Happy Halloween!

Figured it’d be a good excuse to post this.

Whipping Out the Arcade Stick Once More

My new STG setup

Shooters, shmups, STG’s, whatever you call them, have quite a long history in videogames. They were probably the first true genre of videogame, and were pretty much the be all, end all until a decade ago, give or take. Long story short, because people preferred easier games that didn’t hand your ass on a platter 9 out of 10 times, the genre pretty much died out. Except in Japan, where these games are still held in (pretty) high regard (at least, compared to other countries).

Around the end of 2004, if memory serves me right, when I was in Xiamen for an overseas study program, I really got into reading webcomics as a way to pass the time – 2 RMB per hour was a pretty decent rate, and the Uni’s computer lab was practically next-door (and it was) to the dorms. It was around that time that I read dom’s rant which talked a bit about Touhou in one of those Megatokyo strips. Curious, I tried to get the game, but every time I ran Embodiment of Scarlet Devil‘s trial edition in the computers, it’d end up crashing, so I never actually got to playing it until I got home mid-December. Having still been stuck using dial-up, I pretty much stayed up overnight (I fell asleep halfway through anyway) downloading a 40mb file. The same goes for Perfect Cherry Blossom. After that, I was totally into danmaku STG’s. That was a few months ago.

Admittedly, this is one long preamble of a story, so now we get to the actual substance of this entry.

CHAOS;HEAD 03 Anime – Game Comparison

Just a really quick one before I go to bed – quarterly tests and all. I’ll keep all the unknown-to-first-timer stuff censored, unless you guys don’t mind me spoiling everything.

More or less the same, but with a different viewpoint. Different placements and one nurse less.

The anime sword doesn’t have the presence that the game’s did. Slight variations in design as well.

As is obvious, they take place at different times. If I remember correctly, in the game, Kozue also just stood there staring, rather than having a breakdown.

Yeah, I loved this scene. It doesn’t feel as right when it’s over the shoulder though. Also, I just realized that her eyes are of a different color in the show.

I’m actually worried about the pacing, at this early phase of the show. I’m not totally sure they can squeeze in all of the revelations and the expositions found in the latter (more awesome) part of the game, it’s not always good to keep hopes up, but well, what other purpose do they serve?

Photo of the Week

I figured I ought to try something like this. Perhaps it’ll be a good motivator for me to take pictures.

click for larger version

A shot from my bathroom window. I was a little scared to climb to the roof to get a nicer shot.
For the love of god, somebody get me an EOS 1000D.

Ar Tonelico 2 Site Launched

And it looks just like the original Japanese site too.

This bodes well for the people who’ve been waiting for the localization (ie: me).