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Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Console Chat => Topic started by: lukester on June 02, 2013, 10:14:07 AM
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I found this on Hardcore Gaming 101. Pretty cool! :)
"5/28/13
John Szczepaniak, longtime contributor to HG101 (his official title is "Senior Editor of the UK Desk" per the masthead at the bottom of page) has begun a Kickstarter for a book project called The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. His goal? To travel to Japan and interview as many Japanese developers as possible. So much of retro video gaming comes from Japanese-developed game, but first hand resources on such material is, even today, rather rare. John's project seeks to rectify that. And he's definitely the right man for the job - it's always impressive how he's managed to find some of these folk, and I often turn to him for advice to conduct interviews of my own. So check it out, spread the word, and help make it happen!"
Linkie: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1748556728/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers
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LOL, that's guy's articles flat out suck. Recently he did an article on Bulk Slash. He found my old FAQ from years ago, and asked me to send him screenshots for it. And he couldn't even be bothered to properly finish the game, so it has lots of "according to guides.." And let's not forget his horrible Rayxanber review. Pay to send him to Japan? rolf.
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Yeah, I don't see that kickstarter happening or being very good.
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This is pretty cool. I'm not sure if I've ever read anythng by this guy. Heading off now to read some of his work before deciding to contribute.
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Lol, if he hasn't even the funds to travel to Japan, how will even turn out a book like this? You can't buy professionality by some kickstarter monies.
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Lol, if he hasn't even the funds to travel to Japan, how will even turn out a book like this? You can't buy professionality by some kickstarter monies.
If he really wanted to do this, he should have local peeps in Japan do the interviews, that would save a ton of money. Or better yet why not just use Skype? Why does he even have to go there in person?
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Why does he even have to go there in person?
Because he want to. And because he has not enough money to do so, he came up with that glory idea of a kickstarter project, which may give him the required money to do so.
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So, we need to give some goon on the internet money to go hopefully interview people who he may not even be able to locate and talk to?
Yeah.
No.
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For the most part, anyone who wants money before they've starting writing the book is...not going to pull it off. I would LOVE a book like this, but it's only going to happen when someone who is already connected and knows these people compiles a bunch of stuff he already has. Japanese don't just poor their deepest secrets out to random gaijin.
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I want to write a book about high end escort girls, guys I need just a few hundred K. Full report and pictures and all, nice and glossy. :D
Neat idea, but REALLY?
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John Szczepaniak isn't just some random gaijin; he has written on-line and for Retro Gamer magazine for a long time, including interviews with Japanese game producers, so I'd say he's more qualified than your average Japanese otaku pulled from 2ch.
That said, I think his writing style veers more towards GameFan-style elitism than necessary. On the other hand, conducting an interview is a totally different process than raving over FM-Towns-games-that-you'll-never-play-neener-neener, so I'll give him a chance (but not actual money.)
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I want to write a book about high end escort girls, guys I need just a few hundred K. Full report and pictures and all, nice and glossy. :D
I'm all for this idea.
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I personally detest this man, he's vile, bigoted, fanatical, arrogant, just plain disgusting, and would never give him a dime, no matter the cause... Hate to see him actually raise money, but oh well. To me, this is Psycho John Schizomaniak (and NOTHING more), as I prefer to refer to him... I'll happily elaborate on my feelings here...
See, Psycho John was responsible for spreading 1) the lie that I was trying to stop Ys IV from ever being dubbed, and 2) the bizarre claim that I was trying to specifically make just the Ys IV text patch disappear from the Internet a couple of years ago...
It was right when I met GeeMac32bit and announced a 2nd Ys IV dubbing project attempt that he immediately wrote this big hit-piece about me on HardcoreGaming 101's blog section. He had Communist Hammer & Sickle images mixed in with the Ys IV title screen among other things and was attacking my criticisms for freeloading and so forth. But like the utter f--king incompetent moron that he is, his opening claim of me trying to make my Ys IV patch disappear was preceded by a link to my website and as soon as you'd click it, you would see a Download panel with the Ys IV patch RIGHT F--KING THERE! So I contacted Kurt Kalata, the owner of HardcoreGaming 101 and pointed all this out to him, LIKE WHAT THE F--K WITH THIS GUY and he deleted MOST of that f*cking page - it's right here - (http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/10/ys-iv-dawn-of-ys-fan-dub.html) and mildly apologized for him!! The a$$hole could never do it himself. The first paragraph issues a weak correction "We apologize for the error" but good enough.
Unfortunately, because of this f*cking a$$hole, I still have other a$$holes specifically claiming I was trying to make the Ys IV patch disappear in this 2008 early '09 time period. In fact, there's somebody *right now* on the Neo Geo Forums making this very claim, and it's all because of this *f--khead* right here, his complete lack of desire to fact-check a damn thing (ONE f*ckING EMAIL TO ME WAS TOO HARD!) and the respect/influence/reach of HardcoreGaming 101!!!!
Recently, he ripped BurntLasagna's head off in a fit of rage because of what I dared to write about the bastard in the Ys IV Dub ReadMe concerning that incident and how BL was supposed to have swooped down and censored my comments for him! His reputation was being "slandered" you see, something that was OK to do to me a couple of years prior... He's such a thin-skinned menace, that for the 3 sentences of what I wrote, he threatened BL, claiming he was gonna "contact the authorities" if his name and the GamesTM/HG101 references to where he's worked weren't removed! Unfortunately, BL was successfully intimidated by this f*cking low life and asked me to agree to remove the f*cker's name from the ReadMe...
Context for all this ? It goes back to '08, I had lost my web space, and I was using a free, single page provided by Microsoft at the time as I had explained in the first post on the page. People asked me mostly about where to get the PC patches and a few months later after realizing I could use MediaFire to freely host them, I uploaded them and provided the links. That was on June 2008, a post that was like this. (http://blog.ysutopia.net/?p=111) On December, 6 months later, I uploaded Ys IV and Xak III... Unfortunately, this piece of shit f*cking a$$hole was apparently looking for the Ys IV patch in November and naturally didn't find it on my page. He, in all his brilliance, concluded this was a plot on my part to get rid of my least valuable patches while continuing to host my more valuable PC patches (Ys I & II Complete etc.) if you can figure that out...
So long story short, and a recap, I added those NEC patches in Dec '08, they weren't in demand, so yes, I took my sweet time, I meet up with GeeMac32bit in '09, announce another dubbing project attempt, and then the very next day, he immediately writes a hit piece about me on HG101 about how I'm trying to make the Ys IV patch disappear from the Internet and trying to STOP GeeMac! I contact Kurt Kalata, he deletes most of it, apologizes, and the bastard in question was never heard from again, that is, until BL and I finished the dub patch late last year in 2012 and he saw what I wrote in the ReadMe about what he did '09... So what did I write that he had such a meltdown over ? This:
... I cautiously posted about the good news on my site, but for my troubles, the very next day, I was “rewarded” by an Ys “F.A.N.” that popped up over at HG101, a John Szczepaniak (Sketcz), some hack who works at a UK Gaming Mag (GamesTM), who made a blog post claiming that I was trying to make all of my Ys patches disappear and that I was actually trying to stop, NOT help, GeeMac32bit! That was Sketcz's “donation” to me for my announcement, the proud member of the “99%” that he is... Heh. All I can say is, be afraid, be very afraid, that someone like this has a job at a gaming magazine doing “reporting” of any kind.
So that's the paragraph above that Johnny boy couldn't handle, being so unable to take a taste of his own medicine, and he wanted to "contact the authorities" to get it deleted if either BL or myself didn't do it!! Yeah, I forgot, that was the other completely made-up claim, that was I trying to stop GeeMac32, who didn't have ANY tools, or knowledge and was simply trying to make dubs for use on Youtube so you could watch all the voice acting scenes there... That was his idea before I contacted him and announced we'd be working together to actually put the dubs IN the game, you know, so that people would actually give a shit, etc.. Nobody was gonna play the f*cking game and then run to Youtube for the translation... But yeah, according to Psycho John, I was trying to STOP the guy!
So yeah, he's a lazy, incompetent, lying hack that runs his mouth before bothering to check his facts and will outright lie about someone that he hates! Plain and simple! Never ONCE did he fire off an email to me to check ANYTHING before "reporting" it... That's what you're dealing with here! As far as I'm concerned, he can f*cking choke on a sword! Period. This is an above-average, arrogant, lying a$$hole and I don't give a f*ck about his work. He thinks his accomplishments, like the Ys article he did for the GamesTM magazine, should totally protect him from criticism, mine in particular, but it's hypocritically OK to assault my character because he's a "journalist" and blah blah, etc. Forget it, I'm not gonna explain the logic he was employing there, but you get the idea.
Anyway, f*ck this f*cking piece of shit! f*ck HIM! Pardon my French! I never finished my op-ed here of him (http://www.ysutopia.net/forums/index.php?topic=415.0), but I still should eventually! I never properly returned the favor for what he did, interfering 2 times in the Ys IV dubbing project. Both times was when he reared his butt-ugly f*cking head to cause drama with me! You should see the vile he wrote about me in another forum (AND against BurntLasagna) and it was at "romhacking hacks.net" where he declared his support for cracking protected patches so he can always get them for free! It's safe to assume he supports the GameFAQs a$$hole, Pruvmerong, that leaked my Felghana patch in 2007.
So, we need to give some goon on the internet money to go hopefully interview people who he may not even be able to locate and talk to?
Yeah.
No.
"Goon" sums it up.
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Wow. Anyway not surprised. The email he sent me a few months ago "requesting help" for his Bulk Slash "article" was more of a demand then a request. And clearly written in about 5 mins time. Very unprofessional, though I assume he's a lot more polite with people he actually wants to talk to. I've only read some of his Hardcore articles, and you can really tell when he's just trying to blaze through a game as quickly as possible. I suppose that's the cost of trying to write an article a week about games you've never played and on systems you've never owned....
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That Rayxanber article sucked so bad. It was not only just a bad review of the game it was written horribly. I'm not too well spoken myself but I know shitty writing when I see it. I wouldn't pay this dude to do this ever.
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I personally detest this man....
I remember you talking about the clown before - f*ck him and big floppy clown shoes.
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I don't have any cool stories about this guy, and I think taking money for a book you haven't written yet when you aren't an established author is a recipe for disaster, but this article:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/nausicaa/nausicaa.htm
Was pretty cool and educational, at least for me. It might be full of mistakes as far as I know, but it seems decent and it did at least attempt to answer many questions I've been wondering about for decades.
I think there are too many articles on this website now. Too much pressure to create content on a regular basis, which is likely leading to a downturn in quality.
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I know you guys apparently hate this dude, but...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1748556728/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers/posts/520177
Love him or hate him, I'm really interested to read these interviews, assuming he comes through with the book.
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OHROLF!
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I hope this book comes to fruition. It sounds fantastic.
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Man Hodor could have written better articles than this guy and thats not saying much.
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Ah damn, he made it!
How does kickstarter work anyway ?? Like, if he didn't quite make it the first time, how easy is it to repost the idea again (time restricted?) but with an amount that was about how much you got pledged the last time you tried ?
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Ah damn, he made it!
How does kickstarter work anyway ?? Like, if he didn't quite make it the first time, how easy is it to repost the idea again (time restricted?) but with an amount that was about how much you got pledged the last time you tried ?
AFAIK you can keep trying as long as you want, but obviously you don't carry over existing pledges. I've seen a few go for round 2 at lower total goals and make it.
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I'm surprised about your statements about him, NightWolve. He seemed such a nice guy, but he really fits the description of "doing a review but not even playing the game" that Deadite said, because I figured out most of that crappy PC-88 Nausicaa game within 15 minutes, and I didn't capture a screenie of the oh so mysterious gliding minigame because it crashes on all emulators I've tried in this part. I even made a map of all items and paths of the """game""" with another 15 minutes, he seemed surprised as if I played a huge game for days straight, which sounded like he only played the game for half a minute to prepare his article. Sure it is an unbearable piece of crap, but still.
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I'm surprised about your statements about him, NightWolve.
His hate for me developed in November 2008 as best as I can figure when he couldn't find my Ys IV patch on that single free webpage I was stuck with at the time (it was free web space from MS, like Googlepages). I only had my PC patches available on mediafire links, no NEC/PCE love at the time... :( That led to him running around claiming I was trying to make that Ys IV patch "disappear from the Internet," one of his many issues with me. Emailing me to ask for that patch was too much work for him to do apparently. But the issue is far more than that, it's an ideological/political type of grudge that you see in the Left/Right divide where we really hate each other, and so that led to him writing a hit piece on me on HardcoreGaming 101.
Anyhow, he's only ever showed me his nasty side, so that's all I've had to judge him by. I can tell you he never once contacted me to verify ANYTHING. If I was trying to stop GeeMac32bit from running another Ys IV dubbing project, what were my reasons for doing so ?? Where were the quotes from GeeMac32bit to verify this accusation ??? This guy is a journalist, and he just made completely false statements without bothering to back them up! Kurt Kalata, HG's owner, just deleted most of it and issued a correction. I am an a$$hole and I do get ugly, so sometimes those that read my rants and vehemently disagree wanna "stick it to me," he was one of them that did so, etc. He didn't care to fact-check though! He also dropped a lot of venom against BurntLasagna here (http://seldane.proboards.com/post/182220/thread) because I called him out about this in the Ys IV ReadMe.
Anyway, off he goes to Japan! Kickstarter, wow... I should look into that sometime is all I can say!!
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Farkstarter. Seems that even a bum can start a petition and wins a ticket to anywhere he likes to go, meet some peeps and perhaps then releases a bookm when he feels like..lol.
Even Peter Farklyneux put up projects on farkstarter, if he hadn't cash enough to rise up the funds he needs.
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Damn.
1100+ people are shortbus.
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STATUS: I will be selling lemonade and Chex Mix (my daughter scooped individual portions into plastic sandwich bags) at the corner of DeForest Ave. and Kelly Street this afternoon to help this accomplished author (artisan) journey to the west.
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Here's the part of this that I love the most. He states he has contacts, has people who want to be interviewed. But he hasn't done so. Now it's the year 2013, he could do Skype interviews for free. And I'm sure it's far cheaper to have a professional translator join a skype session, then to meet you publicly. So the whole point of this kickstarter is that he personally wants to go to Japan. I have no issue with this, but why the f*ck should the world pay for it? This isn't about helping him do this project, this is about him getting his personal dream on a free ride.
And again based on what he's written, I have a feeling this book is gonna be quite uninteresting. f*ck this hack.
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STATUS: I will be selling lemonade and Chex Mix (my daughter scooped individual portions into plastic sandwich bags) at the corner of DeForest Ave. and Kelly Street this afternoon to help this accomplished author (artisan) journey to the west.
Now this is a venture I'd support. Le Turbob Doodle goes to Camp California?
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So does that mean I can start asking for money to go to Japan to search for Time Gal for the Laseractive? I swear some people are stupid...
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So does that mean I can start asking for money to go to Japan to search for Time Gal for the Laseractive? I swear some people are stupid...
Well if you come here you're welcome to watch me play mine. But no fapping!
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Here's the part of this that I love the most. He states he has contacts, has people who want to be interviewed. But he hasn't done so. Now it's the year 2013, he could do Skype interviews for free. And I'm sure it's far cheaper to have a professional translator join a skype session, then to meet you publicly. So the whole point of this kickstarter is that he personally wants to go to Japan. I have no issue with this, but why the f*ck should the world pay for it? This isn't about helping him do this project, this is about him getting his personal dream on a free ride.
And again based on what he's written, I have a feeling this book is gonna be quite uninteresting. f*ck this hack.
yeah I mean, phone interviews occurred in the 80s. This dude should do it the right way.
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Here's the part of this that I love the most. He states he has contacts, has people who want to be interviewed. But he hasn't done so. Now it's the year 2013, he could do Skype interviews for free. And I'm sure it's far cheaper to have a professional translator join a skype session, then to meet you publicly. So the whole point of this kickstarter is that he personally wants to go to Japan. I have no issue with this, but why the f*ck should the world pay for it? This isn't about helping him do this project, this is about him getting his personal dream on a free ride.
And again based on what he's written, I have a feeling this book is gonna be quite uninteresting. f*ck this hack.
yeah I mean, phone interviews occurred in the 80s. This dude should do it the right way.
Call me crazy, but phone interviews may have even occurred prior to the 1980's! (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.png)
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Here's the part of this that I love the most. He states he has contacts, has people who want to be interviewed. But he hasn't done so. Now it's the year 2013, he could do Skype interviews for free. And I'm sure it's far cheaper to have a professional translator join a skype session, then to meet you publicly. So the whole point of this kickstarter is that he personally wants to go to Japan. I have no issue with this, but why the f*ck should the world pay for it? This isn't about helping him do this project, this is about him getting his personal dream on a free ride.
And again based on what he's written, I have a feeling this book is gonna be quite uninteresting. f*ck this hack.
yeah I mean, phone interviews occurred in the 80s. This dude should do it the right way.
Call me crazy, but phone interviews may have even occurred prior to the 1980's! (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.png)
Only the elite had phones back then... stop bragging.
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Resurrecting this necrothread...
So I've stated earlier that even though everyone's not a fan of this guy, the material he's writing about was compelling enough for me to want to at least purchase the book to read the interviews (with the likes of quintet, game arts, konami, etc).
I was not prepared for the level of douche this guy is. Like, next-level douche. I don't know how this guy functions with other human beings. I should post some of the kickstarter updates - he's been ranting about his interpreters for weeks now, calling them out out BY FULL NAME (practically giving out their phone numbers and addresses) and saying horrible things about them because of some perceived slight against him.
Crazy shit. Still interested in reading the interviews though, heh.
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Please share teh lulzy drama!
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Resurrecting this necrothread...
So I've stated earlier that even though everyone's not a fan of this guy, the material he's writing about was compelling enough for me to want to at least purchase the book to read the interviews (with the likes of quintet, game arts, konami, etc).
I was not prepared for the level of douche this guy is. Like, next-level douche. I don't know how this guy functions with other human beings. I should post some of the kickstarter updates - he's been ranting about his interpreters for weeks now, calling them out out BY FULL NAME (practically giving out their phone numbers and addresses) and saying horrible things about them because of some perceived slight against him.
Crazy shit. Still interested in reading the interviews though, heh.
Thanks for this actually! I'm glad it came from another source than myself since I have a very negative personal connection to him and my view is not gonna be given as much merit.
This guy is just no good, period. As I talked about, if he hates a target enough, he will happily concoct 100% lies about that person! He's a complete a$$hole in the purest sense with a severe lack of integrity. You're supposed to get a little better than that from a so-called "journalist" but what you get from him is no different than that of a common GameFAQs troll!
STILL cannot believe he pocketed £70,092 for this boondoggle which equals $115,003 USD!!!! HOLY F--K!!! Throwing this in from his Facebook account, I just can't take the pompous, arrogant pose:
(http://www.ysutopia.net/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=415.0;attach=343;image)
"Hey, I'm an a$$hole, gimme your money (I want $78,410 USD IN TOTAL!), send me off to Japan and I'll write a book that you'll maybe wanna buy from me later!! It's the PERFECT PLAN (for me, anyway), what could go wrong ??"
(with the likes of quintet, game arts, konami, etc)
Can't nobody even get a hold of Quintet last I heard. That actually would be something I'd be interested in. I own both ActRaiser games for SNES and I enjoyed their Gaia series, even that UK-released Terranigma which was a privilege to get to play, but no way would I give a penny to this guy after what he did!
Few know about this history, but the founders of Quintet, two of the main guys, had left Falcom and were actually the creators of Adol and the Ys series! That's apart of their lesser known legacy. Since it was done under Falcom, the IP stayed with Falcom obviously and it became their flagship series, etc. Yuzo Kushiro, the music composer, is another guy that started at Falcom and then left to work with Quintet for a while as well.
But yeah, because of this "journalist," I still got people thinking I somehow wanted to stop the Ys IV dubbing project when that was one of the very f--king reasons I created TurboRip (http://www.ysutopia.net/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&iden=8) for!! He made this accusation the very next day after I announced I found a guy, GeeMac32bit, to continue the project where Justus Johnston had left off - ultimately it was finished when I met BurntLasgna!!
So yeah, this is some kind of videogame "journalist" in action! No questions to me, not to GeeMac, just an a$$hole running his mouth. They'd take him at National Enquirer or something if he wanted it and he'd fit right in! Honestly, I do wonder what shit he might be willing to make-up to sensationalize his book to justify all that money he got... I wouldn't put it past him, and I'm serious about that. Don't think it's just personal bias and something said in anger! (Well, maybe a little! Heh-heh.)
The other thing is he took an interview with my criminal, translating ex-partner, Jeff Nussbaum (AKA DeuceBag), (http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2011/07/history-of-ys-interviews-by-john.html) an interview that was almost fully published in an issue of GamesTM magazine (where John works, a UK mag). Thank God though somebody above him cut out parts of Jeff's libelous content where he took shots at me. I wasn't informed about this, I would NEVER have had the chance to retort, and both of these guys were more than happy to do it, but somebody above John, the senior editor, or whatever, cut out the attacks, all of it, Jeff's use of the leak of the Felghana patch to essentially justify cheating me, and having chosen this avenue to publicly announce we were no longer working together, etc.. This was about ~1 year of direct silence at this point by Jeff, just continuing to play stupid with me about the Felghana script deal with XSEED Games (http://www.xseedgames.com/), no direct communication, but now trying to using John's magazine to "send messages" to me, but publicly... Anyway, this is all a whole other story/drama.
"John has an incredible knowledge and passion on a number of topics which are all too often overlooked in video game history. He also has an extraordinarily meticulous nature and work ethic that has helped turn HG101, both in website and print format, into what it is today."
- Kurt Kalata, Founder, Hardcore Gaming 101
I just found this quote by Kurt Kalata, the HG101 founder and it made me laugh. Kurt had to delete the big op-ed hit piece that John wrote about me because of his pack of lies! I didn't even ask that it be deleted, nor did I yell like a madman that I would be "contacting the authorities" if it wasn't deleted unlike the way that "Psycho John" viciously attacked BurntLasagna and intimidated him into deleting 4 sentences that I wrote in the Ys IV ReadMe about what he had written, the lying, etc. on HG101 when it came to the Ys IV dubbing attempt, etc.
It's A-OK for John to attack people (he's a journalist, it's his job according to him), and not even bother with the slightest bit of fact-checking before doing so, but when you call this thin-skinned bastard out and respond, he has a meltdown, yells like a madman claiming "I will do my best to contact the authorities if you don't delete it!!!"
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houlymangouly!! yeah, moar of drama PLZ :D
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Is doing game reviews on roms and then asking people not to share your work hypocritical?
Sent from my Lumia 520 on Scabb Island using Tapatalk
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With him in particular, yes, given some of the views he's espoused that any unlicensed software should always be cracked when the creators protect it and charge for it (e.g. MagicEngine emulator) cause he knows he's always supposed to get shit for free - he's God's gift to the earth and just by his very mere existence he should get to use whatever software that he wants for no charge, etc.! And yeah, hypocritical in general I think too.
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Thanks for this actually! I'm glad it came from another source than myself since I have a very negative personal connection to him and my view is not gonna be given as much merit.
Here's one of the two updates I was referring to. Now for full disclosure - I'm sure it's completely plausible that he ran into issues with his translators. I'm not calling him a liar on that. I am, however, surprised by his ranting about it and to me it's extremely unprofessional. This type of behavior in business (at least where I work) would get you sued for libel or fired.
I have to imagine though based on this guy's track record with other people that his attitude/sociopathy is 75% of the issue:
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11/21/2013 - "Dealing with Unethical People"
"I had intended to post this report while in Japan (in fact I even considered going to the police), but given certain individuals repeated attempts to derail the project, and acquire emotional insurance should I complain, there were suggestions from colleagues that I wait until I was home - with the interview material safe - before making the truth public.
First, the good news: I have returned, the main part of the mission complete. I have more than the number of interviews promised, plus plenty of video footage, and a lot of exciting secrets. The project was a success, the ingredients mixed, we just have to let it bake.
Now to detail some serious problems I had.
My coordinator Hanako Abe / 安倍華子 (maiden name Hanako Kaku) failed to live up to her part of our agreement, was excruciatingly intolerable, made thinly-veiled threats, and demanded advance payment for services she later failed to provide and sabotaged. By extension her sister Agness Kaku (who was a backer until I refunded her), behaved the same, posting negative messages online, spamming my Kickstarter page, and contacting people on my Facebook friends list in an effort to harass me. I am posting this as a public record so everyone knows what went on. It's long, but it's all here - just the facts.
These two sisters have proven to be extremely vindictive and calculating in their behaviour, and I fully expect them to retaliate. I ask that whatever fabrications they produce, you continue to have faith in delivery of the book as promised. I have audio recordings of meetings, all email correspondence, and signed invoices as evidence.
The background...
Prior to Agness putting me in touch with Hanako to act as coordinator, I was securing freelance interpreters. One came from a reliable source in the games industry - Hanako later referred to her as "the junior". I had other freelancers too. After communicating with Hanako she dismissed my others, but said the junior could work as part of the "elite" group she had hand picked. She would act as coordinator, and I simply had to list a day, time and duration, and for 5,000 yen ($50 / £30) per individual interpreter booking, Hanako would call the interpreter and book them. I went along with it. Later she suggested phoning interviewees to lock down their times, for an additional 5,000 yen fee. I went along with this too, because of the stress of organising things by myself. Interviews would use a mixture of elite interpreters and "the junior" who I had brought on board myself. Different days would make use of different people.
However, problems soon followed. The elite interpreters were not what I expected. Let me use an analogy: a man goes to town to buy the most prestigious, most pedigree race horse available. He then takes it back to his farm to plough a field, but the race horse does not like this.
For all the posturing about her and her colleagues working for the UN, the prime minister, Fortune 500 companies and so on, what I ended up with was some pampered ladies unused to the work I presented, despite paying 80,000 yen ($820 / £500) a day. The high price did not bother me, because I was hoping for the best. From the start I was up front with regards to the work involved. One interpreter, who I used only once, was so terrible I refused to work with her again and received a 50% refund (I had the recording checked with a native speaker, who confirmed the interpretation was appalling). Another interpreter was sickly, requiring a 10 minute break every 45 minutes - and still complained that I overworked her, falsely claiming I "forced" her to work for 90 minutes at a time. Which was a complete fabrication. I suggested to Hanako that if my interpreters were going to fabricate complaints about lack of breaks, I could jot down when we hade breaks and how long they are, so everyone would be happy. Hanako then accused me of creating a hostile atmosphere. The next day she recanted and said that I should keep a record of breaks. This changing of her rules happened continuously with every aspect of the project.
For the record: two of the other elite interpreters were excellent, in addition to the junior, who I should have stuck with from the start. This so called "junior interpreter" was not part of Hanako's private cabal of friends, though they knew of each other professionally, she was an outside person I brought on board and who Hanako accepted only reluctantly. She was one of the best interpreters I had, skilled and with plenty of stamina.
Hanako herself is emotionally unstable, extremely manipulative, and prone to changing the rules of any agreement. Almost daily I would receive complaining phone calls, saying I'm working the interpreters too hard, or the project is becoming too much. She moaned incessantly, berating my work style and the workload I was requesting of interpreters. Fearing the project's failure, I offered her more money to deal with logistics, including all email correspondence, culminating in her requesting a monthly admin fee of 80,000 yen, on top of individual booking and email fees.
On one occasion she suggested that the standard method for interpretation is to book two interpreters simultaneously for 8 hours, and have them work 30 minutes on and then 30 minutes off (meaning a doubled fee of 160,000 yen instead of 80,000 yen). So with a lunch break, that's basically a 3.5 hour day. I stated this was out of the question and she had to stick to the original printed agreement of one interpreter per 8 hour day. Later on she denied ever suggesting this. Hanako also expressed surprise every time I mentioned a single interview would last 3 or more hours. Given the low stamina level of the sickly interpreter I eventually felt forced to book a second person for her particular day - but it would be two interpreters at a half day each. This equalled 112,000 yen (56,000 x 2) as opposed to a single full day booking of 80,000. I soon regretted this decision.
Working with Hanako was the biggest mistake of this project - there are only so many times one can hear her condescending tone lamenting: "But Johhhhhn, this is NOT how they did it at the New York Times!" Or any other number of comparisons.
Hanako kept adding more logistics fees. When I started to become unsettled she had her sister Agness meet me and then lecture me on how I shouldn't "burn my bridges" by complaining to Hanako, and that I should just carry on. Agness warned me about getting blacklisted among the interpreter community if I expressed my displeasure with their ability or her sister's way of operating. Then she gave some warped analogy about how as a backer she was losing faith in the project because I refused to go along with her sister's demands: "if a CEO seems unhappy, then share value goes down", she said. As the CEO of this project, she said I needed to put on a happy front.
The big revelation for me came when working with another completely outside interpreter, a language professor with 25 years experience. They said these interviews were the easiest thing they'd done. Usually for corporate interpretation one is given a 20 page script to memorise, whereas I was just having conversations. I spoke with other people too, and they said if my coordinator is complaining, with those fees and those alleged credentials, then there's something seriously wrong.
The final straw with Hanako came when I received another phone call whining about the 50% refund. My understanding on the phone was Hanako did not want to honour it anymore - I said let's discuss it in person. An online Excel tab sheet first showed it, then had it removed, then reinstated it. Hanako said this "proved nothing" other than she'd made a mistake.
I was tired of suffering her complaints, her condescending attitude, and also her constantly wanting to change the rules of our agreement. So I sent a polite email, telling her to stop this whining and silly nonsense, and to stick to our original agreement which she set out in writing. Or to give me a week's notice. I said I was very displeased with her.
She immediately gave notice, stating that she would consult a lawyer to draw up a Non-Disclosure Agreement that I had to sign. We would meet the next day to discuss things.
I refused to sign any NDA, despite her repeated attempts to persuade me through positive and negative means. First she threatened that the interpreters booked for the remaining week would not do the work unless I signed the NDA. Minutes later she offered to do logistical work for free in exchange for my signing the NDA - "pro bono" as she put it.
The main clause in the NDA was that I could not disclose any information related to our business dealings, the health of interpreters, or the quality of interpretation. I recorded the meeting we had, and to quote her: "I need some guarantee that you're not going to slander me on the net, and use the kind of language you did in your email."
"What language?" I asked. "I read that email three times before sending it. I stand by everything in it."
Her gripe was the term "prima donna" I used. And to quote the immortal Ray Kassar, she was most definitely a high strung prima donna.
Finally she stated that she would speak with the interpreters and - in what I perceived as a thinly veiled threat - she could not guarantee they would stick with the project once she left. I specified that I wanted to keep the bookings with "the junior", which I had paid for in advance and whom I had brought on board myself.
After this I received an email from said junior, stating that Hanako had spoken with her and she no longer felt comfortable attending appointments. Hanako had officially sabotaged my project.
Every booking fee I had paid in advance, for the remainder of my trip, was lost. The other cancellations did not concern me so much (especially not for the sickly one), but this particular junior interpreter I had booked for at least four interviews, and paid Hanako in advance (at least 5,000 yen x 4) for making the bookings, which were now not being honoured because of Hanako's actions. I specifically requested they be honoured, regardless of whether Hanako chose to leave or not.
I sent two emails requesting a refund for these junior booking fees, since I paid for them in advance, the bookings were made, I requested they be kept despite Hanako choosing to leave the project, and then they were not honoured - because Hanako had spoken with the interpreter.
I received no reply to these emails.
My complaint is not the money or the fees, which I willingly paid, but the failure to honour agreements. As for Hanako's choosing to leave the project, it's the best thing that happened to me. Working with her on a daily basis was excruciatingly painful, and she went out of her way to psychologically demolish me every time we spoke.
After she left I went back to several of the original interpretation offers I was given, and found them quite excellent - and without lamenting my inadequacies compared to the New York Times, NASA, the Guam Government, and various Fortune 500 companies.
I will be detailing every yen in the book. Backers who funded me need to know where the money went.
However, it gets worse, thanks to Hanako's disturbed sister, Agness Kaku.
Not long after Agness' lecture to me to keep quiet, around the time Hanako decided to leave, Agness started posting disparaging remarks online about the Kickstarter project, telling people: "It's imploding. There's nothing coming out of there but blame and self-pity. It's physically painful to be around that level of negativity."
Not as painful as enduring Hanako Abe's relentless whining, fabricated complaints about my project's implosion, or having to deal with two ethically and morally bankrupt sisters. Damn right I felt sorry for myself - I had allowed myself to be taken for a ride and then still had to suffer this kind of abuse online.
Then, in a blatantly obvious attempt to gather emotional insurance should I go public, Agness started spamming the general comments section on my Kickstarter page, describing Hanako's donating half her fees to charities for orphans, and asking you to click links and support her. Agness makes a point of describing her as a mom and a professional for the last 20 years. That's wonderful. But being nice to some people does not absolve you of manipulative, condescending and poor behaviour to others. Nor does it absolve the fact that you reneged on our agreement, and that bookings I paid for were not honoured.
In addition, Agness stated: "The best thing you can do with certain kinds of money is to let it go..." which I took as a personal insult. Did she feel the money pledged by you, the backers, was somehow tainted?
I flagged Agness' comment as spam. It was deleted and she soon reposted it without the links. After her second spam posting I raised a complaint with Kickstarter, and their official advice if someone was harassing me was to give them a refund. Agness is no longer a backer, and contrary to what she may say, she is absolutely in no way a "friend to the project". Although she offered to receive a package of supplies I posted to Japan in advance, she very quickly revealed her true colours.
In addition, showing the Kaku sisters for what they are, Agness started contacting people on my Facebook friends list (which I have since made private). On more than one occasion, after Hanako left, I would go into an interview and be asked: "Why is the sister of your former coordinator contacting me on Facebook?" After explaining the entire saga they would express understanding - "It all makes sense now!" I don't know how many she contacted, maybe everyone, but if you're on my list and she sent a friend request or bizarre message, just ignore it. Her FB profile contains the same idiotic emotional spam message that she was plastering on my comments page.
Finally...
I would not recommend Hanako Abe / 安倍華子 (née Hanako Kaku) for involvement in any project. She needs a serious attitude adjustment, and she needs to adhere to agreements - especially when payment is made in advance. Her behaviour when her demands are not met is unprofessional. After refusing to acquiesce to said demands she proceeded to burn every bridge related to my project that she could, claiming that the world of interpreters is so small I would never find replacements. Well I found many, both freelance and through highly respected agencies.
I can only apologise to all my backers for allowing myself to be manipulated like this. I lost a portion of my budget to services which were not delivered, but I also emptied my savings and put £3000 of my own money into this project.
This project has been incredibly exhausting; the workload and the unsavoury dealings with my coordinator and her sister. For everyone who backed though, rest assured I have secured all the material I need. The project did not implode, despite the machinations of nefarious agents, and through sheer stoic endurance I succeeded.
The first thing I intend to do is speak with each of my Guest Editors, to discus their chapters, and also send the video footage to my editor. Depending on how long manufacturing takes, DVD backers might even receive the DVD a little before the book itself.
Now that I've made events public knowledge, I fully anticipate a retaliatory strike and will be keeping all correspondence in case it needs to be made public. The fact that Agness made a point of reposting her spam about her sister and the orphans after Kickstarter deleted the first message, shows me how relentless and sociopathic she is when angered. The Kaku sisters will try to hurt me after this, and I hope that my 1500 backers will be there to witness events and back me up.
Brace for the storm."
---------- CUT ------------
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They said these interviews were the easiest thing they'd done. Usually for corporate interpretation one is given a 20 page script to memorise, whereas I was just having conversations.
I'll be honest and say this kind of alarms me. It seems as if the interviews were not as prepared (good) as they could have been, and he was asking stuff on the spot.
I hope this project made it and is high quality, lots of drama here.
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They said these interviews were the easiest thing they'd done. Usually for corporate interpretation one is given a 20 page script to memorise, whereas I was just having conversations.
I'll be honest and say this kind of alarms me. It seems as if the interviews were not as prepared (good) as they could have been, and he was asking stuff on the spot.
I hope this project made it and is high quality, lots of drama here.
The aforementioned interview with Quintet is one of the ones that got messed up. He's going to re-translate the responses (from the audio tapes) but the issue was that apparently the interpreters weren't correctly expressing the questions, which obviously would affect the responses.
Still should be an interesting read but I hope that they have the ability to reach out to the devs again via e-mail if they needed clarification on certain points. Guess we'll see.
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I'm going to try to speak about something I don't fully understand, but isn't basically his fault for not having practiced a script with the interpreter??? I bet the stuff that was lost in translation was pretty technical or strongly game related, including lots of obscure game company names being thrown around.
My guess is that he didn't plan anything and the interpreter(s) rightfully complained. Of course this is only my shitty opinion on the matter.
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I'm going to try to speak about something I don't fully understand, but isn't basically his fault for not having practiced a script with the interpreter??? I bet the stuff that was lost in translation was pretty technical or strongly game related, including lots of obscure game company names being thrown around.
My guess is that he didn't plan anything and the interpreter(s) rightfully complained. Of course this is only my shitty opinion on the matter.
If he was working on a shoestring budget I'd give a pass on it, but the Kickstarter campaign raised about $115,000 USD. He should have been able to find top notch talent over there with that kind of scratch.
It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but David Munoz was able to use a little over $7,000 (for the Service Games: Rise and Fall of Sega book) to take Sam Pettus' original version, hire a professional editor, finish the editing process, acquire and clear images and copyrights, send out pre-release soft cover versions to backers as a preview, and then produce color and black & white options for e-book, soft cover and hard cover versions of the book, including commissioning a cover art piece. He's done a damn stellar job with everyone on a shoe string budget.
$115,000 should have been enough to get him a month in Japan with room and board and expenses (being budget conscious of course, as I hope he was), equipment, professional translators and interpreters with enough left over to take 6-months to a year off of work to finish up the editing and compiling of the book.
There's always more than you budget for I have to imagine with things like this but $115k is a lot of cash to work with.
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rolf
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/metalgear/agnesskaku.htm
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rolf
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/metalgear/agnesskaku.htm
Excellent find! lololol
Off-topic. I have Hybrid Heaven. Not awful, but environments and the level design got repetitive. I stopped halfway through the game after "the big spoiler" happens.
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Damn, that is some high quality drama.
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Damn, that is some high quality drama.
And it just got more interesting. Now there's a lawsuit. (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html)
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rolf
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/metalgear/agnesskaku.htm
Was there a particular reason the interview was removed, anyone know? It can still be seen from Google's cached version.
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What about that DVD?
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/japandvd/japandvd.htm
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Q: Who's telling the truth?
A: Who cares? Make some popcorn and enjoy.
(ps: i bet it is not john)
And it just got more interesting. Now there's a lawsuit. (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html)
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I don't know who to believe.
I just hope we gain something from the raw interviews themselves (before translators/John tainted the process).
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So it appears he's another French scam-artist. ROLF. Here's hoping he gets what he deserves.
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Frenchies and failure, they go so well together. Like peas and carrots.
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I don't know who to believe.
I just hope we gain something from the raw interviews themselves (before translators/John tainted the process).
Hmm, those would be cool to be released.
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I don't know who to believe.
I just hope we gain something from the raw interviews themselves (before translators/John tainted the process).
Hmm, those would be cool to be released.
Impossible, if you've ever read anything by this ''professional writer'' it's clear he only includes what works for him. And being a Japanese translation firm, they will sue for damages but not violate whatever original contract they had. They would lose too much face if they just did the old fashioned way, hence the lawsuit.
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I don't know who to believe.
I just hope we gain something from the raw interviews themselves (before translators/John tainted the process).
Hmm, those would be cool to be released.
Impossible, if you've ever read anything by this ''professional writer'' it's clear he only includes what works for him. And being a Japanese translation firm, they will sue for damages but not violate whatever original contract they had. They would lose too much face if they just did the old fashioned way, hence the lawsuit.
(http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgsad.png)
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so that john is now a frenchy? or what do I not get? lol
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So it appears he's another French scam-artist. ROLF. Here's hoping he gets what he deserves.
In all fairness to the French, John is a Brit.
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Wow. This seems like nothing more than a get rich scheme. Get 115k US, spend 30K on creating a book (good or bad) and keep the remaining.
I am going to go out on a limb here.....John is f*cked.
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On Kickstarter updates, John Sleazepaniak admitted that he spent money out of the book budget (i.e., money that was given by backers) to pay someone to translate emails from the interpreters, so that he could then whine about their unprofessionalism. And had the balls to complain that the interpeters were using up the backers' money by making him do such things. Of course, he did this in the most hyperbolic way -- by calling them sociopaths, the worst people he'd ever known, and whining about "persecution" (I know a lot of people who would take issue with his use of "persecution" there).
After an insult-filled tirade, John Sleazepaniak then said that he intends to include details in the book of how/why the money was spent, so that backers know what really happened. In other words, he's planning to PUT THIS MADNESS IN PRINT.
And then! After basically saying he's going to smear all these people in print, he acts incredulous in a subsequent Kickstarter update when he finds out that the targets of his wrath don't want the book to be published (no doubt because they were reading his updates).
John Sleazepaniak's posts alone provide enough "facts" for me to decide that he is the one at fault in this fiasco. Hearing the story from the other side just reaffirms it. As far as I'm concerned, HG101 is dead to me unless they kick this goon to the curb.
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On Kickstarter updates, John Sleazepaniak admitted that he spent money out of the book budget (i.e., money that was given by backers) to pay someone to translate emails from the interpreters, so that he could then whine about their unprofessionalism. And had the balls to complain that the interpeters were using up the backers' money by making him do such things. Of course, he did this in the most hyperbolic way -- by calling them sociopaths, the worst people he'd ever known, and whining about "persecution" (I know a lot of people who would take issue with his use of "persecution" there).
After an insult-filled tirade, John Sleazepaniak then said that he intends to include details in the book of how/why the money was spent, so that backers know what really happened. In other words, he's planning to PUT THIS MADNESS IN PRINT.
And then! After basically saying he's going to smear all these people in print, he acts incredulous in a subsequent Kickstarter update when he finds out that the targets of his wrath don't want the book to be published (no doubt because they were reading his updates).
John Sleazepaniak's posts alone provide enough "facts" for me to decide that he is the one at fault in this fiasco. Hearing the story from the other side just reaffirms it. As far as I'm concerned, HG101 is dead to me unless they kick this goon to the curb.
Has this guy written credible stuff at HG101?
I've read a random selection of content at HG101, years ago. I doubt I read much by this fellow (I'm going to verify this in the next few moments)...
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As far as I'm concerned, HG101 is dead to me unless they kick this goon to the curb.
UBERWORD!!
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Kickstarter....sigh.....
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I haven't read all this thread so if I am repeating others comments please forgives.
I received the DVD History of Japanese Game Developers that John made. While the DVD has so many interesting interviews and behind the scenes material I can't shake the feeling I have that John just isn't that great of a person. He seems to me to be pretty full of himself and lacks any real journalistic professionalism. His review of the Rayxamber series on HG101 should have been a dead giveaway. But I would caution anyone here from turning their backs on the site as it is still a treasure trove of awesomeness.
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I haven't read all this thread so if I am repeating others comments please forgives.
I received the DVD History of Japanese Game Developers that John made. While the DVD has so many interesting interviews and behind the scenes material I can't shake the feeling I have that John just isn't that great of a person. He seems to me to be pretty full of himself and lacks any real journalistic professionalism. His review of the Rayxamber series on HG101 should have been a dead giveaway. But I would caution anyone here from turning their backs on the site as it is still a treasure trove of awesomeness.
Was considering picking this up, but at that price tag, idk... :(
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The bastard came through after all. Finally got the book in the mail yesterday - the printing is really bizarre (crazy margins and kind of an old-school 'zine / thrown together look to it) but it's HUGE - 400+ pages of wall to wall text. Couple juicy looking PC Engine nuggets in there from the looks of it too. I'll post some pics when I get a chance. Looking forward to reading it.
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The bastard came through after all. Finally got the book in the mail yesterday - the printing is really bizarre (crazy margins and kind of an old-school 'zine / thrown together look to it) but it's HUGE - 400+ pages of wall to wall text. Couple juicy looking PC Engine nuggets in there from the looks of it too. I'll post some pics when I get a chance. Looking forward to reading it.
Dude, post pics/scans ASAP! Or, when it is convenient for you. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.png)
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I did not know about this project and reading quickly through this thread, reddit, kickstarter and a few blogs, it seems to be a first class clusterf*ck drama :/
All that said, if the material is good and has been correctly translated, it sounds super nice, I'd also love to hear some feedback about the content, namely if it covers 90s game development workflows and practices!
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I never got around to doing a full write up about this, but jeffhlewis called it right about Pyscho John motivating a libel lawsuit. It happened. I was in touch with the husband of the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator and they were sure about his residence and having started the lawsuit properly.
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/
They even let me post my story about my experiences (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html?showComment=1400390464537#c5362871596440974871) with him, always happy to lend a helping hand to a guy like John. ;) He blocked me on his Kickstarter page too. Heh-heh. I just shared my glee about the lawsuit against him, told him I posted my story, and he reported me to the mods, so I got blocked. ;)
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I never got around to doing a full write up about this, but jeffhlewis called it right about Pyscho John motivating a libel lawsuit. It happened. I was in touch with the husband of the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator and they were sure about his residence and having started the lawsuit properly.
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/
They even let me post my story about my experiences (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html?showComment=1400390464537#c5362871596440974871) with him, always happy to lend a helping hand to a guy like John. ;) He blocked me on his Kickstarter page too. Heh-heh. I just shared my glee about the lawsuit against him, told him I posted my story, and he reported me to the mods, so I got blocked. ;)
Yeah I had legit concerns about that lawsuit hindering me from getting my copy of the book. Luckily he got them out the door before any kind of cease and desist. I'm not the biggest fan of this guy personally but I definitely wanted to read the source material because frankly, it's right up my alley (Japanese developer interviews are always must-reads for me and this is a book chock full of them).
But the drama? Off the charts. This whole Kickstarter ordeal has been a non-stop woe-is-me affair with finger pointing, pretentious use of the English language and whiny diatribes. This guy seriously has a screw loose and while I don't know the full extent of what really happened, I tend to side with the plaintiff on this one due to the way he treats people online.
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I never got around to doing a full write up about this, but jeffhlewis called it right about Pyscho John motivating a libel lawsuit. It happened. I was in touch with the husband of the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator and they were sure about his residence and having started the lawsuit properly.
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/
They even let me post my story about my experiences (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html?showComment=1400390464537#c5362871596440974871) with him, always happy to lend a helping hand to a guy like John. ;) He blocked me on his Kickstarter page too. Heh-heh. I just shared my glee about the lawsuit against him, told him I posted my story, and he reported me to the mods, so I got blocked. ;)
Jeez! I didn't really know what was actually going on with this guy. I know Nightwolve had some kind of beef with the guy, and that the MGS2 translator did was well but didn't know specifics. I have only watched about half of the DVD as I just get a bad vibe from the guy. Wish we could remove him from the DVD and insert someone else through CG. I applaud the guy's love for the industry that we obviously love just as much. I just wish the man would get some help. This is ridiculous.
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I never got around to doing a full write up about this, but jeffhlewis called it right about Pyscho John motivating a libel lawsuit. It happened. I was in touch with the husband of the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator and they were sure about his residence and having started the lawsuit properly.
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/
They even let me post my story about my experiences (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html?showComment=1400390464537#c5362871596440974871) with him, always happy to lend a helping hand to a guy like John. ;) He blocked me on his Kickstarter page too. Heh-heh. I just shared my glee about the lawsuit against him, told him I posted my story, and he reported me to the mods, so I got blocked. ;)
Jeez! I didn't really know what was actually going on with this guy. I know Nightwolve had some kind of beef with the guy, and that the MGS2 translator did was well but didn't know specifics. I have only watched about half of the DVD as I just get a bad vibe from the guy. Wish we could remove him from the DVD and insert someone else through CG. I applaud the guy's love for the industry that we obviously love just as much. I just wish the man would get some help. This is ridiculous.
Send me DVD, I'LL PAY SHIPPING.
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Yeah, rip that DVD for us, Matt. ;)
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I won't rip it but if you guys want to treat it as a "Community DVD" then by all means please. It's full of interviews with the people we love and respect. Esteban has dibs, then he can send it to Nightwolve, then NW can send it...well you get the idea. All recipients pay shipping.
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Hell yes! Community DVD. But someone should rip it just in case it breaks in transit. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.png)
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The DVD was really interesting, but as always, left me wanting more, more!
The OutRun video tapes segment was just a cock-tease tho! "Yes, here is that historical footage of Sega's trip through Europe, but I'll never let anyone see it" :-(
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Read through the first few pages of the book yesterday. It's like reading the unibomber manifesto interspersed with REALLY AWESOME developer interviews. It's kind of insane and looks like it's going to be a really good read.
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I never got around to doing a full write up about this, but jeffhlewis called it right about Pyscho John motivating a libel lawsuit. It happened. I was in touch with the husband of the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator and they were sure about his residence and having started the lawsuit properly.
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/
They even let me post my story about my experiences (http://versusjs.blogspot.com/2014/04/joint-statement-regarding-criminal-case.html?showComment=1400390464537#c5362871596440974871) with him, always happy to lend a helping hand to a guy like John. ;) He blocked me on his Kickstarter page too. Heh-heh. I just shared my glee about the lawsuit against him, told him I posted my story, and he reported me to the mods, so I got blocked. ;)
Jeez! I didn't really know what was actually going on with this guy. I know Nightwolve had some kind of beef with the guy, and that the MGS2 translator did was well but didn't know specifics. I have only watched about half of the DVD as I just get a bad vibe from the guy. Wish we could remove him from the DVD and insert someone else through CG. I applaud the guy's love for the industry that we obviously love just as much. I just wish the man would get some help. This is ridiculous.
Send me DVD, I'LL PAY SHIPPING.
Or...you know.....torrent that sucker
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ISO that f*cker!
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Read through the first few pages of the book yesterday. It's like reading the unibomber manifesto interspersed with REALLY AWESOME developer interviews. It's kind of insane and looks like it's going to be a really good read.
See now I want to read that book...I take it, it will never get a republishing....sigh. Cry cry
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Read through the first few pages of the book yesterday. It's like reading the unibomber manifesto interspersed with REALLY AWESOME developer interviews. It's kind of insane and looks like it's going to be a really good read.
See now I want to read that book...I take it, it will never get a republishing....sigh. Cry cry
Like most Kickstarter books, it'll be available on Amazon soon enough (he said it was going up for sale after all backers receive their copies). There's no real clear advantage to being a book backer any more, except that you might get it a month earlier than everyone else:
http://www.amazon.com/Untold-History-Japanese-Game-Developers/dp/0992926009/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408740979&sr=1-3
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Read through the first few pages of the book yesterday. It's like reading the unibomber manifesto interspersed with REALLY AWESOME developer interviews. It's kind of insane and looks like it's going to be a really good read.
See now I want to read that book...I take it, it will never get a republishing....sigh. Cry cry
Like most Kickstarter books, it'll be available on Amazon soon enough (he said it was going up for sale after all backers receive their copies). There's no real clear advantage to being a book backer any more, except that you might get it a month earlier than everyone else:
http://www.amazon.com/Untold-History-Japanese-Game-Developers/dp/0992926009/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408740979&sr=1-3
Seems he still has DVDs for sale as well. £40 a DVD set (2 DVDs). I don't know. $66!USD feels steep for a home made project...hmmmm
Any pics of the DVD itself?m is it pressed? Well let me put it this way. Is it worth the $64 bucks?
Considering he claims he won't make more once he sales out.
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(http://www.ludoscience.com/files/static/Image/blog/enix-graphic-tool.png)
A cover for the book like this would have been so much nicer to look at.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvajpQeCIAABEb0.jpg:large)
Instead he went with THIS? I'd feel so uncomfortable reading the book in public...
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(http://retro-type.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/untold-history-dvd.png)
Ok I don't know if I am being nit picky or just a dick but this is his DVD case art? It is fugly....why couldn't he just use a tastefully black and white picture of an actual developers studio from that time period that would have been much more eye catching...
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvajpQeCIAABEb0.jpg:large)
Instead he went with THIS? I'd feel so uncomfortable reading the book in public...
Yeah that looks really weird. It's like some sort of Panzer Dragoon Azel/Ghost in the Shell fanart....
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(http://retro-type.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/untold-history-dvd.png)
Ok I don't know if I am being nit picky or just a dick but this is his DVD case art? It is fugly....why couldn't he just use a tastefully black and white picture of an actual developers studio from that time period that would have been much more eye catching...
I could have pooped out a better cover.
But, and you will kill me, but I like the DVD better than the book.
The DVD has a cheesy 80's aesthetic to it. It's lame (it was lamee in the 80's, after all), but at least it fits the source material better (IMHO).
The book cover is just sad...a pathetic attempt to sexy sexy-up the content of a book. I'm sure 12-year old's will love it.
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Not only the cover for the book is weird but also the DVD looks unprofessional to the max (not only cover but also layout and stuff).
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(http://retro-type.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/untold-history-dvd.png)
Ok I don't know if I am being nit picky or just a dick but this is his DVD case art? It is fugly....why couldn't he just use a tastefully black and white picture of an actual developers studio from that time period that would have been much more eye catching...
I could have pooped out a better cover.
But, and you will kill me, but I like the DVD better than the book.
The DVD has a cheesy 80's aesthetic to it. It's lame (it was lamee in the 80's, after all), but at least it fits the source material better (IMHO).
The book cover is just sad...a pathetic attempt to sexy sexy-up the content of a book. I'm sure 12-year old's will love it.
I have seen porno dvd covers with more appeal.
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It's like reading the unibomber manifesto interspersed with REALLY AWESOME developer interviews.
He does fancy himself a "guerrilla journalist" (his words) and I guess that's what you're seeing. Also what got him slapped with that lawsuit of course. ;)
You know, I've kind of taken a liking to occasionally reading articles on HG101. Nothing by him, that I've seen, but from Kurt and other contributors. Sometimes they're so massive though, I don't think I could dive into them, like this recent mega MegaMan article...
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaman/megaman.htm
Comes in at about 55,000 words, and I think it's still ongoing, the pieces of it were being added piecemeal. Might be almost finished though. I actually caught 2 typos that Kurt quickly fixed on the first page of it, but most of the time he doesn't when they're pointed out. As a matter of fact, quite a bit of their articles need editing I noticed (maybe a dozen that I've looked at), like the last one I read of the Legendary Axe series which has about 4 typos I caught and pointed out. I'm assuming this is a frequent enough problem (have heard it from others too).
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You're being overly harsh about the DVD cover... I like it, definitely an inspired mix of Hokusai [edit: oops, actually a direct copy!], Peter Max, and Heinz Edelmann.
(The back of the DVD sucks aesthetically, and so does the book cover... but sometimes publishers take away control of this from the writer, so, y'know...)
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Oh, his porno comment. Yeah, I think that cover really sucks too actually.
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Oh, his porno comment. Yeah, I think that cover really sucks too actually.
The dvd cover art honestly reminds me of a learn to speak Japanese cover.
But yes maybe he didn't have a say on the layout of either item. But I would think with my vast knowledge of the publishingwworld that something he was doing on hisbown with backer money he would retain complete control over from its editing page layout and so forth.
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Oh, his porno comment. Yeah, I think that cover really sucks too actually.
The dvd cover art honestly reminds me of a learn to speak Japanese cover.
But yes maybe he didn't have a say on the layout of either item. But I would think with my vast knowledge of the publishingwworld that something he was doing on hisbown with backer money he would retain complete control over from its editing page layout and so forth.
I know nothing of this author, or how the book was put together. I just want to say who knows what agreement the guy had with the publisher.
I knew of someone, she had some books published, non-fiction stuff. Her main complaint, about one book in particular, was that the title of her book was changed.
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I remembered seeing a post with that shitty cover from his Facebook account. Looked it up:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=457670467655694...
He says, "Artist's impression of a game development studio circa the 1980s." And there's a copyright "Szczepaniak 2013" on the bottom left.
I could swear I read Kurt Kalata saying his dad contributed artwork for the project, so it might be from him, not for sure on that though, but whatever, regardless of whoever did it, it sucks... ;)
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There's some stuff on PCE. I might end up buying the dvd and book when available to the general public.
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http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2014/08/mitchell-corporation-arcade-games.html
Mitchell Corporation arcade games available to license
"I'm going to take 90% credit for giving Mr Ozaki and Mr Yotsui this idea."
Well at lest the guy is humble.
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http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2014/08/mitchell-corporation-arcade-games.html
Mitchell Corporation arcade games available to license
"I'm going to take 90% credit for giving Mr Ozaki and Mr Yotsui this idea."
Well at lest the guy is humble.
Interesting, in the comments at least a rep from Marvelous pipes up about trying to contact them to work out a deal. Could be very cool.
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"I'm going to take 90% credit for giving Mr Ozaki and Mr Yotsui this idea."
Well at lest the guy is humble.
Like a young Ralph Baer...
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"I'm going to take 90% credit for giving Mr Ozaki and Mr Yotsui this idea."
Well at lest the guy is humble.
Like a young Ralph Baer...
The inventor of png. After some other made it...
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I wasn't aware that Baer had his hand on this open source image format project.
By the way, I've noticed that they posted the whole exchange of emails, no parts omitted, from John Skekpadasfpuqoiwreupouczxvz to the translation agency, in this spreadsheet. GO NUTS!!!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qhykJyFu70YA8RSrb710WKOM4ghD4TiVHcBvxQb2zrU/edit#gid=881524424
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Wow, that's a lot to parse out of an Excel tabular type system and read... Am just real glad Mr. "guerrilla journalist" picked a fight with people that weren't willing to let his bullshit slide so easily. ;)
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Wow, that's a lot to parse out of an Excel tabular type system and read... Am just real glad Mr. "guerrilla journalist" picked a fight with people that weren't willing to let his bullshit slide so easily. ;)
There is a lot of content.....what are the good bits to read?
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Wow, that's a lot to parse out of an Excel tabular type system and read... Am just real glad Mr. "guerrilla journalist" picked a fight with people that weren't willing to let his bullshit slide so easily. ;)
There is a lot of content.....what are the good bits to read?
http://versusjs.blogspot.jp/p/chronology-of-events.html
Agness (the MGS2 translator) just updated her twitter and posted that link. There've been delays between the lawyers in court proceedings, Psycho John going buckwild again on Kickstarter and elsewhere adding more libel publicly while the libel lawsuit is IN PROGRESS, etc.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1748556728/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers/posts/965067
Do not believe anything Agness says on this matter - I have proven how she twists everything, or outright lies, and I find it utterly bizarre she has any credibility left. These sisters have done nothing but attack me.
That's right, folks, do not believe anything she or her sister say on this matter! It's comical Tom&Jerry "DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!" level! Believe just John; John tells the truth, is a well-known forthright truth-teller that never ever lies, nor makes up stories, etc. Trust in John!
http://theralphretort.com/sjw-media-blackouts-coverage-of-japan-chroniclers-book/
My problem stems from the coordinator I hired in Japan, Hanako Kaku, who scammed me out of money, and her dangerously psychopathic sister, Agness Kaku.
2) Agness Kaku, translator for Metal Gear Solid 2, is one of the most dangerous people in the games industry, resorting to blackmail, extortion, threats, doxxing, libel tourism, breaking NDAs, and every conceivable lie imaginable to damage others.
That's right, he's declared the translator of MGS2, Katamari Damacy, etc. "one of the most dangerous people in the games industry..." Hahaha!
He contacted one of those GamerGate battling sites to use it to trash her by playing the victim, claiming that he's now being blackballed by the gaming media cause of them... It could be true, but he apparently can't acknowledge his own Kickstarter tirades/rants might be what's causing a % of the media to not want to associate with such a nutjob!!! NO, the problem couldn't possibly be you, could it John ? Likes picking on Asian girls or something I take it...
All he had to do was leave this drama in Japan, nobody would've been the wiser... The guy really needs to reevaluate what exactly he accomplished by starting this public war against these sisters besides gaining a lawsuit... A cost/benefit analysis, pros/cons, etc. by having decided to publicly trash them when he got back from Japan on his Kickstarter updates... It only appears he gained the personal satisfaction of revenge, but at the cost of respect, credibility, a % of the public regretting ever backing him, and getting slapped with a lawsuit... I wonder if the clown still thinks it was worth it cause that looks like loss, loss, loss, etc. to me...
Anyway, I hope we'll know soon if we can refer to Psycho John as a convicted libelous criminal cunt or not. But yeah, the saga continues, no court resolution just yet.
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Hahaha John riding the "evil SJW femmes" bandwagon seals the deal. I know I'm not going to take him seriously anymore.
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This guy John just continues to dig his own grave. Insanity.
I agree, NightWolve, that he should have simply left his grievances in Japan. He simply looks ridiculous acting like a child and ranting.
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More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?
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More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?
Does Agness' Twitter help? https://twitter.com/agnesskaku
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More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?
(http://i.imgur.com/39lf36P.png)
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wow that shit is still going on?
that john's mouth should be stuffed once!!
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What a mess.
Glad I didn't support this moron.
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More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?
(http://i.imgur.com/39lf36P.png)
I'm gonna say no
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More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?
(http://i.imgur.com/39lf36P.png)
I'm gonna say no
In all seriousness. I wanna marry it.
(http://i.imgur.com/6iEJlsB.jpg)
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That's funny. So Hailing really is crushing on Agness... She actually did tell me that she felt John was crushing on her in their final meeting before he left... Maybe John thinks she was supposed to give him something to really remember Japan by, a parting "gift..."
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*ew*
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Eh, I would wanna see her with long hair... ;) Short hair isn't a great look for her me thinks.
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She's no fujiko kojima
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That's funny. So Hailing really is crushing on Agness... She actually did tell me that she felt John was crushing on her in their final meeting before he left... Maybe John thinks she was supposed to give him something to really remember Japan by, a parting "gift..."
M-mmmaybe. . .
(http://i.imgur.com/QKqQCDf.png)
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That's funny. So Hailing really is crushing on Agness... She actually did tell me that she felt John was crushing on her in their final meeting before he left... Maybe John thinks she was supposed to give him something to really remember Japan by, a parting "gift..."
M-mmmaybe. . .
(http://i.imgur.com/QKqQCDf.png)
Just be careful though, Hailling, like the "guerrilla journalist" warns, she is "one of the most dangerous people in the games industry..." :lol: :lol:
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Eh, I would wanna see her with long hair... ;) Short hair isn't a great look for her me thinks.
I agree. Very rarely do I see a girl with really short hair/pixie cuts that I think is really pretty.
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That's funny. So Hailing really is crushing on Agness... She actually did tell me that she felt John was crushing on her in their final meeting before he left... Maybe John thinks she was supposed to give him something to really remember Japan by, a parting "gift..."
M-mmmaybe. . .
Just be careful though, Hailling, like the "guerrilla journalist" warns, she is "one of the most dangerous people in the games industry..." :lol: :lol:
LOL!
I wouldn't have it any other way. :3
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The whole thing is really a shame. I read about half the book (the book is freaking enourmous, amount-of-text-wise) during my vacation last fall and the content is mostly really good and the kind of technical interviews that I love to read. It's a bit unpolished and drags on in places, but it's worth reading.
I am in no way vouching for this douche-nozzle though, because I really do believe he's got a screw loose. The kickstarter updates were insanely unprofessional from start to finish during the development of the book. Probably about 70% bashing the two sisters and ranting about this weird lawsuit and 30% actual updates about the book.
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The whole thing is really a shame. I read about half the book (the book is freaking enourmous, amount-of-text-wise) during my vacation last fall and the content is mostly really good and the kind of technical interviews that I love to read. It's a bit unpolished and drags on in places, but it's worth reading.
I am in no way vouching for this douche-nozzle though, because I really do believe he's got a screw loose. The kickstarter updates were insanely unprofessional from start to finish during the development of the book. Probably about 70% bashing the two sisters and ranting about this weird lawsuit and 30% actual updates about the book.
So he needed an editor to polish the book?
Well. This might be that last thing this guy ever publishes due to the slander he felt the urge to vomit all over the place.
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I will not lie. I would like to read this nutjob's book.
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I feel so sorry for those people. It's pretty obvious the guy thinks translators are both otaku and robots and was let down when he saw some reality.
I don't feel sorry at all for the idiots that backed this book. Next time send a native speaking person, preferably Japanese. Language conversion is not the only thing translators do, especially with Japanese. Asking frank and specific questions to an interpreter who then has to translate the shit to business style Japanese and then back into gaijin slob-speak without losing any info, while steering around the comfort zones of multiple people in the process...it be a lot easier sitting between Abe and Obama than between this dick and some dude who can barely remember working for Sega for a year back in 1987. You need a full spectrum Interpretron for that shit, best to get one who owns a Neo Geo.
It'll be interesting to see who gets blamed for the book sucking. Who will drop the ball!? Who will pull a choke job!?
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But the book doesn't suck. It's 95% fantastic.
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I've posted multiple times saying that the book is generally incredible, it's just a little rough around the edges. I'll blame the "roughness" on captain retard who kickstarted and wrote the thing, but the content is legit good. I have zero regrets about buying the book. It just could have been better in more professional hands.
I understand why people don't like Kickstarter, but I've gotten way more out of Kickstarter projects than I've put in. The only dud I've gotten out of about 12 backed projects is Pier Solar for Dreamcast, and I knew the risk for that one going in.
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The kickstarter updates were insanely unprofessional from start to finish during the development of the book. Probably about 70% bashing the two sisters and ranting about this weird lawsuit and 30% actual updates about the book.
Yeah I agree. The unprofessional updates really made me start regretting backing the kickstarter. Unfortunately I didn't know anything about this douche bag before backing it. Like everyone else has said though the book is good. It just would have been better with someone else at the helm.
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But the book doesn't suck. It's 95% fantastic.
And that brings up some questions.
Is it the writing style?
The interviews themselves?
How much do you attribute the content to the writer creater and how much to the interpreters and their contacts from with in the gaming circles in Japan?
What's it the writer who came up with all the questions or were some of them given by the people interviewed or the interpreters?
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But the book doesn't suck. It's 95% fantastic.
And that brings up some questions.
Is it the writing style?
The interviews themselves?
How much do you attribute the content to the writer creater and how much to the interpreters and their contacts from with in the gaming circles in Japan?
What's it the writer who came up with all the questions or were some of them given by the people interviewed or the interpreters?
Well, the DVD has actual evidence of the interviews, so I'd say it was John who came up with the questions, and I believe he e-mailed them to his subjects before the interview.
Anyway, the book is great thanks specifically to John's interview style, with large helpings from interesting people being interviewed and a great translation job.
Look around the 'net for other interviews of Japanese developers (or public figures in general). By and large, Japanese interview subjects are not forthcoming with information, and their answers tend to be overly vague (even when well-translated) by English standards. They often appear self-congratulatory PR at the worst of times. I often get fed up with curt, short, uninformative interviews. Us crazy gamers want details about how some game or feature came into existence, but when the typical interviewee is asked "How did you think of such-and-such?" and they reply "I thought of that idea, and then I asked my supervisor for permission to develop it." they're missing the point of the interview and the question by a country mile.
John's book contains the exact opposite of these interviews, by and large. It might just be how he frames the interview in the book only, but he asks the right questions and prods incessantly for extra information.
Incidentally, the interview series for SEGA's 3DS Classics (http://blogs.sega.com/category/sega-3d-classics/) are another example of interviewees who really want to tell their story, and go into great detail.
Anyhow, the best short review of the book that I have seen is this one: linky (http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/09/book_review_the_untold_story_of_japanese_game_developers_volume_1)
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Evidently it takes a crazy person to get the job done.
-end of thread-