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Survivor Series:The Over Emphasis on Visuals

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Hello to everyone out there in the AAA community, and a special hello to Mitsugi and Chiaki in Japan, nice to have you back in the same time zone as myself again, perhaps I can catch the live show now lol. Anyway, what I want to talk about today is the overemphasis some put on the visuals of media products and how it causes people to miss out on some experiences they might have otherwise if they didn’t focus so much on how something looks. The two examples I’m going to use are anime and video games, as those are two types of media where this is most apparent.

Let’s start with anime, and how some people cannot bring themselves to watch a show simply based on the animation. This comes in a few different forms, like if a show is old by a certain number of years. There are some people who cannot watch a show if it’s older than the year 2000, meaning hand drawn anime because that’s roughly when the industry transitioned to computer based anime drawing. Conversely, there are probably people who don’t like computer drawn anime and will not watch anything after the year 2000, but I have never met a person like that. Some anime fans will judge a series on just the art style or just for seeing a few magazine scans. Examples of this are Code Geass and Gundam Age, which were both prejudged on their character designs. One turned out great and the other not so much. Sometimes people say they don’t want to watch a show because there is too much fan service, which I could see. For me, I will watch old shows like the original Gundam series, which is from 1979, and other stuff from the early 1980’s, but I haven’t gone further than that. I have seen Astro Boy, but I’m not sure if what they aired in Canada was the 80’s version or the 60’s version. Art style to me is kind of whatever, I prefer story over the visuals of anime I’m watching so I usually give a show a chance no what the animation is like. Finally, I don’t mind fan service as long doesn’t distract from the story and fan service part of the charm of a given anime show.

 

How this manifests in the video games industry takes the form of game graphics. Graphics are often pointed to by people want to claim that a certain platform is superior to another and it’s been this way for a long time. Examples of this today are; PC elitists who want everyone to drop playing games on any other platform in favor of the PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 fanboys who think their preferred console is visually superior to the other, and pretty much every other given game systems that have competed against each other. This is often the main or opening argument of people I like to call “graphic masturbators”, defined as people who favor graphics over every other aspect of game design. They seem to think that this is the atomic bomb of arguments and it automatically wins the debate. However, it’s my contention that these people miss the point of playing a game which is to have an enjoyable game play experience over eye appealing visuals. This syndrome has lead to game companies (at least the big ones) making trailers for games using just cut scenes form the and not actual game play graphics. This gives a false impression of the game’s graphics and leads to gamer alienation. The way a game plays is the most important part of the experience I get out of playing game, which is why I play games on various platforms.

 

The main thrust of what I’m trying to convey here with this article is the best summed up in the age old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”. I think people need to go beyond just the eye candy in whatever media they consume. For us anime fans it means going beyond the new thing and checking out some of greatest entries in the anime genre. Because in the end visuals change over time and a good story transcends time, no matter what decade it is from.

 

Cheers and Beers,

Devil_Survivor

1559 - attractive gamer girl taken

Survivor Series: Finishing a Anime Series or a Game

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Recently, I been reading a lot of articles on game sites I frequent in which the authors lament the fact that studies show that only about 20 percent of gamers actually finish a game they start.  When I heard this I was a little shocked and thought no way that can be right but, then I started to see in multiple articles on multiple sites.  So in my mind this is a disheartening for a couple reasons; one that developers put so much time into making a game that only a very small minority of people that play games see the end and that people paid like 60 dollars for a console game these days and that’s like getting only a portion  of the value of what you paid for.  I’m the kind of gamer that must finish a game’s story all way through. I’m what you might call a “game finisher”, however I’m not a completiontist  by any measure as I don’t feel the need get every achievement or trophy in every game I play.  Its more about seeing that the job gets at the basic level by simply beating the game  because that is still is the base objective in any game even games that are multiplayer centric like Call of Duty and Battlefield 3. I finish a lot of games, this year so far I think I have finished maybe 20-25 so far this year, which probably puts me in the 1-5 percent of that 10-20 percent of gamers that finish games.

So that got me wondering what percentage of anime fans actual finish the anime they are watching? Now I don’t any figures for this like with game, but I’ll try to use what I know from anime fans I know have told me. The hosts of the anime podcasts I listen to will often comment that they have only seen a portion of a certain  that is in a given discussion. This is probably because they are also reviewers and they have a lot anime to watch and its just not possible to watch the entire series. Also another difficulty is access to the whole show which is sometimes hard because maybe you cannot find in your country or its not very popular and thus not streamed or fansubbed.  Then there is simply having not a lot of time to devote to watching anime, which is probably a problem we all have unfortunately.

So the point of me bringing this up is that I just think its a bit tragic that all these talented people put so much time and effort into making great anime and games and the vast majority of people never see them. Some tips I have to have to maximize your game and anime experience is to focus on perhaps a couple at a time and clear them out move on to the next game or series. In anime series skip the opening and ending credits as this can often save about 5-6 minute per episode of a series.So get out and actual finish a game of anime!

Here are some the articles taking about the low number of gamers that finish their games:

http://www.gameguru.in/general/2012/27/hitman-absolution-director-says-20-percent-gamers-will-finish-title/

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/08/18/cnn-report-only-10-percent-of-players-finish-games.aspx

 

Cheers and Beers,

Devil_Survivor

vita-3ds 2

Survivor Series: Holiday Handheld Wars: Triumph and More Predictions of Doom

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Greetings and salutations, all you anime crack addicts anonymously looking for your next fix of  deliciously, deviant, and decadent  animated narcotic. Today I’m going to return a topic I talked to about in a previous post way back in September of last year; the Nintendo 3DS. However, this time I’m going to add in another element, the Playstation Vita now that its out.  I’m going to be a comparison of the two on certain levels, but also an update of somethings I addressed last time and some extreme claims about the Vita.

Last time I discussed how a lot of people on the internet where predicting the doom of Nintendo and the 3DS because of the massive drop in sales about 5 months after the launch which was mishandled(if anyone can point to a really solid launch for a game console please mention it the comments). So time has shown that either is true, of course although I’m aware that the Nintendo prediction is kind of open ended because a company’s future is always up in the air, however the 3DS one has proved to be very wrong. Over the Holiday Season the 3DS sold almost 1.6 million units and the weeks following have been strong as well. Add that to the fact the 3DS sold more units in the first 8 months in the U.S. than the DS. One thing I was wrong about in the last article was my prediction of a possible redesign of the system which didn’t come about(yet) maybe because the sales have rebounded.  I around thing I predicted was if a bunch of quality first party games would come out they the sales would go up; and that’s what has happened with the Mario and Mario Kart games. There are also some great three party stuff like the Monster Hunter game and more coming.

Ok on to Vita, and with its recent release in Japan on Dec.17th out of the way it looked pretty impressive with first weekend sales of 320,000. However, after that the sales have dropped off a lot and have been below the PSP. So now people predicting the end of Vita already. I really wish people would not make such wild and unfounded predictions about the future of a product that just came out. I think I Vita will pick up in the coming months, it might take a price cut, but I’m sure it will in the end. The launch library was kinda underwhelming even though there was an Uncharted game, but I think was better then the 3DS’s launch line up. Just give Vita some time.

 

Cheers,

Devil

gundam150_2

Survivor Series: Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 Review

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He once watched an anime called MD Geist  and said its the worst ever, Once he drank a Dos Equis beer and it was exceptional, and once listened to another anime podcast other than AAA and said never again…… he is the most interesting man on the AAA network.

Ok lol, so that’s going to the new intro to each blog entry because I love those commercials and the beer. In this edition of the series I’m going to talk about a musou games; Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3. I know the hack and slash genre has a lot of critics and fans at the same time which leaves it as one of the more hotly debated game genres, and I had never played any until this game, but this game has new features that set it apart from the previous entries in the series. That said, lets take a look at the game.

Background Story:

The story devised for this game is that a number of characters from the various Gundam series are transported to a location along with their mobile suits. The location is never really spell out, perhaps some alternate dimension or whatever. Some of the characters met up and form groups and began battles against other groups of characters. Some mysterious signal is being broadcast and the characters follow it, and this drives the story. Not much of a story :P, however a story isn’t really the main focus of this game.

Game Play:

The story mode of game is broken down into chapters in which two or three characters are playable at first. Each individual character is restricted to his or her signature mobile suit until you buy a license in the game shop which allows all playable characters to pilot it. Each chapter has a number of missions that all have the same end conditions, that being killing the end boss character of that mission. How you go about getting to the end of each mission is really the difference in each mission. There are over 300 different missions within the story mode in 8 different categories. The combat is much the same with other DW games, a lot pressing of the A button to create chain combos to perform different special moves and the unique signature attack of each character. A new feature is the addition of the Partner Strike, which is an attack performed by a partner character set at the start of each mission, which can used to turn the tide of battle. There are a number of other new map features that add a more strategic atmosphere. The Emergency Dash is a new option that allows players to get out of danger if timed right.  There 81 different units to choose from in the game to be collected  by acquiring MS plans and building them in the MS lab. The plans can gained whenever you finish a mission and you typical get 4 or 5 after each mission

In the online mode up to 4 players can play together in 15 unique missions. There are reports that more missions on the way at some point, although no date has been given.

Audio\Music:

The music in the game is average at best, not horrid and not exceptional either. The characters are voiced in certain parts of game, but not in all dialogue between the characters. The voice actors are the ones that portray the characters in both the Japanese and American versions of the shows, so that’s some good continuity between anime and game.

Artwork:

The art style is an upgrade over the previous two DW:Gundam games. The graphic artists choose to render the characters and mobile suits in a cel shaded style which is bright, well detailed, with great environmental effects, and visually pleasing. The background environments are enough in number without getting too repetitive.

Closing Comments:

DW:Gundam 3 is most importantly an improvement over the previous games in this series. It does all the things the other games have done in a better way that made the others a success. That said it still has the issues of other Dynasty Warriors games, almost completely devoid of anything resembling a story  and sometime repetitive combat. This game is almost just for Gundam fans, however it may appeal to fans of the hack and slash genre, which is a viable business model in Japan and not so much in America. Not many Gundam games get released in the West, well at least not many of the good ones, leaving not much to play if your a Gundam fan in the Western world, so its a question of take it or leave it. For myself its just good to have a decent game to go and blow up things with my favorite mobile suits.

I give this game 3\5 beam sabers slashing up grunt suits

 

Cheers and Beers,

Devil_Survivor

 

 

3ds sexy

Survivor Series: Nintendo and the 3DS: A Comedy of Errors and Redesigns

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Hey all, today I’m going to write something that I hope will cut through all the fanboy nonsense on both sides of the video game fandom surrounding the 3DS and Nintendo. I’ll probably get called a Sony hater(fanboy?) depending on your perspective, or maybe a member of the Nintendo Defense Force, whatever that is. What I’m a member of is the Truth and Fact Defense Force, and you can call me Admiral Animosity. So let us descend into the matter at hand and explore the subject content.

OK our story starts in February of this year as the 3DS was about to be released in Japan, and I was debating about whether to buy one or not. I had my DS lite since 2007, so it made sense to buy the next generation system instead of one the other DS models. Now if I was someone with a DSi or DSiXL then I don’t think I would have bought one before the price drop. The when I looked over the features of the system, the 3D without  wearing glasses, dual cameras, on board software, and much better internet over the DS, it seemed a reasonable price to a person with a an old DS system.

Now its time for some straight talk, I borrowed the bus from Chris from Gundamn, if you listen to that show you might get that joke. Let’s talk about the things Nintendo did wrong with the 3DS launch. The most glaring one of them being the insanely high price set at 249.99. If you look at every other handheld systems Nintendo every released- from Gameboy to DSiXL- not one has come within at least 80 dollars of the 3DS launch price. WTF Nintendo!!! Add to that the reports I came across about the estimated production cost of the 3DS which is set at 101 U.S.$ for the raw materials for each unit, add in other costs such labour, marketing, packaging, and R&D, and I would think the cost would not be north of 150 dollars per unit. Yet they were trying to sell it for over 100 dollars more than cost. Sure it has sold millions, but they are only so many fanboys out there who blindly buy anything the company puts out. This dried up after a bit and this gives the reason for the price drop. The next thing of note is the launch titles, which are mostly third party crap and there was not one from any of the mainline Nintendo franchises, with the possible exception of Pilot Wings but that’s a bit of a stretch. Its ironic as soon as a Zelda game rolls out on the 3DS it becomes the second bestselling game so far for the system, selling over a million copies since June 16. That’s the power of beloved decades old franchises and why they should that be included in all hardware launches.  This last one is kind of questionable and please tell me if you think I’m being unfair, but releasing a new system not long after you have released a new version of your current system, which is much cheaper than the brand new system, is not the smartest of business strategists.

To contract the negative things, let’s look at the things that were done right. Dropping the price was the best thing that Nintendo could have done, as the 169.99 price is more in line with the historical pricing of the past Nintendo handhelds, and in a cash scrapped world its better for the average consumers to afford. Bringing Netflixs on to the 3DS was a smart and innovative move as it makes it the first handheld with this capability. The on-board software is far and beyond what the DS had in its various forms. The addition of a dedicated virtual console for the 3DS is also attractive if your looking for a trip done nostalgia lane.

Finally, let dispel some crazy claims by Nintendo trolls and other fanboys. I have seen a number of claims, for instance that somehow the 3DS is like the Virtual  Boy(if you don’t know what that is it was an attempt by Nintendo in 1995 to create a 3D system, it had a black stand which mounted a red device you put your eyes up to and that displayed the 3D graphics and the input was a controller that was some what similar to the future Gamecube controller). Now it only ever sold 770,000 units and after multiple price drops it was taken off the market after less than a year, so a by the sales comparison is completely ridiculous. Supposedly the Virtual Boy was not to be released in the form it came to market in and the creator had planned to refine the design, and this was because The higher ups at Nintendo wanted to focus all the resources of the company into the N64, so one wonders what could have been if the system had been given the resources that was earmarked for it. The other major claim that has been shouted from the forums by haters is that somehow because the 3DS hasn’t sold up to Nintendo lofty exceptions( The company wanted to sell 16 million within a year), and needed a price edit so early on that this somewhat means the end of the company itself. HAHAHA!!!!!!!! Pause, Laugh, Breathe,…..OK sorry I was just laughing out loud at that total nonsense. Nintendo is worth something like 85 billion dollars, its the third most valuable listed company in Japan, and its the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners MLB team(I know that team sucks, but still an MLB franchise). Also there is the fact Nintendo will be the first company out with its 8th generation console, the Wii U and from reports its like combining the Wii with the PS3 or XBOX 360, in other words power graphics with innovative game play.  Also the Wii U is also reported to be “significantly” more powerful than PS3 or the XBOX 360. Yes, the the company’s revenue is down by a lot over last year, however this can attributable to the fact the Wii is near the end of  its life cycle(the Wii U is suppose to launch in 2012 sometime) and most people who are going to buy one have done so already. The 3DS hasn’t been selling as well as they and hoped, but looking at the new sales figures it seems things are on the upswing for the system. Its also rumored the system will getting a redesign similar to the DS lite. So relax fanboys and haters alike, the sky is not falling on Nintendo, it fact I say the future looks bright.

If you want to see a gallery of two of the hottest Japanese girls ever, known as the hardware girls paste this link, I put one in the feature image:

http://www.hobbymedia.it/30477/nintendo-3ds-sexy-gallery-di-julie-watai-la-nostra-giapponesina-preferita

you will need to then go to this site and download some files that allow Windows to view .mpo files and install them and view away on your 3DS or PC: http://www.munsil.com/MPO_registry.html

 

 

Leave luck to heaven,

Devil_Survivor

 

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Survivor Series: Troll Assassination; A Troll Typology

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So its me again, coming from the 5th layer of hell, the devil that survived the fieriest of games out there. Today I’m back with the first in a sub series about the thing everyone hates(except themselves) , that being trolls. Now I have heard lots of people talk about their experiences with trolls and there seems to me that there are many types and I’m going to set out to describe each type. In research methods terminology this is known as creating a typology; which is when a researcher studying a phenomenon divides the cases in their research to better present the data which has been collected.



 

1. The hit and run troll– these are trolls that leave one comment on a forum, message board, or a social network site and then don’t ever return to continue the conversation. An example if this was in episode 63 of the Gundamn podcast during one of their mailbag catch up shows when a troll posted a badly worded and very grammatically incorrect question and never post a another thing on that forum.

2.The fake debate troll– these are trolls who at first appear to want to have a real debate with you and then make no concrete arguments about the subject being disgusted and just throw insults at you. Too examples to cite a certain one, but check site with a comment section and you should find one.

3.The one word troll– these are trolls just leave one word on a comment section of a site. Usually its a hateful and homophobic comment, these are perhaps the saddest all of the troll types. Again check any site with comment section to find an example.

4.The hate on something and then buy it troll– These trolls are the curiousest type because they will be a huge fan boys of a certain franchise, and when a new product comes out from said franchise that is a little different they trashed it ,and say that they will never buy it, and they turn around and purchased it at the first opportunity.

 

 

 


5.The inner franchise troll– In many franchises in anime or video game  fandom, there are different fractions that like one part of a franchise and decide anyone who likes another part is a moron and sets out to hate on the other fans of the franchise.  A prime example of this is the Gundam franchise,and the universal century fans vs. the alternate century fans.

6. The video troll-  This species of troll usually is found on video sharing sites like youtube. You find will find them making videos of rambling, incoherent, nonsensical rants about whatever ridiculous topic pops into their troll heads. Examples of this type is xbox or playstation fanboys making 3 to 4 videos in their parents basements about which system is better because it has all the best games and the other is for “insert homophobic slur” and losers.

7.The private message or email troll-  The most cowardly of the troll types. Instead of commenting out in the open on a forum or message board, they troll someone in email or a private message. Any website administrator could probably tell you about an email or 100 they reached from a troll.

8.The out context or straw man troll- You will find this type on 4chan using the green text to twist a commentator’s words so far around it bears no resemblance to the original meaning of the comment. On the internet is frequent known “straw manning” someone in reference to the straw man argument which is when someone misrepresents
 the position of another person.

 The Straight Dope on Trolls– Here is a good video about trolls and is a good definition of what one really is.

 

Cheers and Beers,

Devil_Survivor