Space Invaders Extreme hands-on impressions

Space Invaders is one of the all time game classics that any gamer simply must know, even if they missed on early 8 bit era. If by any chance you don't know what I am writing about, read about it here and play it here (also, be ashamed and hand over your gamer's licence).


At Tokyo Game Show Taito has just presented Space Invaders Extreme, a remake of the original title for Nintendo DS. The game formula has been severely altered, which is a good thing, since the original was, to put it diplomatically, not the most complicated game in the world. The game was given major graphical overhaul in the vein of Q Entertainment's recent games - different skins, different weapons, special effects flashing on the screen, combinations of strange colours and crazy electronic music made me think of Gunpey or Every Extend Extra.


The few minutes I have spent with the game went by quite fast and the game seemed to be enjoyable. I don't know, however, how about the playability and replayability of the title. I mean how long can you shoot to rows of aliens?

Oh, and while on the topic of Space Invaders - someone please get me these shoes :

Patapon hands-on impressions

Patapon was one of the incoming PSP games that I hoped to become yet another addition to the variety of truly original titles available for the system (Loco Roco, Crush, Mercury). Sadly, I was totally disappointed.


Contrary to Brian Crescente's impressions, I didn't like the demo at all. The basic idea is that player has to tap combinations of button presses in order to make the little creatures visible on the screen (Patapons) follow his order. Pressing the combination of Square, Square, Square, Circle makes little fellows chant "Pata, Pata, Pata, Pon" and march forward for a moment. If player gets the timing right and chains two sequences together in a combo, Patapons will run for a while longer. Other combination causes small warriors to attack enemy.

And here we come to my main problem with the game - it is plain boring. Yes, it is charming, but being limited to just two actions is pain in the backside. It's like being forced to chose between a series of Yes/No questions with the only thrill being that sometimes player fails to perform combination of button presses in correct timing. Playing the game just dragged for me. You can see it for yourself in the following video :

Maybe the final game will be different, but so far I was left unimpressed. Okay, the graphics had a cool sense of style, similarly to Loco Roco. But, as I have written on Kotaku : I also didn't like Loco Roco.

Skin your Wii

I couldn't help but to give this post that title. Basically one of many gaming-derived products I have seen on Tokyo Game Show were faceplates for customizing your PSP, DS, notebook, Xbox, Playstation and of course Wii.


Now you know why I couldn't resist the temptation. As for my opinion on the product itself, well, I really don't see the point, especially since my PSP won't be entirely covered. But as long as there are people willing to waste spend their hard-earned bucks on this things, why not?

Winxen Game Chair

This one actually is more fun than it sounds like. The device basically is a rumbling chair with some extra speakers, so a player can feel vibrations and sounds with their whole body.


I don't know how it works in shoot'em up games, but I toyed with some racing games and the overall result was actually feeling pretty much as in a real car. The question remains how much it costs and where to put it in a small apartment, but the product seems aimed at gaming freaks wanting more real sensations and having too much money to spend (on a driving wheel for their PC, for example).


I wouldn't be my usual annoying self if I didn't point out two funny things on product's webpage. One minor mistake is Palystation2 and that's not even that important, but "Force Feedback - Using Gender" sounds a little suspicious. Maybe some hentai games will be able to provide force feedback depending on player's gender? Then I might actually buy the damn thing...

Halo 3 multiplayer hands-on impressions

I never really was a fan of Halo games. The whole phenomenon of Halo just missed me somehow. The first thing that got me remotely interested in the game was Red vs Blue machinima - that's how I've come to know more about Halo universe. The second thing was PC version of Halo, which I played for a couple of hours and then deleted with slight feeling of relief - it was plain bad, at least from my point of view. Then I've learnt about Halo and teabagging...

Umm, back to the topic. Recently I've heard quite a lot of buzz about the incoming Halo 3 for Xbox 360, so when I saw the line, I didn't hesitate for long before joining the queue. It helped that Jessica Chobot was also waiting in the same line...


The time I have spent with the game has convinced me that playing FPP shooters on double analogue sticks is a torture. I can't really hit anyone moving and it actually becomes quite frustrating, knowing that if I had my trustworthy mouse with me, the other guy would be already dead (or not...). I got my ass handed to me on a silver plate.

As for the game itself, the graphics are pretty (although nothing particular caught my attention), there's a number of vehicles to use, which is fun, nice choice of weapons and overall impression is positive. Truth be told, I still don't understand why people get so excited about this series, but at least this time I don't have anything to hold against the game. Solid title, is how I would classify it.

Crysis hands-on impressions

I find the whole "Games for Windows" initiative annoying, since it forces DX10 and Vista upon us, poor PC gamers, and also it takes away system-selling exclusives from Xbox 360 users. Basically noone has really reason to like this.

Still, in the framework of "Games for Windows" there's a couple of gems indeed : Gears of War, Assasin's Creed and Crysis. During Tokyo Game Show 2007 I had the opportunity to play the last two titles. I already had covered Assasin's Creed, now it's time to share initial impressions of playing Crysis.


To sum up briefly : I am totally amazed by how incredible this game is. Contrary to most people out there, I was a sceptic from the beginning. Yes, I've seen screens and movies, read a bit on the game, and it basically didn't turn me on.

Having played the game changed my approach completely. Suffice to say that I am thinking about upgrading my PC, which I has solemnly swore not to do for next years. Yes, it is really THAT damn good. Graphics are incredible, the details, the bloom, the smearing of the screen when player turns around rapidly. Thousands of little things that build up total visual wonder. Also, the cinematic presentation creates incredible atmosphere - jets flying past look sound so real, getting shot is almost painful, enemies move naturally and their AI isn't of the usual imbecile kind. I ended up dead pretty quickly, but the overall impression has left me with my jaw on the floor.

And that was just the part with regular human soldiers. Remember how many things good, old Far Cry had in store for us after the initial levels? Crysis promises even more and seeing this snippet of the game, I am really sad that my current config won't allow me to play it. One more game to wait for!

Once more on inappropriate touching

Remember how I wrote about the witch-touching game paedophiles and some suspicious merchandise that goes with? Well, how about full size body pillow spotted at SNK booth?


Or actual busty mouse pad?...


This is ... I don't know, I intended to write distasteful or something like that, but then again, to each one his own porn. If someone actually likes it, let him have his underage witch body pillow to cuddle. After all, as I already quoted from Penny Arcade, who the f... cares?

Assasin Creed's hands on impressions

After waiting in painfully long line of software developers, journalists and other industry insiders, I was finally allowed behind a curtain to play Assasin's Creed together with one of the lead designers, Philippe Dionne. Judging by the looks of it, Altair's (main protagonist) adventure is almost in final stage (okay, at one point there was a little texture flicker - but that's all).

I can positively confirm that the control scheme is indeed unique and original, but in the same time really playable and allowing for some smooth movements. Graphically, the game is really impressive with a huge city, massive number of passers-by, excellent textures and lightning effects. The game AI is also impressive, both in terms of crowd management and individual entity behaviour.


There are lot of little nice touches :

• as a person practising climbing, I appreciated the fluidity and realism of Altair's movements;
• when I was using throwing knives and suddenly enemy knight attacked me from just behind the corner, instead of stupidly throwing his knife, Altair quickly stabbed him with it;
• bullying people around caused some thugs to concentrate their attention on me... ouch;
• when I was being chased by guards, I climbed the wall thinking it would get me to safety, since not one of them had a bow - wrong, they started throwing rocks at me, which made me lose my balance and fall down, where welcome comitee was already waiting;

The framerates where impeccable, the build seemed very close to final, the release date was set to November this year and my overall impression was very positive. This is just another game that might become a system-seller.


Asked about the possibility of the title ever arriving to PC, Philippe said that there are no plans for now, but (and this is my own thought) seeing how many Xbox 360 titles get ported to PC, I wouldn't totally exclude such possibility. Though it might require getting Xbox-like pad, in order to use the brand new control scheme.

Surprising encounter

If I were to name world's three sexiest geek girls, I guess the list would look like something this:

• Jessica Chobot
• Jade Raymond
• umm... Cynthia Breazeal?

I already wrote about Miss Chobot once, mentioning my strange fascination concerning a certain PSP photo. Imagine my happiness and amazement when I encountered Jessica herself today in the line to Halo 3 multiplayer. What's more, I actually took a photo with her ... and a PSP!


The actual dialogue was more or less on the lines of :
- By the way, may I take a photo with you?
- Sure!
- Umm, do you mind if I take my PSP out? You know, for the sake of humour?
- No problem, but I won't lick it.
- ... *sound of me gasping for air*

Ah, the girl got wits (true, we had some nice chat about games and Japan) and reflexes (even more true, since she actually kicked my ass in the aforementioned Halo 3 multiplayer). So yes, gentlemen, you can all envy me now.

Exit DS

No, it's not what you think. DS is here to stay, but there is an incoming game that bears that name. It all started with the PSP game called Exit. I picked it up in Japan and sold it shortly after coming back to Poland. Why?

PSP version screen

Although I definitely dug its graphical style and the general concept, I was so annoyed by slow character movement (especially the animation of climbing the stairs) and other little quirks, especially in control department, that I finally gave up on the game.


Still, it looks like DS owners will also get a taste of Mr Exit adventures. I just wonder how the stylus controls will work (didn't have time to check them today)?

UPDATE : played it today. The controls are terrible, and the game is molasses slow, just as PSP version. Count me out.

Lumines goes mobile

Lumines is easily one of my favourite games of all times. Q Entertainment have decided to make it available not only to PSP users, hence the Xbox Live! version and now the mobile version too.


I have to admit that there is some of the shininess of the original that is lost in translation, but on the other hand the game is still as enjoyable as always, and seeing how everybody in Japan has their keitai (mobile phone), I am pretty sure there is a market for this game.


Although as you know, I definitely prefer the original Lumines to about anything else...

Tokyo Game Show 2007

I officially start covering Tokyo Game Show 2007 from now on. Yes, after two years I have returned to what have become probably the largest game expo on Earth.


Thanks to intervention of Zbigniew Bański and Smuggler from Bauer publishing house, I got my media pass to Tokyo Game Show just in the nick of time and was able to cover the event from the best possible position - game journalist. The first day was heavy with work, but there were so many great moments that I can't help but feel happy to be doing it. Check back soon!

Kotaku Party

Yesterday (and partially today, to be completely precise) I have taken part in mighty fine Kotaku shindig. What I was expecting was a gathering of socially inept nerds and geeks, and maybe an occasion to talk for a while with one of the Kotaku editors. Yes, I am usually a sceptic.

Brian Crescente, nice lady whom name I have forgotten,
me, and guy from Gamesutra

In reality though, it turned out to be a gathering, of, well, nerds and geeks, but far from socially inept. There were game journalists from 4ColorRebellion, Gamesutra, Joystiq, CheapAssGamer, and GayGamer, there were famous kotakuites (Witzbold, Bellamy), there were exchange students, English teachers, the guy behind Fraps and all sorts of other interesting creatures, including, of course, guys from Kotaku : Crescente, Bashcraft, Luke and Mike. There was drinking and socializing involved, Kotaku folks turned out to be even cooler in real life than online and all in all it was really much more entertaining than I originally thought it would be. Oh, did I mention that booze and snacks were for free?

First up front - Flynn from GayGamer

Japanese police intervened after some of us have spread into the street with our drinks (drinking alcohol in public places is forbidden in Japan), but there were no casualties. Made me recall my student times...

Witzbold and Bellamy discussing, under the wall in
the background Rod (Fraps) and Luke (Kotaku)

You can read some more about it on Kotaku : here and here. Also, see the photo gallery - if you have read the notes, then you know that some of the photos come from me. Overall, I was not the only one that liked it a lot. From behind the scenes I can tell you that the crowd seemed to enjoy it so much that there is a chance of second party coming up...

Me, Bashcraft, Jools from 4ColorRebellion
and three other kotakuites

See you soon, guys!

On witch touching

There is a game that for me qualifies everybody playing it as borderline paedophile. It's called Doki Doki Majou Shinpan and it seemed to be quite popular on Kotaku. You can see a trailer here and some actual gameplay here, if you really must.

What really scared me, though, was a whole set of derived products. Why am I even writing about this? Well, first of all it is one of many Japan-only curious oddities, and secondly, I have stumbled upon a T-shirt related to the game. Just look where this little hand goes, awww, gross.


Personally, I think that Penny Arcade summed it up in most excellent fashion in their comic strip. Who the f... cares?

PSP for ... parking?

As far as I can understand this ad, if you use 24h Times network of parkings, you can actually gain bonus mileage points in JAL which can be then traded for a loan of PSP for duration of the flight.


Or do I get it wrong?

Japan is Lumines, Lumines is Japan

Yes, you've heard it correctly. For me, Lumines is pretty much my Japan experience in a pill.

I have bought my first PSP in Japan after seeing it on Tokyo Game Show and watching incredible movies on Gamespot - contrary to many people in the world, I haven't been drooling over it before it arrived. It was an instant love - it was there, I saw it, it saw me, trumpets, and I knew I wanted it.

The very first game I bought together with it was Lumines, which I then played travelling at night on Kodama Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. I completed it, going through last level, on the plane starting from Narita airport on the day of my leave. I have played it during all my stay in Japan almost everyday, usually before going to sleep, and the experiences of Nippon have blended in my mind with the experiences of the game.

The thing about Lumines is that it is not so much about the game itself, but about the whole audiovisual experience it delivers, putting player in slightly trancey state/mood through combination of sounds and graphics. There are so many clones of Lumines, yet none of them is half as playable and I know no other game that puts player in such a trance (even Lumines II is less stylish and entrancing). Oh, and before we continue - remember that what we call a skin here is a combination of graphics, music and sounds for a given level (skin = the whole audiovisual set).

Traditional Japan

Noh theatre, Kabuki theatre, temples of Kyoto and Kamakura, shamisen music, samurai parade in Hakone, maiko walking through Ponto-cho and crying of Sumo judges - somehow it all melts in this skin. I know, it is simplistic as hell of me to even think about squeezing all the cultural past of Japan into one game level, I am making a complete gai-jin ass out of myself, but anyhow this skin resonated well with all these memories of idealised traditional Japan.

Nightlife Japan

Nightclubs of Shibuya, discos of Shinjuku, karaoke clubs of Machida - for me, it's all in this skin. Mondo Grosso music, lots of shiny elements, general electronic chaos, happy tunes, overall feeling of fun, explosions of bright colours - this is the face of modern Japan as I experienced it in my stroll through Tokyo nightlife.

Trains

If you have travelled with trains in Japan, you know that this is dominating mode of transport and quite often they run on and under bridges not unlike the one depicted above. Quite often they go by shore, too. This music together with swiftly moving orange streak makes me feel a surge of memories of sitting on the train speeding by the seaside and watching other trains zooming in the distance while sun is setting over the ocean.

Nature

If you travel outside the neverending megalopolis of Tokyo and into the countryside, you will find some incredible forrests, flowing streams, beautiful spots far from the civilisation. This skin echoes these parts of my stay in Japan - the calm tranquillity of Japanese nature.

Gaming

Basically this skin is me with my PSP, even hands are up to scale. And the retro feeling and sound effects made me recall the beginnings of my digital journey through gaming worlds - ZX Spectrum+ games and Russian counterfeits of Nintendo's Game & Watch. The childish fascination of still unbelievably simplistic, but already emerging electronic entertainment that has further lured me to study electronics, telecommunications, computer science and finally led me to NTT laboratories in Japan and Tokyo Game Show. It all sort of mixes with each other in this one skin.

Skyscrapers

Minato Mirai complex in Yokohama, Landmark SkyTower, Tokyo Tower, skyscrapers of Shinjuku... I have been there, I have seen Japan from above, observing its countless blocks of flats crowded around numerous skyscrapers, I have been watching traffic for hours until night settled and lights shone, cities beneath my feet bursting with movement, animated with millions of lives rushing through the streets below. That feeling is present in this skin.

Farewell

The sky over Tokyo agglomeration is full of planes and they fly over you in most unexpected moments. The presence of nearby ocean was also something I remembered - all the canals entering the city, ports of Yokohama, island of Enoshima, shores of Kamakura...

My departure was marked by getting up at dawn, leaving in the darkness, travelling towards Narita airport, passing over Chiba by the seaside with early sun rising, with seagulls and planes in the air above.

The waking of the dawn, changing dark clouds into shining morning, Eri Nobuchika's song going from slow and sad, to optimistic and strong, cawing of seagulls mixed with planes whooshing in the background - it completed the bitter-sweet feeling of leaving Japan.


Also, as I've mentioned, I reached this skin playing on the plane leaving Japan, so my stay was pretty much stretching between starting first level with hands shaking of digital lust on Kodama Shinkansen speeding through Japan at night, and completing the final level on British Airways plane, farewell tear still in the corner of my eye.

All the best moments of my stay were going through my head, called by progression through Lumines' different skins, then I finally put away my PSP and began reminiscing about them again, personal slideshow displayed on the inner side of my eyelids, plane engines humming...

As you can see, Lumines is for me the very essence of Japan and somehow I can't imagine it being conceived in any other place in the world. So when I am landing in Japan this time, I will be playing Lumines on the plane, for the sake of good old times, hoping that this stay will be as much, if not more fun than the last. And you may call me a freak.

Little programs to help you with Japanese

This post is going to be a little less entertainment-centred than the majority of recent posts, instead of games I will describe a couple of really useful utilities related to Japanese.

I myself am studying Japanese., but I am not very proficient with it yet. I do realise that it is a difficult task, yet my ever-growing infatuation with Japan has driven me to make a significant effort and force my grey cells to memorise convoluted structures, forms and writing of Nihon-go.

Having said that, it is not easy. Especially writing is something that is overwhelming at first. In the beginning katakana, hiragana and kanji seem to be impossible to ever memorise, especially the latter. I already know kana, but I still am struggling with kanji. I think that to master more than a couple hundreds one has to spend some time living in Japan, otherwise it is too hard - but maybe I am just looking for excuses to my own inability to properly memorise kanji.

Being a computer geek (to some extent at least), I couldn't overlook the occasion of boosting my learning process with any digital crutch I could use. The following programs and utilities are the result of my searches - I have found them to be useful and thought I would share the compilation, so that you don't have to look for them yourself.

DreamKana

DreamKana is one of the simplest programs to study kana. But its simplicity is its main advantage, right next to being free of charge (don't we all love free software?). Basically it just displays kana characters and asks user to type in their romaji reading. Simple and effective, I know quite a lot of students that used this while preparing for JLPT Level 4. Also, it doesn't require installation, which together with its small size makes it a perfect candidate for portable tool on your USB pendrive.

LearnKana

This program is very similar to DreamKana, but it is more configurable. Its main advantage is the possibility to choose a specific group of kana that user would like to practice. It also shows the hit/miss ratio (good answers vs bad answers), which gives some idea about how well user has already mastered the material. Nice and simple utility. Apparently there are some new versions that have appeared, but I didn't really have the time to check them.

PSPKanji

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't put some PSP homebrew in here. Essentially, PSPKanji (which I have already described here) allows user to work with kanji flashcards. It also has kana tables available at the press of the button and quiz options for revising purposes. Recent version has some slight graphical glitches, but nevertheless it is a very useful little program (plus it has very nice visual style). Kudos to Sammy who created it!

Wakan

This is a very powerful tool - basically a kanji dictionary with lots of configuration options and customised searches, such as based on radicals. Essential program for everybody seriously studying Japanese (or Chinese, too), especially for JLPT, since Wakan has lists of JLPT kanji for each level. Works well under Linux through Wine - tested it under Ubuntu.

Rikaichan - Firefox plugin

This excellent plugin shows pop-up window with the dictionary definition of given kanji that has been highlighted in the browser window. This greatly simplifies finding the meaning of that kanji, which would otherwise take significantly longer. The description is short, but this is a very powerful tool. Its main problem is that it is dependent on the quality of dictionaries used and Japanese-French dictionary seems to be more accurate than Japanese-English one.

Japanese Katakana Hiragana scroller - Yahoo Widget

Despite its name, this widget only displays hiragana with their romaji readings (well, actually it does English-Portugese/German/French pairs too), and I haven't found a way to force it to display katakana (if you know how to, let me know through comments). User can select refresh intervals, thus being able to have his memory tickled all the time by changing hiragana characters. Personally, I found it very useful while learning kana.

Jenerator - Yahoo Widget

This little widget displays random Japanese words and expressions, many of them taken from common everyday situations. It is not very helpful when revising some particular material, but nevertheless by constant bombarding with kanji allows user to retain some of them. For consideration.

Katakana Stroke Order - Yahoo Widget

This widget presents the correct stroke order for katakana characters. There also exists a very similar widget for hiragana stroke order. Useful when beginning learning kana, but also when user needs to refresh the correct stroke order later on. A very nice little tool.