CharlesAlanRatliff

It is 2012's GOTY, after all.

Awww yeaaaah

Congratulations! It's good to have you back.

Noooo :(

You will be missed. I look forward to the content you guest-star in!

@fattony12000: We took a digital camera, video camera, laptop, and their respective batteries, chargers/cables with zero issues. I'm not sure where you live, but I'll just assume you're aware of the TSA and their reputation. Leaving the U.S. with that stuff wasn't a problem, and arriving with it in Japan was even of a problem. From "Arrival":

They didn't bother looking in our bags or anything, and it was the first of many instances that revealed just how much better dealing with Japanese airport employees was compared to the TSA.

Leaving Japan with all of our stuff, along with the extra batteries and things we purchased in Japan, was also a non-issue.

We took the video camera specifically to avoid taking pictures as much as possible. We got a high-quality one where we could just take screenshots from the footage in lieu of actual pictures. I tried not to be too blatant about filming people, but I would have acted that way anywhere. Filming indoors is not allowed, and we were told to specifically stop filming in an arcade, as seen at the end of this video. The only time I tried to get a picture of anything after that incident is mentioned in "Electric Town":

As my brother was fishing for the camera in his backpack, a male employee watched us and approached when he took it out and said, "No picture." We pointed at the amusing photoshop to indicate that's all we wanted to shoot, and the employee laughed and said, "Just that." He was very nice, and we put the camera up right afterward.

Most of the time I held the video camera at my side or in front of me pressed up against my stomach when walking around. This way it wasn't obvious I was filming people but still remained steady enough for footage. When I wanted to shoot something specific, I held the video camera higher than I needed to so the people wouldn't think I was trying to film them.

It's really up to you. I just did this because I feel weird filming people. There wasn't anything specific about the country that made me film this way. The only specific thing regarding this, besides not filming indoors, and is to ask any cosplayers you see if it's OK to take their picture instead of doing it without their permission. Also, if anyone makes an "X" symbol, whether with their fingers or arms, stop filming/taking pictures.

Also, feel free to ask me as many questions as you want, preferably on this blog or one of the others since the info may help others. It's one of the reasons I started the series, and answering questions helps jog my memory. The series should be done before you leave for your trip.

@fattony12000: @truthtellah: Whoa! I wasn't expecting to see any comments on this post this morning. Thanks for checking in!

The only things available right now are what's linked in the List of Episodes post. The third official episode, A Day in Akihabara, is complete, but I still need to do a writeup for it. I've been dealing with severe computer issues that have caused me not to get much work done for several months now. I hope I'm not jinxing it, but after replacing every single part in my computer with the exception of the motherboard and power supply, I think my issues are resolved. I also have a pretty amazing computer right now, too.

In September I went to The Art of Video Games exhibit and dedicated all of my time to that. In August, I started working in the film and television industry as a background actor and stand-in, which takes up a lot of time. I just worked on Banshee and Stephen King's Under the Dome recently, and a new Melissa McCarthy movie, along with Homeland and some other projects are coming up which will take away even more time. I've also acquired an Elgato and have started capturing game footage!

So things are pretty hectic, but I do want to get back to the project this year and hopefully finish it. Right now I am in the process of redesigning my website to be more video friendly, and after that is complete I hope to ramp up video releases, whether they be for Japan or games. I don't want to give an exact time frame since I have a history of being unreliable when it comes to those, but hopefully I'll be able to start the series back up this summer.

And now that the forums are back on the front page, I'll be more inclined to post stuff here again. Not having that stuff pop up there results in a lot less views!

@fattony12000: When are you guys planning on going?

Awesome! Now I'll start posting more, as I pretty much only visit forums and blogs based on what's on the front page.

@funkydupe: It's something I'll have to think about in the future. When I say I don't want to do that with games that I care about or haven't played through, I mean for my own experience. I play everything in a closed-off room on a 100-inch projector screen with blackout curtains and surround sound, which is about 30 feet from my computer that would be recording the footage. To record commentary, I would have to play in my office on a 24-inch monitor with headphones. I've been spoiled and would need a bigger screen at the very least! It's definitely something I've been thinking a lot about, though. Thank you for your feedback.

@winternet: Thanks!

@jams: Nah, just a GTX 660!

@funkydupe: Yeah, I plan to add a mic in the future, but only for stuff where I don't care about the story or have already played through.

@chaser324: Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll keep it where it is. Smooth playback seems more important than anything.

@mordeaniischaos: Thanks for the post and info! I'll stick with 720p. Something I have to take into account is that a lot of people don't watch streams fullscreen, so 720p should be fine for everything, not to mention bandwidth, framerate etc. Plus, my biggest thing with all of this is making sure my gameplay experience isn't affected. I am able to play Sleeping Dogs at the exact same quality as I do while offline, so there's never reason for me not to just hit record and play. Well, except for that fact I 100 percented it and only use it for testing!

Here is an EXCLUSIVE photo of Ryan never posted before as my thanks to everyone.

I am going to post in this thread two more times today (including this time) to try and get as many opinions as possible from different places. So you don't get mad at me, here is another never-before-seen picture of Jeff! You know you need it.