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Registration date: 03/14/2008
Number of posts: 5
Number of comments: 202

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Last 20 posts:

• Counterpoint: Eroge can't do many wonders for the game industry at 09/08 02:38am
• Coming soon: a response to Josh's article at 08/31 11:18pm
• Kyon Blackadder does 'Old' Anime at 08/18 01:07am

Last 20 comments:

• On The OS war is won! Windows 7 gets officially endorsed OS-tan at 10/28 01:24am

  To think Vista never got a 'decided' Os-tan (too many versions came out), but all the others had an OS-tan we could immediately recognise.
  
  I like XP. Even if her boobs were too big. We had a lot of fun times, and XP was superior to Vista.
  
  Still, it may be a while before I get 7.

• On How Persona 4 fared when it comes to sales (hint: not as well as it should have) at 10/08 00:16am

  You know I hate to say this but:
  
  "I'm really happy for you Persona 4, Imma let you finish, but Fallout 3 was the best RPG of 2008. OF 2008 !!"
  
  Which is the truth. It may seem like a generic HD RPG, but that RPG reminded me of what I liked about Western RPGs: character customization and expansive world.
  
  Of course comparing Fallout 3 and Persona 4 is like comparing apples with oranges, but I like to point out that not all generic HD RPGs are 'bad'.
  
  ~
  
  Oh, and Persona 4 is still languishing in the last -gen. The time is now to move on.
  
  I'll be waiting for Persona 5 on my 360. I know it'll happen.

• On Japanese entertainment focusing on the glory days of post-war Japan at 09/24 00:54am

  Actually, I don't like this.
  
  It reeks of a sense of conservativism as well as a romanticisation of the past.

• On Yaoi Press founder arrested selling drugs to go with your yaoi at 09/24 00:52am

  @Geero_Yuy:
  
  You never know.
  

• On This 74 year old ji-san could rip you to shreds at 09/24 00:52am

  As Kyonshiro, I am proud of this man: improving the boyd is a worthwhile goal.
  
  Andf.... it's never too late. EVen starting at 50 is never too late to show the extent your body can go. The same goes for the brain too.

• On Foreigners discuss the problems they have with Japan at 09/19 06:29am

  The more I look at this.... the more I feel like doing an article.
  
  I've been putting off a particular animve-movie comparison article for a while. Not sure if I can get it done by next week (considering I have another commitment)... but I'll try.

• On Square Enix sets a trap for PS3 owners with NieR Replicant's hemaphrodite heroine at 09/15 9:09pm

  Let me tell you what I prefer.
  
  I prefer the Xbox 360 version of all my multi-platform games. Sure, I've got nothing against giving a PS3 release to a popular 360 game, but I'm still proud of my console.
  
  And sure, you can dress up the PS3 releases with some better stuff, but, if the core gameplay of the original is there, yeah, I'll be happy with the 360 release (esp. if it has DLC)
  
  Yeah, I'm still defending the 360 up till now. A bit off, p'haps.

• On Japanese eroge can do wonders for the game industry at 09/07 02:39am

  >Rank57: Irony is, KOF XII has failed to meet expectations. Which is tragic, since I love that series.
  
  ALso, Doki Doki 2 isn't bringing in money.
  
  >Killkrazy. I agree I am doing an article on this which I hope to upload by tomorrow.

• On Endless Eight and How it is a Masterpiece at 08/31 11:14pm

  It will be a real masterpiece if Endless Eight turns out to be only one episode.
  
  Yeah, I said that. I haven't been happy with what I've seen of Season 2 lately due to the new K-Onish art and some other changes, but I really dio hope Endless 8 is only one episode.
  
  I also hope Disappearance retains the old art. And that Yuki doesn't get TOO featured this season.
  
  Time will only tell what Season 2 will do for the franchise.

• On So, you want to be on the front page? at 08/31 11:09pm

  Well..... I'm thinking of writing a response to Josh's article on eroge.
  
  Not sure if it'll be featured, but it'd be nice if responses to previous featured articles were considered.

• On Record of Box Art Failure: This was nearly your Agarest War at 08/31 11:09pm

  This reminds me of the time when Valis, Athena and Shining Force were released in the STates, and their box art had this pseudo-realistic high fantasy art as with the more recent example.
  
  Perhaps an indication that the West has a different understanding of 'RPG hero'.

• On Japanese eroge can do wonders for the game industry at 08/30 03:24am

  Did I just see Heart De Roommate ?
  
  Egads, its been a while since I played the game. The evangelion Rei nearly turned me away from it.
  
  ~
  
  Anyway, my response, and while I disagree with the article, I shall post my response here (and perhaps in the community blog):
  
  Even though eroge has its merits (and while I don't doubt that much of Western gaming todays emphasizes too much on graphics), it still won't appeal everybody.
  
  I think what defines eroge (and you can't deny it), are those erotic scenes, which are borne out of Japanese understanding of privacy and discretion, as well as appealing to the fantasy of wanting to be in those situations, whether through long romantic situations (etc.) Remove that, and it's basically like any other game. It's no longer 'eroge', it's a Japanese game following a particula Japanese game design philosophy. Think about this for a while.
  
  Yes, Persona can be considered an eroge if the 'blank scenes' did reveal what happened, but, even so, it's not too different from what happened in God of War and (I had to say it), GTA. Oh wait, what about.... the Sims (the original had a certain love bed in the first expansion), Fable 2 and pretty much the entire Fallout series and Troika's Arcanum.
  
  I feel like mentioning Arcanum because it was an RPG but it had the same sort of build-up in relationships that I later got out of some eroge, along with that 'finish'. Of course, not too many played it, but I consider it to be a great game.
  
  SO yeah, the East and the West aren't that different. To some extent, it depends on how many games of both sides of the world one has played. In another extent, it's the personal interest. And, finally, it depends on how much game developers want to learn from these experiences.
  
  And, at the end of the day, I don't think it's so much what eroge has to offer us then what the game industry, as a whole, has to learn. Having been immersed into game history lately, the real answer to the solution may not be the idealization of some particular game philosophy (which would linearize anyone's thinking) but an incoporation of these ideas into something new and innovative.
  
  There's a longer response, but it'll take a while for me to post it.

• On The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya at 08/28 06:31am

  Haruhi indeed is an amazing show.
  
  Well, mainly for Season 1. Season 2 has been the greatest of epic fails so far.
  
  But Season 1 was one of the best anim.... no, best science-fiction stories I've seen in a while. It posits relatively high in-depth science fiction ideas without getting too lost in them or being too enamoured by the moe scenes.
  
  Yes, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was one of the most amazing shows ever. There was no season 2 (aka, Disappearance). It's like El-Hazard, Lost, and so many other things: the first season was the best.

• On Japan's graffiti tribute to Michael Jackson at 08/25 06:35am

  Well, it's going to go like what happened to Elvis.
  
  Which is not a bad thing.... in a way.

• On Toro Station takes a shot at Endless Eight at 08/25 06:33am

  @Because it was really one episde, repeated 8 times.
  
  I still believe.

• On From the Eroge Front: United Nations recommends h-game ban at 08/25 06:29am

  @matrixdude : Problem is, it depends on what element of fiction you ascribe that trait too.
  
  To be honest, I never view fiction as pure escapism. Even the act of resorting to writing or partaking in some form of escapism hails from a real-world desire grounded on some emotion, or some ideal.
  
  @DGX Googles: from what I remember, McCain wanted to make a 'League of Democracy'. It looks like it could well happen again. Gosh darn it.
  
  @yaku: Well, thank you for reading through that wall of inanity (yes, I myself feel it was one). Now for my following inane response.
  
  First up, here's the thing: freedom of speech can easily allow the belief that such rules that prevent others from enroaching into other's beliefs are, well, oppressive on their own. Of course, you could say that such ideas are contrary to the spirit of free speach, but, the paradox remains.
  
  As for parallel universes, I'm not trying to pull anything. Within physics and philosophy, there is talk about possible worlds in various forms of thought, ranging from Everett's parallel universe theory to David Lewis's modal realism.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possible_world
  
  All that would be tl;dr, and while it is so easy to argue for the pragmatic concern that our immediate world is the world that we should be concerned with, the fact remains that those worlds are real. And yes, a lot of people may find it ridiculous, but I take that line of argumentations eriously. Oh sure, tentacled monsters aren't going to jump out underneath anyone's chair at any moment, but that's a different matter.
  
  It is a tl;dr, but a fictituous story about a woman, who lives in Manhattan, was raped in an alleyway and left for dead amongst a number of eyewitnesses is no different from the true life account of Kitty Genovese. If I had to take the fantasy account further, the latest District 9 is, for all intent and purposes, an absurdist take on apartheid. Absurdist, yes, but apartheid.
  
  As to who draws the line, the answer is obvious: the power players. The problem is where and what to draw the line on their side, and from the looks of it, they have been influenced by Equality Now! to the extreme. I am against the extereme aspects of it, but not the more stringent rules of censorship.
  
  And yes, no one is forcing me to play GTA. Or to read the books of the marquis de Sade or Salmen Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I'm not sure about de Sade, but I know that Rushdie recieved death threats and now lives under protection, and the book is banned in my country (Singapore), even though, yes, it's a work of fiction, and, yes, the Muslims find it detrimental, even though they only make up 30% of the population.
  
  I could easily argue that it's a work of fiction and already criticise my own country's lack of freedom of speech, but, in light of the context, I am fine and even support it. Around here, racial tension has existed before, and while it would seem silly to have to consider the whims of the major races and religions, it has that level of censorship and control that maintained the peace in our area. Of course, I am speaking for my culture (and not others), but I'm not adverse to the idea of censorship (even though I'm not adverse to the idea of defying it)
  
  Yes, Equality Now! are more feminazis then feminists. And I do agree with you that is better to protect real living women who are suffering from real persecution than more fictituous accounts of it (mainly for pragmatic purposes). However, I am also aware that some feminists may argue that the larger project of feminism lies beyond not just protecting women's interests within the real world, but also the depiction of women in fiction. Fiction, even as a story, reflects our attitudes and beliefs within the real world, especially since not too many people go for far-out and over-the-top fantasies.
  
  An action plan is needed to reverse the allegation that CEDAW is proposing. However, if the concession is that rape games are prohibited, I do not mind seeing it through. That, is my stance on it.

• On EOCS makes it final decision: rape games are banned at 08/24 03:59am

  @Vcnt
  
  Oh, and if you want to know what country I'm from, it's Singapore.
  
  Yes, we could easily allow the publishing of Salmen Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" (which is banned here) as we have a 70% chinese population and a relativel minor 30% that is Muslim. Plus, our government is secular in nature.
  
  Thing is, even if what is drawn or written can easily offend. Sure, you can easily rebutt and say that people should be more tolerant. But, as you've pointed human nature isn't so tolerant.
  
  Censorship has done a lot of good for my country, preventing potential racial riots in a world where it is so easy to disagree on anything. Sure, you can say that it is closed up, which it is, but it's not as if some information cannot be accessed without a little effort.
  
  There's a lot more we don't know.

• On From the Eroge Front: United Nations recommends h-game ban at 08/24 03:51am

  Anyway, this is a disclaimer, and while I know a lot would view what I wrote about as a whole wall-of-text of inanity (at least within the context of this site), it was a reaction to the comments I read above.
  
  I bet some of you have not met a feminist, or even know them personally outside what you've read of more extreme versions of some acts. I am against the proposal drawn up in their doctrine concering "silly fantasies", but I'd like to remind all that this is coming from women who are against the portrayal of the 'submissive women' in any form, even fictional. And it's not as if they are against to real world subjugation of women, it's just that they take their fight all round. If anything, the feminist war on pornography is aprt of their larger project of stopping the subjugation of women:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_views_on_pornography
  
  Of course, there are also feminists who support and defend pornogrpahy, but I won't be surprised if the version of pronography they defend is that of the empowered woman.
  
  In short, while I condemn the doctrine, I am also saddened by the lack of understanding of the feminist mind. It is not as if these people don't have a reason behind their actions.
  
  But, of course, that is like saying the religious extremists believe what they're doing is right.

• On From the Eroge Front: United Nations recommends h-game ban at 08/24 03:16am

  Well, I got my own viewpoints :P

• On EOCS makes it final decision: rape games are banned at 08/24 03:15am

  @Vcnt
  
  A pity that this one came out kinda late.
  
  And you know what, score another one for ignoramnce on your account.
  
  I admit that I live in a country that practises a heavy amount of censorship, but it was censorship that has effectively allowed the country to continue peacefully without too many intellectual dangers within it.
  
  It may have not done good for everybody, it it did good for somebody.
  
  In fact, lets take it a step further: what about non-drawn child pronography ? Or censorship of access to top-secret military articles. That too, honestly, counts as censorship.
  
  Yes, I admit I am looking too idealistic at the situation, but I can't help but feel that resorting to fictionalized accounts of violations or criminal activities, although not as 'realistic' to actual accounts of the activity itself, allows one to get the same feel of comitting the act. Consider that some people who cannot hadnle the idea of having a real relationship prefer to turn to some idealized 2D image as their 'perfect wife'.
  
  I think those things are a sickness of the mind.
  
  Censorship has done a good deal lot for people, just as it has done a a lot of bad. Problem is, we just aren't aware of it.