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The X Button - Something's Wrong


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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:30 am Reply with quote
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During 2008, many whispered about Hearst's UGO network buying 1up.com from Ziff-Davis, and today it came to pass. At first, it seemed as though 1up would stay completely intact while Ziff simply shut down Electronic Gaming Monthly, a fixture among gaming magazines since 1989. I've read EGM since the early 1990s, so I remember the 400-page holiday issues from 1994, full of ads, supplements, and awkward writing. I remember the leaner but much-improved issues of the late '90s. I remember watching Next Generation, GameFan, Gamers' Republic and Game Players all go under, leaving me glad that EGM was still around and still a solid magazine.


Um, EGM has sucked since the late 90s. A-holes charge $5-$6 for only about 20 pages of content you can get on-line, 40 pages of opinions no one wants to hear, and 60 pages of ads telling me drugs and cigarettes are bad, but playing games where you car-jack is ok. Actually, getting ZD out of the equation is probably the best thing that could happen to that mag, since it started to lose its appeal for a while now. Too much payola from the majors for puffed-up reviews of mediocre, over-priced crap-fests, while the niche titles often got neglected or trashed, because of their lack of a budget-which is why that poor schlub who told it like it was for Kane and Lynch got axed. At least the UGO connection will enable the publication to be relevant in the 21st century.

Quote:
I was laid off from a magazine job last year, and I hate to think of the people behind the best major gaming website going through the same thing.


It ain't the best site. It's got too many "best of" and "flashback" articles, and not enough casual gamer interaction.

Quote:
and, best of all, Shinichi Mechazawa from Cromartie High School.


Best of all for me would be that bald guy or that computer geek, but then they'd probably be too "distracted".

Quote:
Japan's industry of dating simulators really hasn't made much use of the DS and its touch-screen. Sure, you have the witch-fondling depravities of Doki Doki Majo Shinpan, but any student of unwholesome Japanese culture would be surprised at how little the field has exploited the potential misuses of the DS stylus.


Do those Feel the Magic games count?

Quote:
Is this Neuron Age's response to Sony's Fat Princess? Will this popularize a new fetish in pathetic Japanese nerd culture? Will fans invent some cutesy otaku portmanteau phrase for anime girls with measurable body fat percentages?


There's already a nameless ecchi doujin I found catering to that kind of thing.

Quote:
Nintendo still won't release Mother 3 in English.


They might on the VR console. Or put out one huge DS collection with the other two games.

Anyway, I'm being cocky, but I predict SEGA will release Yakuza 3 state-side.
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DanQ



Joined: 07 Feb 2004
Posts: 114
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:03 am Reply with quote
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Will fans invent some cutesy otaku portmanteau phrase for anime girls with measurable body fat percentages?


Well, "Debusen" means "fat fetish", so - what about term "Debu-chan" ~_^
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9hoenix_



Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 75
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:19 am Reply with quote
O went to the Hachoi Koi website,and I must say, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I HOPE THEY BRING UT TO AMERICA!

p.s. go to the website,its awesome Wink
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:47 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
There's already a nameless ecchi doujin I found catering to that kind of thing.

Although I mean not to be crude, that's the mere tip of the iceberg as far as this interest is concerned.
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:01 am Reply with quote
Another good review. Love the title.

Hey "fat"...er, big girls need love too. Of course I never would have expected them to toss one into a dating sim. Now my question is how many geeky Japanese guys out there have actually wanted to warm up to one? Of course it's no problem over here. But there have been a fair share of them in anime, just not as many. The only BIG GAL that I can think of that exudes the very essence of "moe" (before such a term was coined) is 'L' from 'The Kabocha Wine'. I had to laugh at the "interests" section. So she likes donuts, and melon bread. Of course it looks like the bastard child of a fat hamburger bun and a waffle. I like it how you drink that milk baby. Hoo boy. In the special section one of the extra characters looks like 'Hatsune Miku'.

Well, it's not the first DS title to have to honor of "touching" girls. Remember 'Sega's 'Feel the X/Y' and the 'Rub Rabbits? Time import it and the Japanese dictionary. Chance for a release in the states '0'. Well, at least no "tentacles hatching from eggs piercing minotaurs" according to 'Seanbaby' analysis of dating sims vs US gamers.

Sad to see that 'Mistwalker' canceled that game. I didn't even know about it. Designs look great though. As for 'Matsuno' working with Nintendo? Well, of course it'll be another tactics game. And he's teaming with 'Monolith', oooh... this could be interesting. Well, at least 'Nintendo' will treat him right. Unlike 'Square-Enix' that practically ran him ragged just to fill in the cracks until THEY get out the game they really wanted to sell. I look forward to seeing what he's got cooking.

As for the 'Castlevania' franchise, I really wish IGA would just create a big-assed 2D hybrid game and call it day. But he really wants to keep pushing the series into 3D even though it's a hard sell. But no more fighters. I have to admit 'Death Note' artist work did better on the DS and not on the Wii. Let's hope he manages to get something to work.

Damn hearing about all the good stuff to come and it's not coming until later. Awwww...
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:53 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Seriously? Yes, but Nintendo still won't release Mother 3 in English.


Honestly Todd, after a decade and almost a half, I don't think Nintendo will actually release this game any time soon. I've been a gamer for fifteen years and regularly check for role playing game updates.

Additonally, I called Nintendo each day for about a month about bringing Mother three to North America. If Nintendo is acquring role playing game licenses again, I'd be interested.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:19 am Reply with quote
Why won't Nintendo release Mother 3? Do they have a crippling fear that it might actually do well in America? The least they could do it put Earthbound on the virtual console.

Really now, it seems like half of my friends are playing some emulated version of one of the two games right now! Take THAT, Nintendo! Y'know, I really don't think I'm in their audience of games anymore, I didn't want to believe them at E3 last year, but now, I'm starting to....
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Unit 03.5-ish



Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:24 am Reply with quote
I've got some thoughts on a few points brought up in this article.


EGM: Seeing people lose their jobs is bad, but EGM sucked and was full of the kind of amateur "journalism" that still persists in most of those poor game mags to this day.


Mistwalker: Honestly, I'm not going to cry on about Cry On. Blue Dragon was schlock and Lost Odyssey was a decent game, yet did little to innovate, and the story progression was slower than a snail with a terminal illness. I think the team's problem was sticking TOO much to the past.

Final Fantasy XIII: I'll have to wait and see on this one. I was SEVERELY disappointed by the underwhelming (IMO) Final Fantasy XII, so this may be a rental at best.

DS Dating Sims: NO. COMMENT.

New 3D Castlevania: Meh, this one BETTER not be as underwhelming as Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. It has Alucard back in action, which is a plus, but it's also 3D, which Igarashi seems to enjoy half-assing. Now Order of Ecclesia was good and it did tinker with the traditional Metroidvania formula, so maybe, MAYBE they can pull it off. But at least it can't be as bad as Castlevania 64...right?



......Right?

Mecha Games: HOLY SHIT! Metal Warriors! Now THAT was a sweet game. I have an original cartridge of it, and no, it's not for sale. Razz But damn is that a fun game. Shame no one ever expanded/continued the franchise much beyond that point. Cybernator always looked interesting, too...I never played it sadly.
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KabaKabaFruit



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 1869
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:03 am Reply with quote
I used to play Cybernator years ago by borrowing it from a friend. It's a pretty great game and I loved making dents in all the walls, ceilings and floors with my mech. Smile

Keen fans of the game would notice that Plastic Little creator Satoshi Urushihara had a hand in the making of the character designs. It should come as no surprise as Urushihara was working for Masaya at the time, doing character designs for the cult hit Langrisser series.

I'm also not surprised that Konami had to censor the game. I doubt it had anything to do with memory issues. I just can't fathom why game companies back then were so paranoid with anime?

And the least Nintendo could do was release the game uncensored for the Wii Virtual Console...dammit! Mad
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bleuster



Joined: 22 Sep 2005
Posts: 455
Location: Orange County
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:42 am Reply with quote
I just don't care about Final Fantasy as much as I use too. At least after VII.

MOON, can't wait for that one. I just finished playing Dementium: The Ward made by the same team, so I have high hopes for this one.
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Unit 03.5-ish



Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:04 am Reply with quote
KabaKabaFruit wrote:
I used to play Cybernator years ago by borrowing it from a friend. It's a pretty great game and I loved making dents in all the walls, ceilings and floors with my mech. Smile

Keen fans of the game would notice that Plastic Little creator Satoshi Urushihara had a hand in the making of the character designs. It should come as no surprise as Urushihara was working for Masaya at the time, doing character designs for the cult hit Langrisser series.

I'm also not surprised that Konami had to censor the game. I doubt it had anything to do with memory issues. I just can't fathom why game companies back then were so paranoid with anime?

And the least Nintendo could do was release the game uncensored for the Wii Virtual Console...dammit! Mad


You know what's really weird? Metal Warriors seemed to have less "censorship" because in the cutscenes (which were damned impressive for 16-bit hardware), the anime feel is mostly retained. Also the game had a sweet soundtrack.

...A review from a person with a frightening amount of free time who's probably not seen the sun in YEARS on Game FAQs reveals that Cybernator and Metal Warriors belong to the same game series (Assault Suits, which was mentioned in the article).

The game was originally called Assault Suits Gideon, but come on, Metal Warriors sounds so much more kick-ass, like a group of rock band members armed with artillery or some jazz.

Oh and as for companies being paranoid about including anything remotely anime-esque in games before the mid '90s...

LET ME REMIND YOU OF SOMETHING SO AWESOME YOU'LL THANK ME LATER FOR THE MEMORIES

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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6199
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:33 am Reply with quote
i personally hated the new EGM. when they cut down on the content, it pretty much lost everything that made it shine in the 90's.

Gamepro is next to go. just watch.
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Unit 03.5-ish



Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 1540
Location: This space for rent
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:41 am Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
i personally hated the new EGM. when they cut down on the content, it pretty much lost everything that made it shine in the 90's.

Gamepro is next to go. just watch.


Would anyone mourn GamePro's passing? That magazine did suck, still sucks, and always will suck.
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cool3865



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 770
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:57 am Reply with quote
i remember reading EGM back in the late 80's till about the year 2000.


i still have most of the magazines including the 400 page special, abunch of EGM2 magazines.


it's ashame to see what is happeneing to them but it was only a matter of time. not because of their content, but because you can get all of the up to date news and reviews online and not have to wait for a month just to read the previews.


rip EGM, you were and still are the best gaming magazine to have come out.
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DemonEyesLeo



Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 844
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:16 pm Reply with quote
That Hachi Koi game.... I don't know what to say to that. I guess it's not as bad as that maid simulator but that's not saying much.

As for the decline of game magazines. I used to subscribe to a couple but I stopped many years ago and with the internet it's almost not worth it.
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