Gaming for Smart People
Despite living in the Osaka area for almost three years, I have had the chance to do a full tour of Den Den Town, the pride and joy of the Kansai geek community. Many gamers know about Tokyo’s Akihabara, but there is little awareness when it comes to Den Den Town, its little brother.
On Thursday night, Josh from Prolofeed and myself had ourselves a short Street Fighter IV shindig online. We tend to be of equal ability in most fighting games, so often times we play against each other in an unending string of matches for hours, usually finishing off with a rather even score of wins and losses.
As per usual, we kicked on Street Fighter IV, and proceeded to try each of the characters in the roster, often returning to our mainstay characters for serious matches. When I finally decided to bite the bullet and choose series goofball Dan, Josh chose Gouken.
Continue reading ‘Sneak Peek: Home Rewards in Street Fighter IV’
My head hurts and my stomach is empty. It’s nine o’ clock in the morning and everyone seems a lot more awake than me. I finally get to the front of the line for the play I wanted to see, only to find out it has been sold out for almost two months. My friend and I walk to Denny’s for a pick-me-up breakfast, both of us despondent and still feeling the effects of the party the night before.
When I finally finish my grilled cheese sandwich and scrambled eggs, I mutter to myself “Well, at least Street Fighter IV comes out tomorrow.” My friend says nothing and we continue eating. It was not a great start to the day.
Continue reading ‘Rivalries Reborn: Where do Fighters go from here?’
After a failed attempt to pick up From Software’s Demon’s Souls yesterday, I walked around the store for a few minutes to see if anything had released in the last week that was worth picking up. On my way out, I happened upon a bargain bin full of limited editions of past games that they were liquidating to make space for new stock.
Among them I found Hanjuku Hero vs. 3D, a Square Enix developed Real Time Strategy game for the Playstation 2, which released in 2003. In the spirit of silly unboxing videos on various gaming sites, I thought a strange game like Hanjuku Hero deserves the same kind of attention. This is the first in hopefully an ongoing series of videos that will accompany the writing on HDRL.
Continue reading ‘Junk Pile Clean Up and HDRL TV: Hanjuku Hero vs. 3D’
I’m not quite sure what happened. The DS has been my mobile platform of choice for close to 4 years now. I dust off my PSP once in a while to play Square Enix’s new releases, but when I’m on the road, I usually play my DS. I usually have my headphones on, and I listen to my weekly podcasts or some music while my DS plays away happily on mute.
I’m not sure when it began. It didn’t begin when I got my 16GB iPod Touch for Christmas this past year. It certainly wasn’t when I finally got home to Japan and connected it to the internet for the first time. What then, was the catalyst? Likely, it was the input of my peers.
Continue reading ‘My iPod is my new most exciting gaming platform’
With 2008 firmly in the back mirror and 2009 already in full swing, it is easy to forget some of the great games of the last year. That doesn’t mean they should be forgotten, though. Despite being a little later than the previous awards, HDRL is still proud to present the 2008 GOTY awards.
Just like 2007, the rules are the same:
1) Remakes and enhanced ports are disqualified from the running for GOTY.
2) If a game wins one category, it is not disqualified from winning other categories.
3) Lists include both US and JP releases. In the case of games like The World Ends With You, since I played through the Japanese version when it released last year, it is disqualified from running this year.
4) Handhelds are not disqualified. I do a lot of gaming on my PSP and DS. There’s no way I’m disregarding them.
Without further ado, let’s get to the awards!
It was a sad day when the right hinge on my DSLite finally cracked. I picked up the white DSLite in its first year when it was still impossible to find in Japan. Playing a DS phat on the train to work was just not an option, and when I found a used DSLite for sale in Osaka’s famous a-Too in Den Den Town, the deal was a foregone conclusion. In my mind, it was already mine.
Continue reading ‘Nintendo DSi (ArtStyle Aquario and うつす Made In Wario)’
Every time I attempt to restore my faith in written criticism in a gaming capacity, karma has a way of shooting it down in a fiery blaze of ugly, vindicative torture. I wrote at some length about Jeff Gerstmann’s dismissal from Gamespot last year, and while that particular occurence hit a soft spot in the form of journalistic integrity, the wounds healed rather quickly when Gerstmann announced that he and a few cohorts from Gamespot had landed on their feet with the creation of Giant Bomb.
Just when I began to think that we were out of the woods, the industry once again chips away at my faith.
It’s that time again! This year, I will be heading back to the US for a good old-fashioned family Christmas celebration. As such, there will be no updates to HDRL until the new year (most likely after January 5th). There will also be no new episodes of XABY Radio, either. I will, however, be checking periodically for new comments, so please feel free to comment on any of the posts on the site, and I will make sure to approve them.
As always, whether you are gaming or not, have a fun, relaxing and safe holiday season, and I will see all of you in the 2009!
Happy Holidays!
Crossovers and mash-ups are a very divisive concept in gaming. Some people revel in the idea of having all of their favorite characters in a single epic battle, while others are derisive, claiming that such things are the lowest form of entertainment and storytelling, like a plecostomus feeding off the grime at the bottom of the tank while better games enjoy rich and fresh food that falls from the sky.
What you said