The Negative Edge News Report 08.15.07
Posted by Tommy Coloma on 08.15.2007
This week I tell you why gamers should stand up for themselves, go off on why downloadable content will save us all, and tell you why the gender-bending goodness of Tenshi na Konamaiki should be on your list of shows to watch!
I'm gonna cut things a little short again this week since I just started my ne- You know what? Every week something comes up! Let's just say that from now on, I'll put out the best column that I can given whatever unforeseen difficulties come my way.
Back in college I had a Sociology professor that would sometimes bring a newspaper out at the beginning of class so that he can give his students an interpretation of what the newspaper reporters were "really" saying that day. I thought that it was funny at the time because a lot of his interpretations were out there. Oddly, more often then not, much of what he said turned out to be true. One story that I remember was one in which students in South America (I forgot which country) staged a protest against some policies that their school was trying to force down their throats. This protest went on for over a year. In the end, the government finally broke down and gave in to the students' demands. At the time, this should have been big enough news to at least headline the international sections of newspapers everywhere. Instead, the story found itself in the back pages where nobody ever gets to, with only three or four sentences devoted to the subject. So, a group of people with no influence by themselves was able to get together and make some monumental changes and nobody gave their achievement a second thought. This being a Sociology class, we got the usual lesson about how it really isn't in the best interests of those in power to encourage people to get together to make things better for themselves. Hence, that story was given coverage, but not enough to get people to notice and/or care.
History question - Do you remember Operation Tridenthold?
Thought so!
Well, back in May, fans of Silent Hunter 4 staged a "well-planned and coordinated campaign to voice our indignation and scandalisation towards Ubisoft's impending decision in shutting down all future patch support." Someone that goes by the name of krazyfrenchman over in the Ubisoft forums decided that despite already having been patched twice, the condition of the game was still unacceptable. So, instead of just doing the usual polls or forum threads that most people would do, krazyfrenchman organized a two-day call-in in which fans of Silent Hunter 4 called Ubisoft and voiced their concerns about the prospect of forever being saddled with an unacceptably buggy game. A few days after the call-in Silent Hunter 4 patch 1.3 was officially announced.
Like my professor back in the late 90s, I kept an eye out for any news pertaining to this whole incident. I mean, how often do you see a group of gamers getting together IRLish to get a patch done for any game, let alone one for such a niche genre? Predictably, I didn't see anything save for that one article I saw over at Evil Avatar. Very disappointing.
I tend to lean towards the notion that the "usual polls" and "forum threads" that I mentioned earlier are useless by themselves. However, I will admit that they can produce positive results every once in a while. For example, back in June, Microsoft removed a thread over in the official Forza forums that, before being trashed, had over 900 posts and 50,000 views. The thread centered on how Forza 2 was crashing 360's left and right. Around the same time, another thread went up asking people to document their experiences with the red-ring of death after playing Forza 2. (credit: GameRush) Around a week later Microsoft just happened to implement their three year warranty. Maybe it wasn't the only reason for the new warranty, but really, you know that that thread was somewhere on the executives' minds when they were making their decision.
Of course, we all know that a large thread does not always lead to change. I've been watching a thread over in the official Xbox forums for a few months now and it looks like I'll be waiting a long time. This particular thread talks about the need for 16:10 resolution support through the VGA cable. Without support pretty much everyone that wants to use their system on their widescreen monitor will have to deal with vertically stretched images. As of this writing, there are 1,280 replies and 55,714 views, making it one of the bigger threads in the hardware section behind threads about repairs and replacement consoles. Though it was started in November of last year, there has been no acknowledgement by anyone at Microsoft about this thread. A simple "we can't do it so fuck off" would be nice. At least we'll know what's going on.
Let's get back to the Social Sciences. Do you know what learned helplessness is? Well, an example of it is as follows - in one Psychological experiment, a group of caged dogs was tortured given a humane amount of shock therapy. Eventually, the dogs learned that no matter what they did, they couldn't escape from the shocks that they were being given. At that point, when the shocking started, they would just lie down and whimper. Eventually, the scientists opened up the cages before shocking their victims, clearly giving them a means to escape. Unfortunately, the dogs had "learned helplessness," so they never tried to escape.
I'd like to think that we're more Psychologically evolved than dogs. If the game or system that you paid top dollar for is buggy or lacks features that you know should be standard, don't lie down waiting for the pain to stop. As a group, you can make a difference. Create your own Operation Tridenthold. Oh, and while you're at it, set up Operation 16:10 for me. I want to lie down now...
Virtual Console, Live Arcade, PlayStation Store - SAVE ME!
Yours for only $499.90 + shipping
When I first heard about Xbox Live Arcade, one of the things that immediately came to mind was how all those expensive games on Ebay would eventually find their way onto a digital distribution service. Panzer Dragoon Saga, Rondo of Blood, Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes, Suikoden 2, Chrono Trigger - no matter what system it came from, the games that I can't afford would eventually be made available for download. What's this? Here we are, a few years later, and how many of those rare games have shown up? Guess! I'm still hoping that one of the big three will take a chance with the old "supply and demand" concept (Sociology, Psychology, and now Econ!) and put out the big bucks to bring us some of the rarities that only those with a lot of disposable cash can touch. Until then, check out the deal above... and cry.
This is part of Nintendo's push to stir up some interest in Metroid Prime 3. The first Metroid is sweet, but Super Metroid comes out next week so if you're on a budget, maybe you should wait until then.
Luminous Arc (DS)
The DS is still lacking in the Tactical RPG department. Maybe this'll satisfy fans of the genre until a DS version of Disgaea gets made...
Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
This is Harvest Moon with a Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest setting. At least, that's what I've been hearing. Apparently, Natsume wanted to switch things up a little. I've been seeing way too many Harvest Moons on the shelves lately. I just hope that Natsume doesn't run the franchise into the ground.
This Week's Background Wallpaper - Aigis Edition!
I wanted to include some pictures of the other characters from Persona 3, but I could only find good ones for this character. Don't forget to click on the pictures to get to the higher-res versions.
by ???
I got this from Atlus' site. You can get the original BMP here and the cropped version I made here. The above picture is linked to a cropped JPEG.
by ???
I found this one in a forum thread over here. I can't read Japanese so I have no idea who the artist is.
Oh! Did I forget to mention that Persona 3 is coming out this week? Finally! I remember talking about the game around this time... last year. Why do we have to wait a whole year for some games to show up on these shores? Ok. So there's that whole quality thing. I guess we're pretty lucky though. I seriously feel sorry for the people in Europe since they either won't get this game at all or will have to wait even longer for their own versions.
Persona 3 is getting some pretty high scores from everyone. It's nice to see the Megaten series finally getting noticed. Hopefully, it's because people recognize quality when they see it, and not because quality titles on the PS2 are drying up. It's kinda sad that the game came out during Madden week though. Is it possible that Atlus did that on purpose? I mean, they could have delayed it another week or something. Now when are we going to get Persona 3 Fes?
That will be 255 Rupees please
It's time to go to the place where a kid can be a kid
Toys R Us has two incentives for visiting their stores this week. First is the Madden sale - buy Madden for any system and get a second game of equal or lesser value for half price. Nice! But what if you want to buy Persona 3 instead? No problem! Click here for a coupon worth 20% off of almost anything in the store (it doesn't work on systems). You can only click on that link once so if you messed up you can click here instead. Both offers expire on the 18th.
Note: Both offers can be found on the main page of the TRU web site. If the clerk gives you shit, tell him or her to go to the web site.
The Anime Circle
There are a lot of Anime series out there that don't get as much attention as they deserve. Everyone knows about Bleach, Melancholy, and Naruto, but how about older series like Tenshi na Konamaiki or newer ones like Nodame Cantabile. Since I'm watching that stuff anyway, I thought that I might as well write about them. It gives me a chance to reflect, and it gives you a chance to find out about some of the shows that you wouldn't normally watch. I'm not going to be doing full-on reviews; I just want to pass on enough info to spur interest. I'm always open to suggestions, so if there is a series that you think that I should take a look at, feel free to email me about it.
Tenshi na Konamaiki
I tried to think of a way to introduce this series without scaring people away. The subject matter is a little out there at the beginning. I guess it can't be helped. Just believe me when I say that this is one of the funniest series that was released in 2002/2003.
Tenshi na Konamaiki, or Cheeky Angel, centers around a girl named Megumi who has just entered high school. Somehow, she ends up being one of the most popular girls around. Every guy wants to be with her and every girl wants to be her. Unfortunately, she is not happy with her situation. Why? Flash back to six years ago. A boy named Megumi happened to save a magician from a group of thugs. The magician thanked him by giving him a magical book. This book eventually brought forth a little magical man named Pierrot who said that he could grant Megumi any wish he wanted. Being the brash young man that he was, he wished to be "number one in the world. A real man! A man inside a man." Unfortunately, Pierrot was a trickster so instead of turning Megumi into the manliest man ever, he turned him into the girliest girl ever. Everyone that Megumi knew up until then now believed that he had been a girl all his life except for his best friend Miki, who just happened to be there when Pierrot "granted" him his wish. Flash forward to the present, where we follow Megumi as she contends with a group of guys that attempts to support her as she tries to turn back into a guy while also trying to steal her heart and a best friend who is always trying to make her more feminine.
Why you should care:
First, there's a big reveal in episodes 41 and 42 which clears up the whole gender issue. I just wanted to throw that out for those of you that are uncomfortable about the subject matter.
Though there are a lot of shows out there that deal with somewhat similar themes (usually guy-forced-to-dress-up-as-girl type stuff), this is probably the most unique take on that concept that you'll ever come across. While most of those shows have a main character that's being forced to act like a girl for whatever reason, Tenshi na Konamaiki has a girl that's always trying to act (often unsuccessfully) like a guy. What really makes this show stand out are the main and supporting characters and how they all interact with each other. The weird situations that they come across because of Megumi's unique situation are simply hilarious.
Status of the series:
- Manga
The Manga is licensed by Viz in the US. As of now, eighteen volumes have been released. The latest came out in July. There are three month intervals between releases so the next one comes out in October. In Japan the series finished up at 20 volumes in 2003.
- Anime
The Anime is not licensed in the US. It ended in 2003. If a show is popular enough it's usually picked up right away. It's been four years so I doubt that anyone will pick it up any time soon. That's very disappointing but at least you can still get the whole series (50 episodes) here.
I haven't read the Manga so I don't know how closely the Anime follows it.
Here's a little four minute clip from episode nine. I wanted to show something where the principle characters are interacting with each other since that's when most of the good stuff happens. If you're gonna watch it, you should click on an area outside of the play button box in the middle to get to the YouTube page. That watermark that they added to embedded videos is really annoying when reading subtitles.
Here is the intro for the second season.
The 411:
This series is the main reason I put this section together in the first place. I never understood how such a great show can go unnoticed. It's especially weird considering the fact that Megumi Hayashibara does the voice for the main character. That alone should have gotten a lot of people to give it a shot. I'm guessing that it has more to do with the art direction than anything else. I tried to get my friend into it and that's the main reason he didn't want to watch. I don't think that it's that bad. This show lasted for fifty episodes, so that should tell you something about the quality of the material. If you like comedy and humor that's based more on character interaction, then you should really give this series a chance.
To be continued...
That's it for this week. The girl right next to me thinks that Jack Frost called her a "ho." If I can keep him from getting killed, I'll be back next week.
