HCKpro comments

Because the initial game lineup was aimed at western audiences, being incredibly violent and FPS heavy. Violent games do sell in Japan, but don't inspire the same level of worship among gamers. Sony felt they needed to 1) be able to blunt the Xbox One in western countries, and 2) have more "Japanese style" games ready for the Japanese launch.

That being said, I'll hold off until they actually have something I want to play on it, because the launch lineup here is STILL incredibly western heavy.

Plus I want a white one.

I'm a Hulu Plus subscriber here in Japan. After reading the above long list of complains (which I also share) I was surprised that no one pointed out the actual reason of WHY Hulu does what it does in Japan.

All the skipping around of seasons, incomplete series, etc. is designed to increase physical purchase / DVD rentals of the series.

Japanese people consume media so much differently than folks in the west. While Hulu in the States is seen as a content provider, Hulu Japan is more of a content advertiser. They get you hooked on a series, but then if you want to see all of it, you have to go to Tsutaya and rent it or Tower and buy the boxed set. It's all an advertisement.

Once you accept that, it's easier to understand what's going on. That being said, it still completely and totally sucks. My wife and I keep it for Walking Dead.

No more! does a rubbery camera hewn man dance

I also vow not to resign, even though my life has fallen below the financial expectations projected by my parents. Us underdogs, we gots ta stick together!

I don't know if, in this case, she should have been arrested. Certainly she needed an intervention; but after 7 years, it's likely she needed someone to help her get through that tough time. I sort of feel bad for her :/

"Singing" is really the wrong word. I mean she does sing in the studio, but anyone who has seen any of her "live" performances on TV morning shows here in Japan can tell that when she's on stage she lip synchs. I seriously doubt she would sound half like her CD if she actually had to sing and dance at the same time. Remember, she's not a trained singer... She's a fashion model.

That said, the video I've seen of the stage performance and sets for this tour looked pretty neat.

????

Wind Waker wasn't a launch title for the GameCube. It came out a year or so after the console had launched in all territories.

And Nintendo HAS relied on graphics and features to drive sales. Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and Game Cube were all about graphic power. It was a top Nintendo selling point up until the Wii when they suddenly started the "graphics don't matter" mantra because they had to.

I think if more terrible things happened to rude people who failed to see beyond themselves then we'd have a lot less rude people.

In America, assault is legally defined as "...the act of creating apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact with a person."

You you don't actually have to assault someone to assault them. Brilliant country, absolutely brilliant.

Perhaps you missed it, but I believe Mr. Miyazaki announced his UN-retirement on a New Years Eve radio broadcast.

Todd, that's exactly what I was thinking. Hedeki Anno perfectly captured the feeling of anime as a live action in his adaptation. 20th Century Boys is also very good as a film, but really, most modern Japanese cinema comes off as TV movie-of-the-week amature hour. Bad acting coupled with a "we filmed this on DV"... yuck.

Cutie Honey, though... I don't believe anyone could actually top it as a faithful adaptation.

Ok, ok... Who's the funny guy who told the Japanese that Americans ate mashed potatoes on their hamburgers in the 50's? Come on... fess up.

So then it's a bar hopping "taxi" service?

So they make it harder for the Chinese government while at the same time giving the keys to the kingdom to the US government...

Wow, so the internet comes in four languages now... Impressive!

How about instead of making fewer movies, they just start making better movies. You know, the kind that aren't remakes or sequels and put story over special effects so the don't cost $200mil to make, per.

Just sayin'

I actually had a Kinect up and running in my tiny Japanese apartment, which surprisd me. Never had any problems.

That said, I think that in order for any Microsoft X-product to succeed in Japan that it would have to be rebranded. And all that TV integration re-jigglered. Japanese folks just don't consume media the same way Americans do.

The. Only 3D Doraemon I recognize is Jean Reno.

Dude manned up and did what he had to do to try and protect his country from being taken over by a Faciest foreign power. Give the guy a statue. It really is time for Japan to stop pretending it was the victim in the first half of the 20th century.

Thank God they called the police before the Red Cross got involved!

In that case, we should also punish people who see a movie or read a book where crimes take place and then fail to report these fictitious crimes to the proper authorities.

The new Lupan movie would be a good place to start.

First off, I really don't appreciate your name calling on this forum. I don't believe I've done and deliberately insulted anyone.

Secondly, I'm making a valid point. Name a major comic book hero who's main selling point, or point of interest, was their religion. People don't read comics because they care about what religion the fictional character is. Nobody would me more or less attracted to, say, Mr. Fantastic, if he was a Buddhist. I can't begin to tell you what religion Wolverine, Spider-Man, Superman, the Green Lantern, Batman, Catwoman, or any other character is. That's because it's not important. What I hold is that by making religion a cornerstone of a character, they then have to constantly have that character act on their religious convictions, or it doesn't matter.

So I'm saying: how will they do that? How will they show that she's Muslim? Will she have to stop what she's doing to pray? Will she observe Ramadan? How does that even play into being a superhero? It does matter because Marvel is using as THE selling point of the new series.

And the things comics talked about in the past, such as fighting Nazis while we were actually fighting Nazis (who where, in face, pretty bad guys), dealing with bullies, alcoholism, what have you, had nothing what so ever to do with religion. There were religious superheroes in the past, but they were very, very niche market. There has never been a time where Frank Castle killed a bunch of guys and then went to confession and took communion. There was never a time where a mainstream superhero looked to their faith to help guide them in their decision making. It's not that I have a problem with whatever religion they want to say a certain comic book character is... It's fiction!

But you have to recognize that whoever pop culture tries to present something as serious as religion, they're going to mess it up.

Well, when gay superheroes are depicted in comics, they usually have a boyfriend/ girlfriend, they kiss members of the same sex, they might be depicted waking up next to their significant other... They show them doing things that visually show "this person is homosexual."

What I'm asking is, how are they going to show that this character is Muslim beyond just issuing a press release that says she is? What would be the point of her even having a religion (as a comic book character) unless she acted on it, or the belief system of that religion came into conflict, or influenced what they did?

I use to read Marvel's New Mutants when I was a kid, and two of the characters were Catholic. One said "madre dios" a lot (which also established he was a Latin American) and one often struggled with her faith and how she felt it conflicted with her powers.

So what I'm saying is, unless they have her actually acting on her Muslim faith, her being announced as a Muslim amounts to not much of anything other than a play for press.

I'm not being snarky, I'm actually wondering. Because other than saying she's Muslim, what makes her Muslim? Surely they'll have to show her practicing the religion.

And if she DOESN'T do religious things to show she's a Muslim, then what kind of roll model is she to her target audience? Wouldn't it then reflect poorly on Muslims? Will Marvel only allow followers of the Muslim faith to write for the title? It's a slippery slope that risks offending people, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

Does she have to stop fighting crime 4 times a day to pray?

I liked western comics more when they were all about fighting and convoluted story lines. Social engineering, yuck.

I've been poking around the internets and it seems this story is a bit of a old news.

Apparently the online fee that they're referencing IS THE PLAYSTATION PLUS SUBSCRIPTION FEE, something that was announced waaaay back at E3.

So really, no news here... Just Nikkei either being uninformed or trying to stir the pot.

Wait... Didn't they say before that online multiplayer would be included with a PlayStation Plus subscription? So this new fee is in addition to that?

What next... Saizaria's famous shrimp cocktail salad doesn't actually contain shrimp? Hamburg steaks aren't actually steaks? Say it ain't so!!!!

I hope they included

"Keep your shirt on when dining in a restaurant"

and

"Don't thrown bones, etc. from your meal on the restaurant floor."

Spent a month in Fushun, China... what a different world.