Tokyo Blog, Tokyo Story
The blog of Stephen David Smith, Tokyo, Japan 2012
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Sinister Independent Games: Judith
After discovering some interesting independent games recently, I wanted to post about them here so people can have a look for themselves. This first game is a collaboration between distractionware and increpare, two game artists who have created an interactive narrative game for Mac and PC (and now Linux too). I don’t want to spoil anything, so just try it for yourself. It’s a dark affair, made to feel only more so by the dreary colour palette, haunting sound, and nostalgically low-res aesthetics. Games as art?
UPDATE: Don’t Look Back is also worth checking out on the distractionware site.
And Now For Something Completely Different…
There’s a new creative agency in the UK called Displayground, an exceptionally talented group of designers, producers and creatives. I produced the Flash component of their new site, which involved incorporating some of the company’s ambitious ideas. You’ve got a mix of traditional stop-time animation, clay models, motion graphics, and vector shapes coming together to create a really original site. Design and photography credits go to the boys in the studio under creative director Mat Glover. The free-roaming orbs took a while to program and no mistake.
Nintendo DSi Get!
OK, I finally got my new DSi in black. I checked out the white one, but it soon looks dirty due to the fact that it’s a handheld and you’re constantly toting it around in your bag, pocket, etc. I was really amazed by it. I can really appreciate the hours that have gone into the UI and interaction design. The graphics will never be as good as on the PSP, but I bought this to help me study on the train. I’m using Tadashii Kanji Kakitori-kun (lit: Correct Chinese Characters Little Writing Bird), which is designed for school kids to use to brush-up their Kanji. It’s therefore about the right level for me, so I use it on the train on the way to work. You use the pen device to draw Kanji on the touchscreen and it has a built-in recognition system that enables it to gauge the quality of your Kanji writing. It also has meaning and reading practice. The next game I buy will be Devil Survivor.
Megami Ibunroku Devil Survivor
I was watching TV last night, and I saw an advert for a new Nintendo DS RPG set in Tokyo. It’s great because the locations seem to be accurate. I recognised the Tokyu Hands store in Shibuya in one of the sections, plus you’ve got combinis in there, etc. Plus, of course, the artwork looks nice. It features regular Tokyoites taking on demons and monsters in the streets of Tokyo – looks like it might be a good game. I’m buying my DSi on Monday. More to follow…
UPDATE: I still haven’t committed to buying my DSi. I spent a fortune in Harajuku and Ginza on Monday, so I’m reluctant to fork out for one.
Gama Bros. and Other PixelJam Stuff
I was beside myself with joy today when I stumbled across the PixelJam site. They make games that are ‘neo-retro’. A term that well describes their aesthetic sensibilities. The game I played just now was Gama Bros. and it’s superb! The sound FX and background music are especially 8-bit and some of the ideas they’ve put into the games are so good. They have other games on there, and also one of the guys from PixelJam had the idea of photographing the results of incorrectly inserting Atari 2600 cartridges and posted them to a microsite called sub2600.
Street Fighter IV
In other game news, the release date for the XBox 360, PS3 and PC version of the newest installment of Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise looms very close indeed. If you want to get a copy in the US and the UK, you should visit your local retailer on the 17th February – just over 1 month away!
As for the arcade release, this definitely won’t happen in the US, and I don’t think it will happen in the UK. By my calculations, it should be out in Japanese game arcades already, but only just. Don’t worry, I’m off to Akihabara as soon as I finish my work for the day – I’ll let you know what it’s like (Akihabara is a short bike ride from my apartment in Taito).
(Not So) New Super Mario Bros.
I don’t know how I missed this, but there’s a new Super Mario Bros. game out for the DS. I’ve been thinking about getting a DS ever since I arrived in Tokyo, but always found something else to spend my money on. Really though, the Nintendo DS seems to be an integral part of most Japanese people’s daily lives, so not owning one here in Tokyo would be like living in Beijing and not owning a bicycle. Now the Nintendo DSi has come out here, complete with built in camera, I’m even more compelled to get one. You can pretend to be playing Final Fantasy whilst taking pictures of a sleeping salaryman on the train.
iKnow!
Big thanks to the team at Cerego for offering the services of their amazing social learning platform, iKnow. Everything is totally free, and the site blew me away! I’ve only tried one lesson, so I haven’t properly explored all the features of the site, but I have an account set up, and it’s monitoring my learning progress! The lesson I tried was delivered in the form of an interactive Flash movie. You can tell that a huge amount of work has gone into this project, especially the approach to teaching, which is designed by some boffins in-house.
Basically, if you’re learning Japanese, or some other foreign language I recommend it. It’s far-and-away the best thing available of its kind. Disclaimer: I don’t know what other languages are available at present. It does seem to be aimed mostly at people learning Japanese right now…
UPDATE: If you check my account, you will notice I took a lesson for dummies. For anyone thinking I should be a lot more accomplished at Japanese considering the amount of time I’ve been over here, I am. I was just testing it out. I’m super busy with an interactive project of my own right now, but will be doing a proper lesson on iKnow pretty soon. If you join, look me up!
Face Your Manga
This site isn’t exactly great, as the avatars you create here don’t look particularly manga at all. Still, it’s a good laugh making one of yourself and your friends. I found I couldn’t easily make myself, but I could do my friends no problem!
Nike Dunks: The Website
I’m a fan of Nike basketball boots. Well, just trainers in general. So I’m interested to hear about a relatively new section of the Nike website dedicated to the classic Dunk series. There’s a load of colourways (that look identical to the last lot) coming out soon. These get previewed, plus you can make your own dunks. But you have to register first.
Uniqlo Are At It Again
There’s yet another Flash microsite for Uniqlo up on the .com site (where I believe all the Japanese content has now moved following their global expansion), and it’s amazing as always (from a production point-of-view). It’s called ‘Uniqlo Try’ and deals with their line of bra tops! I’m not entirely sure if I’m exploiting all of the sites features at the moment, as I just navigate through the different women trying to find any that are remotely attractive. They’re talking about how they feel about bra tops, how often they would wear one, etc. Interesting.
How I Get My News
I have to admit, I don’t understand everything (anything) on the Japanese Television News. I also don’t find many of the stories very relevant. When it comes to keeping abreast of developments in science, technology and the media I always get it on my desktop. Due to the existence of the internet, I find buying newspapers a bit wasteful, both in terms of money and trees. So, when I want to read up on Apple, or recent developments on the web, I open up msnbc.com’s Spectra Visual Newsreader. I’m no fan of the msnbc network, but I can’t help liking the Spectra Newsreader. It looks beautiful, feels futuristic, and is fun to interact with, and you learn stuff to boot. It’s now the first thing I do in the morning when I switch on my laptop.
SoftBank’s Hello World
I have a SoftBank phone. If you have ever owned a mobile phone in Japan, you will know from the time you shopped around between DoCoMo, AU by KDDI, and SoftBank that aquiring one, the right one, is very complicated and difficult. I found SoftBank to be the better of the bigger companies. I liked the brand and the shop interiors, and the options and tariffs weren’t too hard to fathom. Also, they do a pre-paid option, something that many other brands are making it impossible to do. Well, now SoftBank are trying to grow their brand and attract more customers, and if this new site is anything to go by, I think they’re going to do it. The site is by THA, and the production values here are absolutely amazing, it’s so polished. Thanks THA! Some more Flash greatness from Japan to play with.
Sony Building CyberCode Device
If you’ve been to the Sony Building in Ginza recently, you might have stopped in the entrance lobby to check out these cards that you can pick up. If you take it over to the machine nearby, you can place it in the sight of an overhead camera in order to interact with the card! You have a screen in front of you, and as soon as the machine picks up the presence of your card, a 3D representation of the building appears in the area at the top of the card (where the grey and black spots are). Thus, tilting the card means you can view the 3D representation from different angles, and from that get a plan of the various attractions on all floors. You also use the printed buttons on the card (forward, backward, and enter) as an interface with which to navigate through the info. Whoa!
Yugo Nakamura: Grandmaster Flash
If you like interactive stuff, especially stuff that looks amazing, you can check out any of the Flash work by Yugo Nakamura. My favourite is his stuff for Uniqlo. Namely Uniqlock, Uniqlo Paper and Uniqlo Grid (he also did their other websites for UK, Japan and the US – I think). There are various other interactive ‘pieces’ on his website – a la John Maeda, but before this he also created the jaw dropping ECOTONOHA. There are other people in Japan creating amazing Flash content too; look at Desio, a site for the Japanese 3 storey house brand Sekisuiheim. The production team behind this one is very mysterious. It was won by Mitsue, but I think they outsourced it. You have to try and tolerate the music on that last one. It’s like you just walked into a Japanese branch of Muji or something.
