Entries from The Asian Power Hour tagged with 'Trends'
Almost a year later...Juushinden: RFID battling game update
Looks like it's still going strong! With the fourth expansion to come out in 9 months, it seems that there is a strong market for home based RFID CCGs, not just in the arcade. Two things that probably helped...
Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gundam Vs Gundam releases in arcades...console port will probably sell oodles of PS3 units.
Being a big fan of the Gundam: Rengou vs Zaft arcade (wonderfully ported to PS2 and PSP) series, I had known about a new Gundam mash-up game that was a combination of a multitude of characters from 00 to...
Wii for Women at Best Buy
I'm going to file this one in the ridiculous overload category of my brain. My buddy Yang sent this to me and I almost had a fit. After owning a Wii for almost a year, I really believe Nintendo's...
Square-Enix makes a stand in the RFID arena
"> After acquiring the more arcade heavy portfolio of Taito a while back, Square-Enix looks like it's setting it's eyes on the new, but growing trend of RFID card games in the Japanese arcade sector. Besides the paper rock scissors...
Tetsudou Seminar: JR-Hen
Came across this interesting little quiz game for the DS based solely on the Japan Rail (JR) system. Seems like there's just no stopping the Train fascination in Japan, I remember running across an old steam locomotive demo in...
RFID card battling game Juushinden roars onto the Nintendo DS
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...
The beginning of the MMMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Mobile Online Role Playing Game) era
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...
State of the Wii. Wii Fit and interface design.
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...
Portable gaming in a public venue.
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...
The Revival of the Arcade in Taiwan
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...
Taipei Metro Implements Single Fare IC Tech
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...
Dungeon Runners In-Game Ad Asplosion
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...
This Week in Random Toys and Joys
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...
7-11 Offers Halo 3 Pre-Orders
When going to pick up a delicious Coke Slurpee at the local 7-11, I was amused by this dandy little lenticular Halo 3 cup. But what really got me was when the clerk asked me if I wanted to put...
Dragon Tamer: Sound Spirit
Here's an interesting new game coming out for the DS in Japan which does something with the microphone besides having players blow into it. Dragon Tamer: Sound Spirit is basically your standard Pokemon monster battling game, but in order...
The 49 Best Sequel-Less Games
Here's a fun little list from games.net on the best 49 stand-alone games. I'm not sure I agree with this list at all, but its an interesting read. For instance, they've put ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, which I...
Casual Games and the iPod
This may come as a shock to many of you, but I do indeed have an iPod. However....I think I've used it twice, I got it from a promotion deal with my Macbook, and I just don't feel the...
The 11 Worst Trends in Video Games
Here's a "cute" list of the 11 worst trends in video games currently from Gamepro. While I'm not sure how much I agree with the overall structure and ranking of the list, I do feel their pain on no. 1....
Nintendo DS Replacing Textbooks in Kyoto
Nintendo DS's are being introduced to junior high schools in Kyoto after an initial experiment showed that student's English scores improved dramatically after using Language based games, versus traditional textbooks. This is nothing terribly new as far as educational...
Recent Gaming Trends in Japan
I've just finished posting a series of articles on some research I did on my recent trip to Japan. You can find them on my IMD blog, and some more pictures on the IMD Flickr pool. If anyone is...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming Part 6; The Toy Invasion
Something really interesting that I’ve seen lately is the melding of the toy and hobby industry with the game industry. Konami has released a line of action figures that come with software and a code that you can use...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming: Part 5; Arcades
Some other interesting arcade trends to come out in Japan in the past few years that have been ramping up include: Quiz based games, such as Magical Quiz Academy. Recently even Konami has come up with their own version. It’s...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming: Part 4; Arcade CCGs
I’m really interested in all those RFID CCG card games in Japanese arcades and it was a pleasant surprise for me to find out that they’ve only grown in popularity since I’ve last been arcade hopping. Three of my favorites...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming: Part 3; PC/Console MMOS
Being a big fan of MMOs, I decided to go and figure do a bit of research on the Japanese, MMO market, which really has never taken off. Of the classic computer MMORPGS, there are quite a few in the...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming: Part 2; Language Trainers
Drifting to and fro through Tokyo, I found some other interesting things. There seems to be a huge influx of software for the Nintendo DS using games to teach English for the TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication)...
Recent Trends in Japanese Gaming: Part 1; Portable Trends
On my recent trip to Japan, there were some interesting things that I stumbled across besides my harrowing mountaintop adventure. Rummaging through the various game stores across Tokyo, I noticed a few things about gaming in Japan at the moment...
A visit to EA Taiwan and Current Gaming Trends in Asia
I was fortunate enough to spend some time talking with the folks at the Electronic Arts Branch in Taipei, Taiwan, this winter. After looking at the state of gaming in Taiwan, some key differences arose concerning the nature of the...
EA Taiwan
I was fortunate enough to spend some time talking with the folks at the Electronic Arts Branch in Taipei, Taiwan, this winter. After looking at the state of gaming in Taiwan, some key differences arose concerning the nature of the...
First Video/Collectible Card Game Hybrid in the US
Going off of RFID powered ccg arcade games like Quest of D and Sangokushi Taisen in Japan, Mattel has released a new X-Men game in the US that allows players to level up and store battle data on individual...
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