Can't Be Mad At Nagoshi-San Anymore (Call To Arms)

I know I haven't posted anything of substance recently so here goes something...

Nagoshi-San won an award for Yakuza 5 at the Tokyo Game Show.  I'm happy for him.

"...He said with each game in the series he strives to have each part of the game equally polished: enthralling and well-performed drama, satisfying exploration and interaction in the adventure sections and a combat system that’s challenging while accessible."  TLDR: He works his ass off on these games.

It's become a running gag over the years to call out Nagoshi-San for his wacky antics.  Like this or this.  But I cannot be angry at Toshihiro Nagoshi anymore.

Why???

First of all, what if judging by his dedication to the Yakuza franchise, isn't that what his true passion is?  Yakuza games?  To me, I love racing games.  But to him, he loves Yakuza.  And it's his dream come true to make many of these games.  So who am I to interfere?  After many years of service to SEGA, he is basically the Chief Creative Officer now and he makes games that make Sega money.  And when Sega makes money, it's good for ALL of us.

And another thing.  Hasn't he done enough already?  He made Daytona USA 1, Daytona USA 2, Scud Race, and even F-Zero GX.  Why should I beat up on him for not doing more?  He basically brought them into existence and without him, we'd probably be in a much worse position.  OutRun and Virtua Racing were great but Nagoshi advanced the ball further down the field for us.  If he didn't who else would?

I'm reminded of a conversation I had with my dad.  We were talking about Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints NFL team.  One of the best QB's in NFL history, he brought a Superbowl victory to New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina.  After 43 years of the Saints being perennial losers, they finally won the Lombardi and lifted the spirits of the entire city (read my recap of the season here).  In other words, Drew Brees = Gulf Coast Hero & Class Act.

But last year, he held out for a bigger contract and basically hindered the team from signing better players like Pro Bowl offensive lineman Carl Nicks.  This hurt & distracted our team in the long run.  This I talked about before.  Drew would settle for a $100 million contract over 5 years.  My dad said something interesting in response and that is, "He could never play another snap and that $100 million would be worth it.  He's done more than enough for the city."  And that's true.  The fact Drew is still playing is just a bonus.

So you know what.  If Nagoshi wants to make Yakuza games, hit the tanning booths, drink alcohol, and have nice little conversations with Japanese mistresses then fine.  I can't hate on the guy.  He's deserved it.  He's my hero.  There, I said it and I mean it.

So, what about Daytona USA?  I'll tell you what for the 100th time, it's down to the FANS to get that s*** back up and running.  Assuming there is a new Daytona (or Sega racer in general), there's no guarantee Toshihiro Nagoshi will be involved as well as includes Yu Suzuki, Tetsuya Mitzuguchi, Makoto Osaki, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, the whole crew.  So you GET ACTIVE, talk about racing games, learn about game design, favorite all the Sega racer YouTube vids and fan art, just do whatever you can to promote this stuff.  Cause that's what Sega fans have done for the last 20 years, promote the heck out of a garbage company known as Service Games for no reason at all other than that they've moved us in some way.  Like a stupid little arcade game like Daytona USA with 3 tracks and only one car.  Or a Mario "clone" called Sonic the Hedgehog.  Or Space Harrier, OutRun, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, even for the most miniscule reasons like "I think the music's cool."  So GET MOTIVATED!!!!  Cause Sega does what Nintendon't.  Or what Microsoft don't.  Or Sony don't. Or Namco don't.  Or all those other wannabe game devs.

I propose that September 29th (Saturday) is official "Talk About Sega Racers Day".  You have two days to get ready so if you're reading this on Friday, you're given the heads up.  It's on a Saturday so it's the weekend and you should be feeling it then.  Just go to a message board, chat room, or meet someone in actual real life and say "Hey, you know about Sega?  You like racing games?  You ever played OutRun or Daytona USA?"  NOT THAT HARD.  Let's start doing this cause I'm getting sick and tired of the Sega fanbase drying up all around me like a dying oasis in the desert.  So talk, talk, talk about Sega and don't be scared.  Trust me, I already look like a bigger fool on this stupid blog than you could possibly be in real life so go do it.  THE END.

Listen to them all at once and there's your 5 Hour Energy for the day.

Obligatory American Football New Orleans Saints Post

Well, I might as well say that I'm a New Orleans Saints fan and that I'm glad they won the Superbowl last year.  I'm from Louisiana.   I'm not a bandwagoner--I've been a fan since I was 10 or so when I could actually understand football.

Drew Brees getting on the cover of Madden is surreal...he's a class act.  Sean Payton, the players, everyone fits in.  I like this team.  But yeah, if you're a fan of another team I really don't mind, please don't boycott me.  It's kind of strange that we're the "King of the Hill" now and we'll probably get taken down and that's sports.  We have almost no control over the outcome of the game so I've kind of burnt out on football.  I'll still watch because it's like chewing gum--it gives me something to contemplate about, I just don't want to get pissed off about it.

Last year's games:

Dolphins Week 7: It's nice to see the Saints rally back when down big.  Great teams don't always play 100% but they find ways to win.  I also got a man-crush on Reggie Bush after he did that leap into the endzone on the 6-yard line.

Patriots Week 12: This showed the NFL we were the real deal.  Getting Bill Belichick to say you're one hell of a team means a thousand times more than some stupid talking heads' opinions on EPSN.

Redskins Week 13: Despite that Brees INT that Meachem took back from the CB, we sucked.  Slipping and sliding all over that soupy field all day.  I got pissed off thinking we were gonna blow our 11-win streak.  Turned off the TV, played some Modern Warfare 2, looked at stuff on the internet, then I see some thing on the MSN website--Saints miracle comeback.  I turn on the game and the Saints kick the winning FG in overtime.  I don't even know how they did it, I'm such a bad fan for turning away.  I'm sorry, I still can't get over that strip, Meachem snatched the ball away like taking a woman's purse...or a marble rye.

Cowboys Week 15: First loss, you can't win that many games in a row especially with mounting injuries.

Vikings NFCCG: Women have child birth, men have sports games.  This had to be the most painful game I've ever watched.  It was close, got some fumbles (DC Gregg Williams emphasized the turnovers), our offense stalled somewhat, had to get a few breaks but tell me what sports team doesn't.  When Favre was moving into FG range at the end, yeah I was sick.  But that pick was a result of Favre not wanting to get hit again.  Surreal moment at the end. 

And check out Paul Allen's response to the Favre INT.

Colts Superbowl: Well, you know how this one turned out.  The media gave us a 1% chance to win basically and we showed them.  LOL onside kick at the half and it worked.  Peyton Manning said he wanted to throw the game-winning TD in the Superbowl someday.  Well he did...for the other team.

After the SB, we were excited as you can see...  Somehow my brother got the bright idea to go to Academy Sports to go buy a Saints T-shirt...well, everyone else thought the same thing too.  Traffic jams all over the place, people honking their horns, cheering, blasting music.  Saints parades, gear, throwing beads, etc.  The crowd was good-natured, no riots or anything.  And this was in Slidell which is some regular Joe town, wonder what New Orleans was like.  Now that was crazy.  After 40+ years of losing the Saints did it.  I really didn't think they could do it but they did.  I was very happy for everyone, they really enjoyed it (at the expense of Cardinals, Vikings, and Colts fans...but what can you do).

A lot of people couldn't find any good reasons to attack the Saints so they attack our fanbase and call us bandwagoners...well, the Superdome is loud as all hell on gameday, we have crazy fans, we loved to watch the Saints after hurricane Katrina.  Yeah, you're going to see more Saints gear when they win but that's natural of course.  Besides, the Saints are a classy team anyway (except for the late hits on Favre but haters gonna hate)--the Who Dat Nation--so shove it.

The SB wasn't that good for me because it was on a Sunday.  I had Calculus III on Monday and Wednesday.  Wednesday was a test and Monday was the review day.  I missed Monday (not because I was getting drunk, I'm sober) and it didn't help me that much on Wednesday.  So thanks Saints, you screwed me out of an A-test grade.

So, uh, it's really hard for a team to have back-to-back SB's.  The Patriots and the Cowboys did--you can't say the Saints can't do it.  But they may lose.  If they win or lose I'm not going to rub it in.  It's too emotionally stressful and I can't really take watching season after season when, like I said, I really don't have any control over the outcome.  Just hope for the best and remember to have fun, that's about it.  Remember that sports fans, even our "futbol" fans from Europe and ESPECIALLY LA Lakers fans.  Don't get raged, trample people, riot, burn cars and buildings, it's just not worth it.  Find something else to do.

 For everybody, I guess this whole "take it easy" thing when it comes to sports will suddenly vanish when gametime comes.  It's a never ending cycle.  I tried.  Besides, I get more pissed when I lose at Perfect Dark or Call of Duty anyway so sports are a joke as far as I'm concerned.

BTW SUPER DELUXE BONUS, Jim Mora Saints rant (during Dome Patrol era), he's the king of being being mad without going overboard, tons of rants like this, beautiful, my favorite clip:



See more Jim Mora clips here.