6 posts tagged “game”

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my latest obsession in the Japanese arcades: Aquarian Age Alternative.

AAA is one of those "place real cards on a playing surface, watch as the game senses them and reacts accordingly" games. But this one is slightly different. In AAA, the entire playing surface is actually a screen. As you place cards onto the surface and move them around, you can see the game tracking their movements in real time. It's very cool.

In case you've never seen one of these games before, below is a YouTube video (filmed by HeiseiDemocracy), showing you how this game roughly works.

The basics of the game are thus: you, the player, are represented by an avatar called the Mindbreaker. By moving your Mindbreaker card, your avatar moves. Mindbreakers cannot attack nor defend, and the aim of the game is to defeat the opponent's Mindbreaker.

The Mindbreaker cannot attack, so you will need to use a Character card. When your Mindbreaker has generated enough energy to summon (or "Break", in game parlance) a character, it will appear on the game screen. Move characters by moving their card, and activate their abilities by flipping the card. There is one more type of card: Alterations. These are essentially spells, which can be used only once per game. At the end of each game - win or lose - the machine dispenses one sealed card. The only cards you can actually buy come in the Starter Pack, which you must purchase for 500 yen. Each game is 300 yen, decreasing to 200 then 100 if you win games in a row.

Therefore it's not such an expensive game after all - considering you always walk away with a prize, so to speak. True, most games are 100 yen, but they don't hand out collectable cards, do they? As it stands, this game is very engrossing. I've played 12 matches so far and have duly been handed my rear back almost every time. Of course you need good cards to win, but you really also do need a strategy. Do you defend your Mindbreaker strenuously? Go for an all-out attack? Trap the other player and disable their characters one after the other? This isn't a turn-based battle game - everything happens in real-time, and if you forget to move your cards, your opponent will make short work of you.

In actual fact, I'm thinking of making a guide on how to play this game. I am also thinking of making a new website. I want to call it, "PkerUNO's Guide On How To Use Cool Stuff In Japan For People Who Don't Understand A Lot Of Japanese", or PGOHTUCSIJFPWDUALOJ for short. I've already written up a few articles on FeliCa over at http://pkeruno.googlepages.com/ so adding this would be the logical next step. Do I hear any interest whatsoever from my loyal readers? :)

Rez was awesome.

Lumines was fantastic.

Every Extend Extra was OK.

Gunpey R was non-notable.

Lumines II? Just bought it today.

No Star Guitar in the Japanese version.

FUCKING FAIL! >:(

It's damn good.

This morning I woke up and did my usual round of websites, emails and blogs, when I came across an interesting article on 1UP, linked from Kotaku. The article was about the differences between Western and Japanese games and gamers. Take a look at the very first paragraph:

The United States of America is the source of a huge number of modern inventions - the automobile, the television, the computer, and many, many others. And in many cases, people from other nations have added and improved upon the initial concept, vastly expanding the horizon for each of these technologies. The same applies to video gaming. Though electronic gaming was born in America, today's industry is supported by publishers from across the globe. Still, gaming is largely dominated by just two forces: America, the creator, and Japan, the nation that saved console gaming in the mid '80s.

This made my blood boil several times over. Let's examine it, shall we?

1) Who made the automobile? The Germans. Not Mr Ford.

2) Who made the television? A Scot, building upon the work of a Brit and a German.

3) Who made the computer? A tricky one, this. You could say it was the British Army, an English engineer, the ancient Egyptians or even the Chinese. Or indeed, any number of people from various countries.

So, for an opening statement, we have a total of zero of three facts correct. All popular misconceptions in the USA, I'm sure. And fine, this is a gaming blog, not exactly the most intellectual of sites. But that should mean that when it comes to videogames, they know their stuff, right?

No.

So gaming is dominated by the USA and Japan? So where does the UK come in then? Not to mention that the whole of Europe probably rakes in more than the whole of the USA. The whole article talks only about the difference between "the West" and Japan. Where "the West" means the USA, of course. Conveniently lumping a whole continent together and ignoring it is not the best way to do journalism.

I'm not trying to be anti-USA here, it's just that in recent years the trend of "reporting without researching" has taken over, with people manufacturing facts and figures, presenting opinions as truth and spreading misinformation. And since people tend to believe most things they read, the world gets more ignorant.

Seriously, read and learn, people.

Blue Dragon is out tomorrow here in Japan.