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Monday 25 SepteMber 2017 TECHNOLOGY
A24

Japanese video gaming adapting new tech for familiar titles

By SHERRY ZHENG and YURI sive online communities, as
KAGEYAMA well as immersive virtual
Associated Press reality, not only leading to
CHIBA, Japan (AP) — The new kinds of games but
Japanese video game in- also helping revive interest
dustry is finding its way out in old-style genres.
of the doldrums by adapt- Igarashi compared that to
ing new technology for de- the way Japanese movie-
cades-old titles. And that making has endured along
energy was evident at the with Hollywood films.
annual Tokyo Game Show, “We are just offering what
which opened to media we find as fun,” he said,
Thursday before open- noting that what he called
ing to the public over the his “Japanese idea of fun”
weekend. can cross borders. “And
“Our old fans used to play we must never lose sight of
Japanese games, and that — what makes us truly
those people are excited us.”
those games are coming In his latest game, “Blood-
back and they recognize stained: Ritual of the Night,”
them as Japanese-style the player becomes Miri-
games,” game creator Koji am, an orphan who awak-
Igarashi told The Associ- ens from a coma and bat-
ated Press at the show in tles demons as she tries to
Makuhari Messe hall in Chi- Visitors try out a game with a virtual reality headset device at the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba, end a curse that is turning
ba, a Tokyo suburb. near Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. Associated Press her skin to crystal.
“Truly game-like games” is Igarashi, known as “Iga”
the way Igarashi described among game fans, pro-
the genres enjoying revival, companies have adjusted. soles from the Japanese Co. initially scoffed at the duced the classic “Castl-
including his side-scrolling After the dust settled, some makers, such as the Play- threat from smartphones evania” vampire-action
role-playing games. His lat- of the games that stood Station 4 from Sony Corp. but did an about-face game series, which start-
est version will come with a the test of time turned and the Nintendo Switch. and began offering smart- ed in 1997, while at major
3-D movie section. out to be Japanese, such More than 60 million Play- phone versions of their flag- Japanese game software
Although smartphones as “Monster Hunter” and Station 4, or PS4, consoles ship games like “Super Ma- maker Konami until he left
hammered the video- “Resident Evil,” known as have been sold since they rio” since 2015. “Pokemon three years ago to be on
games market for some “Biohazard” in Japan, both went on sale last year. Go,” featuring Nintendo’s his own.He has raised $5.5
years, from about 2010, the from Capcom Co., the “Su- Switch sales already to- Pokemon characters and million in pledged funding,
per Mario” series from Nin- tal some 4.7 million glob- played on smartphones, mostly from the U.S., on
tendo and “Gran Turismo” ally. Switch went on sale in became a global hit. Kickstarter for his Gothic-
from Sony, to name a few. March. Games are also taking on horror “Bloodstained: Ritual
Also helping are new con- Kyoto-based Nintendo more features, such as mas- of the Night.”q
Apple says its new watch has

cellular connectivity problems

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple gating a fix for the problem.
confirmed that its new Se- To work around it, users can
ries 3 Apple Watch can get their phone to “forget”
encounter problems con- the network.
necting to a cellular net- The latest watch, which
work. The problems arise starts at $399, has been
when the watch joins un- hotly anticipated be-
authenticated Wi-Fi net- cause its cellular connec-
works without connectivity. tivity means people can
This can happen when the use it without carrying their
watch tries to join a Wi-Fi phone around.
network the user has previ- The watch doesn’t require
ously logged in to using an- a new data plan, but an In this Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, file photo, Apple CEO Tim Cook
other Apple device, like an add-on to existing plans. talks about the new Apple Watch Series 3 at the Steve Jobs The-
iPhone or a computer. The This generally costs $5 to ater on the new Apple campus in Cupertino, Calif.
company says it is investi- $10 a month.q Associated Press