Weekly Famitsu #1179
Cover Story
With issue 1,179, Famitsu officially celebrates its 25th Anniversary. This definitely is an amazing accomplishment in a day and age in which the medium of print is slowly dying off; the number of gaming magazines in the US alone that are no longer around are too many for us to count. So, we here at Level Up Video Games would like to offer our congratulations to all the hard-working staff at Weekly Famitsu for their 25 years of work and dedication.
In order to celebrate their 25th Anniversary, Famitsu decided to take a look at the Top 10 Revolutions in gaming history, which they were around for most of.
The first gaming revolution, according to their list, was the beginning of 'Video Game Civilization' from 1983 to 1987, or basically, the advent of home consoles. With the original Nintendo (Famicom here in Japan), the Sega Mark III, PC Engine and others, video games suddenly became something everyone could enjoy in their own homes. Incidentally, the Famicom was released in 1983, and Famitsu launched their first magazine in 1986, so they really have been around for almost the entire history of games.
Revolution number 2, 'The Advent of Gaming as a Social Phenomenon', from 1988 to 1991. Games such as Tetris, Dragon Quest 3 and Sonic the Hedgehog all became incredibly popular, and started to spread into mainstream consciousness, setting the stage for gaming to be the mega-industry it is today.
'The Arrival of the Fighting Game Boom' from 1992 to 1995 is Revolution 3. Street Fighter II, Virtua Fighter, and Tekken all came out during this time period. Enough said.
Revolution 4: 'Portable Game Machines', or essentially, their surge in popularity in 1996. Why '96 you ask? One word: Pokemon. Red and Blue, to be precise. The love the gaming public has for their little pocket monsters has not diminished over the years.
The fifth revolution can be attributed to the millions of tears gamers shed at Aeris' death scene; 'The Evolution of Expression' in video games, or the increased amount of emotions games started to display and evoke from 1997 to 1999, is adequately represented by Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Shenmue.
'The New Form of Action Games', from 2000 to 2001, was largely brought about by the release of the Playstation 2 in 2000. Games such as Dynasty Warriors and Onimusha brought a new level of graphics and depth to this fan-favorite genre.
Revolution number seven is a two-for-one deal: 'Attack of the Western Games and the Rise of Online Gaming'. And yes, it's literally referred to as an attack...or an invasion, if you prefer that word. Halo and Final Fantasy XI are both prime examples of their respective categories.
'The New Generation of Video Games' are represented by Wii Fit and Brain Age, titles that don't quite fit within the traditional definition of a game. These and others like them were released from 2004 to 2007.
Revolution number nine is a continuation of revolution four: 'The Prosperous Age of Portable Gaming'. With games like Monster Hunter and Love Plus sparking a new level of nationwide obsession between 2008 and 2009, I think it's fair to say Japan will never be the same. We have yet to ride a train here where there were not multiple DS and PSP systems in use around us.
Finally, the last revolution is the one we are currently in: Revolution ten, from 2010 to 2011 and beyond, is 'The Games From Here On Out'. From the portable 3D technology on the 3DS to the motion sensing capabilities of the PlayStation Move and the Kinect, the technological advances in gaming that await us are truly awe-inspiring. With any luck, Famitsu will continue its magnificent news coverage as we all journey together into our bright future of gaming.
Weird Games Found Only In Japan
Girls RPG: Cinderella Life (3DS): The latest game from acclaimed developer and publisher Level-5 Games (Dragon Quest VIII, Professor Layton) is actually a remake of its incredibly popular mobile game called 'Kyaba Joppi', in which you play an employee of a hostess club. What's a hostess club, you ask? Well, we'll tell you!
Hostess clubs are something of a cultural oddity here in Japan. Basically they are bars in which you pay beautiful young women in evening gowns to talk with you and serve you horribly overpriced food and drinks. Before your mind goes down that road, there is no sex involved what-so-ever at hostess clubs, only talking. Why anyone in their right mind would pay to have someone talk to them is anyone's guess, but even though the girls don't sleep with their customers, that doesn't stop them from shamelessly flirting with and complimenting them. For middle-aged businessmen that can work over 12 hour days six days a week, dating might be too troublesome, perhaps.
Cinderella Life stars a country girl, which you can create and customize, who travels to Neo-Ginza from her small rural town in order to hit it big. The game follows her career at a hostess club in a castle. So just how do you play game in which you are a hostess? Well it involves talking to the guests, having them order overpriced food and drinks from the club's menu using a slot machine (huh?), all the while leveling up based on your performance and the customer's level of satisfaction. When not working at you are free to explore the town of Neo-Ginza, which is populated with shops that sell fashion items which increase your performance at your job. You can also visit the many restaurants in town or talk and interact with the various residents of Neo-Ginza.
Chalk this one up in the “no-way in hell” category for its release date outside of Japan.
The Games of 2011 Reviewed: January – June
Occasionally, in addition to the 200+ pages Famitsu puts out each week, they sometimes have additional pack-in stories featured as their own mini-magazine. This time, as the title says, the mini-mag is a collection of all the reviews Famitsu has done for every game that has been released in Japan from January until June. Since there have been over 125 releases in that time frame, we are only going to list the top reviewed game for each system. Here they are!
Best DS Game: Dragon Quest Joker 2 Professional – 37/40
Best PSP Game: Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy – 38/40
Best 3DS Game: Nintendogs & Cats – 38/40
Best Wii Game: The Last Story – 38/40
Best PS3 Game: Little Big Planet 2 – 38/40
Best 360 Game: Dragon Age Origins & Portal 2 – 37/40
Hardware Sales: Week of 6/20-6/26
Nintendo 3DS – 27,378 units
PSP – 25,080 units
Playstation 3 – 14,967 units
Wii – 8,954 units
Nintendo DS – 6,677 units
Xbox 360 – 1,853 units
Playstation 2 – 1,183 units
Top 5 Selling Games: Week of 6/20-6/26
Atelier Meruru: The Alchemist of Arland 3 (PS3) – 100, 722 units sold
Steins;Gate (PSP) – 85,918 units sold
Gundam Memories: Memory of Battle (PSP) – 60,189 units sold
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (3DS) – 40,262 units sold
Danball Senki (PSP) – 38,496 units sold
Top 5 Most Anticipated Games: Based on survey results from 6/23-6/29
We hope you enjoyed this week's 'This Week In Famitsu'. See you next time!
Submitted By: Aaron McKeever & Sherrie Blackwell