Gamer's guide to Tokyo: Odaiba

Last may, I took a trip to Tokyo, Japan.  It was awesome, I had tons of fun, and I realized that there's not a whole lot of information for gamers on what to do and see in Tokyo.  Thus begins this series of posts.  I'm going to point out the important things to see and check out in Tokyo, in as many districts as I can.  In addition, I'll point out as much cultural information as I can, so you don't stick out like a stupid tourist.

The Gamer's Guide to Tokyo: Imports

Last may, I took a trip to Tokyo, Japan.  It was awesome, I had tons of fun, and I realized that there's not a whole lot of information for gamers on what to do and see in Tokyo.  Thus begins this series of posts.  This one covers the shopping side of things, what games are easiest to use when you get home, which ones aren't.

On the topic of #GamerGate: My Promise to you

Ugh, I really didn't want to have to write this article, but it seems like it's pretty much compulsory at this point.

5 Indicators You’ve Been Misinformed About #GamerGate

[Editor's Note: This article was originally posted here, and was written by the excellent Jamie Butterworth. It has been reposted here with permission. I'll have my own article up in the next couple days.]

The GamerGate debate has raged on for over 5 weeks at this point, and that’s like, 15 internet years. Entire kingdoms have risen and been decimated since the hashtag came into existence. People have gone to war with one another, hurling endless piles of feces among the neverending stream of bullets. I held a dear friends in my arm as he lay dying. “Jamie...” he whispered to me with his dying breath. “Don’t...don’t let them sully our beloved hobby...” As the light left his eyes, I swore to him that I would fight to the end in his honor. Or that might have happened when we were playing Call of Duty together. I can’t remember since politicians and media critics tell me I’m unable to differentiate between reality and videogames.

...In with the New!

Last week, I looked at the successes and failures of the Wii.  It's time to take off the rose tinted glasses, and look at what Nintendo learn from the Wii to improve the Wii U.  Here's what Nintendo can do to improve their market share and get the Wii U to be a big player in the console arena.

Account security and gaming: I don't wanna be hacked!

Last week, someone commented on my How to fix WoW article, asking about account security.  Ironically enough, this comment was from a spam bot, but this is a great topic that's definitely relevant to what has happened over the past couple of years.  There are some really easy ways to reduce your risk and minimize the damage in the event your accounts are compromised.  Here's a few tips on what to do.

The Stack of Shame

Within the game journalism community, there's a problem that is affectionately known as the "stack of shame."  It refers to the issue of having so many awesome games to play, but not enough time to play them all.  Sadly, this problem doesn't plague only journalists.  Members of the gaming community can find themselves mired in an ocean of games to play. It's everywhere, and it's starting to turn into an elephant in the room.  But it doesn't have to be like this.

On the Topic of Credibility: An Open Letter to Senator Leland Yee

The San Francisco Chronicle posted an article on Wednesday, that quoted Sen. Leland Yee(D) as saying "gamers have no credibility in this argument[about gun violence]."  As a lifelong gamer, I felt compelled to respond to his remark.  This is an open letter that will also be sent to Yee directly.

Off Topic: Why I kissed Facebook Goodbye

In the spring of 2006, I created my facebook account.  In May of 2012, I shut it down.  Why? Lots of reasons.  Mark Zuckerberg created an empire, that much is certain.  His little networking tool for keeping in touch with his classmates bloomed into a multi-billion dollar juggernaut, and finally went public this year.  Perhaps that's part of the problem.  The new facebook doesn't match the values and principles of the old, and it's slowly killing it from inside.

[Editor's note: this is the first of the off topic rants I mentioned in my "One Year Later" post.  While I could easily include gaming topics, I'm going to avoid that as much as possible during this rant.  I have enough material as it is...]

Getting Digital Distribution to be taken seriously

PC gaming has changed, just like war.  Developers have had to grow and adapt to the changing environment.  Some do better, some don't do so well.  However, there's still quite a bit that needs to be fixed.  If this is going to be the future, there's a lot that needs to be done.

Video Game Music: It's Finally Mainstream!

Game Music in general is reaching the point of being on par with movie soundtracks.  In some cases, they're even bigger than movie soundtracks.  Title themes from The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy have as much of a spot in the public conscious as Indiana Jones and Star Wars.  Hum a few bars of any of those themes, and you'll find a whole group of people who know what you're singing.

Ever since the advent of the home video game console, game music has become increasingly popular in the public eye.  And now, finally, video game music is reaching the point of mainstream attention.  In this rant, I'm going to point out some of the more ingenious musicians out there, as well as a few major works of art.

The Great Update Revolution: Is it really helping?

One of the modern trappings of video games is updates after a game has been released.  A lot of people cry foul when it comes to this sort of thing, and with good reason.  Online networks can only provide so much in terms of fixing stuff that's broken.  However, there's other underlying issues at play here.  Patches and updates are increasingly used to fix game-breaking bugs, and this is hurting the gaming industry in general.

My voice is shot but that's okay: A look back on Anime Detour 2012

So, my voice is completely shot from the past weekend, where I volunteered on staff for Anime Detour.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.  I'm taking a week off, in a sense, to talk about the awesomeness that was this past weekend, and show some of the awesome costumes.  Regular articles will resume next week.

AO Ratings: should they really be a kiss of death?

The Adults Only rating, or AO for short, has long been seen as a "kiss of death" to a video game.  Most if not all retailers will outright refuse to stock an AO game, and the rating itself is largely associated with porn, sex, and the most depraved violence out there.  But, perhaps the fear of an AO rating is doing more harm than good.  Here's a couple of ideas on how to make AO work, and where it can and should be used.

Still more reasons why DRM isn't working

Destructoid had an interesting comment thread in an announcement about Ubisoft games going offline for server maintenance.  With this downtime, legitimate copies of some of Ubi's biggest PC titles will be unplayable, even in the single player campaign.  Here's an excerpt from the article:





The affected PC games are HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6, The Settlers 7. Those using a Mac will be unable to play The Settlers, Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell: Conviction. Most other games will have their online modes unreachable for the day, although Just Dance 3 and Driver: San Francisco are said to be unaffected.

Understandably, people are less than thrilled about this.The comments in the Destructoid thread are funny, but they raise some good points.  This rant is continuing on the DRM rant that I posted a while back, and I'll be including some other topics that have come up since then.

Misogyny in games: It's time to man the f*** up!

Okay, this is one article that I'm none too keen on writing.  Partially because it's so pervasive, but partly because I know I'd run my mouth in ways that are very NSFW.  But a post on IGN put me over the edge today, and I can't let this slide.  It's time to talk about the objectification of women in gaming.  There's too much testosterone in this industry, and it's killing any credibility gamers have.

Disclaimer: this rant will contain some seriously foul language.  Viewer discretion is advised.

EA's forum ban policy: How much is too much?

EA, what happened to you?

There's an article over on GamePolitics that talks about EA's Origin service and how people banned from the forums are subsequently unable to play the games they paid for.  After reading the comments and linked articles, there's a few sticky topics that I want to pick apart.

Digital Rights Management is ruining my gaming experience

So, I spent a good half an hour installing Batman Arkham Asylum on my PC, fully intending to get a head start before running off to work today.  What with Arkham City just around the corner, I figured it was worthwhile to brush up on the happenings prior.  Well...that didn't exactly happen.  Thanks to some wonderful software included with the game called "SecuROM," it's not working for me.  I had installed this game over a year ago, and had no issues whatsoever.  One system upgrade later, and I'm left in a frustrated heap, rocking back and forth and muttering incoherently.  There are right ways to do DRM, and there are wrong ways.  Honestly, there must be something better than this.

DISCLAIMER:  Before people start accusing me of being anti-DRM, I just want to say for the record that I'm opposed to DRM which excessively restricts the games I pay for.   I'll elaborate on this later on, but I figured it'd be good to get this out of the way now.

The Great Censorship Dilemma

My, what big teeth you have!

One thing that regularly bugs me is the when a game (or other entertainment media) is censored in a way that degrades the overall experience of the selected media.  Movies do this, music on the radio does this, TV does this, and video games do it too.  For the wayward youth, censorship is a real bummer.  It's a road block to everything those boring adults don't want them to see.  But with some entertainment, the content loses something when it gets edited.  Various companies are making inroads into bridging the gap, but at what cost?  How far is too far?  Should the entertainment industries be playing parent?

Update: Retail Surveys are Job Security!

I received quite a bit of support and visibility over my retail survey post.  As such, I figured I'd give my readers an update as to what has happened since.  I also want to comment on the comments that I received, as well.