Reactionary (Strikers 1945 1 and 2, Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan, Clu Clu Land)

(tags game, shmup, Saturn, PlayStation 2, replay-data, side-scroll, Mario)

The demo unit at Sofmap Nipponbashi 2 was a Saturn playing Strikers 1945 1. I sucked at playing as always but it kindled the shmup desire in me, at least for a little while. It wasn't recent, but I picked up the Strikers 1945 I and II combo pack for the PlayStation 2 complete with a Super Play replay DVD disc for about 2000 yen used, which was a deal, maybe. I think I like Strikers 1945 I better right now because it's not as hard, har har. Both are hard anyway, so I keep credit feeding on Normal. Sorry, not macho here. But it's fun to not have so much shmup working set while playing. I suppose if I memorized the levels I would do better though. Actually I have the Strikers 1945 II PlayStation 1 disc and I was playing that a lot during my vert LCD screen days more than a year ago. I was surprised that I remembered some of the details, like where I died most often. Ugh.

Sofmap started re-selling selected Famicom Mini GBA series games like Legend of Zelda, Metroid and Ice Climber for about 980 yen each (originally 2000 yen?). This leads me to Super Mario Bros. 2. I said I had SMB2 Japan (Famicon Mini series number 21), I bought another copy, just to make sure, at 3000 yen (originally 2000 yen?). Expensive. I suppose that it is my second copy, I didn't have more than 1 before, sorry. Also, it seems that I bought the used copy that just entered the store the same day. Talk about good timing.

I broke out my GBA Micro and tried to play SMB2 during transit but I seemed to have forgotten all my "Air" Mario skills. Oh sure, I could get the occasional 5000 point flag pole, but I stress the "occasional" here. SMB2 is so unforgiving and requires impecable timing, but I'm not at the irate stage. Yet. I'm working on beating World 1, ha. Actually I was shocked when I was presented with a Warp Pipe back to World 1 from World 3. Dastardly evil! Well, they don't call it SMB2 for nothing.

Oh yeah, I bought that Clu Clu Land (Famicon Mini GBA series number 12). Warm fuzzies with this game, because this is one I remember that my sister actually tried to approach. Co-op was fun. Besides the music is good.

Don't call it a retro kick. Because of the platforming theme, I wanted to get the GBA version of Yoshi's... what do you call it? Aw heck it was the GBA version Super Mario Collection 3. Yoshi's World? No used copies in most of Nipponbashi, and new copies were 4000 yen retail, ouchie. I actually have the Super Famicom version but the GBA is so much more convenient.

Let's see how much more I can stomach 1980s platforming.

Conventions come and go, but hey free t-shirts and signatures (Rumiko Takahashi)

(tags convention, comic, game, San Diego, t-shirt, signature, nostagia)

My sister called me on the VoIP. We got to reminising then she reminded me that the San Diego Comic Con was on that weekend. Heh, I suppose that was my best Comic Con was the one in 1994, the 25th anniversary.

I got in for free because I spent the 4 days as a volunteer. I was a comic book nerd manga "japanimation" comic book nerd discovering the depths of my desire at the college anime club. The San Diego Convention Center had only opened a couple years back but the Comic Con started using it early. I remember rollicking and cavorting in free glee in the vast empty, not-yet-open hallways and helping kids (even in lackluster high-school French!?) find their way. And yes, I got that "red-ensign" t-shirt of Spider-Man there working all 4 days. I wasn't into Spider-Man, and I'm not into it now either. I just use the shirt occasionally whenever I feel extremly nerdy, so it's all faded and rotten now.

It was more memorable to me not because of the "platinum Archies" that me and my buddies invented but because I was able to get a Rumiko Takahashi (高橋留美子) signature on my copy of her celebrated manga series Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻). (Unfortunately for my boasting pride my friend got two (!) signatures from her, ho hum, and he travelled to San Francisco chasing her to get the other one.) I suppose she was there to collect her Comic Con Inkpot Award. It would be another 6 years before she attended the Comic Con again.

I remember there was a cadre of young ungrateful, perhaps asian, punks (I'm an asian punk too) waiting in the signature line before me. I think it was limited to 100 people. They didn't have a clue what they were waiting for, so I showed them, in full black-and-white manga glory. They took one look and hauled their high-glossy ooh shiny full-colored new-independent American bicep-junky fandom to another booth. Ha, get a clue punks, er I mean thanks for giving space to other grateful fans.

I suppose this is the part that burns my memory. I heard that she liked some Spider-Man and since I wasn't an artist and couldn't show her how inspired I was by her works, I bought a holograph card collectable of Spider-Man I think. In retrospect I should have done something different, anything but that. I should have showed her my Viz translated copy of The Laughing Target, or tried some lackluster 1st year Japanese. I suppose I was really star-struck but I can't even recall her face at all. She made this doodle on my manga which I find hard to believe to be a signature, but I suppose if you're the master of pen and paper loved by millions over, the medium bends to your will.

The only other people I can recall giving me autographs in person were Marina "Deanna Troi" Sirtis of the Star Trek Next Generation and Koge Donbo the manga artist, who among other things, is creator of Di ji Charat. Wait there was one time with animator Makoto Shinkai. Star struck, I can't recall their (real) faces at all.

Since then I don't recall going to or even volunteering at the Comic Con in later years. I should have blogged it, yea right especially in 1994. I suppose I moved onto more anime related events or quit the comic book parts of it. Would I go to it now? Yeah, if more gaming related news such as "Meet Mario in San Diego" and "Kojima at Comic Con" came out there, and if I was living in San Diego again.

(edit: added Makoto Shinkai to my star-struck list)

Singin' in the Rain - The original, updated

(tags movie, classic, demo, video, remake)

For a work demonstration I bought a 500 yen version of Singin' In The Rain, that 1950's Gene Kelly musical. I finally got around to watching the whole thing and it was wonderful. The dancing was incredible and the music was golden. I was totally suprised at how entertaining it was. This is timeless. I felt cynical about the honesty in Hollywood portrayed by "R.F.", laughed at the humble beginnings of Don Lockwood. I liked thinking how they made this movie, how did they record the songs, how they made me think how they recorded the songs to the dance sequences. I wanted to see the credits but they were cut?! Why?

I then went to Wikipedia which answered some questions. Always in the back of my mind I say to myself check the sources but I never do. At least this time Roger "does he know anything about gaming" Ebert reviewed this movie with excellent background. Then there was this video clip which showed a breakdancing "remake" of the famous Gene Kelly dance scene "Singin' in the Rain" (thanks Newstoday). "Remake" meaning just like Natalie Cole singing with Nat King Cole on her "Unforgettable" video, that is, extra heavy CG and splicin' dicing. Entertain us, Entertain us! (links to a good free short story "Nirvana High" by Eileen Gunn and Leslie What).

I suppose I want to watch more things like Gene Kelly movies. Heck I want to watch more entertaining, happy movies like this. Timeless classic movies.

Final Fantasy XII after-game musings

(tags game, PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy, spoiler)

Before I begin let me further clarify (game machoism) that I beat Final Fantasy XII without any Mist Cards and only using 1 Summon Beast as required by the story. While doing some after-game stuff like finishing the skill board, I was surprised the mist cards give me up to 2 times more magic points. The Mist Cards attacks themselves are wack and weak at best, doing only 2/3s of the regular damage my characters dish out with regular attacks. I was worried that everybody wouldn't get a far share of Mist Cards, but it turns out there are 18 to collect, divide that by 6 people and you get 3 each. Square deal!

And let me clarify that I played the game using the Wait mode of the ATB. The Active mode of the ATB is the one which is like those Real-Time Strategy games. Truly unruly.

I'm working the Clan game, which is read up on the monster, find the troubled person, find monster, report back to troubled person for money and prizes. It's kinda boring because the E, D, C, and B monsters are totally easy. But one of the quests gave me a Sewer key! Which means I can start exploring the places hinted by the after-game.

I suppose I have to collect the Summon Beasts now. I tried not to active them or even register them, but one was needed for the story part.

So far I think I'm losing interest in completing the other parts. There are other games calling me like Okami and the borrowed To Heart 2. I even thought about going back to We Love Katamari Damashii, which I didn't continue after the flower stage.

Lost in a princess world, part 2 of 3 (Princess Princess)

(tags anime, review, Boys' Life, cross-dress, same-sex)

Princess Princess, originally a manga by Mikiyo Tsuda (つだみきよ), is a 12 episode Japanese anime TV show (season 2006/04) about a guy who transfers to an all boys high school. Um, here's the "good" part: he willfully becomes one of the school-sanctioned "princesses" (hime), that is, cross-dressing into girl's clothing to cheer on and support clubs and circles in the school.

What?!?! How could this idea fly? And how come I'm infatuated with it (obviously since I'm blogging it). Well let me explain with a picture and some words:

It's the eyes and bikei faces. Hahah. I guess I am fooled by the anime style when they cross-dress, they look like lovely bishojo characters. Some of the appeal must be from the work of featured character designer Atsuko Nakajima (中嶋敦子). I didn't know who she was, but looking her up in Wikipedia reveals she was involved in a number of TV series that I am a fan of: Maison Ikkoku (めぞん一刻), Ranma 1/2 (らんま1/2). She was also involved in some anime which I have passing knowledge: Rurouni Kenshin, You're Under Arrest and Fruits Basket, as well a dozen others. That's great!

But its the plot which mix strangely unnatural logic and strength in family ties that keep me interested. Tooru (pictured above) seemly freaks out at the concept, but readily accepts it when he realizes he can get free stuff and even pocket money from the "princess" activity. Does that mean he would do anything for money? No! He does it to lessen the burden on his family. It's this theme of family kinship and bonding that I find very fulfilling.

Are we looking at guys or girls here? Sorry. Yuujirou on the right also a relational problem with his family, while Mikoto in the middle tries to hide his "princess" job from his girlfriend. Tooru and Yuujirou help each other out as best friends would, reminding each other the strength of being honest with one's family. This isn't Brokeback Mountain, though, but there is a hint of "more than just friends" (but without the sex) at the end.

This isn't a guy fantasy. This is Boys Life, a gal fantasy. Tooru on accepting the job, exclaims he has no "pride". This I couldn't accept at first, because pride is a guy's core, at least I think so. The whole all-guys school ogles them as idol-princesses, which it so unbelievable given this age of instant access (TV, Internet) sexual-orientation-correcting media. Wouldn't there be some group of people openly opposed to this "princess" activity, some sort of reactionary machoism? This "princess" activity is even celebrated by stuffy Boys Club board member-like graduates. Unbelievable!

To reiterate, this isn't a guy fantasy. This is Boys Life, a gal fantasy. Tooru has the almost made-for-bishoujo fantasy of being loved by his sister (brother complex, standard fare in any bishojo game), but he doesn't feel the same. But at least this part of the story feels "normal", because I can sympathize with his familial obligations.

There are just parts that I couldn't stomach to watch. But there is a lot of funny and heartwarming scenes here. At least this anime isn't totally off-the-wall. Hah. I was about to buy the DVD at Gamers but it's nowhere to be found. Oh yeah, that's right, Gamers is a guy fantasy bishoujo character goods shop. Ha.

Whoa its over already?

(tags game, PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy, spoiler)

I accidently finished the story part of Final Fantasy XII yesterday. That says a lot about my comprehension skills, but I suppose 100 hours in I would have reached the end by now. Yes I did hear the Angela Aki song "Kiss Me Goodbye", but it was in English and there was voice over so it was cheapened. Actually the end isn't saved to memory card so you're stuck with further adventuring in the world before the final boss. I forgot, did they do this in Final Fantasy X? In fact, didn't they do this in Chrono Trigger? Anyway, it wasn't hard to finish at all. That's the story part final boss for you. I'm sure the other "creatures" to collect require the full expertise of magic, items, techniques, etc.

Is that Final Fantasy XII controller purchase pulling me to play some more with the game? Is that Clan quest game pulling to play? Actually I was at a loss at what to do after I beat it, though there are many parts of the game that aren't complete for me. There are areas with suspicious entryways that require keys I've never heard of. The auto-map reveals areas I've never seen. Heck, I don't even have all the spells yet! I remember there was this one time I was attacked by a bat-like creature for 80% hit points in an area that I readily cleared tens of in-game hours back. Obviously the game is dropping hints that there is a lot more than just the story part.

So I'll put in some time collecting more things, filling out the skills board with license points, figuring out Clan quests, figuring out how to actually use the Gunbit system. Or do I resign to the fact that boss fights require constant tweaking with the Gunbit system on? I suppose its no worse than previous Final Fantasy boss fights, since you have to manually decide actions anyway.

Oh yeah, btw, I did the game with "active time battle" off. I tried turning it on once but I was frightened that the bosses could continue to make attacks while I spent an eternity making my orders. How can you play the game with ATB on? I'm sure there's a way like having enough hit points to buffer the damage. Sorry I'm not macho enough here.

Okay this is has been lingering in the back of my mind but, does this Gunbit system come from any online gaming or MMORPG system? Is this unique? How did Square-Enix conceive of this system? It's pretty good. It's very good. Well, it's not bad since you have to tweak it all the time. But it's not dumb. Two characters with the same rule to heal will not blindly heal without consulting each other, it seems. I feel like I would never want to play a non-Gunbit console RPG anymore, and I suppose this post echos that again.

No more Sudoku forever

(tags game, puzzle, Sudoku, DualScreen, spoiler)

It's done! It's finally over, Sudoku for the DS (Hudson's Puzzle Series Vol. 3: Sudoku) It only took me 120 hours, heh. Here's my performance at a glance.

Easy: 25:57:01 with an average of 22:15, best time: 7:17 on 70.

I swear I started with close to zero experience here. It wasn't shockingly hard.

Regular: 55:23:31 with an average of 23:44, best time: 7:15 on 138.

Some new ideas, but nothing too shocking.

Hard: 38:23:09 with an average of 25:35, best time: 8:03 @ 10.

It appears I tripped up hard with some boards that made me guess. I have this sinking feeling that it may be not necessary to guess at all, but for some reason I couldn't pick up on the clues so I did. Anyway, my total average didn't rise much above that point because I think I got the confidence to guess. I discovered how good the undo system in the game works. I'm not saying that its brilliant, but that it doesn't get in your way and it redos your moves just so long as you don't enter a new one.

I also finished the award part, which automatically scrolls to the achievement screen. Unfortunately though it tells me how I long I spent on these awards, I can't see them again. I did the "bronze" award over again but it doesn't show. I didn't want to do the "platinum" award again because I remembered I had wicked fast time on it but I did, and I got another wicked time on it.

Just in case you want to see the details, I post the Excel 2000 sheet on my records. My calculations show 120:44:19, so there must be a data entry problem somewhere.

Oh yeah, this game is over in America as Sudoku Gridmaster. This game was overwhelming panned, according to the Metacritic. Many reviews point to Brain Age as the better interface and options Sudoku, which makes me want to play it. Well after spending 120 hours on just this one game, I don't think this interface is bad at all. But I don't come from the pen-and-paper Sudoku background, nor have I played that Brain Age Sudoku, so maybe my experience is different. And what else do you expect me to say? It seems to me that people don't understand that Brain Age's Sudoku could leverage the excellent handwriting recognition features from Brain Age main unit which had to be good because accurate handwriting recognition is essential. The Sudoku Gridmaster was developed by Hudson, a different company. No matter, I am forever damaged by the input-by-keypad, snark snark, grumble grumble.

So I'm done with Sudoku, yes. Forever. I will not touch another puzzle again because the thrill is over. Law of Diminishing Returns and besides, I gotta level up my characters in Final Fantasy XII now, thanks.

FF supplies the hours, lets try wireless, you cheater

(tags game, PlayStation 2, Final Fantasy, hardware, music)

Okay, so I have spent close to 100 hours in Final Fantasy XII now. 100 hours! And I still haven't finished the story part yet. I still haven't heard the Angela Aki song "Kiss Me Goodbye". Does this mean this game is good? No, but it's good for other reasons.

Because I'm having so much fun playing this game, I decided to get the "official" Final Fantasy XII wireless controller, the Logicool "Cordless Compact Controller FINAL FANTASY® XII Version" (LPGC-60003). For the extra 100 yen over the regular version, I get a FF screen cleaner and the words "Final Fantasy XII" printed on the front of the controller, in other words, not much of a special thing. I tried it for a couple of minutes before going to bed and either I was sleepy or the up button was not as responsive as the regular controller. Then again the D-pad part is constructed like the famed Sega Saturn controller, so maybe I just have to press harder and brainwash myself "unlearn your 5 years with the standard controller, it's superior, yo", etc etc.

And I was having a problem trying to find a way through a maze, so I consulted a gamefaq, thus breaking my "strict" rule of only consulting FAQ until the second time around. Hey I felt pretty frantic being stuck in the maze with 3 hours of unsaved experience points (regular and license). I was very surprised at the quantity of FAQs over there. Wow. I tried my hardest to not to read anything else.

Lost in a princess world, part 1 of 3 (Princess Maker 4)

(tags game, Windows, Playstation 2, love-sim, simulation, pre-order, goods)

First, it surprised me seeing it at that same PC pre-order station in the last post, but Princess Maker 4 will be coming to the PC. I only finished one scenario last year, actually. I felt pretty ambivalent about the ending I got. On the first try my "daughter" married a lieutenant. I then went back to mainly increase her intelligence stat and then at the revised ending she married a general. It's ridiculous that I find the link between improving the stat gets you "a better man" is simplistic. Of course its a game, I bought it for the looks, right? (Go Naoto Tenhiro! 天広直人) Anyways, I fault my die-rolling saving-throw parenting skills. I suppose there are dozens more endings, but I gave up on it.

So, the PC version has a new scenario and a "quality time for a day" episode. Hm, sold. I put my pre-order in with the quickness. Hypocritic I know, but can I say no to my "daughter"? Hahah, whoa I'm crazy. At least this way I can devote my PlayStation 2 to my Final Fantasy XII antics. At least the pre-order comes with the following telephone card. I can never have enough of those.

(edit: changed all the "you"s to "I"s. Can't generalize at all)

Shmup play back: Raiden and Shikigami 1, 2, 3

(tags game, shmup, ECsite, purchase)

A couple of weeks ago I was able to pick up that NIH shmup replay video The Aces High Raiden (The Aces High 雷電) at one of those bargain bin sales at Sofmap at 3000 yen. I think its a deal, with 2 DVD discs and 2 CD sountrack discs, but really, I can't remember the music to any of the three. I haven't gotten through it all, but watching parts of Raiden II it reminded me of a college friend who among other things, actually introduced me to Goldeneye. I fell asleep watching it, but that's not because of the content.

Next I think this is first time I bought a commercial shmup for my Windows PC. It's Shikigami no Shiro EX (1) and 2 "pack", hahah. It has the ugly yellow DVD case by Sourcenext. On the shelf right next to where I got it, there was a used copy of Shikigami no Shiro 2 for Windows going for about 2000 yen. I suppose this is to finish off my "collection" of all ports of Shikigami no Shiro 2.

I've seen at the PC pre-order areas that Shinigami no Shiro 3 will be coming out 2006/09. Haha. Never mind, I haven't played it yet, so I'm not pre-ordering, but if it comes out for the Sourcenext series, for cheap... This release will be about 8000 yen, yowza.

"Nobel Pink" DS, Browser for DS = no buy

(tags DualScreen, Nintendo, hardware, purchase)

"Nobel Pink" DS lite was on display (but not for sale) on Wednesday. I didn't buy it nor do I plan to. But I checked out to see how pink it really is. If I had to settle for a DS Lite, pink would be it.

I also took a look at the Nintendo DS Browser for DS and DS Lite over the video internet. For me, it's a no-buy, because I'm a heavy Internet user and the small screen even with the magnification won't satisfy me. Where would I use it, what would I view? Japanese input is the horrendous a-ka-sa-ta order that you see on ATMs but at least there is word completion. The direct Kanji input method is there, though, touch screen with the win. English is a sub-standard qwerty keyboard, thank gosh (?), with a romaji conversion function like a PC's hinted but not explained. ATOK input method in the house.

Actually the gimmick factor of reusing the ol' game machine for something continously renewable like Internet browsing still attracts me. But a part of me fears that I have to keep continously scrolling left to right. What if I want to read slashdot? What if I want to read Bloglines? How will I do del.icio.us? Will I have a problem reading free speculative fiction online? Will it break up english words on justification just like in Japanese? Will it be better than my old handheld offline browsing standby: Sony Clie Palm TJ25 PDA (320 x 320) with Plucker?

At least ordering it is easy. Of course you can get it from Nintendo, but Amazon, Sofmap, Yamada Denki, and another bunch of stores have direct linkage.

Wait and see, wait and see.

Aww, it's real: Hoping to win a Pokemon Nintendo DS Lite

(tags game, hardware, Nintendo, DualScreen, chance)

That new Pokemon official page has an exclusive promotion. Play their online web game, be one of the lucky 150 to get this limited edition "Pokemon Pikachu Daisuki!" DS Lite:

Watch Impress has the concise details. Basically they explain that you have two chances to win, through the normal web site (100 people) and through the cell-phone web site (50 people).

So much for waiting for a new color. This is the plain Crystal White DS Lite with just some extra printing on it. Thanks to Mr. Alvin for the tip.

Whatever you say reflects off me and sticks on you

(tags game, Playstation 2, RPG, Final Fantasy, programming)

Everybody knows about that "reflect" magic trick in Final Fantasy series, right? It's not quite up there with the Konami code, but it's like one of those basic console RPG gamer things, I think. That is, cast "reflect" on your party and then cast evil, "black arts" incantations on said party members and watch the spells reflect off and hit onto monsters.

Well, I bought a party set of reflect armor, and mainly do battle with lower (?) magic enemies. It's like this: Oh I see magic enemy in the distance, gotta change my armor, fight! Then quickly change out of the reflect armor before the stupid characters try to spell-heal themselves and waste spell points in the process. I must have done that exact sequence about 20 times in one area.

BTW, I beat that bomb boss with the reflect armor set. Piece of cake, easy as pie.

Already 72 hours with FF12. Still the end is not in sight. Am I just concentrating on leveling up?!?!

Music on my mind: song bird, kaze no kesshou (wind crystal), key, lovey dovey

(tags music, artist, singer, group, anime, game, Japanese)

First off, I went to Kyoto last weekend yet again, but this time it was to see the band CROCRO. They are a three-man acoustic guitar ballad band. Judging by the small crowd at the live house Togatoga (都雅都雅), they weren't there for the CROCRO, but they started putting their hands together nonetheless. Which was good because the first act on the stage before CROCRO didn't get much reaction. What is up with these people? Don't they tap or nod in time to the nice music?

At the end I bought their latest album "Song Bird" which is pretty good. Unfortunately the CD is a CD-R and handlabeled. It's also signed. Last CD was actually a self-published, printed CD. They must not be hitting, which is a real pity, because they are good. I keep describing them as a Spitz-alike as far as the vocals, but the lead singer's silky voice is not as high-pitched as that.

BTW, it was the Gion Matsuri that night, and the major main street in Kyoto (near Kawaramachi) was closed off. I need to buy me either a yukata or a jinbei, but I always seem to think that guys are in their pajamas when in those clothes. And besides, an Akiba-kei backpack or bag filled with posters won't go with that look.

On the same day, I was in Nipponbashi and I saw that Disc Pier / Joshin was going to host a live and signing event for the band Savage Genius. This group made it mainstream through anime related releases, such as the OP for Uta-Kata (my previous post on the DVD and goods), Elemental Gerad and a Gundam anime. But I think they started out as a live band. According to their profile, I just learned that they were in the Kobe live group before their debut. Wow, another local band. I'm glad I held off buying their newest album "kaze no kesshou" (風の結晶, my trans: wind crystal), because buying at Disc Pier / Joshin allows me to attend the live on 2006/08/05. Yeah. There's some previously released info on them including an interview via Animate TV web, thanks. I also think they got an interview page in the Weekly Famitsu some time ago.

I finally remembered to buy Mao Yuu's (ゆうまお, another official page) first album "Key" out since 2006/07/05. She's got an excellent voice and according to my iTunes, I've played her songs at least 40 times. She debuted with the ending song from the 2006 anime Kashimashi - Girl Meets Girl, with the song "Michishirube" (みちしるべ, my trans: Clue Sign). She's a singer-songwriter, but has been mainly a songwriter for many anime-related releases since 2002 (!). Wow her works pages almost reads like my anime collection, D.C., Galaxy Angel, Hime no Goyoujin. She's contributed the words or music for artists like Ryoko Shintani (新谷良子), Saori Goto (後藤沙緒里), Sakura Nogawa (野川さくら), Mai Nakahara (中原麻衣), etc. But, she only made her vocal debut this year, ouch, what a pity. I'm definately going to buy some more.

Finally, but this was about 4 weeks ago, I bought Miyuki Hashimoto's (橋本みゆき, Wikipedia page because no official page, fan page) first album, "Lovey-Dovey". She's another anime and over-18 game related anime singer. Her most memorable song for me is the end theme song "Innocence" for the last year's hit anime Shuffle. Very nice, but unfortunately she's losing play time on my iPod to Gloria Estefan's "Cuts Both Ways" album. Haha, "our love is like a knife that cuts both ways."

No longer FF, the Final Fantasy 12

(tags game, Playstation 2, Final Fantasy, programming)

I've already racked up 50 hours of gaming with Final Fantasy 12. I kept thinking, I'm never going to play another Final Fantasy ever again. Certainly not Final Fantasy X-2. It's not because I started to hate Final Fantasy as a cliched console RPG with the ever present menu item for action. It's because FF12 is a breath of fresh air with it's programmable "Gunbit" system. It allows me to move around in 360 degrees of analog freedom instead of living through digital menus. Instead of casting "cure" and antidote after every fight so my party can battle the next one, they can heal themselves as if they were "alive". Of course they are working by my rules, so once I change my aim, such as conserving party MP instead of stealing, my "Gunbit" rules work against me and I need to tweak them again. But certainly the appeal of digging through menus on every stupid enemy encounter has worn off on me.

But I didn't play for about 5 days. The bomb boss in some forest caused my characters to drink my whole supply of "high potions" (which cure 600 HP). It's like that song, "99 bottles of [high potions] on the wall" but I got to see "1 bottles of ...". This was a tough boss. I was in a funk stuck on how to improve my "Gunbit" rules. It turns out that according to the linear story, I didn't need to raise an encounter with the boss until later. Though I did beat the boss, eventually I decided to reset the game to a previous save and continue with the story part. The anticipated pain of replacing 99 "high potions" which meant Gil Running low-level monsters almost killed all the fun of FF12 for me. Do I really need 99 "high potions" around? No, but in games like FF12, where you can carry as much as you want, I learned to carry as much as I want.

Now I'm back into the FF12 mood, now in one of the coastal areas. This has got to be one of the most beautiful games on the PS2, if only it reminded me of Super Mario Sunshine. Monsters and their attack intent shown as a disembodied horizontal bar, my party's stats and map, these items do detract from the sandy beach beauty, but it is strikingly picturesque nonetheless.

On my mind: Jak 3

(tags game, PlayStation 2, foreign)

I've been wanted Jak 3 just to complete the fun I had with Jak 2. But it's not here at all. I finally checked out Play Asia to see availablity and there's a version I could play on my Japanese PS2, the Korean version. Ha. For only 6000 yen. Ha. Ha. Yeah right.

Then I checked Mobygames, and they list a Japan release date of 2004/11/26. WTF? I practically live at the game shops but I have never seen it. Amazon.co.jp doesn't confirm it either. And you can't get anymore official than the PlayStation.co.jp catalog, and they don't list it either. What a lie. What hooey. What a bunch of krock. Self-correcting Internet, I can hardly believe it.

I need to figure out if on that Korean version they have any English voices. I really liked it. How can I search it in Korean? Stupid Play-Asia, I can't type that picture you use for the game name.

Update: Thanks to my l33t URL reading skills, I got the official Korean page for Jak 3. I can't read it but at least I know the name is: "잭 3" Feeding it through the translator still doesn't tell me if there is any English text or voice. Disappointing. Do I have to buy a US Playstation 2?

Akihabara in 45 minutes, "Maid in..." omiyage

(tags shopping, purchase, goods)

During the week I had a business trip to Tokyo so I planned a little bit of an excursion to Akihabara. That is, for every free moment I could think of, I planned a train trip to and from Akihabara. I even had a "last-minute" shopping time limit calculated out, thank you Jorudan. But I was only able to go for a short while.

That last week's article in Kotaku ("How to Lose Yourself in Akihabara") had a great picture of Di Ji Charat, one of my favorite animes, nyo! They had some good ideas for stores, but I already had a list in mind: K-Books, Messe Sanoh Chaos, Akibang, Game Hollywood. K-Books is the closest used character goods shop I could think of, although I also wanted to go to Mandarake. Messe Sanoh Chaos and Game Hollywood fills my need for foreign gaming, but I budgeted Chaos on the trip and didn't figure that it was closed moved to a new location! Ah, so disappointed. I didn't have time to visit Game Hollywood, but if I wanted to buy a GBA or NDS flash cart, that would be the place. I did Akibang, but they are mainly a blank media store. I was hoping for some other shooting strategy DVDs (攻略), but they still had the Ikaruga Appreciate DVD in copious amounts. Looks like you can order it online, now.

With my main list of stores exhausted and no time to visit Hirose Entertainment Yard (HEY), I settled for a Trader store to buy some Dijicharat Nyo used DVDs. Gotta complete my collection. And that's it, that's all I got at Akihabara. Not very interesting haul at all.

But there is one thing I was able to get from the Haneda Airport which was Akihabara-related. They were selling "Maid" cookies and pudding as omiyage, that is, maid cafe themed snack gifts. I'm sure they are edible, but you aren't buying it for the taste, right? I recognized the character designer as Oji (おーじ, over 18 link) with a talent for really cute eyes, so I couldn't pass it up. The omiyage company is Daito Corporation, which doesn't have any product page for this "joke" gift. Thanks goes out to my Japanese teacher, who recalled in horror at the deteriation of fine airport gift shops (but no maid outfits, haha). More expose at Senaka Ota Road blog.

Aww, it's fake: Still hoping for a Pokemon Nintendo DS Lite

(tags fake, failure, Pokemon, DualScreen, hardware)

Some internet site which won't get a link from me posted an unconfirmed faked picture of new Nintendo DS Lite colors, Pearl and Diamond, for the announced DS version of the Pokemon series. I wanted so much for this to true. The colors look really good. I want the "Pearl" one. It was debunked by expert Pokemon fanatics at Go Nintendo and TotalPokemon. Also, the official store Pokemon Center Online and Pokemon.jp don't have any confirmation. I supposed I'm going to have to Osaka now, hm?

Here's the faked picture for posterity:

Another Kyoto Weekend (Shinzaburo Hanpu, Animate, A-cho, Super Position)

(tags Kyoto, Japan, canvas, bags, anime, shop, arcade, figure)

This is just a quick one because I want to play some more Final Fantasy 12.

I went to Kyoto mainly to buy me a Shinzaburo Ichizawa Hanpu canvas bag. Unlike last time, this time I was early enough because at 12:00 half the store's goods was still there. Great. I selected this over-shoulder bag, and I was going to select a strap but one of the attendants told me that the bag's ring attachments aren't strong enough. I've been using a over-shoulder bags over Akiba-kei backpacks because I don't like getting sweaty against a backpack. BTW, what is an Akiba-kei backpack? Why is it desirable and why did Gamers have that special backpack for 100 points (2006-04-20)?

This time I actually found Animate. Nothing too special in there, but it seems bigger than the Kobe store. Right next to it was a Melon Books, and I swear it's more cramped in there than in Kobe. And there was an idol picture shop. About 70 percent of it was pictures of young hot ness guys, so there were the requisite junior high girls there. I went in to check if they had any anime seiyuu pictures like the ones you buy after concerts, but only mainstream singers like Aiko and Ayumi Hamazaki and model types like that woman in Last Samurai with no last name. Ah. No Yui Horie (堀江由衣) pics? Sad.

I again checked out that arcade I went to last time. It's called the A-cho Game Center. This time when I went, they had Time Crisis 4 (no official HP yet? Here's the detailed Wikipedia EN and JP page and the official Time Crisis 3 page instead) in big double wide screen action (none of that mirror cabinet crap, yes!). I had to play a game, and there was no waiting on 2P, but there was some guy rocking 1P and it was hard to concentrate on my solo game. What surprised me is that he asked me if I wanted to play co-op. I couldn't hang with this guy, but I tried for two credits. I really like this game's style. This time it seems there are audio clues in regular Japanese and even in English, though I couldn't figure out how to change it to English mode. Another game that caught my fancy was the sit-down LCD screen (high-def?) of Virtual Tennis 3. Wow, this is a Sega Limbergh graphics card based arcade game, crazy. Remember when the only the arcade game motherboard had the name? I also tried my hand at Warashi's new shooting game, Trigger Heart Exelica. Clean clean Naomi visuals. Capture enemies and fling them back for points, damage and bullet absorption. Not bad, and moe moe sexy girls in flying armor suit ain't a detriment, no no. (Insert Credit with the win, thanks as always)

Finally... wow this post is getting long.

Finally, I visited the Super Position (「ＳＵＰＥＲ　ＰＯＳＩＴＩＯＮ　京都店」) figure resell shop. It's always nice to go. I broke down and picked up the cream green swimsuit version of Hazumu from the Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl figure collection (official maker page), which has been eluding me for 12 unopened packages. (I pointed it out previously back in March.) It was 1200 yen, twice the price of an unopened package. The rare "red swimsuit" version was 2800 yen, but at the Yellow Submarine at Kobe, it's only 2300 yen. No one is buying it. I'm still trying my luck buying the regular unpened packages, but at 500 yen or more it's a hassle to get Janpu-chan all the time. I think that the cream green color really suits Hazumu, either that or I'm used to seeing that color on him/her from that wonderful PS2 game.

Ah I also checked out Sofmap, Gamers, and Kikuya Shoten's new Manga-Kan. Nice clean bookstore dedicated to anime and manga remodeled recently. No more third story Magic The Game card space?

Okay enough! Gotta relax by maxing my stats in Final Fantasy 12. Arg.

... on the brain (Final Fantasy, Sudoku, Kashimashi)

(tags game, anime, Final Fantasy, Sudoku, Kashimashi)

Final Fantasy 12 on the brain. 2 major battles finished, 20 hours in. I love that Gunbit system. My "programming" is currently steal, fight, heal, in that abstract order. I don't understand the story. It's pretty hard in-depth Japanese. I keep wishing they had this game back in 2002.

Sudoku on the brain. I finished all of the Normal Difficulty, and Hard level is very hard only some of the time. It is making me *gasp* guess at some of the positions! I guess about 60 hours in?

Anime on the brain. TCs everywhere, Kashimashi figure, magazine crazy. That's right, Kashimashi DVD 3 is the perfect DVD, more details because I really want to talk about it. Yeah right.

Gotta get back to Final Fantasy now, thanks!