I'm Not Alone

I'm probably a latecomer, but I only just recently stumbled onto www.pointlesswasteoftime.com, which is headed by a guy I don't personally know called David Wong. Although he does write about and comment on topics broader than the confined and claustrophobic world of video games, it was his video game-related articles that drew my attention to the site in the first place. In particular, a link someone gave me to an article about how MMORPGS will mold future technologies led me to a few other notable pieces, such as Five Reasons Why Jack Thompson is Right.

Seeing another humorously foul-mouthed, semi-professional "video game journaliste" of Asian descent makes me feel a lot less alone. It also makes me pretty damned jealous, since he probably makes a lot more money at writing than I make doing... whatever it is that I do.

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Ok, OK. I give UP trying to encode this damned title.

I got Talkman a few weekends ago, and while I really don't spend a lot of time messing around with handhelds (at least not since I got bored with Lumines), I've tried to make a particular exception by diverting some of my "home time" to this "game".

If you don't already know, Talkman isn't so much a game as it is a travel dictionary/language tool/conversation aid for use in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The app is mainly targeted towards the typical Japanese tourist, but it can also serve as quite a useful tool for the linguistically curious. In particular, it can be helpful for anyone who would be interested in a basic language primer for the three major East Asian languages, of which there are very few widely accessible study aids geared towards the native English speaker.

The two main game modes are Talk Mode and Game Mode. Talk Mode lets you choose from several different settings and situations, such as "In a Restaurant", "At the Airport", "At a Hospital", or simply just "Meeting People". You start by saying what you want to say in the language you're most comfortable with, and Talkman, with its USB microphone and voice recognition software, will translate that into your target language. Then, you give the PSP to the person you're trying to communicate with, who will read or listen to the translation. He then chooses an appropriate response, gives the PSP back to you, and you read the translation of that in English.

If that sounded confusing to you, here's a hypothetical example. Let's say you're in Japan and don't know a single word of Japanese. You drop something accidentally and a random stranger gives it back to you. Using Talkman and your PSP, you say "Thank you" into the microphone and out pops "Arigatô" You give the PSP to the stranger, and he selects "Dô itashimashite" from the list of replies before giving it back to you. After confirming the choice, Talkman will translate that into "You're welcome".

At least that's the way it's supposed to work, but a few problems, of course, will arise with this mode. First and foremost is the fact that only a relatively small number of set phrases have been installed in the the database, so chances are, you won't even come close to finding a phrase appropriate for what you really want to say. Second is the cumbersome nature of the translation process - your average passer-by isn't really going to have the time or patience to go through the annoying process of passing the PSP back and forth, so this mode eventually will turn into just a helpful phrase dictionary (which is just as well, really).

Game Mode offers four different games to choose from: two of them are available from the start while the remaining two must be unlocked. The first game, Pronunciation Game, simply functions as a means to test your pronunciation in the four featured languages. Max, Talkman's spunky mascot, says a phrase in your target language, and you simply have to repeat it into the microphone. The voice recognition software rates your performance and spits back a grade. Acquiring straight A's in all phrases in any one particular language unlocks a new game for you, but don't get too excited - it's only a cheap Pong rip-off.

Listening Game, the other game mode that's available out of the box, is a game in which Max repeats a number of different phrases in your target language for you to memorize. After this, he'll say one of the phrases, and you have to pick the correct one from a list. I'm sure that if you get perfect marks on all of them, you'll unlock a new game, but I'm loathe to discover what cheap freeware reject that might turn out to be.

As far as software goes, Talkman is fairly innovative, but it's not without its major flaws. The most aggravating of which is load time, since switching between languages and modes takes forever, and the menu system is a nightmare. Secondly, I don't wholly trust the voice recognition software, since it has sometimes offered inexplicably poor grades to what I've personally perceived to be perfect pronunciation. I've brought the software to my school and my conversation classes, and have had mixed feelings with the software's grading system.

But all in all, Talkman was certainly worth the purchase. Since I've studied Japanese, I don't have much use for the phrases it teaches me since I've studied and used them many times over, but I still find it useful as a great resource for Chinese pronunciation and phrase recognition. As a result of tiddling with Talkman, I've discovered that I know far less Chinese than I should.

So, unless you have fluency in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (and really, who does?), I can assure you that Talkman has at least something to offer you.

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Ico? Chauvinist?

My friend mukuface IM'ed me today asking me if I'd played Shadow of the Colossus, which I haven't. It's only a little less than 50 bucks over here in Japan at the moment, so I'd really rather just pick up the US version when I head back for the holidays. The subject then turned to Ico, and as any gamer expecting, nay, demanding a higher artistic standard from video games will tell you, memories of this game are usually quite fond.

The game is beautiful, yes - its ambience unrivaled. But my girlfriend, Teesh, who is not a gamer by any stretch once told me that she tried to play the game and just couldn't get into it.

There could be several reasons for this, of course. If you have no idea what to do next in the game, it can become a little slow and just a little too quiet. The platforming aspects can also be a little overwhelming and potentially frustrating. But perhaps another reason could be the fact that the game is just a tad sexist?

Ico, on the surface, could be the typical dream of any kid who has a crush on his big sister's best friend, but in so many ways, it also embodies the boyhood fantasy of any weakling runt who longs to becomes the alpha male. Just recall, if you can, the circumstances of the game: the main character is a young boy with no credentials or experience and whose only distinguishing characteristic is a body disfigurement. He leads a helpless maiden (who is also barefoot, if I recall correctly) to safety whilst battling off hordes of enemies who wish to drag her away into the darkness. Oh, and the boy is armed with only a wooden stick.

If that doesn't scream out "treehouse fantasy", I don't know what does.

Ok, so perhaps "sexist" was a bit too strong a term to describe the game, since I'm fairly sure that the story designers meant no harm whatsoever with the story they conjured. Yet, one has to admit that women might find it a lot harder to relate to the game than a socially awkward boy and/or socially awkward man would.

It's just a shame that, despite driving game design concepts leaps and bounds beyond the current standard of that time, Ico's developers were incapable of doing anything with the hackneyed "save the princess" archetype that has plagued this industry for decades.

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BOOTY.

Lately, I've been playing Ace Combat 5 on a complete whim because my fascination with fighter planes has reared its aerodynamic head again. My goal for this playthrough is to buy a complete set of four Falken fighters, which is a ridiculously inane and sisyphean task, but that's precisely the reason why I'm doing it.

Is anybody else out there pumped about Ace Combat Zero? Plotwise, it's the prequel for AC5, which was a huge disappointment in terms of story, but oh well. Very few games can surpass the brilliance of Ace Combat 04, so nearly everything will pale in comparison in some way or another.

The latest screens indicate that NAMCO is tappin' the HELL out of the PS2's graphical potential, though. You hear me? TAPPIN' IT. LIKE SOME BOOTY.

Now, if they only manage to get rid of the lousy characterization and overt tones of hypocritical pacifism, then they'll have an unbeatable game on their hands next February.

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Timing.

I recently showed Teesh the bulk of School Rumble (the 26-episode animated series) within the time frame of three days, so I've been in a kind of School Rumble mood lately. On my trip out to Otaru last Saturday, I picked up a used copy of the School Rumble PSP game for about 2980 yen. Look - don't TELL me that the game is going to be bad. I KNOW that the game is going to be bad. I DON'T CARE. I'm a SCHOOL RUMBLE NUT.

Gameplay-wise, there is no gameplay. Stylistically, it's like all those other Japan-made titles that have no chance of being brought stateside in that it's an overblown interactive storybook. Your primary duty is to simply watch a story unfold before you that is told through text/speech and animated stills, but when the time is right, you make decisions that affect the outcome of the story. Japanese developers often make these games when they have a story to tell with already-established characters, but don't want to go through the annoying process of programming an actual game for it.

Seemingly in conjunction with my renewed School Rumble fever, Marvelous Entertainment is actually coming out with two new School Rumble DVDs that will append to the first TV series. One is an OVA (probably containing a canonical episode or two to move the story along), and the other is...

The other is...

Oh, lord help me, I can't say this.

The other... is a live-action musical.

...

In a recent AIM convo, Andy had this to say:

Andy: How's Sawachika? =D
Me: It's a LIVE ACTION MUSICAL and all you care about is how SAWACHIKA LOOKS?
Me: The ARTISTIC INTEGRITY OF THE FREE WORLD is UNDER FIRE and YOU JUST CARE ABOUT ERI.
Andy: hehehe

Bastard.

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