Enjoy it! Be sure to click on the image for full resolution

First, if you’ve ever considered yourself a true gamer or hardcore gamer, you must know what Steam is and share your love for it. Steam is a tool developed by Valve (great guys) to work like an online game store where you can buy digital versions of your game pretty fast and for a reasonable price. I’d be unfair to call steam just an online store, it goes far beyond it. With Steam you can manage all games you bought on Steam (or even add shortcuts to it) so you could easily install and uninstall everything you want on a centralized place. So we could call it an online game store with game manager on it?

The answer is no, you can’t because once again, Steam surpasses this barrier. You can also have a list of Friends and join communities basically to make connections and play with them. You can also check people’s (and your, of course) game statistics and achievements. It’s possible to even know how long your friend spent on gaming preparing to beat you (or not). It’s really fun to know that one of your friends spent over ONE THOUSAND hours playing Team Fortress 2 and he still haven’t unlocked the achievement you just unlocked.

If that thing of Online Store with Game Management and know what everyone is playing and play with them tool, Steam also offers MANY deals, they have even a weekly based deal. If you are thinking that everyone makes deals so that is normal, I’ll tell you what’s NOT normal: I bought Team Fortress 2 for TWO DAMN DOLLARS and until May 24th, Portal is FREE!

If you are Brazilian or live in a not so developed place for buying games where you have to pay almost 3 times the real price of stuff, Steam gives the opportunity to take you to a new level. You can pay Steam using international credit card or paypal, so there are no excuses to buy games for a reasonable price. Deals + Paypal = Buy Addiction Sickness. It’s your chance to make the difference on the game industry and quit supporting piracy. Some time ago, I could “understand” (never support) piracy, but with Steam, I can’t! The only thing I’d advice you is to take care because it’s REALLY easy to spend a lot of money on games because they are cheap and you won’t be able even to play them.

One more little thing I want to add is that Steam is a wonderful place to find and also publish indie games. You can find most of the indie industry treasures like World of Goo, Braid but also games that are not that famous but much less known like Altitude or Osmos. My love for indies and also the fact that I’m inserted to the indie community somehow makes me love Steam even more. Needless to say, of course you will find huge projects like Call of Duty, Half-Life, Civilization and so on. Take a look at part of my list on Steam.

I just forgot to mention, Steam is user based (sort of like Xbox) and you will have to create an account and those games will be available for that account only. Either way, it works fine for me and I hope it will work fine for you. C’mon, now even if you are a Mac user, you can have Steam. Of course not games will be available at once for Mac, but they will make a progression on this side and I think it’ll be pretty quick. Linux users, I’ll support your cause too if you want a Steam.

To shorten my description of Steam as a “Online store with…” I could say it is simply AWESOME! Go ahead and check it out: http://store.steampowered.com/

2007年、　日本へ行くことができました。　いい経験になっただけではなく、 忘れられない思い出もいっぱいできました。　このプレゼンテーションはトピックで構成されています。　じゃ、　行きましょう！

１）　　友達の時

この写真を見るとちょっと感動してしまいます。　日本語を勉強し始めたとき、　練習できるためにスカイプで英語がちょっとできる日本人を探しました。　京都に住んでいる直之さんと言う人と話して、　すぐ練習できる相手じゃありませんでした。　一年間、毎週、　長い時間話して、　実は親友になって、　彼に会うことは一番楽しみにしてたことでした。　その写真は京都で始めて出会ったときなので、　それを見ると、ちょっと感動します。　やっぱり、　スカイプと現実の直之さんは同じだったので、　彼と知り合って、　もう４年になるけれど、僕は今でも、相変わらず直之さんとスカイプで話しています。

さとるさんと太一さんもスカイプで知り合って、　東京で案内してくれました。

この二人は京都に住んでポルトガル語を勉強している日本人です。　ニックネームは「Ｂａｃａｌｈａｕ」と「チョコレート」です。　なんででしょうか？

京都に住んで楽しくて優しいカップルです。　彼はイタリア料理のレストランで働いているので、　イタリア料理を作ってくれました。

２）　困った時

旅行でこの日は一番楽しかったです。　直之さんが京都で案内してくれました。　朝から、色んなところに行って時間がなくなったので、　何も食べずに一日中歩きました。　僕は疲れていて調子も良くなかったのですが、危ないながらもなんとか山に登ることが出来ました。　しかし、すぐに暗くなってきたので山を下りなければなりませんでした。　そのあと、　しゃぶしゃぶを食べに行ったので、　元気になってよかったです。　：）

日本に着いた時、　友達が僕を迎えに来てくれる予定だったけど、約束の場所には誰もいませんでした。

迷ったとき、　耳が聞こえない人に道を聞きました。

ゲストハウスのトイレは不潔でした。

３）　不思議な時

広島の学生は英語の練習するように僕と話しに来ました。　英語でどこから来たかと聞かれました。　僕は「どこから来たと思ってますか」と返事しました。　子供たちは：　「アメリカ」。　僕は「違う」。　子供は：　「じゃ、　それなら　ケニアから来ました」と言いました。　不思議ですね。　ほら、　僕はケニア人っぽいですか？

子供たちへＢｒｉｇａｄｅｉｒｏを作ってあげましたが、　ちょっと甘すぎて、　誰も好きじゃありませんでした。　それで本当にびっくりしてしまいました。　Ｂｒｉｇａｄｅｉｒｏが嫌いな子供はいないったと思っていました。

パンの代わりにご飯で作ったハンバーガーありますか？　なぜでしょうか？

４）　料理の時

料理って場所によってほとんど違います。　僕は皆の意見とは反対で、日本の料理はそれほど高いとは思いません。　実はラーメンやカレーやお好み焼きや牛丼など安いです。　エビフライは１個１，５００円でサラダとミソとご飯は食べ放題でした。　おいしくて、　そんなに高くなくて、　僕は日本を料理の天国だと思っています。

追伸：　福岡のラーメンは最高でした。

5）　すごい景色を見た時

説明しにくいですね。　写真を見るだけですぐ分ります。

札幌に3色の紅葉です。

札幌の公園の小さな湖（湖です。　水の反射（はんしゃ）はすごくきれいで、　美術みたいです。

一番きれいで何回も、　行った京都の嵐山の竹の道通りです。

自然な景色のことだけではありません。　横浜にある日本の一番高い建物からの景色はすごくきれいでした。　港未来を見ながらいい音楽を聞くのはいい気持ちでした。

日本は最高です！　行ってみてください！！！

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to play all released games (I really wish I had). Some games become phenomenons and I simply can’t understand why because I’ve never given it a proper chance. Last year, I gave a chance to Halo to try to understand what besides wonderful technical qualities it possesses. It ended up shaping a great gaming experience. This year I decided to understand more about Monster Hunter world and why it has become a multi-million seller hit in Japan.

It’s been a long time since I don’t write a review or impressions about games. I think my last one for Nintendo World magazine about Super Smash Bros Brawl. I do not intend on giving spoilers and making a deep analysis of Monster Hunter, which is a very complex game, so I’ll just highlight some of its characteristics.

In one sentence: Monster Hunter = Harvest Moon meets Dinosaur Park meets Phantasy Star Online.

You take the rule of a hunter which should take missions to help a village that was struck by a devastating earthquake and now fear a gigantic aquatic monster. Every mission accomplished, you earn some items and money, which should be used to upgrade your equipment and the village. The more resources and quests you clear, you improve the village making new items and upgrades available. The better your equipment is, closer you are from facing the Monster of Lake Ness.

The variety of items is ridiculously big and most of them really useful. For the collectables, you gather stuff like different types of baits for fishing, pickle axes for mining, bug net for hunting insects and so on. You will also possess different potions, hunter traps, bombs and even a BBQ Spit for cooking fresh raw meat you took from your preys and make it a wonderful meal to recover your stamina. You can choose between two main classes of hunter: blade and gunner. The former will be more a warrior type, using swords, hammers or spears. The second one will carry guns that can be loaded with different type of ammo that should be managed according to the situation for best results. You can even act like a healer for your group using heal ammo. (Interesting concept).

In my opinion what stand out on MH3 are the monsters itself and the online component. Monsters behave and sound very realistically, they call for help, run away when very hurt, make group attack, etc… The first monster you will kill is a huge herbivore breeding with its sons. I must confess I was heartbroken by that and I feel kinda sad slaying them at first, but know I understood that business is business, someone MUST do it!

The online component is by far the best you will ever see on Wii (and even on X360 or PS3). Time to kick out those stupid friend codes and rely on a server capcom is maintaining. Thanks god that even this game is charged monthly fees in japan, it’s free for America (yey!). Basically, the online play is a different hub where you meet people and then take some group quests. Your character in the single player and all your items are transported to multiplayer experience and progression on multiplayer also reflects on the single player experience. This is very rich since you are always being rewarded. You can use Wii Speak or USB Keyboard to communicate and you will do so in order to strategize your battles. Monsters aren’t just hack and slash, you will actually need to learn different patterns and use your brain to kill them.

Most missions are time based and this will add some urgent feel to them. I thought it was really old fashioned style of gameplay. But after all, Monster Hunter is all about being hardcore, everything takes time and you can probably spend over 100 hours easily on it. I found it really rewarding facing a giant dinosaur for over 30 minutes and when I thought I would kill him because he was very injured, he killed me and my partner. After I improved my equipment (no level ups at this game) I tried kill him again and it was a success. It blew my mind, really!

The main issues with MH3 are its slow pace and over complicated control scheme (even with Classic Controller). People wanting a story driven game, should skip MH3, but if you feel like becoming an incredible hunter, managing items and equipment and cooperative play, this game is for you.

I won’t give it a grade because this is not a review !

Check out the full trailer!

First of all, I don’t use my nickname to hide my name behind it, but it works more like a compliment to a character which I like very much, Mr. Game & Watch. I created this nickname when I was signing in for a game discussion board on the internet. Some might recognize the name from the Super Smash Bros series, since Mr. Game & Watch is a character available since the GC version of the game.

Mr. Game & Watch and all his sexiness

The real reason of this choice is that G&W is really retro, just like me,  and he was also a newcomer to Smash Bros. Game & Watch is actually a line off handheld consoles produced by Nintendo early 80′s and even though I’m not produced by Nintendo, I’m from early 80′s . Most Game & Watch handelds work like minigames with 2 difficult levels and you compete for the high score. No plot, it’s pure gameplay and it’s fun. If you own any of those, it might be worth a lot of money if complete. Well, if those aren’t reasons enough for choosing this nickname, just check out how charismatic he is and it’s easily understandable.

Game & Watch: Ball, the first

About the title of my blog, I wrote it in Japanese because I created this blog just before going for a 3-months trip to Japan (posts of this trip only in Portuguese). It’s written Watchの考え (Watch no Kangae) and it means something like “The thoughts of Watch”.

Acho que o único dia neste blog que fiz um post semelhante ao de hoje foi quando tive a chance de ir no show do w-inds. em 2007. Hoje realizei um sonho, algo bobo para alguns mas que para mim é demais. O Brasil não é para mim o país do futebol ou do samba. Tão pouco me importo muito com o pelé, mas o fato é que o Brasil apesar de não ser a pátria mãe do seriado, é o país do Chaves.

Hoje aconteceu o II Festival da Boa Vizinhança, um evento realizado pelo fã-clube oficial do chaves. Eu poderia ficar meia hora aqui descrevendo os defeitos da organização e do evento em si, mas seria muito cômodo e fácil da minha parte que só tive que levantar a bunda da cadeira e ir até o Mart Center, no fim do mundo à esquerda. O meu lado empreendedor diz que este evento perdeu uma boa oportunidade de ser melhor, mas ainda assim foram vários detalhes minusciosos que fizeram a diferença do mundo criado por debaixo do teto do Mart Center.

Foram por volta de 5.000 fãs do seriado que vieram de diferentes partes do Brasil, todos conseguiam entender as nuances como a placa do banheiro que alternava entre “Caballeros” e “Damas”; a barraca de churros, algodão doce, balões. Palavras comuns não só para os chavesmaníacos como eu, mas como para uma nação inteira. No meio de toda muvuca do evento, as atrações mais aguardadas seriam os dubladores da série e também do Edgar Vivar (Sr Barriga e Nhonho) e Carlos Villagran (Kiko).

O trabalho de dublagem começou no ano em que nasci e trouxe ao Brasil o fantástico mundo criado pelo Chespirito que não somente traduz a realidade de países de terceiro mundo como o México e Brasil, mas também traz textos leves e facilmente compreendidos. Chaves é o Ipod cultural dos pobres e de todas as idades, apela na simplicidade e por isso cativa, independente da geração. Já diria meu lema de vida que eu preciso admirar tudo aquilo que considero bom e que não saiba fazer. No caso de Chaves e Chapolin, isso vai para a última potência pois é realmente difícil fazer comédia com essa leveza. É só ligar a TV em “Zorra Total” e “A Praça é Nossa” para ver o nível que os programas precisam chegar para fazer piadas e sem 1/000 do conteúdo que Chaves e Chapolin possuem.

Edgar Vivar (Sr. Barriga)

Kiko e dubladores (Chiquinha, Kiko e Dona Florinda)

Ver os dubladores interagindo e desenvolvendo uma cena ao vivo e ver o Sr Barriga e Kiko ao vivo, foi uma experiência rica pelo simples fato do que eles simbolizam para mim. O Sr Coração é todo barriga… hmmm digo…. O Sr Barriga é todo coração, você consegue ver através dele as emoções e orgulhos. Já o Kiko é um showman, ele faz comédia com tudo, chegou até a dançar Billie Jean do Michael Jackson. Entendo que esse post é muito pessoal, mas acredito que minha visão seja compartilhada por muitos outros e é para todo mundo que gostaria de escrever. Afinal de contas: Tchuin Tchuin Tchun Clain

Quotes hardcores:
- “Vocês querem mais bolacha?”
- “Não se esquece de dizer que foi o Seu Madruga que mandou.”
- “Ai minha nossa!”
- “Já falei para você tirar essa máscara”
- “Vocês serão homens de bem, homens como eu”  (livros voando)
- “O gato ou o Kiko?”
- “Pois sim”
- “Pois não”
- “Outro gato”
- “Mamãe querida, meu coração por ti bate….  como caroço de abacate”
- “Quer que eu chame um Taxi?”
- “Figaro Fi Figaro Fa Figaro La”
- “Uma torta para Jaiminho”
- “Dona Neves Velha Reumática”
- “Pegue este charuto e me dê o estilingue!”
- “E agora começa o arrastapé!”

(Eu vou começar a escrever mais em inglês por aqui pois quero ter a oportunidade de praticar o idioma e também comunicar com mais pessoas. Caso esse post te interesse, entre em contato que eu posto em português também. Ainda vou fazer alguns posts em português e japonês de vez em quando.

Today’s post is my book recommendation. As a Game Designer, I live pursuing my dream and things I really believe for games. Unfortunately, the industry seems to be unwilling of absorbing all wannabes and dreamers out there. When you think start losing confidence, a weird force come from anywhere giving an extra boost of confidence and excitement. The book recommendation today is all about that, how two game developers pursued their beliefs and create a pop culture creating games like Commander Keen, Wolfenstein3D, Doom and Quake.

I am talking about John Carmack and John Romero, the two Johns! Even though I quite can’t identify myself on the personas of these two, their story is, at least, inspiring. Actually, it’s not inspiring only for game developers like me, but to everyone. They didn’t follow rules imposed by the market and create their own way to do thing, and to do things right. Of course I disagree with some of their attitudes, because they would not be my own. So it’s kind of a disagree, but agreeing and even founding myself on people like Tom Hall, I wish I could follow their steps.

Please, read Masters of Doom, it’s dynamic and fluid book about the Two Johns.

Chega de falar do passado, quero ver se levanto a poeira disso falando sobre assuntos que não sejam só Japão e música. Tenho impressão que os posts muito longos me fizeram desistir de postar, pois postar == muito tempo gasto.

Vou tentar fazer posts mais frequentes e com menos conteúdo para deixar esse blog mais light.

Espero que gostem da mudança daqui em diante .

1. w-inds.

First: It’s in the Stars
The song you’re in love with: Shiki
Favorite song at the moment: New World

2. Tegomass

First: Ai Ai Gasa
The song you’re in love with: Hanamuke
Favorite song at the moment: La La Sakura

3. News

First: Happy Birthday
The song you’re in love with: WeeeeK
Favorite song at the moment: Dreams

4. Masuda Takahisa

First: Superman
The song you’re in love with: Pumpkin
Favorite song at the moment: Pumpkin

5. GReeeeN

First: Ai Uta
The song you’re in love with: Kiseki
Favorite song at the moment: Kiseki

6. Ayaka

First: Melody
The song you’re in love with: Mikazuki
Favorite song at the moment: Minna Sora no Shita

7. Natalie Imbruglia

First: Torn
The song you’re in love with: That Day
Favorite song at the moment: Twenty

8. Seiken Densetsu (game soundtrack from mana series)

First: Angel’s Fear
The song you’re in love with: Song of Mana
Favorite song at the moment: Song of Mana

9. mihimaru GT

First: Kibun Jojo
The song you’re in love with: Gazen Yeah!
Favorite song at the moment: Switch

10. Perfume

First: Polyrhythm
The song you’re in love with: Polyrhythm
Favorite song at the moment: Love the World