Tag Archives: gaming

Phantasy Star Online 2: Adventures in Fansubbing

So, I’ve Been A Busy Boy. This is not for the faint of heart, but I did the lion’s share/ heavy lifting for a fansub (“fan subtitled video”) of a “media briefing” (in the vernacular: press conference) for the still-in-development, … Continue reading

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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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Tenra Bansho Zero: Paper & Pencil RPG, J to E

“Hyper Oriental Fantasy” RPG Tenra Bansho Zero is a tabletop RPG – what Japan uses to differentiate from you know, Final Fantasy and stuff. After what has apparently been a long struggle, it is soon to be published in full … 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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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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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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Japanese Gaming: Super Robot Wars

A Storied Japanese Gaming Franchise Known as スーパーロボット大戦 or Super Robot Taisen in Japanese, this franchise goes back to rather ancient gaming times and continues haltingly into the modern era. What The Heck Is A Super Robot? For Americans and other … Continue reading

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The Soul of Japanese Gaming

日本ゲームの魂 In recent years, it has been argued that Japanese video gaming, as an industry, has faltered and has entered a period of prolonged decline. As a result, numerous Japanese companies are producing “Westernized” video games to compete with North … Continue reading

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Knights of the Old Republic

Retro Gaming Actually Not About Japan For Once. Actually, it’s only in the last, oh, two weeks, that I was able to get a copy of the old Knights of the Old Republic role-playing game for Xbox functioning on my … Continue reading

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