There's a lot of movies that game video game adaptations and unfortunately most of them are complete shit and aren't worth bothering with. A lot of these games are usually rushed so they can ride the hype of the movie release and as a result play like trash and just aren't worth playing. However, if there's one movie that never got a game that absolutely should have had one it's Battle Royale.
Battle Royale is old as fuck but just in case I'll give a quick synopsis. The movie follows a group of high schoolers as they are roped into the Battle Royale, a death game that takes place on a deserted island. The idea is that each student has an explosive collar on their neck and they must kill their fellow students until only one remains. If they fail to achieve this goal by the end of a number of days then every ones neck bombs detonate and they all die. At the start of the film they are all given a bag with a number of tools and a random weapon and then they are let loose on each other. It's a really good movie and I'd suggest that you go watch it if you haven't already.
Why has no one considered making a game based around this concept?! In an age where multiplayer shooting games and roguelikes are stupid popular you think a game like this would be in a good position for a video game adaptation. The best part is that it wouldn't even have to follow the movie that closely strictly speaking.
You could just have the player on an island with a randomly generated set of equipment running around trying to kill other players. The layout of the island could be random as well as the equipment and survival elements such as finding food/water and other resources could be a core part of the game play. If you did want to follow the movie you could give players the option to band together and try and beat the game itself but then there would have to be some kind of meta game going on to stop people just doing this every fucking time.
My rough idea probably isn't all that good but I imagine if a group of talented developers sat down and thought about it a Battle Royale game (or game with a similar theme) would be really fun. Playing a game like this online would also be really fun I imagine so I'm hoping someone stumbles on this post and steals the idea.
Gaming is a pretty expensive hobby, or at least it can be if you want to stay completely up to date with the latest stuff. To offset the strain on ones wallet, people like to buy games used rather than new since the used price is obviously going to be a bit cheaper than brand new.
What I'm basically trying to say in a really long winded way is that I have bought a lot of used games over the years. A lot of those used games in the last couple have been from Japanese stores that sell retro stuff like NES and Super NES games. Since coming here and dealing with the used game market in Japan, it's quite clear that Japanese people (generally speaking) take WAYYYY better care of their shit than they do in the UK.
I bought so much shit in the UK that didn't work that I almost developed a fucking phobia of buying games used from GAME or CEX, the condition of some of those discs was fucking atrocious. I still remember one time during my teenage years I bought a used copy of Shadow of Memories on PS2
I took that shit home, opened up the box and I shit you not, the fucking bottom of the disc was fucking COVERED in Jam (that's Jelly for you Americans). I mean how the fuck did that even get taken by the store in that condition and HOW THE FUCK did no one in the store think to clean/test the disc before they took it?!
Needless to say I cleaned the shit out of that disc but even when I took the jam off it, it still didn't function. What makes this story even worse is that I swear to God I know the guy who traded it in because he is the only guy on earth that has the capacity to smear a game in jam and not give a fuck about it when he goes to trade it in.
There have been other examples of this shit too, like when I bought a copy of Kingdom Hearts new and GAME tried to fob me off with a used copy. When I took it home the game would fucking freeze when leaving the first island so I had to take that shit back and get it traded for an actual new copy like I fucking paid for.
Then there was that one time I bought a old PC game from a Gamestation in Manchester called Pool of Radiance. I got home and opened the box and there was a different fucking game in there called P.O.D
The icing on the shit cake with that one was that when I took it back to the store, they didn't have any copies of Pool of Radiance left! Of course I didn't want to just give up on that damn game so I ended up spending £10 more getting another copy from a different shop and when I eventually did get to play it, I remember thinking that it was a bit shit. Still though, I wasn't very good at DnD style RPGs back then, so I'd like to hunt it down and try again at least.
Let's contrast this with Japan
That is a copy of Metal Gear Solid for PS1 that my friend got from a used book store. The discs were immaculate, not a single blemish on them at all. The demo of Suikoden on the bottom there was also immaculate. Just to top it all off, it even came with a sheet of fucking stickers in PERFECT condition, it's as if the previous owner didn't even open the fucking thing the condition was so good.
Hell, just take another look at my new retro haul video
In that video I show a copy of a game called Sangokushi 4. The game is fucking boxed with all the little pamphlets and the manual in absolute perfect condition. On top of that the game came with the original fucking map that looked like it hadn't even been touched and this thing only cost me like 200 fucking yen. If something in that kind of condition was available in a UK store it would be priced out the arse.
On top of that, in my local retro store I have seen the staff taking the old cartridges off the shelf so that they can clean them and put them in new plastic wrapping. When I say clean, I don't just mean they give the underside a blow and then re-wrap them, I mean they properly get the fuck in there and give them a good clean and test before putting them back on the shelf.
I mean Japan isn't perfect, they do tend to overprice on a lot of shit, especially in these specialist retro stores. Like the other day I found Silent Hill for 1500 yen, but a few months prior my friend had found another copy in a different store for 500 yen. You really have to be careful not to get totally ripped off when buying retro games in Japan.
Still though, Japan is way better than England when it comes to dealing with and purchasing used games. Fucking sort your shit out England
Are you fucking serious? Please tell me this isn't serious.....
The above picture may seem like a terrible photo shop, but apparently it's a real thing. For anyone who's reading this blog outside of the UK, GAME is the countries biggest game store, or at least it was when I was living there.
It's basically the equivalent of Gamestop in the US or Sweden or whatever. You know what I mean, you walk in and the staff don't know diddly shit about anything at all. If you ask for something that isn't a big name AAA title they give you this horrible look because they actually have to pick up the stock book and do some fucking work. You walk in and buy used games and when you get them home they are all scratched up or have fucking jam on the disc (true story). Idiots behind the desk will judge you based on what you're buying or what stupid piece of crap DLC you decide to pre order or not (another story for another time), basically fuck GAME, stupid piece of shit.
So the idea behind this can of fuck is that "gamers" can't be arsed to get off their arse for an hour or 2 to go and have Christmas dinner so GAME have released an entire Christmas dinner in a tin with the idea that you enjoy it over the course of the day since the thing comes in layers or some shit. It looks fucking vile and the can looks like that brand of cat food, Whiskaz or some shit, who wants to eat something that looks like catfood? The whole thing is only £1.99 too apparently, according to the daily mail, so you know it's going to taste like absolute shit.
Here is my problem with this though, cooking isn't hard, like at all. Any sack of shit can cook something halfway decent and for most things it doesn't even take that long to do so. Even when I cook something like bolognese sauce, which requires it sit there for 5 fucking hours to gather flavour, the preparation to get it to that stage takes about an hour, tops.
Back when I was a university student, I was convinced I couldn't cook. I would eat ready meals and I was so inept at it that I didn't even want to boil pasta because I was worried I'd overcook it and just waste my time or some shit. Then I went and got a girlfriend so I decided I can't just remain inept forever, and after a short time just simply googling a recipe and trying to follow it, I made something decent in about 30 minutes.
Now, a few years later it turns out that cooking is actually really fucking easy and quick and with the power of google and the nearby supermarket there isn't really anything I can't make anymore. I'm happy that I developed a new skill, my wife is happy I can now cook pretty good food and my body is happy because anything I make myself is guaranteed to be healthier than anything that comes out of a fucking tin.
So GAME, fuck you and fuck your stupid Christmas dinner in a tin bullshit. Cooking Christmas dinner isn't even that hard, and I'm saying that as someone who lives in a country where most of the population doesn't own a goddamn oven. I wouldn't be surprised if it really was just a can of Whiskaz with the label changed.
Absolutely disgusting, just like your shops and service.
