Posts Tagged ‘Famitsu’

Yes the wonderful Japanese Famitsu magazine has finally passed down judgment on Killzone 2. Giving it 8-8-8-8 (that’s four reviewers each giving it an eight). That is the same as HAWX this month and Unreal Tournament 3 back in September. But perhaps more importantly it is also less than Haze (8-9-8-9) the much maligned Free Radical PS3 exclusive from 2008. A game that’s Metacritic score was blamed by many for the company’s closure and eventual buy out by Crytek.

I guess if the rumours are true about advertising space equalling scores in Famitsu then the four full pages seen for the game in the same issue equates to two points a page.

Let me be clear that four eights are not a bad score but when placed in the context of these other scores you have to wonder why Sony didn’t put more behind this game in their home territory. Perhaps it’s just them admitting that first person shooters will never appeal to the mass audience in Japan. Or maybe they don’t want to draw attention away from the Final Fantasy XIII trial addition that was released this week.

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).

On time and ready to go. In an attempt not to walk in the footsteps of giants we decided to abandon the original discussion of reviews and scores at the last minute and instead focus on the recent Japanese top selling games and Final Fantasy 13 news as seen in Famitsu. I say ‘seen in Famitsu’ because I can’t read most of it so it’s more an impressions piece than a factual commentary.

As always we also discuss some recent news and dip into ‘Darren’s Old Games’. This podcast Darren reminisces about hours spent floating around lost in Elite on the Amiga, and I reminisce about watching him floating around lost in Elite.

We also invent the Wii game name generator, so if you come up with one please post it in the comments. The format is simple;
Job > Name > Event > Game genre > Event > Generic game word
The results sound worryingly like next years best selling game as long as you attach ‘for Wii’ and ‘by Nintendo’ to the box art. Enjoy.

Recently a new Metal Gear Solid game was announced for iPhone in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. The article was picked up by Kotaku’s Tim Rogers but his report wasn’t based on this new platform, but instead on articles headline.

Tim’s focuses on the headline which states that the new producer is a ‘woman’ (printed in large red characters) but refuses to give her name until the article’s body. The accompanying image shows as small area of this headline. He uses this as a platform for social comment on sexism in Japan.

Japan may not be as enlightened as it could be as regards women’s rights, but Tim’s report does not fairly represent the article. In the context of the whole page it’s possible to see a different picture. Though ‘woman’ is highlighted in red ‘Hidoe Kojima’ is also highlighted in blue. Also new producer (Yasuyo Watanabe) wasn’t hidden away in the text as Tim suggests. A picture of her actually occupies an eighth of a page (dwarfing Kojima’s image).

As I said in Japan it is hard to argue total innocence on this topic, but Tim’s report may not be a fair representation of Famitsu’s intentions. The original authors could just have easily been trying to encourage the audience (assumedly young ADD challenge boys) to actually read the article and find out more about Watanabe and her credentials than they otherwise may.