Categories
Art Games

Yoshitaka Amano

Although not part of Anne Ferrero’s Toco Toco series, this wonderful short documentary on Yoshitaka Amano that she helped produce for Mana Books is very much Toco Toco-like, and a great look at the man and what inspires him.

Categories
Games Technology

The C64 Mini Computer

I know it’s a bit of a silly thing, but I’m lusting for this mini-version of the Commodore 64. No info yet on the price or when it’s coming out (other than “coming soon”).

Categories
Games

Sweryism

Gamasutra has a good piece up interviewing Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro about The Good Life — the game he’s currently crowdfunding — and how he approaches game design.

Categories
Events Games

Ubiday 2017

Hey, I get to put on my employee hat, and write something that relates to Japan today. On October 9, at Shibuya Hikarie, is Ubisoft Japan’s annual “Ubiday 2017” fan event. Lots of details here. Why no sign of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle? The game’s Japan release is set for early next year.

Categories
Games

More on Dangen

The Japan Times recently published a piece that gives a nice rundown of what Dangen Entertainment — a publisher+ that wants to be the bridge between Japan and the west — is all about. Glad to see my buddies Ben, John, and Nayan getting so much great coverage for their new business.

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Advertisements Games

Hyping Destiny 2 in Japan

Even though I’m sure I’m going to end up playing it soon enough (and despite not being a particularly huge fan of the series, the first game is the game I think I’ve put in the most hours ever), I’m not really onboard the hype train for Destiny 2, but I sure as hell love this commercial they produced in Japan to hype the game.

Categories
Events Games Music

Indie Megashow Tokyo

Alas, Tokyo Game Show is just around the corner, and it’s again going to be something I’m going to miss — along with the legendary pre-TGS 8-4 party and big Nakame drinkup at Otaru — but I’m still happy to see that there’s now a new cool event set for TGS week, organized by my buddies at Dangen Entertainment. Not only that, but the Indie Megashow Tokyo party/event will take place at my old PechaKucha stomping grounds of SuperDeluxe, so you know it’s going to have an awesome vibe (bolstered by live performances from Megaran and DJ Uppercut). You’ll find details here.

Categories
Games

Piczle Lines DX

Big congrats to my buddy James Kay and his Score Studios on the release of their super fun puzzle game Piczle Lines DX on the Switch — it’s on the eShop right now.

Categories
Games Music

We Are

Eden was my favorite PixelJunk game, and not only am I quite looking forward to playing the follow-up Baiyon is working on called Eden Obscura, he’s also just released a new record, We Are, teaming up with plenty of musicians also working in the gaming space. My buddy James interviews him for Rolling Stone.

Categories
Games Personal

Favorite 5 Games

There’s a tweet making the rounds right now encouraging you to share your favorite 5 games of all time. Narrowing down your favorites to a truly top 5 is of course an impossible task — I’d count pretty much every Legend of Zelda game as favorites — but I tried to do the exercise nonetheless, highlighting 5 games that had a strong enough impact on my gaming life that I would certainly count them among my favorites. Just below this I’d need to also include a Mario game (probably Super Mario World) and Ultima (especially Ultima 7), but for now, here are possibly/maybe my 5 favorite games (in no particular order).

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus
SSI was better known for all of the games it produced under the Dungeons & Dragons license (Pool of Radiance being my favorite), but this pre-D&D era RPG was a highlight for me. It’s quite possibly not a great game if you revisit it now, but I remember spending countless hours playing it, and a lot of those hours were played side-by-side with a friend in front of the PC (a Commodore PC-10), our own version of couch co-op. Also, the names I used for my characters in this game are the same names I continue to use for any character I need to name in an RPG.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Zelda series in general is my favorite series in games, and so narrowing it down to 1 or 2 titles is tough, but it’s hard not to point to A Link to the Past as a milestone (and its modern 3DS sequel, Link Between Worlds, is fantastic as well). The Super Nintendo graphics were astounding at the time, and it was certainly the game that cemented the series as a classic for all time.

Wave Race 64
I love Wave Race so damn much, and I can say that I also love the GameCube sequel (Wave Race: Blue Storm). Experiencing those beautiful giant waves was a joy, and added a fun level of randomness to the racing experience. More than any other racing series, this is the one that I’d most like to see a proper sequel, and so I keep wishing that we’ll see one on Switch.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I was a huge fan of the Infocom library of text adventure games, and it all started with Zork, but the adaptation it produced of Hitchhiker’s is the title that is the most memorable to me. From the insanely convoluted Babel Fish puzzle (that you pretty much needed the hint book to help you through) to just the genuinely funny vibe throughout, it stuck with me.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Including a game that came out just a few months ago? What can I say, as someone who truly loves the Zelda series, this entry is as groundbreaking as it is fun as it is engaging. To see Nintendo produce such an amazing Zelda game thirty years after the first one is something I feel is pretty special.