Gamers

I smell conspiracy.

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:41:21 -0700

What do these four men have in common?

Maybe videogame developers are getting tired, stressed out, or just downright drunk, but if I didn't know any better...I'd say there's a rash of copycats in all the new games, or someone's suffering from a serious lack of creativity. Each of these Lucha Libre fighters seem to come from, well, the same mold: scrawny, flamboyant, and topless. Er, wait. One of them's wearing a top...

But I remember when I first saw Ramon in KoF 2000 (the guy with the green pants). I thought he was the coolest guy ever, what with his Bruce Lee-style punches and flying moves. I later found out he was a Mexican Wrestler. What a let down.

And then I saw El Blaze (the guy in the flaming trousers) and I thought to myself, "Cool. Another Bruce Lee-style fighter. Oh wait...haven't I seen this dude somewhere before?" That was the eighth-most enlightenmenting-ing moment in my life. "Wait a sec, isn't he the dude in the new Street Fighter game?" The ninth came shortly after.

*****

I've come to believe that all these characters are the creation of one man. One infamous man who long, long ago, joined the ranks of Pro Wrestling and manipulated his way into the next gen fighting scene...Starman. The original Lucha Libre idol from the old NES days! That trademark mask, those hot pink tights! He has to be the one behind all these Lucha Libre inspired wrestlers...someone needs to put an end to the madness...

*grin*

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Street Fighter 4

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:40:51 -0700

Yes, its exactly what you think it is.

I owe most of this post to David Hinds, the guy who loaned me the initial 100 yen that in turn saved me from walking to the end of the line in the HEY! arcade at Akihabara. Thanks, David. Because of you, I was able to play Street Fighter IV for a brief 5 minutes before the other guy beat me to a pulp and sent me to the end of the line. Cheers, mate.

Street Fighter IV: the little game that almost wasn't. Capcom was dead set on leaving the series alone after looking at the demise of North American arcades. If it wasn't for the musings of the internet over images of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, producer Yoshinori Ono wouldn't have been able to convince the higher-ups at Capcom to pump out another game.

But wait, Street Fighter IV isn't really a sequel.

Rather, the story is set somewhere in between Street Fighter II and Third Strike (Street Fighter III). This explains why all of the original fighters have been revived, and why the game system is strikingly similar. There's just a few things different, for example, Third Strike's parry system was taken out in favor of old school footsie games that brings back classic SFII brawling. The game is now 3D on 2D (or 2.5D according to wikipedia), dismissing pixels for a more rendered look. All the characters get only one CG-coated dramatic super move.

Obligatory screenshot

The new system for SF IV is called Saving System or Focus Attacks. The idea basically follows like this: as your character racks up damage, a revenge gauge begins to fill, allowing EX attacks (a la SF III), unblockable attacks, and enhanced combos. EX attacks take a percentage of the overall bar, while one super move takes the entire bar. Pretty drastic difference, considering that stocks (the amount of super moves you can save) are no longer part of the game.

The game plays very smoothly, putting the focus not so much on combos, but more on predicting and reacting. Jumping in the game used to feel kind of floaty, but now its really fast. And while the graphics seem a bit goofy at times, this is probably hands down the best experience Street Fighter has ever offered yet. Seriously, you must play it to experience what its like now. Each time I played it, this nostalgic sensation overswept my emotions, enducing tears from my eyes.

Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but you get what I mean. Its really fun to play partially due to the simplicity of the game now, and the added tweaks are just icing on the cake.

Check out these links for more info:
Super informative thread about the developers and the game itself
The only SF IV movelist around possibly
1up's reviews and articles on SF IV

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Arcana Heart 2

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:05:32 -0700

Not a single guy in sight (perhaps a good thing?)

Earlier in the week I wrote about the lack of innovation in fighting games and their sequels. Most of my grievances stemmed from the fact that sequels scarcely seek creativity in their games and focus upon building up the established system. Most of the time arcade sequels just include a new character, new moves, and / or occasionally a new gameplay tweak.

The creators of Arcana Heart knew this, and attempted to build a game from the ground up that would avoid the monotony of stale characters and moves. The other interesting thing is that the developers are fans of all types of fighters, from popular arcade fighters, to fan-made doujin fighters. Did I mention there's absolutely no male characters present in the game?

But where the game really shines is the amount of depth offered in the individual arcana's. After you select your character, you get to choose an arcana that will dictate the special and super moves for that character. The Arcana also determines the passive abilities, ranging from floaty air jumps, to additional "clashes" that will add extra hits in dash moves. On top of that, you can activate the Arcana (a move that helps you get out of combos) which will add even more passive abilites that can regain life, stop the clock, or poison the opponent.

There's probably not a single game out there in the market that even comes close to the amount of flexability within the game structure. The first game offered 12 characters and 12 arcanas, totalling 144 (zomg, 144!) staggering combinations. Arcana Heart 2 now has 18 characters and 18 arcanas, effectively doubling the amount of combinations available from the previous game!

Personally, I really like the fact that there's practically no tiers (e.g. characters who are inheritantly stronger than other characters) in this game due to the arcana system. Alot of games typically have a small group of characters who are just too overpowered that the weaker characters simply can't compete. Thanks to Examu's foresight, this aspect of the game has been effectively neutralized, truly allowing players to find the playstyle that suits them the best. This is probably one of the best 2D games out there, and I highly suggest it.

If you're interested in further reading, I would also recommend these highly in-depth articles:
Insomnia.ac's review of Arcana Heart
In-depth forum post with a plethora of healthy links
Super informative wiki page on Arcana Heart

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delta force black hawk down sceeencap

nobody@vox.com(jeffington) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:07:58 -0700

delta force black hawk down sceeencap
Originally uploaded by geozila.

a screenshot of a strange map full of bottelneck tunnels ...thats me playing along with about 100 other people online at novaworlds delta force black hawk down ..a very apreacated christmass present ...[ delta force black hawk down for mac ]..

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Soul Calibur 4

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:04:23 -0700

Yes, this guy does appear in Soul Calibur

Soul Calibur is Namco's other 3D beat-em-up franchise. While Tekken is (mostly) relegated to fisticuffs, Soul Calibur differentiates by using weapons and a complex parrying system called guard impact. The series is set much further back in history, and is based around a mythical sword called, you guessed it...Soul Calibur. It's safe to assume that everyone and their mama is out to get this sword for their own personal reasons.

The game itself isn't that much different from Tekken. The blocking system is identical to its older brother, complete with sidestep system. The only major difference is that you have three attacks (horizontal, vertical, and kick) and a guard button, freeing up your movement across the stage.

I didn't get in to Soul Calibur early on, due to it being Dreamcast only. I did play it's sequel pretty extensively, but totally ignored Soul Calibur 3. As far as I'm concerned, Soul Calibur 3 didn't offer anything new aside from 6 more characters, more boring story mode content, and a custom character creation mode. Plus, the character balance was really uneven, and glitches were abound. It was so bad that Namco, realizing their error, quickly rushed Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition, but by that time the gamer crowd grew tired and quit playing the game altogether. What also really destroyed Soul Calibur 3 for myself and alot of hardcore fighting fans was the discovery of G22, or variable cancel (VC).

What VC does is cancel the animation frames, while the move itself continues invisibly. This threw all means of offensive play out the window, and turned Soul Calibur 3 into a game based solely on running and turtling. You'll hardly see anyone attempt to guard impact anything, because the risk of doing so was very high. This also lead for some really nasty tricks:

One insane example of using VC effectively

So as you can tell, Soul Calibur 3 was pretty bunk.

Soul Calibur 4 is coming out really soon, July 29 to be exact. There's going to be 7 new characters, including Darth Vader and Yoda (you can see the full roster here, lol). Kimura mentioned rumors of Kratos from God of War making an appearance, but so far Namco gave an official statement that denied any rumors or speculations.

The game system is pretty innovative as well. There's a new armor break system, which consists of three jewels that turn red as certain areas are being pummeled. When one jewel breaks, the armor breaks off, and critical finishers become activated. When you're own jewel turns blue and the stars and moon align, you can unleash a critical finish; a pretty movie sequence that ends in an instant K.O. This should make for more interesting strategy!

Hopefully Soul Calibur 4 picks up where the other series dropped the ball. Next time I'll stop posting about 3D fighters and focus toward 2D series.

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sooooo waiting for this... i have a job but I might leave for this lol

nobody@vox.com(♥ Skull Babii Fe ♥) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:50:07 -0700

Untitled MMO for Win Vista, 360 & PS3

I only bring this up now because everytime when I have a clear head I think of this game that has so much chances of showing up this fall. The only full proof I have is this video and this picture.

Rapture.jpg

I only hope to gawd that SE says something about this at E3 this year. If anyone knows more please let me know.

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my wii did not sacrafice in vain! I made sure of it ;)

nobody@vox.com(♥ Skull Babii Fe ♥) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:31:07 -0700

Before MGS4(Metal Gear Solid 4) and DBZ:BL(Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit) came out I was dead broke and really wanted the games. I realize then what I was playing less of and what was collecting the most dust in my room. That was my Wii. Even though I had SSB: Brawl it wasn't enough for me to hold on one system. I decided to sell my wii to someone and that's what I did exactly. The only thing sad is that I can't play my DDR anymore for now but that's ok. Nintnedo plan to build a new model of the Wii and I plan to buy that one.

mgsus.jpg

I now have MGS4 and DBZ:BL. I'm very satisfied with the games I got. MGS4 is amazing though I have yet to beat due to my job and me being busy a lot with other things but when I do get to play it I play for hours. DBZ: BL

dragon-ball-z-burst-limit.jpg

is very short and that saddens me. It's sooo good that you don't want it to end. The game only has 3 sagas and online so I can't wait until they make another one. It can't get here fast enough!. :) If anyone wants my PSN ID let me know and send me a message.

If you can even believe this I still had money left over that day and I reserve Soul Calibur 4 and Little Big Planet. I even more panties for myself! They are sooo cute!

Magikano (underwear)

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Tekken 6

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:55:53 -0700

Xiaoyu shows off her new customizations to an apparently "awed" Jin

Namco's Tekken series has been around for over a decade, solidfying the game's status as a token-crunching franchise. Arguably the best 3D beat em up in the market, Tekken has been through alot of changes since the first game debuted in 1994. Tekken 6, released in arcades last year in Japan, didn't make a debut in American arcades, due to the declining arcade market and high cost. Console releases (most likely PS3 only) are scheduled to be out one year after the arcade release.

The first Tekken game is absolutely horrible to look at now. I'm amazed it even got a sequel, considering how horrible the game played and looked. The weirdest element were the "moon jumps" in the game. Every character could jump over a skyscraper and then some. The only reason this game did any decent business was due to the fact that there were hardly any other fighting games on the PSX at the time, which helped out Namco alot, although it didn't help much that Virtua Fighter was the other dominant 3D game at the time...

But thankfully we got Tekken 3, which helped bring out the game's brighter qualities, such as a larger cast, larger movelists, and balanced gameplay. By this time, moon jumps were gone, and you could actually move in and out of the background. There was also a huge time jump in the story (19 years to be exact). Few to none of the original Tekken 2 cast appeared in 3, which was quite refreshing to see a bunch of brand new faces.

Now we have Tekken 6. Tekken 6 is the latest offering in the series, and quite honestly, the gameplay really hasn't changed much, if at all since Tekken 3. There's only 4 new characters this time around, but the cast is the largest in Namco's franchise with 41 characters. All of the original gameplay mechanics are back, with the only real difference being a rage system (e.g. moar pain) and a new "bound" system, which allows for ridiculously long and damaging combos. Make a mistake, and you could kiss 70% of your life gone in an instant. I had a few test plays in Japan, and this was by far the largest gripe I had with the game.

And if that isn't enough to convince you how broken this installment is becoming, combine both of those factors and you get unprecedented death combos:

Law Tekken 6 Death Combo by KYSG YOU

So what has Tekken 6 done for innovation? So far, very very little. A new bound system, even more customization options, and supposed online integration. I'm iffy about the online integration part, since America is much larger than Japan, with an even less effective internet speeds. There's nothing groundbreaking since Tekken 3 in terms of game mechanics, and the same characters in 3 have been around foreeeeeever. At this rate, we can probably expect Tekken 7 to be the same game, but with just more of everything...

Still, Tekken dominates the arcade gaming scene in Japan and Korea, a true testament to its large popularity.

Tomorrow I'll turn the focus to Soul Calibur 4, Namco's weapon-porn franchise.

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Are fighting games becoming repetitive?

nobody@vox.com(Patapete) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:34:43 -0700

Who says games all have to be about that violence nonsense

There's a slew of new fighting games coming out in 2008 alone, and they're all mostly from the Japanese side of the ocean: Street Fighter IV, King of Fighters XII, Soul Calibur IV, Tekken 6, BLAZBLUE, Fate/unlimited codes, and a whole lot more. I'd love to list them all, but for this week I'm only going to focus on a few specific fighters to give the rundown on what's been, what's now, and what to expect from the new game sequels.

But this post isn't about the game sequels themselves, or the hype surrounding their impending release. Rather, I want to approach the topic of stagnation that's beginning to build in a lot of these games, and I do mean a lot. Areas such as innovation have not been addressed this time around, and that's lead to an endless cycle of repetitiveness and predictability in nearly all of the new sequels coming out this year. Sure, bugs have been fixed and tweaks have been adjusted to round out the balance among the cast, but ground-breaking systems haven't changed a whole lot since their first, and subsequent inceptions.

Every fighter shares the same formula: male characters, female characters, health bar, super bar, combo system, blocking, jumping, etc. When you get past those ingredients, the game system kicks in, offering more options for bashing the opponent and creating your own style of play. And granted, each genre offers its own entertaining barn of unique staples, from King of Fighter's team system, to Tekken's High / Mid / Low blocking system. You can always count on each fighter to provide their own form of trademark gameplay.

The point that I'm frustrated with is this: in 2008, most of these games hardly deviate from the mark, and are stuck in a pattern of repetition that has hardly changed. It seems that each new installment in the series must provide at least one new character, one new stage, or one new move to add to the previous cast's repetoire. Older cast members are hardly ever removed, and the system is only tweaked a little bit with some kind of new gimmick you can do, heaped on top of the already existing hierarchy.

Whee, look at me!

The most notable example is Ryu from Street Fighter. I don't think there's ever been a Street Fighter game that doesn't include their mascot in it somewhere, some place. Hell, there's been more incarnations of Ryu than Megaman sequels, always wearing the same off-colored, pasty white clothes that he's probably worn since puberty. Seriously, has he ever bought some new clothes? Can't he use his winnings from the last Street Fighter tournament to you know, buy some nice shoes? Does he ever change his underwear?

It should be said that are some exceptions to this rule in the past. Street Fighter did go into the 3D realm a few times, although disappointingly. King of Fighters does kill off some of the cast for each sequel, so much that its hard to even predict who's going to be gone the next come-around. And Tekken tried to spice up their line by providing new ways to pimp out your character, a-la Virtua Fighter.

Tomorrow I'll point out the changes and additions to Namco's Tekken series over the years.

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Vampires

nobody@vox.com(怒涛の鮫) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:54:09 -0700

I can't believe they made this "game"...

Terror T.R.A.X. - Track of the Vampire (Part 1 of 3)

Terror T.R.A.X. - Track of the Vampire (Part 2 of 3)

Terror T.R.A.X. - Track of the Vampire (Part 3 of 3)

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