First, I have an apology to make. Apparently, I misunderstood the article I read on Dengeki, about Rydia's mobile-phone game. For some reason, I was under the impression that the game took place within the timeframe of the original game, and there being nothing to contradict this directly in the article in question, I presented it as such in the column. I was in error, and I apologize to the audience and to the Bureau of Fact-checking and Verification, who very kindly forbore reinstalling the shock bracelet.

With that said, there's only one more thing of note this week: I love my new scanner. It's light, compact, and makes really nice pictures. You'll be seeing a lot of these in the near future, I assure you. The last three weeks of Famitsu Magazine contained articles on no fewer than twenty different role-playing games, and even after forwarding the more popular ones to other staffers, there's still a lot of material for me to use here in Japandemonium. So, hajimemashou!

Girl Power

A recent survey by Net Asia, an information-gathering company that works through Japanese mobile phone websites, reports that out of just over 400 women aged 15 to 29 surveyed, over seventy percent of them owned one or more video game systems. While this was lower than the reported ninety percent of men in the same age range who had game systems, this was still pretty impressive.

So are the game companies maximizing the potential for this market? It's hard to tell, though I have seen stores do a whole shelf of "recommended by girls for girls" games before. The usual titles and series included many social adventure games, but also several RPGs, including the Atelier, Sakura Wars, and Princess Maker series. This was interesting to find out, at any rate.

Proceed to the Next Level

Corporate sponsorship of sports teams has a long history in Japan, and tends to be far more blatant than in America (yes, that's possible). The Japanese League baseball teams, for example, are all more readily identified by their parent company than by their home city (or even their team name, sometimes). When you read the sports column, they don't talk about the Fukuoka Hawks, the Yokohama Bay Stars, or the ... the... I can't even remember where the other teams actually play, to tell you the truth. The cities just aren't part of the team name. Instead, we have the Softbank Hawks (mobile phone company), Hanshin Tigers (department store), Yomiuri Giants (newspaper), Nippon Ham Fighters (pork products), etc. This has been going on since the late '40s. Quite often, the parent company will sell naming rights to the team's home stadium to another company with which they have business agreements -- that's why the Hawks play at the Yahoo Dome these days.

More recently, soccer teams have started to follow the same route. Not to the extreme that baseball has, but the sale of stadium naming rights has become more common amongst the more recognizable soccer teams in the country. Fukuoka Avispa FC, for example, recently sold the naming rights to Hakata-no-Mori Stadium, legally changing it for the next three years.

Changing it to what? Level 5 Stadium. I guess they weren't content with just making games about soccer. You have to admit, though, it makes for good advertising.

And lo! There was information available about Inazuma 11! With a release date "sometime in the spring" (to quote Famitsu), Level 5 has definitely been busy marketing their latest game release. New characters abound, including school teachers and strange, middle-aged men, perky girls volunteering / forcing themselves into the position of team manager, and your home team's full starting roster on page 4. The hero, as it turns out, is the team goalie. A variety of other scoutable characters can be seen on page 3.

The game's Story Mode seems to focus on the rivalry between the elite Imperial Academy and the underdog Denmon Jr. High. Specifically, someone wants to have Denmon razed to the foundations, and then have the foundations broken into little bits of gravel. If there isn't a big turnaround in the school's attendance, then that might just happen soon. In order to prevent it, something or someone is going to have to find a way to attract more people to the school, raising attendance and leading to better funding. For the player, this means building up the best soccer team possible, and gaining fame at the big tournaments.

If you look closely at the bottom of the second page, you can see most of the Denmon team lying bruised and bloody on the ground after a scrimmage with the Imperials. This might take a while.

Life is a journey, or so some people say. Others describe it as one, big board game, with or without fixed dice. The newest entry in the Dokapon series, Dokapon Journey, strives to be both. A member of the suguroku style of games (e.g. Game of Life, Itadaki Street, Dragon Quest III's mini-game), in it the player traverses the board / worldmap in search of adventure.

And there's much to be had. There is battle and treasure a-plenty. Players can choose between four classes at the start of the game, as well as choose for gender and coloration. Dragoner, Thief, Mage, or Knight -- each brings different skills to the table, allowing for different styles of play.

Speaking of which, there are three game modes available. The first is Scenario Mode, which is where the RPG elements shine through the most. There's a definite story to follow, as well as a cast of supporting characters. The second, Normal Mode, is more board game than RPG, and is multiplayer. One cartridge will allow for download play with up to three other DS players. The third, Battle Royale mode, is another, more cut-throat version of multiplayer

So, where did we put the dice?

With the release of the new Pokémon Ranger - Batonnage, Nintendo has started a different sort of promotional affair. Instead of the usual big events at their Pokémon Center stores, gamers are now able to go to DS download stations at various major electronics and gaming stores across the country, and through them gain access to secret missions. From the game's launch date (and possibly ongoing, since I haven't seen an end date mentioned), the stations allow access to the "Manaphy's Egg" secret mission, and starting April 26th, a Darkrai mission and a Riolu mission are available as well. These last two have a definite stop-date, however -- after June 15th, they will no longer be available this way.

With a song in her heart and a knife at your throat, this Queen of Diamonds, the Steal Princess, is ready for action. As there are more than 140 stages to play through in this game, she had better pace herself.

In these scans, we see a few new characters for this game. There's the fairy-like Kukuri, who has long served Princess Anise's family. There's Prince Leukaon, and the rival Princess Charlotte, who seem to form something of a love triangle with the main character. Finally, we have Kir, a treasure hunter and professional rival.

All in all, this game looks to be far more Action/Adventure than RPG, but the same could be said of many other games on RPGamer. It also looks like a lot of fun, so I'll leave it on my "probably buy sometime" list, for now.

There are a lot of games out there, and it's quite possible to miss stuff from time to time. Here are a couple games I've just recently heard about. One was just announced recently, with almost no information out as yet. The other was apparently announced a month or two ago, but I only found out about it last week.

First, we have Ellark, a new MMORPG in production from Square Enix. The twist is that this is going to be a mobile phone MMORPG. There aren't too many of these out yet -- maybe ten at most. I'm still not convinced that the mobile networks have the bandwidth to really play one right, either. Since we have next to no info on this game, all we can do is speculate, however

Next, we have Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteiru. Literally, the name of the game means "The World Revolves Around Me." From what I've read, it sounds interesting -- instead of the usual angsty young hero, the story's all about the world's most self-centered princess. She's convinced that she's the most important person on the planet, and with her pet parrot and a pair of mimic slimes in tow, she's out to make sure the rest of the world knows it too. As I said before, this is the first I've ever heard of it, but according to Famitsu, this game is #11 on their "Rookie Title Ranking" list of upcoming games. I expect to see more of this game in the future.

Yes, the Gallian Militia is recruiting heavily in preparation for the battle against whoever the other side happens to be. So eager are they to gather new cannon fodder for the front lines, they are offering up some impressive recruiting bonuses to avid gamers in the Tokyo and Osaka areas.

In celebration of the release of Valkyria Chronicles next week, Sega has a special giveaway in mind. Anyone who walks into Akihabara's GiGo store (10am ~ 8pm), or the SofMap Nanba-ten Zaurus 1 in Osaka(11am ~ 9pm) with a receipt for Valkyria Chronicles from one of various major game stores in the area will be entered in the drawing. Prizes include t-shirts, a bag, and a series of collectible post cards.

So what kinds of things are people out there interested in? What famous bits of Japanicana have you always wanted to see? Feel free to write in!

And that's the news from Hi-no-Kuni,

Your man in Japan,

Gaijin Monogatari