If your significant other is a dreamer looking for that rainbow connection, inevitably he or she will do something that on the surface may sound absolutely ludicrous.  They may decide to quit their job to start baking cookies for a living.  They may spend their annual salary to purchase a desktop rapid prototyping 3D printer.  They may join the local parkour team and start jumping off buildings in their spare time.

Do you support your significant other whole heartedly in the pursuit of his or her dream?  Or do you, being the voice of reason, attempt to dissuade them from pursuing the fanciful and downright insane?  Is there a limit to your undying support of your loved one? Is your support conditional?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this as I have yet to come up with an answer that’s satisfying.

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Today being today, I suppose I should address the subject of romance, even though it’s a week to be Burning. In that spirit, let’s talk about one of the character archetypes meant to dodge romance: the Hot-Blooded Idiot (熱血バカ).

Like his counterparts in more sprouting anime, the Oblivious Guy (鈍感) and the Wishy-Washy Loser (へたれ), the Hot-Blooded Idiot is a great way for writers to dodge any sort of resolution to romantic subplots. If your main character is a Hot-Blooded Idiot, he’s too obsessed with his chosen thrill (be it piloting giant robots, fighting people, playing baseball, or what have you) to give such petty concerns as romance a second thought, and no number of swooning girls will sway him from his chosen path. His chosen path doesn’t always have to include robots, though many classic Hot-Blooded Idiots have blindly chosen the cockpit of a robot over… you know what, let’s not finish that joke.

A good example of the Hot-Blooded Idiot is Ikki of Air Gear - the manga explicitly states that over 90% of his brain capacity is taken up by skating, how much he loves skating, and how he can get better at skating. The remaining 10% covers Everything Else, which explains why he has managed to weave through a complicated web of three romantic interests: mostly by ignoring them.

There are plenty of other examples I don’t have time or space to cover here, but they all follow pretty much the same pattern - boy meets obsession, boy follows obsession, 2 to 6 frustrated girls get lost in the dust cloud.

So - do you hate the Hot-Blooded Idiot? Do you accept him as a necessary evil in anime and manga so the romantic subplot doesn’t end too quickly? Or do you actually admire his single-minded pursuit of his chosen craft, at least compared to the walking disasters who muddle their way through gaggles of Sprouting storylines?

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I will post more about the Haruhi game I played last week once I’ve had the chance to play it a bit more. This week, I want to take a first look at a game for the Nintendo DS known as “Game Center CX: Arino’s Challenge”. 

This game is loosely based off of a show with the same name. The premise of the show is that Shinya Arino, a comedian and actor, has to play an extremely hard game all the way through. The only help he gets is from his staff, who supply him with information, cheat codes, and even occasional assists. It’s a wonderful show, and I may talk about it more in the future. 

In any case, the game’s premise is that Arino has had enough of the hard games, and takes it out on you. To get his ‘revenge’, he turns you into a kid, and sends you back into the 1980s, where you will have to play the same old school games that cause him so much trouble.

You are assisted in this by Arino – Arino as he was in the 1980s. He supplies the games, some advice, and he even buys gaming magazines from time to time to get tips and tricks. He can’t believe what his older self is doing, but is glad to have a friend to game with.

“Demon Lord Areenoh”, as he calls himself, issues you four challenges per game, with eight games to play total. The games include two shooters, two racing games, three platformers, and even an RPG. The interesting thing is that you can play the games, all the way through, both in the “story mode” as well as once you’ve beaten the challenge from the main menu. While they aren’t very long, they are definitely entertaining.

I’ve gotten past a few of the games so far, and am looking forward to hitting the RPG part and beyond. Like the Haruhi game, I will report a bit more when I get some more game time.

So, I ask you, dear reader: is this the kind of game you would like to play? Would you want to see a show like this in the U.S. (or wherever you may be)? Do you like classic games, and if so, what’s your favorite?

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Hello, folks!

I will be posting later tonight (7:30 PM-ish PST). My apologies for the delay.

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You all know already of my fondness for video games, and I am sure that you have also somehow divined my distaste for those people who blame video games for all the world’s ills. I’m sure that if Jack Thompson could pin the blame for the current ongoing troubles in Iraq on Grand Theft Auto, he would do so gleefully.

Video games are just like any other sort of entertainment, however. You have to approach them responsibly and use your own best judgment about them. Parents ought to take notice of the rating of a game, and of the content before allowing a child to play it, and adults should think about what games they play and how much time to give them. We hear many stories of gamer widows, of children with virtually no attention span and lousy grades, we hear debates about whether violence is at all linked to video game playing, and how all the ills of society possibly including venereal diseases are the direct result of the video game.

Yeah, yeah. But what about the other side of the coin? I myself can attest that video games gave my family countless in jokes, (we still sometimes express concern about grues when the power goes out during a storm) and has definitely brought me much closer to my significant other- we play WoW together all the time. I recently ran across a few other stories about how World of Warcraft in particular has affected a few other people in very positive ways. I have to say that the idea of Mom getting on WoW just to play with her kids at college was one of the best things I’ve ever heard.

Both of my kids have been in World of Warcraft since beta. They play on different realms and in different factions. My son, who was still in high school at the time, convinced me I could play World of Warcraft even though I never had done anything in a game other than run into walls in Mario Brothers once or twice. The goal was to be able to play with my daughter while she was away at college.

Sure, not all kids would like to have a parent there in game (notably in my mind, Bart Simpson…) but I think that more parents should consider the vast benefits of gaming with their kids.

Also, teachers could probably manage to have a better insight into their students if they would be ‘cool’ enough to pick up a controller or a keyboard. One teacher let his students convince him to play WoW and ended up finding true love, right in his own school!

I rerolled a troll shaman on her realm, Ysera, where I quickly caught up to her priest and then we leveled together. Last Christmas, when we both hit 60, I asked her to marry me. Playing together and getting to know each other was the best time of my life. Today we are married and I now have two stepsons, who also play.

My new family is the most epic gear I could have ever found with this game. I have a beautiful wife and two awesome sons, and we are still playing today. We are a family of 70s. For the Horde!

So. There you are. There’re lots more stories like these out there, and not just about WoW. If you have one of your own, I would love to hear it. Each positive story like these is another nail in the coffin of the ‘video games are evil’ myth.

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The print version of Spwug has the great honor of carrying Captain Space, written by Mookie Terracciano of Dominic Deegan fame. When we last saw Captain Space he had just boarded a hijacked trade ship and was battling his way to the bridge to confront the leader of the infamous Void Angels!

RESUME TRANSMISSION OF SPACE JOURNAL ENTRY 2RKX.62
The Void Angels, a band of space mercenaries hired to keep the Beldarian Trade Belt safe from criminal activity, were no better than a murderous gang of outlaws themselves. They had hijacked the trader class space cruiser Treasure Chest, captured the acclaimed Captain John Courage, and had been running illegal operations out of the very Trade Belt they were commissioned to protect. One of their number, a teenage girl named Grex Obil, had summoned me to stop her comrades for reasons yet unknown to me.

I was on board the Treasure Chest when the badly wounded Grex Obil informed me that Captain Courage was being held hostage on the bridge, and he did not have much longer to live. If I didn’t act quickly, young Grex would also perish from her injuries.

There was little time to formulate a plan. I set my Space Blaster to Stun and approached the bridge. The doors slid open and I found myself staring at two space assault rifles. Two Void Angels were preparing to pull the triggers. With only space-seconds to react, I ducked under their deadly guns and delivered two vicious blows to their abdomens. The mercenaries doubled over and dropped their space rifles. Unfortunately for me, space rifles are terrible weapons with no setting besides Kill. Fortunately for me, as a trained member of the Space Patrol, my greatest weapons are my mind and body.

I had a precious few space-seconds to assess the situation. There were five Void Angels with space assault rifles. The command crew of the Treasure Chest remained at their stations, flying the hijacked ship. The leader of the Void Angels, an imposing Fleggarian known as Bamrukku, stood over the bound and motionless form of Captain John Courage. They all looked to me as I strode over their incapacitated comrades.

“It’s Captain Space!”

Laser beams sizzled over my head as I ducked behind a computer console. This was going to be difficult. I had to subdue the Void Angels without harming the Treasure Chest’s command crew, or else there would be no one to fly the space cruiser to safety! And if the Void Angels became desperate, there was a strong chance they would turn their deadly rifles on the innocent crew.

“Surrender, Captain Space!” Bamrukku barked. “Give up, or I will blast Captain Courage into cosmic debris!”

There seemed little option for me then. I slid my Space Blaster out from behind the computer console and stood with my hands raised in surrender, but not before flipping a small switch under my helmet. What little hope I had sparked in the command crew of the Treasure Chest fizzled out as the space mercenaries approached me with their assault rifles.

“Bwa ha ha ha!” Bamrukku guffawed. “That’s the problem with you Space Patrol pansies! Just threaten someone’s precious little life and you’ll do anything to keep them alive! Even surrender!”

“What’s your game, Bamrukku?” I demanded as the Void Angels moved to bind my hands behind my back. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why else? For money!” He arrogantly swaggered over to me, leaving Captain Courage unattended. “The Beldarian Merchant Guild will easily turn the other cheek to illegal operations in their Trade Belt if you give them enough incentive. We do their ‘protection work’ for no cost to them at all, and they let us make our money in whatever way we see fit!”

“You’ll never get away with this. The Space Patrol will not allow it.”

“Bwa ha ha ha! Somehow I doubt that. By the time your precious Space Pansies find you and Captain Courage, you’ll be cosmic corpses and no one will know who destroyed you!”

I could not help but smirk. “Is that so?”

The Void Angels cried out as a massive battleship appeared on the bridge’s main screen. It bore the symbol of the Space Patrol proudly on its hull and aimed its impressive array of guns at the Treasure Chest. It was the pride of the Space Patrol fleet, the Shining Star. A familiar voice came through the open channel.

“This is Admiral Orbit, commanding officer of the Space Patrol! Stand down and surrender! I repeat, stand down and surrender!”

I watched realization dawn on Bamrukku’s face. He was so proud of himself for capturing two members of the Space Patrol that he had neglected to check if I had activated my own emergency distress signal. Fortunately for me, the warp drives on Space Patrol ships are the most advanced in the galaxy.

“You’ll never take us alive!” Bamrukku roared. “Void Angels! Kill them all!”

There was little choice for me then. I escaped the untrained clutches of the Void Angels that flanked me and knocked them out with little effort. I snatched up their space assault rifles and opened fire on the space mercenaries. Fortunately for them and the crew of the Treasure Chest, I am an excellent shot. They found themselves suddenly unarmed as their weapons were blown out of their hands. They quickly surrendered.

Bamrukku was not so easily spooked. When the shooting started, he quickly returned to Captain Courage’s side and hoisted him up as a shield. By the time I wheeled the space assault rifle on the Void Angel leader, he was cowering behind the beaten and weakened body of Captain Courage.

“Let me pass, Captain Space!” Bamrukku bellowed. “Let me off this ship or I’ll blast Captain Courage into cosmic–!”

“Stop shouting, you cosmic coward!” Captain Courage snapped. He suddenly whipped his head backwards and I heard the eerie sound of a Fleggarian nose breaking. Bamrukku clutched at his face and dropped to his knees. I took the opportunity to retrieve my Space Blaster and subdue the mercenary leader with a single Stun shot.

“Looks like you weren’t as close to death as I had been lead to believe,” I said to Captain Courage.

“I’ve been closer,” he replied.

“Everything under control, Captain Space?” Admiral Orbit asked through the open channel.

“The Treasure Chest is secure, Admiral,” I said.

The Void Angels were quickly rounded up and put into the prison holds aboard the Shining Star. Medical cruisers whisked Captain Courage and Grex Obil to the nearest space hospital. Authorities from Planet Zanatar, the closest planet to the Beldarian Trade Belt, were brought in to help the Space Patrol with an investigation into the Beldarian Merchant Guild’s notorious activities. Even with Bamrukku’s confession, it has been difficult to find further evidence against the Guild. They are a slippery bunch with an impressive team of space lawyers.

Captain Courage recovered more quickly than anyone had anticipated and returned to active duty less than one space week later.

I visited Grex Obil in the hospital once she was permitted visitors. I asked her why she betrayed the Void Angels. She said she’d joined the space mercenaries to protect the Beldarian Trade Belt, but became disillusioned with the group once she discovered their criminal intentions. I told her that she was brave to do the right thing in the face of frightening opposition.

“But Captain Space,” she said just before I left, “now that the Void Angels are out of commission, who will guard the Trade Belt? The Beldarians may be corrupt, but there are still people there who need protection.”

“Don’t worry, Grex. I think I know someone just right for the job.”

The Space Patrol saw fit to leave a small garrison of soldiers at the Beldarian Trade Belt. Now we could keep a watchful eye on the Beldarians as well as on the innocent people who may be in danger. Members of the Space Patrol are stationed there on rotation, except for one very eager new recruit who wishes nothing more than to remain at the garrison and protect the people there. I think Cadet Grex Obil will do well in the Space Patrol.

As for me, I resumed my tireless patrol with a smile. It is always nice to find others who believe that there is always a need for heroes…

…in space!
END OF TRANSMISSION

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An essential skill for couples to enjoy a long healthy life together is the art of fighting without fighting. This goes back to the assertion that communication is the foundation of a lasting relationship. Learning how to fight is part of open communication.

The trick is to express yourself openly and honestly to your significant other. If you don’t like something, don’t want to do something, feel negatively about something, speak up. Don’t make your significant other guess because no matter how well you two match with each other, he or she is not you. Ultimately, you’re the only one who knows how to say just what’s on your mind. Guessing games and passive aggressiveness can only lead to the type of fighting that will damage your relationship. Say what you mean and don’t be afraid of saying something your significant other disagrees with.

Try not to take things personally. Just because your significant other disagrees or may not want to do something doesn’t mean they don’t love you anymore. Being together doesn’t mean that you now automatically do and like the same things. Sure, try new things with each other, at least once. But if you find that you really don’t enjoy going to the smoky and loud karaoke bar, just say so.

Money matters always plague couples. These are usually the arguments that can break the strongest bonds. There’s no good solution for that, but again, your must speak openly and keep an open mind. Certainly, discuss major purchases before just heading to the store. If the flat screen shows up and you haven’t talked about it first, well, that’s going to be a problem.

Healthy fighting can actually help build a stronger relationship.  Remember to be honest, open minded, and not to take things too personally.

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There is a long tradition of Hollywood stars going to Japan to make commercials that would be hideously embarrassing for them to make in the West (Lost in Translation dramatizes this process, along with being a very good movie about alienation and isolation). These range from Arnold Schwarzenegger plugging energy drinks to Sean Connery talking to a bunny puppet about yogurt. There are plenty more out there, but few of them have tread into our Sprouting territory, until Suntory coffee decided to raise the ante.

Behold, Tommy Lee Jones as an alien in Akihabara.

Does this mean that Tommy Lee Jones is maid moe? You make the call!

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Wha-what?!  Is it Wednesday already!? Huh… well lemme say today alone was an interesting day.  I think we’ll revisit the whole games-vs.-art debate at a later time. 

 I really only want to talk about passing on geekery to our next generation.  I do public speaking at schools and conventions about art, comics, anime & manga, and occasionally gaming too.  Today, I had the fortune of speaking to a 7th grade class — first time I’ve publically spoke to a group with an average age less than 15.  It was rather awesome!  It’s also helpful that they had a LOT of really engaging, smart & meaningful questions.  That half hour just BLEW on by!  To me, sharing information, teaching the youngsters and fostering a healthy community of interest, geek or no, is something we’re almost obliged to.  We set the tone, and the pace for how people perceive us as individuals and a social whole.  So, what better role to play than the stately sage, helping our intrepid future heroes prepare for the next adventure?

Anyways, I also notice a close friend of mine is tackling a <a href=”http://24hourcomics.com/”>24 hour comic day</a>, which just may be the next topic, next Wednesday.    Comics for a day… how’s about Spwug get into the nuts & bolts of it all?  What would you like to see covered?  See ya in seven!

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As I just got this game in today (Monday, February 4, 2008), I figured I would play it for a bit and write down my first impressions. 

Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi (The Wonderment of Haruhi Suzumiya )for the Playstation 2 is a combination of a visual novel and a game creation simulator. The plot of the game is as such:

Haruhi has found out about a game creation contest, called “Game Garden”, and decides that the SOS Brigade is going to participate and win. Your job, as Kyon, is to set the schedule for the next four weeks and create a game that Haruhi will accept.

But it’s not as simple as that. Nothing involving Haruhi Suzumiya ever is. The initial attempt at making a game ends up being a ‘prologue’, and after the four weeks end, you get shot back to the first day again, to try all over again.  Koizumi tells you on the second run of ‘Day One’ that the four weeks are likely to repeat themselves until the group is able to create a game that satisfies Haruhi. That said, there’s no knowing what will satisfy her until you make it. 

The back of the game’s package states that there are several potential games, ranging from Dragon Warrior/Quest-esque RPGs to girl-raising simulators (like Princess Maker) to a parody of the Super Robot Wars series. It also states that all of these games are playable, though not to what degree. (I’m guessing a few levels/dungeons/stages each) 

So far, I have seen the prologue, the opening animation (which is the same as the TV series), and one day of ‘game production’. I have learned, though the helpful, if a bit wordy, tutorials, that it will likely be necessary for me to go through the four week period a few times, in order to learn some of the tasks necessary to make a good game, like ‘finding story ideas’ or ‘creating the rough character designs’. 

All in all, this is looking like it will be a rare thing – an actually enjoyable anime-based game. The writing is good, and the game play is easy to learn, yet requires a good amount of planning and strategy. I’ll talk more about the game play in more detail next time. 

So, Haruhi fans (and those who are not), does a game like this interest you at all? What kind of Haruhi (or anime/manga) related games would you like to see? Do you even like anime-based games?

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