This Week in Games

In Which We're Given Many Reasons To Smash That "Like" Button

Welcome back, everyone! It's been a bit of a busy week. This week I played through Voice of the Cards: The Beasts of Burden, which is really fun and scratches that Crimson Shroud itch. Look forward to that review in the near future! In Xenoblade Chronicles 3 news, I finally unlocked the combo system! I really like how it works; it's so much more streamlined and approachable than the wild combo system in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. We'll get through this game together!

Also, with the premier of the new Urusei Yatsura anime, we got to see the intro drop some deep cuts--specifically, old Urusei Yatsura games! A good friend of mine, Sasquatch, pointed out that it references the Urusei Yatsura Famicom title, the Sega Saturn title, and the GameBoy game. That's good stuff!

Anyway! This is This Week In... oh, hold up. I got something better for that now—This is:

Shout-out to Catfish for getting the Daytona USA seagulls just right. I could go on and on about how much I love this banner, I've been obsessed with it since Tuesday and it's got Izuna and a Shuckle and the Rynex from Lightening Force and--most importantly--the Daytona USA seagulls, but sadly I don't get paid for that. Let's begin!

Secretlab, producers of gaming chairs used by streamers all-over, was very nice to us and sent us a free Titan chair this past week. There's also a chance for you to win one! Read over my review here and then check the link below to find out how to enter the giveaway. Because we're Anime News Network, they made sure to send us one themed after an anime and not a game. I was already eyeing one of the K/DAz All Out chairs (because they have these really neat iridescent patches on them that I'm a sucker for), but they were nice enough to send us a Naruto Shippuden chair based off of the Akatsuki's color schemes. It's not quite Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (that's a whole lot pinker), but it's pretty snazzy.

So, if the metal band has the Secretlab logo but it's got the Akatsuki scratch through it... doesn't that mean this is a disavowed Secretlab product? Just thinking out loud. That said, I really love that big red patch of the Akatsuki cloud. This particular chair is made out of their woven material—I'd expected a pleather material. This material is nice, so between the patch and the weave it's like I'm sitting in a chair made out of a badass denim jacket. (And now I wanna know if I can sew Kamen Rider patches onto this thing...)

A couple things leap out about me: first, the chairs are heavy as hell. The box boasted weighing 34.5 kilograms (76 pounds), and my poor landlady had to roll the box into the living room from the front steps because I was at work when this arrived. Construction was intimidating but I managed to pull it off—though people with less-than-bull-headed personalities like mine would do well to ask for help. Again: 34.5 kilograms.

Second: I appreciate how wide the seat is. I'm not really comfortable in a chair unless I can sit cross-legged, but my old desk chair wasn't quite wide enough for that. This one is perfectly wide enough to accommodate both my mile-long gams and my wide Latino hips all at once. And the armrests are snazzy (and you can replace the pads on them if you so choose with different armrests of different materials on Secret Labs' website), but you can also unscrew them and remove them entirely if it's your wont. The included screwdriver is perfect for it. Finally, the backrest tilt is pretty amazing, and I don't have to worry about flipping backwards just because I'm trying to recline in my seat. There's also a really useful magnet on the backrest so the head pillow stays attached at your desired level, which is pretty neat.

Now, I do have two issues: first, the backrest isn't as cushioned as I'd like. There are two dials on either side of the back rest that control the height of your lumbar support and its curvature. It's a useful option... but I'd like to see something more like customizable air cushions within the backrest. (That kinda thing exists, you can press a squishy button in the back of the seat to inflate the extra cushions in the backrest to your desired softness/firmness and there's a second button for letting air out.) Second: the packaging. I understand that a lot of parts for these chairs are fragile (and make no mistake, even after some clumsy handling this chair was intact), but there were so many foam inserts in the box. It's getting more and more obvious for people to produce things as sustainably as possible; going forward, I hope Secretlab makes a transition to more recyclable materials for their packaging.

Past that? This is a really good chair. Like, wow. A cup holder would be convenient, but this thing is a real treat. I was beside myself for a moment when I saw the box in my living room; I've only been writing about games for a vanishingly-short time (less than two years), and I've only been working on This Week In Games for just barely three months. So it means a lot for folks to approach us for stuff like this. Like, I'm sitting in a Secret Labs chair. That they sent me. I watch streamers who perform for up to five-thousand viewers at a time and make convention appearances. I'm not one of those guys, I'm just a guy who really likes writing and really likes talking about games, and was lucky enough to find a space where he can sit down and jaw at a few people about Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

I say this a lot, but: to the PR folks who approach us to cover their games, I appreciate you guys coming to us. I take each game I cover as an opportunity to try something new. To the folks who've been reading me on this page: thanks for following. You guys welcomed me to this column with open arms, and it's a lot of fun seeing you guys get excited for new stuff. And for the guys at Secretlab: thanks for the chair. It's really nice.

And because we're talking about Naruto and we just had a bit of an earnest one-on-one, here's Naurto on The Swings™ (2002, colorized). I dunno, imagine he's sad because he doesn't have a sweet chair. For bonus points, listen to the song that plays when Naruto is on his swing.

If you like the look of this chair, you can check out this Tweet on Anime News Network's official Twitter account for a chance to win your own. Click Here.

TwitchCon was this past weekend! We certainly had a few minor bits of news that I wanted to bring up, even if they weren't necessarily Japanese-gaming oriented. The first bit that had me excited was seeing all the VTubers meeting up! In the two years since the explosion of VTubers during the summer of 2020, there hasn't really been a TwitchCon to accommodate them all. With this being the first big TwitchCon in California since 2019, VTubers of all stripes flew over and met up, signing each others bodies and doing this cute thing where they take photos of each other's phones with their avatars on the screen (what a cute way to maintain your anonymity!). VShojo also had a neat set-up for their meet-and-greets, where the streamers were displayed on a big screen and could interact with fans coming to visit them. But we've seen this before, and VShojo CTO Mowtendoo (whose prior Gachimuchi work I am a tremendous fan of) really wanted to push envelopes. And, apparently, sign them too.

So, now we have remote autographing. The future is now.

It's a pretty simple set-up, and an ingenious repurposing of existing tech based off of a CNC device (a Computer Numerical Control). Normally used in industrial settings for cutting metal into specific shapes or making elaborate etchings, this one was repurposed with a shiny silver pen and hooked up to the individual streamers' tablets so they could sign posters from fans. The machine obviously is a bit jerky as it readjusts itself to the next "path" for the signature, but hey: now you can get your autograph from your waifu from across vast distances courtesy of the Information Superhighway! I didn't go to TwitchCon, so I didn't see this in action myself (a few buddies within the fandom did, good on 'em!), but it's cool to see tech improve in this way. Last time I saw this kind of ingenuity from good ol' Mowtendoo, it was with a rubber turkey. So pay close attention to those shitposters on the 'net—they just might make the next big thing that'll really change your fandom!

But it wasn't all great ideas at TwitchCon; sadly, there was a lot of chicanery afoot. There were some accounts of patrons simply asking for disability passes in order to skip lines, leaving the folks who genuinely needed them severely inconvenienced. Many accounts allege poor treatment on behalf of TwitchCon staff towards disabled patrons, believing that anyone asking for an accommodation was faking it—which is a pretty miserable attitude to take, not that you need me to point that out. Streamers hosting panels, like Aimsey, were misgendered (which, come on, do some basic research into who you're having as a panelist if they're partner, it's the least you can do). Hides were rankled when CMC was allowed at the convention after allegations that he sexted two underaged fans. Con-goers camped outside of the bathrooms in the hopes of catching their favorite streamers unawares—particularly gross, considering many con-goers were VTubers who try to keep their off-screen personalities private. And in a much more devastating angle there was... the foam pit.

I'm not gonna show or link images to any accounts of this because it's gnarly enough as it is, and I don't need to be showing folks people breaking their back. Long story short: Lenovo and Intel hosted a foam pit as a promotional stall, and invited con-goers to hop in, jump in butt-first and even have little "American Gladiators"-styled fights. Problem: the foam pit was made entirely too shallow; accounts claim there was, at best, a foot of foam blocks covering solid concrete flooring. So inevitably, lots of people got hurt: a dislocated kneecap and a broken back. There's footage of the streamer Adriana Chechik jumping in and breaking her back; the incident resulted in her back being broken in two places and needing a metal rod inserted into her back. (A lot of self-styled wiseguys have made cracks about this given Chechik's history as an adult actress; I expect my readership to know better.)

As I understand it, there were waivers being signed concerning the whole thing, and the stall belonged to Lenovo and Intel (not Twitch), but it looks pretty bad; accounts claim that the foam pit was a slapdash affair that was skimped down from another design, and other folks have shown that proper foam pits are much, much deeper with far more elaborate foundations. I'm hoping the folks hurt by the incident recover safely from these grievous wounds and that people hosting these showy stalls freaking think things through next time. I can't imagine how horrible it must be to go to a convention expecting to have fun and winding up in the hospital. Bad enough if you're a photosensitive cosplayer (my bro's wife went through that once, it was horrifying).

All around, TwitchCon had plenty of fun stuff, but it was a bit of a mess—which doesn't bode well, given the tempest in a teacup over Twitch's ridiculous stances towards revenue splits with streamers. Many are calling for a Twitch boycott, while I'm hoping that the scores of Twitch users get their grievances heard. People got hurt, man, what the heck were you doing sleeping at the wheel?

With Sonic Frontiers slated for a November 8th release, there's not much left to do but to anticipate the world's most famous hedgehog's newest adventure. But there's still stuff Sega's holding in the wings to build anticipation, like themed DLC. Now, in the past Sega has roped in other Sega-owned properties, like when Sonic Forces offered outfit components based off of Joker and Morgana from Persona 5. But this time they went all the way to Capcom for this partnership. And they walked away with... Monster Hunter duds.

Starting November 15th, Sonic Frontiers owners can download a Monster Hunter-themed DLC with two variants of the Rathalos armor for Sonic. The first version is based off of the Male Hunter variant of the outfit, covering up Sonic like he's getting ready for a Sonic and the Black Knight do-over. The other is the Felyne variant of the outfit: a cutesier version more designed with Palicos in mind. Not sure why they'd want two versions of the same outfit (especially when they're not that different), but the option is there I guess? There's also a nifty little addition in the form of the Grill accessory! Re-creating the grill item from Monster Hunter, Sonic will turn a little piece of steak on a spit; once it's properly cooked, Sonic can eat it for a power-boost. Presumably, it plays the silly little cooking song as Sonic turns the spit, complete with a disembodied woman cheering "So tasty~!" once it's done. As many have pointed out, it's weird for Sonic to be eating something besides his trademark chili dogs, but that's sponsorships for ya!

This isn't quite the weirdest bit of promotional faffery for Sonic Frontiers; Hololive VTuber Inugami Korone was appointed as a "Sonic Ambassador," and not only reflected it with a Sonic-themed outfit and color scheme during a few streams, but also via some Japanese retailer-exclusive DLC; pre-ordering the game from exclusive retailers nets players with fun goodies like recolored shoes and gloves for Sonic done up to reflect Korone's dress; in-game sound-effects replaced with Korone's voice; and outright replacing Sonic Frontiers' mascot Coco with Korone's "Koronesuki" (her bald-headed, open-mouthed depiction of her listeners). Meanwhile, Korone got to cop a voice acting role for the Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dub. No work on a US release for any of this (my heart goes out to the Korone fans in the US, of which I know there are plenty). But hey, Sonic Frontiers comes out on November 8th, so there's still time for Sega to change their minds!

It's not easy being a VTuber! You gotta find a good design, nab a loyal audience, and find some kind of new thing to do each stream to keep people's attention! Whether it be hooking yourself up to a heart-rate monitor and playing a horror game or reciting roleplay dialogue pretending you're someone's housewife, VTubers find themselves constantly having to up the ante. But sometimes that can get you into hot water: your racy outfit might have a few inches too many of cleavage, or you get a DMCA warning for playing the wrong song. Or, y'know, you get in trouble for streaming porn.

Ikinone Tomeru and her colleagues from the Shinso-gumi VTuber group arranged for a curious set-up in Splatoon 3: by using OBS, they could chroma-key the opposing team's ink color and play something underneath. The challenge they settled upon was to play porn; the incentive was to beat the other team by covering up their ink before too much porn was shown and the streams got shut down. Full credit to the team, the stream idea is novel (I'd imagine that on the appropriate platform, it would make for a hilarious time), but Nintendo doesn't take too kindly to folks mixing porn with their games. VTuber Shigure Mito was banned partway through the stream and forced to issue an apology, and Nintendo of Japan published a statement reminding people of their strict guidelines for how their games can and cannot be streamed.

This is one of those situations that speaks for itself; I lack the creativity to come up with a concept that wild. But hey, if you've ever wondered why they don't use black or white ink in Splatoon, there you go.

Let's go three for three on stories involving streamers—and this one involves an IRL streamer! Or, at least, she is one in-universe.

So, again, there have been a few bits and pieces of news from Game Freak concerning Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, but because it mostly involves individual new Pokémon, I haven't talked about them much. Make no mistake: I love Wigglet and Farigarif as much as the next guy, and Farigarif makes me happy on a variety of levels. For one, they actually made a palindrome that keeps with Girafarig's name—those localizers need a pay raise. For another, with Farigarif and some of the new Hisuian forms seen in Legends: Arceus, we're seeing a bunch of the weird Gen 2 Pokémon getting new evolutions. I join the crowd of people calling for Dunsparce's redemptive evolution. But that's not why we're here! Because earlier this week, Game Freak teased a new announcement for a new trainer! And who we have is—this!

Meet Iono, the Electric-type Gym Leader! I love her design. Her name has the requisite "electric" pun (ions are atoms and molecules with a net electric charge), plus it reminds me of one of my favorite yuri manga Iono The Fanatic. She's got the two-tone hair, the oversized jacket with the sleeves that dangles over her hands, the massive hairpins and the asymmetric leggings, and most importantly: she's got the sharp teeth. Yep, if you wanted to design a streamer, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one. It's gonna be wild when Ash meets her in the anime.

Some people have shown some consternation over the Pokémon universe introducing streamers into the setting, but they may as well. I mean, streamers and VTubers have become popular parts of the online landscape for a good while now. Anime fans made VTubers famous, let's not get offended when anime starts incorporating them! Past that, tons of people have really been sweet on Iono. "She's just like me, fr fr!," cried an army of instant fans from across the internet. Between Penny, Mela, Geeta, and now Iono, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet has been giving Pokémon fans plenty to fall in love with in terms of characters. Some have even theorized that Iono is Penny's alter-ego, given Penny's reclusive nature (and that she also has two-toned hair). And I'd have to say, it's a darn good cover—and Penny has all the makings of someone who's a VTuber behind closed doors! At any rate, Iono left fans with a mystery! Even though she's got those big two-toned Magnemite hairpins (she confirmed they're not real), Iono started a little game with her viewers to see if they can guess her favorite Pokémon. The hints we got so far are: it's squishy, it's not Magnemite, it's "a li'l sluggish with an easygoin' vibe" with "two big ol' bumps on its noggin that people always mistake for eyes," it's an Electric-type, and it expands and contracts its body to generate electricity.

Folks have gone nuts trying to figure out what this hinted Pokémon might be. It can't be Chinchou, because Chinchou isn't squishy. Some folks have theorized it's an evolution to one of the recently-revealed Pokémon, like Pawmi. Others believe it might be some new kind of electric-slug Pokémon, maybe even a regional variant of Slugma. Others have decided that it's "Jigglypuff, seen from above". We have otherwise been encouraged to leave our comments in Iono's video and hype up her next stream, where she'll presumably introduce this new Pokémon to all of her new fans.

I like Iono. It's cool that Pokémon has her as a figure, as it can now use her as a sort of in-universe hype machine. I look forward to her being part of the marketing for Pokémon going forward, possibly akin to how Tails has his own VTuber/YouTube shorts. And it's a great way to bring some life to the Pokémon world. I hope this means Iono gets a series where she talks to other Gym Leaders, especially since tons of people want her to interact with the Unovan Electric Gym Leader-cum-fashion-model-and-bad-comedian Elesa. Here's hoping!

Back in July, in my very first column, we covered the news of the passing of Kazuki Takahashi, the mangaka behind Yu-Gi-Oh! and a man who's touched many lives through games. While it was widely assumed his death was an unfortunate accident, the truth is both better and worse at the same time.

In an article from military news source Stars and Stripes, it is noted that several sworn witness accounts given to the Army recount that the late Takahashi dove into the water off the shore of Okinawa to help one Major Robert Bourgeau rescue a trio of swimmers caught in a riptide. While Major Bourgeau was able to rescue the swimmers, he was unaware that Takahashi was trying to help him at the time; it wasn't until two days later that his body was found off the coast of Nago City.

It's good to finally know that Takahashi wasn't the victim of foul play or other dark circumstances; he was simply practicing what his heroes had preached for years. Major Bourgeau recognized Takahashi's heroism in the situation. Once again, we raise our glass to Kazuki Takahashi. You were a real one.

Hideo Kojima, creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid (and Boktai, I'll never let anyone forget that one) has folks abuzz over a recent tease: a new game starring the actress (and apparently sister to actress Dakota Fanning that I never knew existed) Elle Fanning. The tease was just a poster of Elle Fanning, with the question: "Who Am I?".

Besides reminding me of Nintendo's old "who are you?" ad campaign (their best ad campaign ever, in my opinion), not much else can be gleaned. After having replaced longtime Metal Gear voice actor David Hayter with Keifer Sutherland and casting and motion-capturing Dutch actress Stefanie Joosten as Quiet in a failed attempt at making us "ashamed of our words and deeds" for Metal Gear Solid V, Kojima has pretty much shacked his horse to hiring known Hollywood stars to appear in his titles. Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, and Guillermo Del Toro starred in Death Stranding, and Kojima clearly has his sights set for greater cinematic feel.

Precious little else can be gleaned—heck, we're not even sure this is going to be an honest-to-god game (Kojima might have actually managed to get a movie made). But it's Hideo Kojima—after the wild creativity that was Death Stranding, we can rest assured that Hideo Kojima Off Of His Leash will at least give us something interesting to talk about. And no matter what it is, it can't be as dumb as someone breathing through their skin!

I hate saying it like this, but it's the only way to really say it: I've liked Shin Megami Tensei since before it was cool. I cut my teeth on Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and I actually played through Demikids on the GameBoy Advance. Oh yeah, and I was one of the Day One peeps for Persona 3 when that released in 2006, hoping against hope that Atlus would someday release Persona 3: FES in the US. Persona has gone from a diminutive cult hit to one of the biggest names in JRPGs around, and to bring things full-circle Atlus is going to go back to the basics. Er, the basics that fans already know.

This January 19th, the Atlus faithful can enjoy Persona 3: Portable and Persona 4 Golden, the definitive versions of their respective games, on all modern-day consoles: while the tweet only lists the XBox family and Windows, rest assured that they're also coming on PS4, PS5, Steam, and Nintendo Switch. With the upcoming Persona 5 R ports, you've got all three of the modern Persona games available to you!

I'm... kinda torn on this. Make no mistake, they're great games—Persona 3: Portable's FeMC is easily the best protagonist in all of the modern Persona games, and the game had been completely restructured to accommodate her, giving her unique Social Links. Persona 4 Golden adds a whole new character and a whole new epilogue, letting folks really see the Scooby gang to their end. But I'm old. And I've been here for a while. So I'm gonna kvetch.

Persona needs to change, man. I'm not the 16-year-old I was when P3P came out. I'm older now, my views on the world have changed—heck, I've come around to concluding Yukari is the best character in S.E.E.S. and Junpei needs a boot to the head. And while I don't think Persona needs to grow up with me, it does need better writing. And man, having played those older Persona, does this ever feel stronger now that I'm 32. It hurts to see the series that used to have the tagline "Be True To Your Mind" go the route of "... so long as you dye your hair black when you're older and settle for what your parents tell you to do." It sucks to see the series that used to have women like the ever-optimistic Maya or the tortured Ulala settle for Ann having her arc revolve around deciding how she wants to be seen... only to be cajoled into having to model nude against her wishes (and you can't take her side in the matter, either). It sucks that the women at Atlus had to fight for FeMC to be the way she was (just for her to get blotted out of the series anyway until they decided to let her back in with Persona Q2).

If and when we get a Persona 6, I wanna see the dark urban fantasy setting of Persona 2. I want to see the stylization of the modern Persona games mixed with the writing of the older ones. I want the female cast to be heroines and not just dating options (note to Atlus: hire a writer who's been friends with women). And for God's sake, no more gay panic jokes? It was cringe in '06, it hasn't gotten any better.

That aside... I miss S.E.E.S. I miss Mitsuru not knowing what a hamburger is, I miss Akihiko barely holding it in at Shinjiro's wake, I miss Lotus Juice rapping. It'll be nice going back to these games, even if I've outgrown them.

... Also, FeMC's Persona should have been Eurydice and not a long-haired Orpheus, because why the heck aren't you taking advantage of the one character from the myth of Orpheus that you haven't already used?

Complaining aside: man, I love that artwork they made to celebrate the set. It's a remake of the old promo art for Persona 3, with Thanatos hovering over Minato, Junpei and Yukari; here, Arsene hovers over Akira, Yu (because I prefer Yu Narukami to Souji Seta) and Minato and Minako while he's flanked by Izanami and Thanatos. The old blue color scheme from Persona 3 has been replaced with a layered look giving each cast the respective yellows, reds, and blues from their respective games and their color schemes. That is some damn good fanservice. I know I spent a few paragraphs complaining about the bad Hashino writing, but man does that poster really light the old fandom flame.

Set the date. January 19th, 2023. You'll see me at GameStop. I'll be the annoying guy demanding Maya, Tatsuo, and Mark get brought back. Philemon sent me, dammit.

Ring-a-ding-ding, another week down. Things are going to get wild for sure with the holidays approaching. Look forward to some spoopy news coverage next week! Also, Portland will be playing host to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this October 14th through 16th. Sadly, I will not be attending PRGE this year for a number of reasons, but I hope you guys do! Hit me up on my Twitter to make me feel bad if you guys find any Tokusatsu stuff. I hope you guys are excited for Iono revealing her favorite Pokémon! Or maybe one of you went to TwitchCon and met a VTuber. Or—maybe you, too, miss when Mark Danced Crazy in Revelations: Persona. I look forward to hearing from you all! Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.