Having curry noodle for dinner coz had a heavy late lunch.

Had a busy weekend, sorting out stuff and going out with cousins and friends. Finally the weekend means something to me! I’ve edited a lot of my Malaysian trip pictures (about 100 of them!) and am trying to figure out how to put them in separate posts. Maybe Part 1 and 2? Or maybe based on category, i.e. friends, food? Oh the dilemma! Looks like I have to blog about them another day.

I promised Chito-san about a few times already so I feel really bad. He’s actually quite the Malaysian fan. Yea what do you know, a Japanese who loves Malaysian culture ;) Chito-san, gomen! So sorry!

Just a quick update: Life in Square Enix has been a blast! ^_^ I’ve never worked in a giant game corporation before so I got all naive and excited when I saw all the company benefits. Hooray for free coffee! <– See what I mean by naive?

I’ve read up (and even bought a book!) on Japanese business manners and all that, but it isn’t all that strict here in Squeenix. I get to wear casual clothes to work, bosses and colleagues all use the plain form (not even the -masu form) and they don’t refer to each other by position, just -san or -kun or none at all. Working hours are great too.

My boss (not sure if I can mention the name, I’ll ask for his permission tomorrow) has been real nice to me. He has been giving proper guidance on my job, work environment and even drops by my cubicle to talk about culture and what not. He even has given a whole bunch of anime and game freebies. Thank you so much, boss!

I’m surrounded by super experienced people. My boss worked on the scenario for Chrono Trigger and FFVI among many others, and there are also those who worked on Shinobi PS2, Skies of Arcadia, The Last Remnant, etc. We even have the programmer of Guitar Hero who entered the company at the same time as I. And I… created two Flash games. *Gasp* What am I doing here among all these outstanding people?! :O

These very same people are also VERY passionate about their interests. Needless to say, intense passion is key if you want to enter this company. In my team, there’s a dating sim + mech fan, a hardcore Vocaloid fan, a happily married Pokemon fan and a huge fan of western punk rock like Offspring and Smashing Pumpkins. In fact, I’m going to the Summer Sonic with him next month. And this passion is even carried into their work. A colleague of mine who specialized in 3D modeling learned VBScript by himself and programmed his own complex level editor to work with Square Enix’s! Surrounded by geniuses… the pressure!

As you can tell, it’s been a fun and interesting month, not to mention a busy one; I have a lot of work myself. The Malaysian pictures will have to wait :P Until then!

See how sad I was when I had to leave Malaysia? *sob*

Given that I will only enter Square Enix in July, I took the opportunity to go back to my home country Malaysia for two weeks. It was really good to be back, to be able to experience the 4Fs of Malaysia. Family, friends, food and freaking hot weather.

I will post pictures up in a bit (took 800+ pictures!); will be a grand task to filter ‘em all! Seeing that I have foreign and Japanese visitors as well, I will write in both English and Japanese. French, Italian and Chinese people are welcome to translate my posts!

Picture above was taken by my cousin Aidi (thanks!) at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which won Best Airport by the Airport Council International-Airport Service Quality (ACI-ASQ) for three consecutive years! *proud*

Woke up at 5:30 am this morning so I thought, what the heck, let’s go out and cycle around!

Here’s the latest update about my work: Due to some visa application delays, Square Enix has decided to push my working contract to the following month, meaning that I’ll start work on July 1st. I might go back to Malaysia after I receive my work permit. Will let you guys know.

I finally got my lazy ass to cycle my bike from the old home in Yoyogi to the current one last week. Had to clean it and remove some of the rust, haven’t cycled in a while! Now that the rainy days are over, it’s time to take it for a spin today.

My new home is now in West Shinjuku. It’s a really mysterious place, coz it’s so quiet and peaceful albeit being smacked right in the middle of the city. A city boy such as myself approves of this new enriching habitat ^^

To show you how close it is to the city, that’s the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku, only a 10-minute walk away from my apartment. Feels like living near the Petronas Twin Towers back home!

This is the usual road I take to the nearest train station. I seriously love Japan for its cleanliness and utmost safety, two major reasons why it’s hard for me to stay anywhere else.

Not many are awake yet at this time of the day. The sun is out very early though, this was taken at around 6 am.

There’s a decent amount of greenery in the surroundings, thanks to the people living here.

Some even grow beneath the vending machines!

Tokyoites have to follow a schedule on when to throw out what kind of garbage, you know, being eco-friendly and all. Thursdays are for recyclable stuff (newspapers, cardboards, etc.), Wednesdays and Saturdays are for burnable garbage, and the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month are for non-burnable garbage like glass items.

The nearest postbox from my apartment.

One thing I like about my neighbourhood is that there are a WHOLE LOT of cats around. I so LOVE cats!

Now that’s a lot of potted plants. Nice!

This place is so family-friendly that there are a total of six schools within a 10-minute walk radius from my apartment.

Here’s one of them, the Kanto International High School. The sight of that gate and the tree has already triggered a few anime scenes in my head.

A 2-in-1 special, Nishi-Shinjuku Elementary School and Kindergarten. I’m probably gonna walk my kid here one day hahahaha /delusion

The elementary school might look cramped earlier but its school ground is bigger than most of its Tokyo city counterparts.

Where there are kids, there will be playgrounds. Ooooh, that slide looks fun!

And a little garden for grownups who look after their children.

Ok time for a (canned) coffee break.

The mystery starts here. Leave this peaceful neighbourhood on this path…

…and the road widens a bit…

…and a minute later we arrive at a noisy and super busy highway! Whoa did they install an invisible sound filter or something?

Remember to always follow road rules even while riding a bicycle!

On the other side of the highway is a loooong line of relatively tall apartments.

To save space, some car parks are built vertically.

You can’t cycle for two minutes straight without the sight of another vending machine!

This is the usual street I walk through to do some shopping, eat and take the train.

A nice cute building smacked right into the corner.

Nearest station to my place. Just two stations away from Guinness Book of Record’s busiest train station in the WORLD, Shinjuku station.

Others prefer to take the Keio bus.

All the major konbinis (i.e. convenience stores in Japanese) are here in a row! Lawson is somewhere around the corner :) Talk about convenient!

It’s time to end the trip with some breakfast in one of my favourite eating spots, Matsuya.

Not in the mood for the breakfast set, so I settled with the usual Gyuumeshi (Beef Rice bowl)… and some raw egg, just like Rocky.

If you haven’t noticed yet, this is just an excuse to not post my room pics, since it’s not 100% ready yet :P Stay tuned for that!

Woo, been a while since I had a picture event post, hasn’t it?

A crazy few weeks it has been: from work visas to moving house. What’s more important than all of this though is – When am I gonna get my Internets?!

The answer arrived last Monday as NTT came over to install the 100mbps network. Saved at last!

Oh yea, my mom’s research in Tokyo has ended and now she’s back in Malaysia. Since the previous room was meant for 2 people, I had to move out. Now I’m staying in West Shinjuku, around a 15-minute walk to my new workplace.

I haven’t sorted the place out yet lol. Tons of stuff to do (i.e. ps3 games to play *ahem*). My work/play area is complete though!

The same monitor for my computer, PS3 and Wii. World domination starts here!

Btw I have posted more game idea callouts in my game idea think tank blog, bonkify! Even created a bonkify! facebook page. Look at the sidebar on the right for details!

Thanks again to Mama and everyone for their support and wishes, and sorry for deleting them. Don’t worry, the blog still continues! Hope you continue to read about my Japanese adventures. Stay tuned!

It’s also a nice idea brainstorming site where I introduce a theme and everyone contributes a game idea. Go have a look-see. And spread the word ;)

http://www.bonkify.com – Yes I even went as far as getting that domain name :3

A foreigner saying Japan is weird is nothing out of the ordinary. When a Japanese himself makes that statement, moreover with a corresponding video for his final thesis, now that’s something!

Stumbled upon Kenichi’s info-graphic motion video today from a post in Figure.FM. It’s very informative and comes with beautiful easy-to-understand graphics and suitable music. I must say however that it only touches the surface of Japanese weirdness, though that’s as much as one could cover in slightly over 10 minutes.

Japan-The Strange Country (English ver.) from Kenichi on Vimeo.

Here’s a word from the creator:

“This is my final thesis project. I created info-graphic, motion piece. My objective is to make Japanese people to think about that everything happening here in Japan, isn’t that normal. So I created this video from foreigner’s point of view, rather than Japanese people’s point of view.

Both English and Japanese versions are available.

By the way, please don’t call me racist, because I am one of short, small eyes Japanese ;P “

Japan – The Strange Country (日本語版) from Kenichi on Vimeo.

日本は変な国だな～って思ってる外国人は大したことないんだが、もし日本人がそういうふうに思ったら？しかも、説明は映像まで作れるなんて思わなかったｗｗｗ

はい、本人より：

「大学の卒業制作で制作した映像です。（日本語版）
日本で生活していると、当たり前すぎて気づかない「不思議な事実」を、海外で生活した経験も生かし、外国人の視点から統計とともに映像化しました。
笑いつつも、「なんか不思議だな」と考えてもらえれば幸いです。
日本語版と英語版を制作しました。」

Apart from Polysics, this is my other favourite band. I listen to Polysics to get my heart pumping, and I listen to Choro Club to calm my nerves, like before the job interview :P

My cousins and I very briefly talked about Aria yesterday, and funnily Daim thought Aria was at the same comedic/moe level as Azumanga Daioh. I mentioned that if Aria was to be equated to a live action genre, it’d be like one of those whimsical and mysterious French films, only less melodramatic. Amidst the beautiful futuristic version of Venice lies many secrets, like a flying train only for invited guests at midnight, a huge alluring cat figure hiding in the shadows, etc. It’s like the magic that exists in the world in Professor Layton.

Choro Club helped bring out the storytelling and the sense of mystery and allure in Aria further with their unique style of instrumental music, inspired by the music roots of Rio de Janeiro. There’s Sawada-san with the contrabass, Akioka-san with the bandolim and Sasago-san with the acoustic guitar. You might not have heard of them, but they’re pretty popular among the underground circles in Brazil and Europe. To date, they have produced around 20 CD albums.

Thanks to their artistic presence, they’ve been performing in classical concert halls, art museums, botanical gardens and jazz fests around the world. Always wanted to attend their performances, but the entrance fees were expensive TT_TT

They recently performed in Shangri-La Osaka last October. Someone managed to capture the moment and put it up on YouTube. Bask in the romance that has wooed fans throughout the world.

Hope the salary of my next job will get me into one of their live performances. One day!

Braid: The game I wish I created. Gameplay, level design and in-depth storytelling makes this game an indie gem.

The way I see it, both sides of the doujin world have their pros and cons. In the west gameplay is key, but the games tend to be a one-off thing. The universe is only exclusive to that game itself. You had a good time, but you won’t be seeing a Wiki about its game universe nor will you be joining a fan club of the characters in Facebook anytime soon.

But because the game designer hops from one game to the next, you see an evolution of game design techniques and experimentation. From Cloud to Flow to Flower, Jenova Chen of thatgamecompany continues to impress me and many others with every single game he comes up with. You can even see his innovative thought process in GDC 2010, where he came up with the concept of Heavenville. Every game is like a breath of fresh air.

Those who own a PS3, do yourself a favour and download Flower now. It’s cheap and it’s worth every single penny in your credit card bill.

Touhou: A shmup game series created by one guy, Zun, with its own expanded universe and extensive wiki pages. Plushies, a few indie animation shorts and thousands of Youtube videos were passionately created by his fans.

In Japan, however, they focus more on the game world. No doubt the games are fun, but being absorbed into the world and being able to mingle with the characters is a huge plus point for a Japanese. To an average Japanese doujin gamer, the Touhou universe (created by only one man) is similar to the Star Wars universe; the characters and world view are consistent throughout the series. Fans of the universe are everywhere throughout the world, in fact they have a fan convention for the Touhou universe itself few times a year.

You may check out Touhou’s extensive wiki database here, which includes pages of comprehensive info on the game’s 26 locations, 30 bestiary entries and 120 characters.

Touhou is not the only one that deserves this credit: Melty Blood, Fate/Stay Night, Naku Koro ni series and many more. So much so that a lot of demands made some of these series become commercialized. This phenomenon is something very rare in the western doujin world, though more common in western commercial works.

However, focusing on the universe also means that the game designer tends to stay on the safe side. The next game in the series will expand your view of the universe, not necessarily expand your fun. Maybe some slight changes in game mechanics, but rarely a major overhaul. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say.

As a game designer, I value both. I believe that a good game immerses you in two ways: a believable universe (story, characters, graphics) and good gameplay. This post is more about the latter, though the games don’t falter in the former either.

Comiket, a huge convention for any Japanese to open their own booth and sell their independent products; and the Independent Games Festival, a major target for indie game developers worldwide. Both pave way for superb talent.

In Japan, being able to express your skills by opening your own booth in conventions is the major motivation behind creating a doujin work. In the western world it’s all about contests, baby! Either way is great, as long as it opens paths for new-comers to show off their works. And impressive works, they are!

Let’s start with the recent 2010 Independent Games Festival. Some of the awesome winners:

Monaco, won Seamus McNally Grand Prize + Excellence in Design. Brings me back to the old days of my Atari computer, but the major keypoint here is the multiplayer feature. Looks fun!

Limbo, won Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. It’s like Another World but with a darker touch.

Closure, won Excellence in Audio. I dunno why it just won in audio, I’d say the gameplay deserves an award for its outstanding innovation! Try it for yourself: click here.

Continuity, won Student Showcase Winner. Oooooh you should try this one. The level and puzzle design are amazing! This is my personal recommendation for those who haven’t tried it yet. You’ll regret not clicking here to play the game!

For a year plus, Epic Games has held the “Make Something Unreal” contest by letting participants use the Unreal engine to create something… uh, unreal. The results were finally announced recently, and they are amazing! Gotta love ‘em mods.

Grand Prize Winner: The Haunted.

2nd Prize: The Ball. My personal fave of the three.

3rd Prize: Angels Fall First.

As you can see, the doujin works in the West continue to impress us with their gameplay, and their universe design is far from stale. Way far. Long live the independent spirit of the world!

(Special thanks to Yuz of Simply Games! blog for the constant update on the scene)

Phew, finally some rest. Am waiting for the results from Squeenix. Also, I sorted out my Sapporo pics (at long last!) but am lazy to post them up for now :P  Meanwhile, enjoy the following two openings and hopefully they will unlock some fun memories for you as they did for me.

A truly underrated anime. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora is a tragic but bittersweet story of two sick teenagers who met in a hospital. What I like about it is that almost the entire show is set in that hospital, so the imagery of being sick within a confined environment with bad news coming to you at any moment is conveyed rather powerfully.

On top of the OP’s great music, there are a lot of symbolic messages hidden in it as well. It may seem so normal, but the very image of the girl wearing a school uniform itself can be meaningful to those who have watched it. To those who prefer live action, there’s also the J-drama version.

One of the best PC game openings for me. My diploma multimedia project involved being in a make-believe company that makes game trailers, called Scream Interactive. The C is in a shape of a Pacman. Creative huh? Thief:The Dark Project was one of the team’s video editing demos.

Since then, I got hooked to the game. This is during the time when hiding-instead-of-attacking games were hot (MGS, anyone?). The game rocks too, both gameplay-wise and graphics-wise. Truly a masterpiece! Though, since my computer didn’t evolve at that time, I didn’t play the graphically-demanding sequels :P