This is English version of Japanese blog media "vsmedia". About Japanese Social Games & Apps, Augmented reality, Virtual Worlds, Avatar, Virtual Goods, Social Media, Fab Culture...etc...
Japanese virtual world Ameba Pigg cooperates with Star Wars from yesterday. It is very CUTE!
Star Wars area opens in Ameba Pigg. Its theme is "room of the enthusiasts".
All of figures and statues are cute! They are arranged by a design of pigg(avatar) of Ameba Pigg.
We can photograph a souvenir picture with C-3PO and R2-D2 in photo booth.
Furthermore, we can get on the vehicles in dioramas.
Various virtual goods are in Gacha(Vending machine of virtual goods). It's 250 yen once.
The sofa of Jabba the Hutt is cool! Nice idea!
Ameba Pigg enforces various campaigns in commemoration of this tie-in. Thanks to it, we can get some free virtual goods. Anyway, this is the most cute promotion of Star Wars. You do not suffer a loss to see this if you are a fan of Star Wars. However, to our regret, Ameba Pigg is only Japanese support.
Unfortunately Japan is not the gay-friendly country. same-sex marriage is impossible, the sex change in the family register is very complicated, the law to supervise hate crime does not exist, and discrimination and bullying for LGBTI exist in various situation. Therefore the Japanese cannot have opportunities to study about LGBTI and make a mistake even in big companies such as Nintendo.
This is an inference game based on party game "Are You a Werewolf?". Werewolf is replaced by a gay, players ascertain heterosexuality and a gay from characters, and remove a gay.
~Story~ At the boy dormitory which there is in the "T" capital "S" city. One student was raped(The word "rape" is not displayed, but an image to suggest it is shown). The victim quitted school without talking about anything, but werewolf who conspiring to rape other students in the dormitory may hide behind. You become the member of the dormitory and you distinguish werewolf from heterosexuality and must remove werewolf.
They open the official Twittter account of the game from last month, set hashtag #ホモ人狼 (meaning Homosexual Werewolf), and published press release diligently for a few days of the release. Questions and opinions of the criticism appeared on Twitter from that time. However, after the release of the game, criticism erupted. To make matters worse, they showed a game play video. It is right an act to pour oil on the fire.
A lot of criticism from people of heterosexuality appeared as well as people of LGBTI on social media. There were a lot of people who made a fool of the gay people, but there were more voices of the criticism. Happy Gamer announced the press release of the apology on May 13. They vindicated it about the contents of the game.
"Any social intention is not included in this game and does not promote discrimination like other general entertainment products. However, we apologize for the point that has caused misunderstanding including such an intention."
However, this apology pour oil on the fire more. Because it was insincere too barefacedly. At last, Google rejected this game from Google Play on May 15.
I think that this is one of the big problems that Japan has. In Japan, there are few opportunities to make friends with LGBTI people. There is not an opportunity working with them, topics of LBGTI do not be reflected on an everyday conversation and most Japanese are not going to know LGBTI. In other words, we Japanese cannot understand what corresponds to discrimination. Therefore the Japanese angers people of LGBTI unconsciously. If find the one positive side in this trouble, it's that the heterosexuality people criticized this game. It is step such as the tortoise, but the human rights consciousness of Japanese may improve little by little.
By the way, Happy Gamer revises this game and plans to release it again in Google Play and App Store. However, I think that this is difficult. Because both Google and Apple are gay-friendly companies.
It was announced that mobile social game "Sevens Story" was shut down on May 30 in Mobage. It disappointed many players. However, it surprised Tech news sites. Because...
What a cheesey design! Cheap fonts! Were the buttons made with Word and Excel? Now, even junior high students may draw cooler characters! :D This was released in last October, and many players thought this game is Kusoge(クソゲー: Shit game) in those days. However, this game was the fun RPG contrary to the expectation of many players.
At first, the battle system is tactical turn-based combat. The mainstream in the Japanese mobile social RPGs are card battle, puzzle battle and slingshot battle etc...anyway, they are systems including a simple gimmick. tactical turn-based combat is the system which heavy gamers like.
In addition, players can keep the pet of the rabbit. The rabbit becomes the important force in battles. Players give a rabbit various bait and can decorate it with avatar items.
Where should we obtain the bait from? It's farm! The element of farming game is included in this game, too.
Furthermore, this has the mining element. Players mine various material in a mine and can make items to materials in them.
Besides, this games have other many functions. PvP arena battle, gardening, the profound story that many characters express, many missions... I think that this is a real and rich RPG.
Still, it's mysterious. Why is only artwork cheesey? If artwork is cool, this game might made a hit. The life of this game is only two weeks. Players grieve over the shut down of this game in Twitter.
He tries promotion this time with LINE. They use avatar and virtual world for smartphones "LINE PLAY" this time.
LINE opened Paul McCartney room in LINE PLAY on May 15. There reproduces a his studio in London.
This room have an avatar of Paul McCartney, and he meets LINE users.
Users can play with furniture items, read secret blog and try Gacha(Capsule toys vending machine).
Fashion items, musical instruments, furniture, artwork of Abbey Road etc... The virtual goods of 21 kinds are sold in Gacha. These are designed all cutely! I think that this is more effective than LINE sticker.
By the way, LINE PLAY broke through 15M users this month. They overtake Ameba Pigg(15.9M users) soon
Yesterday, LINE opened LINE Creators Market. LINE users can sell the LINE stickers which themself designed. We can check them in LINE Web store.
According to LINE, the enrollment of creators exceeds 30,000, and the stickers performed registration application of exceed 5,000 sets at present. As for creators, Japanese are 60%, and foreigner are 40%.
One characteristic at present has many stickers of the cat. All pages have cat stickers. In addition, there are many a rabbit and bears, too. Though there are brown and a cony in LINE! :D
In addition, the sticker cornering the boyfriend who does not readily reply becomes the topic very much.
The stickers of creators are really interesting. Works of personal creators who are not in companies are interesting in particular. They may not be refined like stickers of companies. However, therefore we can taste the feeling such as the treasure hunt.