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E3 2005 Postmortem

Another E3, come and gone. For the 11th straight year (cripes), I made the trek out to Los Angeles to check out all the latest wares and, more importantly, catch up with scores of old friends. It's kind of funny -- each year, my interest shifts more toward the social aspects of E3 and further away from the actual game part, to the point that this year I quite literally only picked up a controller once the entire trip. Of course, I took a good look at everything I wanted to see, went to all the parties and press conferences and whatnot, but as far as actually playing stuff, I mostly just sat on the sidelines and watched. It's kind of nice, actually; it'll be great to play a new Zelda game without any previous hands-on experience for a change. Raw and pure, just how the developers intended. :)

I had a great time catching up with everyone, but the highlight of my trip was, without a doubt, hanging out with Eiji Aonuma at the Ziff party for over an hour on Wednesday night. Mark invited him and I got him in (along with Bill and Nate from NOA), and we talked about all sorts of stuff, from the creepiness (and sheer awesomeness) of Majora's Mask to rundown bars in Kichijoji. He gave me a few tidbits on DS Zelda, too, which sounds pretty exciting. Those of you who were expecting another Four Swords are going to be in for a nice surprise...

Anyway, now that I'm back (and jetlagged to kingdom come), let me point out a few brief thoughts and impressions from the show:

Xbox 360: The case design is sexy, the controller is fantastic, and the thing's got tons of potential. That said, MS had a pretty weak showing at E3, with very few "must-have" games on display, and nothing that really looked like true next-generation quality, aside from maybe Gears of War. I have high hopes for the machine, especially now that it's got some decent support from Japan (much of which hasn't been announced yet), but for now, I'll remain cautiously optimistic. Their half-assed approach to backwards compatibility bothers me a bit, but I suppose as long as I'll be able to play Halo 2 without any problems, I'll survive. My most-wanted title at the moment is probably Mistwalker's Lost Odyssey.

BTW, Microsoft gets the award for coolest E3 giveaway with their limited edition E3 2005 Xbox 360 faceplate, shown here hanging out with the old guard:

Doesn't look all that much smaller than the original Xbox, does it? At least it doesn't look like a tank anymore.

PlayStation 3: The next generation is Sony's to lose, and frankly, I don't see it happening. The tech demos they showed were out of this world, and while I understand most (not all -- but most) of them weren't running in real-time or on real hardware, it was nice to get a tangible idea of what next-generation games might look like. Unless Sony drops the ball big-time, I can't see them falling behind next round, in Japan or anywhere else. As for the actual case design, it's pretty nice-looking, though that hideous Spider-Man font has GOT to go, and the "conceptual" controller looks ridiculous.

Hopefully Sony'll wisen up and fix both these problems before the launch next spring.

Revolution: Hmm. I know I'm supposed to be excited about the Revolution, but so far I'm just not feeling it. The case design is indeed very small, but it's not very stylish IMO. It lacks character; it looks more like a DSL modem than a game console right now. Iwata did say the final console will be even smaller when it's done, so hopefully they'll inject some personality into it as well. Backwards compatibility with all previous Nintendo consoles is indeed a big plus, but I hope to God that's not their main selling point, because if it is, they're going to get crushed. I thought they were headed in the right direction when it was announced that Revolution would play DVDs (you know, acknowledging that people like to do other things besides play games and all that), but then they said you'd need an optional attachment to do so, which pretty much killed it. There's always a catch with Nintendo, isn't there? Seems like they never, ever get everything 100% right these days.

I used to be the biggest Nintendo fan in the world, but now I have a hard time even feigning optimism. Come on, Iwata, prove me wrong. I want to believe!

Game Boy Micro: I'm a sucker for handhelds and I'm a sucker for sexy gadgets, so you know I'll be all over this on day one, even though I have zero need for it. I'm extremely disappointed it doesn't come with Play-Yan functionality built-in (another big Nintendo gaffe, IMO), but even still, it looks so good I don't think I can resist. I hope they keep making decent GBA games, though...

Dragon Quest VIII: Wow, talk about a nice surprise! Not only did they completely revamp the menus and game interface to be more appealing to a US audience, but they added full voiceovers as well! I've been a huge DQ fan for almost 20 years, so I can totally appreciate the old-school Japanese style, but I really love the fact that they ditched it and re-did everything for the US version. Very forward-thinking of them. My only (minor) gripe is that they decided to use British English spelling for all the items and dialogue. British voices? No problem. Writing armor as "armour"? Uh...no. But whatever, the good far outweighs the bad, and I can't wait to get my hands on the final game this November.

DS vs. PSP: I'm surprised just how much better of a show DS had than PSP. It's almost as if Sony forgot the little thing even exists -- what's up with that? I can count the number of PSP games I'm looking forward to for the remainder of 2005 on one hand, which is a bit worrisome. :/

Sega's Next-Gen Stuff: Sega were showing some nice tech demos behind closed doors, and almost all of them looked surprisingly good. Virtua Fighter 5, After Burner, Chrome Hounds, Sonic...everything looked a heck of a lot better than what we've come to expect from them as of late. Could this be the beginning of a turnaround? Let's hope so.

Speaking of Sega, they had the coolest t-shirts of E3, by far:

I rarely collect gaming shirts these days, but I went out of my way to make sure I came home with that one. :)

Well, that about wraps things up. With E3 out of the way, I can finally get back to focusing on what's important -- sleep! And I think I'll get started on that right now. See you soon!

E3-Bound

I was hoping to get a few more updates in before I took off for E3 this year, but alas, it just didn't work out. Blame work, which has been extraordinarily busy these past few months thanks to a bevy of extra-large localization projects suddenly showing up all at once.

A few really brief tidbits I want to share before they get stale:

1. On May 7, I turned 30 years old. Holy crap! I'm not complaining, though. I feel younger than ever right now, and in a lot of ways, I feel like life is just getting started. My friends and my girlfriend threw a surprise party for me here in Tokyo, which was a blast, and I got some really great gifts. Among them, I felt three were worth sharing here (the gaming-related stuff). First, there's this Famicom Disk System bank, which my girlfriend got for me:

It's pretty cool. Put a coin in the slot on top of the cartridge and push the eject button, and it makes the classic "coin" sound from Super Mario Bros. A fitting gift for a Famicom nut like me, but that's hardly the best part. Check out the back:

She actually took it apart and installed a music box inside that plays the theme to "happy birthday" when you turn the lever. Is that cool or what?

South Park fans will get a kick out of this next gaming-related present I got: a Golden PSP!

You'd need to have seen the episode from March 30 ("Best Friends Forever") to really appreciate this, but even if you haven't, who can resist a Golden PSP?

And finally, JonnyRam got me this swank Famicom towel, which I promise to take with me next time I hit the beach:

All in all, it was a great day, and I have to say, my friends are the greatest friends in the world. I'm already looking forward to my 40th birthday party! (Okay, not really.)

2. Xbox 360. I went to the press conference in Tokyo, and I watched the MTV special. I wanted to write a thousand words on what I thought of everything, but since I have to wake up in two hours to catch a flight, I'll condense it all down into a few short bullet points:

- The MTV special was crap. Talk about a blown opportunity. The concept was brilliant -- where better to show off a new piece of gaming hardware to the masses? E3 is for insiders, but we're all gonna buy it anyway. They get an A+ on the idea, but an F- on the execution. The segments they had were just awful, and the game footage they showed did nothing to help their cause. What's up with Perfect Dark? It looks like utter garbage in this state -- not the kind of game you want to be using to show off your all-powerful new hardware. But hey, at least we got Wall Guy out of the deal.

- The Japanese games that were shown in Tokyo looked very promising. I'm really excited about Mistwalker's two RPGs; one's got Akira Toriyama (Dragon Quest, Dragon Ball, Chrono Trigger), and the other's got one of my favorite artists in the world -- Inoue Takehiko (Vagabond, Slam Dunk, etc.), doing character designs. Both are being produced by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, and both have music from Nobuo Uematsu, who seems to be reinvigorated from working his old pal Sakaguchi (or "The Gooch," as many of us like to call him) Exciting stuff. Q Entertainment's game, Ninety-Nine Nights, looked good as well. I'm not sure I'm really interested in the genre, but seeing as how it's being produced by Tetsuya "Midas Touch" Mizuguchi and developed by Phantagram (the Kingdom Under Fire guys), I'm sure it'll be much more than just another Dynasty Warriors knockoff.

- The Xbox 360 is sexy. Not too sure about those curves, though. Here in Japan we like our game systems stackable (bless you, PS2), which may be tough given the 360's contours. But hell, anything's better than the tea table that was the original Xbox.

3. E3. I was going to post some E3 predictions, but I'm running out of time, so instead I'll just list the top five things I'm looking forward to at the show:

1 - PlayStation 3: The teaser ads have me so stoked -- Welcome Change indeed. I can't wait to see what they're planning for this baby; $10 says its specs blow Xbox 360 out of the water.

2 - Revolution: It's gonna be there, and the fact that it apparently plays DVDs is an encouraging sign that maybe -- just maybe -- Nintendo may be getting themselves back on the right track.

3 - Xbox 360: We've already seen it and touched it so it's not as exciting as the other new platforms, but nevertheless, I'm eager to see what kind of games are in development for this thing. I really hope they decide to make it backwards-compatible, cause this damn Xbox is taking up way too much space here in my tiny Tokyo apartment...

4 - The New Game Boy: Granted, it's only an enhanced GBA SP, but if it really does have Play Yan built-in, and if the screen is backlit, I might be sold. I'm curious what else they're planning to add to it, if anything.

5 - Nintendo DS and Sony PSP: I'm a handheld freak, so I'm looking forward to what the future has in store for these two. I'm a bit more excited about the DS because of the whole online thing (Animal Crossing and Pokemon alone will steal hundreds of hours of my free time, no doubt), not to mention all the great 2D stuff like Castlevania, Metroid and Advance Wars. I haven't heard much about the PSP lineup, but hopefully they'll have some nice surprises as well.

Anyway, I'd better crash -- I'm off for Gross Angeles (or is it Smell-A?) in just a few hours. See you guys after the show!

Xbox 360: It Begins

Tomorrow's the big unveiling in Japan. In addition to a live broadcast of the MTV special at the lavish Virgin Toho Cinemas complex in Roppongi Hills, there'll be an hour-and-a-half of "other," presumably Japan-specific content. Hironobu Sakaguchi is rumored to be there, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if some of the other Japan Xbox luminaries, like Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Yoshiki Okamoto, are in attendance.

So what do you think? Will they get it right this time?

Looking Ahead: May 2005

OK, so I must admit, I shamelessly ripped this idea from Mr. JonnyRam, but I thought it would be a good way for me to get familiar with everything that's coming up in the next month so I can try and plan appropriately. I'm not necessarily going to buy all these games (in fact, I probably won't buy most of them), but here's what I've at least got my eye on right now:

Pokemon Emerald (Nintendo, GBA, May 1, USA)

Do I want this or not? I'm not quite sure. I reviewed it for EGM but I can't decide if I want to dive deep into it like I did with LeafGreen or if I want to forget about it forever. I'm afraid the addiction might be coming back though, so maybe I'll pick up my own copy when I'm in America for E3 and give it another go...

Bomberman DS (Hudson, NDS, May 19, Japan)

Judging from the screens I've seen so far, this doesn't look all that special, but Bomberman never was about the graphics -- if it's got decent multiplayer play, it might be a blast (ooh, bad pun), especially since it wouldn't involve any messy cables.

Bura Bura Donkey (Nintendo, GBA, May 19, Japan)

I don't think I'm going to get this, but I'm curious how it turned out. It's called DK: King of Swing in the West, and I think it's been out in Europe since February or so. Has anyone tried it? Is it worth playing, or should I just forget about it?

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Nintendo, GBA, May 23, USA)

Ooh man, I can't wait for this. It took all the energy I could muster to refrain from buying and playing through the Japanese version last fall, and now that it's just a few short weeks away, I'm starting to get really antsy. The previous Fire Emblem had an awesome English localization (and better animation than the J-version), so I'm really hopeful for Sacred Stones as well. I still wish they would've brought over Fuuin no Tsurugi first, though...

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (Nippon Ichi, PS2, May 24, USA)

I think I'll wait for this to go down in price, since I already have a gold disc from reviewing it in EGM, but I look forward to adding this to my library at some point. I hope more niche games like this get localized in the future, provided they can get through SCEA's rigid approval process.

Ys IV: Mask of the Sun ~A New Theory~ (Taito, PS2, May 26, Japan)

Taito's Ys III remake was pretty disappointing (more on that soon), but early screens of Ys IV look a whole lot better, so I'm really excited for it. I should have a gold master showing up any day now, in fact, so I'll try to post some impressions as soon as it does. In the meantime I hope to start playing through the original PC Engine and Super Famicom versions so I can pinpoint what changes get made to the remake.

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana 2 (Gust, PS2, May 26, Japan)

I wouldn't have played the first Eternal Mana if it weren't for EGM (look for the review in the next issue!), but now that I did, I'm eager to check out the sequel. The English localization was really good for the first game, so I'm not sure if I really want to play the sequel in Japanese, but at the same time, I don't want to wait another six months (or probably more) before I can play it in English. In any case, I'll probably check it out if I can find it cheap or borrow it from someone.

Berwick Saga: Lazberia Chronicle Chapter 174 (Enterbrain, PS2, May 26, Japan)

I haven't played TearRing Saga yet, but I've been meaning to pick it up, and now that I'm actually sitting here writing this, maybe I'll go out and look for it when I grab dinner later tonight. TearRing Saga was basically "Fire Emblem for PlayStation," produced by Shozo Kaga, one of the main people responsible for the Fire Emblem games at Nintendo during the Famicom and Super Famicom days. He left to start his own company, and TearRing Saga was their first game. Berwick Saga is the PS2 sequel, and if it's even half as good as any of the Fire Emblem games, it'll probably be worth playing.

Namco X Capcom (Namco, PS2, May 26, Japan)

I definitely can't pass this one up. I just hope it's as good as it has the potential to be. With Monolith developing, I imagine it's probably going to be pretty high quality, but I hope it doesn't have twice as many Xenosaga characters as every other franchise in the game. :)

Space Invaders Pocket (Taito, PSP, May 26, Japan)

Did anyone ever try the DS version of Space Invaders? I'm curious how it turned out. It certainly didn't look like it needed to be on DS, but I'm still a sucker for old-school arcade games, so I want to play it. Hopefully it'll be in bargain bins soon enough, as it doesn't look like it's worth more than 1500 yen or so. I assume the PSP version will be pretty similar, so I'll probably do the same thing and wait for it to get cheap before trying it out.

That's all for now. I'll try to do this again next month if I can manage it, but no promises. :)

New Game: Nintendogs: Miniature Dachshund & Friends (JP)

Title: Nintendogs: Miniature Dachshund & Friends
Platform: Nintendo DS (JP)
Publisher: Nintendo

Where: Dreamland
When: April 27
How Much: 4,480 yen (4,572 yen w/tax)

I honestly wasn't planning to buy Nintendogs, but since several friends were raving over it, and it got a rare perfect score in Weekly Famitsu magazine (Japan's equivalent of say, EGM), I decided to take the plunge.

I was hoping to get a decent amount of playtime in before I wrote anything about it here, but aside from a couple of hours of messing around, I haven't really done much. My dog is a male german shepherd named Mashtato (short for Mashed Potatoes -- it's a long story), but all I've really done is taught him to respond to his name and sit. I'd like to blame my lack of playing on being too busy with work, but truth be told, I've still managed to find plenty of time to play Lumines, so maybe I'm just not that interested. It's definitely different and cute, and I can see why some people are going gaga for it, but it hasn't compelled me enough to pick it up since the day after I bought it, so I'm starting to wonder if maybe I wasted my money.

Then again, I felt the same way about both Lumines and Meteos when I first played them, and now I love them both, so who knows. Maybe I'll feel the same way about Nintendogs in a few weeks. :)