May 2011
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One of the most startling multimedia exercises in surrealism and abstract expressionism, Peter Gabriel’s EVE appositely conjoins the work of several contemporary art references as is the singular case of Yayoi Kusama. Born in Japan at the height of the 30’s economical depression, the artist has skillfully adopted the conceptual trends of the WWII aftermath: a self-confessed period of struggle...
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Long before the coming of the glamorous 3D graphics, videogame creators were required to use a very specific approach to spatial construction in order to express a degree of minutiae which, inarguably, no real-time engine could possibly display. While use of pre-rendered graphics continues to be a much sought-after resource in several of the lower budget productions of late, it was the adopted...
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(Note: The third release in the Sweepstation series, Beat Planet Music takes an entirely different approach on the rhythm game category that was virtually unseen in the year 2000. Distancing itself from the experimental patterns of Depth, BPM boasts a rather friendlier and trendier approach, albeit the evident complexity of its unique level editing system. It is more than safe to assume that...
April 2011
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Heaven - recording the soundtrack of Afrika
In retrospective, it seems almost impetuous that Rhino Studios, a group of evidently modest proportions, has provided such a cordial and sizable contribution to the elevation the current generation of high-end videogame systems. As if a counterbalance to the commonly accepted precepts of video game design, the developers behind Afrika displayed an unseen degree of humility when basing their...
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March 2011
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Gadget ~Past as Future~ is born anew
Originally published in 1997, Gadget ~Past as Future~ has stamped an inimitable hallmark in the history of interactive CD-Rom as one of the most profoundly influential works of digital art whose inscrutability has mystified video game critics, still unable to attain a fitting label with which to categorize it. Consisting of a renovated version of the original 1993 release, entitled Invention,...
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Yutaka Minobe Master Class
Having earned a solid reputation in its genre, the Mugen Kairou series (known as Echochrome in the west) has yet to be recognized for its greater value in the context of videogame history. Firstly, the deeper understanding of this game series is in close connection with an extended tradition of Sony Computer Entertainment / Japan Studio creations that unite a series of highly conceptual...
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Irem halts the production of Zettai Zetsumei Toshi...
Given the recent tragedy that has taken Japan by surprise, irem has decided to stop the production of Zettai Zetsumei 4: Summer Memories which, I recall, was meant to be the fourth episode of a game series based on characters struggling against a series of natural disasters. As the team does present a very precise and humble vindication for the suspension of the game’s production,...
February 2011
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Zettai Zetsumei Toshi: past and present
Anticipating the release of the upcoming Zettai Zetsumei Toshi sequel, NHK’s weekly show Imagine Nation has produced a small (and completely unexpected) feature on the series given its consistent popularity in Japan. In spite of the presenter’s jovial tone and complete incapability to properly address the theme - focusing excessively on redundant aspects of the game - NHK reporters...
January 2011
5 posts
amidsttheshuffle asked: Hello, this isn't a question really... just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your updates on lesser known video games. Definitely a great read! I especially like the attention you give to the new Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4. I really hope it comes to the U.S. I also like reading about some of these obscure, retro games from Japan...its a shame some of these never made it over here. Well,...
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Past the gaudy kitsch pop-aesthetics of Catherine lies a sincere warning sign: it is as if the concealed message under the very outline of this most provocative release was an open appeal to reconsideration. For someone who has found himself knee-deep in this universe of digital wonders for over two decades, Japan has surely become a woefully strange nation in what concerns the production of...
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JAPANoFILES #7 - Country of Bears and Burgers
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[ For this seventh feature I wished to bring forth a game whose exploits I will have to precise with the care and detail they certainly deserve. So far in this feature I’ve covered half a dozen titles (including a book) whose uniqueness and undeniable relevance made timeless classics out of them individually; today I...
December 2010
4 posts
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From glorious artwork to the woeful grade of a...
Just when I had conformed myself with the ubiquitous vulgarity found during my experience with Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, based on the poor impressions initially provided by the demo and later verified with further probing into the game proper, Namco Bandai releases a volume of early artwork, partially designed prior to the actual production of the game. If, in fact, I was more than...
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The ghosts of Christmases past
The last I’ve heard of Yoot Saito, he was converting his former success Yoot Tower to the iPhone and iPad, following the woeful example of so many other alternative game designers from the old Japanese school. About eleven years ago, when the Dreamcast was the latest and most powerful system available on...
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November 2010
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Have a blast...
For a period of months after its release, I confess having been utterly fascinated by Cosmic Smash, an epitome among SEGA arcade titles that fortunately found its way to the home system in a pixel perfect conversion. This craze, if we may call it as such, drove me to the creation of a flash website (during the days when I still ventured myself into that) where I placed a few track excerpts in...
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Presenting Shenmue Gai, or the fall of the Shenmue...
Excellence often comes at the expense of ignominy, a rule which seems to apply just as easily to video games as it does to the various fields of artistic creation. In my travels through the ages of videogames past I’ve witnessed much anguish as I verified that the passage of time had left so many a precious stone left unturned, mistaken for mere pebbles covered by soil. As an exercise,...
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But a few notes on Games Japan Festa 2010
During this weekend, Japanese game players from Osaka had the rare chance to meet some of the latest offers proposed by national game-creation studios and, even, a few ones from North-American developers as was the misplaced case of EA. As if the debate concerning a possible crisis in the field of game creation in Japan wasn’t enough to worry any supporter of time-honored traditional...
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October 2010
10 posts
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Sometime in the first months of Autumn last year, for purposes which I’ve already explained, I spent some of my time researching the roots of that Japanese CD-Rom game and multimedia developer named Synergy. In Japan, as expected, the affection for computer game playing has long seemed insufficient when compared to the extravagant adulation paid to consoles: in short, the proportion of...
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Samurai Dou 4 slashing its way to the PS3 this...
Samurai Dou ranks among the brightest examples of samurai fiction games of all time. The fair portrayal of the codes and legacy of ancient Japanese times has witnessed its share of popularity in that country (and also internationally) as no single title ever becomes a tetralogy without the support of many committed followers, so clearly fascinated in learning their nation’s History with...
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Dream Chronicles - a world beyond the wildest...
Originally developed for the PC, Hudson’s Dream Chronicles will now be available for purchase on the Japanese PlayStation Store and XBOX Live as of the 28th of this month. While it may indeed seem out of place, this mouse-assisted adventure assumes many of the traditional features that were made emblematic by the genre, from restrained exploration of spaces to the solving of puzzles or...
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Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4 to be "playable" at Games...
On the weekend of 13 and 14th of November, Osaka will be cheered with yet another edition of the annual Games Japan Festa, where many of the most anticipated Japanese titles that didn’t make it to TGS will be presented and, in some cases, playable. The first and foremost case is that of Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4 Summer Memories, irem’s main attraction, together with a new Pachipara...
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With the new week that begins today comes a new update for Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4 - Summer Memories, the upcoming PS3 sequel to the PS2 and PSP game series. While repeating some of the footage from the previous videos, this new sequence is by far the most comprehensive of all, especially in showing some of the character’s animations - all of which are very much in tune with what was...
September 2010
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A new short video for Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4 Summer Memories, showing the ever more appealing game environment: this time through the perspective of the female protagonist. No doubt one of the greatest innovations in this new episode seems to come from the number of background characters (or extras, to borrow a word from the terminology of Cinema) that seems to have increased dramatically...
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Die Kunst von Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
By all accounts, the emergence of Panzer Dragoon inferred a higher measure in videogame art direction. With references so powerful as the work of Hayao Miyazaki and Jean Giraud, Team Andromeda - the extinct SEGA studio that authored the original Saturn trilogy of games - envisioned the possibility that an arcade fast-paced shooting game need not be subject to the colorful and undemanding...
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Kurohyou Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou: a (hi)story of...
Looking back on when the news of SEGA’s financial
difficulties first emerged, later culminating with the announcement of
severe changes in the company structure ceasing the production of
hardware, it is quite surprising to see how the brand once synonymous
with the word videogame has survived - and in some instances prospered.
Even if there was a noticeable decline in the quantity and...
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Tragic new screenshots from Zettai Zetsumei Toshi...
It is in situations such as these where the great big differences between an insignificant little blog and a sponsored website do manifest themselves in their most evident form: Siliconera has had access to a number of shiny new screenshots depicting a few situations from the upcoming Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 4, previously featured here on a few occasions. These few screens show some technical...
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Pressure cooking: Game Diggin' episode 6
Perhaps the first great game devoted to the topic of cooking was Motoko-Chan no Wonder Kitchen. Released as a promotional item for a renowned mayonnaise brand in Japan, its faithful depiction of cooking activities was nothing short of surprising. Today, the creation of such games has become something of a global trend in light of the recent upsurge of casual games, although the complexities...
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The end of Kamurochō as we know it
Throughout its four episodes and one (soon to become two) spin-offs, the Ryu ga Gotoku series has characterized itself by the genuine sense of drama in spite of the sporadic humor relief. The team lead by Toshiro Nagoshi has presented nothing but the results of arduous research work causing the series to become known not only as a role model for narrative-driven games, but as one of the finest...
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Videre est Credere: some months after the release of Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3 for the PSP, irem is finally tackling the greater challenge, the development of a full PS3 title with all the investment and hard work that goes with it. Once a great Japanese software-house, irem’s games have achieved some glorification in Japan if they’re largely unknown outside that country. During the...
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Standard Reception 09/10: These are a few of my...
I’ve had a few disappointments of late with videogames. Although I keep my usual routine
regarding the daily acquisition of the latest videogame news which may concern me, I have found little disposition to engage in the usual blogging that has characterized this and my other pages. This marks the end of a cycle of my passion for videogames; but this sudden lack of interest...
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Le vrai chercheur d'amour: JUNKO, d'après Yoshiro...
In all my years as a videogame player and as an investigator, I’ve had the opportunity to contact many of the designers whose work has inspired me the most. Such fortunate fact of my life has also presented me with an opportunity for an improved understanding of the reality of game creation, particularly in Japan, the Mecca of this intricate specialty which is yet to be widely recognized....
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絶体絶命都市4 - do you recognize these kanji?
If you don’t recognize these kanji you better: it is very probable that the newly announced PS3 sequel for the cult-series, known as Disaster Report in the great U.S., might never be released outside Japanese borders. There’s a perfectly sane reason for this, however: here in the west, we don’t seem to think much of these games, which reflects in poor sales of both PS2...