Hey!

In case you couldn’t tell, that was the voice of a twinkling little unignorable fairy.  The kind that tries to point you in the right direction and makes sure you don’t miss anything important.  The kind you want to smash into little fairy pieces just to see what would happen.  I can tell you exactly what would happen.

First, you have to select the right tool.  You might choose the hammer, but that’s big and clumsy and a bit annoying to control sometimes.  Instead you might go for the grappling hook because of its speed and range, even if it can be a bit unforgiving on accuracy.  Yeah, good old Grapply would be better.  Then you could mush the little fairy bitch against the wall in a gaudy golden splatter!

Handlin' yo baggage!

Don’t you just hate baggage limits?  They are, however, a necessary evil.  Can you imagine a world without baggage limits?  Elephant trafficking would increase exponentially.  EXPONENTIALLY! Elephant populations would double overnight in developed nations.  OVERNIGHT!  And they would keep doubling every night and subsequent nights thereafter!  THIS IS WHAT EXPONENTIALLY MEANS!  Are you aware of the problems that would cause the already strained social security systems?  Oh, you are.  Sorry, I thought you were an idiot.

If weight limits were a bit less restrictive, I would have taken my beloved PS2 to Japan with me.  I could be playing all my fave games in the very land where they were conceived.  Happy happy joy joy!  At the time, I couldn’t even consider parting with my PS2, especially since I had just boosted my game collection with some smart Ebay purchases.  Sadly though, I had to say a teary farewell to ピーちゃん because apparently these things called “clothes” are actually “necessary” and we’re “expected” to “wear” them in “public places”.  I bought a ton of games for apparently no reason whatsoever.

Down the Local

“Welcome to The Local.  Come in.  Get a pint in.  Get me one, too.  Then sit down, the game’s about to start.  Not there, you mong, you’re in the way!  That’s better.

“So, what brings you Down the Local today?”

“What the hell is this place?  This blog isn’t about pubs.”

“No, this blog is about games.”

“So, what’s the connection then?  Local Games for Local People?”

“You thought you were being funny there, but you’re actually right.  In a certain sense you’re right, anyway.  However, the games I want to discuss here were originally made for different local shops and different local people.  Specifically, Japanese local shops and Japanese local people. “

“Oh, right, so you wanna talk about Japanese games?  Don’t loads of ugly geeks sat in front of illuminating boxes do that already?”

“Yeah, but-”

“I can’t be bothered with another white-boy otaku bitching about how the Japanese games industry isn’t what it used to be since Nintendo sold themselves out-”

“That’s not what I’m gonna do.  I actually want to look at how games created by and for people raised in one culture are changed and adapted for people in a different culture.”