May 24, 2000
The pictures page has been updated with new shots of the Aiwa CSD-G1M Mega Drive boom box. No I don't have it and I can't sell it to you. The pics were taken by Yoyok Setyawan and are used with permission.
Kojima fans check out this MSNBC interview. The interviewer seems to actually have played the games.
An interesting article on the New York Times online about out of print games. Here is a Slashdot post worth reading as well. Note that we do not in any way condone or endorse software piracy, we just think that the DCMA is bullshit legislation which panders to Hollywood and steps all over the rights of American citizens. While I've got a full head of steam, let me say screw you to all American Congressmen who voted for the "Sonny Bono act" and the EU Comissioners who extended the period of copyright in the EU to 75 years. Thanks for destroying the concept of public domain.
May 20, 2000
Famitsu, the weekly game news magazine, has been spun off from ASCII. The new publisher is "Enterbrain". Famitsu has redefined itself as more of a digital entertainment lifestyle magazine, they now review more DVDs and CDs and publish release schedules for both as well as their usuall game coverage. The thing that amazes me is that the editors are very lazy about game titles which contain English or romaji. Even when there is a scan of the product, they often mis-spell the name in the headline or text of the article. I'm going to start a page dedicated to their mistakes one of these days.
Collectors who have visited Japan, especially those of you in the US military may have known about a good hunting spot down south called Yokosuka Chuo. If you have any fond memories, hold on to them. All the game stores down there have gotten rid of all their 8 and 16 bit games in favor of more recent titles on Saturn, PSX and Dreamcast.
Those of you who remember the book "Chou Kusoge" ("super shitty games") will be thrilled to learn that the sequel "Chou Kusoge 2" has been released. The idea of the original book is that some people intentionally collect bad games. They figure that if you buy a game and it turns out to be a real turkey, you should enjoy it for all the boring/dull/unbeatable content it provides.
April 04, 2000
We've just opened our Snatcher site Neokobe.net. Please check it out and be sure to sign up for free webmail while you are there.
March 19, 2000
The PS2 launch has come and gone. This was the second system launch since I have lived in Japan, and I must say that the PS2 launch was much better managed than the Sega Dreamcast launch. Famitsu magazine published a short list of major stores nation wide which would have stock available on 3/4 (side note, by the Japanese calendar system, the PS2 launch date was 12/3/4 since this is the 12th year of the current emperor). Even though people started camping out in Akihabara beginning on March 1, I just got up at about 5 AM and went over to a store about 15 mintues walk from where I live and got on line. A few hours later, I was the owner of a PS2 system, a few stores later, I had copies of Ridge Racer 5, Street Fighter EX 3 and an S-Video cable to go with it.
Both domestic and foreign media were swarming around every store in Tokyo which was selling PS2s. The store I got mine from even had a BBC crew filming the "event". Personally I hardly think this was worth their time. One Japanese journalist spotted me in line and asked if I had flown in from overseas for the "special day". He seemed disappointed when I replied that I lived in the neighborhood.
From what I could tell, it seems that Sony allocated most of their initial production run to the Tokyo metro area. A family member of mine in central Japan found out that only one store within an hour's drive would have any systems and they were only getting 52 systems on day 1.
On a less pleasant note, a newspaper reported that a high school student who had worked to save up his money to reserve a PS2 was mugged by two men on a motorcycle as he was on the way home from the store.