A Present for Eikichi
So my cousin Eikichi is still in Tokyo, still chillin', otaku-in', workin' and playin'.
He's got a PS3, and hooks me up with the latest "from the street" news on PS3 releases, what's hot in the deep-gaming-otaku world ("X is hot because the character designer is this manga artist who did Y, Z and Q"; "X is hot because you can have hetero and homo relationships with the other main characters" etc).
Anyway, turns out that Dead Space, one of the best games for the console IMO (I'm a big fan of horror, and this has survival horror plus pretty pretty graphics and sound) did not release in Japan. It was banned by the gub'ment for being too "cruel and violent". And yet, the PC game "RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!" (I am not kidding) came out without a hitch (to which my comical response is, "...but what is this game about, though?"). I think it was the fact that those tentacled dog-looking blobs in the game were originally supposed to be cloned infants or something (they just look like dog-blogs with tentacles, though, I never was able to tell until I saw concept art sketches for that creature and made the connection), and word got around that "In DEAD SPACE you STEP ON AND KILL LITTLE BABIES!!! OMG!!!" So, BANNED.
Yet, thanks to the fact that SONY isn't a piece of outdated shit like Nintendo (and to a certain percentage, Microsoft), there is zero region locking on games. That's why I can play all these Yakuza games on my US PS3 without having to buy a Japanese PS3. Hell, I can even use messaging in Japanese with my cousin over the PS3 network.
So there's a pretty big underground fanbase for Dead Space in Japan, including a Wiki that tells you step by step what to do to get through the game: The game's pretty simple (with the "point me to where I go next" feature) to begin with, but this Wiki was a clincher: Even though my cousin can't speak English (can read it a little), this Wiki will help any J-gamer get past the Englishspeak.
So I'm going to send him my copy, as an Oshogatsu present (no such thing, but whatever). I'll also print out the Wiki in color and send that as well, so he doesn't have to hook up his ancient PC to read-and-play.
In other news, Final Fantasy 13 comes out in 8 days. I'm still thinking about my import options: Have a family member/relative/friend score me a copy? Use a re-shipper service? In any case, I hope to be playing it in 8 days plus 3 days for shipping. My best friend Drew, in getting me hooked on FFX, created a monster.
-Andy
He's got a PS3, and hooks me up with the latest "from the street" news on PS3 releases, what's hot in the deep-gaming-otaku world ("X is hot because the character designer is this manga artist who did Y, Z and Q"; "X is hot because you can have hetero and homo relationships with the other main characters" etc).
Anyway, turns out that Dead Space, one of the best games for the console IMO (I'm a big fan of horror, and this has survival horror plus pretty pretty graphics and sound) did not release in Japan. It was banned by the gub'ment for being too "cruel and violent". And yet, the PC game "RAPE! RAPE! RAPE!" (I am not kidding) came out without a hitch (to which my comical response is, "...but what is this game about, though?"). I think it was the fact that those tentacled dog-looking blobs in the game were originally supposed to be cloned infants or something (they just look like dog-blogs with tentacles, though, I never was able to tell until I saw concept art sketches for that creature and made the connection), and word got around that "In DEAD SPACE you STEP ON AND KILL LITTLE BABIES!!! OMG!!!" So, BANNED.
Yet, thanks to the fact that SONY isn't a piece of outdated shit like Nintendo (and to a certain percentage, Microsoft), there is zero region locking on games. That's why I can play all these Yakuza games on my US PS3 without having to buy a Japanese PS3. Hell, I can even use messaging in Japanese with my cousin over the PS3 network.
So there's a pretty big underground fanbase for Dead Space in Japan, including a Wiki that tells you step by step what to do to get through the game: The game's pretty simple (with the "point me to where I go next" feature) to begin with, but this Wiki was a clincher: Even though my cousin can't speak English (can read it a little), this Wiki will help any J-gamer get past the Englishspeak.
So I'm going to send him my copy, as an Oshogatsu present (no such thing, but whatever). I'll also print out the Wiki in color and send that as well, so he doesn't have to hook up his ancient PC to read-and-play.
In other news, Final Fantasy 13 comes out in 8 days. I'm still thinking about my import options: Have a family member/relative/friend score me a copy? Use a re-shipper service? In any case, I hope to be playing it in 8 days plus 3 days for shipping. My best friend Drew, in getting me hooked on FFX, created a monster.
-Andy