Rock Legend

I never wanted to be a rock star. I always knew that the life of sex, drugs and concert tours could be gained only though many years of practice and obscurity and maybe a little soul selling. Kudos: Rock Legend makes no effort to hide the drudgery and tenuousness of a music career. Finding the right band mates, practice, rehearsals, hand-to-mouth existence and getting squeezed by your record company hardly seems the recipe for fun. Oh, but it is!

You take the role as lead singer and assemble your band. You then have five years to make your mark on the music industry, starting with small gigs in local bars and working your way up to larger venues. Your band will need to stay motivated and free from stress, otherwise they’ll turn on each other or just stop showing up. When your lead guitarist quits because he hates the drummer, your rise to fame may never recover.

Rock Legend is spiced up by a couple of minigames. The songwriting game is a straight color matching exercise, influenced by your “inspiration” level and how much experience you have. It’s not very hard, but it’s nice to see that quality meter go above 80 per cent. The “music practice” game is a memory test that is best handled by simply writing down whatever pops up. You need to “practice” to stay sharp, but there’s a lot of tedium in this part. Maybe that’s the point.

Rock Legend, like its predecessor Kudos, limits you to a single activity a day and keeps the money tight to keep you hungry. It’s a better game than Kudos because the limitation fits the starving artist setting so well. The tradeoffs are compelling all the way through. Should you spend that last thirty bucks for a night out to build buzz for your next gig? When do you invest in a manager or sound mixer? When someone becomes a drunk, can you afford to fire them?

None of these decisions on its own is particularly interesting, but as a series of now-or-later choices that may or may not pay off, a fascinating fiction is created, and all without having to play a note. Getting out of the local band gutter is actually difficult, and almost entirely free of chance. It’s a little idealistic (hard work is rewarded more than hype) but the combination of good humor and delicious options will keep you humming along for a while.

PTD@Comiket 72

“It’s about 8:50AM at Tokyo Big Sight, we’re currently approaching the East Hall. We’ve passed something on the order of 50,000 people waiting in line for the West Hall. This event is big on the scale that you’d think of God’s testicles as huge, and it doesn’t even open for another hour.” (Notes from my voice recorder)

They came from everywhere. Authors and artists, cosplayers and journalists from around the world, all converged on Tokyo Big Sight in scenic Odaiba, for Comic Market, also known as Comiket. The event is a twice-yearly celebration of anime and videogame fan culture in Japan, the largest such event in the world.

This year’s Summer Comiket called tens of thousands of attendees (Friday’s crowd alone was 170,000) to take the early train, all wanting to be the first to purchase comics, CDs, and all manner of goods from the roughly 10,000 sellers. The sellers here are doujin circles, groups of friends with similar interests/hobbies who are selected to receive booth space. Admission is free, but in order to successfully navigate the 22 acres of exhibition space fans must purchase the Comic Market Catalog, a phone-book-sized volume that lists every circle along with a description of items they’re selling and maps of the venue. A CD-Rom version is also available and features a fully-searchable database and the ability to make custom color-coded checklists and maps.

True to its name, most of Comiket is dedicated to comics. East Hall 6 and West Halls 1/2 focused mostly on doujinshi, fan-produced comics, often based on existing video game titles (think fanfiction but illustrated). A shocking majority of the booths in East 6 were dedicated to works based on Sengoku Basara (released in the US as Devil Kings), but attendees who looked hard enough could find doujinshi based on more popular games in the US such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and even Tomb Raider. The West Halls, a 20-minute trek away, were dedicated to works based on RPGs and fighting games with a special section reserved for all things Square-Enix.

Don’t be mistaken, comics aren’t all you can buy at Comiket! There is also an incredibly strong gaming component. The Doujin Software section had rows of booths displaying every game genre. Casual platformers shared space with puzzle games from MOUNT☆PUNCH based on popular anime such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Es, an action shooter from 9thNight, reminded me very much of the Armored Core series. Parody games, such as a title combining the popular visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai with Phoenix Wright, were presented in every possible way, from slickly-produced packaging to hand-labeled CD-R discs. Even the most obscure of interests can find its place at Comiket. Early in the day we stumbled across a table staffed by two friendly guys in red Atari shirts, promoting their Jaguar fanzine. Yes, the much-maligned Atari Jaguar has a fan club in Japan.

These games are not published by companies, but rather by the creators themselves, all of whom do it for the love of their fandom or their craft. I spoke to Ryo a programmer for Secret Organization Mild Flag , a newly-formed circle currently developing a simulation RPG. He proudly states, “if you think about the commercialization of ‘otaku culture’, it basically boils down to this: people start as amateurs and do what they wanted, and there’s a fanbase that will support that kind of activity as opposed to just walking by it. I think that these people, if they can prove and hone and carve their skills into their pieces of work, they’ll gain the skills and the self esteem to go out and be commercial in the future. From my point of view, this is a really good first step. It’s also a good place for professionals to come back and kind of do whatever they want.” Evidence of this was abundant. Several famous manga-ka were selling their works that day, and many famous manga writers (such as the girl-group CLAMP) have risen to popularity through Comiket. TYPE MOON became famous with their popular novel game Tsukihime, then transitioned into a commercial organization in 2003 before releasing the mega-hit Fate/stay night. The company’s popularity was evident on Friday, as the line to enter its booth zigzagged for well over a kilometer.

Some circles stay true to their roots despite their success. Game designer ZUN is the lone member of Team Shanghai Alice. He is the designer, coder, and composer for the Touhou Project, a shoot-em-up series known internationally for its focus on characters, bullet patterns, and music which is surprising in a one-man production. I got to chat with Shacho and ARM of IOSYS, a popular music doujin circle that released a remix/arrangement CD of ZUN’s original Touhou Project tracks. Their CD sold out just as quickly that day as the new Touhou game itself did. Over 200 booths were selling doujinshi inspired by the Touhou Project and other doujin games, a clear indication of the loyal fan base that such games have.

Jirurun of shoot-em-up game circle SITER SKAIN demonstrated their latest product ALLTYNEX 2nd, to an appreciative audience, maneuvering his 2d fighter ship through intricate patterns of bullets. He and his partner, both with over a dozen years of programming experience, built the game from the top down. “Players [of STGs] want to move around a 2-dimensional surface… they find the simplicity of figuring out the rules to be a great advantage. In that sense, that kind of person will always be there, so I think [STGs] won’t completely vanish,” Jirurun commented in response to the looming “threat” of 3D gaming’s popularity. “However, as the number of games in the area increases, unless you make clear discriminations, they will all turn into the same game, so we’re in a kind of interlude period where everyone’s breaking their heads trying to come up with something new, and I think that’s where the advances are going to come from.”

Music circle groups offered a plethora of arrangement and remix CDs based on anime and videogame themes. While the majority sided towards electronica, rock, metal, and even hip-hop fans could find satisfaction. My personal favorite find of the day was ALiCE’S EMOTION and HARDCORE TANO*C. Their main performer, who goes by either REDALiCE or TANO*C, began making music four years ago, combining his love for club music with his interest in videogames to create songs that will get even the most stationary of otaku on the dancefloor. TANO*C releases hardcore techno and gabbercore for the masses, while REDALiCE focuses on arrangements based on anime and videogame soundtracks.

On the rooftop, photographers snapped dramatically dressed cosplayers posing in the sun. Most were current otaku darlings Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky☆Star. A full group were cosplaying as characters from the rhythm game Pop’n Music sharing stage with a fantastic foursome from the recently-released Square-Enix RPG Subarashiki Kono Sekai [editor's note: check out our preview of SKS later in this issue!]. Pokemon trainers, Ragnarok Online characters, and even Mario and Link could be seen posing for the admiring fans and photogs.

While an event as large as Comiket is certainly impressive in its own right, even more stunning is that applications were being sold left and right to participate in Comiket 73, four months away. Until then, the attendees of Comiket 72, judging from the size of their stuffed bags, will all have plenty to distract themselves with.

For Americans with interest in doujin soft, SimulationStyle.com hosts a community dedicated to doujin games, as well as an archive of games, music, and workarounds toward playing these games on non-Japanese copies of Windows XP. If you visit Tokyo, several shops in the Electric Town district of Akihabara sell doujin soft and usually stock new material in the days following Comiket. Although westerners may not be able to understand character dialogue or plot details without some Japanese knowledge, events like Comiket prove that a gamer’s love for his hobby is truly an international phenomenon.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Breath of Fire II, the first sequel to Capcom’s premier RPG series, has arrived on the Wii’s Virtual Console. This marks pretty much the first traditional RPG available on the service, and while this oft-overlooked role-playing title may not be the most glamorous on the Super NES, it still beats getting another 2D shooter. Oh yeah, and it happens to be a pretty fun game too. Read more

Tokyo Game Show 2007: Friday Report

Once more into the breach I dove to bring you more hands-on impressions on a variety of games on display. Read more

Tokyo Game Show 2007: Thursday Report

Journalists and developers flooded Makuhari Messe halls 1 through 8 today as the Tokyo Game Show kicked off in style. Unlike the last three years which saw new hardware being released (the PS3 and Wii in 2006, 360 in 2005, and the PSP in 2004), this TGS was different in that all three console developers had played their hands; now it was up to the studios to deliver the software. Although Nintendo was (once again) not present at the show, the spectre of the Wii and DS’s runaway popularity loomed as many publishers hawked new games for both systems. Read more

Free KiddieGames Online Games For Kids

For a multicultural infant experience, or just to learn how to correctly pronounce the letter “Z” in New Zealand, strap your baby on board and surf on over to KiddiesGames.com.

KiddiesGames has a variety of short, flash-based, mildly interactive games for toddlers and young children.  The games, however, are of poor quality and are scattered along a poorly organized page awash in advertisements.  Each mini-game focuses on a single teaching point such as the alphabet, numbers, fire protection techniques, or dialing the phone for help.  Each game is good for up to a minute of toddler attention, but not much more than that.  The games’ backgrounds are very busy, and the soundtracks are noisy and annoying to adults; some were even annoying to my one year old son.  Most of the games can be operated either with the mouse or keyboard.  If your child is not getting involved, the animated child on screen may prompt your child to “hit a button on the keyboard.”  If your baby hits several keys at once, the game may scold your child with, “Don’t bang on the keyboard!” in a childish New Zealand/Australian accent.  Some parents may find this hysterical, while others may be offended.

What this site does best is offer a truly multicultural experience.  All games feature a variety of multiracial animated kids as the stars.  The alphabet game can be altered based on the country or language of your choice.  The “911″ game can also teach the corresponding emergency number in 8 preselected countries.  If your country is not included, just call them and they’ll add it just for your child!  Several sign language games are available for older children as well.  Even the ads are multicultural and feature interesting global baby and child products not seen on usual parenting sites.

A unique feature of this site is the option to pay to personalize the games with your child’s photo.  Submit a cute kid photo and for $6US your child can play one of several games with their own picture.  Just don’t expect the quality to improve with this option.  Definitely try out the demo games first in order to decide if your child wants to play any of the games more than a few minutes before you purchase.

The “Alphabet Bang Game” was my son’s favorite on this site, but he prefers other alphabet games available elsewhere.  Despite my interest in exposing him to a variety of multicultural games, I just can’t bring myself to be a regular on this site. The games just didn’t interest him enough, and they annoyed me.

Interview: Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft - Part 3

It’s late September, which means that the Tokyo Game Show is upon us! As gaming journalists from around the world converge in Tokyo, I warmed up for Thursday by meeting up with Brian Ashcraft of the Gawker-owned gaming blog Kotaku. Check out parts one and two if you missed them. Read more

Interview: Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft - Part 2

It’s late September, which means that the Tokyo Game Show is upon us! As gaming journalists from around the world converge in Tokyo, I warmed up for Thursday by meeting up with Brian Ashcraft of the Gawker-owned gaming blog Kotaku. This is part 2 of the interview; check out part one here. Read more

Interview: Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft - Part 1

It’s late September, which means that the Tokyo Game Show is upon us! As gaming journalists from around the world converge in Tokyo, I warmed up for Thursday by meeting up with Brian Ashcraft of the Gawker-owned gaming blog Kotaku. Read more

Free Fisher-Price Online Games For Kids

According to my one year old son, the nightingale is the best. I’m talking about the free ABC’s Learning Zoo game at Fisher-Price.com, one of several enjoyable free activities on this site.

Fisher-Price Fun and Family Time zone offers a series of free online games and activities for infants and toddlers to preschoolers. Several of the games offer various skill levels for babies to advance in as they grow. The only advertising is in the titles of the games and on the main page itself.

My baby has been playing the peekaboo/surprise and alphabet zoo games since he was about 4 months old. He will tolerate the peekaboo games for quite awhile, but the alphabet game is clearly his favorite. In the surprise games, children hit random keys on a standard keyboard to make cartoon characters jump out of a colored box on the screen and make noises or say peekaboo. He usually figures out pretty quickly each play session that he can mash down a couple of buttons for continuous non-stop action with less effort on his part. The alphabet zoo game shows a letter of the alphabet then an animated animal that starts with the letter pops on-screen and makes its appropriate noise. Any keystroke will then advance to the next letter.

The games seem simple, but they are not foolproof. Playing each game does require almost constant adult participation. Certain keys will lock up the screen, and these keys invariably seem to be my son’s favorites. I have to keep the mouse within my reach so that I can quickly click on the page when he hits a function key in order to keep the play continuing and avoid an infant melt-down.

Most of the toddler games require use of the mouse. Little People and Snap ‘n Style characters star in small stories that require mouse clicks to move through the screens. They each have online coloring games using mouse clicks to shade in areas on a cartoon which can then be printed out. You can also print out a variety of coloring pages for offline crayon use, including Power Wheels pages. The toddler games ramp up in difficulty really quickly. The bubble mower and bubble tractor games are almost impossibly frustrating.

We haven’t tried out the preschool games yet, but I imagine there are some good offerings there as well. For my son’s part, he is content just playing the ABC’s Learning Zoo over and over. I have been very pleased with these free activities, particularly because they are available online and therefore we can access them at any relatives house or at my workplace without having to bring any discs along.

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