honey come bingo

A few days ago, I decided to play a BL game I had set my eyes on a long time ago, Honey Come Bingo. It isn't exactly a new game, but I didn't get the chance to play it before because of the whole "Me Turning Into a WoW Zombie" deal. Right now I feel the WoW-addiction has waned enough to allow me to play other games, and Honey Come Bingo was on the top of my list.

HCB is a gay porn doujin-game. I've been helplessly addicted to drawn gay porn for a long time, and over all those years I played a few BL games. The ones aimed at gay males are, sadly, very few and far between, so it's not like I ever had a broad variety to choose from. My favourite - or rather, the crowd's favourite - is Hunks Workshop, the little masterpiece by Massanori everyone loves, and for a good reason (namely, it's great). Go Fujimoto's Ore to Mahou no Koibito and the earlier games by Gai Mizuki (the man behind Honey Come Bingo), like G-Case and Loops, were highly entertaining too.

People don't usually look for inspired gameplay or mind-blowing complex plots in BL games. They usually want porn. And those games deliver (usually) high quality porn in a (usually) "funner" way than clicking thumbnails on pixiv. While playing Honey Come Bingo, I had no clue what was the story (BL games usually have an option for fast-forwarding dialogues, let's just say I made good use of it), and the gameplay is a rather simple board game: after the first two or three matches, I started to win almost every match.

However, "winning the board game" doesn't seem necessarily to be HCB's main goal - it's more about unlocking those wonderful CGs, and there seems to be a few more ways of doing that. During the matches you are up against three AI-controlled opponents, and each player has two or three sets of "gems" spread over the board. If you gain control of a tile with one of their gems, you get to keep the gem and start to "win their hearts" (or something like that, I got that off Anonib - my understanding of the game didn't get that far). What I quickly realized was that after they lose enough gems, you get CGs showing them taking their clothes off... and those are definitely some of the most gorgeous pieces Gai Mizuki has ever done (considering the guy's a freaking monster, they are obscenely good). And if you talk to them in between games, they can start to like you too - I even got to see superbly drawn flashbacks of two characters who loved me when they lost their last gems and were kicked off the game.

...now, let's move on to the highest point of the game. I have to bold this following part: Honey Come Bingo features the best cast in a gay themed game ever. I'm not exaggerating, the cast is that good. As usual, the character you control is the least attractive one (this seems to be a trend in BL games), but your opponents... Jesus Christ, those are godly specimen of steamy, manly, muscular, unshaven oyaji meat. There's seven of them, and fun fact: the family name of each of them has the kanji of a weekday (seven weekdays, seven opponents... get it?).


They are, in order (left to right - click for higher res pic!):

- Wakatsuki Toru (若月徹), 27 year-old baseball player.
- Hino Yutarou (火野勇太郎), 31 year-old actor.
- Mizushima Gou (水島剛), 29 year-old K-1 fighter.
- Kimura Tadanao (木村忠尚), 22 year-old university student and rugby player.
- Kaneda Masaru (金田優), 26 year-old employee of a delivery company.
- Hijikata Takeshi (土方武), 33 year-old gambler (and full-time hottie).
- Hibino Kingo (日比野欽吾), 46 year-old president of a company.

(my favourite is obviously the blond gambler oyaji, Hijikata. *swoons* He was always the last one to join the bingo for me, so I had to kick at least three other hunks for him to show up in all his mighty goateed glory)

Unfortunately I didn't get to play much so far, and I didn't even bother trying to decipher the nihongo to get a grasp of what's going on. A shame really, because when you actually understand what's going on those games become ten times more interesting (a friend once told me the outlines of Niikura's storyline in Hunks Workshop. suffice to say it made me like the guy even more than I already did), but there's tons of dialogue and if you don't understand Japanese enough, like me, it's probably an exercise in frustration even attempting to make sense of it. But for people looking for some majorly well done oyaji/gachi-muchi porn by the god named Gai Mizuki, Rainbow Shoppers still has copies for sale, or you can download the game illegally - this is the huge interwebz afterall. And you could always download solely the CG pack, but I honestly feel that working hard for your porn makes it all the more exciting. :)

pain

My wrist was injured (too much typing at work and too much WoW at home!), so I have to spend a week without typing. I'm typing this post right now so I'm obviously not doing what I should do. :p

It's amazing how hard it is to be without internet (I can't do anything if I don't type). I'm just too addicted.

On a side note, Kojiman released the cover of his NatsuKomi doujinshi and I need it, now.

manhattan

I've grown addicted to reading about New York, which is one of the reasons I've been neglecting this blog (utter lack of inspiration being the other). My boyfriend and I are going to NYC to celebrate our fourth anniversary and I haven't been as enthusiastic in years. I read everything about the city I can find, and it's been delightful.

Here at work, some people expressed to me their disdain about New York. They say we already live in a huge city (the largest one in our country by far, in fact) and New York is supposedly "nothing but a big city". But, wait... isn't being "nothing but a big city" a whole damn lot? I'm 100% urban. I've studied in the countryside for a year and I despised every moment. I love large cities, they entrance me. It's in my blood. So thinking I'll be in the world's most iconic big city in less than two months excites to no end.

In my mind, New York is a city that works. As much as I love São Paulo, it's several flaws are undeniable. The most glaring, in my opinion, and the ones I think NYC is better than here, are public transportation and crime. But I've never been to NYC, or even to America (my only experience abroad was a month in London back when I was 15), so I possibly have an ideal depiction of NYC that might not be close to the cold harsh reality. Still, for the following month and a half, New York might as well remain the urban paradise it is in my dreams. :)

angels and demons

Everyone can't stop talking about the new sensation in the MMO gaming world, the incoming Asian release currently in beta testing, Aion. Several people got beta keys and are sharing their first impressions.

I don't plan on leaving World of Warcraft anytime soon. While it's not as compelling as it was one year ago, I still enjoy it. I play with my boyfriend, so it's a way to get in touch with him on weekdays. The folks in my guild are a lot of fun. But raiding content of late (Ulduar) doesn't deliver - I'm up to Yogg-Saron, sorely missing TBC and Black Temple - and I'm above all a raider, so I'm slightly frustrated. I'm open to a new outlet to go along with my possibly waning WoW addiction. And Aion, from what is being said, is very reminiscent of WoW - albeit with several Asian touches.

I bear strong bias against Asian MMOs. My first Massively Multiplayer Online experience was Ragnarok Online, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I hate how it's so goddamn cutesy. There's a limit to sugary and Ragnarok definitely crossed that line. Now, Aion. Thankfully it doesn't resemble RO in the slightest manner, but it still looks very, how shall I put it... "soft". I'm not looking for a hardcore, dark, gory setting: in fact I detest those as much as, or even more than I dislike overly cutesy. But does everything need to be bland, pale and slightly ethereal? WoW's hit a soft spot. It's very diverse; there is some colourful scenery here, but there's some darker or more earthly settings there. To a degree WAR did that too, but Aion graphic style, from the screenshots I've seen, steers far away from what I like. But I'm better off waiting for more screens and videos to pass proper judgment.

The world of Aion has two races. "Demons" and "angels", for short. Oh man. I despise anything resembling demons and angels. When they aren't in a slapstick-silly setting like Disgaea, they reek of angsty drama. And angels mean wings, which are up there with pointy ears as the biggest design turnoff for me (terrible memories of Angel Sanctuary, Sephiroth, "otaku-moe" coolness... ugh! *shudders*). If wings were something special only certain characters could end up getting, I wouldn't mind it, but it seems everyone gets wings. Ewww!

I must say like the classes. They don't stray from the traditional Fighter-Rogue-Mage-Priest sacred cow, which means they can't do much wrong. And there's an Assassin class, so they got me covered in case I eventually subscribe.

So, yeah... I bear lots of prejudice towards Aion already. But that's prejudice, not an opinion - I haven't had decent exposure to the game to properly judge it. Those dislikes might very well end up being completely unfounded. All in all, I'm not highly anticipating it. More like cautiously waiting for more information, especially regarding the actual gameplay. Depending on what I hear, I might as well give it a shot.