Manga Anime Online Shop ANIMAXIS

September was my heaven of playing games.

It's not just limited to videogames, but things you want, things you like, and things you are interested in, get released by minutes. Because you don't have time or little short of cash and you decide "Humnn, I should wait for a week until I buy it" and when you go there, you find out it's already out of stock and get told they have "no plans to restock". On the other hand, because you think it's going to sold out real quickly and you'll miss the chance to buy the thing, so you go to the shop despite your hard financial status and get it... then find out about a month later that the item is still being sold at the shop... The latter version is you've got the game so you are happy, but it's kind of still shocking because of the financial sacrifices you had to take in order to get it. I (and we) dealt with both situations many times - and reflecting back on those times, still makes us sad in one way or the other.

Anyways, last month - September was the month when loads of videogames which I was interested in, or was following in series, were released. And again, I fell in the same trap of "buying after the game is released" and "buying it on time"... My personal examples this time were "Love Plus" and "THE IDOLM@STER Dearly Stars (short for DS)"; videogame software that were released in September for the Nintendo DS.

First, "THE IDOLM@STER Dearly Stars". Well, its last series (released February 2009) was released for PSP console called "THE IDOLM@STER SP". I didn't reserve the thing and went out to buy it on the lunch time at the day of its release... and could not find it anywhere. That was a big ouch and it really made me blue. Thinking that the same thing will happen for this DS version, I decided to pre-order the game, and planned to purchase "Love Plus" that didn't have much of prior information, on the day of its release.

And that decision - proved to be a huge mistake. Immediately after "Love Plus" was released, it got picked up on various news websites and review sites, had tons of fabulous reviews to make you want to dash out from the office to buy - and when I got to the shop - I was told that it was gone after few hours of its release. Gosh, and I became one of "Love Plus refugee (we refer those people who can't buy the item on time and wondering around the shops as "refugees" - "nanmin" in Japanese)" among many. How many shops had I visited in order to obtain this particular game...? Oh, that was a real hard blow for me.

As for the game I obtained in time - well, I still find the same game sitting in various stores even a month after its release... (not that the game is rubbish, it is brilliant. But compared to "Love Plus", it was no match...)

Anyways, "Love Plus" - my dear "Love Plus"... the stock is back after a month in some big stores, but still you need to look really hard to obtain it. Life is hard, sometimes... (sigh)

About the games introduced in this manga episode

• "Love Plus" Released: September 3, 2009

This is a love simulation game - a.k.a dating sims (dating simulations) released by Konami for the Nintendo DS console. The usual types of dating sim are created to have the confession of love and a happy ending as its goal, but "Love Plus" is more about "the time after being confessed and becoming lovers". (the player still needs to confess the love within 100days after starting the game)

At the "lover's part" after being confessed, the game uses the actual clock (they call it Real Time Clock - RTC for short) inside the DS, and the player get to "experience the never-ending love life (within the limit of 2 real years)" using the actual time of the day, seasons and events. The protagonist is a male, and the player must satisfy the girlfriend using appropriate items and events available within the command, to change the girl to the girl of your dream (apparently, her looks, personality, the way she dresses, etc, changes!). So, in a way, this game is more like "the player is being controlled by the girls inside" instead of the player control the girls. Very interesting and new type of game to play. Oh, by the way, a few days ago were one of the girls character's birthday. I've read on a site somewhere that some guys actually bought the girl presents and birthday cakes to please her....

• "Touhou Seirensen: Undefined Fantastic Object" (short for "Touhou") Consigned to shops: September 11, 2009

This is a vertical danmaku shooting game (in short, a complex shooting game with tons of bullets) developed and published by a Japanese Doujin group called Team Shanghai Alice. This is the 12th in series of the Touhou Project. Almost all the Touhou Project's shooting games has been created by ZUN of Team Shanghai Alice alone - from the story, images and graphics, music, to programming, etc.

• "THE IDOLM@STER (Idolmaster) Dearly Stars (DS)" (short for "IM@S (IMAS)") Released: September 17, 2009

This is an adventure game released by Namco Bandai Games for the Nintendo DS featuring top idols. Its previous series had the player doing the role of producer to raise the girl character into a top idol (raising sim), but in this version, the player plays the game from the viewpoint of the idol herself.

• The latest series of "Megaten" (Megami Tensei) Released: October 8, 2009

This refers to the RPG (role playing game) released by Atlus titled "Shin Megami Tensei STRANGE JOURNEY". "Persona 3" and "4" were released as "Megami Tensei" series, but this title is the first title released in 5 years as the "Shin Megami Tensei" series since the last release of "Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne" back in 2004.