Hello again.
 
It's been a while, I'm sure you can tell.  I've been playing lots of games lately, which has proven quite satisfying.
 
One of the games I said I was going to play was Yakuza 3.  As some of you may remember, I'd received it as a gift despite my making clear I wanted nothing to do with it after Sega's blatant disrespect of the entire North American gaming community.
 
That lasted all of three hours.
 
Part of it was that the game is so crushingly boring in the beginning, at least when you get past the mandatory install at the start and the huge as cutscene only to spend hour after hour babysitting brats that the game proper doesn't give you any reason to care about in the beginning.  Part of it was the clumsy, dated controls, as though the game's designers had one foot in the year 2000.  However, the biggest part of it was that I wasn't playing the game for the right reasons.  I was angry, perhaps irrationally so.  Stewing in my own rage, I couldn't just play the game.  I was constantly reminded of the issues that had turned it into the target of so much of my hate.
 
I come to realize that, no matter how much you want to show up someone, pushing through pigheadedly with something you don't want to do doesn't amount to a hill of beans.  All it does is make everyone miserable.  Sega still has the $60 from the sale regardless, so whether I go through with my planned 60-hour tantrum against my friend is moot.   My friend and I spoke about it in private a few days after my last post, and both decided that the two of us were brash and rushed to judgement way too quickly.   Our differences are decidedly resolved, so any sort of backlash move on my part is simply prolonging something that we've both agreed to put to bed.   In the end, these are games.  The oddity of getting into huge feuds over them aside, their purpose is to entertain, and when one is playing a game purely out of spite, entertainment isn't possible.  It's nearly impossible to enjoy a game that you're mad at.
 
Does that mean I'll never come back to Yakuza 3?  Likely.  The whole experience has soured me to the game, and most likely to the series as a whole.  Maybe when it's not still a sore spot emotionally and I can look at the game on its own merits, but that might be a while.  Besides, I'm still trying to get off my ass and play FFXIII more.  After 16 hours of going off in one direction and looking at hokey characters play through a story I could care less about, I'm almost at the point to where I feel comfortable writing about it.  And no, if it doesn't  get better by the time I get to 20 hours, I'm not going to finish it.  It could be fucking Mass Effect after 20 hours, but no game should force you to endure that much misery.  At least, however, it'll be misery because of the game's lack of quality alone, something it'll take me a long time, if ever, before I can say the same about Yakuza 3.

Hello, everyone!

First off, I have got to give a hearty thank you to both my Gamespot and Giant Bomb readers! After buggering off for a year and coming back with what could only be described as an “emo” post, I didn't expect much in the way of feedback. I got, instead, some really nice, well-thought-out and considerate posts. Just when I'd written off the internet, you guys come along. Thanks.

However, the biggest contribution to my decision didn't come from you all. It came, instead, from the person who'd sent me the game. I showed him the blog a couple days after posting it. Didn't feel comfortable talking behind his back, you know. Anyway, here's his comment, with names withheld for privacy concerns. Please note that anything said before my first entry was prior to my login.

Name Redacted3/18/2010 1:46 PM

http://kotaku.com/5496170/this-characters-voice-actress-might-surprise-you

http://kotaku.com/5496142/meet-yakuza-3s-real-life-tattoo-artist That's pretty cool too ^^

http://kotaku.com/5496129/the-yakuza-4-hummer-limousine-pulls-up And finally...the yakuza 4 hummer..limousine.O_o;

Name Redacted3/18/2010 1:55 PM

Mother fuckers, my box for Command & Conquer 4 DOES say "internet connection required for product activation"..O-o; NOT (like the other box I saw) "On-line required for product activation and playing the game"...O_o; WTF, if it's on the box that's one thing, but I feel sorta scammed now ^^;

YukoAsho1:35 PM

Sounds like EA's being hella respectful to PC gamers.

YukoAsho1:36 PM

Hello.

Name Redacted1:36 PM

Well, for some reason they had the wrong text up on the collector's edition though it is on the back...but very hard to read, the print on the metal isn't good.^^;

The system requirement are actually impossible to read.^^:

Oh and get this..

Collector's edition with soundtrack...

Name Redacted1:37 PM

but not on cd...get a coupon for the download.^^;

And hello ^^

YukoAsho1:37 PM

Hehe.  Yeah, I had that happen to me once with Prey. Took me forever to convert that out of the playsforsure format.

Name Redacted1:38 PM

Well, I would hope they have it in mp3 at least..O_o;

YukoAsho1:38 PM

here's hoping, yes.

Name Redacted1:39 PM

I'm currently actually playing Dragon Age Awakenings, even replayed the ending of Origins so my character wouldn't die and I could use her for the expansion ^^ Mattias was so kind to give me the game for no apparent reason ^^

YukoAsho1:40 PM

That is nice of him, yeah.   Hopefully he gives you stuff every so often to make up for the loss of time when he yaps on about nothing for hours.

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/yukoasho/whoever-wins-i-lose/30-39409/ I... I didn't wanna show you this before, but I think you deserve to see it.

Name Redacted1:41 PM

Now now, yapping is a crucial part of conversations.

Err..let's see.^^;

Name Redacted1:44 PM

HHHhhmmm...^^;

YukoAsho1:45 PM

I dunno what to say, I don't expect anything you say to fill me with much confidence, but it'd be wrong to hide it. ^^;

Name Redacted1:47 PM

Geebus Yuko, it's a game, I'm blessing my good fortune I get to play it cuz honestly I had given up hope on ever seeing the next gen Yakuza games over here, but in the end it's a game which leaves me with only one question that really matters here...is the product I bought and gave to you fun to play? And my honest belief is that the answer to that is yes.^^;

Name Redacted1:49 PM

And I couldnt cancel the order cuz I had already paid for it.^^;

YukoAsho1:49 PM

You know Amazon doesn't charge your card until ship, right? ^^;

Name Redacted1:50 PM

They charge your card once it shifts to being prepared, and for some reason that happened quite early this time, but I also didn't really see any reason to not send it..^^;

Name Redacted1:51 PM

My many times saying I dont'want to play Call of Duty games didn't change your mind to send me Call of Duty W@W and Modern Warfare 2. But I had fun with those and I figured you might have that too ^^;

YukoAsho1:52 PM

I didn't exactly send them after the company destroyed them for local consumption. But don't worry, I'll play it.

Name Redacted1:52 PM

Seriously serious, that's just theatrics, not even the most fervent censorship hater can claim that the product I bought is unplayable or devoid of any merit and enjoyment.^^;;;;

YukoAsho1:54 PM

But they can still claim it's censored. ^^;  Is it so bad that "it's still good" doesn't make me feel like supporting Sega on this? ^^;

Name Redacted1:56 PM

Ánd is it so bad that sega's stupidity shouldn't be the death of the franchise overseas ?^^; Obviously if Yakuza 3 fails, 4 will never come out, I'm just being practical here, the game shouldn't ever get another chance just cuz of this ^^;

YukoAsho1:56 PM

And if they do this with Yakuza 4?

Or go further with the cuts?

YukoAsho1:57 PM

At what point is it not worth it to Sega's battered wives?

Name Redacted1:57 PM

That's a possibility, but I'll see that if it comes out, instead of it never coming out.^^;

Because you can argue anything if you're speaking of what if's.^^;

YukoAsho1:57 PM

Save that taking an optimistic approach with Sega has proven fallacy. ^^;

Name Redacted1:57 PM

Here's my what if, what if Yakuza 4 comes out with absolutely no edits, but even with the additional downloadable content ^^ That's my what if.

YukoAsho1:59 PM

Here's mine, Yakuza 4 is releaed with almost no side content that could be considered "too Japanese" if this succeeds.

Name Redacted1:59 PM

Nah, that's not what's gonna happen.^^ Cuz I know what's gonna happen in the future too.^^

YukoAsho2:00 PM

Well, you go assume the best of Sega, I'll base my opinion on their post-Dreamcast track record.

Name Redacted2:04 PM

I'm trying to think of what to say now ^^

YukoAsho2:04 PM

I was wondering. ^^:  I'd really gotten worried there. ^^;;;

Name Redacted2:05 PM

I had a few ideas in my head but I couldn't pick one, or couldn't word it properly, I'm re-reading your post real quick ^^

Name Redacted2:07 PM

Yeah, that didn't help, though I did at least notice 7 constructive comments that suggest playing it.^^

Name Redacted2:09 PM

Hhhm, re-reading it too ?^^

YukoAsho2:10 PM

Naw, was watching a cutscene... Bah, I'll play the damned thing... At this point I've really no choice. ^^

Name Redacted2:10 PM

You know I really wish that everytime I try something like this it doesn't end in this kind of struggle.

Name Redacted2:11 PM

Everytime I do this it ends up with something happening that will already put oyu in a negative mindframe about it before you've even gotten started on it ^^;

YukoAsho2:11 PM

ONE - I can trade the game in at GameStop for credit toward another game.  That sends the message that I will dismiss anything this person likes out of hand, something he already accuses me of more often than I'd like.

Which you're doing here.

Name Redacted2:12 PM

I can back it up with examples though.

Name Redacted2:13 PM

And that's just a seriously awful thing to do with a present..^^

YukoAsho2:14 PM

Or with sarcasm, one or the other.

Name Redacted2:14 PM

I was not sarcastic in the last two posts, and this one too ^^

Name Redacted2:15 PM

But, there is one glorious example that I remember that is extremely similar to Yakuza to me, which is why I decided on it.^^

Name Redacted2:16 PM

Cuz you liked Shenmue ^^

YukoAsho2:16 PM

That I did, so how's Shenmue 3 comin' along?

Name Redacted2:16 PM

Yeah, but unlike Shenmue, Yakuza makes a profit ^^

Name Redacted2:17 PM

In fact, I say Yakuza 1==Shenmue 3, or in the spiritual sense at least.^^

YukoAsho2:17 PM

Ah well, don't worry, I'll trudge through it.   Might even blog a bit about the experience.

Name Redacted2:18 PM

Oh come on, did I blog about playing 50 cent: blood on the sand ?^^

Cuz I played it and finished it even ^^

YukoAsho2:18 PM

Did they take anything out that might be too American?

Name Redacted2:18 PM

Well, they took out working on-line co-op.^^

Name Redacted2:19 PM

They left in an obnoxious foul mouth black person too.

YukoAsho2:19 PM

Well, it'd be silly if they cut out 50.

That'd be like cutting out Japanese stuff in a game about... Oh, wait.

YukoAsho2:20 PM

See, I can be sarcastic too.

Name Redacted2:21 PM

No, the equivelent would be Kazuma..^^

He's still there last time I checked.^^

YukoAsho2:22 PM

That's probably the Western version of 4, they'll replace him with Mike or something.

At that point the conversation drifts from Yakuza and into other matters, so I'm not putting the rest up. The point, however, is made.

Before I levy my hypothesis, some background.

The game was released on the 9 of March, two days before I was admitted to the hospital. The Yakuza 3 cuts were exposed on the 24 of February and weakly justified on the same day by the charlatans at Sega. I know for a fact I made my position clear to him in a conversation either that day or the day after. He hadn't told me what game he was sending me at the time as it was supposed to be a surprise, but I do know that when this was exposed, he defended his decision to support the game as a message to send Yakuza. In short, we both knew our positions on the issue before March was at a close.

Assuming he pre-ordered the game before the news about Sega's cuts came out, he knew full well that there was no way I'd be gleeful to accept this “gift” of his. This is from Amazon.com's Credit Cards & Check Cards policy page (the item was sent via Amazon)

“ If the item you've ordered is sold by Amazon.com, we will not charge your card for any items until after they enter the shipping process. “

Assuming the shipping process on an item is seven days along, and assuming it was a release day delivery (which it wasn't since I didn't even see until I got back), the game could have been recalled on March 2. This is of course assuming the shipping process is a full week. Given Sega announced their move on the 24 of February and we spoke of this the same day, this gives seven days to cancel, including the day of the 24 itself.

Now what does this tell me?

It tells me that this supposed “gift,” was simply his way of voting an additional time for Yakuza 4's release, and my consideration was secondary, if not tertiary. To put it bluntly, it was a case of someone buying a gift for themselves as opposed to the gift recipient.

Oh, and Name Redacted, before you DARE compare this to Call of Duty, you had PREVIOUS to this conversation simply said that you simply weren't picking them up. My logic was simply that they'd be good games to play co-op with you, a desire that has with this incident been burned from my mind. You never expressed any particular disgust or hatred at the games' releases. In other words, this was nowhere near the same situation. Didn't think I'd let that slide, would ya? Not after you tried to compare my gifts to your blatant act of disregard for my sentiment.

In other words, yours is the act of an inconsiderate asshat, and I'm left reconsidering our relationship. One isn't supposed to use his buddy as a stepping stone to his own agenda.

This leaves me with Yakuza 3. Given the, shall we say, dubious nature of how I got it, I should make a video of the disc burning and put it on Youtube, never mind trading it in. I'm not going to do that, however.

I'm going to play it on a guest account.

Why? Simple. Remember that one episode of The Simpsons where Homer buys Marge a bowling ball, and it's obvious that it was never meant for her by the fact it says “HOMER” on the damned thing? Remember how she played with the damned thing mostly to spite him and ended up meeting a cute guy? I'm going to be playing through the whole damned thing, and until it's done, he and I will not be in any form of communication. I'm not emailing him, IMing with him, nothing. Let him sit and twirl, says I. Well, let's see if this turns out to be an enjoyable enough experience that I'm not pissed off the rest of the year, shall we? Considering I'm interrupting Dante's Inferno and delaying FFXIII for this, you may decide the odds of that on your own.

I haven't updated in a while. 
 
I don't know when I will again. 
 
At some point, coming up with something to talk about what can hold interest without showing the triteness of the internet, especially as this blog was cutting into my gaming time.
 
This, however, is keeping me up. 
 

This here's a companion music video I made for the song that s-kill featured on the main Capcom Unity blog a few days back.  Hey Keiji Dragon, you know you got skillz when you're getting me up off my ass.  Enjoy. :D

And yes, the intro sequence is from the Spanish version of the game. *Laughs* 
 
  

Those of you who know me for any amount of time may know that I'm not white. My parents come from small Caribbean country called Cuba, and most of us from this country tend to speak a language called Spanish*.

(*:Just so we're sure, this is sarcasm)

Now, many Spanish-speaking people from places like Cuba, Mexico and South America also play video games. I quite enjoy them, myself. However, the increased trend toward multi-lingual games - a necessity for bringing games outside of pathetic mini-game compilations to people who don't necessarily speak English very well.

Now why am I talking about this? Very simple. For some reason, I've noticed that there are several games of varying profile that are still without multilingual features. The most egregious of these is Call of Duty. Now, I understand that Activision is an evil company who probably laughs at people in the Americas who might want to play a game in another language and probably wouldn't even dub their games for European audiences if there was any way they could get away with it, but is it really that hard to put in some extra dialogue options in games that everyone knows aren't using the full disc (this isn't exactly Final Fantasy XIII we're talking about here). 

However, the problem isn't magically excused by lack of disc space. There have been separate discs with separate languages for games released on this continent before. The most obvious example is the Halo series, which only has audio for the country the game is being sold in (though they at least have multiple sub tracks). Is there any reason for these Spanish versions not to be released in communities where they would be welcomed (IE, Florida, Texas, California, et al)? And while we're at it, why not French versions for Canada? I'm sure there's lots of folks north of the border who'd like to play more of their games in French.

However, the worst of it is when we get to digital content. Is there any reason I have to have a Spaniard account and import Spaniard PSN cards to play Final Fantasy VII in Spanish, othat than perhaps a prevailing, poisonous attitude that "if they come here, they should learn English"? Come to think of it, why the hell does the PS3 version of Megaman 9 not have Spanish while the Xbox 360 version does? There's absolutely no excuse for any digital release not to be multilingual.

Gaming has come a long way since the days of the NES, and has become the staple of men (and women) all around the world. It's high time that game companies started catering to the more diverse pockets of society, especially here in the US. "Dumb it down" shouldn't be the only way to make a game accessible.    

While I wait for the PlayStation 3 release of Marvel VS Capcom 2 (great job discriminating against those of us who'd like our game to be playable while we look for a joystick, Capcom. Perfect), I must admit to a problem. For some reason, the Xbox 360 arcade-style SFIV joysticks (both HORI and Mad Catz) have been relatively plentiful, as far as arcade joysticks go, the PlayStation 3 sticks have had a rarity about equal to that of the True Cross. Here at my local Gamestop, there have been several arcade sticks shipped, all for 360, while the one for PlayStation 3 had one shipped at launch, which was picked up by a guy in another county, has not been shipped again since. Now I get that Capcom can't control another shop's inventory, but can't they make a suggestion, especially as PS3 sales edged out 360 sales for the damned game?

Well, maybe I'll try the Capcom shop after this. I just hope they still have PS3 sticks when I have some money. Rare items seem to be like that. Barring that, I could buy another HORI stick, I suppose. When does Tekken 6 come out, again?

The recent release of Ghostbusters for the major platforms has the nerd community, myself included, quite happy. However, it also brings to light the disproportionate effort that one needs to put forth on the Wii in order to make a good product and the, unfortunately, stunted rewards you'll get regardless of effort.

Now, in the interests of foreclosure, the game's not selling stupendously regardless of platform. According to VGChartz, the sales breakdown is as follows:

360: 0.22m
Wii: 0.11m
PS3:0.26m
PS2:0.06m

That the 360 and PS3 sales are the best of the bunch is not surprising. That seems to be the case almost all the time. However, what's disappointing is how much work went into the Wii version. Ars Technica has a fascinating article on the effort Red Fly Entertainment put into making Ghostbusters for Wii truly shine. From reworking the graphics into something that would look pleasing on the platform, the the fine tuning of the controls based on countless play-test hours and brainstorm sessions. Their reward? Only marginally higher sales than the PS2 version, which is itself a down-port of the Wii, and people wondering why they should bother.

How did we get here though? Going back to VGChartz, here's their stats for the three major consoles worldwide:

Wii: 51.20m
360:31.34m
PS3:22.54m

The complete and utter lack of parity in console sales is spectacular. The Wii is doing remarkably well, so why is Ghostbusters doing so much more poorly on the Wii than on the other two systems? Now, in the interests of foreclosure, the Wii's hard region lock does bar 19.14m Wii owners from playing it, as the game is PlayStation 3 exclusive in Europe (the 360 version is region free, thus allowing Europeans to import it). So that leaves us with 32.06m Wii owners with access to the game (I think, at least – has the game even been released in Japan yet? Hell, is Ghostbusters even popular in Japan?). You still have a stupidly large consumer base, and with a broader consumer demographic than the PS3 or 360, at least in theory. However, a funny thing happens with the Wii. Yes, the more casual leaning of its market is there, but the bigger culprit might just be consumer overlap.

Now I don't need to tell anyone here, but not everyone has only one console. In fact, given just how different the Wii is from the other two consoles, I'm willing to bet that there's a huge number of Wii owners who also own a PS3 and/or a 360. In fact, for all the lip service given to kids, geriatrics and casuals, the Wii could very well be #1 by virtue of being everyone else's #2, as it's far more likely for a 360 or PS3 owner to get a Wii than the other of the two major consoles. So what you have is a situation where most people are going to have to make a choice as to which version they should get. I can't speak for everyone else, but for this multi-console owner, online multi-player is more important than waggle control and cutesy graphics. Not that these are bad things, but every gamer has to look at him/herself and ask what they want in a game. This, my friends, is a classic example of why you shouldn't cross the streams. Wii exclusives may not do spectacularly, but they're more likely to do better than a port.

With Wii Fit having officially outsold Halo 3, the usual panic across the comments section of the cesspool that is Kotaku, heralding the death of gaming.  The (incredibly flawed) logic goes as follows: Since Wii Fit and the Wii are doing so well, all companies will abandon "hardcore" gaming in favor of cheap cash-in titles.

I would like to think that the Giant Bomb audience is a bit smarter than that.  Hopefully we should all realize that gaming is not going anywhere.  In the two years that have passed since the Wii's launch, the 360 and PS3 have had a barrage of wonderful and successful games.  Indeed, 2007 and 2008 are among the best years gaming has had in a good long time.  2009 looks to be a pretty damn nice year too, with the release of sweet games like Killzone 2, Street Fighter 4, and Resident Evil 5, with more coming up, including Uncharted 2, Rock Band PSP (AKA Amplitude 2), Halo 3: ODST, and many others.  The continued profitability of 3rd party gmaes, as well as the continued successes Microsoft have had with the Xbox 360, prove that Nintendo's success has not damaged gaming one iota.

Also worth noting is the toning down of the "wii-ification" talk that surrounded the other consoles some time back.  I remember a year and a half ago the prevailing rumor around the gaming industry was that MS was going to put out a wand-like peripheral for the Xbox 360.  Those rumors are nowhere to be found now, and this without solid denial from Microsoft.  Also, remember when the PS3 first came out, and every game was trying to shoe-horn in the Sixaxis motion controls?  There were several games I bought on 360 to avoid that nonsense where it couldn't be turned off.  That practice is also gone, with Killzone 2 being the first game in a long time to require motion controls.

The fact is that both Sony and Microsoft have figured out that the Wii is a different demographic entirely, one that has proven to gravitate toward a far smaller offering of titles, usually 1st party and usually not games.  The reason many of us have been dissapointed with the Wii is that it wasn't designed with gaming in mind.  Nintendo's aims are removed from our desires, and you know what?  That's fine.  There are probably more workout DVDs sold in any one year than even the biggest of Hollywood movies, but we still get great movies.  The two markets are mutually exclusive, with perhaps some overlap, but not enough to make a huge shift.  Games are the same way.  Just because Nintendo's making money by moving out of the game industry doesn't mean that the game industry will collapse on itself or anything stupid like that.  Gaming isn't going anywhere.  Take off the tin foil hats, pick up the game pads, and enjoy.

Resident Evil 5 has been quite the controversial game of late.  First, the demo being out in Japan months before everyone else got it, despite said demo having English text.  Then it was the brouhaha over the completely unaltered control scheme.  Now it's the pay-to-play VS modes.

Resident Evil versus mode.

Okay, I don't know many things, and much of the world is odd to me, but why does anyone even want a versus mode in this of all games?  I don't know about you, but it seems like something painfully stapled on at the last minute, as the very idea of death matches with controls virtually unaltered from Resident Evil 4 lacks appeal to me, especially in the face of far better shooters for multiplayer including Gears of War, Call of Duty and Killzone 2.  Not only that, but who the hell buys Resident Evil and wishes they could play against others?  The co-op I can kind of understand, certainly, but versus?  Just sounds like it'd be stupidly frustrating.

However, the reason why I'm writing this is to respond to the apparent outrage over the fact that this is going to cost five bucks (400 MS points).  It seems like a lot of money, and it most certainly is for something as tacked on as this.  However, the irrational reactions of some just strike me as curious, particularly those who say they're going to boycott Resident Evil 5 over this.  The reaction here just strikes me as wholly immature.  Why the hell would you not buy a game that, by all accounts is pretty good, simply because of a stupid piece of DLC.  That'd be like not buying Street Fighter IV because Capcom put out the costume packs.  Rather than show a dissatisfaction with the DLC, you're really showing a disinterest in the game, which serves no one.  The best way to deal with this is to pretend the DLC isn't there.  That's what I've done since this generation began.  I've bought no skins, cars, costumes, picture packs, or any other stupid items that have been thrown at the two marketplaces, simply because I don't want or need them.  And you know what?  I've never had a problem, and have enjoyed my games regardless.

In other words, spend wisely.

While there are still many, many hardships facing gays, lesbians and transgendered people nowadays, life for these people is far better than it was before the 1969 Stonewall Riots.  Indeed, the years that followed have gotten us that much closer to equality, and the open hatred that fuels discrimination today will be felt in only a few niche groups, including radical right-wing religion... And gaming communities.

Not to say that all gaming communities are homophobic, but the casual nature in which insults of sexuality and sexual identity are thrown about in the gaming community are rivaled only by men's professional athletics, a haven of cave men if there ever was one.

Of course, for examples, I could go to any gaming forum of blog and see such insults, but the forum jackasses are really only a symptom of a bigger problem - tolerance of such mindsets in the gaming media.  Of course, I'd be negligent if I didn't mention everyone's favorite troll, Yahtzee.  His recent Gears of War 2 "review" has him going out of the way to make tasteless gay jokes.