The Sad State of Gaming

Now I'm no professional, I've said this time and time again, but I've gotta say that when I look at the internet now-a-days, it saddens me quite a bit. You see, when it comes to gaming, you've got your fanboys, your trolls, and then you've apparently got your activists. I'll save the other two for a later time, but as for this last one... one big acronym comes to mind... WTF?

I've been watching the on going struggle of people claiming that the game Resident Evil 5, made by Capcom, is a game that implies racist intent.



From the above screenshot, you can see Chris Redfield, a white guy, deep in Africa fighting what he always fights and that's zombies. The problem many a person seems to have is that it's Africa and that the zombies are Africans. I'm gonna call bullshit here, I'm not professional so I don't need to stay neutral here, though as Croal shows even if you are a professional you can retain a bias. It's a game where you fight zombies, ZOMBIES people, yo uare not genociding Africans, you are fighting zombies. Would it make it better if a black guy was doing it? I don't think so because as the usual "activist" double standard, using logic remains useless. That would likely go down worse because then it would exemplify black-on-black violence. No no the real problem here is that someone always has to say something about those things they feel they have enough control over. Video Gaming is an entertainment medium and because of that it has begun to get lambasted by those too scared to actually do the work of what they preach in their community. There's no problem with this game, but the violence in the inner-city is, the problem is those who speak about the bad qualities of the game(or really lack there of) are too scared to bring up these issues in their community and instead turn to the "safety" of the internet where they can speak about some game being made in Japan, like they can change it or something...

And that's not the only game getting the scaredy-cat roast over these webs, Sony revealed a game during their long and drawn out e3 press conference where the idea is to get your princess from a castle whilst the enemy try and do the same, the trick is that while you fight out on the battlefield, someone in the other castle is busily feeding your royalty cakes and shit to make her too heavy to carry back, you're doing the same. Of course I'm talking about PSN's upcoming title Fat Princess. Now some blogs(won't name em, won't give them the time of day for more traffic) are getting upset because it somehow portrays women in a bad light.


Yeah she's fat... and? Look, the first blog I read actually got the premise wrong, well not wrong so much as backward, you aren't feeding your own princess, but the other team's lady. The other blog barely talked about the game so much as spit out harsh word after harsh word, followed by a rather unflattering picture and I ain't talking about the one up there. Anger never gets the message across and to be honest, it makes you come off as a lame, a buster, a bum. I see no problem with this game, in fact it seems to be more creative than the millions of shooters that come out every month. I'm a big guy, so to say I'm not offended should so these ladies that you can have fun instead of trying to garner 15 seconds of fame off of rather droll bullshit. To change the princess to anything else completely takes the charm out of the game, simply because the princess is the loyalty factor here. If it were gold then the soldiers would come off as greedy and petty and the game stops being cute. It'd make no sense to be an animal unless you were to say it were a sacred animal, right then and there you've opened up another can of worms with the religious set. You see the real problem here is that everyone now-a-days WANTS to be offended by something, as if they can't get through their damn day unless someone says or shows them something that insults them. And when it's vague? They drum up some bullshit and give a bullshit argument to try and make you see it their way. Is this offensive? I kinda hope it is because you want it so damn bad, maybe you'll see that what you do is wrong. Don't bring down the industry I enjoy just because something else is going on with your psyche. I personally can't wait for both games to come out because it'll show that 99% of people in this world are sane and responsible enough to understand and have fun with games.

If you can't learn to take the piss out of yourself(thanks Brits for giving me that one), then you shouldn't be allowed a keyboard. Besides, the usual counter arguement fits here, if you hate the idea of being fat enough to wanna drum up some bullshit about an innocent game, then lost the weight. If you feel offended enough to write up a letter to Takeuchi about racism, perhaps you'd be better off rechanneling that energy to teaching those in your community to stop portraying negative stereotypes. I'm just saying, for the most part games are innocent entertainment, when they teach a value, it is typically one of a positive vibe, if you get the wrong ideas out of games then that is your problem I suppose, but I'm not gonna let you ruin the industy because you only see the negative out of every situation.

The Dark Knight

If you haven't seen this movie yet.... stop reading this and go see that movie now because the movie is the shit baby, that true shit. I don't review movies, I review games(well I eventually will get to it), so no spoilers, just know that it's one of the only movies this year actually worth your money. It also further degrades the amount of bullshit that was Hellboy II. So get on down to the theater kids, this is a goodin.

Sony's Press Conference...

... is about to begin, and I gotta go to frickin work in an hour. All in all it looks like Sony is gonna need to drop the bombs here folks, I mean really lay down the big punches and finish with a crazy haymaker because Microsoft dropped the uppercuts all alone yesterday and Nintendo threw a bunch of soft jabs and never finished the fight. Can Sony pull it off? There's commercial free live coverage on G4 and Kotaku are liveblogging it as I speak.

The World of Pokemon: The Reality

You know, I think I'll admit to something today. I might be a bit of a geek. Okay yeah I know, but I've been thinking about something that really shouldn't have so much thought put into it and that's the World of Pokemon. Now I'm not talking bout a MMORPG starring pikachu and friends(though a Pokemon MMORPG might not be such a bad move on Nintendo's part), I'm talking about the actual world of those little pocket monsters we collect on handheld systems.

The Pokemon replace real animals right? I mean they call Pikachu a mouse pokemon, but aren't he, rattata, raichu, pichu, and raticate just well rats? Pidgey a bird and so forth so forth? So with that being the case, does that mean pokemon are bred for more than just fighting? Do they breed Tauros and Miltank are bred for bison and beef respectively? Do they crack open Exeggcute and make omelette's? And if you're vegan? Well does that mean you eat Bulbasaur or Oddish? Yet they have rice to make onigiri(rice balls)... all very very odd in my opinion. And does that mean there are exterminators for all the bug pokemon, like if there's a beedrill nest in your house, do they come with pidegot and charmander or do you try and take care of them yourself with your pokemon? And is everyone the same race in this world? I've never noticed a not um... whatever they actually are in that world. And what's up with Team Rocket/Magma/Aqua/Galaxy? Are they like the mafia or more the Cobra? And if the latter, or there truly corrupt guys out there selling pokemon on the black market and what not? And how do you fight a war in the world of pokemon? I mean if they're all using torchics and whatnot, who says my side can't come in with MewTwo and wreck house? And if they've got guns, what's stopping Team Rocket from simply running game on people and stealing their pokemon that way, and why steal people's pokemon, why not simply bust into the warehouse where they keep the Master Balls and go catch 'em all?

Eh enough conjecturing for now, I think I'm going to go think about some game ideas... pokemon online...

Final Fantasy XIII going to the 360?

Very very late news coming from me, but I knew about it since it was announced anyway. With Final Fantasy going to the 360 as well as the PS3, once more the gates open and the flame wars rekindle. It seems to me that every time an announcement of this caliber is well announcileed, the Sony-boys cry in a corner and flick off anyone that looks their way whilst the Micro-Boys start jerking off right in the middle of chest bumps and hi-fives. I could turn this into one of those why care posts but that'll be saved for an actual essay er um post later.

Just what does such an announcement say about the video game industry as a whole though? I remember years back when Nintendo and Square had their outing and the company took shelter over at Sony's place. For a while that relationship seemed to be alright, but it would seem Sony hasn't been bringing home the bacon and Squeenix is done with the whole monogamy thing. So with that a flourish of titles have begun to appear on other consoles. Really though this only affects American consumers because let's face it, Bill Gates and Ichiro Suzuki could be in the middle of Akihabara giving away 360's and Japanese people would simply keep on walking. So I suppose the better question is what does this say about the American video game industry? Seems the early bird catches the worm really takes life here as the Microsoft move to release the 360 first has put a real damper on the rest of the industry. I'm no fanboy of any caliber, but I've got to say that reaching out to kill the competiton just puts a wet blanket on the industry as a whole. Remember those early Nintendo third party practices of yesteryear? That's what Micro-dominance feels like to me today. They dump all of their resources practically into trying to kill off Sony whilst keeping an amiable relationship with Nintendo. To be honest it wouldn't matter who was doing it, it's a sick practice. Why not live happily together as a shared balance? Sony needed the leg up that FF13 would've given them and Microsoft comes along and like a bully and a one-legged kid, kicks his fucking crutches out from underneath him. I mean when it's said and done did they need the money? Well they probably do now because of the money they had to spend to get that title multiplatform, but did they? I mean every time something goes multiplatform the winner is always Microsoft and part of that blame goes to everyone, inlcuding the game journalism industry. But I'm soapboxing again and that's to be saved for a later time.

So with that I ask, does it matter? Which do you plan on buying? And might the Wii be getting in on this action?

Hellboy II

So this isn't really so much a review as it's my personal opinion on the flick. I'd say spoilers, but I doubt that this will be very long or even touch on details of the movie needed to enjoy the experience at the theater.

IT SUCKED! Oh my goodness that movie was horrible. I'm certain there must be some people that like it(I know there were, they sat in front of me) but I tell you not to waste the money. There are plenty more useful things you can do with that money than go see this abomination of a movie.

Now Hellboy has never been a character I could get behind and this movie further solidifies that feeling whilst keeping me and Big Red separate from one another. The movie is filled with mediocre action that a large budget couldn't hide and one liner after one liner from the Red Demon. PG-13 fucked this movie over as he shouted "oh crap" so many times I thought he'd eventually just do it while fighting. He reminds me a lot of The Thing and that's another character I can't stand. The plot was rather lackluster and the acting rather subpar. But I'll say the effects were good and that Anna Walton looked decent as Naula, but outside that makeup, I'm not seeing that same beauty, eh...

So yeah, I suggest not seeing this movie.

Ramblings of a Former Gaijin: Restaurants

Living in Japan, heck just visiting Japan brings about quite a few changes. One of those changes I ran into was of course a change in diet. Out for the most part went a steady diet of burgers and pizzas and came a steady diet of fish, well chicken too. But... well... I mean we all need a break from the norm right? And that's where the usual every-so-often delight known as fast food comes in. Fast food in Japan is everything like it is here in America, it's just for the most part the food is different. I'll run down a few of the spots that I frequented in Nagoya.

Saizeriya:

It's likely hard to tell from the picture, but Saizeriya is a little chain of restaurants that "specialize" in "italian" food. Some people will give you an exaggerated expression that this is the shit that Japanese people think when they think grade-A italian food. Me? Well I don't think so. I'm certain that behind those plain store signs lie some very good italian places, Saizeriya? Well that ain't one. But being nestled right across the street from I-House and being open till atleast 2-3am made it the perfect place for a meal after some crazy drinking. Their big thing were pastas, pizzas, and hamburg steak. I suppose the direct American equivalent is simply Salisbury Steak, but they call it hamburg, note that I never called it hamburger. And the biggest draw? The place is cheap, I mean cheap. You could probably get a pizza, some pasta, drink bar, and desert for less than 12 dollars. But the pizza is small and thin, like if Donatos did a poor job at a personal pan pizza. The pasta is all the exquisite taste of Chef Boyardee. And the desert is never the tastiest. The best thing for me was always drink bar which were a bunch of beverages(non-alcoholic, not THAT kinda bar) that you could get, really it’s just a drink dispenser and some teas and coffee, but man it is tasty.

Ohgiya:

Ohgiya is really a bar, but it has tasty, tasty food and a really nice environment inside. Also being nestled right in front of I-House, it was a haven for ryuugakusei(exchange students) to drink and just shake off the stress of schooling in a foreign place. Their food is good and the drinks are varied and nice. It’s a small place, but a homely place, like if every place had a Cheers, this would be Nisshin’s. If you talk to the right people you could also schedule a Nomihoudai(ALL you can drink) for a relatively nice price, they’ll close the place for you and your people and you drink and eat away.

Yoshinoya:

These happen to be in California as well, but for those out of the loop, Yoshinoya sells what Japanese would truly call their own form of fast food. Kinda imagine those standing ramen stands and you get the gist of Japanese fast food. Yoshinoya doesn’t do ramen, they do however sell gyuudon or a beef and rice bowl. You get a pretty big bowl of it for a relatively cheap price an it’s made for quick eating(get it, fast food). It is delish, I wouldn’t lie to you, it is tasty and if you’re not looking for beef, they also do chicken, pork, and vegetables. The meal comes with miso soup and sometimes more rice and like you see on those price tags the stuff is cheap, like a three dollar bowl and you are good to go for some hours.

Freshness Burger:

Japan isn’t without their burger joints and this is one of the swankiest. Essentially, the idea behind Freshness Burger is that everything is well… fresh. And that brings about the drawback to the place if you are in a hurry. The food can take a while to get to you, but when you get it… oh man you are definitely in for a treat. Their biggest burger, the Dubba-Dubba(WW) Burger is a big beast and will fill you up. Everything taste fresh and tasty and they sell sweet potato fries, those are soooo good. This was my favorite burger joint, but it had to be a luxury because this place will set you back. It’s the most expensive out of the places I’ll be telling you about until I get to the fancier places a bit later. A couple of sandwiches, some fries, and a cola can put you back around 10 bucks so be wary, but it is delish. They also tend to lean to weirder burgers other than the standards, like the spam burger, and others.

MOS Burger:

Ahh the Burger King of Japan… well they have Burger King but you get what I mean. If Lotteria were Mickey D’s, The MOS is BK. The MOS in MOS Burger stands for Mountain Ocean Sun, why I don’t know. However one of the many MOS’ was situated on campus so of course I went there pretty regularly. The standard burger is the MOS Burger which is a regular, though small, burger topped with some sort of thick sauce that gets everywhere right after the first bite. Don’t know what the sauce is so don’t ask. There are other burgers as well, such as the Ebi(read shrimp) filet and the standard MOS Fish and MOS Chicken(really they’re just fish and chicken but that word is really fun to say in front of other things, try it out, you’ll like it.) And at our MOS was a little specialty item known as the MOS Chicken, it was a piece of chicken, not sure what part of a chicken it could come from, but it was flat, about the size of a thigh maybe, but with a leg bone like it was a drumstick… yeah don’t wrap your brain around it too much. The place is rather cheap and though they lack a dollar menu, the stuff is cheap enough not to be pissed about it.

Curry House CoCo Ichibanya:

This is the last one on this list and it’s the last for a reason. You the know the saying save the best blah blah blah yakity schmakity so I know you understand that this is without a doubt my most favorite restaurant in Japan, bordering on the entire world. Don’t let the pic fool you, that’s merely the first ever CoCo and I personally took the picture. There around 4 or so in America, all situated in Hawaii. Curry House CoCo Ichi is well a Curry House, meaning they specialize in curry. Now there happens to be a difference between Indian and Japanese curry and CoCo is here to blend those lines. Traditionally, Japanese Curry is sweet and chock full of veggies and meat, Indian thinner and hot. CoCo Ichi is much more like Indian, but with a Japanese taste and a katsu topping. You can choose how much rice to get, ranging from 150g to however many kilos you want, but the price will steepen greatly if you plan on jumping up past 1 kilo. Then you can choose your sauce, beef, pork, or veggie sauce, with the sauce you choose the spice level, from 0-10. 0 is traditional sweet Japanese curry, 10 is hot and I mean hot. It used to be a rule that you couldn’t have a 10 until you went through the rest of them, but I think that may have been too hard to implement without cards and official mumbo-jumbo. And then you choose your topping, they have a wide range of toppings, from fried chicken to squid or natto, or even eggs. My preferred meal is 400g of rice, pork sauce, pari-pari chicken, chicken katsu(fried chicken cutlet), and cheese mixed in usually a four of five level, but I’ve been to the zenith multiple times. It is Japanese fast food dining at it’s best and I recommend you find one if you ever go to Japan.