News

Welcome one and all to your fortnightly bit of gaming audio delight from the DoFuss (Darren and I). With the stale whiff of the weekend’s alcohol still lingering on our breath Darren and myself embark on a quick foray into the world of gaming news and issues to see what we can find.

Gaming news and talk of what we have been playing sits as ever at the front of the show, but this time the feature topping our metaphorical cake is whether playing online games could make us better people. This is an idea put forward by Jane McGonigal, a designer at the Institute for the Future, during her talk at TED in February. While it may seem like a bizarre idea, much of what she said got me thinking that there maybe something to it, as did looking at her online games (including Evoke, pictured) that have been designed to harness the power of the game playing public for good.

Regular listeners may notice the lack of Darren’s Old Games, feel free to let him know your displeasure in the comments below (he does promise it will be back next time).

Enjoy the show!

 The DoFuss Show – Productively Doing Nothing. [63:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Darren and I are back again, and just in the nick of time to fulfil our twice-monthly commitment, although we both still seem dead set on declaring that the show is weekly. We aren’t, and I will leave it for you to decide if that is a good or a bad thing.

This show’s unintentional theme is cultural divides. With me returning to the UK later this year Darren decided to prepare me for re-entry with terrifying snippets from the British tabloid ‘The Sun’. While this is an apt reintroduction to the state of my home nation, I cannot help but feel there is a veiled message from Darren to stay in the land of sushi and fun that is Japan, rather than heading back to the doom and bombed out Woolworths that now seems to be the hallmark of my home nation.

Beyond this new ‘scare Alex off coming back to the UK’ segment we hit all of our usual topics. Heaven and Hell see Android phones and Word Press taking pride of place in discussion. This is swiftly followed by some games we have been playing (Jump Ultimate All Stars, Final Fight and Super Street Fighter 4) and a few highlights of news from the last two weeks. To top off all this game discussion we visit the topic of game design and how Japanese and Western methods inform each other, or not, and the results of such collaborations.

Also of course there is Darren’s Old Games, which I am determined to rebrand as ‘Darren’s Good Old Games’. This week he imparts his vast array of Mario knowledge.

If you enjoy the show, have an idea for features, or just want to scare me off my return to England, please let us know. See you in two weeks.

 The DoFuss Show – Trying To Bridge Cultural Divides. [74:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I have to listen to every show through again while I edit. Because of this I have started to notice a very different tone (and length) depending on my cohort for the episode. My conclusion is that I am failing in my roll as a host. Not that this is necessarily bad, but next time (whoever is with me) I am wrestling back some control and giving this show some consistence.

Maybe.

This episode underwent a number of late changes. Our special guest (Blokey from the UUDD forums) was unfortunately unable to make it at the last moment, so will be joining us next time. Darren was also unavailable so it fell to Dan to pick up the mantel of the second spot.

DAMN YOU BLOKEY!

We touch on numerous topics, courtesy of Dan’s impeccable planning. It was fortunate his outline was so thorough too, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a show because the plan was to revolve everything around forums and Blokey… YOU HEAR THAT BLOKEY.

Ahem… I am sure he will be able make it next time along with Darren, so keep an eye on the site for that. Enjoy the show.

 Sleepy Improv Edition.: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I have to confess to being disappointed. Years of hearing about landmark game launches in Japan created in me a misconception. I erroneously believed that somehow games of note drew everyone from their homes in a frenzied fit to politely queue outside any and every game store in the land to get their mitts on the latest installment of their beloved franchise. I was wrong.

11pm, day 1, still plenty.

It isn’t that Final Fantasy XIII didn’t have a big turn out. I have seen images on blogs, hordes of people waiting anxiously in line outside the downtown stores of larger cities. But this doesn’t seem abnormal to me. These stores always draw crowds. Even in the UK, the release of a big title can draw fevered masses to the streets for a midnight launch.

No, I expected more. This game has been cited as one of the two most anticipated games in the Japanese Famitsu for nearly three years. Every thing blogs and magazine had lead me to believe about Japan’s love of Final Fantasy had me expecting every store was going to be rammed harder than a ewe in mating season. So I headed down to my local store for its early opening on the day of release to see the spectacle for myself.

The Lucky 7.

A pitiful line stood outside my local (but not insignificantly sized) game store. The cold winter morning hosted the bedraggled group of seven (six guys, one girl if you are interested). Each trudged slowly in as the door opened, they politely bought their game before scampering home. They all (perhaps rightly) looked at me like I was the weird one as I surreptitiously took photos on my iPhone, their confusion growing still greater as I didn’t even enter to buy the game. Slowly more arrived, one by one picking up their copies. The trickle of people continued on, but disappointingly it never grew in to the expected torrent.

Of course the reports are already coming in of successful the first day sales. Square-Enix talking of shipping two million copies of the game, with over one million sold on the first day alone. Obviously I am in no position to discount any of this, but I can say that claims of the game having sold out all over Japan are somewhat exaggerated. Perhaps there is a drought in Tokyo, but Osaka still has plenty to go around.

7pm, day 2, this store is about the size of two cars, still has lots to go around.

Anyone would be well within their rights to tell me I haven’t been to the otaku centres in my research. They could even tell me that this is the first Final Fantasy release I have witnessed since starting DoFuss; perhaps I mealy misinterpreted the western coverage of previous similar events. Too all of this I would have to hold my hands up and agree, that indeed I haven’t, but I did see the Dragon Quest 9 launch. I saw the state of every retailer in my area that day. Each and every one had been ransacked, and all of the staff looked exhausted. Shelves lay empty, with old Dragon Quest game the only thing left to fill the voids made by the day’s sales.

It’s to be expected. A large audience both due to complexity and platform penetration of course means Dragon Quest 9 was destined to sell better. But I visited a total of five game stores in my local area and all still had sizable stocks of Final Fantasy XIII still available. The game will be number one next week, of that there is no doubt. But unless you are unlucky enough to be looking to pick up a copy in one of the more famous gaming outlets you don’t have to worry about shortages just yet.

Now if youll excues me, I am off to reconstruct my shattered childhood beliefs.