choose from.  Some of the storylines are very typical, you spend time together, you fall in love, the end.  Some choices end with you falling in love with a CIA agent and running away together. 

This game is subtle, but if you keep a close eye, you will notice some pretty amazing things in the storytelling that go far beyond the usual dating sim.  

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Asia Divisions Will Merge

Due to the economic climate, Sony has announced that SCE Japan will take over SCE Asia in the near future. Hopefully the PS4 will be successful enough that no more jobs will be lost from the down economy. Since escapist entertainment tends to still do well (in a relative sense) in lagging economies, this is thankfully not a remote possibility.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/01/sony-fusing-asian-and-japanese-gaming-units-into-one/

Social Gaming in Japan

Dr. Serkan Toto gave an interesting presentation on social gaming trends in Japan, which I think are better understood by seeing his graphs, and since he has posted the full set of slides to slideshare.net, I'll just provide a link.

Social Gaming in Japan

Is Ryona a real thing?

OFFENSIVE CONTENT WARNING (VIOLENCE, SEXISM)

Again, I'll have to give a short answer to the headline. Yes. Unfortunately, it is a real thing.

Ryona has come to be known in the Fighting games genre (specifically) in the last few years due to YouTube videos featuring gameplay video captures, and internet communities based around it. While apparently it has been around longer than that, this is how it relates to gaming culture: because video games provide an easy medium to create these kinds of videos, since only a single person's participation is needed.

So, what is it? Well, I'll let Wikipedia answer that (article has since been deleted, so this was copied from a different site which sources the definition as originating on Wikipedia):

"Ryona (リョナ), which comes from ryonanī (リョナニー), portmanteau of ryōki (猟奇, bizarre) and onanī (オナニー, masturbation), is a Japanese term for a sexual complex where a female character is, usually sexually, attacked or tortured by either a man or another female character(s). In the Western world, it refers specifically to artwork or manga depicting a physically hurt or wounded girl in sexual situations. While the term is recent, the theme has been in western culture since the 70's such as in horror films that features women being murdered or tortured. Ryona art is often explicit in nature; some common themes include Sadism."

Thankfully, it's an obscure and not-widely-subscribed-to fandom (Bronies sound downright delightful in comparison, don't they?). When I initially heard about it, I didn't actually believe it was real, because it sounded both too bizarre and--to be completely honest--too much like one of those urban legends that local TV news stations like to sensationalize, regardless of their basis in fact (anyone else remember Rainbow Parties, Jenkem, or "Strawberry Quik"?). But when I was thinking of video game blog topics to write about, I remembered that I had never actually checked to see if Ryona was a real thing, so I decided to put that rumor to rest for good so I could think of something else. Boy, did I regret that decision.

Normally, I'd post a link to my sources, and so forth, but in this case, I don't want to give these guys the page views. So instead, I'll tell you that if you really, really want to read about it, Google the title of this article and the sites will pop up. Or, if you prefer to not be mentally scarred for life...don't.

Instead, I'll just describe what you can expect to see if you do. 1) You'll see videos (obviously). 2) You'll see online communities based around it, and justifications that it's "not that bad", and so forth. 3) You'll see a big therapy bill, because you're going to need it after experiencing what 1) and 2) have to offer.

I would like to again state that this subculture represents a tiny sliver of gaming culture, and that the admittedly-still-has-problems-with-sexism gaming community at large primarily consists of people who will look at you with a mixture of disgust and confusion should you mention that you like Ryona (that is, if they know what it is. It really is that obscure).

In closing, I would just like to say:

Videos from my presentation

Apologies for the delay, I meant to post these before I left for Las Vegas. These were meant for their corresponding game slides in the presentation.

Pacman Gameplay:

Legend of Zelda secrets still being discovered:

Pop Fiction

Sonic the Hedgehog Momentum Example:

Chrono Trigger Gameplay:

PS4 Article

http://www.edge-online.com/features/something-about-japan-keiji-inafune-yosuke-hayashi-and-toshihiro-nagoshi-talk-ps4/2/

 

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Something About Japan: Keiji Inafune, Yosuke Hayashi and Toshihiro Nagoshi talk PS4

Something About Japan: Keiji Inafune, Yosuke Hayashi and Toshihiro Nagoshi talk PS4

Comments 3

Daniel Robson at 04:00pm February 23 2013

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Comcept’s Keiji Inafune.

Traditionally, the best-loved game consoles have almost always come from Japan. From the early days of Nintendo vs Sega to Sony entering the market in the ‘90s, Japan has coughed up the consoles the rest of the world wants to play games on. But the past eight or so years have seen the rise of the Xbox 360 and the decline in popularity of consoles made in Japan. Nintendo still dominates the handheld space but Wii U has so far failed to set the world alight. Is Japan’s hardware going the same way as its games?
Sony’s unveiling of the PS4 at Wednesday’s PlayStation Meeting 2013 would suggest it is, for now at least. Although Sony Computer Entertainment has become one of Japan’s most iconic game companies, its next console has an American passport. Apparently designed in the US, with American lead architect Mark Cerny taking the stage at a New York press conference at an awkward time for the Japanese (8am Thursday), PS4 is rich in exciting new features – and clearly many of these were born in the States.
Ken Kutaragi’s mad policy of creating exasperating bespoke processors is out the window, with a more dev-friendly “supercharged PC” chipset in its place. While Japanese media companies avoid streaming their content at all costs, for fear of damaging their highly controlled retail income, California-based Gaikai will power PS4’s exciting content delivery. And of the games shown at this week’s event, only two and a half were from Japan (Capcom’s Deep Down, Square’s vaguely promised Final Fantasy title and Cerny’s Knack, developed in collaboration with Sony’s Japan Studio).

Not that Japanese developers think unveiling PS4 in New York as opposed to Tokyo was necessarily a bad thing. Nintendo first announced the price of Wii U in the US, and released the console there several weeks before Japan.
“I think Sony were absolutely right to do it in the States,” Comcept’s Keiji Inafune tells me a few hours after PlayStation Meeting. Inafune famously declared the Japanese game industry “finished” in 2009, and among his many projects he is developing Ninja Gaiden Z: Yaiba in collaboration with California-based Spark Unlimited.
“There’s no rule to say that a Japanese console-maker has to announce its new hardware in Japan,” he says. “The most important thing was for Sony to get the maximum amount of global attention for its new hardware, and the place with the biggest market for console games now is America.”
Yosuke Hayashi, head of Team Ninja at Tecmo Koei (which is also collaborating on Yaiba), has a slightly different view on the New York presser. “As a Japanese person, it does feel sad to some extent,” he admits. “But we will continue developing to our best so that PS5 can be announced in Japan.”
Indeed, Japan does seem to be making a special effort to get ahead in the next generation, at least on the tech side. In Japan, software engines are often made concurrently with a game and are rarely as flexible or adaptable (or sellable) as Western tools such as Unreal Engine or CryEngine. Although Square Enix had nothing new to reveal of its Luminous Studio engine during its presentation at PlayStation Meeting, showing the same demo video we’d already seen at last year’s E3, it does reconfirm the RPG giant’s intentions to devise tools that make jaw-dropping visuals cheaper to achieve. Capcom’s Panta Rhei engine looked pretty spectacular too, while we’re already expecting big things from Kojima Productions’ Fox Engine.


Toshihiro Nagoshi of Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind Yakuza and Binary Domain, tells me that of course the promise of enhanced graphics performance is enticing – this man surely dreams in dramatic cut-scenes – but he says he is more intrigued by PS4’s social capabilities.
“I personally am interested in utilising the new technical performance of the hardware to support building user communities,” he says.
Nagoshi told me two years ago that his top hope for the next generation was for new input methods, something which he says now has been appeased somewhat by the touchpad and Move integration in the PS4 controller. “I’m not fully convinced yet, but I have a very good feeling about it. Also, our team seem to be very positive about it, and motivated to get stuck in.”
Comcept’s Inafune, ever the glass-half-full kinda guy, goes one further: “I always get excited about the announcement of new hardware, because it requires innovative new content, which is the best opportunity for me as a creator. It’s a chance for a new challenge.”
Hayashi confirms that Team Ninja is already in gear for PS4: “We have started to work on turning our content into a new form that is wanted by our fans in this current age. I feel like we have reached the end of an era for hardware specs and are now entering an age of service enrichment. Obviously specs will continue to evolve, but how to turn such specs into the services required by consumers seems to be the key importance for developers now.”
And Japan is not short of developers ready to climb aboard. Of 149 developers worldwide that have signed on for PS4, according to a list released by Sony, 45 are in Japan. These include the ones you’d expect (Sega, Konami, Platinum Games, Namco Bandai, Grasshopper Manufacture and so on) but also some that were not a given – for example, Level-5 suffered poor sales of Ni No Kuni in Japan, but happily the mostly-Nintendo developer is back in the ring for PS4.

Few of these have commented on PS4 in Japan’s game media – many of the developers I reached out to for this article said they couldn’t say anything yet. But 4Gamer carried two interviews with Sony Computer Entertainment Japan president Hiroshi Kawano, in which he revealed that PS4 will use Blu-ray discs, that Gaikai may be technically capable of streaming PS4 games to a PS3 (though he said strategically Sony may not go down that route), that Sony is considering something similar to PSP/Vita’s UMD Passport system to allow PS4 owners access via Gaikai to games they’ve previously bought on PS3, that 3D support is under consideration, and that the PS4 console design will probably be unveiled at E3 in June.
“I haven’t seen the final design for the console myself yet,” Kawano told 4Gamer. “I hadn’t even seen the final controller until about yesterday, and we revealed that today!”
It’s another clue that the power balance at Sony may have changed. Despite bearing the emblem of one of Japan’s most famous electronics makers, PS4 will likely be an American console. It’s a Chrysler with a Suzuki badge on the hood.
Post-3/11 Japan has a newfound national pride, and Team Ninja’s Hayashi is surely not alone among Japanese developers who feel a tinge of disappointment to see PlayStation announced in the US. But he and his cohorts can take comfort in the likelihood that Japanese gamers will probably get their first hands-on at Tokyo Game Show in September – whose tagline was announced soon after PlayStation Meeting: “Games keep on advancing”.

Do Japanese Players Cheat?

The short answer is "Yes". For the (very) long answer, I've provided the below rant diatribe blog post.

To accompany the earlier Final Fantasy post, which covered the series besides Final Fantasy XI, I'd like to talk specifically about how the differences in message board posting culture in Japan and North America affects the perception of cheating in an online space, namely FFXI (Final Fantasy XI). I'm including a glossary at the bottom to make the linked article make more sense to people who are not into the FFXI community enough to be familiar with JPButton.com (which would be just about everybody on the planet). JPButton.com is (or was, now that it appears to have shut down) a site aimed at encouraging cooperation between JPs and NAs (as the Japanese and North American players referred to themselves).

The name "JP Button" comes from a running joke that Japanese players have a special extra button added on to their copies of the game which give them special advantages--primarily due to differences in server lag between regions (all game servers are located in Japan, giving lower pings to those who play close by), and because FFXI was released in Japan earlier than outside, meaning that on average the first elite decked-out player a new player would see would be Japanese.

An artist's visualization of the mythical JP Button

So, why would there be any dramatic difference between expecting Japanese players to cheat, and expecting North Americans to cheat? The answer, surprisingly, comes from differences in message board policy, and in the version of the game most popular in each region. FFXI was released for the PlayStation 2 and Windows PCs at the beginning, and an XBox 360 version was added much later for the expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Because PC gaming is much less popular in Japan than it is in the US and Canada, the PS2 was the dominant platform of the JP playerbase, while the PC version thrived in the US. As updates to the game progressed, and players requested new features, a familiar phrase was often heard as a euphemism for deciding not to add something to the game: "PS2 limitations".

Despite the PS2 being the undisputed winner of its console generation in units sold and revenue earned, it's no computational workhorse--even at the time it was first released it was technologically second-rate. As impatience with the lack of improvements to the UI (user interface) increased among PC players due to SE's (Square-Enix's) insistence that the PS2 and PC versions be functionally identical, a group of players created a third-party application called Windower, which--appropriately enough--allowed the game to be put into a windowed state on PCs without crashing (allowing such game-breaking activities as checking your e-mail or running an MP3 player), which was not added as an official feature until well-into Wings of the Goddess (the fourth expansion, released in 2007). While technically against the Terms of Service, it was considered harmless enough, and many players began using it right away. What is key is that Windower was only available for the PC version, which, as said above, was the version-of-choice of NA players, not Japanese.

FFXI also has Chocobos! (Kweh!)

Because FFXI does not use regional servers, any player on (for example) the Gilgamesh server could interact with any other online player on the Gilgamesh server, regardless of their location, but could not easily interact with others in their same region, but on a different server. Not only that, but a built-in auto-translator allowed Japanese and English (and later, German and French) speaking players to communicate with each other using pre-translated words and phrases. This meant that cooperation (and, more often, competition) between JP and NA players was common, especially in the small hours of the morning, when NA players should have been in bed, and JP players were just getting home from work/school. This also meant that anything that became common in one community would become known of in the other (I speak of two communities because while there are European players of FFXI, the overwhelming bulk of the game's population comes from Japan and America). Thus, when Windower became widespread for NAs, the JPs all knew about it, even though most of them could not use it due to playing the PS2 version.

Windower has a plugin architecture, which in theory allowed anyone with knowledge of its interfaces the ability to change features of the game. In practice, details of the interface were tightly controlled by the Windower team, who went about modifying the UI to fit their vision of the game. This added the ability to do such things as change equipment more rapidly (it was common to equip three or four different 16-piece gear sets in order within the span of one second in order to have optimum stats when casting a single spell, and the saying of endgame players on this topic was: "if you're not blinking like a Christmas tree, you're not doing your job"), see game data that was otherwise unavailable (such as the stats of other players), and even to perform basic scripting. And, of course, the JPs knew all about it. Which brings us to message board policy.

Aww, he's cute! You couldn't ban such a cute face, could you?

The Japanese message boards for FFXI were largely anonymous posting boards (such as 2ch), which meant that from one game discussion to the next, there would be no persistent identities involved. Thus, attacking a person known in-game for cheating was virtually impossible (and pointless, as there was no way to verify the accuracy of such claims), as you could never know who you were talking to. That being the case, because those who cheated (the rare JP PC player) had no need to defend their reputations, and those who didn't (the majority of players, playing on the PS2) could not cheat even if they wanted to, the JP community became known as staunchly anti-cheating.

On the other hand, English (language) boards for FFXI were like most other English forums, where users had a handle, and avatar/signature attached to each of their posts. Anyone found cheating could be publicly lambasted, as anyone who was anyone had not only their character's name, but jobs (player classes) and server listed in their signature. Not to mention that anyone who used the in-game Auction House was visible on FFXIAH.com, whether they meant to be or not. Knowing someone's name was the same as being able to track their character forever (unless they took very drastic measures to disguise their identity after jumping to a new server), so anyone caught cheating could not just disappear into the ether, they had to defend themselves and justify their actions in the open. This led, over time, to acceptance of Windower by the majority of NAs, with Windower use being all but required for endgame players. SE's policy of not banning anyone who was not blatantly cheating/admitting to using third-party tools on in-game chat meant that a Fight Club culture of "the first rule of Windower is don't talk about Windower (in-game)" developed, and the two main communities of JP and NA became known as anti-cheating and pro-third-party-tools, respectively.

"Among the Japanese, there are people who were banned, and there are people who have done bad things. We are by no means innocent." - Anonymous poster (via JPButton.com)

So, it really was a common perception for a long time that American players cheated, and Japanese players did not. Enter JPButton.com, which led (and translated) discussions between the NA and JP communities, which started shortly after an incident called the Salvage Bans, where hundreds of top-tier players were banned for having been found using an item duplication glitch. Elmer, the founder of JPButton, would write articles for JP players about the NA playerbase, and for NA players about the JP playerbase, and aimed to open discussion as widely as possible between the two. This led to the (shocking, I know) revelation that some Japanese players did indeed cheat, and many of them used Windower to do so!

With all that said, here's an archived version of the article:

http://web.archive.org/web/20090418040127/http://www.jpbutton.com/?p=1797

Glossary:

Pandemonium - Short for Pandemonium Warden. Notorious endgame boss, which originally took 20+ hours to defeat before some players ended up with medical complications due to fighting nonstop, and was subsequently shortened to despawning after 2 hours.

Third-party tools/programs - Any program which modifies FFXI game data other than the official game client.

TOS - Terms of Service. A document forbidding cheating/harassment/etc., which players must agree to every time they log into FFXI.

NA - North American player/playerbase

JP - Japanese player/playerbase

JP Button terms:
Claim NM - Gain the attention of a rare monster, allowing only you and your friends to fight it.
Get Gil - Gil is the game's currency, this JP Button implies Japanese players could create money from nothing.
Make HQ - HQ means High Quality, this JP Button refers to the crafting system, and implies Japanese players could beat the random nature of crafting and obtain HQ items every time (when normally they only appear at a 5-10% rate).
Be Stronger - Pretty self-explanatory; JP players were (at first) known for being much harder to kill, and for dishing out powerful attacks.
Get Drop - Rare monsters do not always give up their treasure when they are killed, and the rate at which they do is called their "drop rate". This JP Button implies that Japanese players could force the random number generator into giving them rare items, even those with a 1% drop rate on monsters that only appear every 5-7 days (yes, monsters like that really exist in FFXI).

Console Cold War

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony: Three giants fighting for the biggest piece of consumer pie. With rabid fans and dubious debates in all three camps, it can be hard to get a grasp on the big picture. How are each of these giants faring in Japan and America? We're here with some solid numbers and a dash of cultural analysis to help make better sense of it all.

We are currently smack in the middle of the transition from the 7th console generation (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii), and the 8th generation with the Wii U released, the PS4 announced for this Winter, and the next Microsoft console expected soon. So as we head into the new frontier, let's take a moment to look back at how the last generation fared.

American Market

If you guessed that the best selling console of the last generation was one of the big three (360, PS3, or Wii), you're in for a surprise. The Nintendo DS destroyed the sales figures of all three of the "main" contenders at a total of nearly 57 million units sold. Nintendo established themselves as the clear winner in America taking second place as well with the Wii selling over 44 million units. Coming up in third place is the Xbox 360 at about 42 million units, not far from the Wii's figures. Trailing behind the competition, the PS3 clocks in with a lifetime total of just under 26 million (at the time of writing). Straggling far behind the pack, the PSP and the Nintendo 3DS score in at about 21 million and 9 million respectively. It's important to keep in mind that the handheld generations do not line up neatly with the major console generations, leaving the 3DS and Playstation Vita (currently at just over 1 million sold) plenty of time to duke it out. 

Here's the short list:

1. Nintendo DS
2. Nintendo Wii
3. Xbox 360
4. Sony PS3
5. Sony PSP

---

With the only American-made console hitting 3rd place state-side, the Japanese console makers have firmly carved out their place in America. Let's see how everyone fared on the other side of the planet.

Japanese Figures

Well, the #1 position mirrors the American market with the Nintendo DS holding firm at 33 million units sold.
However, the resemblance to the US market ends there. This generation's winners in Japan are the handhelds, with the PSP taking 2nd place at almost 20 million units. The Wii still leads the pack for the "main three" at 13 million with the 3DS following closely at around 11 million units sold. With handhelds holding 3 of the top 4 positions, it becomes clear that Japan gives more preference to portable systems than their friends across the pond. 5th place pulls us back out of handhelds with the PS3 at 9 million units. The Xbox 360, number 3 in America, barely registers at a total of 1.63 units sold: nearly triple the sales of the original xbox, but still less than the Dreamcast or Game Gear sold in their lifetimes.

Let's see the stack up:

1. Nintendo DS
2. Sony PSP
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Nintendo 3DS
5. Sony PS3
6. Xbox 360

Final Verdict

I have to disclaim first, that these rankings are based only on total console sales numbers. They do not include factors such as game sales, time on the market, or consumer loyalty. 

With that said, it seems clear that Nintendo is happily sitting on a bigger pile of money than the competition, with the #1 position in both markets. Their Wii console also beat out all of the same-class competition in both markets.

Sony has found themselves playing the caboose in America, and struggling to match Nintendo on their home turf. The portable console market in Japan has gone a long way in keeping Sony in the game, with their PSP taking 2nd place despite the fierce resistance from the Nintendo camp.

Microsoft has their work cut out for them in Japan. While holding firm as a strong competitor in America, their figures in Japan border on comedy. Whether we chalk it up to game selection, marketing mistakes, or Japanese ethnocentrism is all speculation. However, the numbers paint a clear picture. Microsoft is getting their footing in Japan very slowly. They won't be ready to compete on the same level as domestic consoles until something changes.

Despotism and Chocobos

This, my friends, is a chocobo.

What is a chocobo, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. He is a large, usually flightless yellow bird. He is the mount of such famous organizations as the Chocobo Knights, and greets you with a cheerful kweh when you talk to him. You never have to worry about random encounters on the back of a chocobo, and you can travel a lot faster on his back. And for just 2000 gil, you too can take one home.



Chocobos, and their friends the moogles (as seen in the picture to the right), are from everyone's favorite never-ending video game franchise, Final Fantasy. But, alas, this post is not about chocobos nor moogles. But first, before we get to the meat, have a little bit of appetizer background information.

The Conclusive History of Final Fantasy (Abridged)
Source: http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/06/26/ign-presents-the-history-of-final-fantasy?page=2

We begin our tale with Hironobu Sakaguchi. He had worked at the video game developing company Square for a few years, but alas, it was going bankrupt. While the company was pushing out titles that would later be known as classics, they simply were not selling well enough. It came time that Sakaguchi realized the company only had the funds to develop one more game before it disappeared into the annals of video gaming history forever.

The year is 1987. Sakaguchi decided to create a fantasy epic.  The RPG genre had only recently penetrated Japan, creating a lot of room to work in without wearing out old, tired cliches. Expecting the game to flop (or at least not succeed), Sakaguchi named this game Final Fantasy and began signing death certificates for Square.

Against all the odds, Final Fantasy was a major hit. It sold out not only in Japan, but also in the US when it was released there, beating out such ultra-successful titles as Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star. It rescued Square from the ultimate game over and propelled them into a new era of prosperity. Very soon, Final Fantasy II began to be developed.

Now, while the original Final Fantasy was a trailblazing fantastic game, there was a lot of room to improve. The main characters were not only interchangeable, but unnamed, and the plot was pretty much black and white. Enix's Dragon Quest stayed in the top bracket by taking the original themes and mechanics that had made them successful and sticking with them. After all, why repair something if it isn't broken? Sakaguchi and Square in general, however, decided to kick it up a notch. Final Fantasy II featured character development, a deeper plot, and the first chocobos. It had its negative points, such as a poor leveling system, but the point was that it was trying to improve and be the Next Big Thing. It was never the success that Final Fantasy was, and was really one of the poorer games in the series, but nonetheless, Final Fantasy III was soon announced.

It very soon became very obvious that the name Final Fantasy was just a bit of a misnomer.

How is it that fourteen games in the same series can do so well without fizzling out?

I'm glad you asked. The most intriguing part of Final Fantasy is that each game takes place in a different world and are relatively unconnected to each other. Each game uses completely different characters, in completely different settings, with completely different plots. The only breaks in this pattern occur with direct sequels, such as Final Fantasy X-2, which never do as well as the original games.

Each Final Fantasy game takes what was done well in the previous one and doing it better. Take, for example, this screenshot of Final Fantasy X, shown right next to a screenshot from Final Fantasy XII:

 

Note the chocobo graphics in these screenshots. Both of these games were released for the Playstation 2. (In case you're wondering, Final Fantasy XI was an MMO released for both PS2 and PC, and I decided not to count it because I couldn't distinguish between which screenshot went with which console.)

Connecting the games together (so they can be considered part of the same series) are several reoccurring elements, such as chocobos and moogles. Some character names, like Cid, Sarah, Jane, and Garland, are habitually recycled. Highly detailed airships are common to each game. But what is most interesting are the themes.

The Themes of Final Fantasy
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy#Plot_and_themes; http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/best-theme-narrative-wise-in-a-final-fantasy-game.180989729/

What makes Final Fantasy stand out from many other video games is the existence of intellectual themes lurking behind the plotlines.

Let's start with perhaps the most famous of Final Fantasies, Final Fantasy VII. It is perhaps most famous for the giant, overpowered, and simply evil corporation of Shinra. Shin may mean honesty and trust in Japanese, but the company was far from it. It was one of the reasons why the world was facing an environmental disaster, among other disasters, and the main characters primarily worked to dethrone it.

And so Final Fantasy VII incorporates the theme of the abuse of corporate power and environmental crisis. Do those themes sound familiar? They should. They're a bit of a hot point of discussion in today's culture. Final Fantasy VII made a commentary on it and what might happen should any one company get out of hand.

Final Fantasy X had a similar theme to it, but instead of talking about a company, it was concerned with a despotic religious group. In the beginning of the game, the characters are led to have a fairly positive view of the predominant religion, Yevon. However, as the plot progresses, you start to notice a few things that seem a bit off. Eventually the characters are downright betrayed by Yevon and its leaders. While the group never exactly works against it, they are the primary reason why it goes down.

Like in Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X provides a commentary on what happens when you give any one organization too much power. Yevon warped the minds of the entire world's population into racism and led them to false hope that proved to lead into a continuous spiral of death.

Another fun theme in many Final Fantasies is how hard it can be to pick out who the primary antagonist is. Most games set you up with someone to hate right from the beginning, but eventually, it turns out that they were only someone else's minion.

Take my favorite game in the series, Final Fanasy IX. The first primary antagonist you meet is Queen Brahne. This is a picture of her, in case you're interested. She's a winner. You spend no less than half the game working against her. BUT WAIT! It turns out just as she's dying that she's not such a bad person, she's been manipulated by evil Visual-K-wannabe-thong-wearing Kuja! (I'll save you the picture...) BUT WAIT! Just as Kuja's plan is coming to fruition, he is thwarted by Garland, an overlord from another planet who's been using Kuja as a pawn to kill people! BUT WAIT! The final boss isn't Garland!

This kind of sequence happens again and again in Final Fantasy, allowing for all sorts of fun plot twists. But the real themes that scream Japanese occur in Final Fantasy IX. These are all fairly common themes all throught Final Fantasy, but I'm going to put them into the context of Final Fantasy IX. Now then, let's have a few samples, shall we?

Amnesia: You eventually discover the Zidane, the main protagonist, has no memory of his past. He eventually learns that he was created by Garland to be like Kuja, a pawn used to kill people. Garnet, the main female protagonist, eventually learns that she was not born the princess, but is actually from a group of magic users called summoners on an entirely different continent. Long story short, the disaster which pushed her to the continent where you meet her also gave her amnesia of her life before she was about five or six. Finally, you've got the Black Mages, who, when they "wake up" from the trance they begin their lives in, forget about everything they've done before. Which is probably a good thing, since they were used as powerful front-line soldiers attacking civilians.

Do I Exist?: One of your main characters, Vivi, is a small Black Mage who discovers early on in the game that he was mass-produced by the antagonist. He spends quite a bit of the game trying to decide whether or not he has a soul and if he truly exists.

Mortality: When your party stumbles into a village made up of Black Mages, Vivi discovers the Black Mage graveyard. Apparently, a couple of years after each one "wakes up", they suddenly "stop" for no reason. All of a sudden, Vivi is faced with his impending, and apparently inevitable, demise. Lives independent from the Black Mages are shown as easily snuffed out by any despot holding too much power with impunity, and thousands upon thousands are taken in the continual wars and destruction that happens throughout the game.

Life: What is alive and what isn't? This goes right along with "Do I Exist?". The Black Mages are mass-produced, but are shown to be living and thinking people. Before them are shown the similar Black Waltzes, exceptionally powerful Black Mages that the party fights. The final Black Waltz, when it is broken, begins to ceaselessly chant something to the effect of "I was made to kill", showing its inability to overcome that sick purpose and be established as a living person.

These both prove to be a foreshadow for Zidane and Kuja to find out that they were similarly created for the purpose of destruction. While Zidane comes to terms with it and realizes his identity as an individual, Kuja goes crazy and is unable to realize his own identity.

In Conclusion...

Wow, it seems I've gone a bit long. In conclusion, I leave you with this picture.

Kweh!

Why Japanese games are breaking up with the West

1UP.com has posted an article about why despite the international push of 2007-2009, Japanese gaming companies are returning to primarily making games for Japanese consumers. It touches on the idea of moe, and how it has changed the Japanese gaming industry, despite there being very few genre-defining or redefining games which would qualify as moe.

It also discusses how in the early days of video games, PC-based videogames (considered by many to be the West's strongest subsection of gaming) were not available, leading to early Japanese gamers to only be exposed to Western console games, which were typically not very good. This increases in potency when you realize that the console crash of the 80s was by-and-large driven by Western gaming companies refusal to provide any form of quality assurance requirements for games released on their consoles; Atari in particular is a notable offender. This is one reason why the "Nintendo Seal of Quality", despite seemingly being meaningless in today's market, was actually a big deal. It did not guarantee the game would be good, or fun, but it guaranteed it would work.

http://www.1up.com/features/japanese-games-breaking-west

Cat Mario

Fanfiction and doujinshi exist, so is it such a stretch to believe in fan-made video games?

Meet Cat Mario:

Cute, isn't he? You keep on thinking that. He is the star of "Cat Mario" the fan-made flash game. It is free to download, and meant to emulate Mario, right down to the catchy, simulated tunes. It is INSANELY fun! This is the download link:

Download me! I'm FREE!

And this is a video of someone playing it on Youtube. You can find lots other hilarious videos of people playing "Cat Mario", both in English and in Japanese, on Youtube. But I warn you, don't watch any videos before playing the game. It'll be a lot more fun. Trust me.

Games like this are circulating around the internet, many of them made in Japan. These games take popular pop culture icons, like Mario, and then emulate them along their own twisted image. Just like fanfiction and doujinshi. "Cat Mario" in particular takes your ingrained-from-birth knowledge about "Mario" and... well, I don't want to spoil anything. Go play the game. You'll see.

And since we're looking at fan-made things from Mario, take a look at this catchy little tune. It's not really affiliated with Japan in any way, but... it's pretty awesome. In fact, I do believe it reeks of too much awesome not to share.

Japanese and American RPGs

Japanese RPGs are they dead?:

http://www.qj.net/qjnet/news/japanese-gamers-fire-back-at-igns-jrpg-article.html
http://bitmob.com/articles/can-the-jrpg-be-fixed
http://www.cheatcc.com/extra/westernrpgsvsjrpgs.html#.UQjBHEREA6o

White Knight Chronicles 2
http://youtu.be/702VIHnol_g

Final Fantasy Versus VIII
http://youtu.be/b6At_bb1PNU
http://youtu.be/uQ7MwTXYLpg

WOW (World of Warcraft)
http://youtu.be/jqBkUqOMacA

Elder Scroll V Skyrim:
http://youtu.be/PjqsYzBrP-M

Looking for a Famicom? Got one already? Here are some things you should know.

Original Family Computer (or Famicom)

Japan's Family Computer, released in modified form stateside as the NES, changed the face of gaming. From Mario to Mighty Bomb Jack, the games released for this console have carved out a place for themselves not only in history, but in the hearts of those who grew up with them. 

However, compatibility issues make it impossible to play Japanese Famicom games on the American NES. There are some adapters available that will allow you to play a selection of Famicom games on the Super Famicom or SNES, but nothing really compares to actually owning one of these pieces of gaming hardware history. 

So Where Should I Look for One?

The easiest answer is "online." Unless you happen to be in Japan at the moment, you'll be very hard-pressed to find a local business that deals in old import hardware. If you happen to be lucky enough to have such a place where you live, feel free to share in the comments below. 

Super Potato Flier and Map

At the time of writing, Ebay has listings ranging anywhere from $50 - $100 for used Famicoms. As always, buying used hardware on Ebay is a bit of a risk, so be sure to test it as soon as you receive it. A new, unopened Famicom will set you back at least $500, so it remains an option only for the most avid of collectors.

If you happen to be in Japan or planning a trip soon, you can save money by picking one up at a retro game store. While they can sometimes be hard to find, there are still a decent number of these stores across Japan. Some of the larger options include Super Potato in Akihabara, MANDARAKE in Nakano, and ゲーム探偵 (Geemu-Tantei) in Den-Den town Osaka.

Super Potato even carries special modified consoles with A/V output added instead of just the usual RF. This may not sound like a big deal, but to American buyers, it makes setting up the Famicom much easier.

How Do I Make this Thing Work?

Famicom Cleaning Guide from Super Potato

First thing's first: In stores like Super Potato, the power cables and RF adapter are sold separately from the consoles themselves. If you want your Famicom to work on anything other than an old Japanese CRT television, then you have to jump through a few hoops. Do Not Buy the Japanese RF Adapter. This modulates incorrectly for American TVs, and will only work on a Japanese one. If you do not buy the AV modified console, you will need an American NES RF adapter to get this to work. You will also need a TV that hits some pretty high channels; channel 95 to be specific. Here's a quick run-down:

• Buy an AV modded console if you can find one. Then it's just plug and play.
• To use the RF version (or un-modded console), you will need to plug it in using an American NES RF adapter.
• Set the channel to 95, and set the Famicom's channel switch to CH1. If this doesn't work, try scanning through your channels to see if it works on another one.
• While you must use an NES RF adapter, you SHOULD NOT use an NES power cable. The NES runs at a higher voltage than the Famicom, so using the power cable can burn out your Famicom.

If all else fails, you can try consulting any of the user-generated guides here.

We hope this helps, and wish you luck in your endeavors. Feel free to use the comments section below to share your thoughts/experiences/rage/etc. Now I'm going to get back to playing the Star Wars game where Darth Vader turns into assorted animals.