Help if you can.

I am pretty sure that everyone has at least an inkling of what is going on in Japan. It is heart wrenching for me to watch any footage of the tsunami's destruction. My thoughts are with those who have been touched in any way shape or form by this tragedy.

There are many ways you can give to relief efforts to help victims of the disaster in Japan.

Donate to relief efforts at Donation Park in Pico and Pigg
There are moments in life when it is important to pull together and lend support within in your means. Ameba Pico and Ameba Pigg have created Donation Park areas where you can purchase red balloons - hand-held or room decorations. If you can donate, please do.

The funds raised from balloon sales will go to help to aid the victims who have been effected by the earthquake in Japan. The announcement on the official Pico blog is does not mention which charitable relief organization the funds will be going to, but the announcement on the official Pigg blog states that the funds will go to Red Cross relief efforts. Hopefully, Pico will be specific about the charity and amend this info soon.

Current fundraising in Pigg
Though Pico has yet to announce how much as been raised, astoundingly, CyberAgent Inc (the creators of Pico and Pigg) are matching dollar-for-dollar all funds raised by Pigg players! Catero and I are astonished that within the past few days 371,307 in the Pigg community have raised ¥43,642,350 which CyberAgent matches, bringing the total to a whopping ¥87,284,700. That's over $890,000 U.S. dollars!

Donate to relief efforts through a charitable relief agency
For those who are not comfortable comfortable donating through Ameba you can donate directly to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian that acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people “without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions”.

If you are a Lady Gaga fan you can also contribute to disaster relief in Japan by pre-ordering the We Pray For Japan jelly bracelet that the flamboyant pop singer has designed. Bracelets will ship on March 25, 2011. All proceeds will go towards Japan relief efforts. Visit the Gaga store for Australia ($5.00), France (€5,00), Germany (€5,00), United Kingdom (£5.00), or United States ($5.00).

Every little bit counts!

If you choose to donate to a charity, make sure it's a credible organization, like the Japanese Red Cross Society, Unicef, Save The Children, or International Medical Corps. Donate now »

Learn how to donate safely:

• The Village Voice: What Is the Red Cross Doing With Your Donations to Japan?

• KMPH Fox 26: BBB Offers Tips When Donating to Japan

Show your support even if you can't donate
You don't have to have money to support relief efforts. You can show our neighbours in Japan that we are concerned for their health and well-being through other courteous gestures:

• Wear red or red-and-white in a showing of solidarity
• Put a link to a Red Cross, Unicef, Save The Children or International Medical Corps donation page in your profile URL
• Put an encouraging message in your profile
• Organize a solemn event in your room
• Encourage your family and friends to donate
• Anything else that is positive and reassuring

Let's show some love, people!

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Photo Credits: Photo 2: L7-Laia releases her balloon in Donation Park • Photo 3: Apple~苹果 (middle) wears red-and-white to show support for Japan along with Catero (left) and Peggy (right)

The Hangover starring Peggy

This past weekend Peggy went on a bender (drinking binge) of epic proportions.

After stumbling into starvingartist's room in Pigg Peggy passed out in our warm host's room, mumbling about frat boys, sangria and HBO. Totally undistinguishable stuff.

Peggy hunkered down shirtless in starvingartist's hot tub wearing only her underwear over her pants and a pink beanie. Her little baby hands were tightly clasped around a smiley lollipop.

Occasionally, Peggy would interrupt the chat that starvingartist and I were having about our favourite animated television shows. Without warning she'd twitch and blurt out something incoherent.

Eventually, we had to wrap her up in a blanket and send her home in a cab.

What was she celebrating? I'm not sure, but I think it was less of a celebration and more of a drowning of her sorrows after watching the American version of the popular British series Being Human. It's a complete and utter travesty.

Peggy, I hear your cry for help!

A Tale of a Tail ... of NO Tail.

Piggy, I have fallen hard for you. The allure of fishing is strong and I am weak to it's temptation ...

You have wooed me good, Piggy! But why must you make it so hard to win prizes?! I do not approve, Ameba ... GIVE ME THE GOODIES!

I have invested way too much time in Pigg fishing ... it's almost embarrassing. -sigh- What is a girl to do?! Copico, tell me your secrets?! Don't be so modest about your fishing skills, I see the award in your room.

Look at her mad skills ... as I just stand there floundering ...



Pantsless fov is no help to me either. Clearly, he is only here to distract me from my mission: to win the coveted turtle in hopes of gaining some pretty kawaii clothing prizes.



UGH. PIGGY, LOVE ME! I want to win some items! There is not much time left!! -insert Pico whine here-

Piggy Rage.

You can't tell from this picture but I'm really upset. So upset that I did not earn enough ame to buy this pink space suit that sweet_mom and Catero are wearing. I was nearly there 409 ame (Gummies) ... when they raised the price from 500 ame to 3,000 ame. WHY AMEBA WHY?!



My kawaii space dreams. :(

GONE.

So I spend my ame... Avril Lavigne blocks and doll seems like a good investment! Piggy, me no likey you so much right now.

Ayuhime's Doppelganger

Click here to see larger image

Ayuhime, you may just have a twin in Pigg. I couldn't tell for sure since she cleverly concealed her identity as soon as I was onto her. But try to squint hard and look at her profile image! Coincidence? I think not.

Meeting fov in Pigg

Yesterday I was in Pigg (my Pico ID is grapheme) trying out my new pink space suit (are you jealous, Peggy? I know you are) in the new spaceship room when I noticed that MissLindaK was online. Since I hadn't given her a ring for the day, I went to her room and found that she had company over. She was having a friendly chat with several English-speaking Pigg players who were attracted to a room event she had started.

While I was teasing Linda a little about the difference between Americans and Canadians fov (Pigg ID: fov1984) entered the room wearing his very trendy murse. Little did I know he would be one of the most awesome people I would meet in Pigg.

It turns out that fov is from Hokkaido, Japan, has played the drums for 10 years, and works in a supermarket as well as organizing music events; specializing in traditional enka music and J-pop.



Why, fov has even been to Toronto - my beloved city! - and he is dying to get back because Japanese restaurants in Toronto have shrimp rolls, something that is not typicallya part of authentic Japanese cuisine. He really likes those shrimp rolls! Yum yum.

fov loved Toronto so much that his initial visit turned into a 2-year working vacation (with the proper documentation needed, of course). I'm sure it was not just our shrimp rolls that kept him here ... although he did say talking about it brought back good memories.

fov and I talked about lots of things. I wondered what he thought of our primitive North American toilets, since toilets in Japan are very technologically advanced. He said our urinals are high on the wall and our toilets have low water pressure. Good to know. Cultural considerations are important.

I would love to visit Hokkaido. After all, it is the birthplace of Sapporo beer, home of the Sapporo Beer Museum and a brewery still operates here. It already sounds like I would have a lot of fun in Hokkaido.



Looking up the city online, I found that Hokkaido has many leisure activities during the year as well as theme/amusement parks, zoos and aquariums, museums and more. Not to mention the beautiful Sōunkyō gorge and many hot springs for relaxation. There would be lots to do and see besides enjoying much Sapporo. I envy fov a little.

So, while fov dreams of shrimp rolls and I dream of Japanese-style inns with hot springs ... hopefully fov will convince a savvy Hokkaido restauranteur to make the seafood roll he loves, I will enjoy a tall glass of Sapporo at the all-you-can-eat Japanese place across from where I live, and you can visit fov in Pigg, give his rooom and ring to thank him for his kindness and hospitality.

I hope to introduce my English-speaking friends in Pigg to fov soon so they can enjoy his great personality and conversation too.

Another fish story

Somehow, fishing is exhilarating, yet relaxing. For me, whether it's in a video game or I actually have to find someone to put the wiggly worm on my hook it's a calming and totally fun experience. When I fish in real life I am always the first of the group to catch something first. It's my gift in the world. :-D

It's no secret that your Picostyle writers a bit hooked on fishing (enjoy the pun) in the Pigg game. We've written about it many times.

Currently, there are 5 fishing areas as well as a shop area where you can redeem your fishing points. You'll need to save up 100 to 5,000 points to afford sashimi display cases or fish cubes, and at least 20,000 points to afford anything else worthwhile. More new shop items have been added since Pinkerton wrote about his experiences in December.

Of course, everyone wants the penguin pet ... but can you save up the 1 million points needed to purchase it? Well, we can dream, can't we?



Each fishing area requires you to use different rods and baits (you may get lucky and be able to use the same rods and baits in different areas ... but its rare). The more fish you catch, the more fishing points you'll receive; you can redeem these points for rods and baits. The better your fishing equipment is, the bigger fish you will catch. And big fish bring big points.

You don't need to spend any money (AmeGold) to enjoy fishing ... though it helps to buy shiny things that would give an advantage. Everyone starts out with 9,999 extremely basic rods and 9,999 extremely basic baits. They will catch you lots of sea grass, sea poop and tin cans. So, it's best to upgrade as soon as you possibly can.

As you gain experience, you will unlock new and more advanced areas.



Recently, the Amazon River area unlocked for me. I was a little intimidated to fish there, but finally mustered up the courage to cast into the muddy waters and see what would take a bite. I had visions of piranhas ... and maybe an arapaima. Those are the fish that immediately come to mind when I think of South American fish species.

I purchased my fishing gear from the indigenous man (is he Bororo, I wonder) and chose a spot close the the wading capybaras and waited.

With much concentration and a bit of luck I was able to catch the colourful fish below. Every time I catch a new fish I copy and paste the name into a translator (Google Translate) to figure out what it is, then I look up information about it on Wikipedia. Jeremy Wade is one of my heros, didn't you know? ;-) I watch all of his River Monster shows with great anticipation. In fact, today there is a River Monsters marathon on Discovery Channel Canada ... so, I'm feeling a little fishy.


Row 1: (left) Astronotus / アストロノータス; (right) Discus / ディスカス
Row 2: (left) Dowafushikuriddo / ドワーフシクリッド; (right) Neon Tetra / ネオン・テトラ
Row 3: (left) Okishidorasu / オキシドラス; (right) Ron Terai / タライロン
Row 4: (left) Tambaqui / タンバキー; (right) Valverde / バルバード

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Want to learn how to fish in Pigg? Read this simple and informative fishing guide in English.

Cookin' with The Black Eyed Peas in Pigg

This week - for those who follow what's going on in Pigg (Pico's older Japanese-language brother) - The Black Eyed Peas made an appearance. Yes, the real Black Eyed Peas.

The event was scheduled when most of the rest of the world outside of Asia was sleeping. Altough, if you are like ♥DQ姫系♥ you would have set your alarm clock, rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and logged in nonetheless.

In speaking to Rex_A yesterday, she said she attended the event and took video! So, for those who missed the event, here's a brief snapshot of will.i.am and apl.d.ap flirting with the girls in Pigg while getting direct help at their laptops to navigate Pigg. Thanks, Rex_A!

You can read some of the chat transcript provided by ten.ten. here.


Image copyright © CyberAgent, Inc.

Pigg frequently has musicians appear on the site to promote their projects (album/single releases, tours, etc.) to Pigg's audience of Japanese users. Players are encouraged to send in questions for the musicians in advance, which are then answered during the special event.

In fact, Avril Lavigne will make an appearance in Pigg on February 28 (info in English | info in Japanese).

More info:

• Official Pigg blog: Event notice of Black Eyed Peas event info (in Japanese)
• Pigg blog translation: Event notice of Black Eyed Peas event info (in English)

Pigglish: Help for English-speaking Pigg players

Written by:


The topic of Pigg (Pico's older Japanese-language brother) has come up a lot in the past little while. There's a lot of cross-over, what, with Pico being derived from Pigg as well as the many people who play around in both communities. Learn your history ...

Inside Social Games > CyberAgent’s Ameba Pigg Virtual World Comes to Facebook as Ameba Pico: Japanese internet company CyberAgent is bringing its popular virtual world, Ameba Pigg, to the U.S. market, and to Facebook, as Ameba Pico. (Read more ...)

The mucho mentions probably have a lot to do with the anniversary festivities going on in Pigg right now. There's are many new rooms and features being rolled out that has players excited.

English-speaking and reading players like me sometimes fumble around as we try to find our way around in a Japanese language environment. In my early days playing Pigg, I remember wandering from one Hawaii room to another for quite some time, asking if anyone spoke English so I could figure out how to swim (this was long before Hawaii came to Pico).

Well, fumble no more! Pico user, ten.ten. (Pigg ID: hapibirthdaytomi) has started an invaluable resource for those wanting to know about what's going on in Pigg.

To keep you informed, ten.ten. has taken on the task of translating the official Pigg blog entries from Japanese to English at:
Ameba Pigg blog translations

The blog includes FAQ from the Pigg blog as well.

We've added ten.ten.'s Ameba Pigg blog translations feed to our sidebar so that English-speaking Pigg players can keep up to date. Subscribe to it, bookmark it, do whatever you've got to do to keep up-to-date with happenings in Pigg.

I know I'll never forgive myself for missing last year's Ne-Yo event (I missed out on getting his trademark fedora!), but, hopefully, with this new translation service it will never happen again for me.

Thanks, ten.ten.!

The many reasons I love Pigg

Written by:


Hello everyone this is ten.ten. and to coincide with Ameba Pigg: 2 year anniversary celebration I'd like to congratulate the Ameba Pigg team by sharing what makes Pigg special. For those of you who may not know, Ameba Pigg is the older sibling of Ameba Pico. While Pigg is older than Pico and has a Japanese interface that's not the only difference between the two. With over 2 million players there are good reasons as to why the numbers keep growing.


Get style.
First, I'd like to mention the fashion and shopping aspect of Pigg. One of the largest aspects of Pigg is the number of items it offers. There are new items added and rotated out fairly quickly! For the shop-a-holic it may murder your Pigg wallet but remember it's not in vain. Pigg frequently collaborates with real life companies and artists as well, such as Sanrio (including Hello Kitty), AKB48, Disney, BAPE, AnCam, Doraemon, and even Gundam Wing! Pigg has over 50 shops and definitely meets the demands of the Pigg fashionista or interior designer.

Get loaded.
If you're over the age of 18 in Pico you may be familiar with the casino. Pigg being the older sibling takes things to a whole different level. Pigg allows players to purchase gems and when used during the game it gives the player an advantage unique to the game. For example, if you use a gem in Blackjack you will always receive an ace as one of your cards. Pigg recently opened the VIP area complete with new VIP items. You must be a Gold card member to even enter the area and maximum bets are up to C$25,000!

Get game.
Say you are under the age of 18, the Tsuri (Fishing) Game gives you a great sense of accomplishment. This game allows you to choose from 5 areas and 4 levels to play in. If you catch all the fish in an area you can unlock wonderful prizes and if you prefer you can even buy a pet penguin! If gambling isn't your thing then fishing gives you another niche to fit into.

Get involved.
Last, but not least, are the players and the company. Pigg works very hard to constantly provide items and hold events to keep their members logging in frequently. Even Japanese celebrities play the game. Ne-Yo held a fan meeting event through Pigg, and on February 23rd The Black Eyed Peas will hold a Q&A session! Currently there are 3 events being held. Very recently Pigg will be opened a new area which NASA/Space themed! Please applaud Pigg for doing such a great job and if you ever find yourself bored on Pico remember Pigg is just an URL and a click away!

Join me!

• Ameba Pigg Link
• Ameba Pigg Blog link
• English Pigg community
• ten.ten pigg ID: ☜ღαηgєℓღ☞
• My Pigg blog
• My LiveJournal blog

Trials and Errors: A Saga of Pico Frustration

Peggy here, reporting to you live from Pigg ... 'cause Pico is ... well, I don't quite know what's going on with Pico! Catero and I have been scratching our heads wondering what all these error messages are about. Some of them we can read others are weird possible geek speak, that we cannot decipher.

Check this out:


Yes, we can see that an error has occurred ...


Huh?!


Ameba Pico! You're killing me! [insert angry fist shaking here!]

Yesterday there was an "unscheduled" - I'm guessing - emergency maintenance session which I had hoped would resolve the weird lag and error messages that I still get quite frequently. But whatever they're doing has only lead to more problems which have forced Catero and a few other Pico residents including myself to retreat to our second homes in Pigg.

Just like one would get dating tips from their big brother to learn the art of finesse ... I plead with you Ameba Pico to talk to your big brother Ameba Pigg and see what they are doing differently that makes Pigg playing so much more pleasant and error-free.


Pictured: left to right (Pigg IDs): grapheme (aka Catero in Pico) wearing tan tam, uverkuu (aka uverkuu in Pico) wearing grey bunny hat, peggyhill (aka Peggy Hill in Pico) in blue baseball cap, sweetlaura (aka sweet_mom in Pico) in pink Pigg beanie.

We do enjoy our occasional holiday in Pigg but seriously Ameba, what gives? I need to feed my dogs!

Pico vs. Pigg: Christmas Edition

Pigg and Pico. It's difficult to not talk about the two in the same sentence at times, but with good reason. Both are run by the same company, and in the end Pico owes a whole lot of its current success to its older brother. Or sister. I could never tell when looking at this thing.

That's not to say Pico doesn't have it's own share of credibility, though. It was the first to feature room additions, room expansions, a clothing preview feature, the New York areas, and so on. While there's a lot in common, there's also quite a difference between them. I've always found this interesting, so I wanted to do an update regarding a handful of similarities and differences. What better way to start than comparing the way each one has celebrated Christmas? And winter in general, for that matter. This is going to be a lengthy post, so if you are interested at all please click "read more" to, well... read more! Or you can just look at the pictures. I wont yell at you for it.

First, some very quick back-story: Pigg has been open for nearly 2 years now. Pico is closing in on its 1st year in just a few months. Since Pigg was open for a longer period of time, I was personally able to celebrate 2 years of a virtual Ameba Christmas. In this post, I wont be comparing every single little detail. Instead, I plan on comparing a handful of the items and areas in each game. I'll break them down into different categories and sections, as such:

My Christmas Items (House Decor):



This is the image I will use as a starter for my comparisons. Why? Well, because both Pico and Pigg have some of the same items seen there. The designs for these items are obviously identical in each game, so I'll just be comparing the cost (or whichever way the items were attained).

Fishing Expedition

It's no surprise that the writers here at Picostyle love virtual fishing. You've read all about Cat and Peggy's adulterous relationship with Pigg, and even Ayu has been getting a little somethin'-somethin' on the side. A few weeks ago, I decided to finally try it out for myself. Once I got the hang of things, I was hooked! And yes, that pun was completely intentional.

Along the way, I've come across some strange glitches...




... I've won some amazing hats...




... I've lusted for the items in the fishing shops...

How-to: Walk on water with butthead ☆ in Pigg

The lovable butthead ☆ (Pico ID) sent us a photo of herself walking on water in Pigg with an exuberant letter. With buttie's help can you figure out how to walk on water as well? I've tried it myself ... but I just can't seem to get it.

Written by:


Guys! Look!

After 30 minutes of a lil' Japanese girl trying to explain to me how to do it, finally ... Ican walk on the water!! I guess if Jesus is my dad. LOL!

(I was surprised at first 'cause she could walk on the water and say 'hi' to me even though she couldnt speak English a lot :P )

I'll show you how to do it in 2 easy steps:

1. click on this fishing mat (orange arrow)
2. don't need to wait, hurry click this blue line!! (pink arrow)

If you're lucky enough, you can do it at first try ... but I did that like on the 12th try @_@ *wheww

Happy trying, guys!

:'3

~butty

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Update: December 9, 2010
As you can see in comments, steve194 and Pinkteron were very successful in walking on water. steve194 has even taken the time to put together a "How-to" video to help! Take a look. ;-)

Thanks a lot, steve194.

Please visit steve194's YouTube channel and "Like" his videos, if it helps you too.

• steve194 walks on water: http://d.imagehost.org/0701/walking.png
• Pinkerton walks on water: http://i51.tinypic.com/2pqt3ko.png

We've Been Cheating.

I bet by now Ayuhime and Pinkerton are wondering where Catero and I have been. Since work has been increasingly exhausting and stressful, I've found myself a new way to become more zen without putting a dent in my wallet (I love online shopping).



Dear Our Ever Beloved Pico,

Catero and I have been cheating on you with Pigg. I know.. how can we do such a thing but the fact of the matter is... Pigg knows what we want and need! Pigg teases us with Hello Kitty items and penguin pets. -sobs- Things we can't buy but dearly covet! True, you're slowly making fashion items available that make us look stylie but it's just not enough to hold our attention right now. We demand you bring the fishing game to Pico! This is not a request... Until then expect to see less of Catero and I... cause we've both gone fishin'.

Still Slightly In Love With You,
Peggy

PS: Pigg fishing is totally a zen experience!

My new frog!

Meet the dark-spotted frog (トノサマガエル) I caught in Pigg today! I've named her "Heqie" and she's my new favourite catch in Pigg.

Now, normally I am not a huge fan of these slimey creatures, but look at those eyes. How could I resist?

Since n♡Я！ helped Peggy and I to figure out how to fish it's been a bit of an addiction for me. Peggy, on the other hand, took a while to warm up to it.

I decided to film a short clip of fishing in Pigg with fish feed and bait, expecting to reel up another sea poop (seriously, I've caught about 3 in a row ... the gods must be angry with me) when I was pleasantly surprised to get this cute little hopper. I filmed the cast that caught her.



To learn how to catch your own fish in Pigg, view this instructional video on YouTube.