tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52898967542360431192024-02-20T01:45:01.593-08:00Grumble and MutterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-71745678731600731042012-08-22T15:12:00.001-07:002012-08-22T15:12:00.122-07:00My Experiences With Leveling And Strategy Guides For Guild Wars 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXaVQeHsITXqdQvMpV_cXkJaLOocdE3_ZVz2IHCF3mYZfVJYoXEDLyATmM0eYqw1D77MXBZdUFZJjfTkEh_I6K1CRFUG_H421dndlbFOZFnA3OJzQolYXh78aWNd8BRR6K5ORLbJQszo/s1600/GuildWars2-01-1920x1080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Guild Wars 2 Logo Wallpaper" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXaVQeHsITXqdQvMpV_cXkJaLOocdE3_ZVz2IHCF3mYZfVJYoXEDLyATmM0eYqw1D77MXBZdUFZJjfTkEh_I6K1CRFUG_H421dndlbFOZFnA3OJzQolYXh78aWNd8BRR6K5ORLbJQszo/s320/GuildWars2-01-1920x1080.jpg" title="Guild Wars 2 Logo Wallpaper" width="320" /></a></div>So I assume you came to this blog post looking for Guild Wars 2 leveling guides. Fortunately, you came to the right place. There's a lot of false advertising going on, and I'll try to tell you what my experiences with GW2 guides are.<br />
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One of the questions I often see asked on GW forums are about the usefulness of leveling or strategy guides. While it sure is a valid question, some players frequently flame others for asking it thinking these guides are only for absolute beginners in the game.<br />
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However that's completely untrue. I've read several Guild Wars 2 guides and I can safely say they are useful to both beginners and even advanced players. The content usually found in these leveling guides is not limited to quests and such, but rather they contain a full range of quality strategies and information about the game which is usually a lot better than anything else you can find for free.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxTSAqnG8ofc7YGu5v2eEVCapUOYd2PgObqGL6PjofVmzJfE3Tm4yqHK-4rYWwHjgYeo1TDX7GzxcxOThybRP0qdMqIFSfGbT59lyFyg4e-UO5RzBHfuLiZ4d2oBeIFHL-R6kiZHZcHM/s1600/gw2-races-wallpaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Guild Wars 2 Races Wallpaper" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxTSAqnG8ofc7YGu5v2eEVCapUOYd2PgObqGL6PjofVmzJfE3Tm4yqHK-4rYWwHjgYeo1TDX7GzxcxOThybRP0qdMqIFSfGbT59lyFyg4e-UO5RzBHfuLiZ4d2oBeIFHL-R6kiZHZcHM/s320/gw2-races-wallpaper.jpg" title="Guild Wars 2 Races" width="320" /></a>So basically, I very much like this game and enjoy playing it, unlike most other MMORPGs I've tried in the past couple of years. It's not overly complicated, but there are a lot of mechanics, stats and ability options and I wanted to know all about each and every one of them. So I went ahead and got myself a Guild Wars 2 guide. And I'm not talking about those free leveling guides for beginners you can find around: this is a very detailed, paid guide which was definitely worth downloading.<br />
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I was actually quite surprised by the amount of content in the strategy guide I got (I'm not going to reveal exactly which guide it is because I want to keep it to myself =p), and didn't regret purchasing it. It had plenty of information about crafting, professions and PvP, but the most important part is that it helped me level up my character faster than I ever thought possible. Just by following the levelling guide inside I was able to easily gain one level per hour MINIMUM which I think it quite impressive. In some areas I was getting almost two levels every hour, and I powerleveled up to the cap within a week.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesOe2q5cUS2L4UoyEk3A4i2BMqmWYrOr1fvfsH7lvoWag2tT1NFPhuQzT43SoA2iLPJFJRJy3AtLrQlp6SqXWAm8_vDydsoFR-MMi1Jwp6X03aDZmt-vjvf7zM4mXDVPo85C-aQ044tA/s1600/Guild-War-2-pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="GW2 Elementalist Wallpaper" border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgesOe2q5cUS2L4UoyEk3A4i2BMqmWYrOr1fvfsH7lvoWag2tT1NFPhuQzT43SoA2iLPJFJRJy3AtLrQlp6SqXWAm8_vDydsoFR-MMi1Jwp6X03aDZmt-vjvf7zM4mXDVPo85C-aQ044tA/s320/Guild-War-2-pics.jpg" title="GW2 Elementalist Wallpaper" width="320" /></a></div>I suppose I may have missed a few things in the game because I leveled up so fast, but I can always go back and see some areas later. It's even easier to do it on max level with awesome epic gear because I don't have to worry about ganking at all =)<br />
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Anyways I won't tell you exactly which guide I was leveling with because you can easily find it yourself, plus these guides always get updated with new content so what may be a top guide this month may not be the best next month. Just take a look at sites like <a href="http://www.guildwars2levelingguide.com/" target="_blank">Guild Wars leveling guide</a> and see which ones are best. The reviews and comparisons of all the guides that are available, plus some free ones will surely be enough to help you learn the ins and outs of this game quickly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-91593390366889275852012-07-21T14:26:00.000-07:002012-07-21T14:26:39.661-07:00Crafting in The Old Republic - Basic Explanation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.swtorlevelingguide.com/2011/09/swtor-crew-skills-infographic.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwkrcHIc7yxqIbHVojxYpIsSpdKp8zW6IY-A-1gSgEfSefXmma4t-NS-OQMBbkjJJVxu24nOloMR9v33MT73xRiWcQwahEaAL8wFA-GMqSlgO5ngZfJAsMrDpmSs4-1qz58Qstf7-eAc/s400/SWTOR-Crew-Skills.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In the game Star Wars: The Old Republic, not only are you able to discover the world of the galactic empire, but you get to play them as well. In the game there are three different crew skills; gathering, crafting and mission. Each with a different characteristic and skills for every advanced class.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In the game concept, crafting issued by the player by which he or she can have up to 5 companions. And for the 5 crafted companions, each can also craft 5 more tasks added to their queue. In crafting, your crew will be able make different weapons, defensive armors and other useful equipments and items. But in order to command your crew to make this task, you need resources to begin with. That is why part of your team should have gathering skills. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After making items through crafting, you may use these items either for yourself or you could put it on the market. In order to monitor the development of your crafting skills, you will have crafting reports from your crafting team. The report will include the rate of production and items produced. Even though you’re away from your ship, you could still receive reports. You can do this by assigning someone else to start crafting the gathered resources on the ship’s workstation. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Crafting is a very unique and disciplined skill. There are three special skills in crafting; Armortech, Artifice and Biochem. In armortech, you will be able to build equipments from metals and electronic defenses. With armortech you can also build all sorts of personal armor for your advanced classes and troopers. In artifice, this skill allows you to build Jedi and Sith Artifacts. In Biochem, this special skill allows you to make chemicals that enhances performances of your advanced classes. This also allows you to make serums and biological implants that boost power and energy of your troopers.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Companions are vital in the Old Republic and Crew Skills system. Crafting is an important skill among the three crew skills system, this is because most players would want to develop crafting as a primary skill as it allows developing weapons and items used for combat operations. But according to the game concept, light sabers cannot be produced by crafting; there is a different special skill on how to make light sabers. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Among the three special skills in crafting, the armstech is the most popular and very much chosen. The armstech allows the player to yield metals and electronics for weapons and defensive equipments. The resources gathered, like alloys and synthetic materials are used to make blasters and assault cannons. In order to make these materials, you need gathering skills for your team, but later on can make them help in crafting. Gathering the correct materials is key in order to make the weapons.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In playing the Star Wars: The Old Republic, it is important to familiarize yourself with the different Crew Skills. Choosing which skill you would like to specialize will allow you to create a powerful team to combat the enemy. But a perfect combination is when you crafting as a specialized skill and harnessing correct materials to create strong weapons.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-78487047124466544492012-05-13T15:38:00.000-07:002012-05-13T15:38:04.648-07:00Diablo 3 Demon Hunters - Basic Overview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioagR6vty_G4e96gjs50Rrysk9l-lkZ_bSYMh9QXtvvrySfy8gkvCqzgPpSv2ZXDdhfkche6NgIjGfW760eW6lGLllq9fnn9h4ZBaLfQGr8qhQ7pOGJnVv4UimyUkjhdw4X0RIFy5CBGY/s1600/Demon-Hunter-artwork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioagR6vty_G4e96gjs50Rrysk9l-lkZ_bSYMh9QXtvvrySfy8gkvCqzgPpSv2ZXDdhfkche6NgIjGfW760eW6lGLllq9fnn9h4ZBaLfQGr8qhQ7pOGJnVv4UimyUkjhdw4X0RIFy5CBGY/s320/Demon-Hunter-artwork.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Demon Hunters, in Diablo 3, are those who will took their swords up, during the wake of destruction. The demon hunters were bound to take vengeance for every bit of blood that was spilled. This was the time when the people lost all their hopes, as the bloody landscape took all the loved ones away. The hunters chose to be banded together, and then stood up against the wrath of the demons. Demon hunters had developed a significant amount of hatred for the demons, because of their cruelty towards mankind. This hatred empowers the hunters to gather and fight against the cruel acts of the demons. You can find all this and more in <a href="http://d3strategyguide.org/d3-demon-hunter-guide-class-gameplay-skills-leveling-mechanics-builds/">Diablo 3 demon hunter guide</a>. <br />
<br />The hatred also lightens up the rage of the hunters to be unleashed on the demons. In fact, their rage was such that it will destroy any creature that comes in their way. Hunters can withstand any difficulty that will be put in front of them. They are considered as the hunt masters, because they learn various art and techniques of hunting. Hunters would possess the art of predicting what the enemy would plan to do next, and they would prepare traps, on the basis of their predictions. However, the hunters should always ensure that the balance is being maintained properly between the forces that have opposed. A Diablo 3 demon hunter’s guide will tell you that discipline and hatred should go together, if the hunters would want to survive and, at the same time, ensure that the enemies are exterminated.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMga8gl1OGDMj57vsb0ti5Oielz6Sz9rvlejp71o2hHFE-xy7CJ8166a3TO-i2lxNrilfCQr5LYU0AGTBg8p65ClyBTM5zWvHDsaItbPQ5LE7eaWnHEy5xC7qk1LGCF4VQFIqI_Jc6LT4/s1600/Diablo-3-Demon-Hunter-female.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMga8gl1OGDMj57vsb0ti5Oielz6Sz9rvlejp71o2hHFE-xy7CJ8166a3TO-i2lxNrilfCQr5LYU0AGTBg8p65ClyBTM5zWvHDsaItbPQ5LE7eaWnHEy5xC7qk1LGCF4VQFIqI_Jc6LT4/s320/Diablo-3-Demon-Hunter-female.png" width="149" /></a></div>
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<h3>
The armor</h3>
A strong armory is the first and foremost requirement for a hunter. To become the demon hunter that has shadows, an apprentice hunter would first need armor and hood made of leather. When the apprentice hunters would progress in their tasks, then they have every right to get a suited armor. This armor is such that a number of lethal arrows together will still not be able to conceal it. Hunters can always predict the power of the onslaught, so, this enables them to prepare for it. All their vitals will be protected, as they are covered by the leather made armor. <br />
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<h3>
Choice of weapon</h3>
The hunters always fire with a sole purpose of slaughtering the enemy. So, they would always choose something that can hit hard and with accuracy. A crossbow, with rapid fire abilities, will always be the preferred choice of a versed hunter. Hunters will also consider choosing the quick reload and hand-crossbow. All these weapons are capable to kill the demons in just one strike. Some mystical powers are assorted in each of these arrows that will be enforced automatically, every time the hunter will unsheathe the arrows.<br />
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They master the skills of using the crossbows to bombard the demons. Demon hunters have such skills that they can use numerous arrows in just a blink of the eye. The enemy would even not be given a chance to think how to defend. Many a time, when the enemy would surround the hunters, then the hunters would make use of their shadow magic and trusty cloaks in order to maintain a proper distance. So, they can go back to a position from where they can fire the crossbow to slaughter the demons.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCZtPQYE5e8z0AeaihgoE3fJ-8hvBB-QJHT_esqjFolVkadJBHN6ir6XSt1yqVecfXtm_8KJzsU6GSCyajPTWYikz7U8ukJcv-8qoCuQHcDYdXBpI3XTPONk58BvK3xNJ7tUwGXcpzRw/s1600/Diablo-3-Demon-Hunter-male.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCZtPQYE5e8z0AeaihgoE3fJ-8hvBB-QJHT_esqjFolVkadJBHN6ir6XSt1yqVecfXtm_8KJzsU6GSCyajPTWYikz7U8ukJcv-8qoCuQHcDYdXBpI3XTPONk58BvK3xNJ7tUwGXcpzRw/s320/Diablo-3-Demon-Hunter-male.png" width="161" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Exciting features and specs of Demon Hunters</h3>
Close contact with the enemy will often be avoided, by the demon hunters, because they require sufficient space to use their crossbows. It is the feature of the hunters that they maintain a distance, from their enemies, to make sure that they eliminate them, without getting close to them. Crossbows are the favorite and most appreciated weapons for the demon hunters, which they use for assassinating the demons. However, the hunters are also presented with a group of other major weaponry, but they prefer the crossbows, above all. The other weapons include hand-thrown weapons, grenades etc.<br />
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Apart from weaponry, the hunters possess some mystical powers like the shadow magic. It allows them to be the stealth masters. They can easily fade into the mist or darkness, and they can silently kill the demons, through their shadows. When the opponents are powerful and they outnumber the hunters, then the demon hunters would often set up traps for their enemy. They will set up mines, and set up other traps to weaken up the enemy foes, and, obviously, to debilitate them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-5916520224770742392012-04-13T17:02:00.008-07:002012-04-13T17:02:00.448-07:00Classes of Tera: Warrior<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUJ140ws2S2ERobUgihjI3Zgdt-YXZTLAnBlJnTCCOmpj-3cUK6mAevHM5GlZ96olcu83xIYyOZz61edjiqSgjZhV0u_omBaHvvY82keQdj_YdRTDFONXZIIv1yw_kZGQblTlJZO4YK4/s1600/Warrior_Aman_3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUJ140ws2S2ERobUgihjI3Zgdt-YXZTLAnBlJnTCCOmpj-3cUK6mAevHM5GlZ96olcu83xIYyOZz61edjiqSgjZhV0u_omBaHvvY82keQdj_YdRTDFONXZIIv1yw_kZGQblTlJZO4YK4/s320/Warrior_Aman_3.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The <a href="http://tera.enmasse.com/game-guide/classes/warrior">Warrior</a>, the one that takes the front line in any battle with his weapon of choice, the twin swords, slicing through his prey like a loaf of bread, making them plead for mercy from his slashing and stabbing especially when he dances with them. His armor is light for better functioning with both swords and his role in the group would be your tank. <br />
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With pride, the Warrior takes his position in front of the enemy dealing much damage with his deadly swords. He is agile, while weaving out of enemy groups and slicing the ones that get in his way. This character is not one to play the waiting game, their goal is to jump right into the action, take out as many enemies as possible, then praise their swords for such swift action of the mounds of enemies that lay beneath their feet.<br />
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If a blow is to a class they might lose their aggro, therefore the warrior has the ability to roll to evade their enemies. This character is able to sneak attack their enemy when doing a roll they can come up behind one and strike their enemy from behind, killing their unrepentant victim. The warrior is one to always be on the front line of the battlefield, and the only direction they travel after the front line, is forward. This character is not one to flee from fear, but to charge with power. <br />
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Their armor may be light, but their attack ability is not. The Warrior uses both hands to deal damage and ultimately death to his enemies by his fearful twin swords. His light armor is great for his grace and speed of his attack, while his blades stun, stab, and slice the opponents. They are able to move out of their opponents view very quickly, then when the enemy’s back is turned, they strike causing damage to their prey.<br />
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This character loves to play with their swords, using them to move in and out on the battlefield by a mere slice of a hand or two. Even when the enemies do not blink, they are still surprised by the attack of the warrior, slicing them and ultimately demolishing them on the battlefront. The special ability to dodge opponents and leap out of sight, gives them invincibility to the attack of an enemy. Their fighting ability <a href="http://www.tera-leveling-guide.com/tag/tera-leveling-guide/">increases as their level does</a>; however, with having the agility with their blades they do not need much increase in their game play.<br />
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Even though the warrior has speed and agility they still need the help from a <a href="http://www.leveling-guides.com/tera-mystic-guide/">mystic</a>, <a href="http://gamingduty.com/priest-class-in-tera-online/">priest</a>, or <a href="http://horns.hubpages.com/hub/TERA-Sorcerer-Leveling-Guide">sorcerer</a> to heal from the blows of enemies or protect them when they are in a bind. Having twin swords and little to no armor, proves to be a disaster unless there is a healing hand around to help out. This character can only move but so fast and when placed against many enemies they might not get the chance to leap out of harms way, thus doing better in team play than solo.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-11690932288538897212010-03-01T06:40:00.000-08:002010-08-04T06:43:07.691-07:00SFIV Powerplay Beatdown Tourney RESULTS!Okay, I have the results from Saturday’s Memphis tourney!<br />
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1st-Lil Majin – Gief<br />
2nd-Cylus – Balrog<br />
3rd-Severin-X – Abel<br />
4th-Joe – Sakura<br />
5th-pJan – Blanka/Honda<br />
5th-Lycan – Ryu/Akuma<br />
7th-eraser224 – Bison<br />
7th-FlyMike – Honda<br />
9th-Shin<br />
9th-Hiryu02 – Abel/Gen<br />
9th-Tza<br />
9th-Ma<br />
13th-Crazybrownman<br />
13th-Squabbler – Akuma/Ryu<br />
13th-Gene<br />
17th-Hampton – Bison<br />
17th-Apollo<br />
17th-Duckie – Sagat<br />
17th-Red Dragon<br />
17th-Tkal<br />
25th-Pwner<br />
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My apologies if your sig is misspelled, this is how it was logged in Tio.<br />
Anyway, congrats to the winners, and thanks to everyone who attended. We had a great turnout, much better than expected for a small local tourney like this. I was hoping to get maybe a dozen, and we had over 20 people show up. Hopefully we can all do this again sometime, I think there will be some vids posted later. I hope everyone had a great time. Thanks again, and I hope we all fight again sometime.<br />
For more post-tourney comments, check this thread <a href="http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=224898&page=27">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-66385777950382194972010-02-26T06:44:00.000-08:002010-08-04T06:45:21.607-07:00SFIV Tournament is TOMORROW.Just a reminder, tomorrow at 5:00 PM we will begin the first ever Powerplay SF4 Tournament. Here's a quick rundown of the info:<br />
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- Registration fee is $10, which includes the $5 venue fee<br />
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- Official platform is Xbox 360, but we will try to have a PS3 setup also available for those who prefer.<br />
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- Bring your own controller or stick. This is VERY important. We will try and have classic pads and fightpads available, but if you prefer a stick, bring your own.<br />
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- Start time is 5:00 PM, but I suggest showing up by 4:00 PM for early registration and to get warmups in.<br />
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- We will be playing on in-house monitors, which will be tested beforehand to ensure we are using the ones with less lag. <br />
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Full info is at the link below, I hope to see you there! <br />
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<a href="http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=225602">http://www.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=225602</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-71103667659253153142010-02-18T06:49:00.000-08:002010-08-04T06:50:09.122-07:00Makoto, Ibuki and Dudley CONFIRMED!I know that if you care at all about SF4, you've already seen the new introduction trailer for the new additions to Super SF4. Well and good. <br />
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However, you may not have seen the Japanese version yet, which in my opinion contains vastly superior voice acting, especially in Dudley's and Makoto's case. The new Ultras are sick, especially Dudley's Rolling Thunder, which thanks to 3D camera angles is now revealed as an homage to the Dempsey Roll from Hajime no Ippo!<br />
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To view the trailer, just click <a href="http://www.capcom.co.jp/sf4/trailer.html">here</a> and select the SUPER Promotion Trailer #4. Oh, and bonus tease at the end...heh.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-44266962004512327182010-02-14T07:02:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:03:08.652-07:00SFIV Tournament is a go!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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Hey guys, I apologize for the lack of posts of late, but I’ve got a great announcement to make up for it. I am pleased to announce what will hopefully become the first of many tournaments, </div>
the Street Fighter 4 PowerPlay Beatdown!<br />
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<b>When:</b> February 27th, 2010. Tourney proper starts at 5:00 PM<br />
<b>Where</b>: The location for the event will be PowerPlay Videogames in Cordova.<br />Address
is 841 N. Germantown Pkwy, Cordova TN 38018. It’s directly beside the
Outdoors INC. However, it can be a bit tricky to locate, so here’s a
Google Maps link<br /><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=847+Exocet+Drive,+Cordova+TN+38018&sll=35.149534,-90.04898&sspn=0.880334,1.234589&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=847+Exocet+Dr,+Cordova/Appling,+Shelby,+Tennessee+38018&view=map" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour…38018&view=map</span></a><br />
<br />
<b>Registration</b>: $10.<br />
Format will be double elimination, best 2 out of 3 per set. Semis
will also be 2 out of 3, but we may bump it up to 3 of 5 if time allows.
Finals is 3 out of 5. Loser may switch characters, winner must keep
same character. We will be on 360, but we will do our best to also have a
PS3 setup for those who prefer it. We will have casuals before the
official start at 5:00 for warmups.<br />
<br />
<b>BYOC</b>. Bringing your own controller or stick is <u>highly recommended</u>.
I will try to have Fightpads and classic controllers available for
public use, but in the end if you want to be sure that you’ll be on a
controller you prefer, bring your own.<br />
The tourney will be held on the in-house monitors, which will be
tested beforehand to ensure we are using the ones with the least lag.
May the best player win.<br />
Prize money will be determined by number of entrants.<br />
<br />
If you’re going up to Final Round in March, this is a good
opportunity to get some practice in. This is the first one I’m helping
organize, so hopefully we can do this on the regular. </span>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-62040339485121024192010-01-26T07:03:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:04:22.298-07:00Super SF4 Release date announced! More info!So last night Capcom unleashed a bunch of new info regarding Super SF4. We now have a release date: April 27th, 2010. Also, there will be a collectors edition, that includes a new anime DVD, a soundtrack disc, and an artbook. The official release is quoted below: <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #dae1e3; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"> <div class="smallfont" style="font: 11px verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 2px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">quote:</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr> <td class="quote" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font: 11px verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> <div style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Super Street Fighter® IV will be coming to the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and PS3 system on April 27, 2010 in North America and April 30, 2010 in Europe. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Street Fighter IV will further redefine the 2-D fighting genre with a host of new features including new characters, new ultra combos, new online modes, the return of the famed bonus stages and retuned online and offline gameplay. Super Street Fighter IV’s new characters include Street Fighter’s first Tae Kwon Do-styled fighter – the deadly female fighter Juri – classic Street Fighters such as Cody, Guy, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Adon and more to complement the full roster of returning fighters from Street Fighter IV. Featuring all new user-selectable Ultra Combos and advancements to the online gameplay and matchmaking, Super Street Fighter IV is the ultimate vision of Street Fighter.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-34017370025237178832010-01-06T07:04:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:05:03.641-07:00New SSF4 Video! Fight Night Tonight.It’s the new era of hype all over again! The newest video just released has a look at several new ultras and costumes. All I can say is GET HYPE! SSF4 is coming, kids. Get your one-inch punch on! Check it out <a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-features-super-street/60456?type=flv">HERE</a>. <br />
<div>Oh yeah, don’t forget to come to fight night tonight, I hope to see you guys there.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-78532979332510632672009-12-29T07:05:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:05:44.966-07:00Tomorrow night, it’s time to fight again.Wednesday night from 7:00-9:00 PM. <a href="http://www.powerplayvideogames.com/">PowerPlay Videogames</a>. Street Fighter 4. You know the drill. See you there.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-20896470681510700042009-12-17T07:06:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:06:56.167-07:00Thanks for coming to Fight Night!Many thanks to everyone that attended last night’s Wednesday Night Fights! It was good to see some returning faces and many new ones. We even had a couple of the srk guys come down and demonstrate some advanced stuff. <br />
<div>If we can keep attendance up, the scene can only grow. Hopefully we’ll be able to start an official league soon and start having some tourneys. The more regulars we have, the quicker we can progress to doing this.</div><div>Thanks also to PowerPlay Videogames for allowing us to host Fight Night at their store. Check them out at their <a href="http://www.powerplayvideogames.com/">website here</a>.</div><div>Again, we’ll be doing this every Wednesday Night, so if you missed the first two, there’s always next week. Hope to see you there!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-32647001193110099552009-12-09T07:07:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:07:55.855-07:00Fight Night is Tonight!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJc0HJe7Qotm4JxBIvBTFBcfQ54dxoVVmMd0-r_19cJllzOsC2xzQL85Nh8y6vvwIua4-05QNFwirUXI197SGLxrZzIYPo5xPHHSPbCYxeu09i2zH9BqhG5GRyZvAGMkkoHWUdxypMKxgg/s1600-h/sf4logo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJc0HJe7Qotm4JxBIvBTFBcfQ54dxoVVmMd0-r_19cJllzOsC2xzQL85Nh8y6vvwIua4-05QNFwirUXI197SGLxrZzIYPo5xPHHSPbCYxeu09i2zH9BqhG5GRyZvAGMkkoHWUdxypMKxgg/s200/sf4logo.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 107px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a> <br />
<div>Hey guys, don’t forget, SF4 Fight Night is tonight at PowerPlay Videogames at 7:00 PM.</div><div>PowerPlay is located at 841 N. Germantown Pkwy in Cordova, next to Outdoors, Inc. If you need directions, you can call them at 901-552-4271. Or check their site at </div><div>http://www.powerplayvideogames.com/contact_us.html</div><div>You can also email me if you have any questions at sf4memphis@gmail.com. Or leave a comment on this site, and I’ll do my best to reply. In any case, I hope we’ll have a decent turnout tonight, and have some good matches. See you guys later.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-90991848297266591972009-12-08T07:08:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:08:48.757-07:00Cody interview!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3O2aUKaVFTgKFKllW0Pb3AMU35y5-cPZ9GELP5iU9ecUTJtrUh8xSSypxLJ9jcICslXsCNzkhaTqWqXkPR-OIMRyTGamxUU3ePfyzke7y2i0xtOEU4ABaEZKPfTAQklePovtKOg1vJn3/s1600-h/07_cody03.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3O2aUKaVFTgKFKllW0Pb3AMU35y5-cPZ9GELP5iU9ecUTJtrUh8xSSypxLJ9jcICslXsCNzkhaTqWqXkPR-OIMRyTGamxUU3ePfyzke7y2i0xtOEU4ABaEZKPfTAQklePovtKOg1vJn3/s200/07_cody03.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 112px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a> <br />
A new developer interview discussing Cody is now up at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.eventhubs.com">Eventhubs</a>. It’s a nice little read, with some juicy tidbits about how he can also use a wrench and a pipe for attacks, in addition to the knife. A cool shoutout to the original Final Fight, for sure. Also he now has my vote for Coolest Move Name Ever; “Zonk Knuckle”. <br />
<div>You should head over there and check it out.</div><div>http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2009/dec/07/super-street-fighter-4-devs-discuss-cody/</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img alt="" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2205416172038754050-6381771162222866095?l=grumble-and-mutter.blogspot.com" width="1" /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-88275923412929284752009-12-03T07:09:00.000-08:002010-08-04T07:09:41.226-07:00Stay Tuned, Fight Nights are Coming.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivpw4KZq4rbtoBd9nBYOc0bUDHqsiEKq2xQUZ0YfOv0zrGTJmxt7mbyR0QkUMk1LSy4gV9thbLRLNhRxIN5SA3kXcWVwuLWVDHyGlzJbUBTJnqrQvT9uooWssb31qWWCsKhb26zc2w9Tit/s1600-h/tornamentposter.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivpw4KZq4rbtoBd9nBYOc0bUDHqsiEKq2xQUZ0YfOv0zrGTJmxt7mbyR0QkUMk1LSy4gV9thbLRLNhRxIN5SA3kXcWVwuLWVDHyGlzJbUBTJnqrQvT9uooWssb31qWWCsKhb26zc2w9Tit/s200/tornamentposter.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 141px;" /></a> <br />
<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">And now for a bit of local flavor. And by local I mean Memphis, TN.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">So I’m driving to work around the Thanksgiving holiday and I notice this new videogame store called <a href="http://www.powerplayvideogames.com/">PowerPlay</a> had just opened up right next to Outdoor’s Inc on Germantown Pkwy. I go, “Cool”, and make a mental note to check them out, just to see if they have anything that makes them tick. I call up, inquire about a game, and the lady I spoke to was very nice, super helpful. She also mentioned that they had an “arcade” in the back, which really piques my interest. I make it a point to stop by the next day and see the place. An idea had begun to form in my mind. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I stop by the next day and speak to Ms. Jennifer, who was the person I had spoken to earlier. Again, she was super nice and told me all about the place; it’s a mom and pop operation, they have consoles hooked up to flatscreens in the back, a separate area called their “arcade”, they plan to have Halo/Madden tourneys, they host parties, and all sorts of cool sounding stuff. So I’m like, wow, this is a cool place, let’s see what they think of my idea.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">So I pitch it: One night a week, structured open freeplay sessions with Street Fighter 4. She likes the idea, but she tells me it’s best to speak to Chris, who is in charge of the tournaments. I thank her, and tell her I’ll be back later. That night, I stop by again and speak to Chris. I lay out the idea again. I explain that I basically want to do this in order to grow a scene around SF4. I’ve run Halo leagues and tournaments before, and I clarify that initially, these “Fight Nights” are just casual matches, not a tournament, with an eye towards just getting more people playing and interested in the game and its sequel, Super Street Fighter 4. Chris and I go back and forth over several salient points, but in summary: He likes the idea, and gives me the go-ahead to get it started. Needless to say, I’m very excited, I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Now, I just need to muster up some support for this, and start getting the word out. I’m hoping that we can get a good group of regulars coming to these matches, and hey, I think we’re looking at a possible tournament for SSF4 after its release! I’m getting pretty hyped, but I’m trying to keep my expectations modest. I’ll have more info as details finalize. Stay tuned.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-62555300833649718822009-09-08T07:09:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:10:36.840-07:00WCW Recap: GET HYPE!<div> <div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">The first ever West Coast Warzone Tournament was held this past weekend in Irvine, California. I was lucky enough to catch most of it live on the live stream. All I can say is wow! Tons of quality play, by players I’ve never heard of and players that I’m very familiar with. On the famous front, we had Marn, John Choi, Alex Valle, Floe and Ed Ma, plus a few others. The relative unknowns were Filipino Champ, Bryant the Tyrant, Masarap, and Yeb, plus more. I’ll touch on Yeb later in this post.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">For commentating, the floor was held by Gootecks and John Rog. There were a few repetitive instances, but good commentary over all. The speakers got genuinely hyped and the feelings were infectious.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">In early pools, some standout play by the heavy hitters like Alex Valle and Marn. Valle actually played Gouken in his early matches, and did pretty well with him, to the delight of the crowd.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Speaking of hype, the biggest swell of excitement surrounded Yeb, a Gen player from San Diego. Yeb was a relative unknown coming into the tourney, but he’s well-known on the srk Gen forums alongside JiBbo. Both players are proponents of Gen’s standing medium kick into hundred hands combo. For the uninitiated, the mk hands combo requires 5 punch inputs during the very short window when mk can combo. This is used profusely in matches to grab additional damage on Gen’s best poke, as well as to string together combos upwards of 18+ hits. It’s pretty damn impressive, to say the least. As well as being hard as hell to execute. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Yeb wowed the audience early on in matches against Andre, and later, in a knockout match against Hugo, a Dictator player, he brought the crowd to it’s feet with a last ditch final round Ultra that he landed against Dictator’s EX head stomp. The significance of this is that he used the invincibility frames of the Ultra to make the head stomp miss, and plant Dictator on the ground in time for the Ultra to land. Needless to say, this was CLUTCH. The room exploded. In later matches, he took down the famous John Choi, and got a double perfect on Magus1234. At the beginning of top 8, the whole room chanted his name after he defeated Floe’s Sagat. In the words of John Rog, if you don’t know Yeb, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBKbHHs319U">You Just Don’t Know</a>. After his 4th place finish, losing to Ed Ma’s Akuma, he received a standing ovation. Quite possibly a first for the fighting game scene, and this was after his loss. Yeb was definitely MVP of WCW.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Other surprises included Masarap, a relative unknown getting comparisons to Daigo due to his uncanny consistency with fadc ultras. As well as Boxer player Bryant the Tyrant with some stunning upsets, and a Blanka called Moval beasting. In the end, Marn took the finals after facing off against Alex Valle. The consensus was that it was a great tourney with a great turnout, including about a hundred players who signed up the day of the event, throwing brackets into chaos and causing some delays. Still, a great time was had by all, and some classic moments were had.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Top 8 is <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2120397">here</a>, this does not include the first game of top 8, floe vs Yeb, linked to earlier.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-26597884318001504592009-09-05T07:10:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:11:56.307-07:00Playing Abel: Another Approach.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNs6hOff8rusvsNdJMjDoEMgRlglIb5FTMjKnn2RXbhI13jHGdbX1n8LJ9lrQtVkvg5oIEkz9zcsD8zUmPATDi0I0NkracTvuVze_PPVaJNP61NiwHOV_SbGjxCRoz0jLFGJwRxbeTAIrv/s1600-h/sf4-abel.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNs6hOff8rusvsNdJMjDoEMgRlglIb5FTMjKnn2RXbhI13jHGdbX1n8LJ9lrQtVkvg5oIEkz9zcsD8zUmPATDi0I0NkracTvuVze_PPVaJNP61NiwHOV_SbGjxCRoz0jLFGJwRxbeTAIrv/s200/sf4-abel.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 150px;" /></a> <br />
<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I’ve started playing Abel seriously as an alternate to Ryu, I say alternate, but I’ve been playing him fairly exclusively this past week. He’s a good change of pace from Ryu, and the approach is completely different. Where shotos excel at zoning you out and spacing for anti-airs, Abel’s game involves up-close mixups, combined with command throws and a roll that bypasses most attacks. His anti-air game is pretty weak, though. He has a throw that catches jumping opponents, but the timing and angle that it comes out at causes it to miss most of the time. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Abel is pretty challenging to use, as he has no basic “safe” strategy, unlike say Ryu who can throw fireballs, and shoryuken his opponent out of the air when he tries to jump. Ryu can win matches using almost nothing but cr.mk into fireball, and shoryuken. Abel doesn’t really work that way. Instead his game is based on reacting to the opponents actions and punishing their mistakes. And at intermediate to higher levels you really need to get into your opponents head and condition him into playing in a way that Abel can punish him at will. Many players call this using mindgames. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Here’s an example. Say Abel knocks down his opponent. As the opponent gets up he can:</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">1. Stay back a bit and sweep the opponent, as his sweep has deceptively long range</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">2. Use a Wheel Kick, which must be blocked high, alternate with sweep to mix it up</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">3. Dash in and use either regular Tornado Throw, which beats counter-throws, or EX TT, which beats most attacks</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">4. Roll behind the enemy, and attack from the back</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">5. Jump over the enemy and go for a crossup</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">6. Do nothing, block.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">The thing is, this isn’t even all his options in that scenario. He can use his step kick to dash in and start another mixup for example. The step kick itself leads to another half dozen options. Of course, not all those options are safe, and if the opponent guesses correctly he can knock Abel out of the mixup. Still, he’s a real versatile character. And I think that’s the key to his appeal for me. I really have to out-think and psyche out the opponent to win with Abel, so when I do win, it’s very satisfying. The flipside is that when I can’t get his offense rolling, it’s very frustrating. “I should have done this, I should have done that” kind of frustrating. Still when you totally Yomi your oppenent’s game, and make him feel that everything he’s doing is getting countered or punished, there’s no feeling that compares.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">NOTE: “Yomi” is a japanese term that loosely translates as “knowing the mind of your opponent”. And since Abel’s gameplan is reliant on mixups and baiting, yomi is a big part of his game.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-56369436051251343522009-08-18T07:12:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:13:38.929-07:00The Ties that Bind, the SF4 Anime Review<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to talk about the anime DVD that came with the SF4 game. So apparently Capcom decided to release a companion anime to go along with the launch of SF4. Great idea, but shoddily executed. My first issue with the movie is that I’m not sure when it is supposed to take place. It’s not a prequel, and it seems to take place in the same timeline, but its link to the game is extremely tenous. There is no mention of any “tournament”, many characters, including guys like Honda, Blanka and Zangief are no where to be found. Of the new guys, you get a glimpse of Abel, and no Fuerte or Rufus. Crimson Viper has a major part, as does Cammy. Then of course Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Guile and Sakura round it out, with small baddie parts from Claw(US Vega) and Boxer(US Balrog). Seth takes the evil boss role, with Dictator(US Bison) in a smaller part. Anyone else I didn’t mention is pretty much out.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Cast issues aside, there just isn’t enough action. There’s a fair bit of exposition, with characters running around investigating and maybe only 3-4 ‘fight” scenes. The fight scenes are fairly bland and the big boss fight is anticlimactic. The animation itself is very clean, but not very detailed. It’s pretty much the same stuff in the arcade mode intros and endings.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I would have been okay with all this, had the translation been on par. Unfortunately, Capcom for some reason instead of commissioning an alternate script translation for the subtitles decided to go cheap and dubtitle it. Dubtitling, if you don’t know, is simply using the English dub script as the subtitles. Therefore, instead of getting a better, more accurate translation with subtitles, dubtitles just give you the English dub, like closed captioning. The thing about dubbed anime, is that usually certain liberties are taken with the dub in order to match the mouth movements of the characters. So normally the dub translation, while adequate, is not as accurate as it could be since it is dealing with the constraints of the medium. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I guess I’m not entirely surprised that Capcom skimped on the translation, seeing that the anime itself is pretty subpar. It’s strange that they’d be hesitant to spend money on something that’s supposed to promote the RETURN OF STREET FIGHTER! In a way, perhaps this is an indication that they might have not been as certain that SF4 was going to succeed as we thought. It sounds like a no-brainer now, but keep in mind that before the game actually gets released, they only know it did well in arcades, which is not a guaranteed success on console/PC.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-63372637311522168022009-08-16T07:13:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:14:13.941-07:00Good Times and Pad Woes.<span style="font-family: arial;">Last night was my third night of SF4, and I finally started playing in championship mode, using <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Ryu</span>. I did pretty well, I’d say i won about 60% of my matches, and advanced up a bit, I’m now in G-3 C, whatever that means, <span class="blsp-spelling-error">heh</span>.</span><br />
<br />
I’ve also unlocked <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Gouken</span> now, and I’m practicing with him and Abel. Strangely enough, Abel seems to be a good fit for my fighting style. His rolls are <span class="blsp-spelling-error">KOF</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error">ish</span>, and he has a easy to perform command throw, and a <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Fei</span>-Long style punch/<span class="blsp-spelling-error">rekka</span> combo. I’m still spotty with him, but when i get momentum going, it can be hard to stop me. Of course, smart players still drink my milkshake, but I feel that I have potential with Abel. <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Gouken</span> is much the same, great when i can get momentum going, but some matches it’s like I’m beating my head into the wall. I also have a bad habit of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected">under utilizing</span> certain moves of his, like EX palm thrusts, and overusing his demon flip and fireballs. I can get a pretty decent zoning game with him, but under pressure I tend to crack. I do like his <span class="blsp-spelling-error">mixups</span> and how you can use his Ultra in multiple ways: after a back throw, as an anti-air, and in certain corner combos. I just need to get used to his unique quirks, and I think I can be a decent player. Especially once I stop whiffing Ultras.<br />
<br />
Speaking of Ultras, I may be setting aside <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Ryu</span> for a little while. Why? Well, because his main setup for his Ultra involved an <span class="blsp-spelling-error">FADC’d</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error">shoryuken</span>. And on a pad, it’s very difficult to do. Because of the way i have to hold the pad, quickly executing Focus Attacks can be a challenge by itself. And so <span class="blsp-spelling-error">FADC</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error">ing</span> anything for me on the pad is hard to do in the heat of the moment. The main thing is that the buttons are too close together for me to do it comfortably if I hold my button hand piano-style, and if I use the regular grip with my thumb, certain normal links get harder to do. So it’s a no-win situation for me without constantly changing my grip. Also, it’s getting to be murder on my left thumb So it looks like getting a stick just became a much higher priority.<br />
<br />
I should be able to purchase a stick within the next few weeks, hopefully. The pad will have to tide me over til then. In the meantime, it looks like Abel and <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Gouken</span> will be taking up most of my time, unless I somehow figure out a way to do <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Ryu’s</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error">FADC</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error">shoryu</span> into Ultra on the pad reliably.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-69440829639180966762009-08-14T07:14:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:15:04.118-07:00My first online fights, defeats and victories.<div> <div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Before I could even begin to play SF4, I have to acquire a controller, right? Logical. So I figured I’d go down to Best Buy, grab a PC game bundle and go home. Not that simple. No local Best Buy has Fightpads or sticks, much less the bundle. So I have to break my personal rule of never buying from Gamestop. I call around to six or seven locations, and only one has a Fightpad, and it’s a used one at that. No matter, I go down there, purchase the pad, and then I go to work. A bit later I get around to examining the pad, which I didn’t have time to do earlier as I was on my way to my job. Problem. The USB port is missing. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">So I call the Gamestop I purchased it at, and spoke to the guy who sold it to me. Initially he said I’d have to take it back, since they didn’t have any others. I replied that I needed the pad, and I didn’t care if he had to pull a port off another used pad and give it to me. He hemmed and hawed at this, so I added that maybe he should call around to other stores, see who has a spare port and instruct them to hold it for me. He hesitated at this as well, so I just said that I’d call him back later. A fews hours later, I call back and he says that he did find the port and that he would hold it for me. Great, that’s one problem gone. After picking up the port, I head to Best Buy, and hey, they have the game with the pack-in anime DVD. I picked it up as well, glad to have the bonus DVD. My excitement about the DVD quickly soured however when I realized the travesty of its translation. But I’ll go into that later.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> Anyway, after some tinkering I get the game installed and the controller drivers downloaded. Now I can play SF4 for the first time. I go into training mode, and pick Ryu. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I suck. I’m amazed at how bad my execution is. The pad makes performing the moves slightly less difficult, but my execution is bollocks.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I sit in practice mode for a while, trying to get used to performing combos and links. Some of the stuff was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had a hard time executing his cr.lk, cr,lp, cr.hp into tatsu. This is considered one of his basic bread and butter combos (BnB). I wasn’t having much success with f+hp, d+hp into special, either. Daigo’s execution is truly beastly to pull links like that off on command. After about 30 minutes of practice, I went online for the very first time. I played about an 45 minutes, and managed to lose most of my first several matches. I’d get a round win every so often, but I didn’t really win much at all. I did get a session in with someone called obliterage, and we played about 7 matches, 4 of which I won. I was pretty stoked about it, and I sent him a gg mesage along with a friend request afterwards. I played arcade mode solo afterwards, working on unlocking characters. So I’ve got Sakura, Fei Long, Cammy, Gen, and Rose.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> I’m going to try and unlock Gouken tonight, as he’s who I intend to play as a secondary character, after Ryu. Although that may change when I get an arcade stick, so that I can start learning to use Gen, who has incredibly technical execution demands that pretty much require a stick. The Fightpad is nice, definitely better than a vanilla controller, but it has a slight mushy feeling that makes some precision movements feel somewhat floaty. Still, it’ll tide me over until I get a stick.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">All in all, I’m very excited to be getting back into fighting games, even if it’s only on the PC. Still, it’s been years since I’ve seriously played, and I’m looking forward to working my way up the ranks. If you see me online, send me an invite, I’m going by Hiryu ZeroTwo.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-44819985168714985612009-08-10T07:15:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:58:47.190-07:00New WoW Races confirmed?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">From our buddies over at Wow.com, there is an article that states pretty unequivocally that the new WoW expansion races have been “leaked”. The article does not give clear sources, but it also goes on to say that “Cataclysm” will be the new expansions’ name. <a href="http://www.leveling-guides.com/wow-cataclysm-leveling-guide/">Cataclysm</a> was trademarked some months ago by Blizzard, so unless it’s a red herring, that’s one less surprise at Blizzcon.</span> <br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">I won’t spoil the races here, so hop over to Wow.com and see what you can see.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://www.wow.com/2009/08/10/cataclysm-races-leaked/">http://www.wow.com/2009/08/10/cataclysm-races-leaked/</a></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-63027172074720977802009-08-07T07:12:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:12:50.579-07:00Have Stick, Will Fight!<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I purchased an XBOX 360 TE FightStick yesterday, after some time spent cursing the Fightpad and saving money. And it’s every bit as good as the reviews say it is. It’s much more precise and sensitive. Maybe a bit too sensitive, as I found myself jumping backwards a few times when I wanted to perform a standing block. I also have to re-adjust my timing on several combos, as opposed to mashing out my 2-in-1’s on the pad.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> Finally being able to execute an srk FADC into Ultra online makes it worth every dollar. My movement is much improved as well, I can dash in and out on command, and positioning myself is much easier. The stick also enables me to see if I’m executing moves with the correct timing. On the pad, I would miss some moves but chalk it up to the mushiness of the pad not recognizing my inputs properly. With the stick, I can now tell that it’s in fact my execution that is off. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I’ve finally fought my way into Championship G2-C, after an eternity spent in D and E. I’m feeling much improved from when I picked up the game some weeks ago, but certain matchups still give me a lot of trouble. Dhalsim in particular is a tough fight for me, as is Rose. I still can’t beat really good players consistently, but I sneak out a win here and there. I do feel that my arsenal has expanded thanks to the TE stick, as I can pull several combos I wasn’t able to execute consistently before. I do feel that I have a lot to learn, and I’m not making proper use of all the options available to me as Ryu.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"> </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">In the meantime, I’m trying to develop a secondary character, and I’m torn between Rufus and Abel. I feel that I grasp Abel better, but Rufus has some amazing damage potential. For example, Rufus can hit a jumper with his own jumping hk, and follow that up with EX Snake Strike and do at least 30% damage. His Ultra is also relatively easy to set-up and he’s got a good mixup game. My main issue with him is he requires very precise execution on many of his combos. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Abel on the other hand, has strong grabs for turtling opponents, as well as a good assortment of strikes. His rolls enable him to bypass projectiles and setup crossups. He also has a ton of health and takes longer to defeat. His Ultra is great for projectile spammers and can be linked to his cr.hp. His Tornado Throw is also very potent. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">And then there is the possibility that this is another symptom of my love for alts in MMO’s. I’m really bad about this, to the point of having nearly a dozen different characters that I all play, yet not really getting very far with any of them. I guess no matter what game I play, my indecisiveness will always surface.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-9802116823100706552009-08-04T07:16:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:18:04.342-07:00Let’s Do This! Coming back to Street Fighter.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpMBfDwv_uT4G1s91tRejTIE-Mn_Lhay0x4uq-3fmly93qNtjOsCO-moiBy7BaOC_TELKUyVO8J3EHJ-2PmKnnz0S7rrxRRWteaQF9WyqcISKuple4sLxBrhhUEtbGuji_uZ6TAvnkVH2/s1600-h/ryu_action_e61.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcpMBfDwv_uT4G1s91tRejTIE-Mn_Lhay0x4uq-3fmly93qNtjOsCO-moiBy7BaOC_TELKUyVO8J3EHJ-2PmKnnz0S7rrxRRWteaQF9WyqcISKuple4sLxBrhhUEtbGuji_uZ6TAvnkVH2/s320/ryu_action_e61.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 198px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a> <br />
<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Once again I’m late to the party, but this weekend I hope to finally be playing Street Fighter 4 online…on the PC. Yes I know I’m nearly a month late to the PC release, but I had been focusing on the console versions since launch. I’ve been watching match videos on youtube, perusing multiple forums, and just absorbing information about the game in general. For someone who has yet to play the actual game, I’ve spent a remarkable amount of time just reading about it, and vicariously experiencing it through forum discussions and match videos. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, my current financial situation prevents me from purchasing an Xbox 360, SF4 and a fighting stick. It was only recently that a light bulb lit up in my head when I realized that my gaming PC is beefy enough to run SF4. So I can snag the game and a decent fighting stick for less than $100. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">This is not my first exposure to Street Fighter. I grew up in Asia about the time Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury first hit arcades. I still fondly remember my dog-eared copy of EGM that had photos and descriptions of each fighter’s special moves, as well as a short bio on each character. I recall acting out the special moves of every character for my oldest nephew, and describing each fighter to him. Sadly, in those days I was pretty young and was not good at understanding the finer details of fighting games</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">. I wanted to be good at Ryu, but I didn’t have the skill to do fireballs or shoryukens properly. I would often jump accidentally when trying special moves. I settled for learning Guile, because his charge moves came easier to me. And I got pretty decent against the computer, but was still a scrub against better players. I rarely won versus another player, unless he was inexperienced like me. I also played other stuff like Fatal Fury, but I would play every version of SF that came out. Still, I was never more than a mediocre player.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">I would return to Street Fighter when Capcom released New Challengers and Super Turbo. I quickly discovered that I sucked with Cammy, Fei Long and T Hawk. After King of Fighters debuted in 1994, I gravitated to it. I played significantly more KOF for a while and started to learn proper move execution. About the time KOF 95′ came out, I knew how to perform most special moves on demand. Still, my game relied on using mainly the strongest normals and special moves. I didn’t use pokes, footsies, or jab strings. I was basically a player who used Hard Punch and Hard Kick for everything. I also played Street Fighter Alpha, and its sequels during their arcade release, but I was playing more KOF than SF at this point, and it wasn’t until Street Fighter 3 that I finally “understood” the game. I got pretty good at SF3, nothing amazing, but I did pretty well in my local scene. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Unfortunately, some time after SF3 3rd Strike was released, I fell out of the fighting game scene for many years. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"></div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">And so, more than eighteen years after Street Fighter 2 came out, I’m returning to Street Fighter, and to Ryu. Ryu has always been an iconic character, his ending in the original SF2 really affected me. I remember it to this day. He’s the solid, well-balanced “basic” fighter archetype that has spawned countless imitations across the fighting game genre. Strangely, I haven’t really tried to use him since the New Challengers. Even in the Versus series, like Capcom Vs SNK and Marvel Vs Capcom, I intentionally avoided using Ryu. I sort of had a mental block about using him, since all my attempts at “mastering” Ryu had met with failure. Also, he’s always been a well-rounded popular character that gets picked by many players. And so in nearly every game I would use a character that was “different”. I used Guy in the Alpha series, and Yun and Makoto in SF3. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"></div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">This time however, I’m gonna pick Ryu. I’m a better player now, with a better understanding of the game, the fighters and the engine. I think that now that I’ve gotten all this experience under my belt, I’m finally ready to use him. It’s kind of a cool feeling, to come back to a character that I had originally wanted to play, but for one reason or another I passed over. I also have a different mindset now. I’m going to approach this as a learning experience, not as a way to show my “skills”. I must credit David Sirlin for writing a series of articles collectively called “<a href="http://www.sirlin.net/ptw/">Playing to Win</a>“, that taught me many things. Not just about fighting games in general, but also about the mental barriers that a mediocre or “scrubby” player has to overcome in his head to succeed. Hopefully, the next time I play against someone with Ryu, I’ll be playing to win, and to learn. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-77318529384377581852009-08-01T07:18:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:19:30.632-07:00KOF XII: Rebirth is Re-botched<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOzTRzcLF4PVgsO7xcvV3F8dI1DnWUHgdcQGEBhda9mqyJY8O2NUy0lcQSQYbdNedt17RSgba5_RLCmnJyeyQrgIXZmiJJ8Al9GH8rTm9MDiBfgSM4FURz-U0yiqpDWU9kfZL_6mlWQVX/s1600-h/p_keyvisual.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOzTRzcLF4PVgsO7xcvV3F8dI1DnWUHgdcQGEBhda9mqyJY8O2NUy0lcQSQYbdNedt17RSgba5_RLCmnJyeyQrgIXZmiJJ8Al9GH8rTm9MDiBfgSM4FURz-U0yiqpDWU9kfZL_6mlWQVX/s320/p_keyvisual.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 201px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></a> <br />
<div> <div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you have more than a cursory interest in 2-D fighting games, the release of SNK’s flagship fighting series on July 24th is well known to you. However, what you may not know yet is that somehow SNK has taken the game that could have theoretically turned their fortunes around in the USA and royally screwed the pooch with it. No, I’m not talking about the graphics, engine or gameplay. I’m talking about the netcode. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Reports from multiple websites and forum posters reveal that the online play for KOF XII is nigh-unplayable. A patch was released for the PS3 version shortly after launch to fix the lag issues, but it seems to have not had a noticeable effect as well as adding some bugs to the game. Compared to BlazBlue, or even SF4, KOF XII fails painfully in its implementation of the online experience. Players report difficulty connecting to matches, and laggy inputs when they do get a match going. Character Select lag, even. Other issues include being able to re-map the button assignments of the other player online and unintuitive menus with a lack of certain features. The poor online experience only emphasizes the poor single-player AI. The AI is so bad that players report no difference between the difficulty setting, the AI is equally stupid. So if you don’t have any local friends to play against and were depending on the online play, you’re currently out of luck. The patch has also been uploaded to XBL recently, but results are mixed. I wish to quote someone from the PA forums who summed up my feelings on this with a masterful post.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #dae1e3; font-family: verdana; line-height: 16px;"> <div> <div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div class="smallfont" style="font: 11px verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 2px; text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">slash000</span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> wrote:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><a href="http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=11042909#post11042909"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img alt="View Post" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://forums.penny-arcade.com/images/styles/PA/buttons/viewpost.gif" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></span></a></div><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr> <td class="quote" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font: 12px verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> <div style="font-size: 11px;"><span style="line-height: 1.4em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yeah, I mean, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SNK</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> has always had a kind of small but strong following over the years. They’ve always been niche. This was their opportunity to kind of re-invigorate their main franchise, and bring in new (or returning) fans.<br />
And they dropped the ball, big time. Seriously. This was their opportunity to go from a tiny hardcore </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">fanbase</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to expanding to at least the more broad fighting game market (which itself is still small honestly). But all this game has done is made everyone who took new interest, or renewed interest, in the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">KOF</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> franchise, and basically made them feel like a </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">shmuck</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for taking interest and having renewed faith in </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SNK</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and paying $60 for the game. Even those among the big longtime </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SNK</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">fanbase</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> are getting pretty sour over this. It’s a major problem. Not only is this going to completely turn off a large portion of would-be potential fans, but it’s even starting to wear down on fans that have followed </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SNK</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for a long time. What could have been a rebirth for the series both in appearance and style AS WELL as market appeal is turning out to be something that is doing more damage than good, possibly with greater negative effects in the long term.</span></span></span></div></td> </tr>
</tbody> </table></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">He’s completely on the ball here, I’m saddened to say. I love </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">KOF</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. I’ve played it since its inception in 94′. But this really sucks. It sucks even more because</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the game itself is very good</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">! The art is beautiful, the engine solid, and the animation is breathtaking. I don’t even care that Mai isn’t in this game, I just want it to be playable online! I know that it’s not too late, perhaps a miracle patch is being worked on as we speak, but I really hope that if they do manage to fix this, that the damage done to </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">KOF</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SNK’s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> rep isn’t irreversible. </span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5289896754236043119.post-63262497779928277762009-07-31T07:19:00.000-07:002010-08-04T07:20:32.028-07:00Grumble and Mutter 2009-07-31 18:39:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1K44yASXEKMzeQTQsLYJOSmfi7Lgi5_qnyTZl1O31UX75d_6dIQgnx1N9CT6WObqtJc-oKBbyp3JrNB1MKYFZxgspayJUXYpewuR2AbmfYbeFU7lLLXP15JzMjA3mcIQDMtScSnS5WyDf/s1600-h/splash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1K44yASXEKMzeQTQsLYJOSmfi7Lgi5_qnyTZl1O31UX75d_6dIQgnx1N9CT6WObqtJc-oKBbyp3JrNB1MKYFZxgspayJUXYpewuR2AbmfYbeFU7lLLXP15JzMjA3mcIQDMtScSnS5WyDf/s400/splash.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 179px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a> <br />
<div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">This is probably <i>very </i>old news to many people, but I recently discovered the Gundam series <i>The 08th MS Team</i>. I stumbled across it in a random topic in a modeling forum I frequent and thought I’d give it a shot based on all the positive comments it was getting. I was blown away. </div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">Compared to many of the more recent Gundam series like 00 and Seed, 08th MS Team is a breath of fresh air to me. Of course, I realize that it is a significantly older series and that I’m a Johnny-come-lately to all this, but it still kicks ass in it’s own way. To paraphrase one forum poster, where something like Gundam Wing is “invincible robots doing killing ballet in outer space”, 08th MS Team is gritty, dirty, and <i>real</i>. Instead of super-sensors spotting enemy units from large distances, the 08th MS Team relies on their hovertruck sonar, and a teammate skilled in listening, to pinpoint the enemy. Large amounts of time are spent in preparation for any upcoming conflict, which includes outlining the plan of attack, getting into position and listening for the enemies’ advance. In other words, tactics. Once visual confirmation is made, the fights are over in a very short time. The terrain plays a large part in combat as well. The mobile suits aren’t super-machines either, they are mass-production models, effective in combat, but nothing like say the Wing Zero Custom. For example, one episode shows an MS being temporarily sidelined because sand gets in its gears!</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">No “ace” pilots here either, just new-ish recruits and some seasoned veterans. If anything the only real ace in this series would probably be Norris Packard, on the Zeon side. Most characters are competent, effective pilots, but nothing like an Amuro Ray or Setsuna F. Seiei. Characterization is another plus, and it’s consistent throughout the series. Shiro is a bit green, but talented. Sanders is serious but a bit haunted by his past. Karen is a bit harsh, but an effective pilot and officer. Eledore is extroverted but dependable in a fight, and Michel pines for his girlfriend, but is perhaps the most empathetic of the team. On the other side as well, the Zeon soldiers and officers are portrayed as real human beings, not faceless cogs in the military machine. The humanizing treatment given to all the characters really makes us feel for them. We empathize with the valiant Feddies, and feel for the injured yet brave Zeon. One truly sees how even opposing sides in war are made up of people who are essentially the same. It’s a cliche sentiment, but one that’s very appropriate here.</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13px Arial; margin: 0px;">If anything, my only complaint would be that the love story subplot is a bit abrupt and perhaps not fully fleshed out. But considering the setting of said love story, it’s not completely illogical. I would really recommend that you pick this up, especially if you do not have much experience with the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam series. And of course, after watching this I’m itching to pick up a kit of the RX-79 [G] when I get the cash, heh.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0