Japan

The first line of Uniqlo gaming shirts are already out it appears. A very reasonable 1500 yen (that’s about 5 quid with the current exchange rate); plus discounts for multiple purchases. I bought three of this first run despite a current lack of funds.

Much to my surprise they are not (for the most part) merely prints. A large percentage are stitched or patches. Very nice. Any way after my failure to find the rest of the line any where on the web I decided to pick up Famitsu and publish their pictures on the site. I know the quality isn’t fantastic but for the most part you can make out the upcoming designs.

For those who are interested I bought the Pac-man and Resident Evil shirts that I pictured in my last post, and the X-Rally flag shirt. (Incidentally the RE shirt is listed in Famitsu by the western title of Resident Evil, the shirt itself however has the Biohazard logo).

The latest Famitsu published images of the upcoming line of Uniqlo gaming shirts. Featuring classic games from Tecmo, Hudson, Namco Bandai, Sega, SCEJ and Capcom I will admit to being more than a little excited at the prospect of kitting myself out in these this April when they are released.

Resident Evil and Street Fighter provided some of the more subtle offerings. Neither displayed prominent character or logos, siding more with words and symbols. Unfortunately my photos taken surreptitiously in a Lawson didn’t come out to well so I had to fall back on images snapped up from the web which didn’t include my two favorites. The RE5 khaki long sleeved t-shirt with a small BSAA insignia on the front (with Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance written in full on the back) and the Street Fighter shirt with only the iconic down, down forwards, forward, punch symbols emblazed across the chest. Day one purchases for me.

Also available are shirts in which iconic characters and logos take more prominent place. The Pacman shirt pictured on the right here is one of the more stylish examples of this. A simple logo on the chest (and four ghosts on the arse) offers a mere suggestion of your favored pass time instead of physically assaulting onlookers eyes with it (like the garish Ridge Racer and Ape Escape shirts).

Uniqlo’s tagline for these shirts is ‘Find one that says exactly how you feel.’ Well evidently I feel ‘exactly’ like a geek, as I am very excited about these and have at least five shirts I am ready to run out and buy already. Roll on April.

Images taken from – UTxGame

It seems that the online gaming community in the West is suffering from a feeling of entitlement. A belief that Japanese developers should be striving for simultaneous worldwide releases of their top tier games (most recently Final Fantasy XIII). This desire is completely self motivated and while it’s a sentiment I understand but one I can no longer sympathise with.

Living out here very quickly you come to realise that the West does little to support the Japanese gamer. Numerous top titles take months before they get an Eastern release, if they ever come here. Grand Theft Auto IV had to wait six months before it got a Japanese release (by Capcom not Take 2,) Gears of War 2 is still waiting for a confirmed release date. Even downloadable titles suffer from the same delays with Pain (on PSN) finally coming out this month.

These are just a few examples to demonstrate that staggered releases go two ways. It can be easy to forget when you are eager to your hands on a big title that every region is guilty of prioritising releases of their titles. Indeed Japanese companies tend to do a far better job pushing their titles through to the West. Back in the PS2 days, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Tekken 4 were both released in the US before Japan because that is traditionally where the game sold best.

Final Fantasy XIII will sell well in other regions but it is in Japan that it will be a national phenomenon. Blizzard announced Star Craft 2 first in Korea because it was where it would have the most impact. It’s the same thing for the FF series in Japan. Square Enix loses nothing by releasing it in Japan first, it make more sense for them to spend their time and resources on getting a game out where it will be a cultural event. They will worry about the world market later, possibly when the exchange rate swings in their favor.

Until they decide they are ready to translate their game for an audience outside Japan, stop feeling so damn self entitled. It’s unbecoming.