Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2011 (EDIT: now with more pictures!)

The 2011 installment of AnimeNEXT took place June 10–12 at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, NJ and, like previous generations, did not disappoint. Just over 30 minutes from my front door, there’s a familiar air about the con, and the NJ funk isn’t 100% of it. I recognize more people here than I do at any other con, even smaller ones like CPAC, lending to the sense of a wedding where extended family come and mingle more for the reception than the main event.

This was all too noticeable in the presentation of and attendance for the featured guests from Production I.G:: storyboarder and episode director/producer Koudai Kakimoto (pictured left) and animator Satoru Nakamura (center). Neither appeared in the main program guide, and Nakamura alone was brought to people’s attention via a separate Additions & Corrections flyer shared with voice actor Greg Ayres and webcomic artist Dave Lister. Still, the convention did a great job in getting guests of such quality, even if it was for an attendance of 20-some people in the Main Events area.

Organized by Universal Animation, this was the most streamlined incarnation of the fan-run convention I had experienced as con-goer and press. Rights and allowances were immediately explained, schedules were clear, and, despite being crowded, attendance levels did not hinder room or building changes. One drawback of tight scheduling, however, was the lack of grace period between panels. This lack of time meant consecutive panels sharing the same room either had to stop early to pack up, let the incoming panelist set-up during the end of the established panel, or cause the next panel in the same room to start late. The latter was the most frequent, and all three variants lent to an abbreviated experience for panel attendees. As observed with many a panel, there also seemed to be technical equipment acquisition problems and connection difficulties concerning A/V equipment that further delayed eagerly awaited presentations and discussions.

Such delays were minor, however, when you consider the variety of quality panels there was to choose from throughout all three days. Some of my favorites, in no particular order, included the Reverse Thieves’ Best Manga You Never Read (TOKYOPOP Edition), Evan’s Satoshi Kon Tribute, Charles Dunbar’s Kowai: Ghosts, Yokai and Fear in Japan, Japanese Theater, and Suminagashi: Floating Ink. The only drawback to the panels in general was the room assignments. Workshop and panel rooms meant to hold small to medium audiences were at least on a couple of instances (Totally Subversive Toons, These are a Few of My Favorite Scenes) given to panels that typically draw large crowds, leading to long lines comprised of a larger ratio of disappointed than grateful attendees.

The Dealers Room had what seemed to be a good variety of product, some at decent prices, and Artists Alley, as thoroughly covered by Narutaki of the Reverse Thieves, offered up some surprisingly fresh and original wares. Sadly, I never made it to the building where the games were being hosted as I spent most of the three-day convention panel-hopping. To my surprise, the only chance I would have gotten was Saturday, generally the busiest panel day of any con which felt very relaxed schedule-wise. The Reverse Thieves, Evan, and I even found time to sit down to record a mini-podcast (lost forever due to the fickle whim of iTechnology). So in place of that group reflection, I’d have to say AnimeNEXT 2011 was a darned fun time filled with good panels and good people at a great location. There are still kinks to be worked out concerning panel planning in terms of room size vs. demand, but overall the convention is one I will happily return to given its current quality and future potential.

EDIT: Check out Evan's photos from the convention in the Flickr slideshow below! Ink's are available right here.

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AnimeNEXT 2011: CliffsNotes to Fear in Japan

If his regular presentations are to be considered epic poems, then Kowai, Yokai and the Culture of Fear in Japan, is a focused exercise in extended metaphor. Like his other panels examining one particular work (Neon Genesis Evangelion), one particular director (Hayao Miyazaki), or one particular field of study (“fanthropology”) – each taking into account several defining elements and giving supporting examples thereof, Charles Dunbar uses researched cultural perceptions and superstitions across several eras to define an overarching theme of fear regarding the reasons behind the things that go bump in the mind of the Japanese people.


With projector as campfire, Dunbar explains that the sheer age of Japanese culture means that every subsequent generation since the first has had a hand in building upon and inventing new ways to scare themselves and those who survive them. This leads to a culture with a dense history of superstition, specifically one with a ubiquitous focus on the fear of reprisal and retribution. Dunbar, equipped with his PowerPoint Pokédex, explains several types of ghosts along the way, examining nomenclature, common traits, and reasons for existence, and then accentuates select examples by reading aloud from actual tales.

The breadth of types of apparitions (and examples thereof) included in the presentation is impressive, but specific tie-ins to anime are minimal compared to Dunbar’s other panels. Luckily, anime viewers need only take in all the information this panel is offering and then apply it to whatever it is they are watching to appreciate the inherent anthropological aspect. Dunbar does, however, rather ingeniously link Japan’s fear culture with anime, explaining how the latter helps people cope with the former ... or as he so poetically put it, "as if the Japanese build Gundams to fight the monsters." Personally, I would have liked to have seen more insight like that but directed towards what spawned changes in specific fears and the resulting embodiments thereof between eras.

It speaks to Dunbar’s sense of presentation that this panel does not feel like an instructor orally reciting an encyclopedia entry. His intense interest in the subject matter and humorous delivery combine to produce an entertaining and informative initiation into the shadows that haunt the Japanese mindset. This was a great panel, and it was only the initial version. There was even extra time for more theories, stories, and examples, so like most Dunbar panels there are bound to be edits, revisions, and additions to look forward to in future versions. Look for it and request it for your favorite con!

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Fruits of Stalking: Cosplay and More from AnimeNEXT 2011

The cosplay at AnimeNEXT was as colorful as it was plentiful this year. There always seemed to be a seifuku, bright red coat, sword, or neon-colored wig no matter where my head turned. Characters from games and anime series, old and new, were on the scene and ranged from Mobile Suit Gundam’s Char Aznable to Princess Jellyfish’s Kuranosuke in "the" dress. What you’ll see in the photos above are some of the costumes and characters that caught my eye, workshops and panels I attended, and various shots from around the convention center. I’m not a photographer, so I offer you these purely so you can get a glimpse of the convention if you could not attend, or reminisce about it if you did.

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Ani-Gamers at AnimeNEXT 2011

One unfortunate consequence of being late with my pre-con posts is that I lose the luxury of (not) clever titles like "See you AnimeNEXT weekend!" As a longtime punster, this is enough to make me consider founding a convention called AnimeTHIS, just so I can rectify the conundrum by writing "See you AnimeTHIS weekend!" The gag would certainly never get old.

Anyway, now that I've blatantly disobeyed the inverted pyramid of journalism, on to the actual meat of the post. Ani-Gamers will, as usual, be at AnimeNEXT in Somerset, NJ, presenting our shenanigans to whichever fools decide to wander into our panel rooms. We'll also be covering the convention, with both Ink and I attending panels and maybe asking a few questions of some of the guests. (Satoru Nakamura in particular looks interesting.) Other cool blogger folks in attendance include The Reverse Thieves (they're actually staying with me for the weekend), Scott VonSchilling, and Ed Chavez, all of whom will be on panels throughout the weekend.

If you're heading to the con for the weekend, make sure to attend "Satoshi Kon Tribute: Truth from Fiction" (Workshop 2) on Saturday at 11 AM and "Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing" (Panel 4) on Saturday at noon. Yep, they're back to back — two straight hours of more IN YOUR FACE ANI-GAMERS ACTION than ever before. Oh, and Hisui from the Reverse Thieves will be joining Ink and me for Fandom & Criticism. If you need to brush up on your discussion points, why not listen to Ani-Gamers Podcast #032, which is a recording of last year's panel?

Our buddy DJ Ranma S from Anime Jam Session will also be running "Anime Incorrect," an 18+ panel based loosely on Bill Maher's late night show "Politically Incorrect" that will bring together four or five different members of the anime community — including yours truly and the aforementioned Mr. VonSchilling — to talk about topics of his choosing. Sounds fun to me! That's 10 PM Friday night, so you'll have to skip out on the second half of the must-see 18+ Anime Dating Game.

That's about it. We don't have our schedules prepared yet, but we might add them to this post later. Before then, however, feel free to let us know what you want us to cover in the comments section! Any questions you want us to ask the guests or staff?

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Review: Tales of Vesperia (360)

Genres: Adventure, Role-playing game
Designers: Kiyoshi Nagai and Eiji Kikuchi (General Directors), Takashi Hasegawa (Project Leader)
Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360
Release Dates: Aug. 7, 2008 (X360 JP), Aug. 26, 2008 (NA), Jun. 26, 2009 (EU), Sep. 17, 2009 (PS3 JP)
ESRB Rating: T for Teen

Tales of Vesperia is an impressive, original JRPG that follows a sarcastic yet compassionate 21-year-old named Yuri Lowell. The game begins with players watching Imperial Guards fighting rabid animals, followed by the beginnings of a secret plot in the Imperial capital Zaphias. The opening then turns to the Lower Quarter, a poor section of Zaphias whose inhabitants are tormented by the Imperial Guards, where an aque blastia (magical machine to create clean drinking water) has been stolen and is causing chaos. Yuri attempts to retrieve it only to be captured by one of the Commanders of the Imperial Knights, the leading organization that protects the Empire, and he is thrown into jail. Through making his escape, he runs into a noble named Estellise who is trying to run away for her own personal reasons. A very naïve and sensitive girl, Estellise becomes very crucial to the storyline, as the story progresses to become a power struggle over the blastia technology between the Empire, the Guilds, and all who inhabit the planet.

The plot is very original and highly in-depth. The main protagonists stray away from general archetypes, and the voice acting adds a layer of realism and depth to their characters. Special dialogue options triggered with the Select button reveal small discussions between certain characters which brings to life their daily thoughts and feelings. While this may seem a bit useless at first, it does add a new dimension to the plot, revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings in a way without overloading players with cut scenes. These dialogues are shown through boxes revealing the characters involved, and the presentation may appear a little out-dated to some players. Many of their actions reflect the hard decisions between right and wrong, values over necessity, and the storyline forces players to reflect on their own morals, asking themselves what they would have done in such a scenario. There are just as many scenes of laughter as there are of remorse and sadness, and Namco Bandai does a god job of keeping it from becoming childish and cliché while still driving a point home. In the end, unlike most RPGs where the group simply goes their own way to save an unsuspecting population, the protagonists work together with world leaders in order to accomplish a common goal. For such an unrealistic plot, the game’s realistic problems faced, both with individuals and in society, grab players in an astounding way.

Like any JRPG, the game is not just about the main plot; side quests are a must, and in a game that spans 60+ hours, there are certainly some side quests to be accomplished. There are a good number of things to do, such as puzzles, extra exploration, and special monsters to defeat, but the game does very little to present such events. The side quests offer a good amount of extra items, money, and, surprisingly enough, plot, meaning that parts of the main storyline are solved by looking for a side quest players would never have known about. With so many extra cut scenes and information available, it would have been nice if such events were given a bit more advertisement. Instead, they are hidden away and must be followed in a specific order, creating confusion and a bit of frustration for players.

The sights and sounds of the game are very well done. The graphics are very bright, and while Namco Bandai strays away from making the game look realistic, the looks of the game are very sharp and clean. Environments are nicely done, and the music played in each area evokes a certain ethos that contributes to the environment. With four large continents and many smaller areas to explore, the variety of music and atmosphere is refreshing.

Tales of Vesperia utilizes a very efficient system of combat. You initiate battles by running into stationary enemies and are transported to a circular area of combat, where you can use 3-D movement to jump, run, and attack enemies. You can choose to set the battle system to manual, where you control everything, semi-automatic, in which the computer sometimes determines attacks or motions, or automatic, where the computer fights the battles for you. Added to this are a large number of attacks, spells, and items available during combat, which includes moves called ‘Artes’ that utilize Technical Points, or TP. The camera is a bit annoying sometimes during battle, particularly when using 3-D movement, but overall it follows the characters well. At the end of each battle the game lists several properties of the fight, including experience, money, and Grade earned. Some of these properties do not make sense until much later in the game, particularly Grade, which is used at the end of each run to purchase abilities to be used in the next playthrough.

A very large part of the game is synthesizing materials, and Namco Bandai made the system both fun and innovative for players. Each character can be equipped with specific weapons and armor, and by visiting stores around the world, players can enhance older weapons or create entirely new ones, allowing characters to learn new abilities. Accessories to outfits can also be synthesized, which adds a bit of humor to cut scenes. One in particular gives Yuri Lowell a large moustache and old-school pipe, which is hilarious to see when he is arguing with the Commander of the Imperial Knights. Added to this are Titles characters can earn, which sometimes changes a character’s attire, and players can make some pretty interesting outfits. Synthesizing occurs throughout the game, and while it may seem overwhelming at first, the fundamentals are easy to understand, and players quickly learn how to master the system.

All in all, the game is a classic JRPG that features unique content to keep players interested. Despite its length, the game stays fresh the entire way through, and the plot offers enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most die-hard RPG fan. Multiple run-throughs for such a long game may seem tedious, but the rewards are great, and it takes more than one run to truly appreciate the plot of Tales of Vesperia.

[Highly Recommended]

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This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version, purchased by the reviewer.

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Revenge of the iPad Video Game Review Round-Up

Have an iPad? Want to play games on it? Don't want to throw your money around the app store like a madman in search of a decent purchase? You've come to the right place, my good friend! Pull up a chair and I'll give you some more rapid-fire reviews of iPad games!

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iPowa

($0.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

iPowa was released with zero fanfare onto the App Store, and I picked it up day one on a whim. It’s an endearing little puzzle game where you flick a tiny penguin around the screen to collect stars, using bubbles that act as launch pads and various randomly placed power ups to keep from falling off the bottom of the screen and ending the game. There is no overacting structure or plot line, just a fun little time waster with a global scoreboard and infinite replayability due to its randomly generated levels. iPowa has given me hours of enjoyment playing it on the bus, and the low price even includes an iPhone port in case you own one of those as well.

[Recommended]

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War of Eustrath

($5.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

War of Eustrath is a turn-based strategy RPG which very closely follows the mold of Super Robot Wars and Fire Emblem. You control a small number of very powerful but specialized mechs and get thrown into pitched battles against hordes of other mechs as ... you do something or other. I have to admit that while the world is well realized, the plotline is instantly forgettable and I often found myself skipping past the character conversations between battles. This is not entirely the fault of the plot itself — in fact it is quite interesting — but it is horribly copyedited and reads like a Google-Translated version of the original script. Putting this aside, the combat itself is very enjoyable and well balanced except for a few brutal encounters that you will have to throw yourself at over and over again to get past. There is a robust leveling and customization system, as well as multiple plot paths and endings that depend on your choices and how well you play. A rather pricey offering, this game is still well worth a look if you are a fan of strategy games. You may want to wait for an update if you can’t stomach Engrish, though.

NOTE: Since this review was originally written a major patch has been released that corrects many of the problems with the script. The story is still inconsequential, but at least now it is in legible English!

[Recommended]

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Dominion HD

($4.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

Remember the first iPad game article, where I reviewed Strategery, a game much like Risk but not quite? Well, Dominion is a straight-up clone of the modern rule set of Risk with a cleaned up visual aesthetic. If you have ever played the wonderful nuke-em-up game Defcon you will recognize the clean, faintly glowing look instantly. The AI is a bit dense and so the single-player mode is best used as an extended tutorial beyond the basic one provided, or as an exhibition mode to view the different maps provided. Multiplayer is where the meat of the game lies, especially at the time of writing as the game has a dedicated player base viewable via the game browser. There is one glaring oversight however — if, on the first time you start the app, you turn off Push notifications, you are unable to enable them later on. Due to this I now have an abysmal online record as I have no idea when I am supposed to take turns in the games I have signed up to. One upside is that the game is updated frequently with new maps and other goodies, something that looks likely to continue in the future, even if the additions are nothing earth-shattering.

[Passable]

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Warpgate HD

($7.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

This is going to date me, but this game is an awful lot like the old spacefaring game Elite. You are given a spaceship, dumped into an open map, and it's up to you to trade, shoot and mine yourself to the top of a dog-eat-dog galaxy. Sadly, Warpgate does not quite live up to the comparison, as the whole thing feels disappointingly sterile. Even in hostile areas where the locals want your head on a space-pike, things feel very empty and inconsequential. The tutorial plot chain drags out endlessly, both by screen after screen of empty dialog and by the clunky menus and interface. Combat feels almost random and it is hard to intuit if you are succeeding or not, or even if strategy would help more than simple button mashing. All of this is a shame as behind all these clunky elements is a well-constructed core with an interesting universe to explore. Sadly it is slathered in a thick layer of gloop that makes the game unpleasant to play, even excepting the frequent crashes. I would still recommend trying the Lite version if space exploration is your cup of tea, after all inscrutable interfaces are almost a point of pride for the genre at this point. In all seriousness, you may find yourself in love with it and able to overlook the flaws in favor of the depth of experience on offer here.

[Bad]

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Tweet Defense HD

($7.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

I must admit that I am rather fed up with tower defense games, and unless they do something exciting I tend to tire of them quickly. Tweet Defense’s gimmick is that it links to your Twitter account and changes gameplay variables based upon the status of your account. In particular there is a "booster" function where you get a large buff for following a particular account each day. An important thing to note here is that one of the driving forces behind the game is a marketing firm and so this particular game mechanic feels rather invasive and unsettling. But never mind all this, how does the game play?

Well, poorly. First off, the game is bloody ugly. The general design is not very pleasing to the eye and without a spark of originality. The game plays out at a painfully slow pace and it is worth noting that it is a great deal harder if you eschew the Twitter account linking, making this slightly unsavory feature a must to actually play the game. I was honestly hoping for a more inventive use of the Twitter association, such as having enemies or towers procedurally generated by incoming tweets.

I only downloaded this game because it was free for a day, and even for free it feels like a waste of time. The original price of $8 sounds like daylight robbery. Avoid.

[Terrible]

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Uzu

($1.99 – US App Store link – UK link)

This is a bit of a cheat, really. Uzu is not a game, but an experience. It calls itself a "kinetic multi-touch particle simulator" and that's exactly what it is. You tap the screen with one or more fingers and a sea of multicolor particles whirl around the screen in various patterns and motions much like an interactive music visualizer. The effect is amazingly entertaining, and heightened by listening to good music at the same time. I have lost an hour of my life so far playing with the app while utterly enraptured by it. Plus, it's a dollar. I've paid much more than that before for less entertainment, like when I saw Transformers 2 in the cinema. Get this now, and amaze your friends with it.

[Highly Recommended]

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We Rule

(Free – US App Store link – UK link)

I have a theory as to why this game exists. It goes like this: Developers NGMoco took one look at Farmville and the other Facebook free-to-play micro-transaction games and said, "hey we should get in on that too!" The result is a rather daft-looking clone which is more abrupt at demanding you pay money for features and blackmailing your friends into signing up as well, cutting short the tutorial into what could have been an interesting fantasy kingdom sim. The game has an irritating tendency to crash, and this coupled with an utter lack of charm and the horrendous loading times meant that I found it hard to be bothered with playing after my second session was abruptly ended. If you must play a time-sink game, you would be better off playing a more established and well-known example.

[Terrible]

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