A shirt I love but don’t have the guts to buy

Well, I’m going to bite the bullet and make a post. I promised myself I wouldn’t post anything until I finished my book review, but that’s taking longer than I want it to and I don’t like going so long without posting anything. Since I don’t really have anything prepared today, I’m going to show you guys this awesome shirt by a tip-top artist, Kate Beaton (go check out her site if you have a minute, her latest Spiderman comics are too funny).

If you’d like to purchase one of these gems for yourself, head here. I honestly would, but I’m too meek to go around offending everyone that looks at me. This shirt truly speaks to me, though, so it’s a darn shame (I’m not a heartless monster, I swear).

I’ll also share with you one of my all-time favorite comics by the lovely Ms. Beaton (props if you know what it’s referencing!):

Ahhhh, that puts a smile on my face every time. But that’s all for now, sorry! I’m going to get this review done if it kills me. I know you’re all probably dying to know what I think about all the latest E3 news, but I think I’ve tweeted about it enough. Just click the link on the right sidebar to head over to my Twitter account and read all about it.

Recent Articles on Women in Games: Female Characters, Feminism in FF, and the Lara Croft Reboot

It’s funny, when I first started this blog I really thought I’d have a hard time coming up with things to write about, but now I’m finding the exact opposite to be true! I have so much I want to write about that it’s actually quite hard for me to decide what I want to cover from post to post. I guess that’s a good thing!

Before I get started on the “meat” of this post, I’d like to mention that my most recent article is up at Total Retro Gaming (formerly Norwich Retro Gaming) and is on the PS1 2D shooter, Einhander. Take a look and let me know what you think! (Note: Unfortunately the site isn’t working correctly for me at the moment, so for the time being I’ll have to direct you to the main page and ask that you click on “news” in order to see my Einhander piece)

So, as many of you who already know me are well aware, I often contemplate the role of women in the gaming community and representations of female characters in the games we play. I’ll also be the first to tell you that I consider myself a feminist, even though that term seems to have so many negative connotations these days (no, I am not a femi-nazi, I do not hate men, and yes I changed my last name when I got married). I consider myself to be a reasonable human being who doesn’t advocate for the advancement of women over men, but equality for men and women in all facets of life. On that note, I believe overly sexist or stereotyped portrayals of both men and women in any type of media, be it video games, film, or literature, to be worth considering. Ok, no more ranting, I just wanted you all to have your facts straight before I dive in.

Yes, I would buy this

To get things started, Jen over at Video Game Writers has just published a very interesting piece titled “Where have all the strong female character gone?” that I strongly suggest giving a read. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“As of late, there has been an emergence of what I call ‘Brittany Spears Feminism.’ This is the idea that states ‘I dress like a stripper because I’m empowered!’ Because of this, there is now a turn to justify latex costumes and triple-D bust lines by claiming they are empowering. I draw your attention to Bayonetta. Large tits? Check. Skin tight outfit? Check. Sexy attitude on par with a soft core porn star? Double check. But wait! She has intellectual glasses! She’s empowering to female gamers! No, she is a vamped up tart who you are trying to market to me as a strong female figure, when in reality she is little more than eye candy for boys. I’m just not buying it — that is not how it works.” [emphasis by the author]

“Now is the time to make a very important point: wielding a giant sword, and reminding all the chauvinistic males in the game that the character is a woman, and will totally kick some dude’s ass, does not a strong female make. It makes for an angry girl stereotype.”

I find myself agreeing with many of the points Jen makes, but at times her article suggests that rather than having physically strong female characters, she would prefer to see weaker women who are physically agile. I think that the idea that women can’t be as strong as men is also a stereotype, and I personally have no problems with a strong female character who can wield a giant sword and kick ass, as long as she has emotional depth. Let me think of an example… Hm, well, I don’t think I can, but if you do, leave it in the comments!

Rydia from Final Fantasy IV

I don’t want to spend too much time on any one thing, since I have a couple of other pieces I’d like to cover, so I’ll move on to the next article for now. I recently was informed by the awesome blog What can I do with a BA in Japanese Studies? (which covers all sorts of things related to scholarship on Japan and is definitely worth a look if you’re interested in studying the language or literature) of another blog by a current graduate student in the East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department at the University of Pennsylvania who focuses on contemporary Japanese literature and culture. She has done a lovely 5 part piece on Feminism in Final Fantasy and I highly suggest giving it a read, as it is really well written. I’d love to say more on the topic, but I’ll let the article speak for itself and move on to the last piece I would like to draw your attention to today.

Brad over at Drinking CoffeeCola mentioned an  article in his most recent post that discusses the Lara Croft reboot and the possible implications of focusing on a young, more anatomically correct Lara who has so far only been shown as a beat-up, bloody mess. I definitely agree with him that this portrayal of her is sightly disturbing, and though it may be too early to tell how this will play out in the game as a whole. For now I think it’s safe to say that I am not very happy how, in an attempt to make Lara more “real,” the advertising team feel it is necessary to focus so heavily on her weakened state in the promotional images.

From this…

To this?

Really, that second image is just disturbing. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the game plays out, though I’m not much of a Tomb Raider fan as it is, so I probably won’t be picking it up regardless.

So, to wrap things up, feel free to let me know what you think of these various articles (if you decide to check them out) in the comments! For those of you who have had enough just reading through my post, how about sharing your favorite female video game characters? My husband and I are quite fond of Beatrix from Final Fantasy IX, and I’m partial to Freya from FFIX, as well.

My next post will be something a little different: A book review!

Can the new Ace Attorney film compete with the Takarazuka musicals?

So, big news if you haven’t yet heard–rumors that the famed Japanese director Takashi Miike is working on an Ace Attorney film adaptation have now been official confirmed by Capcom! Exciting, eh? I have to say the thought of Takashi Miike of Ichi the Killer fame doing a rendition of Nintendo DS game about goofy fictional court dramas is a little perplexing, but he did recently do a film adaptation of the anime Yatterman, so there is proof that he is capable of directing a film that isn’t all blood and gore.

The role of Phoenix Wright will be played by Japanese heartthrob Hiroki Narimiya, while Takumi Saito will be playing his rival Miles Edgeworth.

Hiroki Narimiya will play Ace Attorney… Can’t say I’m complaining! (source)

Takumi Saito will play Miles Edgeworth

Did you know that Ace Attorney has already been adapted, not for film, but for the stage? In 2009 the all-female Takarazuka revue did their own version of the popular video game series, which had a month-long run on stage and was popular enough to merit a sequel.

Poster for the original Takarazuka production
Poster for the 2nd production

 I have yet to see either of theses shows, but I absolutely adore Takarazuka, and I’m sure these productions wouldn’t disappoint. Of course Takashi Miike’s film will probably get a lot of positive mainstream reception, but really, there’s not much better than this (seriously, you need to watch this):

Jayd “Chira” Ait-Kaci is Having a Print Sale!

And now for something a little different! One of my favorite artists, Chira, is having a print sale, and for only $5 you can pick up an 8.5×11″ print of any of the great illustrations she has listed here! She has an exceptionally wide range of influences and inspirations, from Prince of Persia to Disney’s Tangled and iconic Japanese tiles such as Revolutionary Girl Utena. I’ve been following her work for a few years now, and it’s really impressive to see how she’s evolved as an artist in such a short amount of time. Right now she’s working on an upcoming comic titled The Fox Sister with Runaways colorist Christina Strain, while single-handedly illustrating and coloring the superb web comic Sfeer Theory, written by Alex Singer.
Here are some of my favorites out of the prints she is currently offering:
A humanoid interpretation of Amaterasu from the game Okami, with the Medicine Seller from the anime Mononoke
Fan art of the game Prince of Persia (2008)
Beautiful stylized Revolutionary Girl Utena fan art
You can see more of her work on DeviantArt, Livejournal, or even follow her on Twitter.

Recipe for a Very Nerdy Weekend: StreetPassing at the Mana Bar and More!

I don’t often do weekend recaps, but this time I think it was sufficiently nerdy enough to merit this post. That, and I wanted to do write-ups on both the Mana Bar StreetPass event I attended as well as the CG animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration, so I figured why not do one big weekend review?

On Saturday, Shaun and I headed into the city for some major window shopping and general bumming around; I, of course, had my 3DS in tow so I could collect some StreetPass hits. For lunch we swung by our favorite Japanese restaurant, Kadoya, where I had their delicious mackerel bento set. We made sure to play a few rounds of Animal Kaiser while we were in the area and had high hopes of scoring a rare card for our efforts, too. Sadly, we did not (and are beginning to think we need to take a break from the whole thing, it’s quite the money sink and we haven’t gotten any good cards in a while), but Shaun did get a funny picture of me in action:

I think I was captured mid-exclamation

 We spent Saturday evening at home with a family-sized chicken (2 kilos! What can I say, it was on special) and Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008). Both Shaun and I were pleasantly surprised that the CG movie, which takes place between Resident Evil 4 and 5, was actually quite a bit better than we had anticipated. I’d say that if you’re a fan of the video game series, you should definitely check this movie out, if you haven’t already! Neither of us are huge RE fans, as we’ve only actually played Resident Evil 5, but the movie was fun and I think it’s at least worth a rental.

Expect to see the sequel, Resident Evil: Damnation, sometime in 2012!

 The graphics didn’t strike me as particularly impressive, like they did when I first saw FFVII: Advent Children back in 2005, but a couple times during the movie I did notice some pretty well-done effects, especially in the water. The plot was intriguing and pretty well-paced, though I had a hard time understanding what was going on at a couple of points during the movie (I think that’s because I’m slow on the uptake sometimes; Shaun didn’t have any problems). It definitely is a good fix for anyone waiting for the next Resident Evil game to come along.

There are plenty of shots of Leon being super-cool

Next, we have the StreetPass event at the Mana Bar, an awesome video game-themed bar located right here in Brisbane! Though the event was planned for the slightly-unfortunate time of Sunday evening, Shaun and I decided it was worth checking out, so we hopped on the train to Fortitude Valley and arrived sometime around 4:30 pm. I thought this would be a nice opportunity to spread the word about StreetPass Brisbane and check out this funky venue!

Loved their decor! The Mana Potion was a novel drink, but I’ll probably give it a skip next time

Unfortunately, I only got 5 StreetPass hits altogether during the hour and a half we were there, but that may have been due to the fact that we arrived so early. 2 of those were from members of StreetPass Brisbane that attended our event last Saturday, so it was great to see their Mii’s level up! Mana Bar also has their own 3DS for StreetPassing, so if you attend the bar regularly, that would be a great way to get a higher level Mii for StreetPass Quest.

The bar itself was smaller than I had expected, but it was pretty cool to see all the TVs with games set up and ready to go (I believe there were 5 in total). Shaun and I played some Mario Kart Wii, watched a bit of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, and Shaun did a couple of songs on Guitar Hero. Later on we picked up this intriguing XBox 360 game called Raskulls and did a 3 player race with Natasha, who we know from StreetPass Brisbane. That game was fun for multiplayer, and I would definitely check it out again if it’s on the next time I’m at the Mana Bar. Little Big Planet was also available to play, but I’m not a huge fan of that so we didn’t bother giving it a go.

All in all, it was a great weekend! Albeit a little more eventful than usual, so things might be a little more low-key next weekend to make up for it. Though I’m chafing at the bit to see the new Pirates movie, so hopefully we’ll be able to fit that in! 

What about you all? Do anything fun over the weekend?

BlazBlue Continuum Shift II Box Art Censored in US

Since this has been nagging me for a while now, I figured I might as well post about it. Back when I heard BlazBlue Continuum Shift II was coming out for the 3DS, contrary to some skeptics (aka my husband), I was actually quite excited about it. See, we played the original BlazBlue Calamity Trigger together in the arcades when we were living in Japan, and the series brings back lots of fond memories for me, even though we never ended up purchasing Continuum Shift for the PS3 when it came out. With Continuum Shift II coming out for the 3DS, I figure it’d be killing two birds with one stone since I don’t have any particularly enjoyable games for my 3DS yet and I’m long overdue for a new BlazBlue game.

Honestly, I haven’t really been keeping track of BlazBlue. I know they added a couple of characters for Continuum Shift, and figured they’d probably add one or two more for this release. Now that I’ve seen the Japanese box art for the game, I dare say I’ve seen a little too much of the game’s new characters.

Japanese box art with a lovely sleek black logo bar and…

Hm, well, I guess that’s cute? I think she’s supposed to be a squirrel. I really am not impressed with her clothing design and whoever decided to make her breasts larger than the other characters on the cover. I’d like to see more of the old guy with the seriously pointy beard–I seem to remember he was a vampire buddy of Rachel’s in the first game. I have a feeling he’ll probably be similar to Guilty Gear’s Slayer.

It seems as though I wasn’t the only one who was a little displeased by the Japanese cover choice, as the US box art is much more covered up (hah, I can’t help it, the bad puns just make themselves).

US box art is a little more tasteful

I have to admit, though I do like the positioning of the characters so that the one girl’s barely covered breasts are no longer a focal point of the image, but I actually dislike the American cover as a whole because it seems too cluttered (and I’ve gotta say, that black 3DS logo is nice). I think I also preferred the BlazBlue logo in the center, rather than to the side. But we can’t have everything, right? Which one do you prefer?

BlazBlue Continuum Shift II is coming to the 3DS and PSP on May 31st (pushed back from the 24th) in both Japan and North America

Hooked on Animal Kaiser

One of the many neat things about living in Australia is the range of interesting things you see over here that just aren’t available in other Western nations. Even though AU isn’t in the spotlight on the news or in international affairs like the US, it has many perks due to its proximity to East Asia. Because of this, the population is quite ethnically diverse, and all sorts of interesting cuisine, clothing, and technology make their way over here (like MOS Burger, for example!). Animal Kaiser is just that–a Japanese arcade game that has seen relative popularity in many Asian countries, and is even available in New Zealand and Australia, though it is noticeably absent from arcades in the United States and Europe.
Animal Kaiser advertises itself as a card battling arcade game featuring real animals for children ages 4-10 (well, I play too, but I’m young at heart!). Kaiser means king in German, and your goal is exactly that: to become of the animals by defeating all those who should stand in your way. The mechanics of the game are pretty simple, and though you’re meant to start with at least one of each type of card (animal, miracle, and strong), if you don’t have any cards a default setting will be selected for you, making it easy for anyone to pick up. During the battle you and your opponent are given two roulettes, one to choose your attack type and the other to select a number. If the number you select is higher than your opponent’s, you get to attack that turn. It’s quite simple, yet extremely addictive! Each game, whether you win or lose, nets you exactly one new card of random selection; so even after your very first game you can start your collection of upwards to 80 cards available every generation. 
Some of the Animal Kaiser cards we’ve collected. Notice the bar code on the bottom right–that’s how the machines read them
 Each animal card has three different attacks, a strength stat and a health stat, and can be enhanced with the help of a strong card and a miracle card. A strong card will increase the attack power of each of your animal’s three different attacks (guts, technique, and power) to varying degrees depending on the card. Miracle cards influence the power of the special attack available to all animals, aptly named a “miracle attack.” They have a strength stat that will determine the power of the miracle attack, and, if its type is the same as the animal it is paired with, will result in a “perfect match,” causing your animal to be even more powerful. Finally, miracle cards have a special ability attached to them such as lucky break, which, based on its star percentage value, has a chance of aiding your animal in battle.
What really grabbed me about Animal Kaiser was its campiness–here you have two realistic-looking animals (well, apart from the purple lion and the new line of “white knight” albino animals) fighting each other with some of the goofiest-looking attacks and special moves in all sorts of random settings. Think shark vs. vampire bat in the middle of a paved city road, with things like giant hamburgers materializing out of the sky to crush your opponent. Just watching a battle play out is sure to garner a few laughs from anyone who’s never seen it in action (my husband and I are still thoroughly amused by some of the attacks, even after seeing them numerous times).
Shaun giving it a go!
 Unfortunately, Animal Kaiser is the kind of card-based game that can be easily swayed to your advantage if you’re willing to fork out the money to buy certain rare cards on eBay. Though there is an element of chance involved, and certain card combinations require a little foresight to be effective, there is virtually no way a common animal card like the orangutan will win against the ultra-rare Siegfried card (turquoise tiger–I guess special animals are on a first name basis) when playing a real opponent. I have no idea how rare “ultra-rare” cards are, but suffice it to say that my husband and I have played about 50 games so far and we haven’t seen so much as one gold rare pop out of the machine.
Nevertheless, Animal Kaiser is a fun and addicting arcade game, and is the first game I’ve found since I was living in Japan that has actually made me want to go out of my way to visit an arcade. I highly suggest anyone living in Queensland, Australia to try to get to one of the 3 arcades that has the machines! Sadly, QLD is the only state in Australia that has these machines right now. International readers, you can check the English Animal Kaiser website to see if there is one in your area. I would love to see this game gain more of an Australian following!