I noticed "Agarest: Generations Of War" up for preorder on GAME (UK retailer) for only £24.99 - that's like a budget title, in PS3 terms. The full price for videogames has been steadily rising over the last few months so normal RRP for a retail PS3 game is about twice that. T_T
It's Agarest Senki, and is going to be published by Ghostlight, subsidiary company of Midas Entertainment. The page for this game on their website doesn't work yet. They have a press release available to read, if you want a look.
As far as I know, this is the only release outside of Japan that the game is getting. Not that it really matters; the PS3 is region free after all.
I wonder if you will still be labelled a hikkikomori for getting the game's platinum trophy.
I don't have high expectations for the game because it's an Idea Factory game, so it's probably best placed as a budget title. Still, SRPG with dating sim elements is probably worth a look...
It comes out in about a month's time.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Momoi Halko in Minon Everyday Hero
Last Friday, I decided to watch the trailer for the wii game "Minon: Everyday Hero", which is out in the UK now.
Minon: Everyday Hero trailer.
It's a game where you run around each stage knocking down dominoes to succeed. It's the sequel to a PS1 game which came out in the UK under the name of "No one can stop Mr Domino". Looks like it could be fun, to a Katamari Damacy obsessed person like me. :D
I noticed that the song playing in the trailer is a Momoi Halko song! This is backed up on this website. The Japanese version of this game is called "Go!Go!Minon" (with Minon written in katakana).
If you want to download a sound effects free MP3 of the song, you'll have to grab it from Nico Nico Douga: http://nicosound.anyap.info/sound/sm527992 because as far as I can see, there is no soundtrack on sale for this game. That surprised me, because the reviews I saw for the game mentioned that there is a lot of licensed jpop in the game.
I didn't find any mention in English on the internet about Momoi singing for this game, so I thought I had better write it up in my blog. :D It's an energetic little 2 minute song.
I've ordered a copy of the game via an online shop but it hasn't arrived yet, so I don't actually know if this song is in the actual game, but according to the videos on youtube it should be. The game isn't out in America and gets pretty mediocre reviews, and I haven't seen it around much so it might never be released there.
BTW Momoi Halko is coming to the UK next month! She's a guest at Ayacon and will be performing live: http://www.ayacon.org.uk/guests. I won't be going; it's just to let you know. ^_^
EDIT: 2009-07-15 20:37pm
My copy arrived and I can confirm that the Momoi song is in the PAL version of the game!
The game features a comically bad dub with voice work like you only ever hear in British cartoons for very very small children. I don't know where they get these people, I don't hear people talking like this in England. -_-; However, every level features cheerful jpop songs, unaltered. ^_^
The Momoi song is in level 4. Pop idol Michiko Momota is giving a secret concert, and her "fans" turn up, but they're all "Oh, she's past it." "I heard she's 10 years older than she says she is" (which made me laugh, thinking that Momoi is a few months older than me - older than Gundam! - she just looks and behaves much younger than she is. When she was in UNDER 17 she was definitely over 17 years old!).
That's a terrible reason to stop liking her! We have to change their minds about Michiko!
While she sings the song, you have to run over the heads of disgruntled fans in the audience to stop them from leaving! It's a hoot.
The song is longer in the game than in the clip I found on NicoNico - the stage is 4 mins 50 seconds long, and there's another verse.
In the PAL version of the game, they call the song something that sounds like "Lalala Lamikus", but in the NicoNico video I found, it was labelled "Galge (Lalala Namida no Totsugeki Lemon Kiss)".
Overall, the game is perhaps taking a bit of getting used to, it is perhaps a little too quirky for its own good and although you can change the camera angles none of them seem very helpful... but it is proving to be amusing! :D
Minon: Everyday Hero trailer.
It's a game where you run around each stage knocking down dominoes to succeed. It's the sequel to a PS1 game which came out in the UK under the name of "No one can stop Mr Domino". Looks like it could be fun, to a Katamari Damacy obsessed person like me. :D
I noticed that the song playing in the trailer is a Momoi Halko song! This is backed up on this website. The Japanese version of this game is called "Go!Go!Minon" (with Minon written in katakana).
If you want to download a sound effects free MP3 of the song, you'll have to grab it from Nico Nico Douga: http://nicosound.anyap.info/sound/sm527992 because as far as I can see, there is no soundtrack on sale for this game. That surprised me, because the reviews I saw for the game mentioned that there is a lot of licensed jpop in the game.
I didn't find any mention in English on the internet about Momoi singing for this game, so I thought I had better write it up in my blog. :D It's an energetic little 2 minute song.
I've ordered a copy of the game via an online shop but it hasn't arrived yet, so I don't actually know if this song is in the actual game, but according to the videos on youtube it should be. The game isn't out in America and gets pretty mediocre reviews, and I haven't seen it around much so it might never be released there.
BTW Momoi Halko is coming to the UK next month! She's a guest at Ayacon and will be performing live: http://www.ayacon.org.uk/guests. I won't be going; it's just to let you know. ^_^
EDIT: 2009-07-15 20:37pm
My copy arrived and I can confirm that the Momoi song is in the PAL version of the game!
The game features a comically bad dub with voice work like you only ever hear in British cartoons for very very small children. I don't know where they get these people, I don't hear people talking like this in England. -_-; However, every level features cheerful jpop songs, unaltered. ^_^
The Momoi song is in level 4. Pop idol Michiko Momota is giving a secret concert, and her "fans" turn up, but they're all "Oh, she's past it." "I heard she's 10 years older than she says she is" (which made me laugh, thinking that Momoi is a few months older than me - older than Gundam! - she just looks and behaves much younger than she is. When she was in UNDER 17 she was definitely over 17 years old!).
That's a terrible reason to stop liking her! We have to change their minds about Michiko!
While she sings the song, you have to run over the heads of disgruntled fans in the audience to stop them from leaving! It's a hoot.
The song is longer in the game than in the clip I found on NicoNico - the stage is 4 mins 50 seconds long, and there's another verse.
In the PAL version of the game, they call the song something that sounds like "Lalala Lamikus", but in the NicoNico video I found, it was labelled "Galge (Lalala Namida no Totsugeki Lemon Kiss)".
Overall, the game is perhaps taking a bit of getting used to, it is perhaps a little too quirky for its own good and although you can change the camera angles none of them seem very helpful... but it is proving to be amusing! :D
The Japanese rape game controversy and getting round website blocking
There was a big hoohah in the news a few weeks ago about some British MP being really offended that 3rd party sellers on Amazon.com were selling copies of the (rather offensive) Rapelay computer game, where players rape women and girls, and, well that's the whole game. Horrific and distasteful and wholly unerotic stuff, imho.
That started a huge controversy, and the initial outcome was that one of the main videogame ratings bodies (EOCS) decided to ban games from having "rape" in the title, as well as banning games containing mostly rape. Hooray! This stopped Rapelay from being sold, and other knock-on positive effects are:
* Rape victims really suffer in Japan as it's not seen as a terrible crime, and the victims are not given much help, and are stigmatised. I read some articles citing government reports saying that although the official crime rate of rape appears low, estimates are that 10 times as many rapes are unreported. It's a really bad problem there. A lot of these games trivialise rape (e.g. "that was a surprise!" then they go about their normal life), and/or show women appearing to have really enjoyed it when it's over, so it's good to stop the positive reinforcement of rape that these games give.
* Rape has become a worn-out cliché of the adult-only erotic game genre in Japan, and there are often a lot of unavoidable rape scenes in games. I am thinking that maybe if makers are forced to stop using boring old rape scenes, they might be forced to dream up new pleasing erotic content using only consenting adults, and attract a bigger and more mainstream audience. I know that when a PC erogame proves popular enough to warrant a mainstream release, all sex scenes are removed for a home console version. I'm thinking that if erogames became less extreme in content they might appeal to more people, and if they clean themselves up they won't have such a bad reputation. So I'm thinking that in the long run, the industry could actually benefit from this action.
However, the controversy continued beyond the subject of rape and some online shops decided to stop selling certain games with other types of extreme sexual content, and it's all still a hot topic and various other things could stop being permitted by the two main ratings bodies.
One way that a few Japanese game companies have decided to react is to block all access to their official websites by all people outside of Japan. Instead, we get holding pages telling us to go away, or perhaps write to the Japanese government in support of erogames. Unfortunately, this action is even being taken by some companies which don't make or sell extreme pornographic games. This is highly annoying, as an official website is often the only (reliable) place to find information about games, and it appears to be nothing but an unhelpful xenophobic overreaction.
If you want to get round the blocks to Japanese websites, use this intermediate website to access them: http://www.ijapan.org/red/
That started a huge controversy, and the initial outcome was that one of the main videogame ratings bodies (EOCS) decided to ban games from having "rape" in the title, as well as banning games containing mostly rape. Hooray! This stopped Rapelay from being sold, and other knock-on positive effects are:
* Rape victims really suffer in Japan as it's not seen as a terrible crime, and the victims are not given much help, and are stigmatised. I read some articles citing government reports saying that although the official crime rate of rape appears low, estimates are that 10 times as many rapes are unreported. It's a really bad problem there. A lot of these games trivialise rape (e.g. "that was a surprise!" then they go about their normal life), and/or show women appearing to have really enjoyed it when it's over, so it's good to stop the positive reinforcement of rape that these games give.
* Rape has become a worn-out cliché of the adult-only erotic game genre in Japan, and there are often a lot of unavoidable rape scenes in games. I am thinking that maybe if makers are forced to stop using boring old rape scenes, they might be forced to dream up new pleasing erotic content using only consenting adults, and attract a bigger and more mainstream audience. I know that when a PC erogame proves popular enough to warrant a mainstream release, all sex scenes are removed for a home console version. I'm thinking that if erogames became less extreme in content they might appeal to more people, and if they clean themselves up they won't have such a bad reputation. So I'm thinking that in the long run, the industry could actually benefit from this action.
However, the controversy continued beyond the subject of rape and some online shops decided to stop selling certain games with other types of extreme sexual content, and it's all still a hot topic and various other things could stop being permitted by the two main ratings bodies.
One way that a few Japanese game companies have decided to react is to block all access to their official websites by all people outside of Japan. Instead, we get holding pages telling us to go away, or perhaps write to the Japanese government in support of erogames. Unfortunately, this action is even being taken by some companies which don't make or sell extreme pornographic games. This is highly annoying, as an official website is often the only (reliable) place to find information about games, and it appears to be nothing but an unhelpful xenophobic overreaction.
If you want to get round the blocks to Japanese websites, use this intermediate website to access them: http://www.ijapan.org/red/
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