Bayonetta on PS3 (JP)

I've been waiting for this game ever since I've seen footage of it. And no, actually not because of the most obvious reason. Ok, a sexy witch who wears her hair as clothing and gets rid of it when her hair is needed for more devastating finisher-moves is surely not on the downside - but I got it because it seemed to be the kind of game I like. Right there with DMC4 or Ninja Gaiden.

What can I say about the game? First off: If you liked DMC4, you'll like this one too. It's fast, I mean really fast! It's crazy and all characters are super-cool (though beating Dante in coolness is another thing). The story is insane and makes no real sense (at least as far as I've played) and it's violent and bloody but kinda ok since it's so over-the-top you can't possibly take it serious. And it's hard! Oh yes, it is!

so far so great...

But there's one downside to my purchase that bothers me a little:

I had to import the PS3 version of the game from Japan - since this was my only option as a European who didn't want to wait til January to get the local release. I did so after finding out that the Japanese PS3-version will be featuring English subtitles (and as it turns out, language as well).

The game looks nice, I can't complain. It delivers the action fast and smooth no matter how much is going on, but there are a few things I did notice negatively:

• washy textures during cut-scenes


• screen-tearing here and there.


• long load-times

After some researching online, I found out that the game was originally created for the 360 by Platinum Games but the port to the PS3 was done by Sega. And it seems like they didn't do their very best job. And it annoys me to know that I might have an inferior version. It's simply how I am, I want the best-possible experience I can get. Above all, my preferred console is still the 360 to be honest - mainly because I think the controllers are simply better. And now I get to know that the issues I have witnessed myself while playing the game seem to be mainly a problem of the PS3-port. Now I'm wondering I should perhaps have waited til January after all.

I can easily live with the slight technical drawbacks - the game is that good. But one thing I simply don't get: Why on earth didn't they add an option to allow installation of the game on the PS3's hard-drive? It's a no-brainer: It's the cheapest, easiest way to speed up the loading-times of the game with little to no effort. Lots of PS3-games actually need to be at least partially installed to the hard-drive to work at all. So why not add that option for Bayonetta, which clearly could use an improvement in that field? I can't believe no one during the testing-stage didn't notice that.

Don't get me wrong, the game is great! If you're into these kinds of games, you'll love it! It certainly delivers, but I wish some of the things mentioned above would've been addressed before releasing it for the PS3. So no, I don't regret getting the game, but if I knew then what I know now, I'm not sure if I wouldn't have waited alittle longer for the 360 europe-release...


Not to forget though: People did contact Sega about those issues - especially the long loading-times - and it seems that Sega is at least considering releasing a patch to address those. Let's hope they will, since it will simply make a great game even more enjoyable. It doesn't feel fitting that the game itself feels very fast but everything around it rather slow.

and again: games crippled for german market

I knew already when I wrote my last post that I soon will put up another one that deals with cut games. And here it is...

I'm really getting sick and tired of the shit going on here. Most games that are just a bit violent are getting a rating of 18+ already. While I could easily live with that, I still don't understand it. And games that actually should be 18+ (and usually are in pretty much all other countries) are either banned from the market or have to be released in a "special german-only" version that sometimes is then 16+ instead, or still 18+.

And it's that what's grinding my gears! How far those "modifications" sometimes go is taking on ridiculous porpotions. I already ranted about a really bad example before: Wanted. Here are a few recent examples:

- Wolfenstein (2009): Rating of 18+. The amount of blood has been minimized. You're not fighting Nazis anymore, but some organisation they call "Wölfe" (wolves). All Nazi-references have been replaced.  So that's how Germany is coming to terms with its past...

- Assassin's Creed 2: Rating of 16+, pretty much all blood from the game has been removed, one whole mission has been removed. I'm not sure yet why, but since the game is released today we'll know soon.

Update: Official sources now state that the german version is 100%uncut and still 16+. It seems that one mission is not included that the PEGI-rated version featured but it considered a bonus-mission, so no main one. Blood is included, only turned off by default. Way better than I hoped. Thanks Ubisoft!

- Modern Warfare 2: you can not shoot civilians

Those "special versions" surely aren't cheap for the developer/publisher. So of course you don't get the games any cheaper, even though there's less content. You have to pay the full prize nonetheless.

Often enough, those "special versions" take away alot of the spirit of a game, remove certain elements of a game completely and temper with the design of a game's gameplay or its story.

I'm quite surprised publishers and developers are still putting up with all this shit from us germans. I guess we should feel really flattered that we seem to still be such an important market that they even give in and release special versions for our market, just so that they are still allowed to sell they games here.

I thought the gaming-industry is a multi-billion dollar international industry... so they should have some influence, some "arguments" on their side. And they should flex their muscles at least a little bit.

EA recently tried giving that topic more public attention (see here - german only)  That's what I would like to see more often. And not just from one publisher, but from all of them!

I've been thinking... what would actually happen if the publishers of a massively-hyped game like "Assassin's Creed 2" simply said: "You know what? if you tell us our game can't be released in your country the way it's being released in all the other countries, then we won't be releasing it in your country." I wonder if politics would actually notice the outcry that might follow...

but I don't know. Perhaps I'm over-estimating the power of the gamers and geeks. Maybe all that'll happen is that the game-stores in Germany will feel the effect since the people who want to have the game would simply import it... something that german politicians and regulators don't like to see, of course. Well, it's certainly not the gamers' first choice... but we're often left with no other option.

Why is it that gamers are the ones who seem to be restricted most in living their hobby? I can't think of any other legal activity/hobby that gets similarely controlled and instrumentalized.

Leave me alone! You're not my parents! I'm working hard for my money and if I'm old enough to be held responsible personally for all my actions, I also want the freedom to buy and play whichever legal games I want to purchase!

I simply want the full gaming-experience

Christmas is getting closer and this is the time of the year where lots of new, great games are released or at least announced. And everytime, I happen to run into the same problems when I'm thinking about getting those games... because I want them as "original" as possible.

1. original language

To be honest, I hate dubbed versions of anything, no matter if movies, tv-series or games. I always prefer the original, prefer to see the piece of work as intended by its creator(s). And that is especially true for computer-games, where the quality of the german translations can vary immensely - more than when it comes to movies or tv-series. But even if the german version is really well done, some things simply get lost, may it be word-plays that only work in the original language or simply the original voice-acting, which is usually done with a bigger budget and thus more professionally.

2. original content

But I'm not satisfied with just the original language. I want the original content too. And that includes all the violence, gore, sex or whatever else "bad" the creators might've come up with. I don't want a castrated version of a game where ppl don't bleed, civilians can't be shot or complete enemy armies consist of "robots" instead of humans and bleed "black motor-oil" instead of red blood. If I buy a certain type of game, I want to see chopped-off limbs and puddles of blood. While of course those things are not neccessary and I am certainly not craving for them, the creators of games put those in there for a reason, as part of the whole experience.

But enough of that - I could rant on about this way longer, but that would be material for another post. Instead let's head back to the topic of this one...

So what I really want to know before buying a game is 3 things:

1. Will the version released in germany feature the original-language?
2. Will the version released in germany be cut/cencored/modified in any way?
3. Will an import version be region-locked?

Those things are important, because thanks to the EU, I'm free to import games in the version I want to have from pretty much anywhere in the world - and in case of the UK, it's often even cheaper than buying them here instead. The problem is: It's very hard to get this information before the game is actually released and the first user-experiences start spreading through the net. Before that, it's usually just rumors that you hear...

I'm at a point right now where I really find it way easier to simply not bother anymore and just order my stuff via Amazon UK. I don't mind a perhaps missing german translation at all and I can be very sure that the game is get is uncut - and that it won't suddenly be unavailable on the market anymore because it got banned.

That's all I want... if I pay a lot of money for a game, I want the full gaming-experience out of it. And to be honest, with Germany's addiction to translate everything and to censor/ban/cut games - even 18+-ones -, it's really not fun anymore to buy games here. You sometimes do feel like a criminal if you're a gamer like me...