Now that I’m back in Australia and attempting (and mostly failing) to resume “normal” life, it’s time to get back to my favorite/only weekly column: Catch-Up Corner! If you’re new to Chic Pixel or just forgot since I haven’t done one in a while, the Catch-Up Corner is my attempt to make a space to talk about things I wouldn’t normally write a whole post about – a weekly roundup, if you will. This week, I’d like to talk about two games I started and the latest video on my YouTube channel.

First, after buying my fair share of exceedingly cheap retro Japanese games while I was in Tokyo (don’t worry, I’ll recount my haul very soon!), I decided it was high time to start chipping away at the old Japanese game backlog. I’ve always wanted to play one of the games in the otome series Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, and after buying yet another copy of the 4th installment by mistake because it was 100 yen (you know you have a problem when you can’t remember what games you have in your collection), I decided that was as good a place as any to start.

I’ve only played a couple hours of HaruToki 4 (PS2 version), but so far I’m really enjoying it! The games are developed by Koei, creators of the first otome game series ever, Angelique, but are particularly unique for the genre in that they have RPG elements in the form of battles and character progression. HaruToki 4 takes place in a fantastical setting loosely based on historical Japan, and features one of my favorite story clichés: girl getting transported to fantasy world and turning out to be the people’s last hope/princess/priestess. I’m surprised it took HaruToki 4 to remind me of this, considering I loved The Vision of Escaflowne and Fushigi Yuugi as a youth, but there you have it. I’m having a lot of fun playing a mystical princess surrounded by a bevy of hunky male protectors, so I imagine I’ll be sticking with this one.

Speaking of fantasy princesses (how’s that for a segueway), the other game I dabbled in this week was the new PSN release, Battle Princess of Arcadias! Ever since the game was announced for Japan, I’ve been enamoured by the gorgeous art style, and intrigued by its apparent similarities to Odin Sphere. From my limited experience with the game, I have to say I’m surprised with how difficult it is! I died right in the very first tutorial level, and multiple times in every level since. It’s a 2D action game, which I’ve never been particularly proficient at, but Battle Princess of Arcadias really makes you work for the victories, and so far I’ve determined that you need to be willing to replay past levels to beef up your characters in order to push through each new area. If you want to hear more about what the game’s all about, check out shidoshi’s recount on The Nichiest Podcast Ever episode 10. I’ll also have a full review in the near future, but I’m pretty positive about it despite the difficulty so far, and that’s partly due to just how darn beautiful it is.

Finally, be sure to check out my latest YouTube video, which is an unboxing of my very first Re-Ments! Re-Ments are a brand of Japanese miniatures that happen to come in many cute character-themed sets, the most important of which being Rilakkuma. I grabbed three different Rilakkuma singles and was really excited to see what I got, so if a video of cute bear-themed toys sounds pleasing to you, do check it out!

The other day, I was approached by the cloud storage provider SingleHop to participate in some Embrace Your Geekness Day festivities by sharing a little bit about how I celebrate my geekness with the world. Imagine that! I had no idea July 13th was an international geek holiday, and having them reach out to me specifically was quite the pleasant surprise! I’ m more than happy to use Geekness Day as an excuse to talk a little bit more about myself than I usually do on this blog.

Me being… geeky, I guess?

Book from a shōjo manga event I had the opportunity to present at

Me with my host mom in Sydney. I’ve meet so many wonderful people through my hobbies that I would’ve never met otherwise!

I don’t always cover news news here at Chic Pixel, but this announcement is one that really caught my eye: XSEED Games has acquired the rights to the latest Harvest Moon title and will be releasing it under the title of… Story of Seasons? From what I understand, Harvest Moon is Natsume’s bread and butter, so this was quite the surprise announcement indeed!

This may be sad news for Natsume and fans of the “Harvest Moon” name, but when you factor in the fact that XSEED Games is a subsidiary of Story of Seasons developer Marvelous AQL, it all begins to make sense. What I’m wondering is, will Story of Seasons act as series’ new title going forward? According to XSEED’s official announcement, Story of Seasons is described as a “new IP,” so I guess the answer to that question would be yes. It will be interesting to see how the brand develops, but given XSEED’s history of providing high-quality localizations for various Rune Factory titles, I’m sure they will do a superb job with Story of Seasons.

My castle indeed!

Other new features include some beefed up StreetPass and online connectivity options – you can now visit your friend’s farms and trade items and receive player data via StreetPass. Nintendo even put their own special touch on the game, with decorative items such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Super Star appearing in the series for the first time.

While I have to admit that this announcement makes me a little uneasy for Natsume considering Harvest Moon was probably their best-known franchise, I’m happy to hear that the series is in XSEED’s capable hands. It may be difficult, however, to promote the game to less internet-savvy potential customers who might grab a game with the name “Harvest Moon” on it on the shelf but aren’t aware that Story of Seasons is the same series. In fact, XSEED only used the Japanese title, Bokujo Monogatari, in their initial announcement, and I’m just not sure how many people outside diehard fans will connect the dots!

I’m sure XSEED Games will have their work cut out for them promoting the game at E3, as they have confirmed Story of Seasons will be at their booth. If someone in attendance wanted to pick up some swag for me, I sure wouldn’t complain…!

“An additional feature being newly added for the North American release – set for summer 2014 – is the inclusion of illustrated ‘strip portraits’ for all prominent male side characters, providing equivalent gender balance alongside the game’s existing female portraits. Once these have been viewed during normal gameplay, players may also use them as wallpapers for their in-game smartphones.” 

What amazes me about this reveal is that XSEED is going to the effort to get the developer to add new content to their game so that everyone, male and female, gay and straight, will feel included in the game’s (presumably abundant) fanservice. Not only that, but they took their own initiative to do so without being persuaded by a large number of fan requests, as far as I’m aware. Considering the relatively large backlash the breast-laden Senran Kagura Burst had leading up to and past its release, perhaps they wanted to make a conscious effort to not look like a company that only caters toward a specific audience?

Honestly, whatever the reason, XSEED’s decision to add additional “manservice” to Akiba’s Trip has increased my interest in the game tenfold. While the media surrounding the Japanese release of the game was most definitely aimed at a heterosexual male audience, making it seem like the content of the game itself was skewed that way, it’s extremely refreshing to see a western publisher take the initiative to make a game more inclusive. Even though XSEED is a niche publisher and Akiba’s Trip an even more niche release,* gaming giant Nintendo could learn a thing or two about inclusion and localization from the fine folks at XSEED.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is a localization of Akiba’s Trip 2, and will be released on PS3 and PS Vita this summer.

*I understand that the inclusion of the male strip portraits along with the fact that XSEED is also recording English voiceovers for the game is an attempt to have it appeal to a wide audience, but I have a hard time viewing Akiba’s Trip as anything more than a niche otaku game. I hope they prove me wrong!

In my opinion, “Are games art?” is a tired debate. Rather than wasting time arguing whether or not they are, I prefer to let critique, analysis, and thoughtful discussion about the games we love and hate speak for themselves. Matt Sainsbury of Digitally Downloaded is looking to do just that with his new Kickstarter project for The Interactive Canvas: Gaming Artists, an annual coffee table book that will celebrate games as art through creator interviews and essays.

Since Matt is no stranger to Chic Pixel (you can hear us chat on episode 2 of Chic Pixel Plus!), I decided to get in touch with him to further discuss his vision for the project. “You can’t tell someone that a game is a work of art. All you can do is write about games from that perspective and, eventually, even the greatest of disbelievers will come around. This is how it happened with the film industry half a century ago,” he says. “I hope to show the skeptics that games are art by providing them with this book that is filled with proof. All the the game developers that we have involved with the book are genuine artists, and I expect that by reading their stories people will be convinced that there are game makers out there that think at a similar level to finest filmmakers and writers.”

The highlight for many of the planned book with be the 30 interviews with various game creators it contains – a sampling from the official Kickstarter page lists the likes of American McGee, Jonathan Blow, and Hidetaka Suehiro (Swery65). Since I’m all about Japanese games here at Chic Pixel, I had to ask Matt if he was planning/able to get more Japanese developers in addition to Swery on board. “I do have quite a few Japanese game developers that I can’t announce right now for various reasons,” he wrote. “I think with the Japanese developers, they want to see if the book is guaranteed to be published before they publicly back it… of the 30 interviews that will be in the book, around 1/4 of those will be with Japanese developers.” It’s too bad he can’t announce them until the Kickstarter is funded, but it’s great to hear there are more in the works! 

A game like Okami takes the term “interactive canvas” quite literally!

But if the “games as art” debate is hotter than ever in the western games industry, what’s the situation like over in the land of the rising sun? Here’s what Matt had to say: “When I was in Japan a few years ago, a major art gallery in Tokyo had a simply massive exhibition of interactive art; Miyamoto got awarded a lifetime achievement award, and there was all kinds of displays looking at everything from Street Fighter to Love Plus. I think the Japanese love the idea of games as art, and the likes of Goichi Suda, Keiji Inafune and, of course, Shigeru Miyamoto, are simply accepted as artists. If we don’t see such an active debate about whether games are art in Japan, I’m more inclined to believe it’s because the Japanese don’t question whether it is or not.” 

Finally, in addition to all the exciting content already covered, The Interactive Canvas will feature a number of guest writers, including Brendan Keogh, author of Killing is Harmless, and… yours truly! That’s right, if The Interactive Canvas exceeds its funding goal, Matt has expressed an interest in hiring me to write an article for the book, which I would most certainly love the opportunity to do. 

If a gorgeous, 200 page, full color book chock full of insightful content on games far sounds up your alley, I encourage you to head over to the Kickstarter page and consider donating before the campaign ends on February 6th! 

If there was ever a Kickstarter with my name on it, it would be Hana Doki Kira, an original art anthology featuring 107 illustrations and comics all inspired by my very favorite type of comics: shōjo manga!

From the book’s title, which takes three essential themes of shōjo, flowers, or hana, the pounding of a beating heart, or doki, and sparkling beauty, or kira, to the “about” section, where the creators refer to themselves as the Year 85 Group (hearkening back to the Year 24 Group, an influential group of female artists all born in the same year who helped make shōjo manga what it is today), it’s clear that the folks behind this project know and love shōjo manga.

Of course, it also helps that one of my favorite artists, Sarah O’Donnell (fun fact: she designed the new Chic Pixel and Chic Pixel Plus logos!) has contributed a short comic, along with 25 other talented artists! Check out this teaser of her submission:

One thing I didn’t realize until I had read the Kickstarter description carefully is the fact that the entire book will be printed in a black, white, and seafoam green color palette! That gets major bonus points from me, as I’ve been completely obsessed with seafoam green/pale mint recently, and I love how the different artists showcased so far have employed the limited palette. The Kickstarter teases future volumes focused around different colors if this one is successful, which I think is a brilliant idea! Imagine having a row of gorgeous color-coded art anthologies celebrating shōjo manga on your shelf!

Even if you don’t have a lot of spare cash on hand with the holiday season coming up, or a lack of shelf space has you weary of adding another big book to your collection, the Kickstarter has a very reasonable $5 reward tier that nets you a PDF copy of the book. So, if you’re a shōjo fan at heart, what are you waiting for? I know the only reason I haven’t donated yet is I can’t decide what reward I want! While shōjo manga has certainly risen in popularity internationally in the last 10 or so years, there are very few projects that celebrate international shōjo art, so even if you don’t want to donate, please do these amazing artists a favor and spread the word!