Samurai Katanako Anime Figure... Looking Awfully Familiar...

Just posted the new 7th Dragon 2020: Samurai (Katanako) 1/7 Scale Figure by Max Factory for pre-order on the store. It's a beautiful figure. Thing is, when I first saw it and since wasn't familiar with Samurai Katanako...I damn near fell out my chair. Anyone who's been to my site can see she looks an awful lot like my mascot and the main character of my game Tenshi-Oni...Fumi. Maybe a bit more slender than Fumi and her hair is a black/purple while Fumi's is a dark blue/blue yet, if one day my game not only gets completed but is a hit...i'd be honored if Max Factory and Good Smile Company would make a figure from her. Of course Fumi has three forms..this one looking like her human/normal form and then there's her angel and demon forms. As for Samurai Katanako, she's a character from the Sega RPG, 7th Dragon 2020.

For a comparison of Fumi...here's an image Kenneos made of Fumi that's now in the game for when Fumi does her Final Attack.

The only worry I have is that once I finally get Tenshi-Oni out and the public sees my characters..that I suddenly get tagged as some unoriginal hack akin to how Zyanga goes at things.  I'm already worried anime fans might think the game copies a bunch from the widely popular Touhou Project (having an official Touhou music artist do some of the music doesn't help quell people's suspicions ^^;;) and now some might think I made Fumi from Samurai Katanako ^^;;  Thing is... the idea for Tenshi-Oni (aka Project Fumi) has been out since 2003/2004..so Fumi's been around much longer.  (Sure wish I got her off and the game off the ground sooner but it's happening nonetheless ^_^)

As for news on the game, since I've been a bit quiet in the blog about it, here's a brief on where it stands:

• Level design has been programmed and is now getting the graphical touches
• the voice acting is about half way done
• Been working on the camera and fine tuning the game play to be more cinematic
• Still need more (and non space) enemies but the coding for them is all practically done...more graphical work 
• The game's HUD and score texts need polishing
• Beta release will be at the end of July
• The first version of the game is planned on being released in the iPhone store (just for iPhone then iPad) by the end of July....early August
• There'll be a Free version of the game with a Story Mode*, Survival Mode and ads (but not many ads)
• The paid version will either be $1.99 or $.99...most likely $.99.  It'll have no ads and as stages get added to the Story Mode and other features added over time...the people who get the paid version will continue to get the additional levels, story, etc...until I feel the need to create good and worthy DLC expansions..but akin to Angry Birds...new levels/story will keep coming for the paid version
• The Free version will get of course bug/graphical fixes and play dynamic upgrades but not too many new levels/ survival stages...enough to make people happy though :-)
• *Story Mode for now won't have too much story too it...as of now it's all in the playing and scoring..but I want a dynamic and worthy story to to go with it that can evolve and sequel with new expansions and later, DLCs

as for the similarities to Fumi...

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Considering the Development of a Real Gundam

Over the years we've been talking about how Japan could one day make a giant mech/Gundam.  We've seen Bandai make that 1/1 Gundam statue with lights effects but this bit of news can make any anime fan like me grin with excitement...

Apparently, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party is "seriously considering the development of Gundam."  Yes, you heard that right, a real functioning Gundam.  As stated in a post from a few years back...the cost of creating a real, functioning Gundam was estimated to be at around $730 million dollars.

The media here (like MSN) are laughing at the idea...yes, a big robot might not be the best idea in a bad economy but then again,  looking into different technology in robotics would be a good thing for innovations for the future..and yes, space flight can be tied into that in my opinion.

Time to get some g-force training but at 28..I think I'm 1 years too old to be a test pilot.


Kotaku link for more info

Final Fantasy VII On Steam, With Cloud Saves

Like it or not, Final Fantasy VII is the most loved game of the entire Final Fantasy series and though many of us (including me) would love to see a true remake to the game, this is still a nice little upgrade.  FFVII also holds a special place for me as it was this game and Tifa Lockhart that initialed my interest in Japanese culture and thus started my anime fandom, this site and me meeting my fiancee.

Based on the European Steam product page (seen in the screenshot below), this new PC version of Final Fantasy VII will take advantage of today's paradigms in online (and overall) gaming like DLC, achievements and (pun intended) Cloud saves. As an old school gamer, I sometimes share the distaste in the way DLC,  achievements, Facebook shares, etc are abused in today's games but I find it comforting that a whole new generation of gamers (and anime fans) will get to see why we hold this game so dear.  


There'll be 36 achievements and the DLC is something called a "character booster".  In short, you can pay real money for extra Exp, Phoenix Downs and other items/stats.  This kind of irks me but I guess Square-Enix will do what they can to bank off from gamers who just don't want to face the game at face value and default difficulty.  FFVII can at times be very hard, but like most FF games, the key is to just grind out tons of battles and build up your characters.  I don't hate DLC though, as I plan on doing so in my game, Tenshi-Oni. I have to get with the times and people will look for achievements, cloud saves, Facebook/social media shares and DLC which Tenshi-Oni will have, too...just I won't be charging for DLC in the paid version until I create value-adding expansions/features.  Is paying real money for extra Phoenix Downs worth it in FFVII?..I guess that's up to you gamers.

The downside to this is that this isn't a true remake to the game, just a New Game+ of sorts.  Yet, as many of us have seen with games like Skyrim and MineCraft, an avid fan-base can create amazing mods that really do add to the game.  This is the possibly for FFVII on Steam (and that is why I'm so excited that I sent out this blog post after way too long of a hiatus..another one due to work -_-).  I'd imagine the first mods will be something about bringing Aeris back to life and making Tifa sexy, in addition to graphical code.  Mods could also add chapters to the story if the modders are keen enough on the code. We've already seen mods in Skyrim that take the player to whole new maps so us crazy FFVII fans could probably take this game into a different direction.  


The game will be pretty cheap in price too at around $15 or so, so when it comes out...get it.