Showing posts with label Sega. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sega. Show all posts

Monday, June 2, 2014

GC9X Post Mortem: Reevaluating games so you don't have to!



As part of HG101's ever expanding efforts to document classic games, GC9X hosts Snarboo and KaL present the GC9X Post Mortem!

What is the Post Mortem exactly? Think of it as a video companion to the podcasts! For each Post Mortem, we play through a specific game, summarize its strengths and weaknesses, then score it twice: once from a modern perspective, and then again from a more contemporary viewpoint.

Our ultimate goal then is to review each game as fairly as possible, trying to take into account when a game was released in addition to any other factors, such as overall quality. Videos are generally released every few weeks, so be sure to check in frequently for new updates!

The latest Post Mortem covers Sega's unusual slime themed action game The Ooze:



All current and future episode of the Post Mortem can be watched here!

Posted by Snarboo at 6:22 AM 1 comments
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Saturday, May 12, 2012

Sega Graffiti Competition Results

You may recall I blogged about the competition before. The results are in. Sadly I did not win. In fact my entries aren’t even displayed on the entries page. Here is a video of those who did win. And for your viewing pleasure, here are my creations: Beardtrain, Moustache Udders (heading pic), and Mr Cassette. I’m not sure why the entry wasn’t even listed on the entries page – perhaps the sight of an anthropomorphic beard with cow udders was just too intense for Sega. Well done all who won!

EDIT: It's been revealed that actually my entry IS shown online. Excellent!

Posted by Sketcz at 6:59 AM 2 comments
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Sunday, March 18, 2012

In defense of the Japanese gaming industry

It's a sad state of affairs when an article warrants a title like this.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by controversial statements by everyone from Fez's Phil Fish to Megaman creator Keiji Inafune to Metal Gear's Hideo Kojima, the Japanese industry is rapidly becoming an easy target for ridicule and extensive criticism; as if it wasn't enough of one already.

Phil Fish

"your games just suck"


Read more »
Posted by cj_iwakura at 10:07 AM 23 comments
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Monday, March 5, 2012

Jet Set Radio – GRAFFITI COMPETITION

Sega are running a competition to design fresh graffiti pieces for the up-and-coming re-release of Jet Set Radio on PSN and XBLA! Read on for the thrills...


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Posted by Sketcz at 4:50 AM 13 comments
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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Racketboy VS Rob Webb Saturn Mod Chips

EDIT: As of 5th December I have since received a refund from Rob. Several days after posting this entry I decided to email Rob again and ask why he hadn't responded to my earlier emails, after which he responded, we discussed it, and we arranged the return of the chip for a refund. Problem solved! Many thanks Rob. In light of this, it is worth considering Rob's chips.

Fancy collecting for the Sega Saturn but put off by increasing prices for the rarities? Considering buying a modchip to play backups but aren’t sure which one is best? Then join us as we conduct a head-to-head BATTLE TO THE DEATH with the two leading chips on the market. As they say, two modchips enter, one modchip leaves!

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First, I want to say, if you have some bizarre puritanical view against pirating Saturn games, I really don’t care. Such comments will only be posted so I can then mock you. The Saturn died over a decade ago and paying $300 for a rare game like Shinrei Jusastsu Taromaru benefits no one except eBay resellers. Great games deserved to be played and experienced – not hoarded by the rich. If you have trouble with this concept, perhaps this site isn’t for you. The biggest problem with videogames is the cyclical nature of hardware and the difficulty of acquiring and playing games the older they become – until this issue is better addressed, I say Pirate and Be Proud of it. Every Saturn owner should have a chip to enjoy these games easily. Unless a game is re-released, like Radiant Silvergun, where I advocate supporting the developer by buying it new. The other benefit is I can now playing the extra Shining Force III games patched into English.

Anyway...

There are only two main suppliers of Saturn Mod chips. Racketboy (RED) in America, and Rob Webb (GREEN) in England. Each appears to sell their own custom designed chip, requiring different installations. Actually there are tow other suppliers of modchip, but I’ve read very little coverage on them, so let’s just assume Racketboy and Rob are the main ones.

If you’re in a hurry, skip to the conclusion at the bottom.


ROB WEBB (GREEN)


I first bought Rob Webb’s modchip, as found on this website, and as detailed by this guide. Although he was forced to remove the chip from the listing on his site, he still stocks them and he still sells them - do not be fooled.

http://www.consolegoods.co.uk/

http://www.robwebb1.plus.com/saturn/saturnchipguide_2.htm

I did this because someone I know, who is a very skilled console modder, recommended Rob. And when a buddy recommends someone, you don’t bother checking reviews. Plus Rob’s chip was cheaper than Racketboy’s, was easier to install, required less complicated soldering, plus he was British, meaning it could posted domestic.

I emailed and he gave me his bank details for a direct transfer. Chip arrived about a week later. As a veteran console modder I know my way around a soldering iron and motherboard schematics – this stuff is easy. And Rob’s chip was even easier to install.
1) Identify model of Saturn motherboard. In my case Model 0014(new).
2) Apply single drop of solder on back to join two points.
3) Attach ribbon cables.
4) Plug power cable into green slot

I did all as instructed and triple checked it. Nothing worked. The Saturn wouldn’t even boot legitimate games anymore. So I emailed him asking for advice. Rob then took several days to reply and sent me back a generic pasted reply with bullet points, the tone of which implied I was an idiot who installed it wrong. As he said: “Other people said ‘my chip doesn’t work’ but then saw they put the ribbon cables the wrong way around and magically then it worked!”

Even more insultingly, I had specifically told him in my original email that legitimate games do not work, whereas they worked previously without the chip. And yet FOUR of the bullet points were addressing issues with my laser not working, recommending I first try legitimate games to see if it works, and if legitimate games do not work then I should try tweaking the power settings on the laser.

Hello Rob, HELLO! The first thing I said was that legitimate games stopped working despite having worked previously, you nimrod.

He also recommended moving the power cable from the green plug to the 5V pin on the power adapter. I did this but it still refused to work. I went and triple checked everything again, making sure that no pins on the chip accidentally crossed each other. The chip was just born broken.

Still, I wanted to give Rob the benefit of the doubt, so replied saying that maybe I’d made a mistake with the soldering, and asked if I could please buy another chip off him, this time asking if he could check it in a Saturn first. Two weeks later I still have had NO REPLY from the lying cad.

It’s only at this point did I start to search for online reviews. I found several stating that Rob’s chip did not work for them, whereupon they decided to buy Racketboy’s and then had success. I only found one negative review for Racketboy’s chip, on his feedback page, where the buyer stated that after returning the chip Racketboy sent a replacement which worked just fine. His chips even come with a guarantee.

So...

RACKETBOY (RED)

This required a credit card purchase from a slick looking online store and cost about £10 more than Rob Webb’s chip. But despite coming from the US it actually arrived quicker than Rob’s! Now that’s service. I also received email confirmations and other nice things that you expect from reliable professionals.

The chip is unfortunately a bit trickier to install. You need to slot the chip itself into the Saturn’s motherboard, though be careful because the red plastic is more fragile than Rob’s green chip. You then lead the power cable around to the 5V pin and solder it in place. There’s also a trick with the signal wire, where you can solder it from point A to B on the back of the chip itself – but I chose to use the older, more difficult method of soldering the wire to Pin 14 on the chip.

I’d already been screwed over with a dud chip, so I thought it best to stick to the older methods of installation, even if people praise the new method for its ease. I’m a dab hand with a soldering iron anyway, so pin 14 was a doddle.

Everything installed, I booted it up. SUCCESS! Shinrei Jusatsu Taromaru loaded fine. So did my legitimate games. Everything worked immediately.

I couldn’t believe how simple it ended up being.

CONCLUSION

Basically Rob Webb will sell you a piece of shit that doesn’t work, treat you like an idiot, and then ignore your emails, whereas Racketboy has the kind of slick professionalism that you wouldn’t expect for such an item, and his chip actually functions as described. Racketboy is my new personal hero.

Racketboy also offers a year’s guarantee, whereas as I’ve said, Rob will just take the money, screw you over and then pretend you don’t exist.

If you give your money to Rob you’re an idiot. I’ve already lost the £15, don’t make the same mistake as me. Buy from Racketboy and you can’t go wrong.

AND THE WINNER IS: Racketboy

(and me, because now I can enjoy Shinrei again)
Posted by Sketcz at 5:49 AM 51 comments
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Yakuza film review PART 2

With the nearing release of Yakuza 4 in the West I’ve been hurrying to complete Yakuza 3 (despite the deplorable removal of my beautiful mahjong), and so I thought it time to rewatch the two live-action Yakuza films that were produced. Today: the Follow Up.
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Sometime in 2007 I became aware of this feature-length film based on the first Yakuza game. I wanted to buy it, but all the DVDs I saw didn’t have any English subtitles. It had been pirated though and put online, complete with fan-made English subtitles. So after several days of downloading I put the two together and burned myself a custom DVD – as a neat bonus I included the prequel film on the disc.

Unfortunately the subtitles had been made by someone who clearly hadn’t been listening to what characters were saying – the most outlandish example being in a store, when Kazuma is asked a question by the owner. The subtitles say: “Your store sucks.” When in actual fact he said: “Dog food.” Not in Japanese, he actually used the words dog and food in English, which only proved how pathetic the fansub was. I declared the film to be crap and stopped watching at around the halfway mark because it didn’t make any sense. While individual sentences were logical in isolation, there was no context to any of them – characters whose dialogue was setting up later scenes were reduced to spouting nonsense with no relevance to anything else. It was surreal and unpleasant, since the film is quite complicated anyway.

Last week though I saw that it had undergone official subtitling and had been available in the US for some time, unrated and cheaply published. It cost $20 to be shipped to Europe and in preparation for Yakuza 4, I was keen to see what it was actually like.

If there was a film-applicable term for kusoge (awfully good?) then Yakuza: Like a Dragon would carry it proudly. It’s 110 minutes of visually splendorous violence and lunacy, only barely coherent and so overdone that the original storyline from the game (which it’s based on) only just manages to be heard. It’s an example of excess and, while it fails as a film for the uninitiated, as a game-to-film adaptation for those who know the source material it’s a strange kind of awesome.

The basic premise of: Kazuma gets out of jail, looks after small girl, fights one-eyed freak Majima, finds girl’s mom who dies, and then kills his best friend Nishki, is still there, but it weaves in several other storylines which ultimately steal the audience’s attention. Throughout the film we also view the following.

A pair of incompetent bank robbers in colourful knitted ski-masks on the hottest day of the year attempt to rob a bank which has no money and then their air-conditioning breaks down. A pair of delinquent teens go on a robbing spree, first with a knife and later with a gun. A Korean mafia assassin visits town to kill an important politician. Majima is bored and is determined to fuck shit up for everyone. All of the above is interwoven with great complexity and is so focused on, that by the time Kazuma finds Haruka’s mom, who turns out to be Yumi, and then fights Nishki in Millennium Tower, you’re wondering who the hell these new characters are and why they’re even here.

Kazuma’s character is never fleshed out, apart from two sections of dialogue where Detective Date asks when he got our of prison (it’s never explained why he was in), and later on, when it’s mentioned that Kazuma, Nishki and Yumi were all at the same orphanage. Or course Yumi and Nishki’s screen time is about five minutes combined at the end, making the exposition pointless. In fact Kazuma’s role in the story is almost redundant, and if anything is more like a Maguffin for Majima’s rampage through Tokyo looking for him. And here’s the thing, Kazuma is meant to be the lead in the Yakuza film, but all the supporting characters prove more interesting than him – from the silent assassin who makes great cocktails to the hardcore masochist who sells guns – they’re all more interesting and better developed.

The crowning character, and main allure of the film, is Majima Goro. He was insane in the games to begin with, but here he’s elevated to what must be one of the most outlandish, flamboyant, deranged villains in film history. Despite his brutality and irredeemable personality, you can’t help but like him by virtue of how alive he appears (and how difficult he is to kill). Majima gets all the cool lines, while Kazuma is simply shunted from scene to scene, overshadowed by everything else. He’s also far too young looking to be playing someone who spent 10 years in prison.

The other major draw for the film is the well-choreographed fight sequences backed by some pretty awesome heavy metal music. If Yakuza the Prologue was tasteful, subtle and subdued, then Like a Dragon is the absolute opposite. Violence is frequent, gratuitous, and so over-the-top it takes on a fantasy element. When Kazuma isn’t bursting into blue flame you’ll see character’s heads used as baseball-bat sponges, a dozen shotguns destroying a bar replete with wine bottles, and bizarre CG sequences which need to be seen to be believed. It’s a cartoon become live, which is perhaps why it’s such a good game-to-film adaptation despite being a terrible film. Games are not even remotely like films, contrary to what a million shrill voices try to bleat, which is why adaptations often suck. Games are fantastical creations traditionally not bound by any kind of rules or logic, even if they appear to have a realistic setting. A film trying to replicate a game should therefore be void of traditional film-making logic.

I suppose a final highlight is that Nagoshi-san himself, the creator of Ryu ga Gotoku, makes a cameo as Jingu the politician flying around in helicopter – and ends up shot in the had (pictured). He doesn’t say anything and ends up being killed. Twice. Which isn’t really a spoiler – you’ll know why afterwards.

In a way, Like a Dragon is very similar to Miike’s other film, Ichi the Killer, containing flamboyantly dressed yakuza members, acts of extreme cruelty, masochists, depravity, surrealism and plenty of colour on screen. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed Ichi the Killer, but as a standalone film it was more coherent and functional than Like a Dragon – which I actually enjoyed more by virtue of its association with one of my favourite game series. Confusing and akin to reliving a fever dream, Like a Dragon will prove impenetrable for anyone unaware of the Yakuza games. But if you can find it cheap, and like the Yakuza games, it has a strange allure to it.

Our rating: 3 stars out of 4 (but only if you’re aware of the source material)
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Posted by Sketcz at 9:18 AM 4 comments
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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Yakuza film review PART 1

With the nearing release of Yakuza 4 in the West I’ve been hurrying to complete Yakuza 3 (despite the deplorable removal of my beautiful mahjong), and so I also thought it time to rewatch the two live-action Yakuza films that were produced. Today: the Prologue.
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To promote the release of Ryu ga Gotoku (the first Yakuza game), Sega commissioned a short 40 minute prologue film to be made, detailing the life of Kazuma Kiryu growing up in Sunshine Orphanage. It examined how both he and Nishki came to be orphans and then yakuza, and how they came to know Yumi, who Kazuma develops affection for over the years. It involved renowned Japanese film maker Takeshi Miike, who also went on to make the follow-up feature-length film, though the two movies could not be more different.

Some time in late 2006, around the time of the first Yakuza’s western release, Sega took to subtitling this prologue movie and putting it on their website in four parts, for free. It was a great way to spend some boring office time and I downloaded all four parts, later converting to Video CD format and burning to CDR. Today they’re no longer on Sega’s website, but it’s worth looking for them online and burning your own disc.


I did a search on Youtube with the intention of linking you, but I can't find it at all! Also, due to the slow-paced nature of the film you’ll be more comfortable watching from a couch. So try to find a torrent perhaps? Here's the Wikiedia page.


For anyone who is a fan of the Yakuza games this is essential viewing since it expands on the characters of Kazuma and Nishki, and provides a basis for Kazuma’s personality throughout the subsequent games – it’s so essential, I’m surprised Sega hasn’t included it as a bonus with every release in the series.
The story is told through a series of flashbacks which gradually build up to the film’s opening scene. The earliest explains how Yumi’s parents died when yakuza opened fire on a crowd of pedestrians, with moustachioed Fuma then taking her to Sunshine Orphanage. Kazuma and Nishki are already there, along with Nishki’s sister, and the four children grow to be close friends. After Nishki’s sister falls ill and Fuma pays for the medical bills, Nishki feels indebted to Fuma and discusses with Kazuma wanting to join the yakuza. The death of their parents is explained and, with the two youngsters already showing prowess as fighters at school they decide to leave and join Fuma. But not before Kazuma offers Yumi a ring as a keepsake, which she continues to wear into adulthood.


There’s tragedy in the character of Kazuma. As one memorable quote from Fuma puts it: “There are two types of yakuza. The idiot who loves being one. And the idiot who had no choice but to become one.” Always motivated by duty he plays a hero unfairly painted as a villain and is punished for this. Seeing his and Nishki’s childhoods is important, since it reveals that even at a young age Nishki was prone to resentment and wayward behaviour, whereas Kazuma was always thinking ahead.


Besides the story it’s also beautifully shot, with different colour tones for different periods of time (childhood memories always seem to be warmed and tinged with yellow), and some really well choreographed action. The shootouts are bloody and don’t pull away, while the fist fighting appears to have some hard knocks. It’s also well cast, with the actor playing adult Kazuma (apparently a former wrestler) fitting the role nicely.


I suppose a facile comparison could be made to the Godfather films, since the violence here isn’t glorified or obsessed over – it’s simply something that’s become a part of the characters’ lives. It’s also always juxtapositioned against quieter scenes of family life and everyday mundanities, with events taking on a hazy dreamlike quality. My only other experience of Takeshi Miike’s films is Ichi the Killer and, unlike the follow-up film, I don’t see any similarities here. This is much slower, and is perhaps also comparable to Takeshi Kitano’s work, such as the yakuza-at-the-beach story of Sonatine.


Whatever comparisons you want to make (and perhaps I've been too generous) it’s only 40 minutes long and, assuming you care about the Ryu ga Gotoku characters to begin with, is an excellent way to spend some time getting reacquainted with Kazuma for the next game.



Our rating? 4 full stars out of 4
****


Within the next 7 days we’ll be posting out review of the follow-up film, Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Posted by Sketcz at 5:08 AM 5 comments
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