Last month I wanted you to expand your horizons a bit. This month we’re taking a break to remember a few older things out there in the world. As always the written portion of the blog is made with brevity in mind, so please listen to the audio above if you want the full details and nuance with this month’s update. If any links I provide to you do not work, I would consider getting any VPN local to your region and setting a server somewhere in the United States.

We’re traveling back to the magical land of Japan again for a mixture of urbex and retro. A lot of folks may associate Japanese culture with many things, but for me it will always be the greatest place on Earth for…vending machines. Japan has the highest concentration of vending machines in the world per populace, at a ratio of 1 machine to 23 people. To put that number in perspective, every public interior you’ve ever been in your entire life (each room) would theoretically have 1 vending machine in it. To make things every more fascinating, some machines are out in the open in rural areas in direct sunlight. They are never heavily fortified or chained down as you would see in other countries. There are even videos of people buying drinks in the middle of nowhere, often along long stretches of highway running up and down the country. Some tourists (like myself hopefully one day) actually visit Japan just to take a long road trip living exclusively off of vending machine or convenience store food and recording the experience. If this quirky topic interests you, there are a ton of YouTube videos (often foodies) that have put their adventures online. The one I’m linking you below is a look at a huge gathering of machines in one location.

Following the retro and urbex theme for the month, let’s get you out exploring some abandoned places with people way braver than any of us. Uncharted Travel is a YouTube channel I’ve been following for quite a long time now but somehow conveniently forgot to mention in past updates. As with a lot of my dead mall related content, I always feel a fascination with largely abandoned mega complexes and industries of old. Although I don’t really appreciate the often times over dramatized adventures of people who are seeking attention than paying respect to what they’re exploring, there are folks who do it simply for the love of archiving sights and sounds largely forgotten to time. Before I start waxing poetic about the entire thing, let’s just watch a cool guy do cool stuff together shall we?

As much as I like looking at old rotting buildings, I just as much equally find it cathartic to see things being restored to their former glory in some degree. Unfortunately it is not possible to film an entire mall complex brought back to life, but you can watch various small items being taken from the brink of destruction back to near pristine condition. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with “restoration” videos on YouTube (or mainstream TV), but it’s quite a large (albeit still niche) group of people bringing things back to life via hard work and some ingenuity. I typically prefer the sights and sounds of the repair work with minimum narration or music, but if you’re inclined to hear every detail of every step along the way; there are channels that cater to that as well. In any case, let’s look at a bread cutter brought back to life.

Onto a little bit of gaming news. In terms of the mobile gacha front, there’s not much of notice this upcoming month to talk about. All of us are still collectively holding out for Nikke, so to that end may I suggest you take a look at an indie game that is coming out in July that may spark your interest. The game is called Sexy Mystic Survivors, and it is a complete clone of the popular indie game Vampire Survivors. You’ll need a steam account to look at (and of course play) the game, but if you rather not bother at the moment; just look at the video below of someone who played the early access beta. If there are no delays in release date, it should be out on July 22. Keep in mind the video is showcasing the “censored” version but is the same exact game minus the lewd stuff. The developer has promised an aftermarket official patch to convert the censored version to uncensored version for those that live in regions of the world that prohibit adult games or media. That fact alone makes this game a day 1 purchase out of principal!

To close out the blog for July, let’s look at an event that almost died out completely. I’m talking about E3, the gaming expo that (most) of us grew up with gaming wishing we could all be there. E3 was cancelled out completely this year in 2022 to strategize their assets and vision moving forward. One of those aspirations was the return to a physical event for 2023, which would make it 3 years since the last one they held back in 2019 in person. I have a lot to say on this topic personally as I feel I have more in-depth perspective on the whole situation since I graduated with a marketing degree. Unfortunately it’s way too long to put into words for the written blog, so I’ll just summarize as best I can my thoughts on it. I think the “general public” really does not understand the importance of in-person events and the lasting impression it makes over time. Coming from 3 (onto 4) years of online only media that has been extremely over-saturated even before the pandemic broke out, most folks basically take content today online “in one ear and out the other”. 2023 serves as one of the best opportunities in the last 5 years to really make an impression on a public largely fatigued from “online only” shows and events. Those that take advantage o this will (in my opinion anyway) really reap something useful out of it than most people give credit for. In any case, if you want to see the whole actual in-person experience at an E3 before the world changed forever, please watch the LGR video I’ve linked below when he attended back in 2019. I can assure things will never be the same again like that show, but hopefully it might morph into something more impactful in-person and less “media circus” as it once was.

That’s it for this month’s blog! A quick shout out to my YouTube community members who’ve been active. In no particular order for this month: Gabe, Henriq, Ben Is, Dig Tekken, Raven, Victory, Omega Xis, Morgan Mox, Unkxz, Noids Edstrom, Cool Dood, DL Kentarou, Doraver, Alos Kun, Mister’s Gaming Channel, Kyfpm 21, and Franc 3115. (Shout outs were recorded earlier in the week. Everyone I missed on the June 29th update I’ll get you in the next month!)