Tag Archives: video games

Mecha in Gaming: The Virgola / Setsuko Ohara

Not In An Anime Near You The Virgola is a fictional machine designed as a video game original for the crossover mecha game Super Robot Taisen Z (Super Robot Wars Z). By “original,” we mean that it does not appear … Continue reading

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Japanese Gaming: Half-Breaking the World

A Recurring Cultural Theme One issue continually revisited by Japanese video games, and the writing and storytelling culture that infuses it, is the idea that the world is corrupt in many ways, and it must be changed – but breaking … Continue reading

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Japan Gaming Culture: Super Turrican

Old Times, Good Times Super Turrican is one of the games for the Super Nintendo that, owing to the system, had “Super” tacked onto the front. Featuring a man in an armored suit, with some similarities to Metroid, this action … Continue reading

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Japan: Anime, Video Games, and Art

“In this sense, we don’t play the game; the game plays us.” Continue reading

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New Gundam PSP Game Announced

Spreading Good Cheer Go to this blog for full details on the announcement of Gundam Memories ~ Tatakai no Kioku. One small quibble: Japanese usually leaves singular and plural undefined. We silly Westerners default to singular when we shouldn’t. This … Continue reading

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Gundam Mobile Suits: The MS-06 Zaku

The Start of an Era Savvy followers of mecha anime have long been aware that “bad guy” machinery is often built to be more interesting, both conceptually and visually, than the protagonist side’s machines. This trend did not invent itself. … Continue reading

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A Japanese Spin On Thor

An Imagining of a Western Icon This is an artist’s impression of Thor used as a representation of the mythological figure in the Playstation 2 game, Persona 3. As opposed to other games in the “Shin Megami Tensei” franchise, also … Continue reading

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1up.com’s Editor’s Picks of 2010

One-Stop Interesting Story Shopping Since 1up.com was kind enough to put a link to a list of its Editor’s Picks for interesting stories in 2010, and more than a few touch on Japanese culture in general and gaming culture specifically … Continue reading

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“Catherine” and Mixed Bag Marketing

Just To Get This Out I don’t know how many of you have actually paid attention to this Catherine game coming from Atlus. To me, it’s something I want because it has that Persona look and feel. Here’s the thing, … Continue reading

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Katakana: Sound, Stereo and Mono

A Quick Lesson In Kana In video game settings (ゲームの設定)… Sound is サウンド (saundo). Stereo is ステレオ (sutereo). Monoaural is モノラル (monoraru). The last one sounds like “monooral” as it is written in katakana.

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