Home of the Battle Angel
by McJorneil, HSM guest contributor
One of my favorite games in PlayStation Home is the Home Fighter mini-game featured at the Street Fighter x Tekken space. This is mainly because unlike real fighting games, where everything is fast-paced, random, and full of hundreds of different button combinations, I don’t totally suck at it. It’s easy to jump in and play and has just enough depth that it’s difficult to master.
Most people don’t realize how much strategy there actually is to it, usually because they’re only there for the rewards it has to offer. I love and play it so much that I’ve accumulated nearly 2000 victories, becoming one of the few people to master the game and earn a spot on the leaderboard. I even managed to make a few friends and a rival in the process.
You see, I’ve never been a champion of anything before, so I must say my journey of becoming one through this game has been quite an interesting experience. Some of my inspiration for doing so came from my love of the extremely talented Yukito Kishiro’s seinen manga, Battle Angel Alita (or GUNNM as it’s known in Japan).
Which brings me to the question of what I’d be willing to pay $50 for in Home. When this question was first presented to me, the only thing I could think of was my all-time favorite manga series. But this eventually led me to another question:
What if we could purchase and read comic books inside of Home?
I’ve often wondered if such a thing would be possible. The way I imagine it working is individual volumes being sold with costumes of the characters featured in the stories. For a higher price, they could sell bookshelves that include a collection of volumes for the consumer to read, bundled with exclusive costumes you can’t get anywhere else. The comics themselves would function as active items you could place in your apartment, for you and your guests to read. Perhaps while reading one there would be an option to turn sound effects on/off, as well as the ability to bookmark your place.
I remember back in the 90’s when people could buy Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on VHS and they would sometimes be packaged with small figurines of the characters. What I’m suggesting is similar.
The costumes bundled with the comics would preferably be divided into multiple pieces that could be worn with other avatar clothing. A very good example of what I’m talking about is Granzella’s vampire costume, which even comes with a unique head piece in case the owner doesn’t want to use their normal avatar face.
Of course, this doesn’t mean locomotions, furniture, or any other cool items can’t be bundled with virtual comics. I just think that if I was a fan of the comic on sale, I would want to have a costume as proof of my purchase and interest in the story so that I could show it off to other people, possibly inspiring them to buy it as well. As someone who enjoys manga, I see lots of potential to be made from this. Particularly since Home is such a unique platform.
Despite my enthusiasm for the idea, I must recognize there are some challenges to face in order for it to be a reality. NorseGamer has helpfully pointed them out to me, so now I will address each one here.
Would you buy this comic if you could read it in Home?
1. Licensing. Would it have to be a sufficiently well-known series for people to want to buy access to reading it in Home?
I don’t think it would necessarily have to be a popular series to get people to buy it. There is a ton of great manga out there that doesn’t get much exposure. Bokurano, Dorohedoro, and Vagabond to name a few. If brand new games with no prior existing fanbases can be established in Home, I think the same would be possible for lesser known manga series.
Granted, it probably wouldn’t hurt to include popular titles either. Remember, bundling them with exclusive costumes could be a good way to entice purchases. Just look at how excited people got when they found out Galaxy Express 999 costumes were released.
2. Audience penetration. Are there enough manga enthusiasts amongst the community who would be willing to buy access to manga in Home, as opposed to a physical book?
A very important question and one I don’t think anyone knows the answer to. From what I’ve observed so far, I feel there has to be a decent amount of users that are into manga and anime.
Granzella’s Edo of Nippon space strikes me as the general hangout for such people as I always see samurai, ninja, and Konami anime avatars there. The thing is, I have found that people who enjoy anime don’t necessarily like reading manga. There would have to be some method conducted to gauge the interest.
Perhaps Sony could place a survey within Home and on the forums, asking the community if they would like to see such content released. When nDreams did their survey for Xi Continuum, it certainly seems like they got a lot of useful feedback. I see no reason the same couldn’t be done regarding comic books and manga, or anything else.
3. Content delivery. Will the reader put up with the download times for graphically-intense works, and will the interface be cumbersome to use?
I can give you a perfect example of how easy it should be. Not very long ago, Juggernaut Games created something for their Cutteridge Estate known as the Ghost Stories, which includes a mini-game where you interact with a book, using the left/right buttons to flip between pages. Another great example would be HomeStation’s own magazine viewer. It should be as simple as this:
– Enter your apartment.
– Place Comic/Manga active item in your apartment.
– Approach active item and press x button to Read.
– Turn pages with left/right direction pad buttons, or use the analog stick to quickly flip through.
– Have a button option to full view the pages so that they fill up the entire screen.
– Have a button option to bookmark your place.
If the interface is that easy to use and the loading times for pages are reasonably quick, I don’t think the reader would have any problems. That is how I imagine it working, anyway.
So then, with all this talk of manga and being able to read it within Home, what series would I personally like to see make its way on the platform?
Battle Angel Alita of course!
It begins with a hidden gem in the sea of scrap.
By now, you are probably wondering what the heck I am on about.
Battle Angel is the story of a young woman whose body is entirely machine except for her brain. Discovered in a pile of scrap metal by a cybernetics doctor, her cyborg body is a complete wreck, and her past a total mystery. As Alita begins her new life, everything seems to be coming along smoothly until she witnesses another, darker side of the man who found her. Things quickly spiral out of control, and Alita uncovers the one clue which could explain her origins: the deadly fighting technique of Panzer Kunst.
Featuring quite possibly the coolest, strongest female protagonist ever created — this manga is a hidden gem of awesomeness divided by zero, with enough potential to be as big as Star Wars. Don’t take my hyperbole for it, though. Have a look for yourself. Viewer discretion is advised as these videos contain scenes of violence, blood, and gore.
Speaking of Star Wars, it really is amusing to see an article like this and have flashes of a character who would almost certainly fit the bill for what they’re looking for, albeit in a different fictional setting and universe. We live in a world where Battle Angel is relatively unknown, even though it has existed since the early 90’s. For five years now I have been trying to share this masterpiece with other people, hoping to raise awareness, but all my efforts seem to fall short of the mark. I’ve come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people simply aren’t ready for Alita — at least not yet. The Force is strong with this one, indeed.
July 27th, 2013 by McJorneil | 2 comments
McJorneil is a guest contributor to HomeStation Magazine.
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Reading items and E-reader type things in Home would be a very nice addition. Over the years we have heard of users wanting reading classes like school in Home. Others had thought language classes would be useful. A library. So many things and your article here reminded me of the things once asked for.
I watch The Walking Dead series on AMC but never read the comic, novels. Reading them in Home in a dark estate would be pretty awesome.
Nice write up, McJorneil.
I’m Jersquall. Call me Jers
A belated welcome to HSM, MfJorneil! As a fellow anime fan, I would enjoy a means of reading manga on PS3, but as you mentioned, we’re not entirely sure how many people would read it. This applies to anime, as well -- most anime titles remain obscure in the States, but you have a small and dedicated fanbase for it. Shows like Galaxy Express 999 and Sailor Moon are exceptions to the rule; they’ve become much more universally recognized that (taking an example from your article) Bokurano, and you’d be hard-pressed to find that many people familiar with any anime beyond these.
Still, I would love to see this. If possible, popular older titles such as Rose of Versailles could be included, along with more recent material, such as Teekyu and WataMote. Jersquall’s mention of people requesting reading classes on Home would be great, as well, and your suggestion of having manga available could tie to that wonderfully. Manga’s very much a visual medium, where you can see the characters speak and interact.