The Vlog.....As a blog

I've hit another one of those points in my life where I've let the stream of content drop because of real life things.  I've been trying to do Sunday vlogs but last week and today I'm just far to exhausted to get in front of the camera and try and talk about bullshit so instead of doing nothing I'm just delivering the weekly vlog as a written post.

In terms of what I've been playing it's basically my stream rotation and a little bit of Apex Legends.  I've noticed that in Apex, when playing with with the rare Japanese players that actually have a mic, the idea of a not Japanese person playing on what they think is the "Japanese server" just blows their damn minds.  Every game I've had starts the exact same way with "oh my god a foreigner" followed by "Isn't this the Japanese server?"  They aren't being mean though so it's not exactly a problem.

So last week the reason I didn't make a vlog is because I spent a weekend in Osaka and after all that walking around I barely had the energy to move, let alone record a video.  I was mainly there to visit my family who are doing some kind of cruise around Asia but we spent an extra day there to see some other friends and explore.  While I was exploring I came across a surprising number of little retro game arcades.  I put the pictures on Twitter (@Taurinensis) so go check them out there.  The one thing I quite like about Osaka is that everything is quite close together.  I can walk between retro arcades and they also aren't too far away from the main shopping areas so my wife can go off and do her thing while I'm getting a session in.  Nagoya has some cool retro game places too but they are in the middle of fucking NOWHERE.  I'd have to get a train and trek to one or rent a car or something which is WAY more effort than I really want to put in.

I also just had to take a trip to Silver Ball Planet, a really nice Pinball hall found in Osaka's "Ame-Mura" or America Town.  I've actually done a blog post on it previously so check it out

https://identitygaming.blogspot.com/2016/03/silver-ball-planet-osaka.html 

Finally, I've added Persona 5 Dancing Star Night to my collection and I also received Silent Hill: Book of Memories (yaaaay.....) free off PSN.  I'm also finally getting a new computer soon that isn't a complete toaster that struggles to run Chips Challenge so not only does this mean I'll be able to PC game properly once more, but I'll also be able to improve the content of the blog, YouTube channel and even the stream!

I'll try to stop being a bitch and keep the content coming a lot more consistently once more!  Thanks for the continued support!

Silver Ball Planet Osaka

I realize that content has been a bit thin on the ground recently, job stress, large backlog and a packed schedule has made it hard to find time to write stuff for the blog.  One of those things taking time away from me was a trip to Osaka where I checked out a place called Silver Ball Planet, a huge pinball hall somewhere in the middle of what my friend called the "American village"

I know that strictly speaking Pinball isn't video games but its always been one of those things I've enjoyed.  Granted, my experience playing on actual tables like this is extremely limited but I've always enjoyed the odd stint on a pinball video game and when I do get a chance to play on actual tables it's always an absolute blast.

The place itself is this huge sort of warehouse looking place filled with all sorts of Pinball machines.  Some are insanely old while others are surprisingly modern.  The one that struck me the most was a machine based on The Walking Dead.  I didn't snap a pic myself but here's a image of the layout I got off Google

I mean, I've not looked too deeply into its production but my guess is that it must have been made and released at somewhat recently with the rise in popularity of the comic and TV show.  I find it cool that despite pinball being a somewhat niche thing, they are still making new tables in the modern day, that fact makes me kind of happy.

On the flip side there are machines made from the god knows when old times but the fun thing about these machines is that they were 10 yen per play

Most of the machines were priced, as one would expect, at 100 yen per play but if you were running out of coins then there were a few machines like this priced at 10 and 50 yen per go.  There was one machine that was 100 yen for 4 plays for some reason and if, unlike me, you're good at pinball then one coin can last you a long time.

One of the more video game related things that surprised me a little bit was that sitting next to the Tron pinball table was the goddamn Tron arcade game

It felt a little out of place surrounded on all sides by pinball tables and I was a little busy so didn't have a chance to try the thing but it was cool to actually see an arcade cabinet this old in the flesh.  I'm already planning my return trip to Osaka to play more pinball so this will probably be the first thing I try on my return trip before I start playing any actual pinball.

It doesn't matter if you're a pinball wizard or a piece of shit who just smashes the flippers and hopes for the best, Silver Ball Planet is a fun and cheap day out that I think anyone could get at least some degree of enjoyment out of.  Pinball is one of those games that's easy to get into but has qualities that make it hard to master.  There was an advert in the place for a beginners tournament which made me curse the fact I don't live in Osaka because I would have loved to check that out.  Anyway, to round out this post here are two pictures of the Super Mario tables.

The small shitty looking one

The bigger, more impressive table.  Notice the Space Invaders table off to the right too!

Off to Kyoto and Osaka

The above picture is Kinkakuji in Kyoto if anyone is interested.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a bit of a trip to Osaka and Kyoto with some buddies so for that reason there won't be any updates until I return and sleep off all the fatigue I'm probably going to build up on this busy little adventure.

If you're interested in seeing some of the stuff I'm seeing, follow me on Twitter (@Taurinensis) and I'll be uploading pictures and information about all the stuff I'm going to go and gawp at.

Once I return you can expect the last episode of Silent Bomber AND I'll be announcing my top 5 games of 2013, so you can look forward to that.  Also, now that all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas period is over I hope to start streaming more speed runs and Final Fantasy again, so get your donation money ready for some fun time streams!

Osaka

Well we've had the Resident Evil stuff, and we've had some ranting about shopping bags, now it's time to talk about the city of Osaka itself.

Well, to be honest with you, because of time constraints I didn't really get to see all that much of it, but what I did see I really liked.  I actually felt quite at home in Osaka, I don't know if anyone would agree but to me it kind of felt like someone had taken London and Manchester, smashed them together and them cleaned them up so they looked all nice.

This view somehow reminded me of Manchester Piccadilly

But before I could really take in the city, I was on a subway train heading to an area that had a load of temples in it.  It looked like a place that would usually be quite quiet, but we were fortunate enough to get there on what I think was a festival day, so the streets and temple areas were little with stalls selling all kinds of junk.

The owner was really expecting this stuff to sell?

It was a really nice, vibrant area with a really strong smell of incense coming from the temples as people lit them and said prayers and whatnot.  There was also a really chill garden that you had to pay a couple of hundred yen to get inside, but it was a really nice escape from the festival crowds, and gave some much needed chill time after a day of walking around.

The whole thing was a really nice, chill start to the day that was going to turn into a hardcore shopping trip as we got on another subway to a place called Namba.  I can't remember if I've mentioned it here, but there is a place near me called Osu Kannon, which is this enclosed little street area filled with shops and stuff.  Namba was basically this on fucking steroids, it was huge and we basically spent the rest of the day there and still didn't get through all of it.

Near Namba is a place called Dotonbori, which fans of the Yakuza games might recognise since this was an area featured in Yakuza 2.  It's basically more of the same thing, but they have this famous sign for the Glico company, which makes pocky and shit like that.

So the rest of the day was basically spent shopping, so I won't bore you with details of our shopping trip.  That said, there was a funky little boat ride just near the sign in the above picture, and I recorded a couple of minutes of it before my cameras battery started to crap out, so have a gander at this video!

Following this post, the gaming shall resume!

The Universal Studios Halloween Thing

Well after spending about a day recovering from the walk-a-thon that was my trip to Osaka, it's time to start telling you good people about what this stuff was like.

So I figured since this is a gaming blog, and not a Japan blog, I'd start with the Resident Evil themed stuff and do the other stuff later. 

So first lets start with some bad news, I missed the Resident Evil show thing.  Now this doesn't mean I missed everything Resident Evil related, there was plenty of that going on, but they had a show scheduled to start at 6pm inside the building where they do the Terminator 3D movie thing.  So I rolled up about 30 mins early, thinking I'd get in line for it before other people, and by the time we got there, it was full capacity, and they only do 1 show a day.

But, since it's in the Terminator building, I can go and assume that it's a 3D movie, that involves actors on stage, probably fighting a Tyrant.  If anyone knows EXACTLY what goes down in there, put it in a comment or throw me an e-mail or something, I'd like to know.

The closest I got

Well, albeit a little disappointed, all was not lost.  Not getting into this thing meant we were able to hit the queue early for the restaurant nearby that was doing the Resident Evil themed menu!

I'll put up some more pictures of the food at the bottom of the post, but it tasted pretty good.  I ordered both the drinks as well since I had to try everything.  The mixed herb drink was this soda water thing, where the staff gave you a vial of red herb and let you choose between another vial for a green herb or a blue herb.  Being really tired at that point from the day at the park, I went for the green herb and it tasted pretty good, was sort of fruity.  The Berkin G drink was a whiskey highball (whiskey and soda water) that had a piece of liche in it, made to look like William Berkins eye after he took the G virus. (More food pics at the bottom)

This is where the whole eye in the drink thing comes from

Once we had finished eating and got back outside, shit had popped off.  The area of the park near the restaurant had become this Resident Evil themed show type thing, with various monsters such as Nemesis and a Hunter walking around on a stage.  There was also zombies shambling around the crowd, scaring the shit out of unsuspecting onlookers.

Occasionally, the on-stage monsters would hop down and start terrorising people too

The zombies were all over the park, changing attire as you got near the different rides, so near Waterworld they were all in scuba gear and so on.  This idea for a "show" or was actually pretty good, since the zombies were in the crowd, people would start panicking when accidentally bumping into other guests, so the whole thing was really fucking with people.  On top of the zombies, there was a RE2 Claire Redfield running around too trying to gun down would-be attackers of the crowd

The last thing to mention about the Resident Evil stuff was the big projection they had on one of the walls.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the city area from the start of Resident Evil 3. 

So that's about it really for the Resident Evil stuff, there was some other stuff going on around the park but that was all full capacity too and the wait times for the "horror versions" of the rides were insane, and riding one of them would have resulted in us being late for the Shinkansen.

I'll throw up some more pictures, and right at the bottom I'll put a video up too! Enjoy!

Jill was milling around too

The Berkin Drink

Full HP

Supposed to be a brain

Hunter

Licker, Really hard to get a good picture due to distance and crowd confusion

 VIDEO!

Going to Osaka! and some more Panzer Dragoon!

OK! So tomorrow morning I'm going to be getting up bright and early and fucking off to Osaka for a while.  While I'm gone, I don't think I'll have access to an internet connection so I won't be able to make posts for about 2 days, but when I get back you can probably expect pictures and stuff.

While I'm there I'll be hitting up Universal Studios where they are doing their super scary Resident Evil thing

This should be interesting, so even if you give zero fucks about Osaka, there is still going to be something gaming related upon my return!

Also, I have 3 new parts of my Panzer Dragoon Saga Playthrough but there is some audio syncing problems.  Basically,  FFSplit, the recording software, got an update and started recording in MP4 instead of FLV.  This, for some reason, caused everything to fuck up and now it's all out of sync.  I spent a while working on it to re sync it, but I couldn't get it perfect in the end, I'm just not good enough at editing yet.

Well, here they are anyway, it's not THAT bad.