Category Games

From Tokyo to TOA: Akiba*Doujin Documentary

2 comments By ahbonk Filed in Games, Travel/Events June 1st, 2009 @ 9:44 pm

Sook Chiung and I thought that while it was nice to have me live in the hall, why not have a real stroll down the streets and make a video? It would really spice up the presentation, we thought.

So I did. And what better place to show doujin culture than Akihabara itself! Enjoy!

From Tokyo to TOA: Doujin Game Presentation

7 comments By ahbonk Filed in Games, Life Happenings June 1st, 2009 @ 8:46 pm

Phew, finally the presentation has finished. It was nice to see familiar faces in The One Academy again, no matter how pixelated they were :P Man, I miss teaching! Once it was all done, can’t help but feel a little lonely (this is where you go “awwwwwwwwwwwwww…”)

fyi, I was invited to give a live video feed presentation to The One Academy students, talking about doujin culture and how you can be part of the ever-growing independent spirit.

Thanks to Sook Chiung, Wei Peow and the rest of the team, the session went on smoothly, though there were a few disconnections here and there. Super big arigatou to them!

Before the pressie, Yee Lean enthusiastically showed the V sign to me, hehe. It was as if the students were in Tokyo themselves, considering how common the V sign is here! Pictured also are Benjamin and Sora, otakus themselves I’m sure :P

Poor Joanne. She had to carry that camera so that I could see the audience and my own slides. And look at Sook Chiung’s worried face lol. I’m sure this is where she went “Talk S-L-O-W-E-R”. Thanks so much, you two. Will you both marry me?

We started with a little exercise session to test the Internet lag. Even from Tokyo, I could control their arms bwahahahaha. Pictured are Aurelia (o rly ah?), Zheng Hong aka “Lechaoz the Level 80 Paladin” xD and Wahyu, the dude who likes to take videos in female toilets.

I talked a little bit about myself, and this is where my /IF/ pictures come in. Nerds rule!

When I showed a pic of some japanese girls (aka my girlfriends) wearing some Tokyo Fashion, Kellie the fashionista seemed to be in awe. “Wah where can I get that skirt…”

My boss Sweii was there, and so was her boss! Beside her is Tatsun, The One Academy’s principal. Yikes *nervous*

This is either Wahyu fully paying attention to my presentation, or he’s just acting cool in front of Reuben’s camera. I’m betting the latter lol

Wow some students DO pay attention. I’m surprised :P

My intention was to make the presentation have a lot of lawls, which turned out to be a success :D Love the laugh on this dude! Diana and Tanyus behind showed everyone their beautiful teeth, and Ifa seemed puzzled “Eh what’s so funny?”

Selvia, on the other hand, was bored. Aiyoh Selvia, sakit hati aku tengok gambar ni!

The moral of the story is that you guys have talent, and a whole lot of tools out there are free, so go out there and do great stuff! Thanks so much for coming guys!

Just an additional note, I would like to congratulate two of my favourite students in The One, Yiwei (Hey where’s Yenn?!) and Chen aka Mak Datuk. They did so well in their games that they were also invited to give a presentation. You both make me and The One Academy proud!

Thanks to Reuben, Aurelia and Benjamin for the pics!

Project Trico (Three and Ico, geddit?)

1 comment By ahbonk Filed in Games May 25th, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

Welcome to last week’s news! Experts in ruin architecture, sunlight rays, unstable braking, giant-climbing and fps-lowering are back in a new PS3 venture. Makers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus present (though not willingly?)… the trailer of Project Trico!

Ooooh, giant griffin-kitteh!

I have a feeling that Project Trico will be combining both mechanics of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. In other words, you are able to climb a giant friend and go places! Nice… Hope I’m right, coz then it would truly be as awesome as Colossus while retaining the fun and exploratory portion of Ico. In all PS3 graphical glory.

Valkyria Chronicles, Burnout, FFXIII, MGS4, White Knight Chronicles… damn I need a PS3, NAO!

Anime-based Game Intros

5 comments By ahbonk Filed in Anime/Manga, Games April 16th, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

M`egumi in action.

Alright, getting the blog back on track, it’s time to combine the 2 loves of my life: anime and games (I am NOT an otaku!).

Game intros are always fun to watch. They contribute nothing to gameplay, but with a good music montage + quality animation, it gets you in the mood to play the game. And it wastes your time on YouTube too. Bugger.

Nowadays it’s all 3d, 3d, 3d. They’re nice too, but I still lean towards their 2D counterparts. I know, I hear you. All anime intros are similar. They MUST have:

Character showcases: A depiction of the characters’ lives before they joined the fight.
Fights: Said characters show off their specialty, one by one. Used during upbeat chorus.
Daily life scenes: 2 or more characters do typical stuff like drying clothes or eating dinner.
Villain showcases, with the final boss shown as a large shadow to avoid spoilers.
Depressing scenes: Characters are shown as exhausted in an end-of-the-world situation.
Now-there’s-hope scenes, with characters staring from a cliff. Add wind for best effect.

Still, I love them. Here are some of my all-time favourites, ordered by category, not preference. Note that I prefer music montages over those storytelling types.

The high-quality button is your best friend.

RPGs

Say anime game intro, then Namco’s Tale Of series immediately comes to mind. My current favourite Tales Of intro is still…

Tales Of Eternia (PS1)

The bright colours, the animation, the music, a girl kicking a monster twice her size, a pirate loli… it’s all there! Many like the intros of Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss, but I’ll stick with this one. Whichever one you choose, Production IG rocks anyway.

Chrono Trigger (DS)

I just finished the classic time-travel RPG Chrono Trigger on the DS. Could only find the PSX version on YouTube though, but it’s the same. As you can see, the intro is quite cool, with scenes from different eras and stuff. Gotta love that Toriyama Akira magic. Pity the guy, he just got his famous creation slaughtered by Hollywood.

And let’s not forget our favourite western series!

Wild Arms 3 (PS2)

Gotta love cowboys and whistling.

Summon Night 3 (PS2)

Duly underrated in the west, this game allows you to control either that red-haired dude or the long-haired girl with the white beret. I’ll take the girl, thank you very much.

You can tell from the quality that it was animated by Studio 4C. Love the soft colour treatment and how the animation was well-timed with great music; I remember watching this again and again. And it has a cute pirate girl. All RPGs must have cute pirate girls.

Let’s not forget that fairy who has flowers for her ass. That could be the nicest smelling butt in gaming history.

Treasure Games

Ah, Treasure. How they blessed our childhood with great imaginative games like Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Bangai-O and Ikaruga. Also these:

Guardian Heroes (Sega Saturn)

Gotta admit, Daim was right. The intro does look a bit dated. Still, it holds a special place in all our hearts (awwwwwww). Especially the song, right my dear *coughvideocameracough* cousins?

Silhouette Mirage (Sega Saturn)

The intro rocks just as hard as the game itself! In this unique 2D platformer, you control that half-red half-blue dude . You face right, you become red; you face left, you become blue. Enemies are also in red and blue, and can only be defeated by the opposite colour. Cool huh?

Just looking at the intro alone, you know the art direction is win. Music rocks too. ‘Nuff said.

Steam-Industrial Era

Strange category, meknows. When it comes to steam-powered machines, what do you think of?

Sakura Wars 3 (Dreamcast)

Sakura Wars, of course! Beautiful girls in steam-powered robots. A man couldn’t ask for anything more. The third one has the best intro, in my opinion.

I can imagine Fabian screaming with glee right about now.

Skygunner (PS2)

This game brings back my love for flight simulations. Simple and fun to play. The intro itself is beaaaauuuuuuutiful, with that kind of art direction and soothing music. And the characters have tails! Reminds me of what Treasure would do minus the zaniness.

And look at that fat plate of spaghetti. I’m so hungry now.

Crazy Intros

Some animation studios take pride in making game intros as incomprehensible as they possibly can.

Musashi Samurai Legend (PS2)

The kind of craziness you’d expect from the team that brought you Gurren Lagann. Throwing a girl up and whacking all the bad guys before catching her again, now that’s bad-ass. Time and time again, Gainax cleverly utilizes the angles of a girl in short skirt. Sneaky bastards.

Namco x Capcom (PS2)

The intro best sums up all fanboy dreams to have Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Xenosaga, Rockman, Tales Of series, Vampire Hunter and Klonoa characters all in one game. Done by Production IG, your resident crazy animation studio. Excellent job on this one.

Sonic

I can already hear Dzaid saying “uh-oh”.

Sonic CD (Mega CD)

Sorry la Dzaid, I still love this intro. It’s during the golden age where a Sonic intro is not ruined by a damn American punk rock song.

But there’s still hope!

Sonic Riders (PS2)

Again, Production IG saves the day. Sonic looks so sleek in this one, but still we have to question Sega: why the hell does Sonic need a hoverboard?! Oh, and a sword for that matter too!

Korean Games

Korea has also begun to adapt anime-like characters in their games some time back. Their intros usually feature a more motion-graphic approach, with bright-coloured characters smacked in front.

My cousins would understand me when I say this: The difference with Korean games is that when the characters pop up in the intro, I would go “Ok siapa dia ni? (Who the heck is this?)”. Wonder if you get that feeling too.

DJMax Portable 2 (PSP)

From the makers of the EZ2DJ arcade game. It’s just a music game, but they always go the extra mile. Cool that it features the mobile phone as a glaring theme to the concert. Samsung is smart.

Yogurting (PC)

Having a title that could be easily misinterpreted, this game is a Korean MMO school-life battle RPG. Power kan the genre. The use of motion graphics in this one is quite intense, though again I ask: Siapa dia ni?!

Dating Sims

Lastly, we go back to where anime came from, this time in a genre only unique to Japan. Though they serve their purpose (in yummy ways, of course), usually the intros, well, suck. They’re highly dependent on the illustration and how cute the song is, then after that you could easily use the Flash tweening feature to drag the 2D sprites all over the place.

Of course, time and time again there are a few exceptions to this rule, those being:

Haru no Ashioto (PC)

Well what do you expect, it’s by Shinkai Makoto, the guy behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters per Second. His specialty is lighting; in an interview, he said that his first priority is to draw the lines that depict the rays of light.

Wanna see more of his stuff? Sure!

Ef – The First Tale (PC)

Possibly the game company’s biggest hit, which turned into an excellent anime series. This time Shinkai Makoto teams up with a 3D animation company for that extra… rotational power.

Any more great anime-based game intros to recommend?

Anyone found my Boots of Speed?

0 comments By ahbonk Filed in Games March 20th, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

If there’s one game that can make you shout Chinese swear words across the room even though you’re not Chinese, it’s Defense of the Ancients.

I’m not particularly super enthusiastic about the game myself, but as a game designer I know it’s a very well-designed game. It’s still unbalanced, but at least it’s well-designed enough to get players excited to tear each other’s throats. The amount of decisions you can make at any given second is abundant, yet such little decisions could either favour or thwart your team’s winning chances.

Stay on the road, or help another teammate?
Save up for Divine Rapier?
Kill Roshan? Wait, they’re killing Roshan now! Should we attack their base?
Damn, should I use my ulti now?
b b b b b b bb b bb b b b bb b b b
Oi ask you to stun, never stun! Ma c&*$ ha@!

What’s even more amazing is that it’s just a freaking mod of Warcraft III. Even so, it’s being used in tournaments worldwide and Asians in particular have caught its fever, and I’m pretty sure it’s more popular than Warcraft III, at least in KL!

Now the game gets the proper analysis it deserves. A writer in Gamasutra, a well-known game design site, has dissected DotA and wrote a nice postmortem on the game. Go read it, and see for yourself what makes DotA fun.

Now seriously where’s my Boots of Speed? It goes so well with my Sobi Mask…

Idol Sing, Monkey Do

1 comment By ahbonk Filed in Games January 11th, 2009 @ 5:32 am

Not too long ago, I showed almost all my students a game called Rhythm Tengoku Gold for the DS. I made a blog post about it last year.

A refresher. It’s a music game that doesn’t involve bars or arrows, it’s all about testing your pure sense of rhythm in a situational manner, kinda like how you tap your feet to a song.

One of my favourite mini-game was the Idol. You control an audience monkey. All idol fans are monkeys, no? You have to tap 4 times if the idol sings the same word 3 times, and a special action if she ends the lyrics with “kamo ne” or “ii na”. Here’s a little video of the game in action:

The voice for the girl is an actual junior idol named Eri~na, quite popular among Tokyo idol fans. Even the character design is based on her. But what happens when she sings it live?

You get a live hall full of monkeys.

(Special thanks to Zhi Soon for the video!)

EDIT: Oh just to clarify, this is not a concert for Rhythm Tengoku. It’s a concert for the Nice Girls Project, featuring a few idols performing on stage. In fact, the dancers on stage are 2 idol groups that performed before Eri~na.

Festival Special 1: Tokyo Game Show

1 comment By ahbonk Filed in Games, Travel/Events November 3rd, 2008 @ 6:56 pm

Yikes, this post is long overdue. The Tokyo Game Show was on 11th and 12th October, but I was too lazy to edit the pictures and all that. But because today is Bunka no Hi (Culture Day) and a holiday, I shall do everyone a great service ;)

Firstly, I was worried whether I was on the right train…

… but with people playing DS and PSP left and right, I was relieved.

The first booth that welcomed us to the show was SNK. We were delighted to see King of Fighters XII, due next April. For the first time in so many years, they’re redrawing all the sprites, and we know how SNK is at sprite animation. So far, it looks superb! *two thumbs up*

We lined up for almost an hour just to play the game. Those who won 3 rounds can stay to play on the next guy. Naturally, I suck in these kind of games, so I played only once. Of course, Dzaid stayed for god knows how long.

Xbox 360 is not doing that well in Japan but it’s picking up the pace. I mean, just look at that booth! The promotion video that was on that big-ass screen was really impressive, it made me wanna buy a Xbox 360. For a few seconds.

But if I were to buy a Xbox 360, it would definitely be for this game! It looks IMPRESSIVE! And I enjoyed playing Star Ocean 3 on the PS2 too. Why… Why must it be for the 360?!!! _orz

According to the survey in latest issue of Famitsu, the Capcom booth stole the show. Of course, what with Monster Hunter 3 and Biohazard 5. Even the small games did well too, such as…

…Gyakuten Kenji, a game where you control prosecutor Miles Edgeworth instead!! In the same survey, it got voted the most interesting portable game in TGS, even beating Dragon Quest IX!

If you lined up to play the game, you could bask in Edgeworth’s greatness that is his office! I would if I could read Kanji =_=;;

The Square-Enix booth wasn’t doing half-bad either, with the long-awaited Dragon Quest IX trailers and playable Dissidia. Too bad there was nothing new about Final Fantasy XIII. :(

I might be a sega fanboy, but sadly there was nothing interesting there. Even Sonic Unleashed (or Sonic World Adventure) was featured in the Sony booth instead. Wonder why.

TGS = Tokyo Girls Show. What, games? Where?

This game is awwwwwwwffullly similar to Animal Crossing, except that it’s based on magic school instead. Great going, Konami!

The success of previous MGS online expansions fueled them to come up with Metal Gear Online. If you can see the wallpaper in the picture, it’s actually a compilation of characters and camouflage suits. Nice.

If I had to choose one game from the TGS that I’d buy on the spot, it’s this one! Klonoa 2 is simply my favourite platform game of all time. A game with simple controls but fun and challenging obstacles. I tried this remake of Klonoa 1 for the Wii, and it was really really fun to play! Previews all over the Internet praised it like mad too.

Can’t wait to get my hands on this. Thank god I brought my Wii to Japan!!!!

Alright it’s time to move to the cosplay hall! Isn’t that what TGS is all about, keke…

They look a little different, but nice to see them all in one place :)

*gasp* It’s Miku, and she looks hawt *wipes saliva*

Oh god, she waved her spring onion *faints*

I’ve seen a lot of Ls, but this is the first time I’ve seen Watari! Nice!

The guards weren’t the only ones distracted by the porn magazine :}

No zombies can stand a chance against these elites!

Tidus ditched Yuna to “play blitzball”, it seems.

Cool, huh? After this picture was taken, the trademark Silent Hill Nurse came in. Wanted to take a picture, but when she took out her mask, we found out it’s a guy :P Thanks but no thanks!

It’s BB Hood and Lilith! *drool*

Arguably, I also liked what I couldn’t see.

Kimahri was quite ugly, so thank god uber-cool Auron blocked him.

Didn’t know Trucy was taller than Apollo. Maybe it’s her hat.

A topless guy who cosplays Kratos? I’m in!

Man, the poster this year is so unimaginative, unlike the 2004 version.

And that’s all for the Tokyo Game Show. Stay tuned for two more festival posts, coming right up!

Rhythm Heaven <3

0 comments By ahbonk Filed in Games, Music October 21st, 2008 @ 12:10 am

A trip to Akihabara is always worth it when you can buy one of these:

Soundtrack for Rhythm Tengoku (Heaven), all the way from the GBA version to the DS! 3 CDs chock full of 140 insanely addictive songs! I’m listening to them right now… they don’t call it heaven for nothing! Hehehehhehehe, I’m just so happy right now!

What? You don’t know what is Rhythm Tengoku? Shame on you! It’s a music game with no bars, no arrows, no interface, just plain fun mini-games. Made by the superb Wario team. You MUST get this game! If you don’t have a DS, buy one! For this game! NOW!

Daim and I have two more games left to get perfect, the ping pong and moai statues hard versions. We might pass it one day…. kaaaaaaa mo ne, hoi!

Big Move Announcement #3: We won the MSC pitch!

0 comments By ahbonk Filed in Easy Only! Games, Games September 5th, 2008 @ 2:36 am

Level up! My team has just won the MSC IP Creator’s Challenge pitch. We have been awarded a grant of RM 50,000 to create a game within 6 months, along with two other winning teams. That’s seriously the first time I received a freaking big cheque lol, size-wise and finance-wise.

More photos of the pitch are available at http://cmc.msc.com.my/event_detail.php?ID=242. Man I look so stupid in the first photo :S Thanks to Sora for the link!

The team celebrated in Chilis One Utama. You have no idea how hard it was to hide that cheque while walking towards the restaurant. Not something you wanna show to the crowd you know. Though after dinner, Nyin waved the cheque all over the place :S

(L – R)

My close sisters, Leeyean (Interface Designer) and Leenyin (Art Director). Nyin was the interface designer for Ballistic Wars (except the crappy main menu, done by yours truly :P). Yean is the artist for the upcoming Puzzerella Pizza game, which is coming out… uhh, soon *sweat*

Beside them is one cool guy.

Daim (Character Designer) couldn’t make it for obvious reasons, so we connected to his hologram projection unit in Tokyo. He created those ball-ish characters in Ballistic Wars.

The one showing the thumbs up in style is Aidi (3D Modeler and Animator). He has the word “future” written all over. He also created the enemy ships in The Last Canopy.

And Adrian (Lead Programmer) is new to the team, so everyone say hi! He’s my good friend whom I’ve known since college days. And he just continued WoW! Hooray!

Let’s talk a little about the game. No Straight Roads is an arcade shooter that was inspired by arcade titles such as Rail Chase and House of the Dead. Basically we will spoon-feed the action for you. We’ll change the camera angle and add rich visual narrative to the playing experience.

All you do is just move the mouse to shoot and drive. You only do one of the two at any given time. No matter how intense the action or point-of-view is, you just need to use your mouse to shoot and drive. That’s what makes the game casual enough for everyone to play.

The game is also inspired by Gurren Lagann and Speed Racer. In other words, it’s gonna be an AWESOME experience. The car is gonna skid on the walls, its movements are clumsy and we will have crazy boss battles that needs your wit to defeat them.

No Straight Roads will be in 3D, with the characters being 2D (billboard images in 3D space). It will be downloadable on the PC. I have a partnership link with a New York-based publisher at the moment, so I will use that to propose this game as a console downloadable as well, on PSN, XBLA or WiiWare.

The screenshot above is done by Leenyin. She did a great job compiling everyone’s work to create such a vibrant and exciting scene.

The story is set in a future post-apocalyptic world where an evil company reigns to take advantage of the situation. They are called Straight Roads Inc. Hence the game name.

Ayola (the girl on the right) is part of the rebel force (hmmmm this is starting to sound familiar…) that opposes the company. One day, she fought them on her bike, but lost completely. Trying to run away, she hailed a taxi that belonged to Marty (the guy on the left). Reluctantly, he let her in, and drove the taxi out of the city. The game starts here!

Of course, Daim did the character designs, which are excellent as usual :)

And this is the futuristic taxi that Aidi built. His sense of how the future looks like never fails to amaze me, and he has put a lot of thoughts to come up with such a sleek-looking car. Kudos!

I still haven’t figured a name for the car yet. Anyone have any ideas?

And this is the logo of No Straight Roads, done again by expert visualizer Nyin.

Nyin has also done an amazing job with the pitch document, taking everyone’s drawings and my writing, then montaging them nicely into a great page layout. This is a one-page preview of the pitch document, and no doubt it has helped a lot to win the hearts of the judges.

So yea that’s the game. I couldn’t have done it without this team chock full of talent and dedication. Ah to be surrounded by geniuses, I’m so blessed. :) Thank you so much, team! We have finally done it, though the true work starts now! Korekara mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. (I shall depend on you guys even from now.)

Oh speaking of which, Daim with a beanie reminds me of a game character…

Big Move Announcement #1: Feenaa is now Level 70!

4 comments By ahbonk Filed in Games September 3rd, 2008 @ 2:24 pm

My wonderful ~~curvy~~ female draenei frost mage named Feenaa has just reached Level 70 last Sunday! She has frost-nova-ed and blizzard-ed her way through many regions, and died just as many times. I guess intelligent people can’t wear heavy armour in RPGs. Oh well.

In my total 2 years of playing World of Warcraft (dropped, picked it up, dropped again…), this is the first time I reached the level cap TT_TT I’m so happy! /dance /cheer

If you still think that a guy can’t use a female avatar, get over it. Being more of a J-RPG fan, I’m just not used to oversized/muscular male leads!

To commemorate such an EXTREMELY rare and auspicious event, let’s look at some memoirs from Feenaa’s past! (also known as Program Files/World of Warcraft/Screenshots).

Come on, who hasn’t climbed to the highest point of the SW fountain and summoned a mount?

I just love the graphical glitches in WoW!

This is my wonderful guild called MAD. Adrian said it stands for Mutually Assured Destruction. Uh-huh. (And seriously Adrian, where are you?!) Oh, if there are 5 or more people logged in at the same time, you can buy a lottery ticket.

Come to think of it, everyone in the above picture are my cousins XD hahahahha so lame…

(L – R)
Racquel = Human Rogue = Dzaid
Hizriad = Human Paladin = Daim
Devilette = Human Warlock = Dina
Gallinago = Dwarf Hunter = Aidi

As you can see, we have no warriors and priests. A very… unique team. :)

The MAD guild going for a costume party. Speaking of costumes…

…Feenaa in her red outfits!

My guild members can be quite lame. They either make stupid jokes…

…or make weird requests.

And we love to abuse the raid warning message :P

Yes yes I’m dead, I know…

The great Knight-Lieutenant Diven joined us in one of our dungeon runs! He’s none other than Randolph, the great guild leader of Sanctioned Insanity, also friend and APIIT colleague as well.

Luckily he didn’t switch on his Macros, else he could see how n00bish I played :D

“Eh Hazmer, your DPS quite low leh…”