"The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" Book KickStarter

[PukeSter]

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: kickstarter.com/projects/1748556728/the-untold-history-of-japanese-game-developers

[SuperDeadite]

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.

[PikachuWarrior]

Yeah, I don't see that kickstarter happening or being very good.

[FiftyQuid]

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.

[Tatsujin]

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.

[SuperDeadite]

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?

[Tatsujin]

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.

[Arkhan Asylum]

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.

[SignOfZeta]

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.

[Nando]

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. 

Neat idea, but REALLY?

[ccovell]

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.)

[OldRover]

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. 

I'm all for this idea.

[NightWolve]

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 fucking page - it's right here - 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 fucking 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 FUCKING 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 fucking low life and asked me to agree to remove the fucker'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. On December, 6 months later, I uploaded Ys IV and Xak III... Unfortunately, this piece of shit fucking asshole 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 fucking 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! This is an above-average, arrogant, lying asshole and I don't give a fuck 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, FUCK this fucking piece of shit! FUCK HIM! Pardon my French! I never finished my op-ed here of him, 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 fucking 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 www.romhacking.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 asshole, 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.

[SuperDeadite]

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....

[PunkCryborg]

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.

[NecroPhile]

I personally detest this man....

I remember you talking about the clown before - fuck him and big floppy clown shoes.

[SignOfZeta]

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:

wayback://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.

[jeffhlewis]

I know you guys apparently hate this dude, but...

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.

[Tatsujin]

OHROLF!

[roflmao]

I hope this book comes to fruition.  It sounds fantastic.

[BigusSchmuck]

Man Hodor could have written better articles than this guy and thats not saying much.

[NightWolve]

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 ?

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[Psycho Punch]

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.

[NightWolve]

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.

It's specious BUT: This was proxy harassment by Tom-chan "WyrdWad" Lipschultz (AKA The KKK Witch) before he got the job with XSEED Games! The fruit of his labor dwelling-on/demonizing me both on the Ancient Land of Ys forums and HG101 sent John in my direction - John is simply just one of the many enemies that Tom created for me as punishment!

Tom used me to create a "hero legend" for his disgusting self after I contacted him about his dueling Ys Origin project and it got testy. He decided to blow it all out of proportion, leak my emails, hoping to use it all to create public drama, sic his friends/allies/my-own-friends/ANYONE after me, to drag me psychologically/mentally through the mud and "break me!" He wanted to use the whole Falcom/Ys/retro community as a weapon, his own personal lynch-mob and THEN it extended to customers of XSEED Games! He has incited customers right in my direction (which got me doxxed) to continue the intimidation/extortion/might-makes-right/keep-quiet-or-else "message..." "His people" is what he has referred to it as in the past! Oh yes, the guy is a piece of shit, don't let the "nice nerd" persona fool you!

Tom NEVER really stopped bothering me after that Ys Origin situation (~2009), nor the enemies he was deliberating trying to create (the goal of creating enemies is to create unpredictable future consequences for who you're targeting, he just got lucky with the XSEED job and could deliver the ultimate consequence!)! The legend he wanted for himself was, "I was the David that stood up against the big bad evil [Goliath] NightWolve and his demonic payware plans!" Then he did it to his OWN company in the same manner: "I stood up against the forces of censorship all throughout my tenure at XSEED, even threatening resignation to push back!" Tom Lipschultz likes to write/create hero stories/narratives/legends with himself at the center of the action as the underdog having to rise up, be brave, battle against all [insurmountable] odds! The dude is a motherfucker, just BAN ON SIGHT! I would NEVER have let the pedophile touch my Ys projects had I known ALL of this at the time!

That's the other thing IMO, him claiming he's in the epic fight of his life against some perceived "evil" is a deflection from when he lobbies about underage/pedo anime porn, how it must be protected! And not just minor lobbying, OH NO, he gave out the Japanese government email for us in the Ys forum to send opposition emails back when Japan was in the headlines for preparing to pass laws to curb loli/pedo content like that! International activism at the time by a US troll in a Ys/Falcom forum! I doubt ANYONE helped the pervert, but he went ALL IN on this particular social issue! The criminal creep has thought an AWFUL LOT about it! WHY ?!?!

...I feel it's so important to defend something as vulgar and distasteful as animated child pornography.
And yes, I do defend animated child pornography under freedom of expression.

Anyhow, back to John. 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 even with Tom's spin on Ys Origin! 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, though he was fueled/incited by Tom's past attacks, "He's trying to stop my competing Ys Origin project" - acting as Tom's attack dog, precisely the goal!

In the end, Kurt Kalata, HG's owner, just deleted most of it and issued a correction. I am combative if I feel I'm right and do get ugly, so sometimes those that read my rants and vehemently disagree wanna "stick it to me," and he was one of them that did so, etc. He just didn't care to fact-check though! He also dropped a lot of venom against BurntLasagna here because I called him out about this in the Ys IV ReadMe! Tried to rip his head off to intimidate him into deleting my criticisms! AND THEN Tom stuck his face in the same thread to side with John (literally as he's cheating/censoring me out of credits, he now jumps in to help cause conflict with my Ys IV dubbing partner, get him to censor me! He's such an anti-censorship champion...when it comes to perverts, that is!)!!! Incredibly brazen, but Tom wanted to make sure he was part of the argument (which at the root was caused by him)!

Anyway, off he [John] goes to Japan! Kickstarter, wow... I should look into that [Kickstarter] sometime is all I can say!!

[Tatsujin]

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.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Damn.

1100+ people are shortbus.

[esteban]

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.

[SuperDeadite]

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 fuck 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.  Fuck this hack.

[NecroPhile]

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?

[BigusSchmuck]

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...

[SuperDeadite]

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!

[Arkhan Asylum]

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 fuck 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.  Fuck this hack.

yeah I mean, phone interviews occurred in the 80s.   This dude should do it the right way.

[esteban]

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 fuck 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.  Fuck 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!   

[TheClash603]

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 fuck 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.  Fuck 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!   

Only the elite had phones back then...  stop bragging.

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[NecroPhile]

Please share teh lulzy drama!

[NightWolve]

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:



"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 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), 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, 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!!!"

[Tatsujin]

houlymangouly!! yeah, moar of drama PLZ

[wildfruit]

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

[NightWolve]

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.

[jeffhlewis]

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:

-------- CUT ----------
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 ------------

[PukeSter]

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.

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[Psycho Punch]

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.

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[Tatsujin]

rolf

wayback.hardcoregaming101.net/metalgear/agnesskaku.htm

[PukeSter]

rolf

wayback.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.

[xcrement5x]

Damn, that is some high quality drama. 

[Gao]

Damn, that is some high quality drama. 

And it just got more interesting.  Now there's a lawsuit.