Thursday, September 27, 2007
Ore vs. Boku FIGHT!!
11:40PM Brian Ashcraft | To: Crecente From: Ashcraft RE: Know this about Japanese: There are many ways one can refer to oneself. In English, we’ve got “I”. Save for the royal “we” or the third person, that’s about it really. But in Japanese, there are buckets of ways to say “I”, some more formal than others, some female-only, some male-only. It’s fascinating stuff! Until recently, Mini Bash has been referring to himself as “boku” when he says “I”. It’s male-only and fitting for little boys. In comic books and cartoons directed at young boys, the characters usually refer to themselves as “ore”. Thus, little boys think that saying “ore” is cooler than saying “boku”. And they’re right! Saying “boku” when you want to say “I” in Japanese is not nearly as bad arse as “ore”. Though, coming from a four year old, it sounds, well, odd. (Coming from 40 year-old construction workers drinking vending machine sake, it sounds perfect.) Tonight at dinner, Mini Bash started referring to himself as “ore”. Mrs. Bashcraft stopped mid-chew and asked him not to refer to himself as that. Perhaps, she doesn’t like the sound of it. Perhaps she wants him to be a little boy a little longer. Perhaps. What you missed last night Why’s there a DS3 delay? Japan Halo 3 launch tempered, short lines and no lines New name for SEEDS sucks! More »
Mole Reports New 360 Bundle, New Core System
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | Ars Technica’s gaming site, Opposable Thumbs, has a mole. A somewhat reliable one, too, unlike ours, which just digs half-finished holes in the yard and drinks itself into a stupor every day. Its latest report: that there’ll be two new 360s for the Christmas holidays. The first is a somewhat uninspiring bundle, featuring Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance in a single box (like the old Jet Set/GT bundle on the first Xbox). Both the Premium and Elite will see this bundle. The second is a brand new Core model, which features HDMI, a wireless controller, 256MB memory card and five XBLA arcade games (Boom-Boom Rocket, Pac-man, Uno, Feeding Frenzy, and Luxor 2) on a disc. That second one sound familiar? That’s because we’ve heard the exact same thing. So keep a grain of salt or two handy for the first one, but the second, I’d say it’s inching very close to confirmation/announcement time. Mole report: Xbox 360 to get Forza 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance pack-in [Opposable Thumbs] More »
Xbox 360? Would You Like A Wii With That?
11:00PM Michael McWhertor | One of the more curious trends we saw at Yodobashi Akiba this morning for the Halo 3 launch was the attach rate… for Wiis. We weren’t looking that hard, but we saw at least three people “jumping in” to the “HD era” while at the same time swimming in the “blue ocean” of “new gen.” I couldn’t tell you how many middle age gamers—or gamer parents—decided to go Wii60 today, but it was more than I had expected. Maybe Microsoft should focus more on the 40-year old Japanese housewife market. They seem to be into it. Want more proof? Minor anecdotal evidence (our favourite kind!) right after this. More »
So… Why Exactly Is The DualShock 3 Coming Next Year?
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | TGS. Last week. Sony finally get around to officially announcing a rumbling controller, and you did one of two things. One is that you accept the news. Graciously. You forget that this should have been there from day one, that it was only absent because Sony stubbornly refused to settle a lawsuit with Immersion and that they… well, they sold you a lie. Straight up. And you’re happy! You’ve got rumble in your SixAxis! The other thing you do is remember all those things, shrug and say “Hmpf, well it’s about bloody time”. Then you see the Western release date of 2008. Then maybe you get a little upset. Especially if you’ve got anything to do with the business of trying to shift PS3s. More »Shoot Pikachu GTA-Style
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Ah, yes. Lucky Star. Fairly innocuous stuff! Perfect fodder for an unsettling mod that puts characters from the popular anime in Grand Theft Auto. If that wasn’t enough, how about adding Pikachu, Doraemon and Metal Gear. That tune from F-Zero is pretty jazzy as well. GTA with Anime Twist More »
Geometry Wars Resorting To Lolcats To Shift Units
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Lolcats? May have had their day, but when they feature in official advertising for a Geometry Wars game, we can muster one last chuckle. Or two! This, and others at the link below, are part of Bizarre’s Geometry Wars: Galaxies ad campaign. If they bring back fond memories of bukkits and cheezburgers, know they’re accepting reader submissions. GWGcats [Geometry Wars: Galaxies Official Site] More »
Tempered Halo 3 Japanese Mid-Morning Launch Madness
9:00PM Michael McWhertor | After cruising up and down the main drag of Akihabara and finding little in the way of lines, we hoofed it back to Yodobashi Akiba to catch up with the manageable crowd. The TV games occupy the sixth floor of the building, so we where wheezing and sweating after a series of intense escalator rides. Surprisingly enough, there was a bit of a morning rush. Throngs? No, but we weren’t expecting throngs. Just the presence of hardcore Japanese gamers who have a taste for first person shooters and reject the national opinion of the Xbox. Yen and Halo 3 limited edition Xbox 360s exchanged hands at a moderate pace, with a handful of gamers simply opting for the game and the Halo 3 branded controllers. In Japan, the Halo 3 Limited Edition version was the way to go. For an affordable 6270 yen (approximately $US 55), Japanese gamers get the nice packaging and fan service bonuses with their Japanese voice acted Master Chief. That’s a pretty good deal, I’d say. Most of the transactions, however, we for the Spartan coloured console itself. While many gamers were on hand to pick up any number of things, from the day’s other releases like Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus and the recently shipped Tamagotchi no Puchi Puchi Omisecchi: Mina San Kyu, plenty were walking out with big bags packed with Halo 3 stuff. Flynn, Cheapy D and I had varying estimates on the percentage of those picking up something Halo 3-ish, but we hovered around the twenty percent range. The checkout line was dense at 9:45, but tapered off to regular morning levels by around 10:30. We’ll have to wait for the official Media Create numbers for Halo 3 weekly sales to show up, but while it wasn’t madness at any point, the game certainly wasn’t ignored. More »
BAFTA Games Nominees Announced
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | Nominations are in for the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Video Games Awards. I like these: the BAFTAs are proper awards, kind of like the Oscars, but more credible. So imagine if… well, not the Oscars, the Golden Globes gave out videogame awards, and that’s what these are. Except in Britain. Anyway. Enough stage-setting, and on with the nominees. Might wanna grab a cup of joe, though, this is going to take a while. More »
Boob Pillow, The Video
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Remember this? Hell, how could you forget! That is a boob pillow for PC dating sim D.C. II -Da Capo II-, and those are women hands squeezing fake jubblies. But, it’s just a picture, and pictures are so static — not giving you much of an idea of how these cushions really work. Well! Good thing we’ve got a clip! And it just *might* be NSFW depending on what your workplace thinks of boob pillows. My boss, no problem! The clip, dear reader, after the jump. More »
