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Ineffiable posted:Well pinball sounds cool since my PS3 has nothing like pinball. Pinball sounds good to me too, and so does throwing whatever money into a bigger card after the holidays/whenever...
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| # ? Nov 24, 2010 03:14 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 10:09 |
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Ineffiable posted:Well pinball sounds cool since my PS3 has nothing like pinball. The Sniper and Golden Pinball 300 Yen games both sound cool, and I would be up for a big card after Christmas.
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| # ? Nov 24, 2010 07:02 |
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Arcaeris posted:This isn't directly related to import games, but this is the best place I thought to mention it: apparently there's now an ICO novel in Japanese? I have the 2004 printed ICO novel, which is entirely in tategaki (vertical right-to-left top-to-bottom writing) and has no pictures. The recently released ones have over 300 pages each, titled "top" and "bottom": http://goo.gl/HNTLa I'm just going to assume it's pictureless too. You could buy them for collection's sake, I guess.
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| # ? Nov 24, 2010 08:32 |
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This is a bit of a strange one, but I think it merits an entry in spite of that Two Worlds II 5 Trailer Description: A bizarre German-made open world RPG, a sequel to an infamous Xbox 360/PC game. It's full of strange monsters, dozens of quests, some of that fine voice acting, insanely easy to break gameplay, and even monkeys that fling crap as their primary attack. Ah! Bandits! Language: English Trophies: Yes Cost: eBay Germany: $79 and up, GameStop Germany: $93 Like I said, this is strange. Two Worlds 2 has basically been delayed worldwide to mid January for the PS3 with the sole exception of Germany and a few pockets of the UK and European Union. Most of Western Europe hasn't gotten their hands on the game yet so it doesn't show up in GAME or on most eBay listings yet, the eBay Germany listing has most auctions for Germany only but there are a couple of which that'll ship to America. If you are not willing to wrangle the German language, then you can go here where a lone Brit is selling PS3 Royal Editions, sealed, for $200 plus shipping. I may be insane for imports, but I'm not paying the same price that I paid for Steel Battalion for Two Worlds 2. When the game filters into more English speaking listings, I'll update the entry.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2010 02:07 |
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Megalixir posted:I have the 2004 printed ICO novel, which is entirely in tategaki (vertical right-to-left top-to-bottom writing) and has no pictures. The recently released ones have over 300 pages each, titled "top" and "bottom": http://goo.gl/HNTLa For the sake of accuracy, they're not titled "top" and "bottom". This is the standard Japanese way of labeling books which are split into two for the paperback edition (which they do for pretty much anything that is even slightly long). Longer books are split into three and also have a "middle" volume.  On-topic: Dangan Ronpa was released today and looks very awesome, though it probably makes no sense for people who can't read Japanese. The free demo on the Japanese PSP store is worth downloading just for the crazy art style, though.
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| # ? Nov 25, 2010 08:50 |
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Now there's some irony. I was just on the PSN store getting that last game for the share (pinball is available now guys) and saw that the Japanese PSN has added their own import section! Japanese gamers looking for some western flavor can get Castle Crashers, Comet Crash, or Young Thor. Take a look at it when you get a chance; it's a strange thing. There's what I assume is a stereotypical American in a suit in the ad cycle in the section and the background is the world's most cheerful cargo port. ETA: I think Japan is going to have the entire PS1 library available for download soon. It's frightening how many games they add each week. ETA2: I don't loving believe this. A long time ago there was a video pinball game called Crystal Caliburn. It was only one table but it was a really good table. I loved that game and it was second in my heart only to the ProPinball series when it came to video pinball (these days the Pinball Hall of Fame series come before it but I can't blame them for that). What I didn't know was that it got a sequel. Crystal Caliburn was a microscopically small release from a tiny company and apparently the sequel which featured three tables never made it to stores. Except in Japan. It was going to be released on the Dreamcast along with a few others of the designer's tables but that plan fell through. Instead the three tables that were part of Golden Logres were released on the Playstation as SuperLite1500 Golden Pinball. (Okay, Europe got it sent to them too.) FWIW you can buy PC and Mac versions of Golden Logres at the developer's site (which I wouldn't have found except by saying to myself "This is a lot like Crystal Caliburn. Wouldn't it be funny if there was a connection! Let me Google that."  ). Of course there it's $35 for the game; on the Japanese PSN it's just 300 yen.
Random Stranger fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2010 around 08:17 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2010 06:59 |
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Random Stranger posted:ETA: I think Japan is going to have the entire PS1 library available for download soon. It's frightening how many games they add each week.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 08:48 |
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Samurai Sanders posted:There's still not a single Super Robot Wars game there. I would so love to play Alpha or Alpha Gaiden again right now. Well that's almost certainly a licensing thing. I don't think there are a lot of licensed PS1 games on PSN. Edit: Check it out, here's what Japanese players see when they want to use the "western game store":    I apologize for the poor quality of my capture device. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at Nov 27, 2010 around 10:44 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2010 10:22 |
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Behold, this indescript faceless white man will now sell you foreign games! Also these mecha game franchises have to stop being holdouts on the PSN, it's incredibly frustrating that you can't find a Gundam, Super Robot Wars, or Macross game on the PSN. Thanks Namco Bandai!
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 13:03 |
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Random Stranger posted:Crystal Caliburn If we're spending our remaining 300 yen on a pinball game this is the only correct choice.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 13:07 |
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iastudent posted:If we're spending our remaining 300 yen on a pinball game this is the only correct choice. Yep, and it's done. And for those curious about how it's played I've put together a small video of when I first tried the game out. I think next time I do something like this I need to explain the interface a bit more.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 13:50 |
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Random Stranger posted:Well that's almost certainly a licensing thing. I don't think there are a lot of licensed PS1 games on PSN. I would have gone for a comedic Admiral Perry angle. "Black Ship Imports: you can't resist these deals!"
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 15:35 |
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Doc Hawkins posted:I would have gone for a comedic Admiral Perry angle. "Black Ship Imports: you can't resist these deals!" "We'll drop a nuke of savings on you!"
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 22:50 |
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It's odd that Castle Crashers is in there because the copy I have from the US store can run in Japanese as well.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 23:16 |
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Samurai Sanders posted:It's odd that Castle Crashers is in there because the copy I have from the US store can run in Japanese as well. :shh: they need a reason to market it as exotic
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 23:18 |
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Policenaut posted::shh: they need a reason to market it as exotic On the other hand, if they really wanted to do an import PS1 game section, what would they have there? I can't think of any good Western PS1 games that didn't get localized to Japan.
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 23:44 |
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Since you lived there do the Japanese you've met see Western games as "exotic and weird" like we see their games?
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| # ? Nov 27, 2010 23:47 |
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RagnarokAngel posted:Since you lived there do the Japanese you've met see Western games as "exotic and weird" like we see their games? I'd say they see our stuff as MORE exotic than we see theirs. And it's a problem since their local business is going in the shitter. edit: vvvv no no no, they KNOW what all the games we play are, they're just like "oh well, it's another one of those things those foriegners like" Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at Nov 28, 2010 around 00:02 |
| # ? Nov 27, 2010 23:56 |
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"Get this you guys, it's set during the war, and you see the barrel of your guns poking up from the bottom of the screen!"
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 00:01 |
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Doc Hawkins posted:"Get this you guys, it's set during the war, and you see the barrel of your guns poking up from the bottom of the screen!" Japan actually is allergic to FPS on the whole so this is kinda accurate.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 00:02 |
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Policenaut posted:Oh neat! Is it any good? I didn't read it, I just saw it at the bookstore. And personally I can't stand how Japanese books break poo poo up into parts, like you can't have more than 200 pages in one thing.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 02:58 |
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Happy Holidays folks, for those of you with Play-Asia accounts you might be seeing your seasonal greeting from them coming in the mail. These come with the standard coupon for discounts, this year it's another $7USD off any purchase over $50USD and $12USD off any purchase over $100USD. I have one of each at least, if anyone wants a coupon for some hot hot hot importing action this winter just say so. If anyone else gets a coupon and doesn't want to use it, well sharing is caring folks. vvv Yeah, I'll be removing FM3 and Metal Slug X from this list when they are finally listed up on the store. I can't wait to get Front Mission. Policenaut fucked around with this message at Nov 28, 2010 around 23:47 |
| # ? Nov 28, 2010 23:31 |
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Also, I think this was posted in the PS3 general game thread, but Front Mission 3 is coming to the US PSN, so no need for US residents to try and import it.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 23:46 |
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I've got the codes as well, and I can pretty safely say I don't intend to use them. Spent too much on games already from Black Friday sales. The codes are only valid until the end of the year as well.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 23:47 |
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Ineffiable posted:Also, I think this was posted in the PS3 general game thread, but Front Mission 3 is coming to the US PSN, so no need for US residents to try and import it. Does that mean we're getting Vagrant Story too? Playing it on my PSP is fine and all but I'd rather be able to play it on a TV.
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| # ? Nov 28, 2010 23:50 |
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I was putting together a quick video showing Railfan: Chicago (though technically I'm driving the Tokyo line in the video) and I said to myself, "What the import thread really needs is a discussion of the Japanese train simulation genre!" There are a handful of train simulation games that have been released on PC in the US but that seems to just be peanuts compared to what has come out in Japan. There are two major series of them in Japan and both of them have dozens of entries. The Train Simulator series generally used real video from the front of trains and the Railfan games are technically part of that series. The Densha de Go! series (or Go by Train! but details are more easily found with the Japanese title) generally used rendered art to depict the journey. Where things get complicated is that the last few releases for these series they have merged. Railfan's interface defaults to Densha de Go! style even though it's part of the Train Simulator series and other recent games offer similar options. You might be saying to yourself, "How popular can these games be? It's just trains." And that's fair. They don't seem have been overwhelmingly popular. Densha de Go! released what was supposed to be it's last game a few years ago for the PS2 though this summer they got a new game for the DS. The last Railfan game was released in 2007 and there's no sign of a new one on the horizon. However...  What's that you say? One special controller for the Playstation doesn't mean much? Well then how about something a little more modern:  There are more than a dozen of these controllers that I could find in different styles for different trains and different platforms. The only one that was remotely affordable was the Dreamcast version which you could pick up for about $40. The rest are priced in the hundreds. I could flood the thread with pictures of them. Policenaut mentioned in the OP that Railfan: Chicago goes for a premium and that's true. I paid about $70 for my used copy. The thing is that the Railfan games are the inexpensive ones. Would you like to drive the Japanese high speed rail on your Wii? Break out two hundred and fifty bucks. And don't forget your train controller for that. The impression I got from browsing these games was that they've got a significant cult following. You won't find many of these games selling for less than 3000 yen for the console versions no matter how old they are. The PC versions tend to be much less expensive at least but not always. (Just as an aside I've run into this phenomena with board games as well. People who love trains seem to be unwilling to part with anything involving them which just drives the price way up after the limited run is finished.) So what do these games play like? Watch my video at the start to see a bit of it but the key is usually time management and juggling track conditions. You have to be at the next station at a precise time; not before and not after. To do this you manage the train's speed but complicating things for you are switches in speed limit and track condition. They're not complicated games and I think that the experience could be replicated well with Flash on the web but at the same time I find them fairly compelling. It's difficult to do a good run of a full line. And it's kind of fun seeing the other cities as you drive the trains trough them. So where's the right place for someone to start with these games? Railfan: Taiwan is probably the easiest for this thread. It's available for not much money and the Asian release is the only one of these two major series to ever get out of Japan and translated into English. The PS1 games have not gotten a PSN release yet (I wouldn't rule it out for the future but this may be a licensing issue again). Beyond that there are a few games you can get without spending a fortune. Densha de Go! Ryojōhen for the PS2 has four different lines, is apparently one of the simpler games in the series, and can be found for less than 2000 yen. Densha de Go! 3 (also for the PS2) has five lines to drive and can easily be found for under 1000 yen. As for the Train Simulator series the only game I could find for less than 3000 yen was Train Simulator REAL which only has one line. I'll leave you with these classy train brochure images from the Railfan: Chicago manual:    
Random Stranger fucked around with this message at Nov 29, 2010 around 12:58 |
| # ? Nov 29, 2010 00:41 |
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Wow, that was pretty cool. I had no idea that Railfan: Chicago had one of those breaking indicators that tells you where you'll stop if you continue at your current speed of deceleration. That makes it a lot more interesting for me... Thanks!
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 01:20 |
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I just realized what the "cup holders" in the train controllers are and it makes them simultaneously more awesome and more nerdy. They're holders for your railroad style pocket watch!
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 01:28 |
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I've got a spare pair of those Play-Asia discount codes. PM me if you're interested.
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 04:55 |
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I have yet another video for you. This time it's a look at Boku no Natsuyasumi 3 or My Summer Vacation 3 (a title I prefer since I won't trip over pronunciation multiple times). It's a dialog intensive game that someone who doesn't speak Japanese can still get a lot out of since the point of the game is to just explore the countryside and have fun. Also the game has a great visual style which continues even into the incredibly cute manual:    If people don't like these let me know. I don't want to overwhelm the thread with them if people don't like it; I just wanted to give some thread content back after taking up most of a page on a share group. They only take me about an hour to toss together (assuming I don't decide to turn it into a pile of  on the genre) and I recorded the game play for a few of them while I was waiting around for someone the other night. So if they're liked I can keep them coming for at least a little while longer.
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 12:48 |
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Anyone have a guide for Cho Aniki: Kyukyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyo Otoko? That game is so drat hard, or maybe I'm just not good at shooting games.
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 13:11 |
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I like news and updates, don't you? Here's some stuff from flying get and other places.
casual poster posted:Anyone have a guide for Cho Aniki: Kyukyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyo Otoko? That game is so drat hard, or maybe I'm just not good at shooting games. The game is supposed to be pretty subpar but every video I see of it has the main character's bodybuilder backup dudes pretty close, not spread out. The official website for MonkeyPaw Games usually has a small starter guide for their import games.
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| # ? Nov 29, 2010 17:13 |
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I have two Play-Asia coupons: Stelas fucked around with this message at Nov 29, 2010 around 19:08 |
| # ? Nov 29, 2010 18:53 |
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Anyone given that Dezaemon Plus! game that popped up on US PSN a try yet? It's some kind of build-your-own-shump game from what I gathered in the description.
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| # ? Dec 1, 2010 00:13 |
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This is a bit of a mini-entry, but anyone for a bizarre craving for digital distribution can now get Assassin's Creed 1 off the United Kingdom PSN for 23.99 pounds. I have no idea how big it is because UK PSN is retarded and doesn't list download sizes.
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| # ? Dec 2, 2010 19:03 |
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Policenaut posted:This is a bit of a mini-entry, but anyone for a bizarre craving for digital distribution can now get Assassin's Creed 1 off the United Kingdom PSN for 23.99 pounds. I have no idea how big it is because UK PSN is retarded and doesn't list download sizes. Also that's a horriffic amount to pay for that game, can get it second hand and sometimes new for less than a tenner these days
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| # ? Dec 2, 2010 21:23 |
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Also Tales of Graces F is now out for those of you who Polite Tim posted:Also that's a horriffic amount to pay for that game, can get it second hand and sometimes new for less than a tenner these days Yeah, it's a bit bizarre especially seeing how they didn't even go back and add Trophy support for it.
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| # ? Dec 2, 2010 21:28 |
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Policenaut posted:Also Tales of Graces F is now out for those of you who Yeah, Asian versions of games seem to almost always be at a reduced price for some reason. The Asian version of The 3rd Birthday on play-asia is $5 cheaper than the Japan version, even though they're both in the same language.
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| # ? Dec 2, 2010 23:58 |
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A great big update involving the PS3's first real Blu-ray shmup title: Mamoru Kun wa Norowarete Shimatta: Meikai Katsugeki Wide Version
I'm thinking of picking this up, honestly. I'm pretty garbage at shmup games but I'd at least like to support the genre on PS3, maybe convince Cave to start sending stuff our way, and hey I could always do with another pretentious import game on my shelf to scoff at ~plebian gamestop shoppers~ with.
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| # ? Dec 3, 2010 18:42 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 10:09 |
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My PS3 arrived from UPS today. I can now finally sit down to some wholesome gardening.  Planning on grabbing Dark Awake and trying that out soon, but ouch, that's gonna be pricey. About $30 in yen for it.
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| # ? Dec 4, 2010 03:25 |
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