The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers

[ParanoiaDragon]

Does anyone have either of these books, what's your impression, worth getting?  They sound interesting, lot's of stuff about Falcom, Hudson, Telenet, NCS, Westone, Human, Irem, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Untold-History-Japanese-Game-Developers/dp/0992926025/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08XR1VR859167PHYF35B

http://www.amazon.com/Untold-History-Japanese-Developers-Volume/dp/1518655319/ref=pd_cp_14_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HQG3H9HDCJQWZA2J2Z9&tag=viglink24327-20

[sirhcman]

Isn't this the guy who wasted a bunch of kickstarter money? I remember there being a thread about it here (somewhere)

Edit here it is: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=14787.msg298987#msg298987

[Otaking]

Yeah I got the first book, I was impressed, thought it was a good read.

There was so much drama surrounding the books/DVDs though, there's some threads on here.

EDIT sirhcman posted as I was typing this answer.

 

[esteban]

I want these books. I remember the drama, though.

[xcrement5x]

They were giving away free digital versions for awhile, I snagged the first one then but am working on other stuff now.

[NightWolve]

Isn't this the guy who wasted a bunch of kickstarter money? I remember there being a thread about it here (somewhere)

Edit here it is: pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=14787

Yeah, we had a whole thread on the history of Psycho John Schizomaniak who made this book and got sued twice for libel by the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator, Agness Kaku. I too was a target of his once, and can vouch for his willingness to fabricate quotes, to outright lie about people in order to heckle/irritate them. He's a real piece of work.

Also, I did manage to get the book for free with Kindle a couple of months ago when HG101 mentioned the freebie special. The window was short, maybe a day or so. Anyway, there is an interview with Quintet and surely other interesting stuff. Jeff Lewis can vouch for it as he's actually read the thing, you can check in that other thread towards the end.

[johnnykonami]

can vouch for his willingness to fabricate quotes

This doesn't apply to the interviews in the book, I hope right?  I've been wanting to get these since the Kickstarter but I waited until it was available on Amazon.  Then I passed on it because I thought the cover artwork looked so amateur (the blue one with the map of Japan), to me that said something about the quality of the book on the inside also.  Since then they've released the "gold" cover which looks much nicer, but the images I've seen on the layout inside make it seem like it would be hard to read.  Those HCG101 books seem to have the same problem.  I generally like HCG101 (I stay out of the squabbling but the site is fun to browse) but I passed on most of those too.

These are still on my wishlist though, I mean how can I pass on all of these interviews from Hudson, Westone, Telenet Japan and others that I loved.. can't get that elsewhere so I figure it's at least worth it for this, that is if the interviews are factual.

[NecroPhile]

I don't know if I'd bother reading this even if it were free.

[SignOfZeta]

Aparently the book is good, perhaps really good, but the guy is a true psycho with legit mental health problems. He basically tortured his translators and complained about it in a way that betrays a total lack of self awareness - that is, if you or I behaved like such a huge asshole we'd be ashamed to admit it, but this guy told the whole self incriminating story in his own posts. Weird.

[johnnykonami]

I don't know if I'd bother reading this even if it were free.

I mean, supposedly the guy went around and got brand new interview material from employees who used to work at these companies, so aside from the all the drama surrounding the book, that sounds at least worthwhile.

[NightWolve]

can vouch for his willingness to fabricate quotes

This doesn't apply to the interviews in the book, I hope right?

I should hope so if he cares about his credibility. As for libel, I did contact and inform Agness after I downloaded the book and I searched around, finding that he referred to her and her sister as "sabotaging malcontents" basically. But he was smart with it this time, he didn't name names. Only those of us that know of all the drama he caused know who he is referring to.

"that ultimately saved the project when it was faced with sabotage by malcontents."

Szczepaniak, S.M.G (2014-11-26). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition (Kindle Location 8154). SMG Szczepaniak. Kindle Edition.

[NecroPhile]

I mean, supposedly the guy went around and got brand new interview material from employees who used to work at these companies, so aside from the all the drama surrounding the book, that sounds at least worthwhile.

Except the guy is delusional and often full of beans, leading me to question the veracity of the writings.  I don't want to waste my time reading something where half of it is poorly translated responses and made up shit.

[NightWolve]

Here's a full excerpt from that page, to get a taste. Someone that goes back to Falcom, Quintet, Telenet, etc.

Interview with Kouji Yokota – (contains Lunar: Eternal Blue ending SPOILERS)
27 September & 10 October 2013, Shade company offices, Tokyo

When starting this project there were several names which readers repeatedly requested coverage on. One was Super Famicom-era developers Quintet, which spun off from Nihon Falcom. Another was Nihon Falcom itself, plus Nihon Telenet and Game Arts. Mr Yokota has worked for all four of these companies, in addition to being head of Shade, which itself spun off from Quintet. Originally I contacted a member of staff from Terranigma, via his brother on Twitter. The Terranigma developer said he could be interviewed and promised to put me in touch with a colleague. This plan fizzled out, but determined to get some Quintet coverage I contacted fellow writer Sorrel Tilley, who put me in touch with Mr Yokota, who in turn invited me to join him at the Sony Indies Stream party, which led to some valuable business card exchanges that ultimately saved the project when it was faced with sabotage by malcontents. In fact I interviewed Mr Yokota twice. There were difficulties with the material from the first interview, so it was worth visiting again. The two interviews have been edited into one – additionally, two fluent Japanese speakers gave the audio and text another pass. As a neat bonus I also met the developer of Popful Mail, Jun Nagashima. As it turned out, several former Falcom employees were now at Shade. Joining me on the day was Preservation Society President Joseph Redon, who brought with archive materials related to Mr Yokota's career. When we walked into the meeting room we spotted something special...

JS: There's a PC-88FH Black model over there!

KY: < laughs > Yes, that's right.

JS: Boxes of floppies! Can you tell us about this?

KY: Actually, I tried to activate them and they still work. Would you like to see it?

JS: I'd love to. Can I shoot some video?

< Mr Yokota moves over to the machine >

KY: I don't want any video to be linked with me. So whatever you shoot... If you post it somewhere, I don't want to be mentioned.

< the PC-88 comes to life, playing the classic opening track to Falcom's Ys III, loud and rich >

KY: You can turn down the volume.

JS: Was this your personal machine? Did you develop on it?

KY: This is the machine I used to use at work. More than 20 years ago.

JS: Do you still have your development materials?

KY: We needed a PC-9801 in addition to this, but I don't have that.

< JR explains Game Preservation Society >

Szczepaniak, S.M.G (2014-11-26). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition (Kindle Locations 8146-8171). SMG Szczepaniak. Kindle Edition.

JR: At the Game Preservation Society we're putting a lot of effort into preserving your work.

KY: I actually have a lot of these. < refers to old development floppy disks > But I don't have the hardware to play them.

JR: We have all the needed hardware at the Game Preservation Society. We have developed unique techniques to preserve old games.

KY: I have all the old games, but I'm not making any use of them. So maybe there's certain things I can donate.

JR: This would be very helpful, but on the contrary, we already have a huge archive of games, including yours. So in fact, if sometime you need your own work for anything, we would be happy to help you.

KY: Thank you very much.

JS: What was the first game you saw?

KY: If you're talking about videogames, it was Space Invaders. And there used to be an upright driving game, I think that probably was the first game I was exposed to.

JS: When did you want to join the industry?

KY: I actually had my first computer at around the age of 20. So I was already interested in that kind of field. And I really like arcade games; Space Harrier by Sega I found very impressive, so I was very much attracted to the industry.

JS: Was your first job at Nihon Telenet?

KY: My first job, yes.

JS: Many answered wanted adverts when joining companies. How did you join Telenet?

KY: My friend was already working there and so he introduced me to the company.

JS: Who was your friend?

KY: Not really a friend, but someone who was senior in age. We had a common friend from school, or acquaintance, through which I came to know that person, but he was older than me. So he wasn't really a friend of mine. He suggested there were some software houses I could try for an interview, so I decided to take some interviews. Back then, the titles of Nihon Telenet were quite attractive, so I chose that company as the first one I had an interview with. Then I was fortunate to be recruited. JS: Nihon Telenet had a strong visual style.

KY: Yes, they did! < laughs >

JS: Which other companies did you apply for?

KY: Well, actually... Game Arts... There were some other candidates that I wanted to try, but Nihon Telenet was the first company I tried and I was hired, so I didn't get to.

JS: Nihon Telenet had a bit of a rivalry with Nihon Falcom and Zainsoft, didn't it?

< We look through Comtiq magazine, at the Zainsoft spread, showing Jun Mukai and the CEO, Mr Miyamoto, learing over him >

KY: He's 16. Japanese regulations say you're not allowed to work too much. But he worked all the time! < laughs > He got Telenet into big trouble – the police visited the office!

Szczepaniak, S.M.G (2014-11-26). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Gold Edition (Kindle Locations 8183-8202). SMG Szczepaniak. Kindle Edition.

Meh, actually I could've spared myself some trouble by just taking screenshots...

Except the guy is delusional and often full of beans, leading me to question the veracity of the writings.  I don't want to waste my time reading something where half of it is poorly translated responses and made up shit.

It is a fair position to take with this guy, yeah!

[NecroPhile]

That's not a promising excerpt for anyone looking for insightful interviews and amusing anecdotes.

Falcom used a PC-88/98 to develop a PC-88/98 game?  The hell you say!

[Otaking]

I first became aware of Szczepaniak back when he was a writer for Retro Gamer magazine. His work was excellent, the articles were very well written and he covered mainly import and Japanese originated games. I thought the book was written to the same high standard.

It turns out in real life he seems to be a bit of a nutter from all the drama that ensued around his book. But still holds up that the book is excellent, and who else in the English speaking world is traveling to Japan and interviewing these people from the golden era. I do get the impression if he hadn't had done it this information would have been lost to us forever. So it's comendable that he's documented this stuff for the English speaking world.

Edit. just realised peeps in the US wouldn't know what I meant by "nutter"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nutter

[johnnykonami]

Here's a full excerpt from that page, to get a taste. Someone that goes back to Falcom, Quintet, Telenet, etc.

KY: I don't want any video to be linked with me. So whatever you shoot... If you post it somewhere, I don't want to be mentioned.

Seems kinda awkward to leave something like this in.

Except the guy is delusional and often full of beans, leading me to question the veracity of the writings.  I don't want to waste my time reading something where half of it is poorly translated responses and made up shit.

It is a fair position to take with this guy, yeah!

I was aware of the situation with his translator, but I didn't know enough about either of them to know who was really in the wrong.  Is she actually alright?  Seems a huge shame to have 1.) Made the effort to talk to all of these great Japanese devs but come back with poorly written/translated/embellished copy and 2.) Make westerners look bad/like they are wasting your time and hurt future attempts to talk to these guys.

Shame, really.

I first became aware Szczepaniak back when he was a writer for Retro Gamer magazine. His work was excellent, the articles were very well written and he covered mainly import and Japanese originated games. I thought the book was written to the same high standard.

It turns out in real life he seems to be a bit of a nutter from all the drama that ensued around his book. But still holds up that book is excellent, and who else in the English speaking world is traveling to Japan and interviewing these people from the golden era. I do get the impression if he hadn't had done it this imformation would have been lost to us forever. So it's comendable that he's documented this stuff for the English speaking world.

Edit. just realised peeps in the US wouldn't know what I meant by "nutter"
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nutter

I have bought a couple issues of Retro Gamer but I never really focused on any of the particular writers so I never noticed his work if in the issues that I purchased.  Like any British publication in the US, they're expensive - like $12-$15 an issue if I recall, so I only bought like 2-3 of them spaced pretty far apart.  But I agree with you, I think there might be some value in the books, I just need to take it with a grain of salt.

Also, we love you Brits here in the states - we got your fancy lingo down!  I think they even used "nutter" in one of the Harry Potter movies, and everyone in the world has seen those.

[SignOfZeta]

I didn't mention it before, but yeah, the guy is crazy so I sorta wonder how reliable his data is. He's right about one thing, this info is super hard to obtain for westerners. However, that's also the same thing that keeps anyone from realistically being able to fact check. If he had one cool true story for every three lies and then a few pages of pontification in between...how the hell would we know? Is this shit real or is he the P.H. Chada of his day?

Thank you. Thank you.

I suppose as the Internet shrinks the world ever further, some of this info will head to us down parallels paths (i.e.: circa 2020 Google Translate and just the right 2 chan forum) but until then it's his world versus nobody.

As for his translator...the way I see it the main issue was that he didn't understand what it means to hire a translator, especially from Japanese. If you've ever spent time in this situation and you can speak some of the language you'll soon realize that you don't get a %100 accurate and complete translation of every single concept expressed by the native speaker. The translator "sums up" what is considered to be not just another language but really an entirely inscrutable nihongo mistique. "You couldn't understand it, you aren't Japanese. Let me state it plainly."  That's how that world works most of the time, right or wrong. They are as protective of their culture as they are embarrassed by it...not true, but it seems that way.

So this guy hired someone who probably thought they would be doing that but instead ended up doing graduate level work in overtime quantities. The guy *really* wanted the info so he sorta trashed every convention of what it means to hire a translator and then shit talked them when they couldn't keep up with an otaku on antidepressants. Who can?

[esteban]

"Otaku on antidepressants."

Should be our slogan!

[Arkhan Asylum]

I want to touch this person.   That 80s hair and flannel.

hot damn.

and MustacheDuder.   OH LAWDY.

im retarded.


Anyway, who's to say if the stuff in the book is accurate.   It's "good", but it is also the only choice, so what's the bar really set at ? 


Sucks hes a giant knob.

I didn't like his other articles.

[johnnykonami]

Yeah, I think I will eventually buy these anyway.  Gotta be some truth in there somewhere.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Yeah, I think I will eventually buy these anyway.  Gotta be some truth in there somewhere.

Is 80s Hair McFlannel for sale? 

I'm in.

[johnnykonami]

Yeah, I think I will eventually buy these anyway.  Gotta be some truth in there somewhere.

Is 80s Hair McFlannel for sale? 

I'm in.

Hey, nothing stopping you from using those photos anyway you want to, am I right?

[jeffhlewis]

Jeff Lewis can vouch for it as he's actually read the thing, you can check in that other thread towards the end.

TL;DR version for everyone who is considering buying the (now dirt cheap) versions of vol 1 and 2  that some of us paid big bucks to Kickstart

1.) The author is a massive (and potentially schizo) knob who spent half of the Kickstarter updates post-funding complaining/whining/bitching/libeling about the translation team. So much so that people started turning against him in the comments. Guy seriously has issues; not sure how he stays employed anywhere with the attitude he has.

2.) The two books are ridiculously huge, and are written in like 12 point font with no margins. So from a certain standpoint, you're definitely getting your money's worth from the sheer amount of content

3.) Going along with #2, the books read more like an unedited draft than a final copy fit for print. A lot of the stuff could have been edited down, and there's a lot of places where text is blatantly [REDACTED]...not sure why he chose to tease people with redacted comments vs. just editing those pieces of the interviews out.

4.) That being said, for someone like me who has rose-colored glasses for the mid-80's/early-90's Japanese game development scene, there are some real nuggets in these interviews (like the Mitchell Corp. and Enix interviews) that you can't find anywhere else. It gives you the impression that making these games that we all revere so much was just a day job to these guys back in the day.

5.) PCEFX pride means that you must side with Nightwolve while reading this book (again, see point #1).

[seieienbu]

I'm not going to buy the book because this thread makes the writer sound like a tool but I am curious, what did he have to say about Nightwolve?

[NightWolve]

5.) PCEFX pride means that you must side with Nightwolve while reading this book (again, see point #1).

Haha, thanks! Well, I'm at least vindicated given what he did with Agness Kaku, and she had the money and ballz to file lawsuits which I really respect! Never saw a 4chan/GameFAQs level troll like John get held accountable like that! I only ever spoke to lawyers about XSEED, but she and her husband really sat down together, organized it remotely from Japan and forced John to spend money to answer it all in court which was really awesome regardless if they lost both times because neither French or UK courts would accept jurisdiction to handle him!

I'm not going to buy the book because this thread makes the writer sound like a tool but I am curious, what did he have to say about Nightwolve?

Sure, ask and ye shall receive. The 2009 HG101 rant/hit-piece he dedicated to me with Communist hammer and sickle symbolism over the Ys IV title screen was deleted by Kurt Kalata after I contacted him to report the bizarre lying though. BUT, 3 years later, he ranted about me again because I criticized him for it in 3-4 sentences in the Ys IV ReadMe (he found out about it almost immediately) - I saved his rants here:

https://www.ysutopia.net/uploads/PsychoJohnOnYsIVDub.htm#psychojohn1

In past times, I might've preferred that level of viciousness about me stay deleted, but it deserves preservation and I've long since gotten used to my "customers" raging about me in this way over the years... Heh-heh.

Funny thing, his "poison" and "toxic" attacks are what he also used with Agness, so those are trademarks of his about as much as my use of "hack."

Anyway, so you'll see his posts unedited, but I interjected my responses in red so it didn't go unchallenged. He's got ballz to cry "slander" for my 3-4 sentences after dropping all that nastiness! I pissed him off good, at least, and then years later he f--ked with the wrong people and caught real lawsuits, so "goes around comes around," it all worked out! 



Another thing about it, that criminal from XSEED Games showed up to help him lobby BurntLasagna (my 3rd Ys IV dub manager) into deleting those 3-4 sentences I mentioned... Lipschultz is actually the cause of John's lying when it came to Ys IV and I was amazed he wanted visible involvement in that thread given the timing was a few months after I called his company to fight back against what happened with those shameful Ys script acquisition deals... So, he "elected" himself to a committee of fan ReadMe standards and decided what I said "didn't belong" and should be deleted per John's demands... Surprise... This did result in conflict between BurntLasagna and myself because he deleted it without asking me, but I'll leave that tangent out of this.

[Koop]

I actually backed this book, no idea who the guy was but it looked really cool. Got to read awesome updates like this:



















This is all from one fucking update... I just wanted a book.

For those curious I got most of em in my archive still... Could be an entire fucking book itself.

[NightWolve]

Hahaha, that's great stuff! So yeah, it becomes an ugly "he said/she said" fight with plenty of dirt-digging, and that's fine for forum drama or other contexts, but you're a backer that put money down waiting for a product, it's a professional/business situation now, so that's gonna make you really nervous seeing that sort of thing!! I think he was really worried things might go bad and wanted a good scapegoat/fall guy to blame so if it sucked or was delayed, you all understood why, blame Agness and her sister, NOT him!

[Koop]

Hahaha, that's great stuff! So yeah, it becomes an ugly "he said/she said" fight with plenty of dirt-digging, and that's fine for forum drama or other contexts, but you're a backer that put money down waiting for a product, it's a professional/business situation now, so that's gonna make you really nervous seeing that sort of thing!! I think he was really worried things might go bad and wanted a good scapegoat/fall guy to blame so if it sucked or was delayed, you all understood why, blame Agness and her sister, NOT him!

All it did was annoy the shit out of me and pretty much everyone else I think. One update explaining the situation I could understand- but man he did this update after update after update... Pretty obvious the guy had a problem after a while.

Needless to say I didn't buy anything else he did afterwards even after I got emails for it...

I met Kurt of HG_101 at a small con in NJ (had no idea we were in the same state) who had a key few words to say about John... Nothing too flattering. 

[NecroPhile]

This did result in conflict between BurntLasagna and myself because he deleted it without asking me, but I'll leave that tangent out of this.

That's rather shitty.

[Mathius]

I own the DVD if anyone wishes to borrow it. I'm not a fan of John Szczepaniak but there is nothing else quite like it.

[Medic_wheat]

I own the DVD if anyone wishes to borrow it. I'm not a fan of John Szczepaniak but there is nothing else quite like it.

Lol. I'd like to borrow it but wouldn't like to be responsible for the DVD with a ten month old.


Maybe there is a riped video of the DVD I can just download.


Heck I could actually just rip the DVD as a a I file that could be passed around as a USB stick. But then I'd still be responsible for the DVD to rip it.  Lol


Oh the hedge hog's delima.



Which has nothing. To do with this when you look at the context I used it in. 😏

[ccovell]

Hardcore Gaming 101 has recently been releasing some of the interviews from the DVD, so why not judge their quality that way?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCPzkstbidZniw38EM0I8GA/videos

[Mathius]

Hardcore Gaming 101 has recently been releasing some of the interviews from the DVD, so why not judge their quality that way?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCPzkstbidZniw38EM0I8GA/videos

I forgot about this. Check em out!

Medic, let me know what you want to do. I'm no expert on ripping so that would all fall on you.

[NightWolve]

Found his visit to what's left of Hudson. Love that pompous British accent! He should've broken into the building, who would've minded, right ?? ;)

I said it before, but I still don't quite understand how the guy was just as angry before his successful Kickstarter after raising roughly $115,003 USD to give him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in visiting Japan and getting to explore some gaming industry history this way...

You'd think with a blessing like that he'd put things into perspective. Fine, the sister resigned on you, it didn't work out, but you're on borrowed time in Japan on other peoples' money, find another translator/coordinator and resume instead of deciding to wage war on her and Agness, the Metal Gear Solid 2 translator... He was over there also "making" a kind of ugly history instead of just reporting it and it seems like there were much better alternatives. And ultimately they didn't take his bullshit which I suspect was likely defensive scapegoating so he caught 2 libel lawsuits in the aftermath...

It just doesn't compute. How many can say they ran a successful Kickstarter project raising that kind of cash ? It's really how there was no change in his anger level, that's what it seems like but you factor in the stress of such an endeavor, I guess somewhere an explanation can be found. Once a self-proclaimed "guerrilla journalist" always a "guerrilla journalist" I guess ?

[Mathius]

^^Where are you guys getting info on JS's fall from grace? I found a link a year or two ago but have long since lost it.

[NightWolve]

The original thread on this I guess when the Kickstarter campaign took off ?

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=14787.0

[esteban]

NightWolve: I agree...there is enough material for a documentary about this entire endeavor.

ASIDE: I would love for Japanese fans/interviewees to fact-check and verify the content of JS's writing...I hope he captured enough truth/reality. Considering how piss-poor the history of video games has been captured prior to JS, he really doesn't have to do much to surpass his peers.

The bar is quite low.

Which is sad.