It’s been a little over a week since the American release of Persona 4, yet no review. What’s the deal? Simple: haven’t beaten it yet! Yeah, foolish me for wanting to have on ready the day it was available and not playing it on easy (which is apparently what every other reviewer did). I’ve also been playing at a somewhat slow pace; taking my time, mulling over choices, and sometimes re-doing entire sequences multiple times, to choose which outcome to go on with. Also, the virtual life has to take a back seat when responsibilities in the real world beckons. Though I am very close to the end! I believe I’m on the next to the last quest… the clock is clicking towards the climactic conclusion, but hopefully there’s enough time to get a fourth girlfriend! Anyhow, in the meantime, I guess an update is in order. Lots of little things have gone down and to touch upon, so I may as well just go down the list…
- To kick things off, let’s go all the way back to… last Sunday night, which was the final night of Blip Fest. Didn’t go, despite knowing well in advance that it would be THE one to catch. Long story short, had a pretty busy day ahead of me and couldn’t afford to hang the night before. Granted, the schedule ran earlier than the previous nights, but when was the last time any music event ran on schedule, especially one chiptunes related? The always crappy weekend subway schedule didn’t help either. Instead Hilary stopped on by; after her, myself, and Katie grabbed some dinner and some beer, we all watched Bounce KO Gals, yet another sublime flick by Masato Harada, who I’ve become a major fan of over the past year. Some might recall me going ga-ga over The Shadow Spirits, and I also recently re-watched Kamikaze Taxi, which I was totally going to write about, but somehow forgot, though long story-short, it’s easily on of the best flicks from Japan that absolutely no one has heard of.
As for Bounce KO Gals, it’s about Japanese high school girls and the world they live in, which is basically ruled by pervy men, especially those that live in the big city (something that’s a bit of a theme in all the Harada films I’ve seen thus far). The central figure here is a sweet and innocent gal from the sticks, Lisa, who has a new life waiting for her in New York City. Before heading to the airport, she spends her last day in the big city, Tokyo; Lisa has worked real hard to save up the dough necessary for establishing one’s self in the Big Apple, but figures that a little extra couldn’t hurt, and also knows that easy cash can be made by selling her school uniform and panties. Next thing you know, she’s roped into participating in a balloon porno shoot which turns out to be a scam for all the girls involved, resulting in the total loss of everything saved. Lisa is then befriended by two rough and tumble kogals (hip, urban school girls that sell themselves to rich, older men, mostly so they can afford the latest threads), Raku and Jonko, who attempt to get back what was lost in the following 24 hours, before Lisa’s plan takes off. So they basically show Lisa what they do for shits and giggles, as well as easy money, and that’s swindling stupid, horny guys for everything they’re worth. Naturally, the Yakuza get involved, since they’re pissed how their prostitution rings are suffering at the hands of smart-alecky teenage girls who don’t even give it up to their Johns.
The movie is basically every lame, so called “shocking” look at how real kids act in the real world today that used to be the thing in indie cinema here in America a few years back, such as “Kids”, but not nearly as retarded, since the characters are relatable and behave logically, plus the director wants you to actually care what’s going on. I wasn’t so much disturbed by Kids as I was bored to f’n tears by it. Anyhow, despite the fact that it kinda validates a number of negative stereotypes about Japanese society and their views of sex and women in general, its still a fine film to catch. Plus you know what they say about stereotypes sometimes… and as much as it hurts Japanophiles to admit it, yes, used Japanese school girls’ panties sold via vending machines did in fact exist at one point and were not urban legends created by people that love to go “lol Japan” a little too much (from what I understand, they were outlawed a number of years ago).
Sticking with Japanese school girls, Hilary and I next watched a bit of the old 80s Sukeban Deka television series that I had been downloading the entire week prior (Hilary’s working on some comic in which she needed it for reference). The basic premise here is that you have a super touch school girl turned undercover cop whose badge is also a steel yo-yo that she also uses to deal with bad guys. It’s about as awesome as it sounds, and the show is even better than the various films that have been made, even Yo Yo Girl Cop which I saw at the NYAFF last year. Why? Because it didn’t feature her friends, like the other girl cop that fought bad guys with needle and thread, and the other, deadly orgami cranes. BTW, for anyone wanting any additional information, simply hit Encyclopedia Idollica.
Oh, and we also watched, with much horror, the 1 Guy 1 Cup videos, which did live up to the hype of being more disgusting than 2 Girls 1 Cup. Not even gonna bother linking to that one…. but for those who are dying to see it and can’t find it anywhere…. it’s in the forums (in the Secret Chamber, naturally).
- Last Tuesday was when Brian also swung on by. Whenever I get the chance to hang out with the guy, I try not to talk his head off about the ecovillage that he lives in, but I guess I can’t help it. And thankfully Brian doesn’t mind, who is also quite used to it by now. Anyhow, while hanging out at my place, I naturally offered him the chance to play some games, as I do to all guests… including some shumps, like DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou. It felt like offering heroin to a guy that had successfully kicked it years prior, and like most addicts, Brian did not refuse. And watching him play, one would never figure him to be an ace shump player from years back that gave it all up to live in the woods!
Oh, so nothing is definite, but Brian is totally fine with the idea of me hosting an archive of his dear, depart site, click-stick.com! Guess I’ll have more on that when it develops.
- Last Wednesday was my first chance to finally check out the new Kinokuniya location here in Manhattan. Naturally, I picked up a few things, though I can’t divulge everything, since some of it is Christmas presents for certain people. But I can pass along pics of this…
The official Persona 4 Design Works compendium! And the last copy too! Though better than that was this…
It’s a collection of illustrations depicting girls as various fruits and vegetables by one of my favorite Japanese illustrators, Okama, whom I’ve raved about previously. Again, for more, simply head on over to Sankaku Complex (for those not familiar with the place, it’s kinda NSFW).
- Later that evening with the local IGDA holiday party, with the highlight being the assorted prizes that were given, like a PS4…
Inside in the boxes were a wide assortment of wonderful things, like microwavable packets of mac & cheeses, random Jenga pieces, though certainly not enough to really play around with, a pack of Twizzlers that was apparently five plus years old, and a Gamestop gift certificate (which of course was nabbed by some dude at who isn’t even a part of the IGDA but simply came with a friend who is… I actually know the guy, whose part of Select Button actually, and shall remain nameless, but I certainly hope he at least has the decency to give thanks by joining the association and pay the membership dues).
Afterwards myself along with good pal & the one of few gaming PR guys that everyone unanimously loves, Quinn Wagemann, Manifesto Games’ Bill Folsom, and my once upon a time editor Joe Blancato, all went a few blocks across town to another bar, for the NYC leg of
- When I came home, which was somewhat late, though thankfully not as late as it could have been, I was surprised to find Katie, who was still awake (unlike myself, who can go to bed at four in the morning and sleep till noon, since I lack a real job, Katie actually has responsibilities and a reasonable bedtime to heed). As mentioned many times before, I have a real love for cable access, which Katie shares in as well, and earlier in the evening was something was so amazing that she was able to save and share for me. And this wonderful this is something called Splendid Recipes.
It’s a bit hard to explain its brilliance… or maybe not. Just watch this. Maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. All I can say is, and I hate to go down a pretty tired road, but f*ck Willamsburg and all the other Brooklyn art-fags out there and their lame attempt at wacky video art and comedy in general (with the exception of the Fatal Farm guys, of course), and hail these geniuses from Pittsburg. I absolutely cannot wait for the DVD to arrive in the mail, which the dudes at Splendid Recipes have been nice enough to pass along to their newest super-fan. Thanks again dudes!
- I believe it was Friday in which Dave Maruo over at the forums revealed the following pics…
It’s Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, running off his Wii, connected to one of his Astro City cabs, obviously. Unfortunately, myself and the rest of the crew haven’t had a chance to give it a shot, since Dave’s waiting for some part from Japan, but once it’s in, Super Fighting Weapon Battle Turbocharged EX DX For Matching Service shall be legendary.
- Also sometime last week, PlayStation Home finally came out. And of course, after all these years (been hearing about it for, I’m guessing, close to three years now), I still have no idea what the point is. It looking like Second Life sure as hell does not help. Oh, and apparently, it doesn’t work all that well. Oh Sony…
Seriously, what the hell is going on? It’s been out for two years now and I still barely know anyone who has a PS3, and those that do, almost never play any games on it. The thing is a splendid Blu-ray player, I get that, but otherwise… Everyone else either could care less or are strictly on the fence about nabbing one, as evidenced by Joe Salina’s recent thread in the forums. Given that two years into a system’s life cycle is usually when it has at least a few killer titles under its belt… or should… what exactly does the PS3 offer? There’s Metal Gear Solid 4, and despite the fact that I consider myself a loyal fan of the series, I’m well aware that they’re really not great of games. There’s also LittleBigPlanet, which is pretty neat I suppose, though I’m still not a fan of the controls. Then there’s… a few, random downloadable titles, and Team Ico’s upcoming title, can’t forget about that. But otherwise, there ain’t jack. All the multiplatform titles totally blow on the PS3 when compared with their Xbox 360 counterparts, their attempt at mirroring XBLA’s achievements with trophies has thus far completely blown, there’s been literally ten different hardware configurations, with most of them not being able to play one of the true games of the year, Persona 4… though as I’ve just recently discovered, alongside Joe, who was eyeing eBay and Craigslist for the original models with hardware-based backwards compatibility, its still far from perfect due to crappy de-interlacing on high-def displays… as well as how, let’s be honest now, with the rise in popularity of digital downloads, Blu-ray may not be around all that long.
It’s amazing how a successful company like Sony can so drastically drop the ball and forget what got them to the dance in the first place. And it’s not like anyone feels sorry for them; talk to any developer, especially these days, and absolutely no one likes making games for their platform. Actually, that was the case for the PS2, but now it just seems both worse and even more ridiculous on the PS3, when compared to the 360′s obvious closeness to a PC-based architecture (there’s no need to mention developing for the Wii given its lack of horsepower). I think a lot of folks out there would be pleased as punch to see the PS3 totally bomb and never have to bother with a PS4. Hence why I really wish Konami would hurry up and announce MGS4 for the 360 and get it over with. Though just the other day I was reminded of yet another game that I would totally get the system for, and once again, it’s another $10 title; Keita Takahashi’s Noby Noby Boy…
And here’s a recently released gameplay vid that basically explains what the game is about… Okay, not really. So, despite my best wishes, I will eventually have to get a friggin PS3.
- May as well touch upon Takahashi’s previous baby, Katamari Damacy, which just came out on the iPhone. Very long-story short: don’t buy it. It controls just as poorly as Monkey Ball every did, but now with a whole heap of game breaking slowdown (though I speak as someone who played it on an iPhone 3G… and given that the 2nd gen iPod Touch has a faster processor, there’s a good chance there might not be as much, though I highly doubt it does anything for the controls). Most folks will simply be pissed, but diehard Katamari fans will be heartbroken.
Also, I don’t want to waste time on this, thanks to my rather pointless Sony diatribe, but I am SO sick of hearing Apple claim that the iPhone is a real deal game machine. It most certainly is not! Even with Metal Gear coming out for it (to be completely honest, I was a lot more excited over the N-Gage version, which I have absolutely nothing about since its announcement last year, and even then, I believe I was the only one to pay attention to it). Though I would have to assume that the iPhone version of Silent Hill has to blow away the one that’s available right now on standard handsets.
- Moving away from games… sorta… on Saturday was the Hello Zen! Holiday Market, a small yet quite awesome arts and crafts fair on the behalf of The Village Zendo, a Zen temple that Rodney Greenblat mediates at. He’s the guy who put the thing together, and I was obviously pleased as punched with the opportunity to purchase some of his very rare goods, and in person!
I was also able to secure an interview with him regarding this work on Major Minor, so look for that in the coming months! Anyhow, here’s a look at some of the awesome stuff I nabbed that day, like these super cute Thunder Bunny glasses…
Here’s a program guide for some show of Greenblat’s in Japan circa 97 that he had a few copies lying around the studio for sale…
And here’s a pair of prints that quite honestly speak for themselves…
Though my favorite might have to be these UnJammer Lammy postcards…
Right next to Rodney was Aaron Stewart, who has an outfit called Pillow Pillow Pillow. Hence the huge pillow with a Shiba Inu on it that I absolute had to get for Katie for Christmas…
- Hey, back to video games, and other fine crafts in relation to it made by excellent people, remember those hot new Meat Bun shirts I posted pics of the post before last? Well, they’re finally available to the public at large!
- And speaking of Mike McWhertor, he was the guy who dug up this: a pic of Hard Gay helping to promote the new Wii-make of Rygar…
- One more thing to bitch about: the Spike TV VGA, or Video Game Awards. It went down this past Sunday, and I didn’t catch it, simply because I don’t have cable! But even if I did, I sure as hell would not have wasted time. And I was under the assumption that most of my peers felt the same way… but they didn’t. WTF, did this thing all of a sudden become legit of something? Reading about it afterwards, it appears that I didn’t miss a thing. Why did anyone care? Because they showed a bunch of trailers? Wow. Was there another lame parade of celebrities shilling whatever flick coming out on DVD & Blu-ray for the holidays and also spouting gaming lingo and references this time as well? Did they soak up more valuable camera time than the actual folks who the awards ceremony was supposed to be celebrating, the actual game creators? Was Carmen Electra on-hand? Were all the winners of the evening clearly telegraphed by all the ads that evening? I clearly don’t get it. I also find it funny how, now days later, after so many folks have written about it, no one can still tell me what games won.
- My favorite random game related story from the past week or so has to be news of augment reality games coming soon for the DSi. Finally, a good reason to get the system when it comes out next year! And for a while there, I was afraid to take part in such action, I’d have to get a Android handset/Google phone.
- And my favorite random game related vid from the past couple weeks as well as to be this one of a dog and a statue playing Street Fighter 2, in Portuguese. Though this reminder of how far we’ve come when it comes to music/rhythm games in just the past few years is also quite excellent.
On a side note, been meaning to for a long whiles now, but just the other day I finally registered an account at Nico Nico Douga, where the really good vids, not just related to video games, from Japan all come from. Though unfortunately, you have to be a member to see anything, so if there’s anything truly awesome, I guess I’ll have to figure out how to rip it…
- Oh, and last night, Katie and I fired up Animal Crossing City Folk for the first time. I picked up the package with the Wii Speak mic included. Though this early on, I’m beginning to wonder if it’ll even be used, ever. BTW, if any of you out there is playing Animal Crossing on the Wii and wanna chat… just email me your friend code or something, however that stuff works. I guess it’s about time I posted mine: 1012 1105 6687 4889
Also, if I manage to get anyone to add me to their buddy list like this, I’ll at least know someone has read this far!
… Anyway, time to wrap things up! Next time I’ll hopefully have my review for Persona 4 ready, along with some thoughts on Moon DS, which I’ve also been playing. Oh, and Katie and I have been playing Lips, that new karaoke game for the 360 created by the folks behind Ouendan. And I completely forgot to mention how Konami was nice enough to pass along a copy of Time Hallow for the DS, but once again, next time.
NOTE: Also, before anyone says anything, yes, this one post would have been better if it was broken into ten smaller ones, but at this point, I kinda don’t care, I’ve heard it all before! Thanks for coming anyways!
