Playing Ketchup

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, let me tell you. In the last month or so, I've been to London, got through E3, and went to Tokyo for a combination business trip/burial for my grandfather. And this week (tomorrow, actually), I leave for North Carolina to go see my father, who just got out of the hospital from his big surgery.

E3 was even more exhausting this year than usual, though I'm not entirely sure why. The show itself was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. There were a few surprises ($600?! Tilt functionality?!), but overall, people showed what everyone knew they were going to show, and most of it looked and played like everyone expected.

A few standouts:

- Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft): I'm a bit miffed that this appears to be a PS3 exclusive, but I really enjoy the premise of this game. From what I've heard, it's looking absolutely stunning. Can't wait to get my hands on this one. (Just found out that this got IGN's overall action game of show.)

- Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft): Yes, Ubi had a fairly solid lineup this year. Splinter Cell seems to be changing the look of the game and is going for a more "Hollywood-esque" look and style. Should be entertaining.

- Resistance: Fall of Man (SCEA): A shooter by the guys at Insomniac, this game is *pretty*. Didn't get a chance to play it at all, but Insomniac is no slouch when it comes to gameplay (though whether or not they can pull off an FPS remains to be seen). Seeing as it is supposed to be a launch title, this could be one of the must-have titles for the PS3 launch.

- Heavenly Sword (SCEA): Or otherwise known as "Goddess of War." Essentially, a next gen version of God of War, with a female lead character, and mythology that looks like it's loosely based on Chinese mythology/Wu Xia movies.

- Bioshock (2K Games): Didn't get to see this one (was behind closed doors), but heard it was extremely impressive. I believe IGN gave it X360 game of show... It's the spiritual successor to System Shock, so there's a lot of hardcore anticipation behind this one.


Not Quite Sure Category:

- Wii: Still don't know what to make of the controller. When used properly, it can be fun, but the sensitivity is still an issue. And frankly, do I *want* to have to stand up and position myself in specific orientations to play certain games? Do I want to be concerned what angle my hands are at when lying down on my couch to relax? Still yet to be seen.

- PS3 Price Point: Who is this game console for? The only electronic/entertainment thing I've ever spent more than $500 on in my life is a PC. And that's because I needed one for college.

- Dead Rising: Capcom's new "Dawn of the Dead" style game for X360. It looks vastly improved over the movie they showed at last year's E3, but I'm still not sure if it's worth picking up. Sure, there are moments of sheer awesomeness (like taking a zombie's head off with a bowling ball), but it might get a bit repetitive after a while.

- Too Human: Looks like it could potentially be fun, but I've never understood why there was *so* much hype for this game before anything was really ever available for it. The version that they showed at E3 looked like it shouldn't have been shown, but I'm going to guess that a lot of the issues the game was suffering from were linked to Unreal Engine 3 and whatever camera AI they were using.

- Viva Pinata: Really, really cute, but will it actually be any fun? And is it really a good idea to link kids to XBL Marketplace where they can buy random crap??

- Nintey-Nine Nights: Looks pretty, but how is it any different from, say, Dynasty Warriors?

- Saint's Row: Another GTA clone, but this one is actually fairly good-looking. Considering the size and scope of the game, the graphics are good, the gameplay feels all right (though the driving is floaty), but the one thing it's missing is style. It feels a bit too generic right now, which might prevent people from caring too much.


The WTF Category:

- Shadowrun: Okay, I used to GM a Shadowrun campaign. I loved the game world, the gameplay, etc. WTF is this new game??? They took an extremely deep RPG and turned it into a half-assed FPS?

- MGS4: Why is everyone so excited about this game? They showed a 15 minute trailer that was unbelievably badly written (how many times can you repeat "War has changed" without it actually meaning anything in context of what is being said?), although the action sequences were pretty cool. The story has completely lost any interest for me, so I suppose that's why I care so little, but man. It was mind-boggling.


Overloaded:

- RTS games: Oh dear GOD, there were a lot of RTS games at the show. Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, Medieval 2, Battle for Middle Earth 2, Civ 4 expansion, Rise of Legends, etc etc. I like RTS games as much as the next guy, but dayumn.

- Comic book games: The Darkness, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, X-men 3: The Official Game, X-men Legends 2, Dragon Ball Z, Naruto (like, 3 of them!), One Piece, etc. I know comics are "in" now, but this is overkill.

- Squeenix Brands: 14 SKUs based on 3 brands (FF, DQ, Mana). You know it's getting ridiculous when a specific *sequel* in a series becomes its own *brand*. There are about 3 or 4 Final Fantasy 7 products in development right now. And I believe there are 3 Final Fantasy 13s.




Okay. That was a lot more than I had originally intended to post.

Elektric!

Wasn't able to post "from the show floor" like I said I would in my last post, but I will give an update at a later date. Too much catching up to do.

But, I spent last week in Japan (after spending a whole day at home after E3!!!) giving presentations and whatnot, but on Saturday, I attended the burial of my grandfather. He actually died back in February, but we've kept him on ice since then, as the planet alignment wasn't quite right for a proper burial (just kidding... he was cremated, and it takes a while to get through all the paperwork and whatnot to go through with the actual burial in Japan, despite the fact that my grandfather had actually purchased a plot of land over 30 years ago).

Since most of the grieving happened back when he actually died, while the ceremony was certainly somber, it wasn't depressing. In fact, it was actually quite pleasant. I got to see family that I hadn't seen since I was in grade school, and a few family members that I used to be really close with that I hadn't seen in close to 10 years. While tears were not scarce during the actual burial, afterwards, people were smiling, laughing, and sharing stories about my grandfather. I think he would have been very happy to see people remembering him so fondly...

Now, onto the subject title! My mom's cousin (who is only 36, so she's closer to my age than my mom's) had moved to Kyushuu a while back, got married to a half-Japanese guy, and had a daughter about 5 years ago. The last time I saw her was about 8 years ago, so seeing her on Saturday was a pleasant surprise, as we used to be fairly close. She brought her little girl, Hana, who was the most adorable little ball of energy I ever met. Strangely, she came running up to me (despite never having met her before) and began talking to me like I'd known her since she was born. She held my hand, followed me everywhere, and even demanded to sit on my lap when we got into the car to go to the restaurant where we were having lunch. Her mom thought it was cute the way we got along and she asked Hana why she liked me so much, and her response was, "Because he's so handsome and I want to marry him!" So adorable! She even asked her mom to marry me so we could all go home together. Maki (my mom's cousin) tried to explain the whole "incest" thing without being too straight forward, but I think it was lost on the poor girl.

However, during lunch, Hana started talking about her father... then began saying how much I looked like her father and how she wished I was her father. Poor thing. Her father left the family for another woman, which is why they moved back to Tokyo, and I'm sure she misses her father dearly. I felt compelled to protect her, but at the same time, I didn't want to overstep my boundaries and make things more difficult for her mom. Though, I did promise her that I would take her out for lunch and to the park next time I'm in Tokyo.

(And she drew a picture for me! Her mom faxed it to me the next morning... it's on my refrigerator door now. I'm such a sap... I guess that's why I'm The Cheese, though.)

Unto the Breach

And so, today marks the last day of normal work for at least a week, as starting Monday, I descend into the cesspit of over-stimulation, poor bodily hygiene, and booze that is E3.

Seeing as it will be Microsoft's second (calendar) year on the X360, hopes are high for quality content to be forthcoming. But, more importantly, most people want to know wtf is going on with the PS3 and the Wii (*chuckle*).

Checking the pre-E3 lists, most companies are keeping their cards close to their vests, but the major announcements will have hit by the time I set foot on the show floor.

Next week's venues:

Tuesday - Nintendo press event/party. Last year, they had Maroon 5 playing... which was fairly disappointing, considering that Microsoft had both the Killers and the Chemical Brothers playing (which was all the more sweetened by attending that portion of the show in the company of Tetsuya Mizuguchi).

Wednesday - Who knows? Trying to organize a casual dinner with friends, but could very well get sucked into attending a dinner with the execs.

Thursday - Sony party @ the Dogder's stadium. Going to be running late to that one, as I have a dinner with some developers overlapping by about an hour.

No Microsoft party for me this year =
More news to follow from the show floor!

Racism in London

I was surprised to hear from someone that racism in England was likely as bad as the worse parts of America. Being from California, it's relatively tolerant out here, at least in comparison to the rural areas.

But this last weekend, while in London, I encountered a bloke that really, really seemed like he wanted to know what 12 years of karate could do to his person. I was being taken around town by a lovely young Japanese lady (whom I have known for a while), when we boarded the Underground after having dinner. We stopped at one of the stations on our way out, and some drunken chav (is that the correct use of the term?) got on and started singing horrible drinking songs. Something about shooting German planes down, sung to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."

Soon, the lyrics began to change, and next thing I know, he's saying, "I bet you don't have a passport, you Chinese c*nt... No you don't have a passport you Chinese c*nt," etc.

I realized that he was looking straight at my companion, and my blood began to boil. Just as I was about to stand up and show him what we mean by shock and awe in America, she pulled me off the train, and we simply got on the next one. I could see him laughing as the train pulled away...

She then told me that she's used to it, and she's had eggs thrown at her and whatnot. I couldn't believe it. A country that is supposed to be as liberal as England, and there's this much racial animosity? It perplexes the mind.

Non sequitur: According to my hotel's menu, French for "assortment of breads" is "assortiment de pain."