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"The Untold History of Japanese Video Game Developers", HG101 bookstarter (£50k goal)

D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
I wouldn't pay that much for a HG101 book, actually (although the SEGA books are an exception because of who's been writing the articles), but I'd definitely purchase this book for more.
 
J

Jac_Solar

Member
Canadian Psycho said:
I totally agree. For all of Japan's invaluable contributions to gaming (not to mention entirely resurrecting the home console industry in NA), way too little is known about our favourite series, be it mainstream hits or cult hits. As a fan and collector of almost only Japanese games, I would definitely buy such a book (should it meet expectations).
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Yeah. This should be important to every video game fan though, since he'll be interviewing people who haven't been interviewed before. The most exciting aspect of this project though, is that it might provide a very in depth look into the culture and atmosphere of the Japanese game development scene. A lot of interviews with Japanese game developers were probably done while they were on a tour, promoting a game, or when they visited the US/Britain/foreign country. This will be done *in* Japan, and all the interviews will be done within a couple of months.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Japanese readers want to read this book.

I've seen there's been a flurry of Japanese Twitter activity, plus a Japanese news site covering the story - it seems even more are interested in the book than I realised. I also had an email from a Japanese gamer yesterday, asking if I would publish the book in Japan. It's still too early to think about, but I have had a casual talk with someone in that field, and I am very open to the idea of it being published in Japanese. If this goes ahead, I'll keep all my notes in order to make this feasible...

...I've been emailed with an offer of contacts for Acquire, developers of Tenchu, Way of the Samurai, and that funky little PSP dungeon management game. In addition to further contacts at Konami.

Two developers at a well known small company have invited me to their Tokyo office. One of them created a rather beloved series. They'd prefer if I didn't name them just yet, but they've both been involved with topics I'd like to cover.
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A Japanese translation would be ideal for a stretch goal.
 
GhaleonQ

GhaleonQ

Member
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...tory-of-japanese-game-developers/posts/502163

Lovedelic is a go! Yoshiro Kimura loves to jabber and loves to drink until drunk, and Mister Szczepaniak has been asked to join him. This, as with many others, will be the 1st time we get a detailed developer tale in English. Kimura is so wonderful.

Tim Rogers said:
Kimura asked what I was doing tonight; I said I was having dinner with Adam Rippon, creator of Dragon Fantasy for iOS, and that I intended to talk with him about a project we were getting started. I invited Kimura to join me; Kimura reported that he was meeting Yasuhiro Wada.

I showed Dragon Fantasy to Kimura. He immediately laughed delightedly at the aesthetic. “It’s perfect. It’s pitch-perfect. What’s it about? What’s the story?”

I told him that Adam Rippon made the game after his father passed away. “His father always encouraged him to be creative. He ended up working as a programmer for other people’s games. So he made a Japanese-style role-playing game where the hero is based on his late father. That’s why the hero is old and bald.”

Kimura was literally in tears. He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with the heel of his palm.

“That is incredible. I’ve never been more honored to be involved with making videogames.”
Click to expand...

http://insertcredit.com/2012/06/01/...nce-in-san-francisco-california-by-tim-rogers

Yasuhiro Wada, originally of Natsume, is on board, too, since they're friends. Perhaps we'll find out what happened at Grasshopper, too.

To reiterate: please support this project.
 
N

Necrovex

Member
GhaleonQ said:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...tory-of-japanese-game-developers/posts/502163

Lovedelic is a go! Yoshiro Kimura loves to jabber and loves to drink until drunk, and Mister Szczepaniak has been asked to join him. This, as with many others, will be the 1st time we get a detailed developer tale in English. Kimura is so wonderful.



http://insertcredit.com/2012/06/01/...nce-in-san-francisco-california-by-tim-rogers

Yasuhiro Wada, originally of Natsume, is on board, too, since they're friends. Perhaps we'll find out what happened at Grasshopper, too.

To reiterate: please support this project.
Click to expand...

Was Moon ever translated officially or non-officially? I hear about this game a lot, and I really want to try it out.

And this is becoming very tempting. When I get my next payday, I might toss in some money.

gingerbeardman said:
I'm in for £500.

My wife will kill me... if she ever finds out ;)
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You should dedicate your section to Xenosaga! :-D
 
GhaleonQ

GhaleonQ

Member
Necrovex said:
Was Moon ever translated officially or non-officially? I hear about this game a lot, and I really want to try it out.
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A few other people and I have hopefully perpetuated that chatter, so I'm always happy to hear others have heard it!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=61235989#post61235989

I've already made a few topics on it, if you search, so I'm going to wait until it's done to post an update. So, yep, it's nearly done and will be as perfect as possible.

I hope that this book sheds light on the actual process, because it began quite different from how it was released. I'd also love to know what happened between their work at Squaresoft and Lovedelic (and Lovedelic to now).
 
N

Necrovex

Member
GhaleonQ said:
A few other people and I have hopefully perpetuated that chatter, so I'm always happy to hear others have heard it!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=61235989#post61235989

I've already made a few topics on it, if you search, so I'm going to wait until it's done to post an update. So, yep, it's nearly done and will be as perfect as possible.

I hope that this book sheds light on the actual process, because it began quite different from how it was released. I'd also love to know what happened between their work at Squaresoft and Lovedelic (and Lovedelic to now).
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Hot damn, sounds like we are super close to the finish line. I recall you making a giant ass thread a number of years ago when you first told us about Moon. And I'll have to fund this kickstarter, this is the type of item I simply love to death. JRPGs are what brought me into the industry.
 
L

Loona

Member
Nica to see Live-A-Live getting some focus in this.

On the other hand, no SNK references yet outside Metal Slug, 2 slots left for that 4 pages tier and 20ish days to go... Decisions decisions...
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
I put the guy running the campaign in touch with a couple of people I wanted to see in the book. When he confirmed them I ponied up my money, as promised.

So if you want to see SNK, try to put him in touch with some key people.
 
Z

Zarx

Member
This sounds amazing and I really want that book but that is a lot of money for the physical copy and I'm not sure about reading such a long book on my PC (don't have a tablet ATM). Will probably back anyway tho.
 
M

microfolk

Member
Hardcore Gaming 101 is one of my favorite site ever, I'm really tempted to pledge this instead of saving for Steam Sales.
 
L

Loona

Member
gingerbeardman said:
I put the guy running the campaign in touch with a couple of people I wanted to see in the book. When he confirmed them I ponied up my money, as promised.

So if you want to see SNK, try to put him in touch with some key people.
Click to expand...

There's only contact information out there through blogs for some of the artists though - although one of my pet questions concerns a piece of Shinkiro artwork, and I can't seem to find his :/
 
M

MrKayle

Member
hardcoregaming 101 is a quality website, certainly one of the best video game related content repositories available in my opinion.
 
gingerbeardman

gingerbeardman

Member
Loona said:
There's only contact information out there through blogs for some of the artists though - although one of my pet questions concerns a piece of Shinkiro artwork, and I can't seem to find his :/
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@Loona I've just had this from John, the guy running the Kickstarter.

Hello all. Thanks for the support. I signed up to NeoGAF with my szczepaniak [at] hardcore gaming 101 [dot] net email a long time ago, though it's not been approved (hint, hint). Hence the proxy message.

Technically there isn't any SNK mention (yet), since Metal Slug was by Nazca, and my contact was Kazuma Kujo from Irem (he also did Steambot Chronicles, among many other things). Of course I'd like to cover SNK. Some on the NeoGeo forums were disappointed the MS article wasn't in-depth enough. That's the problem with email interviews via translators. It's slow, and there's no on the spot elaboration. I want to correct this.

SNK has a rich heritage among the hardcore, and I'm keen to increase my arcade coverage. A lot of people on my priority list I will only try to contact if the KS succeeds. I jumped the gun with Arino, and now his manager is waiting for my follow up. I want to avoid doing that too often. If the KS succeeds there will be 2 months before I leave, in which time I can round up more people.

It's also not a 4 page tier, rather that's the minimum I intend to give to Guest Editors. Some of the Guest Editors I've spoken with have suggested topics which I can see running for 10 pages or more. It depends on multiple factors. If you ask me to dedicate a chapter to the Taito WoWoW, then we're probably going to get stuck...

I've been chatting with someone in a Japanese game preservation society, and I think this could lead to a long list of super cool people - more will be announced as I confirm them.
Click to expand...
 
L

Loona

Member
Hmm, Irem... Takashi Nishiyama worked for a while there and apparently was involved in Kung Fu Master while in the company, then later Capcom, where he got the Street Fighter ball rolling before moving to SNK and helping to build some of their most iconic works (essentially making him a father of modern fighting games)... hopefully some contacts remain from those early days...
 
GhaleonQ

GhaleonQ

Member
Gosh. I had wanted this for so long, but doing this required the right person. I'm glad that the 1st to really go for it is having such success.
 
L

lynguist

Neo Member
It's making progress very slowly. If it continues on this scale, it won't succeed. It needs much more attention.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Oh come on now! If there's one Kickstarter that deserves a Japanese game fan's attention, it's this. Pledges have basically stopped because of E3—we need to rectify this.
 
S

Scavenger

Member
Just received the latest update. Never knew those folks at Siliconera were such jerks. They should just get over with it.
 
V

Victrix

*beard*
Is this the dude that wrote those super long 'history of' <series> articles?

Because those are extremely good. I'm thinking of the Shin Megami Tensei one specifically, but I know I've read others.
 
GhaleonQ

GhaleonQ

Member
Where my mouth is->($)
__________My money^

I'm moving, unfortunately, but I coughed up enough to earn the Premium D.V.D. Set. I want the raw footage!

I can't say he shouldn't have started this 1 month earlier, but it would be disconcerting and embarrassing for gamers if this didn't get funded.

Scavenger said:
Just received the latest update. Never knew those folks at Siliconera were such jerks. They should just get over with it.
Click to expand...

Eh, I think he may be constructing things there. I really do adore Siliconera the site, but they clearly have their agenda set (as is their prerogative). I imagine, because they do similar work, that they don’t like that there wasn’t reciprocation. He likely never helped them out, so they feel no obligation to him. That’s fair, although I wish they’d agree that this (or Scroll or whatever) only contributes to gaming as a whole.

Plus, while I am nobody (at least in the video game world), I contacted them a bunch about Lovedelic and fan translations and received no response. They post a bunch of garbage/low-content posts on games that get them hits and appear to have little interest in retrospective work.

Like I wrote, though, they do cover stuff not covered elsewhere and are clearly dedicated and responsible. They’re just limited as members of the video game community.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
I'm no fan of Siliconera myself, but they're not all bad. Szczepaniak's outlined the exact reason why he thinks they won't cover his Kickstarter (due to refusing translators from their sponsor 8-4), so that's all done. There's going to be a boost in pledges near the end (as always), so the bulk of the work right now is actively promoting this in the most meaningful ways possible.

I've been abstaining from my movie-watching to go look up various sites cataloguing all sorts of fascinating, untranslated Japanese games Jon might at least mention in his history. One amazing source of knowledge is this man's Retro PC Game Music Streaming Radio, which features a detailed list of games he has (with reviews, screens, and music samples). This is the kind of stuff that needs Western translation and documentation!
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I've been abstaining from my movie-watching to go look up various sites cataloguing all sorts of fascinating, untranslated Japanese games Jon might at least mention in his history. One amazing source of knowledge is this man's Retro PC Game Music Streaming Radio, which features a detailed list of games he has (with reviews, screens, and music samples). This is the kind of stuff that needs Western translation and documentation!
Click to expand...

Holy crap that site is amazing. I'll have to start delving into it. Japanese PC music of that era was amazing, and we have so little knowledge of it.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Back when I was a Square Enix Music Online regular, I tried pushing for more coverage of it. I'll make a Game Music community thread this summer to promote it a lot more, once I can get my shit together. This site is full of awesome stuff—be sure to check out any game from ZOOM, Exact, Kogado, Data West, System Sacom, and many more who made these gems of JPC gaming.
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
Back when I was a Square Enix Music Online regular, I tried pushing for more coverage of it. I'll make a Game Music community thread this summer to promote it a lot more, once I can get my shit together. This site is full of awesome stuff—be sure to check out any game from ZOOM, Exact, Kogado, Data West, System Sacom, and many more who made these gems of JPC gaming.
Click to expand...

Hell, finally hearing the x68 versions of the YS tunes, HOLY CRAP! Morning Glow is AMAZING!

Back to the main thread. Everyone needs to support this, I went in with my roomate on the 120 tier and if this doesn't get funded it will be a mighty shame. We need to get the word out on this thing. Why isn't this kickstarter getting more press?
 
M

MLH

Member
This is very temping to fund, but it's hard to justify it when I still don't know the full content and quality of the book. It sounds like it could be a real gem but so many things could go wrong and many stories may remain 'untold' so to speak.

Edit: I'll donate, it's a bit of a gamble with the high price but hopefully pays off.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
I don't know that John can cover everything (hint: he won't, there's too much to cover), but he'll get the important companies and developers alongside more than a few of the obscure ones. I'm expecting a lot of talk about the connections between Japanese PC gaming and console gaming at the time.
 
S

Scavenger

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I'm no fan of Siliconera myself, but they're not all bad. Szczepaniak's outlined the exact reason why he thinks they won't cover his Kickstarter (due to refusing translators from their sponsor 8-4), so that's all done. There's going to be a boost in pledges near the end (as always), so the bulk of the work right now is actively promoting this in the most meaningful ways possible.
Click to expand...
Really shows how shitty gaming journalism can be sometimes. Not reporting about this kickstarter is detrimental to Siliconera's cause, which is showing the unseen side of video games and they instead put their personal interests ahead.

It's a good thing if there is too much to cover because that could mean a follow up on this book if it is a great success.
 
GhaleonQ

GhaleonQ

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I don't know that John can cover everything (hint: he won't, there's too much to cover), but he'll get the important companies and developers alongside more than a few of the obscure ones. I'm expecting a lot of talk about the connections between Japanese PC gaming and console gaming at the time.
Click to expand...

That Hardcore Gaming 101 article was 1 of my favorites and the 1 that led to the most exploration for me.

http://www. **********************/JPNcomputers/Japanesecomputers.htm
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
It was my introduction to the topic! That's probably why I approve of this KS so much: the guy's got a knack for uncovering and presenting the obscure cleanly and thoroughly.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
GhaleonQ said:
Where my mouth is->($)
__________My money^

I'm moving, unfortunately, but I coughed up enough to earn the Premium D.V.D. Set. I want the raw footage!

I can't say he shouldn't have started this 1 month earlier, but it would be disconcerting and embarrassing for gamers if this didn't get funded.



Eh, I think he may be constructing things there. I really do adore Siliconera the site, but they clearly have their agenda set (as is their prerogative). I imagine, because they do similar work, that they don&#8217;t like that there wasn&#8217;t reciprocation. He likely never helped them out, so they feel no obligation to him. That&#8217;s fair, although I wish they&#8217;d agree that this (or Scroll or whatever) only contributes to gaming as a whole.

Plus, while I am nobody (at least in the video game world), I contacted them a bunch about Lovedelic and fan translations and received no response. They post a bunch of garbage/low-content posts on games that get them hits and appear to have little interest in retrospective work.

Like I wrote, though, they do cover stuff not covered elsewhere and are clearly dedicated and responsible. They&#8217;re just limited as members of the video game community.
Click to expand...

Siliconera have frequently posted mis-translated and poorly researched rumors.

And they never post niche fan translation news that I send them either, but they're perfectly fine with posting google translated bits off of 4-gamer.
(Not to mention tidbits on mainstream games that their fanbase really doesn't care about, and is totally against what the site was founded on.)

They started out great, but they're basically just a place to go for niche game news when there's no other recourse(which is sadly the case).


So yeah, responsible is not a word I'd apply to them. Come back, Anoop.
 
S

southerncross

Member
cj_iwakura said:
They started out great, but they're basically just a place to go for niche game news when there's no other recourse(which is sadly the case).

So yeah, responsible is not a word I'd apply to them. Come back, Anoop.
Click to expand...

Mhm. I've seen all kinds of people being turned off Siliconera for various reasons (although it seems they usually stop visiting the site because of that Ishaan guy). Still, I believed that they'd want to help people discover "unseen side of games". What a bummer.
 
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