The Asian Power Hour

I've been playing Lord of the Rings Online for a little while now, and while it has a few interesting twists on standard MMO design, one thing really stood out for me, the music creation system available to every player.

Players can learn to play an instrument starting at low levels and what this does is that when the player chooses to take out their instrument, the keyboard switches to a configuration where specific keys are mapped to specific notes. For instance, 1 is C, 1 + cntrl is C#, 1 + cntrl + alt = C# up one octave, etc. In this way very specific chords can be created. Compositions can also be saved as an "ABC" file and set as a macro so that players can bust out a tune whenever after they've done the preliminary work or share it among the community.

Often while waiting for members of a party to arrive, players will play music or listen to the bard in their party perform for them. For me, it raises my involvement with the game another notch as I have also macroed some of my tunes to my Minstrel abilities, really adding that touch of personalization. Other players will remember specific minstrels based on the songs that they play while they're in the party, because of that custom touch in their experience.

So what gets me now is all the emergent play centering around music that I'm seeing in the game, from random rowdiness and role play in the auction house and taverns in the game to bands and guilds of minstrels that spend most of their time playing music in-game. People I've shown this to have commented on the absurd "nerdity" of this system, but I really believe that this open-ended system in a MMO, a very limited environment where players really have little say on player created content, really has created an entirely new brand of emergent play without unbalancing the game world.

Hit the jump for some a buttload videos of Lord of the Rings Online bards playing music:

While perusing through some fine toy establishments, I ran across some interesting little developments that I've posted below with a quick explanation. Blurry pics since I had to use my cell phone camera, so apologies there. Well, not really, just deal with it.

This one is interesting, apparently Tiger has decided to completely knockoff the Wiimote design, right down to the motion sensing and trigger button for a line of sports games. For instance, you swing the "Tigermote" like a bat to hit the ball in their baseball game. Question though. The screen is on the controller so it's gonna be a little hard to see...

And the back...notice the trigger button.

Square-Enix is continuing it's insane marketing synergy steamrolling with yet more merchandising on top of all their freaking remakes. I don't think I've ever seen so many Final Fantasy VII merchandise before. Original IP Please! On the bright side, some retro figures from the DS remake of FFIV:

And the DragonQuest IV remake:

Here's an interesting little Rubiks Cube variant I saw in San Diego, The "Tetris Cube". Over 1000 solutions. It's basically just a Tetris branded 3D puzzle:

Uh Oh, like I need more Pokemon stuff to obsess over..Looks like there's a new Heroclix like Pokemon game out. You get one trainer with powers that affect the pokemon and 3 pokemon to battle with your opponent. I'm not quite sure if there are any gameboard or terrain rules like Warhammer, but that would make this freaking sweet. Check out Chimchar:

Here's a biggie, you've probably already seen the Maple Story Card game for sale. Each booster pack has a card that gives you something in-game. While most of the time, it's a card for an meta card game in the actual Maple Story client, sometimes you get clothing or pets. Basically something you might get from the cash shop. No real power, just good looks. I bought a Starter Deck and learned to play recently with some young'uns, I'll post more later with better pics. The game is designed by Wizards of the Coast and while it has fairly generic and grindy feeling gameplay, it's kind of fun....kind of like Maple Story. Scary.

Here's a funny little Spider-Man LCD game where it's basically a shooting gallery game where the screen and buttons are on the web-shooter. Still a little hard to see the screen, but I bet if I was a kid and saw this I'd be all over it. Gimmicky but fun.

Continuing on with the Rubiks Cube Schtick, here comes "Rubik Revolution", a Rubiks Cube with 6 built in mini-games and multiplayer challenges (much like Simon Says). I'm not exactly sure how this one works, but it looks intriguing, anyone have one who can shed some more light on this?

Looks like Madrid is in the spirit this year with a LED Pac Man Christmas Tree, although it looks more like a pyramid to be honest. The only thing that could surpass the badassedness of the current tree would be if Pac Man actually chased the ghosts around the entire tree. Images and video garnered from Clipset.net.

Not content with dominating the rest of the world, Blizzard has released two more similar WoW commericals targeting the quaint French, Spanish, and Roundhouse Kick speaking EU nations featuring Jean Claude "I was Guile in the Street Fighter Movie" Van Damme and Spanish movie actor and ladies man Guillermo "Willy" Toledo. The next commercial in this line will be Verne Troyer aka "Mini Me". No kidding, this is great stuff. Interesting unrelated news also points to Daft Punk as the chief export of France for the 2007 Fiscal year.

Here's the English Transcript for Van Damme courtesy of WoW Europe:
“My name is Jean-Claude Van Damme… and I am a mage.”

“Hand-to-hand combat for me: it's over!”

“Now I can cast powerful spells!”

“Just try messing with me… I’ll turn you into a sheep.”

“A sheep!”

“…Because we all are a bit like sheep, you know...”

“I am Jean-Claude Van Damme, I am a mage.

“And you?”

"What’s your game?"

And for Mr. Toledo:
"Hi, my name is Willy Toledo... and I am a Paladin."

"I am a combination of a spell caster and a specialist in melee combat."

"…up-close and personal, clearly what I like most."

"But this is serious, I´m a protector of the Holy Light."

"I am Willy Toledo, and I’m a Paladin."

"And you?"

"What’s your game?"

This is a post long overdue. Quite a while back, me and my boy Chris went out to see a MC Chris show in Hollywood. Gotta say, wasn't quite expecting him to be so short, but he's got a buttload of stage presence. He operates his shows with just him and his trusty macbook playing his tunes. Pretty damn good show though with our favorites being covered with new beats and some new tunes. Also, some dude in the front peed in a cup during the show cause he apparently was hella drunk and just had to do the deed without losing his spot. Well, he was promptly kicked out by security. Fun times.

More pics at my Flickr

OK, we all knew this idea would make millions. Now it's actually happened. Blizzard has teamed up with the company, FigurePrint, who is yet to go into public business to print 3-D figures based off of personal avatars of players in the World of Warcraft. FigurePrint has access to the server data from Blizzard and uses that to customize each figure to match exact user gear and specs. However...the only way at this moment to get this deal is to purchase a tricked out Dell XPS laptop starting at around 4,500 bones. Thanks, but as cool as this is...I'll wait until normal orders start up.

Here's a little vid for you:

Also...in recent news, now that I finally have net access at home in Taiwan, I have a ton of backlogging of some really interesting stuff I'll be slowly posting over the next month as I'm stationed here on leave. Let's just say I've been slowly combing the gaming world here and things are being shaken up quite a bit in a way that I haven't seen in ages. Ohhhhhh...How's that for a teaser?

As you read this, GameStop is offering a special promotional offer for Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online. For a piddly 10 Dollars, you can get a standard copy of Lord of the Rings Online (1 month subscription included). However, this deal is only valid from their online store, no fear though, free shipping is also included in the deal. All you have to do is use the code "LOTR" when prompted for any promotions when checking out.

Having played Lord of the Rings Online on and off for the last six months I can honestly say that it's worth taking a look at. Turbine does a pretty decent job of keeping the old school Tolkien lore alive while adding in the epic feeling and style from the Peter Jackson films. And hey, at the very least, you're going to get to play around with the amazing music system for a while. All in all, I highly recommend picking it up and trying out a decent fantasy MMO that's not WoW.

Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Dungeon Runners, aka the brother of WoW that was beat too much as a kid has just launched in-game advertising along with their Chunk 2 (2nd Expansion) update. For those of you who haven't played Dungeon Runners, it's a free to play fantasy MMO developed in the US by NCSoft that really looks like a pretty complete rip-off of WoW's style. Gameplay is pretty lacking though, it's basically diablo-like in it's point and click simplicity, and you're also unable to change the camera angle...

The ads will take the form of scrolling banners on the top of the screen during gameplay, during load screens, and other random downtime moments. If you're willing to fork over the 5 dollar a month subscription fee, you'll be blessed with a Tome of Remove In-Game Ads. It'll be interesting to see the general reaction to this as there really haven't been in-game ads this obtrusive in an MMO before. However, when I think about it, the last time I logged onto Dungeon Runners about a month ago there were about 800 total players online, with around 150 being subscribers, and I think it was a Saturday afternoon too, so hey, someone needs some kind of revenue to keep the game running.

Official Dungeon Runners Site

Lineage II recently received it's biggest expansion since launch, including the new playable Kamael race. The Kamael are a one winged "dark angel" race with a major focus on physical melee combat. Lineage II never had the popularity of the first one, which fulfilled a similar role in Asia's MMORPG market that Everquest did in the United States. Currently, original Lineage subscribers still outnumber Lineage II subscribers by about 20% in Asia, again similar to Everquest. Monthly subscription games have never been popular in Asia, mainly due to the demographic and personal economy of MMORPG players here. WoW being the only game to break that trend, among other records it shattered.

For Taiwan, NCSoft is offering 100 free hours of Lineage II to commemorate the release of the Kamael. When you look at it, 100 hours is a lot of game time, even for a MMO. It seems that NCSoft is hoping to get a large number of players invested in the game during the promotional play time and hopefully keep them paying as subscribers down the road. In the US, Lineage has never done well, due to the very "Asian" style of gameplay (ie You Like A The Grind) and art style. It's interesting to note also that free trials here are given in hours instead of X days in the US. If you do decide to hop on, there's a special in-game event running from the 12th of December to the 8th of January. More details linked below.

There's a big article about the revival of arcades in Taiwan and the fulfillment of my earlier prediction last year about the rise of RFID card based games. I'll be posting these soon, so stay tuned! I'm very excited about these recent trends!

Kamael Launch Event Info

More Detailed Info about the Kamael

I'm not sure about the validity of this post to be honest, but I came across it on the Yahoo news frontpage, and I'm not sure exactly where they dig up their news. But anyways, long story short.

Step 1.
Dude spends assload of time trying to get the Wii version of GH3 for his kid for Christmas.

Step 2.
Dude catches kid smoking pot in his backyard with two of his bros.

Step 3.
Game is put on eBay and fetches $9,100 from some guy in Australia.

OK. I'm not sure what he wrote on that eBay post to get that much money, but I'd sure like to see it. If anyone can find it, send it my way!

Original Post at Yahoo News

This is fairly exciting news. It seems the Taipei Metro, in a bid to move away from paper waste caused by the hundreds of thousands of tickets it generates everyday has decided to do away with paper tickets and implement single use IC coins (on top of the IC cards already in use) instead. How this works:

1. Travelers purchase their ticket based on their current station and their intended destination. A base price is generated based on distance between the two.

2. A blank IC coin then has this information written on it (honestly, It's just the base price) and is then given out vending machine style.

3. The user scans the coin when the enter the root station, and when they get to their final destination, they deposit the coin in the turnstile, which then opens for them if the fare is correct. If not, they can always just go to a nearby IC ticket machine and add additional fare onto the ticket.

Simple, conservative, and fully automated. The much larger Tokyo Metro might benefit from this tech too. This kind of IC tech use intrigues me since it means that we're moving much closer to being able to mass produce these for use in games too at an affordable price to the consumer.

As you can see above, just a tiny little IC coin. Cute!

Yet ANOTHER Blue Dragon Spinoff. I swear, Japan really does love the same old stuff over and over. Developed by Mistwalker and Feel Plus, and to published by AQ Interactive March 2008, this is basically Blue Dragon Tactics. It looks exactly the same as FF Tactics, just with Blue Dragon characters. This particular title is called Blue Dragon Plus.

However, it looks like it's a continuation of the original Blue Dragon story from the Xbox360 version. This time King Jibral and a reformed General Szabo seem to be included in the cast, each with a new shadow. And there's also a poo snake (real monster name) with a....poo snake dragon shadow. Gotcha.

Ok, I love this. Japanese rap group RIP SLYME recently released the video for their new song, SPEED KING. It's basically a psychedelic Loco-Roco style romp through the reimagined world of Super Mario. The song's OK, but the video is pretty damn cool.

And here's one of my all time favorites which just happens to have R.S. in it.. RIP SLYME vs Hotei "My personal hero" Tomoyasu, in BATTLE FUNKTASTIC. Enjoy! I'm sure you'll recognize the Hotei song.

OK. I had a dream that was almost exactly this picture a while back when I was playing DQVIII. It was pretty vivid, because the slime was so huge, and I couldn't hurt it. It was like punching a cute version of The Blob from the X-Men. Hey, don't look at me like that, I know you guys have weird dreams too.

On a related note, I stumbled across this fantastic pic from Kinuko's art site Fever Chill. You can see more game related and just plain funktastic art there and also at the straight up badass artist collective, Mecha Fetus. Artists there also include Sprite Art guru Paul Robertson who did the insane Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 and Persona, whos love of cheesy Giant Robot shows rocket punches my special soft spot. Kind of hurts, actually.

Here's one of Paul Robertson's older works, Devil Eyes, that still delights and disturbs me greatly.

Persona's God Slayer. Oh dear lord it's so cheesy, but that's what make it so damn good.

Mecha Fetus Artists Collective

If you know me, then you've probably already seen Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. If not, go download it here. Now.

If you play WoW, or have been keeping up with gaming culture, then you know about the Leeroy Jenkins internet sensation that hit the internet way back. Well, I got sent this a while back by my boy Chris, and have been delinquent about posting it even though I love it to death. All I can say is, enjoy! Leeroy Jenkins overload time.

Leeroy Jenkins Remix

Leeroy Jenkins CHIKAI Stepmania Version on Expert. This is actually a pretty fun song to DDR to surprisingly.

The Original Leeroy Jenkins. At least he has Chicken.

And the Infamous College Jeopardy Reference. Seriously, who do they choose for this show?

Well now, it's looks like patch 2.4 has arrived for Granado Espada, and it's a pretty major one. Long story short, this free expansion basically adds some Latin America flair to G.E., new quests and mini-games, and a new free for all PvP mode called Super Fight. The three new zones are:

Bahia Island aka Bikini Avatar Super Happy Fun Time

Bahamas Swamp

Tierra De Los Muertes (Land of the Dead)

Granado Espada has the distinct honor of launching in the US as a monthly subscription game and then switching to the microtransaction system in about a month. And it's doing pretty well too. The game boasts a pretty unique party system where each player can control up to three members when playing solo, allowing for a lot of soloability and versatility. You can give the game a whirl through the link below. It's also cute to note that while many games have a refer a friend, get free game time, G.E. gives you in-game currency. Nice Touch!

Sword of the New World Website

-The producer is going to be Yoshinori Ono. His previous works include: Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter III and Capcom Fighting Revolution. We'll forgive him for that last one. Maybe.

-Online play will be included, however, I'm always really leery of online modes in games where frame-specific precision is key.

-Similar to the Street Fighter II games, the graphics will be toon-shaded.

- The gameplay will be in 2D while the graphics are in 3D, but the camera angle will be fixed. This pretty much answers all those rumors out there. Look guys, it's Street Fighter. It's gonna be a 2D fighter. EX never existed. Cough cough.

-Capcom wants to bring as many characters back from the Street Fighter II series as possible. Fei Long please!

-The story takes place between Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter III. I'm not really sure what this entails, any experts out there want to shed some light on this?

-The battle system will be more aggressive and focus more on attacking instead of defending. Maybe now I'll actually win a few rounds now and then.

-A decision has not been made which platform the game will be on, the test version was build on PC.

-Yoshinori Ono assumes the most suitable platforms to be PS2 or NDS. The DS? Really? I really hope he didn't say that. While it does have a large built in market already, even a ported version would lack the tight control scheme that would be needed for a game such like SF.

-Capcom is interested to bring the game to as many platforms as possible, no platform exclusivity.

All I can really say is, I'm freaking excited to get my ass handed to me in a new Street Fighter that's been a long time coming.

So this is really exciting news for me personally, and I apologize for the extremely text heavy post. I'm a firm believer in the Arcade as a gaming institution that shouldn't fade into obscurity. As you may have read earlier, I'm pretty interested in the whole RFID card arcade trend in Japan. However...with the economy on the decline in Taiwan, I've been seeing a steady decline in the arcade scene in Taiwan throughout the past few years. So when I stepped into my usual haunt a few days ago, I was totally shocked to find it packed to the brim. And not just with the usual gamers clamoring over the more hardcore games such as The King of Fighters and the music games, but with families and gamers of all ages and of both gender.

Why the huge change all of a sudden? One major reason:

More games with easier accessibility and culturally popular themes. The Key word here is "accessibility"

What does this mean? More casual games for a wider audience like the Megatouch series and multiplayer cooperative puzzle games for sure, but for the first time, I saw RFID strategy arcade games outside of Japan. Not the Gundam ones, not the sports ones, but the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Machine, Sangokushi Taisen (Ver. 3). Three Kingdoms has always and probably will always be the big IP in Taiwan, it's basically World War II IP to the US.

I observed these machines over the next few days, and I was amazed at how they were always busy, even during odd hours during the weekday. The ease of entrance and culturally relevant IP was a huge hit here. Add in the collectible nature of the game, which has always been a popular touch in Asian countries and wham! A huge success for Konami of Japan, which usually has a tough time selling new game tech that has a huge investment cost outside of the country.

I'm a firm believer that the easiest and most natural interface for the usually terribly arcane strategy game genre is what games like Sangokushi Taisen has done with its real-time tracking and integration of what had been reserved previously for physical war games like Risk and Warhammer. The instant visual and physical awareness simplifies the interface by light years without compromising gameplay and strategy, and I am convinced that this is THE interface that will bring strategy games out from hardcore status into the casual realm. In fact, I'm hoping to work with this type of interface to create a RFID strategy game with a relevant IP for the US market for my thesis work at USC next year. Programmers and artists, this is a call out! I need you like the US needs an arcade revival! Let's work on that.

Watching the type of people that would play convinced me of this. From elementary school children to adults that looked well into their 40's of both genders. Observing them compare strategies and trading cards, or simply observing other players, it made me smile inside to see what the arcade was really meant to be, a social arena for gamers. Something that has been oversimplified to just the gameplay with services such as live. I'm saddened by the direction arcades have turned in the US because of advances in home console technology, and it may be too far gone. But maybe, just maybe. Something like this, combined with venues like GameWorks may just revitalize the Arcade as a physical social gamer venue in the US.

Other things I noticed in the arcade in particular was the inclusion of a few unique games such as:

Spirit of Zeon: A light gun game which has some added physical movement, such as using the gun as a blade to slash at foes and lobbing grenades by throwing the gun in an arc. I had seen this in Japan last April, but didn't get a chance to play it extensively. It's actually quite similar to the Gundam 0079 game for the Wii in both design of the gameplay.

Silent Hill Arcade: What interests me here isn't the actual gameplay, which is pretty standard light gun shooter fare, but the memory card interface using the E-Amuse Pass that Konami put out two years ago as a general memory card for it's music genre games (Guitar Freaks/Drummania, Pop N' Music, Beatmania, etc.). I had thought the card had to be read fairly thoroughly by a scanner, but apparently Konami has now streamlined the E-Amuse Pass for use with all their new arcade games. Just by quickly passing the card over a scanner, player progress/scores/etc. can be saved and sent to the players personal Konami webpage, which is generated for spectators and the owner via QRCode and updated through the game machine after play. I was expecting to have to buy a new card, but it's nice to see that I can use the same E-Amuse pass I got two years ago for all these new games.

Mario Kart Arcade 2: OK, this one is more of a design thought I had. So, Mario Kart Arcade isn't anything really new, but I realized now that there's all these fusion games out there combined with the demographic that plays this game in the arcade that something might be up. The game has a camera that takes a picture of the player and superimposes their face onto a frame depending on the racer chosen. OK. Right off the bat, what does this remind you of? Purikura. Items gathered by the player is stored on a IC card for the game for use later in the game. What do Purikura machines stress? Random items to be placed in the picture.

Imagine a version of the game that allows players to not only print their snapshots every play, but to also customize it with items that they've gathered during play. I guarantee that this will sell in Asia. Extremely well. And with the recent rise in Purikura in the US, it might make a pretty decent splash here too. We have the tech, we have the means. If someone from Namco or Nintendo is reading this, you know what to do.

As arcade security won't let me take pictures and I'm on the danger watch now, I'll be posting photos later once I stop going there for a week or so. Watch for the update! The next big post will be concerning the equally exciting update in console based RFID card games, namely, Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers for the Nintendo DS. I've got my hands on a copy and I can safely say I'm very impressed, and that this is going to be a huge success for Konami.

Ok, so that recent post I made about the FigurePrints exclusive offer just hit the public. For 99.95 plus 14.95 shipping, you can get a custom 3-D figure printed of your character with any gear and pose that they currently have access to. Apparently demand is so great at the moment, FigurePrints has limited orders to drawings, the first to be held on Dec. 21st. You can check out more information at the FigurePrints website below.

How they do this is with a device called a "Rapid Prototyping Machine", which basically makes a bajillion little slices that are piled up on top of each other to form the final figure. Honestly, it's not a bad price, and the figures look pretty decent. This might be something I'll hit up once Wrath of the Lich King hits and the tech gets a little cheaper.

FigurePrints Website

Ok. I was half right. I was thinking Gnome Warlock. Apparently the WoW PR team has decided to grace my favorite class with not only Jean Claude Van-Damme, but also Verne Troyer. Enjoy! I think I have to stop posting so much WoW stuff.

From the Gamestop.com Press Release:

Exclusive One-Day Program Helps Customers This Holiday Season

GRAPEVINE, TX, December 18, 2007 – GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), the world's largest video game and entertainment software retailer, announced today an exclusive, one-day reservation program to assist customers wishing to give the highly sought-after Wii this holiday season. Only on Friday, December 21, 2007, customers can reserve a Wii console for pick-up by January 25, 2008. Reservations must be made in-person at any GameStop or EB Games location in the U.S., including those in Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

While many store locations will have Wii in stock for immediate purchase during the holiday season, quantities are limited. As such, GameStop is offering this exclusive reservation program to provide peace of mind to shoppers that may not be able to locate a system in time for the holidays.

A limited number of reservations will be available at each store and only one reservation can be made per household.

The reservation process requires payment in full at $249.99 plus tax, to guarantee delivery in January. Customers will receive a custom-designed DVD case emblazoned with a Wii and the iconic Mario character wishing a “Happy Holidays! Your Wii is on the Way!” Inside the DVD case is a guarantee slip that provides gift-giver guidelines and an explanation of the gift receipt.

When the reserved Wii console arrives, the gift-giver will receive a telephone call indicating that their system is available for pick-up. Consoles must be picked up at the store location where the reservation was placed.

A little pic I snapped of a bootleg Guitar Hero box. I am so amused right now. On another note, it's interesting to note how much Microsoft is pushing Guitar Hero III in Taiwan and Japan. It seems the animated cutscene style and music selection is garnering a bit of attention from Guitar Freaks fans, albeit small. Rock Band? Not so much, haven't talked to anyone interested or any stores carrying it.

More exciting news for me. You might recall that Kotaku did a post a while back about that Monster Hunter "event" in Akiba that just didn't fly. Well, it seems there's a lot more love here in Taiwan. As I wandered through Taipei's version of Akihabara I spotted something that made me very happy. This being random groups of gamers out and about with their portable systems having LAN parties of sorts.

I queried a few gamers and found out that what was going on was a weekly event that would happen on the weekends where gamers would congregate in various locations in the local vicinity and separate and find spots based on their game of choice. Basically, what would happen is the first gamers to arrive would find a spot and plop down based on what game they were playing and then when other gamers would arrive, they would wander around until they found the game they wanted to play. Or if they didn't find it, they would find a spot and start their own group.

The general vicinity that they picked wasn't terribly large, possible half a square mile in total distance, so that gamers could hop from group to group depending on what they wanted to play. At this point in time though, most of the groups had been established and were more of a normal thing, but new groups would form with new games. The most popular ones that I saw were:

Monster Hunter Freedom 2

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

Zaft vs Union Portable (EDIT: It seems Gundam Battle Royale Chronicle is overtaking at the moment in this venue, although it's just basically an updated version of the same engine with different characters.)

There were also plenty of groups formed around particular shops for card games, and new groups were just beginning to form for Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers and there were some trade and duel based groups for a variety of RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. But these were more about a genre than a particular game.

This type of social gathering is what really makes me happy, to see gaming taken out to a public social venue. People walking by would stop and ask about particular games that were being played or if they had their system and the right game with them, they would be able to just drop in, or for some, all it took was a simple game-share. I was able to hop into a round of Monster Hunter, but my equipment was sorely lacking. 10 minutes later, I had some of the best gear I had ever seen given to me so that I could participate in some missions. This was probably one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had, to be able to just sit around and hobnob with other fans and just have a good time. Nevermind sanctioned areas, a handheld system, a place to sit, and a passion for games is all it takes.

But what about us, in the States? What do you think prevents this kind of gathering from happening for the most part? Portable console, and gaming in general is more about between friends rather than getting to know total strangers. While stores like Gamestop try to hold these events, it's the lure of some kind of prize rather than the lure of the game itself that draws people. Even most gaming clubs have trouble dragging in people from outside their immediate circle. Gaming in the West is more about a closed personal experience than a shared social one. What is it going to take to drive the passion and social factor back into the our gaming society?

And the megaman overload continues with two vids sent in by my man Chris who just happens to share a common bond with the focus of these videos, Megaman 2 baddie, Airman. For starters, both were born with the latent ability to suck. Much like the Okkusenman craze, both of these videos are based around a particular song. This time it's
エアーマンが倒せない [Airman Ga Taosenai (Airman can't be defeated)]. Definitely a much cooler name than Okkusenman. The Full version, which comes from Nico Nico Douga, seems like a collection of random Megaman fan doujin bits from across the net. Check them out!

ＴＥＡＭねこかんｖｅｒｓｉｏｎ

Full Version

Rather soon after it came out, I've been sort of an anti-Wii advocate. I truly believe that the future of gaming (in drawing in new players) lies in accessible interfaces and easily grasped gameplay. Easy to understand, but still needing skill and commitment to master. However, I don't believe that tight balance and responsiveness should be sacrificed for loose, but accessible controls.

For me, this is less about good game design, and more about selling a gimmick. Taking a look at motion control based arcade games like MoCap boxing and Mazan: Flash of the Blade, players are very excited when first playing the game and experiencing a brand new gameplay control, but the novelty wears off fast. Players are less likely to return to these games than games that rely on engaging gameplay than gimmicky control. This doesn't mean games with non-traditional (Joystick and buttons/etc.) input, rather, controls that integrate meaningfully with the gamplay. For instance, Dance Dance Revolution or Time Crisis.

Similarly, I noticed this with gamers who bought the Wii. There's only so much Wii Sports one can take before the novelty wears off. However, that's not the worst case. While unresponsive and "approximated" controls still retain a measure of fun in games like Wii Sports, I find that with games that require more precise control, like Mario Galaxy, "innovation" turns into frustration. This kind of design flaw becomes even more evident in games like Smash Brothers, which I had the unfortunate pleasure of experiencing on the Wiimote only.

However, that's not to say the Wii is without it's place, as these entry level games do offer a great balance between accessibility and gameplay. However, I think as these gamers slowly evolve to higher levels of gameplay, the same balance of controls and game design are not going to keep them as interested or involved as before. I believe this is one of the reasons that the Wii has the lowest attach rate at the moment of any of the seventh-generation consoles. This point was especially driven home to me when I looked through a list of all the Wii games available to the market and was astounded that the majority of them were US developed and licenses of IP targeted towards younger audiences. And while I have only touched a handful of these games, I can only imagine that most of them run off some sort of control gimmick. Gamers for the most part don't buy Wiis for the most part, parents buy Wiis based on reputation. However, that is just what Wii need to spread gaming across a broader audience. The problem is what happens when these players move past the initial gimmick.

However, the Wii Fit brings something new to the table. The Wii specializes in approximation and emulation of actions, and what this means for Wii Fit is the emulation of exercise. Or in the minds of users, the emulation of a very special space, the gym. While I personally think the Wii Fit is rather useless in terms of actual fitness improvement compared to actually going to the gym (or exercise you could do at home, without the "sugar coating" of Wii Fit. ie Push-ups), it's the mental emulation that is really appealing to players.

This is even more so for players living in dense urban landscapes who may not have convenient access to the open space and facilities for the actual fitness activities emulated by Wii fit. Doubly so for cultures that place a focus on public privacy. Having a personal approximation of a gym right in your house, while having a decently good time is very appealing thing.

This being said, I think that's the main reason that Wii Fit is going crazy in Asia right now. This is especially evident in Taipei, doubly so since all Wiis in Taiwan are either Japanese or American since there is no Asia version of the console yet. However, Wii Fit imports are still selling out like crazy. Just listening in on conversations at various game stores, Wii Fit is the hot item this holiday season, and when I queried a few shoppers and shopkeepers about their intentions, I got basically the same answers for convenience and the "self deluding" fitness experience. There is definitely a place for the Wii Fit as a fitness advocate, but not as a game, especially not attached to a system like the Wii.

What I'm really getting at here though is the Wii Fit is exactly what the Wii doesn't need right now in order to shed it's reputation as a gimmick machine. While to the general public, the Wii can do no wrong right now, I think it's going to be going down the road of the Gamecube in the future, with only a handful of titles keeping the machine afloat unless more good developers sign up on board. And none of these titles will require the control scheme that makes the Wii unique.

One thing that worries me greatly is the announcement of the huge Japanese hit series Monster Hunter coming to the Wii for it's 3rd installment. I am very interested in how Capcom handles the design of the sensitive control scheme (as in if the Wii's motion controls are going to be relegated as a additional option instead of the main control choice) of the series is going to be the pivotal point for future Wii design. Good design informs good gameplay, just because the control scheme may be new, unique, and exciting doesn't mean that it will withstand the test of time, or sales.

I stumbled across something extremely intriguing while trying to figure out why my newly modded Wii refused to play a Japanese copy of Endless Ocean, a game that I've been looking forward to for ages, mostly because the title mixes my two favorite hobbies of all time, scuba diving, and games. The game itself is the successor in terms of content to developer Arika's previous games Everblue 1 & 2 (Of which only 2 was released in the US by Capcom). Gameplay consists of mostly exploration, collecting, and more discovery and collection based objectives. The focus of the game is supposed to be an alternative open ended world that the player is just supposed to slowly explore and relax in.

But enough plugging for the game, I've linked a video below that I highly suggest you taking a look at, it'll be released in the US at the end of January and I think it would be a good investment to at least rent it to take a look at. OK, now to the main point. What I noticed on the EU Nintendo site when I was looking for some more English info on the game was how each game on there had a list of benefits on the side like relaxation (Endless Ocean), socialise (Mario Party), exercise (Wii Sports), focus (Brain Age), creativity (Electroplankton), etc.. You can see this in the picture at the top of the post. Now, I checked the US and JP Nintendo sites because I had never seen this before, and lo and behold, nothing.

I wondered why this was, especially since gaming isn't as stigmatized in Europe as it is in the United States, wouldn't it be beneficial to educate the main buyers of the majority of these products, ie parents, the media, and generally citizens who may not be as familiar with or already have a negative opinion of games and gaming culture. Besides helping these consumers make a better informed decision, I think this kind of active marketing could also help uplift the general environment surrounding games in the US as well as educating the average person about the positive side of gaming instead of the endless violence and sexuality that's shown in mass media.

Endless Ocean EU Nintendo Site

OK, i'm not even sure how to file this one. This is a mod for the Sims 2 from Taiwan for a Sun Yat-Sen and Doraemon skin. There really isn't anything more I can bring to the table here besides to tell you to click on the link and prepare to be hellaciously disturbed.

Sun-Yat Sen and Doraemon Skin Mods via Xuite Blog

I was looking through my RSS feeds today when I saw this gem linked through Kotaku. It's a fairly interesting look at the concept of the death penalty in MMO design. While the article is well written, I don't exactly agree with article on a few points which I'll post after the link itself, so please check this out first:

What's In a Death Penalty: Via Elder Game

My comments in:

3....

2...

1...

Ok here goes:

Death Penalty Punishment
I actually don't think WoW's death penalty is actually much less punishing. The main point of running back to your corpse is to be able to circumvent the dangers en route to the point where your character perished. With a game like EQ2, yes, you start off in a safe zone, but the pain of having to travel back without the benefit of invincibility is more of a time waster in and of itself.

Blizzard did think about this and added in two more things:

-Well defined (as in level and difficulty) zones so that players wouldn't be wandering around in places that they shouldn't unless they were exploring. If that danger occurs, then the graveyard system works around that.

-Players are able to spawn in a fairly large area from where they actually died. This is done in case there is still a very real and present danger there, the player can find somewhere to hide and heal before another attempt, or to run away as soon as they spawn.

WoW is well designed so that "hardcore" features such as dungeons and raids, which require groups, sometimes of an exceedingly large numbers have a similarly more "hardcore" death penalty. This time, when the party wipes, they have to start from the beginning of the instance they were in. Factor in a time pressure where monsters may have already respawned and the hardcore factor just jumped up. This is not to say there is no time pressure for random spawns on the normal world map. However, the player has a limited choice on where to spawn and multiple choices on direction and action (Fight or Flee?). In an instance, there is really only one option, a straight line back.

Grouping
I'm not sure it's the death penalty that forces people to group up "for safety" in an MMO, but how the game is designed for the player to gain experience points and level up. With an MMO like WoW, the game is designed for solo play, yes, players will group up, but the end goal of that is to earn:

Experience Points and Better Items

that the player couldn't do by themselves. The same is for a game like Final Fantasy XI, where the death penalty is amazingly hardcore, yes, players group up for safety while earning experience points. However, I can guarantee you that if there was a way to level in Final Fantasy XI solo, but with the same harsh death penalty, the majority of players would choose to do so. Similarly, raids in WoW are for safety, but also because that players are after better gear and the only way to get that is to group up. If there was a way to do a dungeon with a smaller group or no group with the same death penalty, it would be done.

Similarly, In a game with a "hardcore" defined death penalty like Ragnarok Online, players still play solo to earn exp and are then "forced" to group up when they hit a plateau where they need other players for exp and items. A prime example of this is the Clock Tower area in Al De Baran. The only players that are looking group up are Priests/Acolytes because they cannot solo the area on their own for exp. Long range classes like the mage/wizard and the hunter/archer are sought after by them so that they are able to level, and in the case of these two classes, level faster. Otherwise, after spending significant time in this game, and looking at this zone particularly as an anomaly, I'd say 95% of the people there are soloing because they can.

Experimenting
While parts of this argument are true, particularly concerning play that involves loss of resources of more than one player, whether funds, experience points, and most importantly, time. Which in essence is the most important currency of any game. However, I think that activities that involve personal currency is actually more rewarding and sought after in games with a "harsher" death penalty, exploration for instance. Part of the lure of exploring unknown places and discovering new places is the penchant for danger and the players own feel of self-satisfaction and prowess for overcoming these challenges. In a game like WoW where death is less punished, especially for explorers out poking in the nook and crannies of Azeroth, discovering a new place is exciting, but the feeling of danger, of being an explorer, of accomplishment is dampened by the ease of access. This being compared to a game like Final Fantasy XI where being able to explore and poke around certain areas is as much a feat as defeating a boss or completing a mission.

Does anyone have comments for this particular topic? This is one of the biggest "hidden" design issues with MMOs these days, and I'm glad that the people at Elder Game decided to take a look at it.

Well, I finally went out and got me the domain name that matches the blog name. The very apt:

www.asianpowerhour.com

I'm pretty sure I didn't need to spell that out for you since it's already at the top of the page. Anyways, the story of the name is that one of my buddies during undergrad at the University of Michigan lived in this apartment building that was very popular with Asian students. For some reason that escaped him, they would all gather at the same time in the lobby every night to use the free Wi-Fi. He dubbed this the "Asian Power Hour". The name stuck, and here we are. Enjoy!

OK. I know MMMO is a better term since RPGs aren't the only genre in this category, but hey, I had to make this title as long as possible.

When I picked up a N-Gage QD way back in the day, It was actually mostly for one game only, Sega's Pocket Kingdom: Own the World, the first massively multiplayer game that I had seen that worked well on a mobile platform. I was actually rather sad when the system didn't do well (in the US at least, go EU!) since I was really intrigued by the prospect of engaging virtual worlds that players could access on the go.

Well, years later, Nokia is at it again with their N-Series phones, namely the Nokia N81. This device has some nice specs and all your new standard features for a higher end cell phone including, music/video playback, GPS, internet browsing, etc. However, the N81 also dedicated buttons and operating system functions for gaming, which also include N-Gage compatibility. The interesting thing about the Wi-Fi/Cell connection and the gaming bridge is that there are a variety of simpler games (especially in Asia) designed for online multiplayer action such as Tetris, Mahjohng, Poker, etc. that work fairly well, and without lag because of the limited amount of data that needs to be transferred.

I'm extremely excited for the implications for the design and implementation of MMOs like Pocket Kingdom that are still engaging with very strict technical limitations. Perhaps we'll see a surge of portable MUDs as the advance guard if the opportunity to link private servers arises. Turn based strategy games seems like the first genre that would benefit from this because the need for on-the-spot precise data transfer isn't as important.

Nokia N81 Specs via the EU site

A few Pocket Kingdom screens:

So it seems there's finally going to be a new product in the Bemani line after years of waiting. Apparently this one is called Ju-Beat. There's apparently one test location and here's what we know so far:

1. It's pronounced YOU beat, not JEW beat. It had to be posted, you know you were all thinking the same thing. P.S. J00Dave, this one is for you.

2. All those little boxes are actually touchscreens. On the official JP Bemani forums there is a lot of reference by devs to players "touching" the screens instead of "hitting" them. This probably rules out it being similar to other Bemani product, Pop N' Music. I am personally thinking a Konami Ouendan (Elite Beat Agents) like clone.

3. A lot of people have been commenting on how much the machine resembles a piece of DJ equipment made by AKAI called a MPC (Music Production Center) that serves as a Midi controller. It could be gameplay could be a visual "mash-up" of how a MPC is originally controlled. Here's a pic:

Here's a pic of what the a song select tile looks like:

And here's a partial music list to give you a taste of the music style:

・けないで [ke nai de]
・全力少年 [zenryoku shounen]
・POP STAR [The best star in the world. Ever]
・気分上々 [kibun joujou]
・I'M IN THE MOOD FOR DANCING
・粉雪 [konayuki]
・YMCA
・天体観測

Almost every one of these songs has been in a previous Bemanistyle game before, with the expection of Popstar. Which makes me so excited you cannot imagine. These songs for the most part are fairly "relaxed" which would lead me to believe the game is more low-key and casual than other Bemani games like Guitar Freaks, sort of a more visual Pop N' Music. One thing that gets me though is the underground hit Ouendan (US Version: Elite Beat Agents) that follows almost a similar style, and actually, two of the music selections, 全力少年 [zenryoku shounen] and POP STAR are also in Ouendan 2.

Other than that, information is a bit sketchy at the moment, but I am waiting anxiously to see what exactly this strange machine's gameplay exactly is. Here are links to scans of the pamphlet from the test site:

Pamphlet Center

Pamphlet Outside

All I really need to say is this is a prototype wardrive system that creates an "audible cityscape" from WLAN signals you capture as you walk around with your Nintendo DS. Very very cool, it's basically Wardrive without the "game", but it's an autonomous music creator, so that puts it high on my list. You can check it out and download it here:

Sniff_Jazzbox

As usual, I'm excited by any RFID collectible game tech and it just so happens that I was in the right time and the right place to see the release of Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers in Taiwan. The gameplay is very similar to other "simple" duel style games like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, with only three types of cards and three elements that can be used: