"The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers" Book KickStarter

[ccovell]

"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...

[Medic_wheat]

"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...

[Psycho Punch]

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

[NightWolve]

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. ;)

[Medic_wheat]

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?

[NightWolve]

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.

[Psycho Punch]

Hahaha John riding the "evil SJW femmes" bandwagon seals the deal. I know I'm not going to take him seriously anymore.

[esteban]

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.

[Arkhan Asylum]

More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?

[xcrement5x]

More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?

Does Agness' Twitter help? https://twitter.com/agnesskaku

[HailingTheThings]

More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?

[Tatsujin]

wow that shit is still going on?

that john's mouth should be stuffed once!!

[SuperGrafx]

What a mess.
Glad I didn't support this moron.

[wildfruit]

More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?

I'm gonna say no

[HailingTheThings]

More importantly, are Hanako and her sister hot?

I'm gonna say no

In all seriousness. I wanna marry it.

[NightWolve]

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..."

Loading: twitter.com/AgnessKaku/status/561822782246240257

[wildfruit]

*ew*

[NightWolve]

Eh, I would wanna see her with long hair... ;) Short hair isn't a great look for her me thinks.

[wildfruit]

She's no fujiko kojima

[HailingTheThings]

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. . .

[NightWolve]

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..." 

[xcrement5x]

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.

[HailingTheThings]

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!

I wouldn't have it any other way. :3

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[Medic_wheat]

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.

[esteban]

I will not lie. I would like to read this nutjob's book.

[SignOfZeta]

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!?

[ccovell]

But the book doesn't suck.  It's 95% fantastic.

[jeffhlewis]

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.

[SephirothTNH]

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.

[Medic_wheat]

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?

[ccovell]

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 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

[SignOfZeta]

Evidently it takes a crazy person to get the job done.

-end of thread-