Nintendo of America has finally started pushing demos on Nintendo 3DS. And, well, they launched with a bit of doozy — Capcom’s Resident Evil Revelations.

You can check out my impressions over on TheSpeedGamers!

My history with visual novels has been a bit of short and incomplete one. I’ve been sampling software for a little over a year, but I never really could confidently speak on the subject for a number of reasons. Finally, one of the biggest reasons can now be thrown out the window. I’ve finally played my first full-fledged visual novel! Although it is a freeware release, Katawa Shoujo has a full retail product vibe behind it. And while my ability to review such a title still may remain questionable, I feel confident enough in my knowledge of the genre, as well as anime and manga in general, to properly assess it.

Katawa Shoujo follows the tale of a Japanese high school student named Hisao. In the midst of his senior year, he’s suddenly struck with a heart attack. The cause of his heart attack is a long dormant heart condition he has called Arrhythmia. After the attack, he can no longer return to his normal school as his need for medical surveillance is simply too great. Instead, he transfers to a school for the disabled. While able to start a new life at this school, the road ahead of him holds many challenges as he has to come to terms with his own condition, learn how to deal with others’ conditions and of course, being a visual novel, date the ladies. There are five ladies in total: Shizune, who’s deaf; Lilly, who is blind, Hanako, who has extreme burns on half her body, Rin, who is without arms; and Emi, who is without legs.

Despite what you might think from a visual novel that essentially originated from 4chan, the title definitely takes a very serious approach to the subject, as Hisao struggles with the acceptance of his new life. While a very important aspect in making Katawa Shoujo unique, the disabilities don’t hog the spotlight. Often they play a role in the story and make for some interesting interactions and conversations, but it’s more or less a simple twist placed on the plot that helps give Katawa Shoujo a different feel than just your typical visual novel love story.

The main female characters may appear cookie cutter at first – minus their more obvious disabilities – but each character and route have their own tweaks that make them feel unique. For example looking at Hanako’s route, early on it’s pretty easy to tell how that whole route will end. But thankfully, it takes a roundabout way of getting there. Some routes are definitely more drama filled than others, but overall the they’re diverse enough that it feels like there’s something here for everyone.

For those of you who are here for the boobies, there are quite definitely boobies…. disabled boobies at that. How much you see greatly depends on what route you take. Some routes feature sexual intercourse all over, while others just have a minor scene at the end, seemingly just for the sake of having one. In most cases, these scenes roll well into the story, so they don’t feel too obtrusive. Unfortunately, there are a few scenes that feel unnecessarily forced into the experience just to give the player some eye candy. It’s unfortunate, but it’s an eroge.

Being developed by a largely western-based development team would seemingly put the title at a disadvantage to other visual novels, but it feels like it helped it as well. The sense of humor seems much more natural than most visual novels. This is possibly thanks to being originally written in English and not having to worry about adapting jokes to an English-speaking audience. The title also features animations which are extremely impressive given the project’s nature. And in some cases, the animations look better than the actual CG stills. While we’re on presentation, the soundtrack is strong as well, featuring a nice variety of tracks that captures the emotions of some of the more dramatic scenes, the carefree nature of the average school day and that lovin’ feel of the (oh baby!) love makin’. If you don’t want to know that lovin’ feel, you can disable all adult content.

While Katawa Shoujo has high production values for being a freeware release, there are still some problems with the consistency. The overall artistic direction is set, but some small stylistic changes between artists are quite noticeable, particularly in the character art. The writing is fairly consistent all around, but there are some differences in route structure. For example, Shizune’s route has a single choice beyond the initial act that determines the route you will be following. This is in comparison to most other routes in Katawa Shoujo which throw at least a few choices at you, even if they don’t play a huge role in where the story goes.

At the end of the day, Katawa Shoujo is definitely a flawed experience in some areas, specifically due to its inconsistency. But unless you’re desperate for a highly polished experience, it’s hard to deny that the title is solid. Its strong sense of humor that doesn’t invade the story, diverse character routes, unique character interaction and overall strong cast line-up creates a well-worth your money experience, without the actual need of money.

You can download the full title for yourself over on the official website.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to play a game using your media player’s song visualization, the flash game Music Catch will probably satisfy that curiosity. Music Catch has players collecting different colored shapes in tune to music. Green shapes score points, yellow shapes increase the player’s cursor circumference to better collect points, red shapes reduce the player’s cursor circumference and purple shapes are basically a massive vacuum that suck in any and all positive effect shapes for a short period of time. The title has a heavy focus on risk vs. reward, requiring the player to take chances by risking their high multiplier while collecting every green and yellow shape possible. Taking a dive for extra points feels great, until that one red shape flies right into your cursor’s field, leaving you devastated. It’s one of those titles that makes you say ‘one more time’ at the end of each game, as you know you can do better.

The free online version of Music Catch features only one song, “Before Dawn”, which is original to the title. For $6.99 you can purchase a downloadable version which allows you to import your own MP3s, essentially adding limitless value. Unfortunately, this feature is absent from the iPhone version, which will run you $.99. This version includes four songs, including “Before Dawn.” Considering Music Catch is perfect for the pick up and play style of phones, it’s a shame that you are unable to access your iTunes list for content in the iPhone version. Either way, it’s a fun time killer and is worth playing online for free or even paying $.99 to take on the go. $6.99 for the full package might be a little hard to justify, but if you are looking for more it sounds like the full version would do you well.

If there’s one thing I absolutely love about Nintendo it is that they can take an average idea and create something seemingly fresh with just a bit of Nintendo magic. The  problem is that it doesn’t always work out just as keikaku (translator’s note: keikaku means plan.) Swapnote is one of the exceptions though.

You can check out the article on TheSpeedGamers!

After a long delay and a never published episode, One Controller Port returns! Without much going on in the industry as of right now, there wasn’t all that much to talk about. Instead I take this week to focus on what stuff I’ve got coming up as well as well as what I’ve been playing.

I often ask myself, “exactly what makes visual novels so enjoyable?” To be honest, it’s a question I’m probably not fit to answer for others, as I still haven’t played anything beyond demos (although, as of posting, I’m knee deep in Katawa Shoujo). And no, a travel guide with two chicks placed in front of all the pictures doesn’t count (Go! Go! Nippon!). What I can say is why I continue to return to the genre. I think most people would partially point to one of the the more obvious answers – DEM BEWBIES. In my case, that’s not why I’m here at all. That’s either unfortunate or fortunate, depending on how you look at it. For me, I play almost entirely for the relationship between the player and the in-game characters.

I don’t know what it is about visual novels: the first person perspective, the tactile experience of pressing a button to push forward the conversation, the dialog trees or the often blank slate main character; but playing a visual novel almost feels like having a conversation. It’s a feeling that I haven’t really felt with video games, or really any other form of media or literature. Because it feels almost like a conversation between me and the other characters, I oddly find myself referring to the main character as “I” or “me” when talking with my friends about visual novels. I’m all like, “AWWWW SHIET. Me and Kanade getting in da bed together. WOO WOO WOO!” Although, in DEARDROPS’ case, I usually refer to Shoichi as his own character.

I wouldn’t exactly call it putting myself in the main character’s shoes…  It’s more like living in his eyeballs. Despite never having in-depth control of a conversation, it gives me a sense of relationship with characters that you simply don’t find in manga, anime, or games. In their case, the conversation always is directed at someone else, rather than somewhat toward you. A few WRPGs do this, but don’t really take it to the extent of visual novels. Even when I find a character annoying, it’s hard not for me to feel that I’ve gotten closer to them by the end of my experience. Considering I have a great hate for how authors portray fictional women, because of all the awful and annoying stereotypes writers tend to throw them in, making me build a relationship with them, while enjoying it, is an accomplishment, in my eyes at the least.

Gonda-san so kawaii, uguu~!

I assume this is how most people feel when they play visual novels. If not, I probably sound like a lonely college student who needs a girlfriend. That being said, a fictional romantic relationship is something that I’m not really looking for in visual novels. Honestly, if I had a choice, I’d friend zone every female character in DEARDROPS. I am open to a Gonda and Master route though.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned jumping from visual novel trial to visual novel trial, it’s that I’m not particularly fond of OVERDRIVE’s works, at least from what I’ve seen with the trials. Kira Kira’s and Edelweiss’ demos stand out as some of my least favorite moments in my short visual novel career. I’ve found both of them to be extremely generic and uninteresting. Edelweiss, in particular, just got on my bad side, but I already wrote an entire article about that. So going into DEARDROPS’ trial, I wasn’t expecting much. While I didn’t exactly find an entirely new experience in the trial, DEARDROPS already proved to be a huge improvement over both releases.

DEARDROPS is another music focused visual novel, similar to Kira Kira. You’re getting a band together with you and some hawt chickz, plus one older male. What really sets this apart from Kira Kira though is probably the setting and the characters. Kira Kira primarily revolves around high school students. In DEARDROPS’ case, the story revealed during the demo focuses much more on Shoichi, the main character, who’s a bit older. Not only that, but the rest of the cast covers a variety of age ranges, featuring a 10-year-old, high school students, Shoichi and his childhood friend, who are around the same age; a rough bassist in his thirties, and the childhood friend’s father, who clearly has some years on him. This diversity allows for a lot of variety in how characters interact with each other. Specifically, Shoichi clearly has an influence on those younger than him, while still learning from the older characters. This makes him not only a developing character, but one that helps other characters develop as well. Occasionally, this flips around on him, as he gets pep talks from the 10-year-old and guitar lessons from a younger mentor.

The title’s main plot is definitely the main pull here, revealing pieces of Shoichi’s troubled past. During the course of the trial, the secret behind his past is never fully revealed. You do see how it effects his everyday life, not only from himself internally, but through external conflicts as well. The main characters in visual novels I’ve played have been a bit of blank slate, but Shoichi clearly has an identity and plays a large role within the plot. That’s emphasized by the fact that he not only has a defined face, but also appears quite often. He actually looks quite fabulous, which gives him a stronger aura compared to the more messy haired and plainly dressed generic visual novel main characters.

Each female character had their own little issues teased as well. At least in the trial, they take a strong backseat to Shoichi’s struggles. That being said, if you’re here for the ladies, all of them give the impression of being pretty generic. You have the tsundere, the sort of head in the clouds kind of girl, a childhood friend, and all that good stuff. Honestly, the male characters sort of stole the spotlight in much of the trial, which is fine by me since I’m here for the story (wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more, say no more). If you’re looking for some booby time, you can expect the stereotypical anime/manga/visual novel stuff here.

For an OVERDRIVE release, it’s a huge improvement, even if the females are still fairly generic. You still have some herpaderp moments you come to expect, like Shoichi being the typically dense male to all the female advances on him early on, but the demo seems to imply that it won’t get in the way of the more interesting story. OVERDRIVE and DEARDROPS shows what you can do if you expand out of the high school setting that most anime, manga and visual novels seem locked in. Again, I can’t really speak too strongly considering I haven’t played any of OVERDRIVE’s full visual novels yet, but DEARDROPS’ trial has shown me a lot more promise than Kira Kira’s or Edelweiss’ trials ever did.

If you’re 18 or older, you can check out DEARDROPS yourself over on MangaGamer.

Exclusives are fine and dandy, but there are just as many great multi-platform releases between the three consoles. With this entry the TSG Staff looked at titles that were multi-platform at or near their initial release dates. While probably not my favorite multi-platform release, I figured I’d shake things up a bit by adding a more unique release with my entry.

You can check out all of the staff’s entries on TheSpeedGamers!

Microsoft’s original Xbox wasn’t exactly very popular, with the exception of its extremely successful online service. Software-wise,  Microsoft’s Xbox is known best for the Halo franchise, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any other titles worth playing on this coffee table of a console.  While I haven’t put much time into the platform myself, there seems to be quite a few hidden gems out there on the platform for bargain prices.

You can check out my picks and the rest of the staff’s picks over on TheSpeedGamers!

About a month ago I met up with Alan Wilson of Tripwire Interactive to talk about their company, franchises and some upcoming software releases.  It was my first interview, but overall I think it actually turned out pretty well.  I might post the audio recording later. Although It was just through a hand recorder, so the quality wasn’t very good.

You can check out the transcribed version on VGChartz gamrFeed!