I’m really proud to work for Sony. We are collectively responsible for some of the best gaming innovations this world has ever seen. I have been making games for nearly 19 years and it is awesome to be surrounded by people who are.. quite honestly.. at the top of their game. Occasionally I have to take a trip to where modern gaming “leveled up.” Every once in a while we have to visit the MOTHERSHIP.
I’m a game maker, but I am also a game player. So even though I REALLY hate being on a plane for 12+ hours I really enjoy Tokyo once I get there. Just walking around and seeing big SONY, SEGA, TAITO signs really makes me feel like I am in the biggest game level ever created.
Where was I? Oh yeah…
Coke and I went to Japan in December to promote the Japanese release of PAIN. PAIN isn’t PAIN in Japan it’s Mr. PAIN, and I was very humbled at the reception we received. It was really awesome to dress up like we were hurt and chill in Akihabara for the PAIN event (Just imagine a ZIP CODE of electronic stores and you would be close to imagining it). Coke can speak Japanese fairly well so I just hung real close to him and pretended like I knew what was going on. We even had a Japanese pop music star dress up like Ginger for the event. To top it off the EIC of Famitsu Weekly loves Mr. PAIN so much he joined us for the event as well! If you don’t know what Famitsu is then you really need to learn. Kato-San is a very cool dude. He loves Mr. PAIN so much he said it’s the best 10 bucks you will ever spend on any system! For the Editor and Chief of Famitsu to show you that kind of love was all the validation we needed. He also said I was soft because certain TV shows make me emotional, but that’s another story.
When PAIN first came out we weren’t sure if it would get to see the light of day in Japan. PAIN is sort of an homage to all those wacky Japanese game shows. (Takeshi’s Castle especially) This is why we were a little shocked it took this long for them to recognize our collective brilliance (grin). Today is little over a year since we launched PAIN in America. I am happy to announce that TODAY we are launching in Japan! That means now PAIN is EVERYWHERE the PlayStation®Network is. We are officially WORLDWIDE baby!
So that means now all the top leader board scores will be truly worldwide. No more wondering if someone in Japan has better skills than you. From the time I spent in Tokyo showing people how to play Mr. PAIN I am guessing it won’t be long before they start to FULLY represent.
Mr. PAIN and PAIN will share leaderboards, but when we release our online play upgrade you won’t see them online for a few months. They have a lot of content they need to experience before they catch up with the rest of us. When they do there will be a lot of new PAINful content that everyone will get at the same time. Besides, I am sure they will need some time to change into the mime, clown, bomb tossing mutants that you all are. YOU ALL KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT!
So welcome your new Japanese Mr. PAIN mutants into the PAIN family! Very soon we will be playing each other head to head. If you want some serious competition Lead Designer David Walsh says he can beat you all (no joke he said you were all weak sauce). Ask me nicely I might leak his PSN name.
