On the afternoon of March 11 Japan was hit by a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake which triggered a massive tsunami hitting just minutes after. Over 5,000 people have been confirmed dead, over 9,000 are still missing, and millions are without electricity, transportation, and even water. It is hard to comprehend this amount amount of loss and devastation. I went and read up on Hurricane Katrina and the confirmed death toll then was over 1,800 people and the damage is said to have cost $90 Billion USD.
I remember Katrina well, although I didn't live in New Orleans. I had accepted a job offer, but wouldn't start for another week when the hurricane hit. That week I read hundreds of blogs, forums, and news stories as it all unfolded. Rescue and recover efforts were focused on big problems, like power, water, food, and shelter, but many of the posts I read were individuals looking for loved ones. A mother wanted to know if anyone had information on her daughter, who was only a few streets over at a relatives when the hurricane hit. That one sticks with me most, and I never found what happened to the mother or daughter.
A group of Anime podcasts have come together to create Anime Fans Give Back to Japan. From Saturday, March 19th at 6:00PM EST to Sunday, March 19th at 6:00PM EST there will be a 24 hour live show broadcast via UStream to raise donations for victims of the earthquake and tsunami. There is quite the schedule of interviews and panel discussions including several major Anime voice actors. And if you clicked that link you maybe have noticed there is a slot titled "GameMarx: Indie Game Fans Give Back to Japan".
If you've listened to any of our shows, it obvious we are Otaku. Video games owe a lot to the developers and companies in Japan, and many of us grew up playing Japanese game systems like the NES. We are still working out the panel guest list, so stay tuned, but we will discuss Japanese video games and include some Xbox Live Indie games that have come from Japan. Hopefully the internet will be nice and the chat room will be up so we can include audience questions.
To help spread the word of the event, we recorded 10 videos last night, each featuring an excellent Xbox Live Indie game from Japan. You can watch them in the player below, though a few are still uploaded as I write this so check back if there are less than 10.
The games featured are:
SUSHIDO | Bloom*Block | ( Jump in colon ) | ( Knights guarded ) | ( Moe-turn ) | Junk Fields
Aban Hawkins & the 1000 SPIKES | ( In The Ear Do you mat ) | ( Fire Dragon Legend High School ) | The TEMPURA of the DEAD
Posted By Mike On Thursday, March 17, 2011
Filed under xna gamemarx xblig |
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