The PSP - My Thoughts

After extensive testing, I find the PSP to be quite a good gaming machine. Although it is, of course, not without its faults, too. So I'd like to present some of my thoughts on my newest acquisition, especially in comparison to the DS.

The Good

• Downloadable Content - So far, this is perhaps my favorite feature of the PSP. Logging on to the PSN Store and downloading demos, trailers, backgrounds, and themes to my PSP is something I haven't really experienced yet with gaming. I don't have a PS3 or XBox 360, and while the Wii has numerous Virtual Console games available, Nintendo's still exploring. And the DS, well, without any memory, demos are only as good as long as the system stays on.

• Sexy Design - The PSP is a really beautiful piece of hardware, although the DS caught up a little with the DS Lite redesign. The bright, wide screen in particular is really nice, for both games and videos. And overall, the PSP feels really comfortable in my hands.

• Great Games, Especially RPGs - Finally, after a few years, I feel like the PSP has enough games that I'm interested. I'm currently deep into Crisis Core, have Patapon waiting, and want to get many more games. The PSP seems to have an especially large number of great RPGs. I can't wait to get a few more.

The Bad

• Load Times - My DS made me forget how nice it is not to have to wait for games to load. Since they're cartridge-based, load times are practically non-existent. But the PSP, as basically somewhere between a PS1 and a Dreamcast, is disc-based, and therefore features load times of various lengths, depending on the game. Crisis Core features constant loading, although each one is relatively quick. I forgot how annoying that can be.

• Fingerprints - Man, the PSP is a magnet for fingerprints, both on the case and on the screen itself. Annoying, but not a big deal.

• Shortest Battery Ever - Depending on the game, I've found I can only get around 5 hours of game time in before the battery needs to be recharged. After the beauty of the DS Lite's 10 hour battery, it seems like I'm constantly having to stop playing a game to charge the PSP. 5 hours is theoretically plenty of time, but it does make me want to get the bigger battery. Although at $50, I'd wait and keep my eye out for a sale.

The Untested

• Online Play - I've noticed that the PSP allows both ad-hoc and online multiplayer, but I have yet to test these features. This is largely because I have no games that have an online mode.

• Ease of Traveling - The DS is especially convenient for traveling. It's easy to carry in either my pocket or a bag, and it's been no problem to whip it out on a train ride or when I'm waiting for something. The PSP has thus far been under house arrest. But soon I will probably let it venture outside and make its way in the world.

• Future Games - Although I bought the PSP because there were at least 5 or 6 "must-buy" games for me, the future looks a little less certain. There are a few RPGs of which I would be interested in a U.S. release (Star Ocean), and the demo of Secret Agent Clank was pretty fun, but there's not a whole lot on the horizon that I'm interested in. Maybe some more games will be announced at E3

So in conclusion, I love the PSP, but it's certainly not without it's flaws. It's certainly amazing that the technology is available to allow me to play games with near-PS2 graphics on a portable system. But that comes at the price of ever-present loading screens, and a battery with an insatiable hunger for loads of electricity. But overall, the system is very much worth a purchase, especially at the current price $170 in the U.S., I think. If you don't have a PSP, now's a great time to get one.

My PSP Game Library Has Finally Tripled

As you can tell from the title, the PSP games I ordered from Play-Asia finally arrived, thus increasing my PSP game collection from 1 to 3. I would definitely use Play-Asia again, as shipping to Japan was free, and the games arrived only 9 days after I ordered them. Not too shabby.

I have only had a couple of hours to check out Patapon and Crisis Core, but they are both already amazing and fun, albeit in very different ways. In Patapon, I haven't even made it past the endpoint of the demo yet, and I can already see how addicting the mission-based structure can become. Crisis Core, I think, could eventually become equally addicting as the mission-based structure of the game opens up, but I'm still on the first story mission. The polish on that game is already incredible. If nothing else, Square-Enix pays a lot of attention to the visual polish and style of their games. Crisis Core is really quite beautiful.

After much deliberation, I think I'm going to focus most of my gaming efforts for the foreseeable future on Crisis Core. This isn't a knock against Patapon, because I wish I didn't have to choose. But during my wait for these games to arrive, I read an online summary of the story of Final Fantasy VII (which Crisis Core is a prequel to), and am very interested to delve back into that world.

Luckily, I finished No More Heroes yesterday, just in time for my new arrivals. So my next few posts should be a couple about NMH interspersed with some about the PSP and Crisis Core. Well, those Crisis Core missions aren't going to finish themselves...

I'm No Longer Exclusively Loyal to Nintendo

As foretold last time, I purchased a PSP. Yesterday, as a matter of fact. Although Japan has several exclusive colors, I just couldn't see myself sporting an Easter green, pink, or blue PSP. So I ended up choosing the classic 'Piano Black' version. Long story short, I love it. It's a really beautiful piece of gaming hardware, and I'm glad the games are finally there to support my purchase.

Speaking of games, at this point I have only one. I bought Locoroco here in Japan, and am very happy with it. I try to limit Japanese game purchases to those that don't rely on a high level of Japanese ability, and in that regard, Locoroco fits the bill perfectly. It's a very cute and charming game, and there's not much out there like it. Plus, after my time in Japan, I totally understand how very 'Japanese' this game is. It's very kawaii, as they say. You control this cute little gelatinous blob, the Locoroco, and use the L and R triggers to rotate the playing field, which then slides your Locoroco in the appropriate direction. And...that's it. Very simple, but fun in small doses.

Now, just because I only have 1 game, doesn't mean I don't have plans to get several more. After all, I've only had the PSP for 1 day. I just received an email that my order with Play-Asia has shipped. I ordered the U.S. versions of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and Patapon, and to be honest, I can't decide which I'm more excited about. I downloaded and tested a Patapon demo immediately after opening my PSP, and it's a wonderfully charming and addicting rhythm game. I'm really looking forward to investing some time in that game.

Other than playing Locoroco and ordering PSP games, I've also been exploring the PlayStation store, and have downloaded several game demos and trailers. Of the demos, God of War: Chains of Olympus and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow were both incredibly fun and intense for the short amount of time I was allowed to spend with them. They're both on my must-buy list. I also enjoyed the puzzle-styled atmosphere of the Echochrome demo, and will probably purchase it from the store at some point.

I'm very pleased with my decision to purchase a PSP. It's very different from the DS Lite in many ways, some good and some bad. I'll post more about those two handhelds next time. In the meanwhile, does anyone have any experience with the PSP version of flOw. It seems like most of the pieces I've read have covered the PS3 version. I really like the look of it, and at just $8, will probably buy it. Any impressions?

I'm Finally Going to Buy a PSP

As promised last time, this post is about my soon-to-be-purchased hardware: a PSP.

I know that Sony's PSP has been out for over 3 years, but through the combination of owning and loving a DS, and having an ingrained bias against Sony, I had never even remotely considered buying a PSP until very recently. I'm not sure what changed my mind. I suppose it all boils down to the fact that there are finally several PSP games that I feel are worth owning. As is to be hoped, in my eyes, the value of a game system ultimately boils down to the quality of the games on said system. Plus, the PSP just looks really cool. As much as I love my DS, and that's a lot, the PSP is just a pretty sexy piece of hardware.

So, at some point in the coming days (or weeks) I will finally be putting down some hard-earned cash on a PSP. And I mean that literally. In Japan, people use cash for almost everything. The short list of games I want to eventually have includes the following, both new releases and older game:

• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
• Patapon
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• Echochrome
• Locoroco
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
• Daxter

If you have any other suggestions for great PSP games, I'd love to hear them. When I finally buy the system, I plan to pick up Locoroco here in Japan, and import the English versions of Crisis Core and Patapon. I'm also going to try and find any good Japanese exclusive games to pick up while I'm here.

And oh yeah, I'm a little annoyed that I also have to purchase a decent-sized Memory Stick Pro Duo, for game saves, demos, etc. I guess it's been a while since I've had to buy a memory card. I'm very excited about the PSP, and am glad I got over my reluctance to purchase one. For me, it finally looks to be a worthwhile investment.

Civ III Takes a Back Seat to No More Heroes

So I was wrong. My first full game of Civ III actually took, according to the clock that pops up after finishing, 24 hours. Wow. That's a lot longer than I thought. Although I think it's actually a little closer to 20 hours, because I left the game running by itself a few times. Either way, that's a lot of time to devote to one play through of an infinitely replayable game. I just don't have that kind of time to commit to one game anymore, as much as that saddens me. Plus, Civ is so addicting, that it's very easy to just not stop playing.

With that in mind, I will be drastically cutting back on my Civilization play time now to focus on other games. I'll still play Civ III, but it will serve more as a second or third game, to be played a few turns at a time (if that's even possible) when I'm not doing anything else. One way to hopefully help with this goal, is that I'll be switching from playing the epic main game to trying out the 9 or so scenarios included in the Conquests expansion. I just started the Mesopotamia scenario, which is significantly shorter than the main game, coming in at a paltry 160 turns.

Since Civ III is on the back burner for the time being, what will I be focusing my energies on: the glory that is No More Heroes. I advanced up to the 4th assassin rank this afternoon, so I'm getting closer to the end. Soon I'll start a series of posts about NMH, which of course I know has already been talked up to death. But I'll try to find a fresh angle.

Tomorrow I'll post about the gaming gear I'm strongly considering purchasing in the near future. Until then, make sure to go outside and get some fresh air between GTAIV sessions.

Wrapping Up Civ III (I Hope)

In my last post, I wrote about the cultural assimilation mode of conquest introduced to Civ III. I'm nearly done with my first full game of Civilization, and I have a few more thoughts about it. First is that Civ III does a great job of really giving you a 'feel' for the flow of time. A single game is played out over 540 turns or less, depending on how quickly you can meet certain victory conditions. At different points in the game, each turn represents differing numbers of years. For example, in the very beginning of the game, at 4000 B.C., each turn represents something like 50 years of game time. But by 1950 and the modern era, each turn represents only 1 year of the in-game history. What this does is really give you a sense of how daily life and scientific progress was significantly sped up beginning with the industrial revolution in the 1800s.

In its own right, 540 turns of a turn-based strategy game is a lot. I've probably spent at least 10 hours on my first game. But the last 150 turns or so really make you feel like your civilization is advancing at the speed of light. For the beginning of the game, you largely have the same units. Sure, there are a few upgrades, such as knights, but the number of units available to create doesn't expand significantly. However, in the modern era, once you start researching things like Flight and Modern Warfare, you suddenly have dozens of military units available to choose from, all of which are significant improvements over their predecessors. Your world, and the game, literally change exponentially overnight. The rush of scientific advancement is huge. In this sense, Civ III does an outstanding job of making you 'feel' the flow of time, and the weight of history.

Second, as I've already mentioned, this game is long. But as long as an individual game might last, I totally see how people could play it repeatedly, trying new strategies and new civilizations. The constant building and discovery of new things makes the game incredibly addicting. As of right now, Civ III would easily be my Desert Island Game. To compound the lengthiness, if you're engaged in a war (or two), the game slows down to a crawl. Because now, not only are you managing all your cities, but you also need to micro-manage all of your armed forces. And to be honest, as a Civ novice, I don't fully understand how the combat works quite yet. I've been successful only because I'm playing on the easiest difficulty setting.

As you can tell, I've absolutely fallen in love with Civ III. But it's also a huge time sink, so after I finish my current campaign, I'm going to devote my primary game-playing time to something else, and put Civ III as my secondary game. I just look forward to some day having a new computer and getting Civ IV. I'm also eagerly awaiting Civilization Revolutions, which I'll probably get for the DS. A faster, more stream-lined version of Civilization would be a blessing.

Cultural Assimilation in Civilization III

One of the new features added to Civ III (way back in 2001) and refined in Civ IV was culture. Prior to Civ III, once the world had been settled, the only way to expand your borders and power was through military conquest. That's still a popular strategy in current Civ iterations, but with culture, if one of your border towns has enough culture, there's a chance a neighboring civilization's border town will defect and join your own empire. You'll even be notified with a message along the lines of, "The heathens of the Aztec empire have overthrown their government and pledged their loyalty to you." Of course, the same can also happen to your outlying cities if you don't manage their cultural growth. In Civ IV, you can even drop a "culture bomb" into one of your cities, greatly increasing its cultural score and also raising the chance of defection to your side.

Besides the fact that increasing your culture and stealing enemy cities is very enjoyably, I'm really intrigued by the developers' approach to this mechanic. First, this is viewed as a good alternative to war. Normally, once the world map has been completely settled by the various civilizations, the only way to expand your empire is through force. But culture provides you with a nice, clean alternative. While declaring war to secure a few more cities enrages at least one civilization (and possibly more depending on alliances), gaining another city through the strength of your culture has very few negatives.

This cultural acquisition is viewed as a positive development. No one declares war on you, your empire is bigger, and if you keep increasing culture you can possibly entice further cities. But what I was reminded of is how resistant some countries are to outside cultural influences. In countries like France and Canada, laws are in place to try to preserve their respective cultures. I believe that a certain percentage of songs on the radio must be by artists native to that country, for example. What I think Civ III brings up is the issue of how do people try to preserve their own culture, while also being open and friendly to things from foreign cultures?

The Civilization games are all about conquest and domination, but that's a post for another time. Even the 'peaceful' cultural alternative is just a different, non-violent form of conquest. But in the real world, culture is much more complicated than a numerical value. It includes vastly different things, such as food, religion, music, McDonald's, and even language. The balancing act between preserving your own heritage and growing through the inclusion of others is a delicate, controversial issue. And I wish Civ III's implementation of it was a little more complex.

That being said, stealing city's through culture does demonstrate some ideas about assimilation. Assimilation is simply the idea that a minority group will eventually be absorbed into the dominant group, although it's a very complex issue. When you obtain a new city by cultural means, the citizens within that city retain their original nationality. However, over time, as new generations of citizens take over, their nationality begins to change to that of your civilization. This is a rough approximation of the sociological idea about immigration that "what the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember."

The sociologist in me was surprised and delighted to find this little, pared down touch of reality. But I do wish there were more negative reactions to a strong culture in the game. Maybe an uber-powerful culture could lead to some civilizations being hostile towards you, because they see your culture as a threat. It's also important to remember that culture is not a one-way street. Even the dominant culture absorbs some aspects of the smaller culture.

Oh yeah. And if you declare war on someone in Civ III, don't be surprised if the rest of the world declares war on you in return. It happens.

Civilization 3 is My Kryptonite

To those of you who found my blog courtesy of GameSetWatch, welcome, and I hope you stick around. Feel free to comment on any other articles as well. I try to respond to everyone who comments.

That being said, the GameSetWatch link was based on my last post about Ikariam. Unfortunately, I think I'm finished with it. For good. Last time I posted that I could see the beginning of the end. Well, that day has come. I can't foresee logging into my account and checking on my miniature Yamagata town anymore. It was a pleasant diversion, and I took great pride in sneaking in this game at work, but it's been replaced by something much bigger and better. Grander, even. The replacement is: Civilization 3.

For those of you who don't know, the Civilization series of games are turn-based strategy games in which you try to cultivate an empire from 4000 B.C. to the modern age and beyond. The game is highly customizable, and no 2 games will ever be alike. And I've absolutely fallen in love with it. Much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, I actually proposed to Civ 3 last night, but she said no, citing my amateurish civ-building ability.

At any rate, Civ 3 has grabbed me by the throat and is strangling me ever-so-slowly, turn by turn. I remember watching a friend play Civ 3 in college, and not really getting it. (What does it mean that I love video games enough to watch someone else play a turn-based strategy game?) But now, I get it. I totally see how the Civ series could have invented the phrase, "just one more turn." I'm still on my first play through, with just 1 of the 31 available civilizations, and I think I put in at least 10 hours this weekend alone. I can't stop. I always want to see my civilization grow just a little bit more, or research that next technological advance, or try to annihilate an entire country.

What I think is the beauty of Civ, the pure and utter genius of Sid Meier, is how the game provides you with constant feedback and updates. And I mean constantly. Every turn, a city will produce a new unit, or you'll need to decide what unit to create, or a new technology will be discovered and totally change your strategy, or another civilization will declare war on you. The list goes on and on. This game is so deep, I don't think I'll ever fully comprehend it. Surprisingly, I like that, unlike Brawl, where I'm annoyed that I will forever remain a novice fighter. Civ 3 constantly lets you know that you are advancing. It's very rewarding, and you really feel like you are in control of an entire culture.

I absolutely love it. I just need some way to curtail my adoption of this new hobby. Playing Civilization is almost a lifestyle unto itself. Stay tuned. I already have a couple more ideas brewing for posts about this amazing game.

Ikariam - The Joys of Civilization Contained in Your Browser

Although it was more serious than what I usually post about, I really enjoyed writing 2 posts about race and video games. I plan to come back to topics like that in the future. I particularly think it might be fruitful to bring my sociological training to bear on the video game medium. I have a couple ideas for some more posts in that direction.

In the meantime, after that brief foray into race, I have several other things I'd like to post about. First is Ikariam, sort of a simplified browser-based version of Civilization. After reading about Ikariam on Japanmanship and Gamers With Jobs, I was inspired to try the game and write a recommendation for it on ThatVideoGameBlog. Now that I've played it a little longer, I would still recommend it, although I'm starting to see some flaws peek out from between the cracks.

First, while the graphics are nice enough to look at, and very similar in tone to the upcoming Civilization Revolution, there's no animation. Well, there are 2 dolphins that jump around on the World Map screen, but that's it. Even in your town, if you upgrade a building, there's no building-in-progress animation. Your building is just replaced by a bare lot with a couple of planks in it.

But that's all cosmetic, and not really such a big deal. What is a problem is that I've been playing it for about a week, and am starting to get a little bored with it. My town now has most of the available structures, and I can maintain I decent flow of cash and supplies. I even founded a very expensive colony to provide my capitol with better access to resources. But it's starting to get tedious. Essentially, at this point, the game boils down to pick a building to upgrade, wait several hours, repeat ad infinitum. There's a little more to the game than that, but not much.

I'm still enjoying watching my town expand and grow, but I can feel the beginning of the end. That feeling that soon, there will come a day where I just won't log in anymore. The one aspect of the game I haven't really messed around with much is the warfare. You can build armies and attack other towns, and even spy on them beforehand to gather intelligence. I've primarily focused on economic growth, so a small war campaign could be my last hurrah before I retire as commander-in-chief of my humble town.

Still, Ikariam is a nice little diversion. It's best feature is the ability to log in and make a few changes and upgrades to your town in just 5 or 10 minutes. So give it a shot. If you don't like it, you barely wasted any time at all.

Resident Evil 5 - The Dangers of Stereotyping

My post yesterday about the intense reaction to N'Gai Croal's comments about the Resident Evil 5 trailer led me to think even more about it. And thanks to those of you who read my short post via The Brainy Gamer.

In my subjective experience of Japan, it does seem like there are very narrow views of not just race, but also ethnicity and nationality. As an example, I'm American, and have been repeatedly, seriously asked, "How many guns do you own?" My truthful answer is, "none." Yes, there are serious gun control problems in the U.S., but I have literally zero experience with firearms. What I think this illuminates is that Japanese culture, just like most others, tend to rely on stereotypes to inform their worldview.

A stereotype is a simplified image or idea held by one group about another group. These generalizations tend to hold that a group of people has some characteristic in common. In some ways, stereotypes are similar to making a good first impression. That first impression is what's remembered most, even if it's partially or completely inaccurate. If someone is presented with only 1 image or idea about another group of people (say, on TV), it's very difficult to think of alternatives to that stereotype on our own, at least until we're repeatedly presented with new information and slowly change our perspective.

Since pictures speak louder than words, let's compare a couple of images.
The first image, of course, is from the RE5 trailer. The second is of a common black stereotype, the brute. The brute image portrays black men as savage, violent, and extremely aggressive. Besides an advanced graphics engine, there's not that much difference between the two images. Giving the image of the savage African a different contextual back story doesn't change the socio-historical meanings associated with such a powerful image. Those meanings of violence, conquest, and domination are still there, even if the characters have now been changed to zombies. And I don't think Capcom means to imply these associations intentionally. But lack of intent doesn't negate the meanings that can be collectively inferred from the image.

I'm not in a position to comment on the development practices of Capcom, or their rationale in presenting the RE5 trailer in the manner they did. Even my perceptions of Japanese culture are very subjective, from having lived here for 2 years. But I do know that racial stereotypes are a very slow and difficult problem to overcome. Hopefully it will help as Japanese game developers, just like many other businesses in the U.S., start to diversify. As more people like JC Barnett at Japanmanship join Japanese developers, or more people like Andrea Rubenstein enter Japanese design schools, a wider variety of viewpoints might be incorporated into the design process. But then again, maybe the Old Guard will stay in power and only promote those who share their own narrow views of the world. Either way, changing the attitudes of individuals or groups is a long and painful process, and won't happen overnight.

I'll end with this: Is there such a thing as a good or positive stereotype? I argue that positive stereotypes do not exist. Even those stereotypes that have positive connotations are ultimately detrimental to society as a whole, if for no other reason than they are a generalization and obscure or distort the truth. A simple example of a positive stereotype gone bad is the idea that all Asians are really smart. This puts tremendous pressure on those Asian students who aren't naturally good at school to try to live up to their stereotype. It can lead to psychological problems, high stress levels, and even increased cases of suicide. Being smart is a positive attribute, but is detrimental when everyone in a group is expected to live up to an unrealistic standard.

And just as a reminder, everyone thinks in stereotypes at some point, and not just about race. It's a reaction to situations based on our learned experiences. Oh yeah, and everyone's at least a little bit racist, too.