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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
Posted in Gundam, Japan, video games
Tagged gaming, Gundam, Japan, mecha, Setsuko, SRW, suparobo, super robot, video games, Virgola
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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
Posted in Culture, Japan, video games
Tagged change, culture, fantasy, final fantasy, heroes, Japan, RPG, storytelling, Tales of Vesperia, video games, villains, writing
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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
Posted in Japan, Music, video games
Tagged 90's, culture, gaming, Japan, music, sci fi, Super Turrican, synth, video games, YouTube, Zen
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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
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
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
Posted in Gundam
Tagged anime, G Gen Spirits, Gundam, mecha, mobile suit, sci fi, video games, Zaku
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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
Posted in Art, Culture, Japan, video games
Tagged culture, Japan, Megaten, Mjlonir, Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei, SMT, Thor, video games
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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
“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
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.
Posted in Japanese, Languages, video games
Tagged katakana, mono, sound, stereo, video games
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