Upgrade: A Personal Message

Well, I am currently Stateside on business. I could say it's related to games, since the magazine I work for is associated with design and semiconductors but that would just be a stretch. However, I can delighfully say that my hard work has paid off because as of March, I will be working as a project manager at a localization company that specializes in video games! That's the big news for now. Hikari will publish more when we can. Look for updates soon.

Pete

Update: Xbox (A)Live

At least Major Nelson was told he was banned

After spending hours on the phone with Microsoft "customer service," Hikari Japan has finally gotten back on line with Xbox Live. On a whim, we decided to test our old forcibly canceled gamertag to see if we could sign up for a 3-month Gold Membership. To our joy, we discovered that our "Kurairyu" gamertag has been granted permission to go Gold by the powers that be at Microsoft. Though this new discovery was a welcome one, we are still puzzled as to why we were not contacted by a representative as promised. However, if we consider that they never informed us when we were canceled, it shouldn't really be too surprising.

Perhaps this is in line with protocol over at Microsoft or part of a new marketing campaign. "Xbox 360, so next generation you won't know what's coming! Always keep 'em guessing!" We won't complain too much though. At least the problem has been resolved. So much for customer service.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

The DS is known for being on the cusp of innovation. Back when it was nothing more than a rumor, skeptics were already wondering how two screens could effectively be used in a gaming machine. No one could have predicted how successful that small portable device would become. Now, over a year later, Nintendo still holds on to the top slot in portable gaming, beating even the more powerful Sony PSP.

Gamers know that it's not the power of the system that makes it popular, it's the games. The DS never fails to impress with its refreshing play mechanics that make even the old seem new. On January 25th (22nd in the US) DS owners will be treated to yet another invention, ウィッシュルーム 天使の記憶 (Wish Room: Angel's Remembrance), or for you US gamers, Hotel Dusk: Room 215.

The game is being described as a DS mystery novel. Players will hold the DS on its side and use the stylus to interact with other characters that appear on screen. Hotel Dusk is very interactive and your treatment of characters will highly affect certain outcomes. Though we haven't gotten our copy yet, what we have seen is reminiscent of the Sega CD title, Snatcher, where you control a detective in a scenario very similar to that of Blade Runner.

This story however, revolves around a former NYPD detective, now salesman, named, Kyle Hyde. Set in 1979, Hyde comes to Hotel Dusk in LA, where he gets caught up in an old mystery and discovers that room 215 holds mysteries of its own; one being the supposed ability to grant wishes. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 looks sure to please fans of story driven, puzzler type games.

Hikari will report more once the game releases and we are able to put in some play time. For now, whet your appetites with a look at the Japanese trailer and a run through of the official site.

Shiina Ringo on TV カリソメ乙女(DEATH JAZZ ver.)

Blue Dragon: Beautiful Visuals, Some More Revealing Than You Would Expect

We have been excitedly working to get through our copy of Blue Dragon here at our Tokyo offices (Read: me in my apartment). With captivating visuals, great music, interesting play mechanics, and wonderful art direction, the game is a true success. While those Stateside have some time to go before they can get their shot at the game, be sure to check out the official website here. It's loaded with trailers and downloadable content. You can also link to, Victory club, Blue Dragon's official strategy based site, which contains videos and maps that assist you through the game.



By now, you have most likely heard of the two manga that have been serialized by Shueisha as part of the Blue Dragon media onslaught. While I am not too impressed with the art style that Blue Dragon ST has taken, I was excited to hear that Blue Dragon ラルΩグラド (Raru Omega Gurado) was being helmed by Takeshi Obata of Death Note fame. He has a distinct art style that makes characters feel less cartoony and more real than Toriyama's well done but semi-exaggerated creations. Given the light hearted feel of Blue Dragon's art direction and story, I was expecting something along those lines in terms of a related manga. So you can expect that I wasn't prepared for this:

Internet buzz has expressed mixed emotions but regardless of whether or not opinions have been favorable, everyone is in agreement over one thing: This manga is erotic. It's far removed from the heart warming puppy love of the game and replete with harems and bedroom scenes.

An online survey by OriRan shows most fans think Obata is concerned with sales and that they were hoping for something more like Death Note. Readers, that hadn't yet played the game, were fairly evenly split over whether or not they were interested in doing so.

We will have a review of the manga once the first collected volume is released.

Shiina Goes Solo Again, Sorta

This one is for obscure music and JPOP fans.

The January issue of "Rockin On Japan" contains a 22 page layout on Ringo Shiina and her upcoming solo album, set for a February release. Yeah, so? "What makes her special?," you ask. Unlike a lot of the saccharine, cutesy, uncreative and/or idol-type singers that are prevalent in the Japanese music industry, Shiina is always thinking of ways to reinvent herself and produce a sound with integrity.

Ringo is the lead singer/songwriter for her band, Tokyo Jihen. Originally starting her career as a solo artist, she is known for producing complex lyrics and fusing together musical styles/genres to create a very unique sound. She has written songs influenced by blues, jazz, and classical but mostly rock, in all its forms. Already under her belt are four solo albums, two albums as Tokyo Jihen, and a number of singles and videos.

Her latest solo album comes after a three year solo hiatus (though all the while she has played and created with Tokyo Jihen) and is a result of Shiina's work on the upcoming manga based movie, Sakuran, where she worked as music director. "Rockin On" reveals that Ringo-chan had always wanted to make music for films. "The thing I really wanted to do most was create music for pre-existing pictures. I wanted to consider the mood, what type of music the scene calls for. I've had my music made into videos but I've never had to actually think about the visuals before I created the sound." Commenting on her work she claims, "I am happy when someone tells me that they either truly hate or love my music. That's the type of stuff you need to keep producing, at least for JPOP."

Her latest single was only released for purchase on the Internet. However, you can check out her latest sound on youtube. The song is titled, Kono Yo No Kagiri and has her collaborating with Neko Saito and her brother, Junpei Shiina. Ringo is also assuring fans of Tokyo Jihen not to worry. We haven't seen the end of them.

To learn more about Ringo Shiina and her band click on the links below.

Wikipedia

Official Site

Tokyo Jihen

Lost Planet VS Suit, in LEGO

Nothing much to say here, other than this was being displayed at Capcom's U.S. launch party for Lost Planet. (To which, incidentally, we were not invited. Bastards!)



Link: Kotaku

Microsoft Responds to HDMI Rumors

In an interview with Gamespot at CES 2007, Microsoft's Chris Satchell, game developer group general manager, responded to rumors of an upcoming HDMI compatible Xbox 360. "At the moment, everything you might have seen is just looking at our experimentation back in Redmond, not really a product that we're thinking about announcing."

The article further details talks of larger HD capacities, the future of Xbox Live and its newly proposed IPTV.

Read the interview here: http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6163965.html

Link

No HDMI For Our Current Xboxes?

In other Microsoft Love news...



I just returned from Las Vegas and CES, jet-lagged and exhausted and needing to file copious stories for my day job. Which means that I'll have something interesting from the show for you soon, but not yet.



In the meantime, join me in freaking out about this news, which suggests that Microsoft may be planning to fix the pending lack-of-HDMI crunch with... a new Xbox model for us to buy.







Sonofabitch! Note that without HDMI (or DVI) on an Xbox 360, we'll (evidently) be unable to play digital 1080p content and copy-locked HD-DVDs, which require those sorts of connections because they support the HDCP copy protection standard. I hope, hope, hope that Microsoft figures out a way to add HDMI and HDCP support to current 360s, rather than forcing us to buy new ones.



Of course, this isn't a real problem at the present, considering that HD-DVD copy protection has yet to be activated, and that only a tiny percentage of users have 1080p displays. It still pisses me off though, irrational though my anger might be.

Next Gen Console Wars: Where Do They Stand?

I have been waiting for numbers in hardware sales to be released so that I could substantiate my suspicions. Since the new year, I have been finding signs throughout Tokyo reading that PS3s are in stock. Tsutaya, Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera, small ma and pa stores; it seems that the PS3 is available almost everywhere. The Wii on the other hand continues to sell-out and gamers have been hard pressed to find the system, even at small shops that most consumers often overlook.

Japanese publisher Enterbrain reports that Sony has only managed to sell 466,716 PS3 units during the period from launch to the end of the year, falling below the projected target. In contrast, The Nintendo Wii sold 989,118 units from its launch on 12/2 to the end of the year.

It comes as no surprise that the Xbox 360 is behind the pack with only 290,467 units sold in total (from launch to the end of the year). However, sales surged in December thanks to the release of Blue Dragon at the beginning of the month and Lost Planet toward the end. In that month alone we saw 99,798 Xbox 360 units moved from store shelves. That's over a third of total sales! While no one truly expects the 360 to surpass or even match its rivals' sales, Microsoft is at least taking a step in the right direction.

Is the availability of PS3s an indicator that Sony needs to work harder? Perhaps they need to rethink consumer motivations. Yes, the system is a value for what you get. The problem is that in a country where HDTVs are yet to be in every home and hardcore gamers don't make up the majority of the populace, they have narrowed their market. In fact, they have done the exact opposite of what Nintendo did to become the leader again. Even Microsoft is trying to reclaim some market share by studying what their consumers want. Maybe it's time for Sony to reel in their arrogance and stop relying on their name alone. Maybe they shouldn't have forced consumers into buying a hardware component they didn't necessarily want. They could be so much more successful that way.



Link

Xbox Live No More

With all of the new games for my Xbox 360 and some time off for the holidays, I thought it would be a perfect time for me to upgrade my Xbox Live subscription back to Gold from Silver. So at the beginning of December, I used my already registered with Live credit card to get "back in the game." I went online with Gears of War, fired away with Lost Planet and got back into fighting with the cast of Dead or Alive 4. Things were fine, until I got that mail on Saturday morning.

According to Microsoft, my account had been canceled. I thought for a moment that this could be fraud, some one's attempt to seize my credit card information. After all, I never ordered the cancellation. I decided that the best course of action would be to call Xbox Live customer support.

The first time I called, I was connected to what appeared to be an outsource company. It was a little difficult to get my point across but after some time, the agent notified me that there may have been some credit card discrepancies due to my card being stolen a few weeks ago. I thought this odd since the payment had already been processed a month prior, but went with his explanation. He has all the data right on his computer screen. He is a qualified agent. He should know what he is talking about. Right?

The agent told me to just reapply for Gold membership. I got off the phone and did exactly that.
"Xbox Live cannot process the information at this time." That's the message I kept receiving. "Well, I'll just have to call again," I mumbled to myself.

Call number two: This time the agent told me that there was a problem with the Live service a few hours before and that I should try to upgrade in two hours. When I asked if this was an attempt to get away from the issue because she couldn't solve the problem, she laughed. I stopped smiling.

Call number three: I was now introduced to a new problem. The agent explained that in the area designated for the name regarding credit card information, there were asterisks. In other words, my name did not appear. Someone at the corporate office found this suspicious and thus canceled my subscription. I asked to speak to a manager.

The manager reiterated what the previous agent had explained and also added that my gamertag would never be recovered. He claimed that I had received a warning (via email) regarding what he called, a "violation." So why did I feel like the one who was being violated? I never received a warning, at least not to my email account. Besides, if it was that crucial a violation that it pended gamertag cancellation, why wasn't I notified via my Xbox, the place where I actually play these games? I have been an Xbox member since 2005, why was I being deleted now? Let's just say that the manager I spoke with that day, had no intention of helping me remedy this situation and also provided misinformation regarding what I needed to do to proceed with setting up a new gamertag.

Angry but determined, I went upstairs to my console and created a new gamertag and Xbox Live Gold account. What the manager failed to explain to me was that I would not be able to access ANY of my saved games on the 360 hard drive. I almost canceled my original gamertag. That would have meant the end of all of my hard work! Now I have a Gold membership for a gamertag that can't access any saved data. It's like I just bought every game I already own all over again. I wasn't going to stand for this.

Call number four: I spoke to an agent that seemed to want to help. I was semi-relieved. I learned that apparently, the asterisks were a borderline issue of national security and that gamertag recovery could only be accomplished by Microsoft corporate. While the agent was as dumbfounded as I was as to why my gamertag would have been canceled, she couldn't provide me with a number for corporate. Apparently, Xbox Live customer service has no way of contacting them. So she gave me a mail address to contact them with. Yes, you read that right, a MAIL address. At least she had been the most helpful so far.

Call number five: Determined to fix this problem, I called what I believed to be a Microsoft corporate number. I got in touch with the MSN division, another outsourced department. After a grueling few minutes of trying to explain my situation and being told that my gamertag never existed, I was transferred back to Xbox Live. Even though I pleaded that they couldn't help me and that I needed to speak to someone in corporate, it all came full circle. I was put on hold while the MSN agent tried to explain the situation to the Xbox Live agent. Once the silence was lifted, I was greeted with a new voice. "Sorry, I couldn't understand him so I asked to speak to you directly." Isn't it great when companies have internal communication problems? It really puts you at ease knowing they should therefore have no problems communicating with customers.

Luckily, the new agent was helpful and logged everything that had happened to me up until this point. He then put me in touch with a manager. This time I was assured that things would be OK. He "escalated" (need to make sure to keep call center terminology straight) my call and sent a message to corporate, notifying them that my account should be reactivated. Of course, since no one has direct access to corporate phone numbers, I would have to wait ten business days before I received any notification. Let's hope this is not a "to be continued" story but one that gets resolved with this. Microsoft is not winning any points this week.

Link

Lost Planet Review

Prepare to go old-school with a new style. Lost Planet is Capcom's latest addition to the evolution of the platforming genre. The game places you in control of Wayne, a soldier who is discovered frozen and awakes with partial amnesia on an ice planet overrun with insectoid monsters, known as the Akrid. He owes his recovery to Yuri, a mysterious figure who explains the purpose of the thermal device on his arm. Yuri is partnered with a woman named, Luka and her younger brother, Rick. Wayne becomes the newest addition to their group and goes on to fight through the frozen tundra searching for answers, mainly to discover who he is and what happened to his father.

The story is not however where Lost Planet excels. Voice acting is fair. Most of what it lacks can be attributed to the stilted dialogue that the actors had to work with. It's not necessarily bad, but it is sometimes unnatural and that takes away from making the viewer a part of the story. Unlike many RPGs, where the story exists to enhance gameplay, this story simply exists to give us an excuse to blow things up. We never feel truly invested in the characters as the story does very little to flesh out their personalities or make us care. Does this adversely affect the game? Not at all.

A look back to the heyday of the genre will quickly show us that story is not their strong suit. Metroid, Super Mario Bros, Bionic Commando, Castlevania: the list of great 8-bit platformers is vast but few, if any, offer us any type of engaging exposition. What little of the story we remember was most likely gleaned from the instruction manual and the rest conjured up in our minds. However, game expectations have changed and in today's gaming world, it would be an injustice to remove the story components entirely.

Lost Planet isn't about it's story. Sure, it bonds it all together, but Lost Planet is about shooting cool guns and creating huge explosions. It does not disappoint.

The battle is heated from the start. Right at Stage 1 the Xbox 360 demonstrates its technical prowess by displaying hundreds of enemies on screen. Not only is there none of the slow down historically known to plague platformers, but even with the abundance of enemies on screen, the game still manages to look great. The explosions look and feel real. With surround sound on, you'll get the sense of being on a real battlefield. Destroying the Akrid fiends gives you a real sense of satisfaction; the bigger the better.

After braving through abandoned buildings, across snow covered mountains riddled with thousands of Akrid, you'll eventually be met by human opponents. The game gets harder at that point, as their AI is significantly smarter than the AI controlling the brute strength of the Akrid foot soldiers.

Playing through the first few stages, you'll be impressed with the games' look, its play control (run, aim, and shoot) and its various mechas and weaponry. Then you'll start to realize why this game is so old school. Is it innovative? Not particularly. It retains all the traditional elements: jumping, shooting, running. While the 360, with its stunning graphics and impressive processing power, constantly reminds you that Lost Planet is rightfully a part of the next generation of gaming, the bosses will bring you back to the good ol' days. They are frustratingly hard. Did I mention that they are also cheap?

You are going to die; over and over again. Playing through early levels might give you a false sense of comfort. They aren't too hard. But the bosses are just as tough as they used to be. This is your dad's platformer.

They are huge. They are menacing. And they are going to stomp you. Just like in days past, the bosses have a pattern that you need to exploit. Capcom has done a wonderful job of recreating the excitement and ultra-frustration in fighting a boss for the first time. The battles are large scale and often put you inside a mecha, that is until it blows up and you are left to run around with nothing but a snow suit and your human hide to protect you. This makes fighting the beasts or enemy mechas all the more intense. However, once outside of your protective war machine, most bosses will relentlessly trounce you. You won't be given a chance. If a boss can corner you, it will. You just got hit? Don't expect to get up anytime soon. You will be crushed, shot at, fried, disoriented, and most likely, very, very angry. Remember in your younger days when you used to hurl your controller at the wall? You are about to relive them. One caveat though: The 360 controllers are wireless, so they'll go a lot farther. You will fight some of these bosses over 20 times in a row. Be mentally prepared. Capcom has made old school new again.

And in that, we are given a new sense of satisfaction after besting a boss. Laying him down never felt so gratifying. Playing through the levels is fun. They don't start to get all that difficult until around level 6. But it's the 30 plus minutes that you put into beating a boss that makes this game good. You will want to keep playing. You know you can't go out like that, and the cheapness of each boss makes you keep going back for more punishment. There's a story in there somewhere, but you'll just want to get to the next boss so you can hear more explosions and launch huge cannons. The pain and the reward that follows victory become addicting. Lost Planet is sure to satisfy fans of the genre.

As a bonus, Capcom has included on online multi-player component. This is a great addition, especially when playing with friends in a team. It's perfectly set up for a game of virtual "manhunt." While Gears of War is set with more of a military theme, Lost Planet gives you more of an environment many of us associate with epic battles. If GoW's multi-player allows us to feel the fear of being hunted, Lost Planet lends us the excitement involved with blowing things up.

Lost Planet is a game no fan of the genre should be without. With it's simple to learn control scheme, it's a game that even a newcomer could feel comfortable playing. Couple that with gorgeous visuals, larger than life sounds that shake the living room, and an online multi-player and you've got a game that is sure to entertain for days.



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