After paying about £80 I got the oppertunity to visit Hiroshima with the university I'm studying at. Of course this meant I was not able to game properly for about 2 days but the trip was definately worth it.
The trip was spread over 2 days although most of that was spent travelling by bus from Nagoya. Either way, on the first day we got to see Miyajima which is where the floating gate is. This was of course a lot of fun going around and taking in the history. Although history aside there was a hell of a lot of deer just wandering around. It's really quite weird just to see deer mingling around a small town like that but they don't seem to mind the tourists.
On the second day we visited the peace museum which housed exhibits regarding the bombing of Hiroshima during the second world war. Now, I'm a history student, I've heard plenty of stories and seen many pictures of war and the like, but the information in this museum strikes on a whole differently level. I'm not going to go into a big lecture about world peace but the impact that place had was pretty profound.
I spent the best part of about 5 minutes looking for a game arcade before giving up and hitting the town so I guess I'm going to have to go back sometime to see what kind of competition Hiroshima has to offer
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Pop n' Rage
I am a big fan of the rhythm game genre. I played the shit out of DDR and since coming to Japan I've become a big fan of games like Jubeat and IIDX. However, there is one game that really took me by surprise and that's Pop n' Music.
For those unfamiliar Pop n' Music is a tremendously cutesy rhythm game with a 9 button panel when its played in an arcade. You can check out youtube to see what I mean when I say a cutesy design so when you play it you're not really expecting anything hard. Although after I got going with it I couldn't have been more wrong.
Pop n' Music, next to IIDX is one of the most ball bustingly hard rhythm games I have ever played. The faster charts come down so quick and dense with notes and the and keys are so spread out that I just find it impossible to keep track of everything. Although little by little I'm getting better and better.
That said, I decided to pick up a copy of Pop n' Music Portable on PSP. Now I don't want to sound cocky but I got damn good at DJ Max Portable. So I jumped into Pop n' Music Portable thinking that I'd just stomp all over the hardest modes although once again, I was very VERY wrong. The game has a 5, 7 and 9 button mode and I'm struggling with the goddamn 7 button. Maybe its just because I'm not used to the button layout but these games seriously kick my ass.
I think what Pop n' Music represents, is the key difference between the Japanese and Western markets when it comes to Rhythm games. Games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DJ Hero are fun as hell to play in a group, but they pose very little in the way of challenge. I was playing expert songs in DJ Hero and getting max grade for them within a week of taking it out of the box. Of course this doesn't mean these games don't have hard songs, but the hardest songs of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero are on about the same level difficulty as some of the medium level songs of things like IIDX.
Like I said before though, these games are fun as hell to play in a group. You break out the Guitar Hero at a party, everyone in that room will be able to pick it up and clear a song 2 even if they don't play games too often. If you broke out your imported IIDX at a party, chances are people would not be too happy when their constantly failing the easiest songs because the controllers aren't exactly newbie friendly.
So I suppose my final point is that you shouldn't really judge a game by its design. For all the hardcore rock star stuff Guitar Hero throws at you, it still doesn't hold a candle in skill compared to Pop n' Music's cutsie J-Pop. But as far as I'm concerned, both games are damn good.
For those unfamiliar Pop n' Music is a tremendously cutesy rhythm game with a 9 button panel when its played in an arcade. You can check out youtube to see what I mean when I say a cutesy design so when you play it you're not really expecting anything hard. Although after I got going with it I couldn't have been more wrong.
Pop n' Music, next to IIDX is one of the most ball bustingly hard rhythm games I have ever played. The faster charts come down so quick and dense with notes and the and keys are so spread out that I just find it impossible to keep track of everything. Although little by little I'm getting better and better.
That said, I decided to pick up a copy of Pop n' Music Portable on PSP. Now I don't want to sound cocky but I got damn good at DJ Max Portable. So I jumped into Pop n' Music Portable thinking that I'd just stomp all over the hardest modes although once again, I was very VERY wrong. The game has a 5, 7 and 9 button mode and I'm struggling with the goddamn 7 button. Maybe its just because I'm not used to the button layout but these games seriously kick my ass.
I think what Pop n' Music represents, is the key difference between the Japanese and Western markets when it comes to Rhythm games. Games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DJ Hero are fun as hell to play in a group, but they pose very little in the way of challenge. I was playing expert songs in DJ Hero and getting max grade for them within a week of taking it out of the box. Of course this doesn't mean these games don't have hard songs, but the hardest songs of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero are on about the same level difficulty as some of the medium level songs of things like IIDX.
Like I said before though, these games are fun as hell to play in a group. You break out the Guitar Hero at a party, everyone in that room will be able to pick it up and clear a song 2 even if they don't play games too often. If you broke out your imported IIDX at a party, chances are people would not be too happy when their constantly failing the easiest songs because the controllers aren't exactly newbie friendly.
So I suppose my final point is that you shouldn't really judge a game by its design. For all the hardcore rock star stuff Guitar Hero throws at you, it still doesn't hold a candle in skill compared to Pop n' Music's cutsie J-Pop. But as far as I'm concerned, both games are damn good.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Taiko Drums at Nagoya Festival
On my travels between arcades in this country I see a lot of interesting stuff. Nagoya Festival was SO interesting that it kept me out of them for 2 days! Anyway I took a (very badly shot) video of some of the Taiko players in Osu Kannon that I came across, so...enjoy!
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Hmm...Post Time!
Remember what I said about posts coming thick and fast? Yeah, I lied. This is a combination of my general lack of enthusiasm to update and the constant stream of homework and tests I'm getting from the University.
Plus, my gaming has kind of fallen into a routine that writing about seems somewhat pointless. I'm itching to see a good movie or buy something new but being in Japan kind of limits that somewhat. Anyway! I've started playing Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey but I'll write more on this later, I have a big rant about this compared to pokemon so I'll save that for its own post.
Another reason I've not been posting is my involvement with the Kyudo Club over here. For those not familiar Kyudo its Japanese Archery and when things get going in full swing its damn cool. I also got to experience Nagoya festival, which was fun as all hell. I got some really badly shot footage of the Taiko drums which I'll upload to youtube and link here in the next day or so.
I want to post more but when there's not really much interesting stuff to blog about I really can't be bothered. Anyway, watch this space for some crap touristy videos!
Plus, my gaming has kind of fallen into a routine that writing about seems somewhat pointless. I'm itching to see a good movie or buy something new but being in Japan kind of limits that somewhat. Anyway! I've started playing Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey but I'll write more on this later, I have a big rant about this compared to pokemon so I'll save that for its own post.
Another reason I've not been posting is my involvement with the Kyudo Club over here. For those not familiar Kyudo its Japanese Archery and when things get going in full swing its damn cool. I also got to experience Nagoya festival, which was fun as all hell. I got some really badly shot footage of the Taiko drums which I'll upload to youtube and link here in the next day or so.
I want to post more but when there's not really much interesting stuff to blog about I really can't be bothered. Anyway, watch this space for some crap touristy videos!
Thursday, 30 September 2010
The Return!
Wow, its been an interesting couple of weeks without the Internet in my flat, but now I'm up and running at full force! I'm a little annoyed I can't play any Counter Strike over here since my ping is constantly at 300 for any UK servers, but I still have pretty much everything else, so all is well.
Classes have well and truly started up now, and this university is unrelenting with its timetable. 5 days a week, 9am starts! I'm not used to this crap. Although class is pretty fun and its all done by 12 which leaves a good amount of time to catch up with my gaming.
The arcades are still as fun as ever. I've pretty much settled on Jubeat and Mahjong 4 as my main games of choice and with those convenient stat cards I get to enlarge my e-peen with delicious stats and rankings
I also decided to cave in and get myself some PSP games while I was walking around a book store. I managed to pick up Persona 3 Portable, just because I'm a massive Shin Megami Tensei fan and another interesting little game called God Eater which looks like Namco's answer to Monster Hunter. I've yet to play either since I'm still finishing off Panzer Dragoon Saga, but all in good time.
So that is that, now I'm all set up expect the posts to come thick and fast. There's lots to tell
Classes have well and truly started up now, and this university is unrelenting with its timetable. 5 days a week, 9am starts! I'm not used to this crap. Although class is pretty fun and its all done by 12 which leaves a good amount of time to catch up with my gaming.
The arcades are still as fun as ever. I've pretty much settled on Jubeat and Mahjong 4 as my main games of choice and with those convenient stat cards I get to enlarge my e-peen with delicious stats and rankings
I also decided to cave in and get myself some PSP games while I was walking around a book store. I managed to pick up Persona 3 Portable, just because I'm a massive Shin Megami Tensei fan and another interesting little game called God Eater which looks like Namco's answer to Monster Hunter. I've yet to play either since I'm still finishing off Panzer Dragoon Saga, but all in good time.
So that is that, now I'm all set up expect the posts to come thick and fast. There's lots to tell
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Arcades! Arcades everywhere!
When I'm not at home playing Panzer Dragoon Saga or crapping myself over tests and all the other stuff going on, I'm spending a good portion of my time in the arcades near the uni.
These places, are immense. I don't know about the rest of the world but in the UK, the arcades are shocking. Stuff doesn't work and the choice of games are generally balls. Here though, I've been playing DDR X2, Jubeat, Beatmania, Mahjong 4, Tekken, Street Fighter, Mushihime Sama.....the choice of games within the local area is rediculous.
The best part of all this is the little plastic cards you can get for about 400 yen that track your stats for each game. Being the massive statistics whore that I am I love this crap, although I've only got a MJ4 card and a e-musement pass so far, I feel that my wallet will have more game cards than anything else by the end.
Well, I'm gonna end this and try and get some internet set up, this shit is hard as hell.
Peace!
These places, are immense. I don't know about the rest of the world but in the UK, the arcades are shocking. Stuff doesn't work and the choice of games are generally balls. Here though, I've been playing DDR X2, Jubeat, Beatmania, Mahjong 4, Tekken, Street Fighter, Mushihime Sama.....the choice of games within the local area is rediculous.
The best part of all this is the little plastic cards you can get for about 400 yen that track your stats for each game. Being the massive statistics whore that I am I love this crap, although I've only got a MJ4 card and a e-musement pass so far, I feel that my wallet will have more game cards than anything else by the end.
Well, I'm gonna end this and try and get some internet set up, this shit is hard as hell.
Peace!
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Japan Times! No Internet and getting generally destroyed
I was hoping to update way WAY more than this but I've not got any internet in my room so I'm pretty much devoid of internet unless I make a trek to the local cafe.
Anyway, I've had lots of orientation and shit like that, and Japan is fucking hot as all hell. It's a ton of fun though. We found a local arcade last night where we proceeded to get destroyed at Street Fighter 4, Tekken and Beatmania.
This is going to be short since I'm on a limited battery, so I'll post some more once I get this damn interent set up
Peace!
Anyway, I've had lots of orientation and shit like that, and Japan is fucking hot as all hell. It's a ton of fun though. We found a local arcade last night where we proceeded to get destroyed at Street Fighter 4, Tekken and Beatmania.
This is going to be short since I'm on a limited battery, so I'll post some more once I get this damn interent set up
Peace!
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