It’s very rare that dating sim games make their way outside Asia. That’s why the discovery that Europe will be receiving a translation of Agarest Senki under its revised English title, Record of Agarest War on PS3. The game was originally released in Japan on PS3 in September of ’07 with an Xbox 360 port the following year.
Record of Agarest War is commonly described as a typical strategy RPG, though it’s been noticed by its unique “Soul Breed” system. This system injects dating sim gameplay, allowing you to create the next generation of characters by developing romantic relationships with the female characters.
The 'Soul Breeding' system, illustrating how each generation in the game's story is determined
This isn’t the first time that dating sim elements have been incorporated into an RPG, nor is it the first that has been ported to the West. Some may remember Thousand Arms, a steampunk JRPG by Atlus where the lead character must date the girls in his party in order to draw the necessary inspiration to construct improved weaponry.
The idea of breeding–aside from tentacles or guro–is one of those that appear pretty frequently in Eastern erotica, though it doesn’t have much presence in the West. It’s not hard to find hentai where it’s regarded as a triumph for the male protagonist to either impregnate or at the very least, cum inside of the girl.
There’s an amount of sense to it, though. After all, the biological keystone for male sexuality is finding females with suitable genes to produce heirs. Referring to it as an “impregnation” or “breeding fetish” is often regarded as a misnomer, since its biological roots exempt it from falling under the definition of fetish or paraphilia. When you apply it to actual fetishes with themes of rape and domination, insemination is just as visceral as a symbolic means of placing your “mark” on (or rather, in) the woman being subjugated.
The concept isn’t completely alien to Western culture. In fact, eugenics play a significant role in ancient European civilization when bloodlines defined power. As we approached the modern era, sex became viewed more as a recreation. In fact, we tend to value sex without consequence even more, with the reflection of our growing birth control market.
Can we say...symbolism?
Even so, it’s easy to recognize the surviving unconscious drives that fastens mating as a factor in our sexuality. Social/financial status still weighs in heavily as a factor for how many women a man will have sex with and the physical attractiveness of those women. Alpha males have more sex with more women, thus their dominant genes have greater chances of being passed on to the next generation.
In video games, the idea of breeding isn’t all that new. Since Pokémon Gold/Silver (a popular game geared toward children), players have been able to breed different species of pokémon together in order to produce new types of pokémon. Final Fantasy VII encouraged players to breed superior “golden” Chocobos to access secret areas and items. (Though that often resulted in bizzare inbreeding.)
You may even consider the Materia Fusion system from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII as a form of item breeding. It’s only when human breeding is introduced that its presence in video games becomes controversial.
Back to the game at hand, it’s unfair to casually toss Record of Agarest War in with hentai games. If there is any pornography to the breeding aspect of the game, it’s soft-core at best. Each female character has a wedding cut scene for when your form your blessed union, which ends in a “honeymoon” shot of the girl shrouded in bedsheets. Horny gamers looking for some nudity will be painfully disappointed. Even the hot springs scene, while titillating, keeps the girls respectfully covered as the main character ogles their fair-skinned girly parts.
Since the game has succeeded in achieving a European publication, I’ll assume that a North American release will depend on European sales. So far, the game has barely registered as a blip on enthusiast gaming news sites, but if the mainstream media catches wind of a “breeding video game”, that could be a deal breaker. Then we’re at the mercy of greedy importers taking advantage of a scarce print run.
While the game would only deliver disappointment to both strategy RPG and eroge enthusiasts, it would be a cool new cultural perspective for the gaming community. I applaud mature, real-life subject matter acknowledged in games. (Breeding is a fundamental part of humanity–deal with it.) Otherwise, video games just grow stale and cliché.
Daigo Umehara, the Michael Jordon of Street Fighter, was honored with a fan-run website ( BeastDaigo.jp ) as a tribute to his influential role in the fighting game community. Daigo has been a noteable Street Fighter competitor for years, but it wasn’t until this video that his name became world-famous.
Nicknamed “The Beast” because of his unstoppable skill, Daigo had previously retired from the tournament scene due to a lack of competition. Fighting games no longer held their charm for him once his mastery of the games offered him no new rivals to challenge him. It wasn’t until the recent release of Street Fighter IV, that the competitive fire within him sparked anew.
The website itself is currently in Japanese only, though you can still enjoy streaming videos captured from some of Daigo’s matches. Daigo has been an inspiration and role model to competitive fighting game players all over the world. This new site is the community’s show of appreciation for his achievements in the community.
If you’d like to learn more about Daigo, he’s mentioned heavily in David Sirlin‘s competitive gaming book, Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion, and is extensively interviewed in Brian Ashcroft’s Arcade Mania!, a book dedicated to Japanese arcade culture.
UPDATE: Daigo has just won the Street Fighter IV International Title!
Sega’s legendary developer Yu Suzuki stepped down earlier this month from his position as Sega-Sammy’s Research & Development Chief Officer.
Some of Suzuki’s most famous works may fly over the heads of most current-gen gamers, including arcade shooter, Space Harrier, and the Dreamcast’s financial black hole, Shenmue. However, just about anyone can fondly recognize Suzuki’s work through the highly-successful Virtua Fighter series.
Ever since the disappointment of the never-finished Shenmue game series (which cost over $70 million to produce), Suzuki’s role in the company has fallen deeper into obscurity. Last year, Sega of America’s, Simon Jeffery was quoted believing that Yu Suzuki was no longer with the company at all! Since Shenmue, Suzuki and his AM2 studio have produced a few non-Virtua Fighter games, half of which have unfortunately been canceled.
While Suzuki’s current state is being referred to as “retired”, Sega-Sammy notes that he is actually being moved to their Amusement R&D Division. Does this mean that Suzuki’s returning to his arcade roots? Time will tell.
I had my first video recording session for the documentary I’ve been asked to participate in. It went okay, I guess. It was fun to do, sure… In fact it was very similar to how Matt and I conducted an episode of our Alpha Counter radio show. Heh, technical hurdles and all.
The big thing that the director later discussed with me was that during the entire thing, I had plenty of interesting things to say, but I didn’t offer much visually. He’s right–I kinda stayed in “business mode” the whole time, approaching each question clinically with little animation. Not good cinema.
With that feedback, I’m reviewing my positions on the subject and digging up some relevant personal stories. I think that if I engage the thing like a conversation rather than an interview, I’ll give a more lively performance.
I’m quite certain that I’ll have another shot at recording the material covered today since the video files came out painfully choppy. So unless the co-director is the Gandalf of video editing, we’re going to have to use a different method of getting usable footage.
The guys are still looking for people to contribute to the film, so if you have any expertise or notable experience in dealing with video game addiction or side-effects of a techy lifestyle, contact them through the link I posted above.
Thank goodness that Nippon Ichi Software is one of those few companies that know that the best way to sell a product, is to publish it. We may have been robbed of Namco X Capcom, but we will be getting Cross Edge, a 5-way crossover turn-based tactics game. Of the five companies involved, the only ones whose properties interest me are NIS’s Disgaea and Capcom’s Darkstalkers, two family that should marry beautifully.
The only extinguishing feature about the above trailer is the poor voice acting. If Capcom sends over their own cast of voice actors for their own characters, we may be in good shape. But the vocal “talent” filling the roles for Namco, Gust, and Idea Factory are downright terrible. If they include the option to use the original Japanese audio track, I think I’ll take advantage of it.
Macross Plus is possibly the most underrated series in the entire Macross franchise. The OVA was a hit when it was first released in 1994, but its flippant cousin, Macross 7, quickly stole its thunder, just months later.
Nevertheless, Macross Plus has gathered a faithful cult following and was remastered into a theatrically released feature film. While its run time was condensed to 90 minutes, audiences were treated to new scenes and songs not found in the OVA. For those who only know the show by its movie version, I encourage your to go out and watch the OVA. Take my word for it; it’s much better.
Do you like video games? Do you enjoy playing on your Nintendos, your Xbox 2s, and your DSESPs? Can you write in complete sentences or make photoshops? Then you may have potential in the field of video game journalism!
GotGame.com is looking for folks to join their internship program at GotGameU! This semester-long course will give you the experience you need for becoming a professional in the following fields:
Writing
Graphic Arts
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What do you pay? Nothing! The only thing you invest is the time you put into it.
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Sega’s legendary developer Yu Suzuki 
Macross Plus is possibly the most underrated series in the entire Macross franchise. The OVA was a hit when it was first released in 1994, but its flippant cousin, Macross 7, quickly stole its thunder, just months later.
