Saturday, April 30, 2005 @ 21:13 (Japan Standard Time)
About

A hobbyist video gamer in the middle of Japan's gaming zone. Comments on console, PC, handheld and arcade games.
On this page

2005-04-30 Sat

Ibara watercolor

Figure, round two, coming in July.

Waiting for the secure PSP

2005-04-29 Fri

Web site design update: more putzing around

Tanomu yo, tanomi!

Region free games for the Xbox

Eureka Seven at my train stop

2005-04-25 Mon

Web site design update: Easy to digest archive parts.

"Are you ready for a new sensation?"

Mon day off kilter.

2005-04-24 Sun

HRAP-SP and Mushihime-sama redone

2005-04-23 Sat

Nomltest FS: "Eat" at Nomltest

moette ikou ne!: Infatuation quantified

Nintendogs is for the dogs.

Juggling the beats

2005-04-22 Fri

Late in the "linkie" game

2005-04-21 Thu

Play it again, George (Winston)

Wishing I could be that tree stump

Revenge of the consoles!

2005-04-19 Tue

Xbox needs some loving, Hello Kitty!

I'm locked out! (part 3)

2005-04-17 Sun

Parsec47, just messing around

Unyaa? orz? version?

disinterest

2005-04-16 Sat

Clock synchronization

2005-04-13 Wed

I'm locked out! (part 2)

Is Jak coming at all?

2005-04-12 Tue

Shock, revisited

I'm locked out!

2005-04-09 Sat

Need a friend for Touhou two player

Sakura Promenade in full bloom

enryo: Taking stock of what I got.

Joystick comparison 2005/04

Countdown to pre-order

Now I need shelves

2005-04-07 Thu

Why can't you bloom in the daytime?

2005-04-04 Mon

Speaking in quips

2005-04-02 Sat

Replay heaven

2005-04-01 Fri

Recovering Hello Kitty addict

Around the gaming world... desensitized

Gaming costumes, gaming remakes (no cosplay)

Official site opens for Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse

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Ibara watercolor

Now surely this isn't water color, but I like this guy's drawing(?)/painting(?) style. Ibara by Kei-Garou (KEI画廊), moved to draw because Arcadia Magazine said so. Check out the rest of his/her site, but be warned: some nudity, some killer drags on cigarettes. But all water color like! And game related, really.

Figure, round two, coming in July.

I've heard the news everywhere except from Weekly Famitsu, which I haven't bother to purchase yet. Mushihime-sama, PlayStation 2, figure, coming to you 2005/07/21 (thanks Majoria's News 2005/04/28, Click Stick, Insert Credit, Game Watch, Gpara). Of course, I'll be keeping my eye on the omake figure version. No pictures yet, though. Well, maybe since it's going to be the child version of Reko, we can place it on the tree stump? I am worried about the speed of the game, though (due to the rumor that PS2 may be underpowered for this game). Can the PS2 handle it?

Waiting for the secure PSP

Unlike the lot of you, I haven't got a PSP yet. Not that I don't have enough to game. But it looks that even the wireless LAN security critics have a bone to pick with the shoddy wireless security in the PSP (thanks George Ou ZDnet Blogs). I wonder if this could be fixed in software? If I bought a PSP, it would be start of my own wireless network at home. And, I heard that geek guys are forced to the wireless solution when they get "married".

Web site design update: more putzing around

Another technical update, feel free to tune out.

I played around some more with this site. I added titles to the untitled posts in the early 2001 and 2002.

I have improved the changed page detection so I don't have to upload everything when I write one log, and I checked in those scripts into my Subversion directory.

Now I need to fix the layout and change the name of the "gaming log" into something that reflects what I've been recently posting. Got any good names?

Tanomu yo, tanomi!

On Wednesday I got an email from tanomi.com about their newest replay DVD, "The Starting Over Hyper Street Fighter II". It seems to come with "Street Fighter II remix tracks" soundtrack CD by Jin Sakimoto (崎元仁) and guide book by "Foo助" who seems to be a Street Fighter IIX All-Japan Tournament Gamest Cup winner. 6090 yen coming soon on 2005/06/30. Hyper? At least this version is going to fast paced.

I did buy their other DVDs, "The Onslaught Raiden Fighters" and "The Madness Battle Garegga". Hm. I guess this would be good time to watch them.

Region free games for the Xbox

Jiji of namakoteam told me about a list of region free Xbox games. On that list I see Unreal Championship 2: Liandri Conflict. I want it, heh.

Eureka Seven at my train stop

I recently got into the anime Eureka Seven: Psalms of Planets (交響詩篇エウレカセベン) and I am totally taken into the story and music and setting. According to the director, this is "Philosophy Fiction" anime (「21世紀の新感覚PFロボットアニメーション」). Air surfing!? Transforming mecha (wheeled thingys to air surfing robots)!?! What's up with all that strange technology? Gundam has nothing on this. How about avoiding missles using surfer moves? Fresh! I love the opening music, "Days" by Flow. I can't get that song out of my head. Ack the single will be sold in one more month?! I can't wait that long!

By chance I saw at my major train stop Hankyuu Sannomiya train station was selling some related goods. I bought a train ticket card "Lagare" with this design:

 

Basically it's an advertisement campaign to get people (um, kids) to use their train system during Golden Week (which just started). You can buy this "Lagare" card for 2000 yen, then with this booklet, get ink stamps from 3 of 4 Hankyuu main train stops, to obtain a original sticker sheet. The 4 Hankyuu train stops are Umeda with Renton character ink stamp, Sannomiya with Eureka, Takarazuka with Holland, and Katsura with Nirvash. Not that I'm going to actually run around to these places. But, I got the general "Lagare" ticket, now I gotta go and collect child "Lagare" ticket. No, I'm not going to use them. Heh.

Web site design update: Easy to digest archive parts.

Here's a "technical" update, feel free to ignore.

I made a change to the way my archives are rendered. Instead of forcing you to load say, the whole 2004 year of comments in one web page, which would probably be at least 1 meg of memory, I broke the archive up into monthly chunks, so you get 2005/04 in 50KB in text and whatever graphics load it is for that month, for instance. This makes it easier to load the pages and it also makes it easier to link to a page or article. Sorry I broke page links, but it's not like anyone is linking to me. If you are, if you'd like use the "dot" next to the date on the upper right next to the date as the reference link.

That also means I needed to change the way I internally link from my log entries. Luckily for me I only reference my own blog 36 times. I have to change those links manually. Heh. I am dumb. Wait I usually link my log entries from forums. Ugh, I am double-dumb. What I need is process that extracts all the possible link references and puts it in the archive-200x.htm as a jump link or something. Ah, I'll fight this another day.

I feel like I am continuing to re-invent blog.soft 0.4. So much for design.

"Are you ready for a new sensation?"

Did all y'all get the Rumble Roses sound track? I'm sitting here listening to "Yankee Rose" with the damaged voice Teresa and enjoying the lyrics, supremely.

"Whoa. She's beautiful! I'm talking about a Yankee Rose! Woo, and she looks wild! Wild! Wild!"

Isn't this song a remake of some '80s song? Ah yeah, the Internet is the modern-day oracle. David Lee Roth's hit was "A tribute to the Statue Of Liberty in New York. It was released around the time the statue was being renovated." if you believe this page.

Well this time it sounds better with a woman singing about women. Yup.

Mon day off kilter.

I took the day off for some personal matters and in the afternoon I checked some items. I asked the lady at the Tora no Ana counter if that Hakurei Reitaisai "Touhou/Zun" convention pamphlet will be coming and she didn't answer me correctly until after I left the store. Sheesh learn how to do your job. The final answer is that it will be arriving in stores this week, so I don't have to go to any store in Tokyo to get it. Lately I've been thinking that I do have the energy to go to this convention. Before I didn't feel up to it, so I blew it off.

In any case, keep your eyes peeled on those Yahoo Auctions (Japan). The first couple of days after the convention, the latest "Touhou" game demo CD will be for sale at gouging prices (10x or more?), probably 5000 yen or more. Count on it. In fact, you can check it yourself with this Yahoo Auction RSS link which is merely a search for the keyword 「東方花映塚」. There's nothing at the moment, though. (Yahoo Auctions fills my Bloglines account with lots of interesting things to snipe. Use the technology. Heheh.)

I saw in a mom & pop video game store that Chrono Trigger is a PSOne Books re-release game. Well, this has been out for so long I never thought to look there. I guess it pays to check out an online reference like Playstation.com to see if things are available and in a re-release format. I'll get it later when it's Golden Week.

Anzu Hatsushima from Hatsukoi First Kiss: Gamers omake telephone cardAt the Gamers store I saw that Hatsukoi First Kiss for the PlayStation 2 (official site) had a flyer and a pre-order slip already made up. Hm, Sofmap has the same thing. Which one to get? Did you know that some stores give you different omake even for the same product? I expect Sofmap's omake to be different than Gamers. It's probably going to be a picture of one of the characters on a telephone card. Gamers will have Anzu on their telephone card, as shown on the right. This is the moe that I am talking about, yes sir. Since there are five characters, it stands to reason that five different chain stores will have five different omake. Doesn't this make completist (hehehe) fans frustrated? It sure does, I imagine.

I just want to mention one last thing. This is distressing news, sorry. There was a terrifying train wreck in my area today, with at latest counts 50 dead, 400 injured. Japan trains have the (worldwide?) reputation for being fast, timely, and safe. This accident will send shock waves to those complacent with current safety measures. In fact, one policeman from the local koban stopped by my place to collect some next-of-kin information, after 5 years of living here without a peep from them. My sincerest condolences to those affected.

HRAP-SP and Mushihime-sama redone

After that long spin with a new PC-based shmup on a Sega Saturn-style USB controller yesterday, I figured I should have tried out my joystick I got, oh 20 days ago. Here's a picture of a fresh unpack of the Hori Real Arcade Pro "Special Edition", or HRAP-SP.

Here you see the Dreamcast Arcade Stick in comparison. Notice the joystick is placed closer to the buttons. I don't know who benefits from that, except maybe those two-handed-two-ship players.

Right above the joystick I placed the "Haitenai Densetsu" Mushihime-sama arrange CD soundtrack which was released today at the "Comic Revolution37 FINAL" convention. I didn't go, I just bought it at the local doujin store, Tora no ana. Nice guitar stuff, but pretty average.

Back to the joystick. It works well enough in games like Warning Forever and Banshiryu, but it doesn't work in the games I want to play, Parsec47 and Nomltest. Why is that? Is it my USB converter? It is recognized as a "4 axis 12 button joystick with hat switch", while my durable Sega Saturn-style USB controller is a "USB Gamepad". Ah, I feel the buyer's remorse!

So what can I do? I sure would like to use it on the games I like to play, but it's not recognized. Is there some kind of driver or better converter out there?

Nomltest FS: "Eat" at Nomltest

Found a new game while perusing the Shmupsforum hi-score threads. Nomltest FS 1.0.1. Started this game at 3PM. Played until 11PM. Wow. This game is damn good! I like buzz/graze shmups. Now I found a new term for it, "eat". I posted my score at the forum.

piyo - 761 900 - 110 - 857 - Sega Saturn style USB controller.

Yup. Fun. Definately "eat" grazing is the bomb. And this game has no bombs. Wow.

moette ikou ne!: Infatuation quantified

The following article points describes my recent infatuated postings on figures and alarm clocks and telephone cards and the like. Click Stick (a shmup gaming site, right?) had a non-shmup article link to "The Moe Market: Publications, Visual Media and Games Measure to a Scale of 88,800,000,000 yen" (thanks Click Stick (2005-04-20), Akidot and MSN-Mainichi), which describes the big boom for anime characters who implore you to get infatuated with them. Moe (萌え) is the term for that infatuated state towards the animated cute, whether in the video game, anime, or manga market. I don't think it's applied to animated pr0n, though.

To me, the seminal moe example is Sister Princess, a comic-turned-anime and video game where the main character "inherits" 12 younger sisters, all with a different personality and style. In other words, there's a moe character for every type of viewer. Another one, is arguably the original and only, Hello Kitty. She has personality and style, but no story. (Arguably, because I can't find any other guy who would buy stuff with her, and girls do not use the word moe for their infatuation.)

I bet this is what businesses like Cave have been banking on. Guys like challenge but they want sex appeal. Notice how all the games recently out from Cave have unneeded sexual atmosphere? So what if you're Reko (15 years old! in a sailor suit! and she's not wearing any underwear! oh my!) on a giant bug shooting and dodging purple bullets? Your character is thumb-sized in-game and you're supposed to moe over the still cut-scene or the extra goods like the soundtrack + figure? In my case it worked, I'm a sucker, ugh. Just as another example, all the fighting games have a moe-able character or two. Chun-Li is a prime example.

Point cards from various character entertainment shops

I welcome this change in the animated entertainment market. In fact I'm voting for it with my yen right now, as are other like minded young men. I spend my money at character entertainment shops like Gamers (famous for Di Gi Charat and Galaxy Angel goods). The above are my store "point" cards. Consider for the Gamers point card, 1 point means 1000 yen spent. Right now there's a campaign for a special Vanilla H alarm clock if I spend some money at Gamers. Heh, I want it.

A picture of Vanilla H from Galaxy Angel

Are we're losing stuff like Studio Ghibli / Hayao Miyazaki anime in favor of anime harems of cute bimbos with the perfect combo three-sizes or the perfect imouto (younger sister) personalities? Well it's not that bad. We still have Ghibli stuff (which cannot be moe-able) as the anchor. But what depths will this moe phenomenon take us? And how will it affect our beloved video games?

Nintendogs is for the dogs.

I tried out Nintendogs for the Nintendo DS at a shop kiosk just yesterday and while I kind of like the idea of having cute dogs at your beck and call, it really didn't feel like a game I'd want to play for longer than 10 minutes. For one thing, the dogs are predictable when I was playing fetch or balloons. Another thing is that it seems to bring out my Dark Side. There's this one point where you can give the dogs a bowl of water with just a tap. What happens when you tap again? Well, the bowl disappears. The dogs give you this don't-mess-with-me-um? look when you start the flickering water bowl trick. Dark Side! Or how about the jump rope thing? I was just trying to whip one of the dogs trying to jump in. Dark Side! There's a toy chest but where are the darts?!? Dark Side!

Sorry. I thought my Dark Side only comes out on games like Grand Theft Auto 3 or Unreal Tournament 2004.

How about a game with cats? Naw that will never work, cats are way smarter than dogs. Ever heard of playing fetch with a cat? Cats stick it to the Man.

Juggling the beats

I've never seen people do really good with DDR in person, only on video. But this video is hardcore. (Thanks Kotaku). Juggling while stomping his feet. Damn kids these days. Give this guy a baton and see if he can march?

Late in the "linkie" game

This Reco figure is making rounds across the Internet. Admittedly I'm late in the "game", and I handicap myself by looking at only English sites. Click-stick recently linked to me about the figure, but of course more titillating shots were discovered and linked from Click-stick's news site, even before I got my camera lens on my copy.

Think different. Think, up skirt.

I just noticed that I misspell this character's name. It's Reco, not Rico. Or is it Reko, not Riko?

Play it again, George (Winston)

So what, gaming isn't the only thing I dig. (Sure figures are in there too, but that last post was enough for one day). I love going to concerts. I saw from a flyer that the humble yet awe-inspiringly talented piano man, George Winston, who probably single-handedly catapulted Windham Hill Records into the public consciousness, will grace my town next month. I ordered a ticket only hours after seeing the poster. Watching even just the Seasons in Concert DVD (1996) is magical, and with George Winston live, it will be euphoric.

George Winston 2005/05 Concert Poster

Can you imagine if George Winston paired with any game music artists, like Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame? That would totally... Wait a minute, it is really oil and water, isn't it? Perhaps others can explain it better, but even I think that game music is just for pushing the emotion buttons in your mind for the upcoming cut scene, next plot twist, or action sequence. But! George Winston crafts his music with emotion. Yeah, sure it still pushes your buttons, but it's not blunt, it's not pointed, it's not thrusting.

Maybe the value judgement isn't fair. I have more game music than "George Winston" genre so perhaps I'm being hypocritical.

Wishing I could be that tree stump

Ordered it on Tuesday, came on Thursday. They have this shipping stuff down... Yes, my copy of the Mushihime-sama soundtrack and The Figure arrived C.O.D. without incident. Here I'm looking for the perfect face shot of Rico. Damn I dig purple hair just like I dig the purple bullets, ha ha.

Mushihime-sama figure that comes with official soundtrack

The camera flash was killing the picture, so I used a mirror to try to illuminate the face. Unfortunately I read from a friend's blog that it's better to have diffuse lighting so that the shadows aren't sharp. Does that mean I need a diffuse mirror? In other words, a highly reflective piece of paper? Huh. Great I just thought about that right now.

You can't remove her from the tree stump, and why would you want to? This figure actually has pretty captivating eyes, IMHO. I'm going to place this figure on the computer shelf that's level with my eye. Yeah. If you want to see more pictures, go to Ojakan's blog.

There was a flyer on the outside of the box hinting about a puzzle game based on Mushihime-sama. Cave and puzzle games? Photo jigsaw puzzles? Naw, Cave is an arcade developer. Hm. Rumors will fly.

Wait I forgot something. Oh yeah! Where are the bugs?

Revenge of the consoles!

Okay, so I just saw it now, even though it's been out for two or three weeks. Somebody re-made the Final Fantasy VI ending, but with game consoles as the characters. (Thanks Joystiq!) Of course in Japanese and English. Hilarious! Boring! It's both!

Xbox needs some loving, Hello Kitty!

I saw that Joystiq collected some reviews on Unreal Championship 2 for the Xbox. Hm, the IGN review seems to be appealing to the "FPS are dead on consoles" nay-sayers like me. I wanted to see if there was an Asian (Japan Xbox playable) version available. Then I see this... Hello Kitty Mission Rescue for the Xbox. I can't believe it.

I'm locked out! (part 3)

I am now 9728 yen poorer. I was able to order the Mushihime-sama official soundtrack with The Figure. My purchase number is -not shown-. As with all limited edition orders, the site was extremely slow. I got my order in at 9 minutes after it opened. So I guess I'm not locked out anyway.

Parsec47, just messing around

Scored 10,697,620 level 96 in Practice, lock mode. I thought I could last forever. Heh.

BTW, I've been doing this for three weeks, but try using window mode and maximizing the window. OMG XVGA goodness. What does Parsec47 look like at 1600x1200? I can only dream at how razor-sharp the lines are. Heh.

Unyaa? orz? version?

I tried Omega's Unyaa Proximo - orz version 411 shmup game during a work break. As a game it is totally unfinished, but at least all the artwork is there. I don't know, you'd think after 10 minutes of playing it it would at least try to kill me? (Thanks Insert Credit)

disinterest

Just as I dismissed the Trizeal Dreamcast game in the store, I saw the 3 stage replay videos collected by Millenium Crisis (thanks Insert Credit) and confirmed my disinterest. The bullet spray isn't very interesting to me. Is this game the last shmup hurrah for the Dreamcast?

Clock synchronization

Time for something extra, well something not really related with games. I did character figures, now let's do alarm clocks. The Rozen Maiden themed alarm clock I ordered finally came in after 4 months of waiting, so I collected all the cute clocks I had for some clock pr0n. (Um?)

Hello Kitty clock and Tokimeki Memorial 3 (PS2) clock

First off we must start any collection of anything cute with Hello Kitty on the left. I only recognize some of the twelve faces here. Let's see, from 12 o'clock there's Kitty, Keroppi, unknown (Twinkle Little Stars A?), Melody (?), Pochoco (sp?), unknown, unknown, Batzu-Maru (sp?), Ahiru no Pekkle, unknown (Twinkle Little Stars B?), unknown, and unknown. I use this clock next to my computer for just decoration. Oh yeah, I got this clock as a gift from a old girlfriend, but she told me the Chinese superstition that giving clocks as gifts is bad luck. Is it bad luck for the giver or the receiver? Obviously, in this case, it's both.

On the right, we have Tokimeki Memorial 3 "Santa Makihara" version. This is the clock that I believe I got from pre-ordering the PS2 game at Sofmap. It's a sturdy clock (well relatively sturdy for character clocks) that I used in my kitchen, but now I am going to set it to United States/Pacific Daylight Savings Time (US/PDT -0800) for keeping tabs on the homies back home. When you set the alarm, Yukiko Makihara's voice (voice actress Akemi Kanda (神田朱未)) urges you to wake up. I recently bought an old 2003 CD Akemi Kanda for 40% off and it was so-so.

Of course, for real time keeping I depend on this Casio calculator. This little guy is more accurate than my PCs' clock, even with NTP. Why is that?

Rozen Maiden official clock with Setting book

Now we come to the Rozen Maiden alarm clock, which I pre-ordered at Comic Market 67 (December 2004). Notice how it has silver bells but there is no hammer. Yes, this is another voice alarm clock! This time three characters, Shinku, Hina-ichigo and Suiseiseki prod you out of bed with their famous lines. I'm at a lost as to which one is my favorite, but it would probably be Hina-Ichigo's line at the moment. Hina-Ichigo is played by the currently hot voice actress, Sakura Nogawa (野川さくら). The volume is so loud, I feel embarassed to play it in my room at all. It comes in a box on the left. Also, I ordered the setting book behind the clock at the same time, so I might as well show it here. I will use this clock in the kitchen.

Rozen Maiden next to a Mao-chan clock

Next, Shinku is keeping the watch over the three self-defense force school kids from the anime Rikujyou Bouetai Mao-chan (陸上防衛隊まおちゃん). This one is from the special edition of the DVD set 1. This one doesn't have any voice alarm, and because it uses a hammer, it feels more hefty and sturdy than any of the other clocks here. Okay, so this TV anime has a video game, but I really don't feel like looking at a PlayStation 1 game right now. This one is another kitchen clock.

Ayu Daikuuji from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (anime)

Here's a modern clock design with Ayu Daikuuji from the game Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (君が望 む永遠) in her Sky Temple waitress uniform. I really dig the anime character design instead of the PS2 (and PC) game character design. There are three voice alarm phrases, two of them in her normal "irate" voice and one in her "perfect princess" voice. Personally I like the "irate" don't-mess-with-me voice better. I don't use this clock right now.

Finally we come back to something that originated from a video game, the Neneko wall clock from the PS2 game Yumeria.  I got this at Comic Market 65, I think. This one doesn't have an alarm or anything. Actually it came disassembled. I didn't put the second hand, not as if you can see it at this level. I really don't need anymore clocks, but I suppose I should put it my extra room which has no clock. Here's a zoom in on Neneko's face, isn't she cute? I suppose this is specially rendered.

Close up of Neneko's face

And there it is, games intersecting with clocks. You'd think that with clocks being mechanical thingies I would have some mecha stuff, but I just don't dig that. Just another gimmick to intice you to buy more games. Heheh.

I'm locked out! (part 2)

I tried asking my friends if they had a keitai (cell phone) that could access that Mushihime-sama Soundtrack pre-order site, and it turns out my Japanese language teacher (who looks like an elegant Aiko, BTW) has the hot rod I-appli phone. After begging and pleading to order through her keitai, I saw that the pre-orders for members were closed already. WTF? Ugh. I can't even order it now, I really have to brave the web "storm" on Tuesday.

While I had my hot mitts on the I-appli keitai (which was a 505 series, IIRC), I tried out a demo version of Dodonpachi (怒首領蜂大往生DX). While it didn't have the gadzillion of bullets I expect from an arcade game, it was pretty true to form, except I hated using the directional pad. Totally bad feel. It had auto fire, yeah. I'm still not convinced about shmups on a cell phone, yet.

Is Jak coming at all?

Another game in the pipeline for the Jak and Daxter series for the PS2 called Jak X: Combat Racing (thanks Joystiq). That's all well and good, but how about Jak 3? Is it ever going to come to Japan? I'm feeling a little deprived here. I gave up on the search terms. It seems like there's no news, and no news is bad news. I want this game, and it's been out for more than 6 months now. I saw it in Europe one month ago. Where is it?

Shock, revisited

I spent the weekend playing Unreal Tournament 2004 like an addict. It's strange, it's as if I've never left and at the same time, so many things have changed. Most of the servers I frequent are still there, and some of the same people are there. But the strategies are more refined now. It's somewhat easier to find a great game of ONS. There was this horendously great nail-biting game of ONS-Primeval 3 on 3. Actually the one bot they had was kicking my ass. ONS-Torlan is probably the only map being played more that CTF-Face. People actually know the opening moves down by heart. Anybody riding in the Manta or the Raptor goes to the first node, and anybody riding in the truck thing goes to the middle node.

In between the times of gaming action I refilled on that No Escape 2 video (interview?). Amazing stuff there. Not the rails but the enemy position prediction. My favorite by far is the one where the guy hears the opponent coming around the corner (sight unseen!) and does a shock combo while falling away diagonally. Excellent stuff.

I'm locked out!

I tried pre-ordering that Cave Mushihime-sama soundtrack at the cellphone site Gensen Yokochou (げーせん横丁) but my cellphone can't run the games at their site, and it's a membership site so I couldn't order it. I guess I need to pre-order the normal way on the web next week Tuesday at 18:00. Kinda frustrating... Why do they do that? To gauge how many people are using their cellphone services?

Need a friend for Touhou two player

Another game for the Touhou series, Touhou Kaeitzuka - Phantasmagoria of Flower View (東方花映塚) (thanks Shrine Maiden and Insert Credit). Now it's a two player side-by-side competition shmup, in the same vein as Twinkle Star Sprites and Kioh-Gyoku (稀翁玉). The latter is interesting (and I've said this somewhere on the net countless times before) because this game's music is also done by Zun of Shanghai Alice. Look up this game, I implore you. It's a great game in its own right. More PC shmups equals more joystick goodness!

Personally I'm not going to Tokyo just to get a demo version. It's just too much hassle and besides, I didn't actually play the demo plus CD-ROM I got last year.

Sakura Promenade in full bloom

Time for real sakura. Not anime characters, not games. Flowers.

Sakura in full bloom, close up

I live near the "Sakura Tunnel", now called the Sakura Promenade, according to a new sign.

Sakura Promenade sign

Sakura Tunnel: Sakura Promenade. One of the famous Sakura spots of Nada Ward. 70 large Someiyoshino (Prunus yedoensis) trees line the incline road running south to north on both sides. During the first week of April, the flowers bloom and create the illusion of a tunnel of Sakura, hence the name.
In recent years, some of the trees have been removed, so the illusion is wavering. But it still attracts the camera-happy. One thing they should do is close the road. The cars running down the hill destroy the illusion and forcibly remind me of the hurry-up-and-wait convenient Japanese lifestyle.

A view from the top.

enryo: Taking stock of what I got.

I didn't buy Trizeal or Spikeout Street or Psikyo Shooting Collection 3 when I went to my local electronics shop. I guess I have enough games right now. Besides, it's the start of another anime season in Japan (Ichigo 100% Thank you!) and Star Trek: Voyager DVD set is coming along just fine. Oh, and I'm back playing online Unreal Tournament 2004.

Actually, I've been feeling pulled apart at the seams, at work and at play. Call it the onset of a mid-life crisis? Maybe I need this: (thanks Engadget)

Mute! Portable Karaoke

I am seriously considering ordering this. It's as if in my profile I have this entry:

趣味: 歌うこと(近所迷惑!)(Hobby: Singing (neighborhood troublemaker!))

Joystick comparison 2005/04

Watch Impress has a special comparative feature about PlayStation 1 joysticks. (Thanks jiji/namako team). I suppose I need to read this in-depth since that Hori Real Arcade Pro (Special Ed.) I ordered in February has been sitting in the corner of my room unopened for about a week now. Ha.

Countdown to pre-order

You know that CD soundtrack for the Cave arcade game Mushihime-sama? Well it seems that there's a mock commercial on the web site. (Thanks jiji/namako team). Now that I think about it, I really want that figure (hehehe), but if the music is anything like that mock commercial, it will be the ugh.

Figure that comes with Cave Official Soundtrack for

Information on how to order it for Japan residents is on the Watch Impress news article. Only 3 more days to get a subscription in order to order? Damn schemes.

Now I need shelves

My room is approaching this. Well, in my dreams. It's pictures of an elegantly themed room filled with '80s console items. (Thanks joystiq)

Why can't you bloom in the daytime?

Sakura trees are blooming. Here's a night shot:

Sakura at night 2005/04/07

Someone told me about a little mode called "Invasion" in Unreal Tournament 2004. Heh, I never knew that.

Speaking in quips

Saw the Psikyo Shooting Collection 2 game going for 3000 yen, so I will wait for Psikyo Shooting Collection 3 to get cheaper. There didn't seem to be any omake.

Saw the Gigawing Generations. I don't like the GigaWing shield thing so I passed on it. There didn't seem to be any omake on it so one less thing to worry about.

Found the Rumble Roses soundtrack. Yeah. Great. But the packaging is big but mostly air. Why can't the make it a standard CD size?

Went searching for a Chrono Trigger PSX version. I couldn't find it in three shops. Ugh. I gotta check Yahoo Auctions for a sample price.

Couldn't find Spikeout Battle Street. Where is it? Is it being sold?

My hori joystick came in. Big ass box. Ugh I'll take a picture later.

Replay heaven

Compare a RSS feed to whispers on the wind? I didn't think so. Radiant Silvergun replay for the Sega Saturn by Ben Shinobi. Still this replay is very fun to watch, unlike that "swordplay" where the sheer impossibility of skill bores me to death.

Recovering Hello Kitty addict

Hello Kitty is cute. Hello Kitty is subtle. You gotta get all the cute goods and ... argh! Addiction flash back! Sorry. Well let's not forget Hello Kitty iPod mini (I was almost there) and the Hello Kitty Sega Dreamcast (I've got two.) Now she hasn't said a word, but she's apparently now a spokesmodel for a special Asian Xbox (thanks Engadget). Too bad you can only get her as part of a television bundle. This is probably the closest I can get to it (pictures). Personally this design is not pink enough. The controller is crystal white, not pink!? Lame, only gets two stars on my kawaii chart.

Box art for Hello Kitty Xbox (Singapore) Console art for Hello Kitty Xbox (Singapore)

Around the gaming world... desensitized

Here's a more linkblog like entry. Gotta close these browser tabs.

Water Cooler Games does more than just review Lumines by comparing it to the block design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Is this anything like those ink-blot tests that some nameless test subject does in a Matrix-green-lighted padded room?

My friend's friend works for this game company, Radical Entertainment. It was interesting to hear said friend worked on The Simpsons: Hit and Run vocal talent management. Way cool.

Meet a real-life video game music professional who doesn't really play games! Allen Vizzutti confesses that he doesn't drop his standards just because it's game music he's playing (thanks Kotaku). This article is a motivational piece for young orchestra hopefuls, but hey, it's the beat of the game music world.

Do you mistake the map for the terrain? The Online Video Game Atlas (thanks Kotaku) condenses nostalgia into megapixel panorama. The first game I checked out was Prince of Persia for the PC. It is nothing like what I remembered for the Super Nintendo version.

That Joystiq entry with a picture of a supposedly bullet-riddled no-name no-face enemy sliding face first against a wall had the same emotional impact as that soccer girl land mine commercial to me. As far as video game violence is concerned, I explore that dark side, for example, mutilating polygon bodies with my crowbar, until it gets old and tired. Ugh. No more needless displays of violence, please. I'm too desensitized as it is.

Gaming costumes, gaming remakes (no cosplay)

I decided to add these gaming-related sites to my blogroll crawl: The Gamestylist and Costume GET! Both are by Wataru Maruyama, a (former?) gaming magazine editor, according to Insert Credit. I especially like the theme of Costume GET!, and I hope he branches out to do figures.

Official site opens for Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse

I saw it first in this week's Famitsu, and then Insert Credit was on it. Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse website is open now, with a great Flash intro. I was expecting some sound, though. For you seiyuu fans, make sure you click the event link to read about the after recording report with Shizuka Nagatanikawa (長谷川静香)and Ai Shimizu (清水愛).

Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princesse interview with Nagatanikawa and Shimizu

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