Swine Flu Strikes Fear Into Capcom Japan

[Keane Ng]

Swine Flu Strikes Fear Into Capcom Japan

It seems that Capcom Japan considers the swine flu to be a real-life biohazard, as the company has apparently canceled all of its plans for international travel in response to fears of an outbreak. Of the swine flu, not the T-Virus.

Though E3 Nordic Game Conference [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91550], Capcom's Keiji Inafune has canceled his appearance at the show (which begins tomorrow), due to "restrictions on foreign travel amid fears of an influenza outbreak."

Well then what about E3, where Inafune might play a role in the revealing of the secret unannounced projects that the company's US branch has been teasing for some weeks now (one of them revealed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.113738] over the weekend), not to mention his expected duties showing off Dead Rising 2, a game he's producing? Capcom says that they're "undecided" on whether or not their Japanese staff will be showing up to the party. US and UK teams are expected to be in attendance, however.

Other major publishers like Activision, EA and Ubisoft have already committed to making it to E3, though they've said that they are "closely monitoring" the situation. E3 organizers the ESA, meanwhile, have stated that the show is "progressing as planned."

So it sounds like everyone but Capcom Japan isn't afraid of this thing. And here I'd thought we'd all gotten over this thing a long time ago, when it magically disappeared from the headlines. Guess someone forwarded this [http://doihaveswineflu.org/] to Capcom Japan.

[Via CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=215233]]

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[MrPop]

doihaveswineflu.org

"Yes: Panic"

 

[NotAPie]

I was looking forward to seeing Dead Rising 2!
*sob*

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

 

[ffxfriek]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

 

[Xvito]

So... The makers of Resident Evil are scared of this flu... Maybe we'll all be zombies soon.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

The most I've seen is NHS adverts telling people about washing your hands as we already should. So it hasn't really hit me that much.

 

[scotth266]

Bacon flu: You get turned into a bacon piece and wind up eating yourself if not treated.

MOST AWESOME DISEASE EVER.

But being serious: I suppose it's some cause for concern, but cancelling everything seems extreme. I mean, it's not like airports are cancelling all flights because swine flu has killed most of the world.

 

[Jumplion]

If the swine flu becomes a reference in Dead Rising 2, I shall initiate the "LOL" plan.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

OH NO 100-200 PEOPLE HAVE DIED! THATS TOTALLY WORSE THEN THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO DIE FROM -REGULAR- FLU EVERY YEAR!

PANIC! PANIC! Ahhhh!

 

[Radelaide]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

People also die from spider bites, car accidents and falling vending machines.

Three words for you:
Avian. Bacon. Syndrome.

I can't take this "strain" of flu properly. I mean hell, it's not in the news much any more.

 

[Plauged1]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

OH NO 100-200 PEOPLE HAVE DIED! THATS TOTALLY WORSE THEN THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO DIE FROM -REGULAR- FLU EVERY YEAR!

PANIC! PANIC! Ahhhh!

I know! this is horseshit, dogshit and whatever else alive that leaves piles of shit everywhere. People are worried about a flu that hasn't even been notorious for deaths, unlike its original counter part? That is like worrying about a fly when you have 50 milion gallons of bug spray: THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Though E3 trucks on [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91550] in the face of certain apocalypse by bacon flu

Don't you mean Aporkalypse?

 

[CosmicGrenade]

Well Japan had 4 confirmed cases on the 15th but by the 18th they had over 125 confirmed cases.. so I think they don't want to spead it

 

[Doug]

So people are actually taking this Flu seiously?

the flu is serious people are dying from it. the meds are good for 3-4strains of this flu. all but the bird part.

People also die from ... and falling vending machines.

What? Out of a plane or what?

 

[Doug]

Though E3 trucks on [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91550] in the face of certain apocalypse by bacon flu

Don't you mean Aporkalypse?

Ahh, so thats why Jew's aren't meant to eat pig-products - they have the original correct word, not our inaccurate translation.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Capcom games are the most important thing in the world. It is right for them to take extra precautions for their safety that other people would not need.

 

[yeah_so_no]

The thing is, Japan is REALLY paranoid about the flu, any flu, especially since Tamiflu seems to have weird effects on teenagers here (there was a rash of teenagers going nuts and jumping off buildings after taking Tamiflu a few years ago), and add to this that there was a sudden, and I mean sudden, outbreak of swine flu in the Osaka prefecture--they went from nine cases to 31 to 130 confirmed in a span of three days, and those days were last Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday, so paranoia is in full-out AAAAAAH mode. The company I work at sent out announcements that they were not scheduling demos and stuff and that they might be canceling people's trips abroad (I work at a research facility, and we have people flying in and out of the country all the time), and schools are closing left and right in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures. One of my friends was going to come down from Tokyo to visit me because my acapella groups is performing in Osaka this weekend, and her company actually told her if she came down here to Osaka, she could not go back to work until she had been seen by a doctor first saying she was not sick with the flu (so she's not coming, blah).

One of my coworkers had gone to America for Golden Week (a week-long vacation at the beginning of this month), and when he got back, he was ordered by his boss to wear a surgical mask for a week. That's how paranoid people are.

The flu--the normal flu--is the one thing that the law requires you stay home from schools from if you work as a teacher, and they will routinely close schools if a certain number of students in one grade have the flu. They take it really seriously over here.

I'm completely not surprised Capcom is doing this.