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Ghost Recon: Future Soldier: The Kotaku Review To: Simon From: Bashcraft RE: The True Meaning Of The Holidays
Greetings Simon! Glad to have you on board this week.
Yesterday was Mrs. Bashcraft’s birthday, so I was out of pocket for most of the day (“out of pocket” being the nice way to say “totally not working”). We caught the 9:30am show of Borne Ultimatum in Umeda, went shopping in Hankyu and had some really tasty Chinese. Feel like I’ve known her forever, and being with her birthday after birthday is truly wonderful.
Starting today, all foreigners must get biometric finger prints and have their portraits take at the airport. Delightful! Previously, all foreigners living in Japan were fingerprinted, but the government has since ceased this practice. The US has a similar fingerprinting policy, but it does not apply to permanent residents who are not US citizens. Unless you are a Zainichi Korean or a diplomat, the Japanese government will fingerprint. That means if you spend months applying for a permanent resident visa, the government will *still* fingerprint. Something to keep in mind: It’s illegal for the government to fingerprint Japanese nationals unless they are charged with a crime. Then again, permanent residents don’t have the right to vote (nor should they, I think). Fingerprinting and mugshots carry a different connotation altogether, however.
Something else to keep in mind: In Japanese history, all instances of terrorism have been carried out by Japanese nationals. Half of me hates this fingerprinting so hard. The other half of me realises that this their country. Likewise, US immigration is no cakewalk. Year after year, seeing my wife deal with them. I can imagine that for some, it’s worse. What worries me is that Japan hasn’t yet experience foreign terrorism, and yet the country is cracking down harder than the US. Maybe it’s preventive measures. Maybe. But what will they do if a foreign national actually does commit terrorism?
So, next week, I am going to go to immigration and “pre-register” my fingerprints. For those interested in this, click over to Stippy. They’ve got a meaty post up on it that’s worth a read.
What you missed last night COD4 Arabic Funny Mistakes Blu-ray porn with 40GB PS3s Contest winner! Uncharted devs wish they had waited Follow your favourite commenters
Are 1.8 million Wiis a month enough for everyone to get their share? Maybe not. Reports are coming in that a Wii on the shelf is as common in the UK as a sunny day or a decent set of teeth. No, I kid, Britain, your teeth are lovely. Anyway, Woolworths, Dixons, Amazon, all are selling out within minutes of getting new stock in. If you’re British and after a Wii, and are unable to get one…you really should have pulled your finger out earlier in the year. Not enough Wii this Christmas [Telegraph]
It had to happen. The Lucky Star dirty movie Kira Suta has finally come out. The DVD hit retailers in Den-Den Town. Here’s the kicker: The flick was slated for release on November 23rd, but released itself a week, well, prematurely. The reason for this? There was a pre-release event in Den-Den Town. And, no, I did not go. And, no, I am not lying. Lucky Star Parody Movie [Ota Road]
Say “Nippon Ichi Software” turned-based strategy games come to mind that have made the Japanese developer. NIS created an American arm (NIS America) to help localize games like Disgaea. But what else does the subsidiary do? Next February, it’s bringing over Jaleco puzzle game Puchi Puchi Virus. Says NIS America president Haru Akenaga:
Our core audience will remain the same, but we will also appeal to the information rich yet time poor casual gamers with unique and distinctive titles.
M’kay. You do that. Full press release reading fun after the jump!
Ever wonder how an XBLA game manages to scrape in under Microsoft’s size limits for the service? This should help give you an idea. Undertow developers Chair were nice enough to give MTV’s Stephen Totilo a breakdown of how they did it. And not just a breakdown, a lovely pie-chart, showing that the actual levels, environment and sound were the main belly-fillers. On the other end of the scale, poor old localisation only comprised 1% of the game. Sorry Finnish and Gaelic speakers, doesn’t look like you’re getting the full voice treatment. See Exactly How The Parts Of Xbox Live’s ‘Undertow’ Fit Together [MTV]
A while back, crummy Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass DS Lite retailer scans did the internet rounds. The quality was bad, and it was hard to decipher if the hardware was real or not. It is. It’s just one of the new DS Lite bundles Nintendo is releasing on November 23rd, Black Friday. The other is a metallic pink version that will come with Nintendogs. Go figure. Nintendo’s Perrin Kaplan explains:
We chose a couple of the products (games) we know are so loved … and picked colours we know appeal to consumers right now… It’s already this incredible cake and we just want to put more icing on it.
Nintendo is letting retailers set their own price, but a DS Lite and one game runs about US $US 160. Though, we’d expect Nintendogs to be less as the game is a couple years old. New Bundles [Reuters]
Not a single Need for Speed, Juiced or football title? Something’s not right here. Something’s up. That aside, though, the remainder is more solid, predictable fare. Assassin’s Creed does the double, Call of Duty 4 does the double, and Mario Galaxy makes an appearance near the top after only two days on sale. Well played, little man.
1) Assassin’s Creed (360) 2) Call of Duty 4 (360) 3) Super Mario Galaxy 4) Brain Training 5) Assassin’s Creed (PS3) 6) More Brain Training 7) Call of Duty 4 (PS3) 8) High School Musical (PS2) 9) WWE Smackdown v Raw 2008 (PS2) 10) The Simpsons Game (PS2)
[charts courtest of ChartTrack]
Sure, we’ve seen our share of funny in-game English. But what about other languages? Just because we can look at other cultures failed attempts at the English language, does that mean Western developers are free from foreign language fuck ups? Nope. Reader Hatem points to the Arabic in Call of Duty 4. Arabic is read right to left, but many of the in-game Arabic signs have been mirrored right to left so they come out backwards, funny and strange to native speakers. As Hatem points out, almost all the letters in Arabic connect. More often than not, the in-game signs feature Arabic letters that don’t connect, changing meaning. Explains Hatem:
at first glance an arab reading person would think : WTF?? … turns out they read “ضربة قاضية” which means “K.O aka Knock Out” , but here’s where it got fucked up , arabic is one of those languages where almost all letters connect, but that didn’t happen in this texture heh , and they made the mistake of writing it from left to right
Capcom have announced that the upcoming PlayStation 3 version of Lost Planet is due to ship in February. Reminder: to make up for lost time, the PS3 version will hit shelves bundled with all the 360 DLC, as well as some of the PC versions multiplayer characters. Bonus! Here’s hoping they can add a layer or two of spit and polish to those graphics over the next few months, eh?
Know this about Japan: Sunday is horse racing day. Folks who are spending the day playing the ponies, spend the afternoon either glued to their big screens or tracking the race on their cell phones. Wouldn’t it be nice to follow the race on a beautiful screen via digital broadcast? With the PSP Slim & Lite’s 1seg tuner you can watch the horses on a digital reception. That means you can spend your Sunday playing golf, watching the races and generally avoiding your family. 1seg ad [PSP Fanboy]
