Arcade Mania

It's inevitable: you frequent Kotaku long enough and you're bound to be curious about Brian Ashcraft's book Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Video Game Centers. That's exactly what happened to me; so much so that I up and got myself a copy. The verdict? It's not what one might expect, gamer or no.

What Arcade Mania isn't is a book about video games, video games, video games -- at least, not principally. Rather, Bashcraft's subtitle for book "the turbo-charged world of Japan's video game centers" gets it exactly right: Arcade Mania is more about Japanese gaming culture as embodied by the odds and ends one finds inside a Japanese arcade. Sure, there are video games -- fighting games, racing games, shoot 'em ups (shmups) and rhythm games, too -- but there are a whole lot more besides. There are card games. Crane games. Pachinko machines. Sticker picture booths. And so on. So to peruse Arcade Mania is to take a peek into all these things and see them with fresh eyes, to learn about their histories (albeit briefly) and see their cultural impact both within and beyond the shores of the land of the rising sun.

The novelty of the book, however, is in its presentation. First, its unconventional layout -- colors and all -- are absolutely apropros for the book's theme, even if it may be unsettling to more conventional readers. Second, rather than a straightforward take on its topics -- a chapter is devoted to each gaming genre -- Bashcraft presents each as stories woven around personalities whose personal histories are intertwined with the games in question. Thus, reading through Arcade Mania one not only gets a glimpse into the subculture surrounding Japanese crane games, fighting games or the trials and tribulations of game developers, but gets to meet the likes of Japan's Crane Game Queen Yuka Nakajima, arguably the best Street Fighter player in the world Daigo Umehara, and renowned developer Suda51. Oh, and it may interest readers of Kotaku to know that Bashcraft's son (Mini-Bash!) gets a cameo in the book as well (which makes one wonder whether it was written the way it was just to pull it off).

The book's main failing, however, lies in its writing. No, it's not written badly, and no, it's obviously not meant to push the journalistic envelope, but overall Arcade Mania reads too much like a blog or magazine than an actual book. I suppose this has more to do with the pedigree of both Bashcraft and his fellow Wired contributor Jean Snow, but it wouldn't be entirely unfair to expect a little more. The book is absent a singular point to get across to its readers -- other than to entertain -- and thus ends rather abruptly, as if it were merely a collection of feature articles compiled between covers. That and the manuscript could have benefitted from some more polish and careful copy-editing, if not restraint: There! Are! Too! Many! Exclamation! Points!

Which brings me to why it was, on balance, not what I expected: exactly what kind of readership would be interested in Arcade Mania? Gamers probably know most of what's already in there, and it would probably be a hard sell for non-gamers. It's a little too "thin" to be a serious read on the topic and at the same time arguably overly esoteric (and short) to elicit outright interest from most quarters. In this respect, maybe Arcade Mania has more in common with its chosen subject than even its author realizes: for some, a worthwhile diversion; for others, a passing fancy.

Buying Into Buying In

Rob Walker knows a lot about "murketing". After all, the New York Times Magazine's " Consumed" columnist did coin the term -- a portmanteau of "murky" and "marketing" -- to capture the increasingly unconventional and vague tactics used to peddle products to today's consumers. Such is the dilemma facing the modern marketer today: how to make a product stand out among other products that are themselves "good enough" for the consumer, in an environment where it is unclear exactly who would want the said object in the first place.

Such is at the core of Walker's latest book, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue between What We Buy and Who We Are, easily one of the most intelligent books on shelves today. It is in large part a tour de force revolving around the evolution of present day advertising and marketing, covering mass marketing, viral videos and everything else in between. Yet it is also an acutely observant treatise on human behavior, albeit one specially focused on consumption (naturally). Undeniably erudite, Buying In is that rare breed of must-read material that is at once informative, insightful and entertaining.

Infinite Undiscovery

When you first fire up the Tri-Ace developed/Square-Enix published Infinite Undiscovery, your immediate reaction will be "wow." Between the full-motion opening movie sequence, the imagery of the moon chained to the ground, and the quality of the in-game graphics one is treated to in the first few minutes of gameplay, it's easy to get the sense that Undiscovery promises to be an RPG of epic proportions. After playing on for an additional five to ten minutes and you will be hard pressed not to be "wowed" again -- this time, because what seemed epic merely moments before doesn't even come close.

Not for lack of trying, though. Objectively speaking, it does have the necessary ingredients for a great JRPG: an interesting premise, a good soundtrack, an action-oriented battle system (and not a turn-based one), and loads of different characters that can be incorporated into one's party. In fact, in some cases unused characters can also be seen on the battlefield, giving new life to "storming the castle" as a video game experience. Yet these elements never quite gel, mainly because of those things in which the game can be found wanting. Interesting premise? Sure. But it isn't nearly fleshed out well enough and is marred by utterly terrible voice acting. The battle system? Not too bad if you can overlook poor camera controls that ensure you never see what you need to and terrible AI that guarantee your computer-controlled partymates won't do what you need them to, and use up your items besides. Plenty characters? Too many! There aren't nearly enough opportunities to try them all out, nor are there distinct advantages to seeing what each has to offer.

Infinite Undiscovery's main shortcoming however, lies elsewhere. It is possible to plod on through with the game and overlook its shortcomings. You might even manage to enjoy yourself, after a fashion. But if you think that the game would be best enjoyed the second time around, you would be mistaken: it lacks a New Game+ option, leaving players with no way to carry over the fruits of their labor (Character Level, Weapons, Items, etc.) should they want to start anew. Ouch.

It's not that Infinite Undiscovery is a bad game, per se. It's just not a terribly good one either, compromised as it is by unusual, if not bad, design and development choices that mar the few positives that the game does have to offer. That and perhaps it was a little bit too ambitious. Unfortunately, ambition alone does not a good game make.

When in Thailand...

Form the honeymoon in Thailand. Before anyone asks: no, we managed to sneak into and out of the country in between the political turmoil of April, thank you very much.

As for the picture: kraptastically bad ad copy, or brilliant marketing? You decide.

Snatch

The number calling on my celphone was unknown to me, but it looked like a number from the wife's office. So naturally, I picked up.

"Dear?" came my wife's voice over the other end of the line. "I lost my bag. It was stolen."

It took a moment or two to get over the disbelief, but she was able to relay the full story: she was a few steps away from the gate of the University where she works when a motorcycle-riding thug zipped by and snatched her handbag away. As best she could, she tried to run after the hooligan -- who had the cheek to look back at her and smile -- but to no avail. And as it was early in the morning, there were hardly any bystanders around to help, not even the University security guards, at least one of which was in her line of sight as it happened and all of whom were only able to come to her aid after she had stopped chasing after her assailant.

She told me all this with her voice sounding more and more panicked -- but she was alright, which was the most important thing. Almost immediately, though, the depth of had been taken from her began to sink in. There was hardly any cash in her wallet, but all her credit and ATM cards were there. Some gift certificates from the wedding that we were supposed to put to good use. A few checks that she was going to encash. The bag itself: nothing fancy or expensive, but something she was so happy to buy on our trip to Thailand. Her celphone. Housekeys. Most importantly, her old (voided) passport and some visa documents, since we were working on getting her a US visa that week (and I had been the one who suggested she bring those with her that day).

Fortunately, she decided to wear her wedding and engagement rings rather than keep them in her bag, something she occasionally does while she's in transit.

Almost par for the course, it just had to happen on a day where nothing we did that morning went according to routine. IN particular, we had to leave the house early because I had to join my dad and attend to some things south of the metro. Sure, we planned in advance for how to go about getting each of us to where we had to go on the days I'd have to join my dad like this, but this was the first time we pushed the button on those plans. And look how that turned out.

As I was trying to stay calm listening to what happened I felt sick to my stomach. I wasn't around when it happened and I was so far removed to be of any help anymore. But between the two of us, we kept our wits about us, did a quick inventory of what needed to be secured, and quickly set about doing so. Credit cards? Cancelled. Celphone sim card? Locked. Gift certificates? Checks? Voided. When all was said and done, all that remained were the personal information on her celphone and notebooks (something we couldn't exactly do anything about) and getting the locks at home replaced (which we could attend to when we got home).

All that and, of course, the wife needed to find a way to get home. Losing the bag meant she had no cash on her. Fortunately, an officemate was kind enough to spare not just some cash but some time to be of help, and it was my mom who arranged to pass for her later in the day, which is why I knew everything was going to be all right.

"It just throws you off when these things hit you close to home," was my dad's reaction, and he was visibly disturbed by the news for the balance of the day. I agree. It's not that you lost something. That would be different. It's that someone took something from you against your will. It makes you angry. It makes you feel violated. Plain and simple.

Granted, maybe it could have been avoided. I mean, you hear warnings to that effect all the time -- Beware pickpockets! Watch over your belongings at all times! -- but sometimes one's vigilance can only go so far. Besides, does anyone ever think that it could happen to them? Given that it already happened, how it was handled was not just a comedy but a tragedy of errors. University security was hardly any help: they were in a position to prevent it from happening but didn't, and when the wife checked if the campus surveillance camera could be of any help was promptly informed that the person who had access to it didn't know how to use it. (Later on, the one in charge of the security complement would be dismissed, a small consolation.) Just as pathetic, the University issued a security bulletin that was so vague as to be useless, and didn't even indicate that the victim involved was a member of the University community.

Local law enforcement wasn't any better. When the wife brought the matter to their attention by filing a police report, she was treated to a litany of "So it seems these kinds of operators are back in business again", but in that noncommittal sort of way that allows them to look busy but really sends the sad message "Charge it to experience." To be fair, considering that the perpetrator got away, it's a longshot to expect that he'd be caught or that the wife's personal belongings would be returned. But having said that, the police were useless in other respects. The police report? She couldn't even get a typewritten copy from the station. And when she followed it up, the only way she could get through was to call the policemen personally on their celphones as it was impossible to get through the local hotline.

On the other hand, seeing the concern and compassion from those who really mattered was very touching. The generosity and understanding of the wife's officemates, and the way that members of the family on both sides swooped into action really makes one feel blessed to be in such fine company. Especially with respect to my family. As the first real "crisis", albeit a minor one, since the wedding, I think we all acquitted ourselves superbly.

And yet. Sure, it crosses my mind that we dodged a real bullet this time around (no one was hurt now, but we may not always be so lucky). But what really troubles me is the following thought: have things really gotten so bad that people resort to such things? I can't count anymore how many times I've heard people say, in sympathy and consolation, "Just think that the person who did this really needs what was in the bag more than you." It makes sense, I agree, but I refuse to think that way. I refuse to believe that when in dire need a person will falter and fall prey to such misdeeds. I refuse to believe that we are all just victims and or criminals waiting to happen, should circumstances permit. Most of all, I refuse to believe that whatever evil there is in the world cannot be overcome by what is good and right and decent about human beings.

For now, anyway. In the meantime, best to keep my fingers crossed that this is an isolated incident, try to put it behind me (getting the wife to do the same), and pray that things do get better. Not to mention stay away from motorcycles.

Shift Happened

Remember that "Shift Happens" video I posted a while back? Right! Well, it turns out that there are several versions of the thing available online. One of these, by Jeff Brenman is a slideshow version of the video that's equally and possibly even more stunning than the original.

View more presentations from Jeff Brenman.

Pretty awesome, yes?

Anyway, this and other versions of the presentation are listed on the Shift Happens wiki for those who (unlike me) actually took the time to check it out in full.

Some Fun with Ninjas

On the morning of the wedding, just killing time, my brother decided to put the hotel's complimentary internet access to good use. "Hey, have you seen the Algorithm March?" he asked me. Naturally, I hadn't a clue what he was talking about. So he showed me. The first few minutes had me wondering what in the world the whole thing was about. Then on the second round (with ninjas!) it all just came together:



Amazing what the Japanese come up with, and for a kids' show, no less. As I watched this, the first thought that came to my mind was, "Damn! Wish I thought of a way to do something like that for the wedding." It would've made a neat video, especially if all my friends were in on it.

Having seen it, and not to be outdone, I decided to pull the ace out of my sleeve. "Ok," I said to my brother, "but have you Asked a Ninja?"



Personally, I think that in this exchange I came out slightly ahead. But that's just me.