BitSummit has inarguably helped reinvigorate the indie game scene in Japan.
A successful introduction in 2013 begat a larger event in 2014, and the third BitSummit, held at Kyoto’s Miyako Messe this past weekend, was even bigger still. Developers from inside and outside Japan came together with fans, international media and large companies such as Sony, Microsoft and Steam, to show off some of the best Japan’s indie scene had to offer. And for the first time, it looked as if the PC might have a future within the landscape of Japanese game development.
I think the best way I can classify Neo Aquarium 2: Ace of Seafood is “fish-person shooter.” Or, alternatively, I suppose I can just go with “completely fucking bonkers.” In short, it’s an over-the-shoulder (fish do not have shoulders; gaming lexicon, you have failed me) third-person shooter where you’re a fish that fires lasers in an attempt to blow up worms, fish, and any other foolish bottom-feeder that dares cross your path (fish do not have paths; colloquial lexicon, you have also failed me; language is not powerful enough to handle this game). Everything explodes upon death, and it’s amazing. Also, there was totally a Neo Aquarium 1 before this. The fact that I never knew about it until now proves there is no god.
Dear Diary…. wait, is that too formal? Yo, Diary? Wotcha, Mr. D? Never mind. Busy week, this week. I said goodbye to my parents, a demon made me write him a love letter, and I learned how to set people on fire with the power of my mind! Then… then things got weird.
P.S. Donald, if you’re reading this, you now have cooties. And give back my bra.
There are now more gaming-related fundraising schemes for victims of the natural disaster in Japan than it’s possible to enumerate. Hopefully all have been of some use, even the ones that seemed to involve more than a little self-promotion en route.
Now it’s Valve’s turn to stretch some fanbase muscle: via the quiet microtransaction giant that is Team Fortress 2, they’ve weaved a limited edition set of hats and noise makers, all proceeds from which will go to the Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts in the suffering nation. Read the rest of this entry »
There are a great many ways and places to donate money to assist victims of the tragic events in Japan last week. Nonetheless, it’s good to see game companies also doing their bit to tempt their players into lending a financial hand during this time of need. Read the rest of this entry »
RPS’s natural state is well documented as a kind of electric bewilderment, but this is surprising even for us. A new sliver of DLC entitled The Rising Sun Pack has just been released for RPS favourite R.U.S.E., adding the Japanese to the game as a brand new faction with 28 new units, plus 3 new Japan-centric Operations (standalone scenarios), one of which sees the Japanese taking on the US National Guard in an assault on Fort Knox. Look, here it is on Steam. I had no idea this was coming. I haven’t even had my morning tea yet. This is horrible. Unless this is some kind of… ruse? No, it’s not a ruse. Full press release after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
In keeping with the Japanese theme of the week, I’ve uncovered a Japanese retro PC site, which hosts four games by Bio_100%, who apparently made a whole bunch of PC games between 1990 and 1999. The site has little rolling videos of their greats, such as Owl-Zoo, on the tiles on the main page. The site is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and the download section hosts four of their games. (Which do not work on Vista.) Kanamiso is the best of the four, it’s a kind of sumo wrestling with marbles.
