Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Twilight Land is out this June in Japan on the PlayStation 3. In case you missed it, here's the game's opening.
Last week, entertainer and filmmaker Beat Takeshi came under fire due to comments he made on Japanese television about gay marriage.
When shown footage of people celebrating President Obama's support of gay marriage, Takeshi said, "Obama supports gay marriage. You would support a marriage to an animal eventually, then."
Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and that seems to be his. But recently, Takeshi explained or walked back his remarks, telling AFP, "I was only talking about people who love their pets so much that they may think of marrying them."
"There is no way I look at gay people the same as animals," added Takeshi, "let alone implying sexual relations with animals."
It's not his clarification that's the problem (that's muddled enough as it is), but the original comparison.
In many countries and cultures, not consummating a marriage is grounds for annulment. Some religions dictate that marriages must be consummated. Not taking this into consideration not only shows tremendous cultural and religious insensitivity, but insensitivity towards gay people.
If Beat Takeshi doesn't think gay people should get married, that's his opinion. He is entitled to it—Japan has freedom of speech. But he should simply say he doesn't believe in gay marriage and not draw oblique comparisons to people marrying their pets. These are two separate issues.
'Beat' Takeshi rejects anti-gay accusation [Japan Today]
Over the weekend, a new photo surfaced of what's supposedly the Wii U controller. It looked, well, different.
But how different? This is not perfect, but here is a GIF that shows just how the controller has apparently changed between summer 2011 and this spring. The photo showed a new square button on the left side and shifted start and select buttons. More importantly, the image depicted true analog joysticks.
Granted, Nintendo has yet to confirm the recently leaked photo. But still, have a look and compare for yourself.
This image popped up on Japanese bulletin boards, but I believe it was created on Western forums. If you know the proper source, please let Kotaku know.
WiiUコントローラーの2011E3バージョンと2012年5月バージョン比較 [へちま速報]
After over a decade in Japan, this week I got a letter from the Japanese government. It said that the alien registration card (外国人登録証明書), or informally "gaijin card", was vanishing.
Starting this summer, the credit card sized i.d. will be replaced. This is a card I've had since I've been in Japan, and one that I'm legally required to have on me at all times. It's the card that clearly marked foreigners—even Zainichi Koreans—"alien".
For all the controversy on Japanese microaggressions (which is, in many ways, taking one's eye off the ball), the gaijin card has been a part of daily life for expats since the early 1950s. It's been a requirement for those staying in Japan longer than 90 days. Every few years, you need to renew it, and every time you move, the government writes down your new address (doing so often in ball point pen) on the back.
But it's also been something that people at hotels, video stores, and even real estate agencies often demand to see before you can do business with them. It's been something that has made many foreign residents feel "others" them. And this July, it will be no more.
Japan is a sovereign country. It can handle immigrants and foreigners as it sees fit. The U.S., and other countries, does likewise. However, that still doesn't mean their methods are without fault. In Japan, foreigners have reported unpleasant experiences with the gaijin card, such as random police officers demanding to see it.
To date, I haven't had any unpleasant experiences with the police, save for speeding traps, which are universal (and annoying!). The police, though, were totally cordial as I paid the ticket. Likewise, my experiences with immigration have been pleasant and helpful—and more importantly, welcoming.
As for microagressions, living in Japan for all these years, my gripes really haven't been over inconsequential questions like whether I can use chopsticks or eat nattou. If I let those types of questions get to me, life here is going to be difficult. What's more, getting offended by such questions might cut you off to interesting people—people who've lived abroad, people whose kids married foreigners, or people who are simply interested in life outside Japan. Those silly, and repetitive questions, will gradually fade over time as more and more Japanese have daily interactions with non-Japanese.
What have been problematic are things outside of the government and, largely, out of the daily interactions with people. These are things like paying higher prices to rent apartments—or not even being able to rent apartments for fear that I might suddenly leave Japan and not pay my rent. It was particularly depressing to be told that I could sign or co-sign for an apartment and that my wife, who was pregnant and not working at the time, would have to sign. Foreigners were apparently no good. I remember a real estate agent—who was a super nice guy—telling me, "Japan is an island country" and apologizing for the way things were run at his company.
Other gripes have been video stores that would not rent videos to you, even if you had a gaijin card. Instead, many used to demand that you have a home phone number, which is something that many foreigners do not have. Cell phones did not suffice. Then, there was the matter of getting said cell phone as some cell phone carriers used to illegally require an alien registration card.
Not every aspect of the country is like this. I'm happy to say that once you move beyond renting and into buying an apartment or a house, things do get way easier dealing with real estate companies and banks (note: you probably need a permanent resident visa). Buying a place or a car and getting a car loan have all been less painless than renting an apartment or even getting a video store card. More banks, which used to require foreigners to have a Japanese style enkan (stamp), are accepting signatures as binding.
Yet, even as things have been getting better, one of the most divisive things is how the alien registration system legally separates families. That will change this summer when the alien registration system ends. As The Wall Street Journal explained, the new system will now allow Japanese with foreign spouses to registered under the same system and be registered as in the same household. All residents—foreign and nationals—will get new identification cards. The difference between the foreigners' cards and the citizens' cards is that there is a marking that separates them, marking the holder's nationality.
The change was designed to make the lives of long term residents (hello!) much easier than the old system (thank you!).
Things in Japan move slowly—especially regarding immigration and internationalization. The changes might not even be noticeable. Yet, they're there, bit by bit. Eventually. And before you know it, you're saying one thing to old systems and old ways of thinking: sayonara.
Cheers to Japanzine's NagMag for the amazing alien registration card image (above). Be sure to check out Japanzine for the nitty gritty details about the new resident card. More here.
I don't just mean visually, because let's face it, these days what you're seeing here isn't that out of the ordinary. But look at the game mechanics on display, compare them to PC games of the same ilk and wonder why the hell hasn't anyone done this earlier?
Autumn Dynasty, a former 2009 IGF China Student Competition finalist, takes the simplest concepts of real-time strategy games and (looks to) move them effortlessly to the iPad, replacing precise mouse gestures with sweeping movements of the hand.
In crude ITS LIKE X MEETS Y terms, it's Total War meets Okami. Which, yeah, is just about the perfect video game. Provided it works as well as it does in this clip.
It's not out yet, sadly, but it should be soon.
Autumn Dynasty [Official Site, via Pocket Tactics]
During the Mass Effect trilogy you fight a few friendly species "re-appropriated" as bad guys by the Reapers. But not all of them. So concept artist Andrew Ryan decided to imagine what it would be like if the Reapers had been a little more thorough.
There are some major and predictable races on show, like the Krogan and Drell, but awesomely some other more unexpected foes, like the Hanar and even the Volus.
You can see more of Andrew's work at his personal site or his DeviantArt gallery.
Despite the fact it featured fighting robots, Real Steel was a massive disappointment because it had too much human drama, not enough fighting robots.
Not that this matters when it comes to action figures based on the movie. Because they can simply be giant, badass robot action figures. And they can be works of art.
This is toy company threeA's take on Ambush (designed by threeA/Metal Gear artist Ashley Wood), not exactly one of the film's most memorable combatants, but certainly one of the most memorable action figures I've ever had the pleasure of laying my hands upon.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
- 1x Ambush figure, standing 16.5".
WHAT I LIKED
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
MY FINAL WORD
It's testament to the skill and craftsmanship of threeA that a lesser character from a forgettable movie can be turned into such an amazing figure, but there you have it. At $320 it won't be for your average punter, but more serious collectors should know that, even by threeA's standards, this is a damn fine figure.
You know what CAPTCHA is? It's that thing that makes you enter letters and numbers on a website to prove you're a human, and not a machine hell-bent on learning our human ways and killing us all by downloading a .zip file. It's probably the thing I hate most about the internet, so it's lovely to hear that someone's trying to replace the system with simple games.
A competing service called PlayThru looks to embed simple little minigames that require completion. It's the same principle - input something that a computer would find difficult/impossible to do - only it won't make you squint, curse then vow never to visit that website again.
Are You a Human replaces annoying CAPTCHAs with games [VentureBeat]
Chinese artist XiaoPeng Xing, aka Pink77, has been working in the games industry for eight years now, lending his talents out to clients like Activision/Blizzard and online juggernaut Tencent.
His calling card? Bright colours and the female of the species.
Some of these images are for professional projects, others - like his King of Fighters fan art pieces - strictly personal.
You can see more of Pink77's art at his CGHub page, while his showreel is available for viewing here.
WARNING: A few of them are showing a little nudity - nothing vulgar, just some skin - so reader discretion is advised.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".
