Deadly Premonition stands as a fantastic example of Japanese gaming. On a purely technical level, the sandbox adventure of an FBI agent called to a small American town in order to investigate a bizarre murder often seems rough and quaint when compared to the mammoth open-world releases we’re used to from Western developers. And yet, what Deadly Premonition lacks in power it makes up for in charm. While some wrote it off, those who really gave a chance to the project Japanese creator Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro poured his heart and soul into found a game overflowing with personality, attention to detail, interesting characters, and a style of storytelling that you won’t find coming from any other country.
Category: Video Games
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Yasuhiko Nomura (Corpse Party: Book of Shadows)
When it came time to make up a “Best of 2011” list at the end of last year, a little PSP horror game from Team GrisGris, 5pb, and XSEED called Corpse Party was my #2 game for the year. My #1 game was Dark Souls—a choice that really required little justification, even among those who chose something else for that particular spot. Putting Corpse Party at #2, however, seemed crazy to many. First of all, it was on the PSP—and wasn’t that thing dead? Second, it looked like something from the 16-bit era of gaming—and gameplay-wise, played like something even older. Plus, not only was it on the PSP, but it was a horror game on the PSP. Does that concept even work?
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Style Savvy Trendsetters Coming To North America!
Normally, I sling a lot of criticism in the direction of Nintendo of America, and with good reason—their love for either being ridiculously late in releasing a game in the US, or not releasing the game at all, is legendary.
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A Trio of Awesome Game-Related Shirts
Normally, I’m not really into video game shirts, but every now and then I’ll find one that I like. Whether or not I’ll actually wear them is still to be decided, but recently, I got not one—but three—new shirts that I am quite fond of.
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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
I would love to believe that the opening 30 to 45 minutes of gameplay in Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy was a carefully orchestrated plot, one conceived in some smoky Japanese bar one night when staff from both Square Enix and indieszero went out drinking together. The goal would be a scathing commentary on Japan’s RPG industry, and how—inexplicably—so many of its offering force players to sit through 5 to 10 hours of boredom in order to get to the “good stuff.”
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Yoshinori Ono (Poison)
You may or may not be familiar with the character of Posion. Little more than one of many enemies crafted for Capcom’s beat-em-up Final Fight—and mirror image of her partner in crime Roxy—typically she would have come and gone with not much thought or consideration given to her by the average gamer. Well, other than, of course, the fact that she was the enemy who—if you attacked her and paused the game at just the right moment—would give you a scandalous look at the underside of her breasts as her much-too-short shirt flew up.
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I’m such a DS whore
Went to Akihabara for the first time ever in my life, and of course this is what I return to the hotel with.
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Something Is Amiss With Morrigan And Lilith
Well now… what is this? A special statue of Morrigan and Lilith, locked in embrace? I’m in!
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Rhythm Tengoku Wii – The Reason I Still Own A Wii
Really, these days, it’s very hard for me to justify still owning a Wii. However, I am completely unable to sell it for one reason and one reason alone: Minna no Rhythm Tengoku, aka Everybody’s Rhythm Tengoku, aka Rhythm Tengoku Wii, or Rhythm Heaven Wii if you’re only familiar with the Western name for the series.
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