John Romero's About to Make You His Bitch

[H-O-W-L]

Why is that?

Blood is the ultimate cunt test because it's from the last gasp of classic shooters and oft. overlooked. And unlike Shadow Warrior it isn't the most racist thing since Birth of a Nation.

[bgmnts]

Lo Wang is funny to be fair.

[H-O-W-L]

Lo Wang is funny to be fair.

Him going "JUSSA RIKEA HILOSHIMUHHHRRGH" whenever you pop off a nuke is horrific to behold nowadays.

[popcorn]

FUN FACTZ



1. "Daikatana" is weird fake Japanese, a mispronunciation of the kanji on the cover. 大 means big and 刀 means sword; if you look up those kanji individually they're pronounced "dai" and "katana", but when you put them together they're pronounced "ta" and "chi". It's the equivalent of nonsensical Engrish like "all your base" etc. (See also the Superdry logo with its weird fake Japanese.)

2. The kanji on the cover is an embarrassing childish scrawl by someone who obviously doesn't understand how to read or write Japanese.

3. Daikatana was a stupid game.

[madhair60]

3. Daikatana was a stupid game.

i wrote about Daikatana a while back

[peanutbutter]

FUN FACTZ



1. "Daikatana" is weird fake Japanese, a mispronunciation of the kanji on the cover. 大 means big and 刀 means sword; if you look up those kanji individually they're pronounced "dai" and "katana", but when you put them together they're pronounced "ta" and "chi". It's the equivalent of nonsensical Engrish like "all your base" etc. (See also the Superdry logo with its weird fake Japanese.)

2. The kanji is on the cover is written in an embarrassing childish scrawl by someone who obviously doesn't understand how to read or write Japanese.

3. Daikatana was a stupid game.

All of that kind of unintentionally adds to it after the fact though. Like some dumbass Cannon films martial arts movie that both fetishises the hell out of Asian cultures whilst being totally ignorant of them.

Blood is the ultimate cunt test because it's from the last gasp of classic shooters and oft. overlooked. And unlike Shadow Warrior it isn't the most racist thing since Birth of a Nation.

Cool I'll look into this whole area I knew nothing about it. Was shadow warrior called racist at the time?

[popcorn]

All of that kind of unintentionally adds to it after the fact though. Like some dumbass Cannon films martial arts movie that both fetishises the hell out of Asian cultures whilst being totally ignorant of them.

Yes, it's an important part of the flavour.

[H-O-W-L]

Cool I'll look into this whole area I knew nothing about it. Was shadow warrior called racist at the time?

I have no evidence myself and I would say probably not? Mostly because it was a niche enough product that most people wouldn't call it racist despite it being a white dude doing a very racist voice playing Lo Wang. Similar to how all the insane caricatures in Deus Ex (A game I love for what it's worth even though it's heinous) are voiced by white dudes. One of whom even voiced Lo Wang, a man bafflingly called "John Galt". Like, actually called "John Galt". Weird clown car crash there.

[marquis_de_sad]

2. The kanji on the cover is an embarrassing childish scrawl by someone who obviously doesn't understand how to read or write Japanese.

Doesn't look that bad to me. The spacing between the characters is awkward, true, but other than that, stroke order seems fine, proportions are fairly standard.

[popcorn]

Doesn't look that bad to me. The spacing between the characters is awkward, true, but other than that, stroke order seems fine, proportions are fairly standard.

I'm crap at kanji, this was the opinion of a Japanese-American translator I know. In fact the woman who translated some of the Metal Gears. I was trying to pass it off as my own knowledge to look cool. I still look cool right?

[marquis_de_sad]

I still look cool right?

I'm afraid John Romero has made you his musume.

[Beagle 2]

Interview in the Guardian today. He's spot on here:

Modern shooters are too close to fantasy role-playing games in how they shower you with new weapons from battle to battle, Romero suggests. This abundance of loot – which reflects how blockbuster games generally have become Netflix-style services, defined by an unrelenting roll-out of "content" – means you spend as much time comparing guns in menus as savouring their capabilities. It encourages you to think of each gun as essentially disposable, like an obsolete make of smartphone. "The more weapons you throw in there, the more you're playing an inventory game."

I've heard a few recent interviews with Romero and he seems like a genuinely nice bloke to me.

[RFT]

He's a decent chap now, but the rockstar stuff did go to his head for a while.

I would recommend anyone with an interest the subject read Masters of Doom, which is an excellent history of the rise and fall of Id, from Keen, through wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and touching on Daikatana.

They're making a movie out of it at the moment, but it's a thick book and no doubt a lot will be lost. I expect the movie will focus purely on Doom and the internal power struggles at Id as Carmack & Romero pushed what was originally intended to be a first-person RPG similar to the then-unreleased System Shock to be a fast arcade game, leading to the original designer quitting.