SONG OF THE DAY

ANOTHER BY JEFF HARDY

SICKNESS'S ARMAGEDDON,
I'VE PREPARED YOUR EULOGY.
WIZ, I'M NOT.
OUR FATHER, WHO CHILLS IN HEAVEN,
I WORSHIP YOU AND YOUR CREATION.
THANK YOU HEAVENLY
FOR MY HEALTH AND HISTORY
IF THERE COMES A TIME IN WHICH I DIE
BEFORE I WAKE I KNOW MY SOUL
YOU WILL TAKE CARE OF, AND GUIDE THROUGH,
LEAVING EARTH TO MEET YOU...

This song definitely made my day. :D

ANOTHER CASE OF DEATH I WANT TO DIE...

Real talk, because of this, I really, really, really hope that Jeff Hardy comes back to TNA when his whole debacle is cleared up. Like, I always wanted the best for him, he was clearly fucking high at Victory Road and simply wished that he get healthy and what not... but after hearing that?

BRING BACK JEFF HARDY TNA!

That is all.

An Attempt to Not Be Biased… Rossman: Episode 1 Demo Review

Rossman: Episode 1 is a 2D independent game developed by some guy I used to “know.” “Knowing” what I “knew” about this guy, I knew not to expect much from the demo that he uploaded. But what the fuck.

Sound
I’m starting with sound for this review, why? Because the title screen song plays, you click new game to start a new game, and the title screen song does not stop, but the level 1 song plays. Automatic ear rape, instant muting. Not a good first impression at all. I know it’s a demo, but you can’t possibly be that lazy to not check something as simple as music stopping when it should be stopping.

Graphics
I’m getting graphics out the way because I can see my player, my enemies, and where I need to go. That’s enough for me… except when the muthafuckas hide behind waterfalls. It’s one thing if that’s the specific purpose of the specific enemy, but it’s not. That’s not fair, put them in front of the waterfall, okay? Thanks.

I also want to question the animation choices here. The standing and jump poses are normal/standard. The running animation is :/. :/ doesn’t even accurately show the facial expression that I want to give. It’s clearly a blatant sonic copy with the blurred, non figure 8 swirl legs… whether he’s running regularly or in “boost” mode. Oh., we’re gonna get on that boost mode shit, which has completely unnecessary after images. Honestly, it’s unneeded; you can use the memory there for something much more useful… like more animation.

Controls
Imagine if Super Mario Bros. separated the functions of running and shooting bullets. That’s pretty much the control scheme here. He’s a beginner programmer, so I’ll forgive the lack of control configuration, but he needs to look into that. Also, you can’t “boost” in the air… weird.

Game Play
Here we go… the point here is, the game is shit. The enemies are standard Super Mario affair. The game is standard Super Mario affair… except, he really needs to look into getting better physics. He’s using the Game Maker program, and the Mario physics that he’s obviously trying to emulate are very well documented for Game Maker. Stop being lazy and look this stuff up.

Rossman has two speed: slow and not as slow (aka boost). There’s a boost bar, but “boosting” doesn’t make the boost bar go down… GOOD! Imagine if Super Mario Bros. limited how much you could run with a Run Bar… then again, don’t. Video Games would be dead by now if that was the case. If you’re gonna make a Mario Game clone, you might as well keep everything that simple. Kill the boost bar, put bullets and running on the same button, and fix your fucking physics.

The level design here is boring, and provides nothing that makes me want to say, “WOW! I CAN’T WAIT TILL THIS GAME COMES OUT!” What’s the difference between the top path and the bottom path? The normal path and the “secret” path? Not much. Nor is it a challenge to “find” the “secret” path or stay on the top path. If you’re gonna try to tale elements from Sonic games, you might as well try to figure out why the fuck those elements made those games great. Don’t be lazy, you’re not just playing games anymore, you’re an aspiring developer. Act like one.

The bullets… you can shoot a shitload of them for free. This is cheap and makes every enemy easier to kill than they already are. Plus, putting 10+ bulles on the screen slows the game down. There’s a reason why Mario can only shoot 2 on screen bullets at a time. Think about it.

Overall
On a scale of 1 to 10, the game is shit. It’s operational, but at what cost? Anyone saying that this game is good is either lying, didn’t play the game, or is awestruck because they don’t know what kind of warlock magic is being used to even create this “original” content. (I use the word “original” loosely.) Based on everything that I know about this game, he's better off hacking Mario 3 or Mario World. This is seriously a terrible, terrible attempt at making a game, especially one that is trying to be “sold.”

Direct Message to You:
Why did I even bother to play Rossman? Why bother looking it up? Nothing more than curiosity. We still shit on you maybe once every two to three months because we can, but I figured that maybe, you actually learned something from out fiasco damn near two years ago, but nothing could be farther from the truth. You’re still the same unoriginal, uncreative copycat that we left behind. You even decided to separate Rossman into “episodes” a few weeks after Sonic 4: Episode 1 was officially announced by that name. (“But wait! That would mean you’ve been following me!” No bitch, you know me, I will do the research.)

Why do I care enough to dedicate an entire blog post to this? That’s a good fucking question that lacks a good fucking answer. I don’t know why I did this. There was nothing for me to gain from this. I’m just weird like that… I just do whatever I want at times. I do remember one thing you said, “Oh, I’ll be more famous than him by 2010.” (that’s a loose quote.) I remember my response, “I hope he does get famous, because at that point, he’ll either have to sink or swim.” If you woulda made a whole episode based on what you were working on, you woulda sunk. Hard.

You can get mad at me pointing out the truth (aka calling you out for remaining an non-innovative copycat) all you want. It doesn’t matter to me. However, I would like to believe that maybe you’d take the advice and the criticism here, apply it, and actually learn something. Sure, Rossman might be a bullshit copy over of Mario and Sonic games, but at least you can make it decent. And playable.

Peep this: I’ve been fucking with Game Maker off and on since 2007. I made about half the default tutorial games for GM, made some other tutorial games, learned the difference between walls, floors, and ceilings, and learned how to use a boomerang and allow the player to select between different weapons/power ups. I have a semi-decent plat former physics engine that I could use to make a game right now, but I didn’t. Why? 1) because I need to step my graphics game up, and most importantly 2) game design is more than just the characters, the level, the story, the music, etc. It’s taking all of that and making the sum much more than the parts. There’s a thin line between good and great, and even thinner between great and classic.

Like, seriously, study this shit if you’re serious about it. Look up articles on game design. Look up stuff on why Super Mario Bros. is great. Lurk the Sonic Retro forums on why the Sonic games on Genesis are classics. Look up David Sirlin’s article on why Donkey Kong Country 2 is the greatest platforming game ever made (his personal opinion, I think Yoshi’s Island is the best platforming game ever made). Look up articles on Metroid, Street Fighter, arcade games, casual vs. hardcore games, gamer psychology, how achievements fucked up game design, etc. It’s out there. You just gotta find it.

Still, why do I care? I still don’t know.

But I just gave you the truth. Maybe now, you can make a decent game. You’re welcome.

Edit:
lol. I posted a link to this review on his "Official Rossman" Page. He apparently deleted it. That's a damn shame. Well, he can stay stuck on stupid. His choice.

YouTube Greatest Features

YouTube is the #3 website in the world in terms of traffic, behind only FaceBook  at #2 and Google at #1.

YouTube's spot at #3 is pretty well deserved. Don't get me wrong, there is this glaring flaw about copyright ruining classic videos that never claimed that they owned the rights to a given song and simply wanted to use it because it sounds cool. This is dumb on the companies that bring about the copyright claim's part because they're pretty much fucking up their ability to advertise for free... do you know how many comments I've put on videos asking "what song is that?" and would then end up downloading? Do you know how you stifle that potential when you claim copyright and disable the audio on a video? There's also the flaw of commercials... it's like, oh look, people use the Internet now, might as well give them commercials. At least you can skip them... but why do commercials load faster than the actual video? What kinda shit is that?

Still, YouTube is a great website that, unlike FaceBook, I feel gets better and better every time they make an upgrade. One of the newer features that I use the most is the "Watch Later" feature. This is awesome because sometimes, there will be a video that I want to watch, but don't necessarily have the time for it. Or maybe I'm just not in the mood to watch it. Whatever the case may be, Watch Later is a feature that I abuse. I still have about 15 videos in my Watch Later playlist.

Another thing that I've grown to like is the "Like" and "Dislike" feature. Before, they had the 5 star system, which was cool, but sometimes, it was difficult to know if a video that had an average of 3 stars is good or not. But with the like/dislike system, a video's worth is pretty much defined from the jump. Seeing people's creative little "5 people fail" type of comments are also rather entertaining.

YouTube is also the best website to download music from. But I won't go into any details on that.

Overall, I like YouTube. It's much, much, much better than television. If FaceBook disappeared, I'd be like oh well, but YouTube disappeared... I'd be devastated... and then I'd move on to DailyMotion.com. It's actually a rather viable backup. ;)

Zones that I Want to See in Sonic Generations

So with Sonic Generations on the way (and possibly more than half way complete), there are the levels that I want to see in this game.

Spring Yard Zone
I personally think that it would be soooo cool to see this level rendered in 3D. I would also love to see how they design this level around the boosting of Modern Sonic.

Labyrinth Zone
I feel like this has to be the water level of choice from the classic games. Even with a spin dash, I think it’s the most difficult of the water levels from the Sega Genesis days. I also think it has the best song of the water levels in the Genesis games as well.

Oil Ocean Zone
I feel like Oil Ocean Zone is too unique of a level to NOT put in a game like this, but I also feel like Oil Ocean Zone is too complex of a zone for them to bother rendering in 3D… but is it really that complex? Replace bottomless pit with oil, given Modern Sonic the ability to boost over it like water, possibly bring back the ol’ oil swimming trick… The possibilities here are pretty cool.

Marble Gardens Zone
The problem here is that it seems that I’m part of the minority, as I seem to be the only person I ever met that really enjoyed this zone. The steep hills and the variation of moving platforms made this level a classic in my opinion, and doing this in 3D has tons of potential to be awesome.

Carnival Night Zone
The basis of this desire is the historical impact of Act 2’s impassible barrel. Not only is there the potential to have Sonic remember not knowing how to pass this level, but this level was pretty intense on its own, with the various elements that had you going in all directions, random flooding initiated by Knuckles, and a boss that tried to be Magneto. Awesome.

Launch Base Zone
This was an awesome level that housed the Death Egg. It was an awesome level. Awesome music. Awesome cut scenes. It was just awesome, but I fear that its awesomeness will keep it out of the game.

Hidden Palace Zone
BRING BACK THE MASTER EMERALD! AND THE SUPER EMERALDS WHILE YOU’RE AT IT.

Death Egg Zone
The Death Egg is a terrible weapon… like seriously, what devastation his the Death Egg caused? Absolutely nothing. That’s not to say that the level, the music, and the bosses that this level produced weren’t awesome. And who knows, maybe Sonic Generations will actually make the Death Egg a legit threat.
Just one level from Sonic 3D Blast
Irony wants this to happen.

Any Level From Sonic 3D Blast
Irony would like to see this happen.

Resort Island
Can you feel the Sunshine? Does it brighten up your Day?
(I don't think I will ever understand the "Tails Doll Curse." But it would be sooooo awesome if it was referenced in Sonic Generations.)

Ice Cap Zone
Ice Cap Zone is a unique case where 2D Sonic can do the Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3 and 3D Sonic can do the Ice Cap Zone from Sonic Adventure. It would be interesting to see something like that, but I feel that Ice Cap Zone should show up in some capacity.

City Escape
YEAH! LET’S SEE A 2D CITY ESCAPE! City Escape is an amazing level… it really is, and I’d love to see both Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic wreck it.

Radical Highway
It matters to me not that Radical Highway is Shadow’s counterpart of Sonic’s City Escape (or that one could try to be funny and call it Mission Street). I want this level in here too. It was equally as awesome.

Green Forest
The energy of Green Forest is just awesome. Even if eight minutes is more than enough time to get through the level to keep everyone from being blown to smithereens, the level is frikin epic.

Pumpkin Hill
This is simply me asking for too much… maybe a quick reference via Sky Rail?

Pyramid Cave
Well why not? Pyramid Cave was also a very amazing level… had a flow that was very unique to the rest of the speed levels, and it introduced you to the godlike bounce attack, which is arguably Sonic’s 2nd best attack. Yeah, even better than the Homing Attack.

Final Rush
Come on. It’s Final Rush. This level was soooo amazing back in the day, and when I play it now, I still get this tingly feeling inside as I launch off that rocket onto the first rail in this chaotic looking level that hovers quite dangerously in outer space.

Grand Metropolis
In Sonic Heroes, I believe that Grand Metropolis was the only level that you could complete with Sonic and Sonic only (I don’t know if this was the case with other teams though). Since this is the only level you can complete with just Sonic, they might as well put it in. Still, really, all I wanna see is one Sonic Heroes level get wrecked by Modern and Classic Sonic and I’m good.

Air Fleet
This was my favorite level from the game Shadow the Hedgehog. Honestly, though, I don’t expect this level to show up. There’s nothing necessarily defining about it, it’s rather “regular” in terms of significance. However, I feel that this is one of the better designed levels in that game. If I’m very, very lucky, Sonic Team will think so as well.

At this point, I don’t really care what levels show up. Sonic 0Shit had some potential and whatnot, but… well, yeah. And Sonic Unleashed… I mean, they’re there. Something should show up.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sonic Team doesn’t include levels from Sonic Colors, however. And as great as that game was, it wouldn’t necessarily bother me.

Hmmm... I wonder if any zone from the portable games will be visited...

Sonic Generations, Mortal Kombat 9, New Nintendo Console

SONIC GENERATIONS!

So I'm sure you saw the game play trailers of Sonic Generations by now. If you haven't, here's a link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsEj-heCGbE

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuj-6T_ymqg&feature=player_embedded

For those not in the know, the story has to do with Modern Sonic being sent through time by some unknown enemy. He will eventually have to team up with his Classic counterpart and will go through a bunch of the "defining levels" all across the history of the Sonic games. Classic Sonic will play like Classic Sonic, with physics that attempt to emulate the classics... a spin dash. Yes. A real spin dash. He will also play in 2D. Modern Sonic will play like Modern Sonic, with homing attack and boosts, and will be in 3D. This sounds like it's going to be amazing combination of play styles.

My only worry at this point is the levels that Sega will select to put in the game. I worry that there will be, like 5 green levels in it, Oil Ocean won't be in it, Launch Base won't be in it, and Radical Highway won't be in it. I also feel like Carnival Night should definitely be in it, simply because of the heartache that Act 2 of that zone has cause many a Sonic fan. Still, it will be interesting to see 2D renditions of 3D levels and 3D renditions of 2D levels. I also hope to see more than enough Sonic Heroes levels get butchered. :-)

MOOR-TAL KOOMMMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!


Played Mortal Kombat 9 yesterday. Honestly, I feel like this is easily the best Mortal Kombat game by far, and from me, a guy who has despised MK, that saying quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some people out there saying, "Hell no! This MK is trash! Especially compared to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3!" But I see a ton of gameplay improvements in this game. Things that still bother me about MK, such as fatalities with the same value as a kick to the shin and the uniform attacks (everyone still has that same damn uppercut), but I feel like there's a whole lot more involved in the midst of the actual fight. The characters have a more individual feel amongst their normal attacks, and there are more options available with the addition of the super bar, such as powered up specials, combo breakers and the X-Ray Supers. I feel like the might is a more involved experience now. Of course, like I said, this clutter could be the reason an older fan might not like it, so I'm gonna try to find

MK9's Tag Mode is amazing. It got a 4 player mode within the tag mode, it has assists and tag attacks... AND THERE'S NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING that allows the losing team to randomly make an overpowered comeback. The better team wins, and that's how it should be.

Overall, it's a fun game. I'm maining Sindel at the moment, I might pick up Smoke, and I might take this game semi-seriously.... definitely more so than X-Factor vs. Capcom 3.

A New Nintendo System is on the Horizon...


You might have heard that Nintendo is going to reveal a new video game console at E3 (which is in June, for those not in the know). Here's what I'm managed to gather about the system based on info around the internet (all of which may be 100% wrong, so take it with a grain of salt)

• The system will have backwards compatibility with the Wii. (but does that make it backwards compatible with GameCube games?)
• The controller will have a 6-inch HD screen on it. (controllers already cost an arm and a leg... do people really wanna buy a controller that cost an arm, a leg, and a kidney?)
• The system will be more powerful than PS3 or 360. (so that means HD... but will it have the same bland, uniform graphics of earth-like, unoriginal realism, or will Nintendo's happy colors look even more vibrant than before?)
• The system wants to "recapture" the "hardcore" audience. (1- Does this mean that F-Zero's coming back? 2- Why not just make games... for everyone? Like they used to? That's too hard, isn't it?)

On many of the websites I got the info from (via google, it's all there, and probably more), I noticed that people have claimed that the Wii's sales have been sluggish lately. Well no shit; Wii dominated sales for what, 2 - 4 years. I could see why sales would slow down (especially with the lack of decent, presentable, must-buy content... shhhhh) and why other system could have the opportunity to catch up (especially since said other systems have new, motion sensor equipped doohickies... shhhhhh) (or maybe it's because Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are the same price.... $49.99... shhhhhhh). Wii not being on top of sales per month anymore isn't that big of a deal considering the vast domination it held for a considerable period of time.


Oh well, whatever. Continue to hate Nintendo until the next system proves to give people reason to actually hate the system, at which point people will actually love Nintendo again. I want SNES 2. That would be amazing.


Well, this is running rather long. I'll stop right here. Within the next few blogs, I'll post up what I want to see from both Sonic Generations and the Next Nintendo Console.

They Knew About the Warp Room?

The Warp Room is a place within the Marko Man series that could instantly warp you to anywhere on the planet Earth. Yes, Anywhere.

The Warp Room was used in a number of stories when I was writing them down in books, but had very limited appearances while I was writing on the Internet. It will have more uses within he series in the reboot though.

The Warp Room was located in a swamp-like area near Snake Road. For anyone not familiar with the area of Rosedale, Snake Road is the road that snakes through this swamp/marsh like area taking you from Rosedale to Five-Towns and vice versa. It's not really a swamp as you would imagine it, but it's just a whole lot of grass and water and I've pretty much called it a swamp.

One day, I accessed my "Secret Spot" (aka North Woodmere Park, shhhhhhhhh). It's on, like, the other side of that swamp/marsh/creek (where the fuck did the creek come from? do I just make this stuff up as I go along), and I saw this sign

And I thought to myself, "Nassau County knows where the Warp Room is?"

No, I didn't trespass. But yeah, this is definitely where the Warp Room is. I can make the rest up with my own imagination. :)

The 2010 SCW Awards (Finally)

So since the SCW Website is taking forever to come out (mainly because I'm hardly working on it due to other factors, but I'm gonna need to have it up by May in some form... first matches are going down in May), I've decided to post the 2010 SCW Awards here on this blog. I believe that this list of awards has been slightly smaller than it used to be, but still... who cares. Anywhere, here are the awards.

Syndrome of the Year: Jeffrey Syndrome (what is the Jeffrey Syndrome? Shrinking uncontrollably.)

Smasher of the Year: Mark Wins

Street Fighter of the Year: Jeffrey

King of Namco (winning both in Tekken and in Soul Calibur 4): Mark Wins

SmackDown vs. Raw Player of the Year: Jacko

Mario Kart Player of the Year: Marko

Wii Partyhead of the Year: Jeffrey (darkest day of Nintendo's history that day, my gosh)

Wrestler of the Year: Jeffrey

Team of the Year: Team Epic (consisting of Marko and Jacko or Jacko and Marko. the order doesn't matter, the epicness does.)

Moment of the Year: Jeffrey botching the frog splash and landing on a trash can.
Honorable Mention: Joe winning the SCW Title

Event of the Year: A tie between the Winter Brawl of December and March 18, easily the most broken day of 2010

Match of the Year: Jeff vs. Jacko in a Last Man Standing Match

Phrase of the Year: Where's the Knife?

Song of the Year: MMMMMMMMMMMMMM...M! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlVNKl3IdQA)

Success of the Year: The Rebirth of SCW

Failure of the Year: Justin breaking the "turnbuckle" in a Swanton Attempt

Injury of the Year: Staff Infection (http://www.medicinenet.com/staph_infection/article.htm)

Screwjob of the Year: Pick any match where Jacko was the referee in a match against Jeffrey.

Surprise of the Year: Jeffrey winning in Wii Party (darkest day in Nintendo's history)

Video Game System of the Year: PlayStation 3

Push of the Year: Mark Wins as Champion

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Joe the Show

Woman of the Year: X-23

Man of the Year: The Jacko

And there you have it folks. The 2010 SCW Awards has come to a conclusion.

Yeah, we seriously need to do an awards show next year. lololol

Underestimation = Motivation

Underestimate: to estimate at too low a value, rate, or the like.


Motivate: to provide with a motive or motives;  incite; impel.


"Never underestimate the power of passion." -Eve Sawyer


"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." -Francis Bacon

Edge Retires

A wrestler known as Edge retired on WWE Raw last Monday. For those who need a bit of a refresher, Edge was the guy that was part of the team Edge & Christian, who generally went up against The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boys in one of the most epic triple threat tag team rivalries of all time. Edge would go on to become one hell of a competitor in the ring on his own, winning many... many championships, and even retiring as WWE's World Heavyweight Champion.

So I've seen a number of wrestlers retire, but I feel like I really needed to dedicate a blog to Edge. Why? Well, Edge has an interesting impact in my life. There's definitely the awesome 3 team feud that was mentioned before, but during the dark year of 2007, I watched SmackDown on Friday nights due to not having much opportunity to do anything else, and Edge kept me very... very... very entertained with his Ultimate Opportunist angle. He was the bad guy, and he was one hell of a bad guy, easily the best heel of that time period. Kept me very entertained and gave me something to look forward to when there wasn't much to look forward to. (remember, this was that trash ass year known as 2007 that I'm talking about)

Furthermore, Edge's presence introduced me to the following song:

Metaligus. By Alter Bridge. That song is intense. That song also helped me get through some tough times. I even dedicated the final chapter of Marko Man's Untitled Internet Finale to it, because it had just that much impact upon my life after my father's death, when everything and everything looked bleak.

So Edge, I want to thank you. Even as the bad guy, you magically provided one of the many glimmers of hope that allowed me to believe.

Another chance to a chosen dream,
Another chance to feel, a chance to feel aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

So the plan was....

So the plan was to take a week away from life and NOT deal with the blatant overall incompetence of people. What ends up happening is I end up dealing with more incompetence (not to mention a flurry of bad luck and bad decisions of my own), which pretty much wrecked that idea.

Oh well, shit happens. I'm still better off than I was last week with the little amount of escape that I did have, but I'm still going to need more than one big awesome mind clearing day before I can start writing the Marko Man series (which was the entire result of the week to begin with).

Still, if luck decides to actually balance itself, the week just might be able to still be salvaged...

Upcoming blogs:
Edge Retires and I Blog About it because Edge is the Man.
The SCW Awards of 2010 (finally)
I found the Warp Room.
YouTube Greatest Features
Parrying aka Why I really, really, really don't like Third Strike and Other Stuff

"Cutting Marks bum ass"

lolololololololololol

My little brother Justin had bothered me practically all day yesterday, wanting to show me this video.
I really didn't care enough to want to watch it.

But then today, I go on my YouTube account (go ahead, click and subscribe/friend me if you wish) and this video titled "Cutting Marks bum ass" shows up in my subscriptions. I figure, "Oh well, might as well check it out."

So I decide to watch it.

<sarcasm>
Apparently, this guy is really cutting my ass. He's going in about how I got a boyfriend and how I suck dick. Oh my gosh, my feelings are sooooo hurt... totally upset by this.
</sarcasm>

Will I make a response? Nah... I'll save my promos for SCW...
Will I criticize this video? Nah... not like he'll listen and actually make better videos.
Will I show a video that shows someone rapping better than him? ... ... sure ...

Letter to the Guys that are bringing about a Government Shutdown

A government shutdown? You mean the shutdown of the operation that runs the country... is going to shut down? Really?

Dear Congress,
Pay the military. If the military riots, everyone else loses... they have tanks.

Sincerely,
Mark Wins.

Character Change Notes Part 3 of 3: Krystal

Today is the last day I post character notes, and the final character for this little series is...

Krystal 
Krystal was the first female warrior I had introduced in the written series, and most of her attacks were color coordinated. Krystal Kick, Purple Punch, Blue Blast, Rapid Red Shots, Brown Bomb (no, that attack has nothing to do with diarrhea), Color Flash (a psychedelic rip of DBZ's Solar Flare) and the Rainbow Blast (no she's not a lesbian) were simply a portion of her colorful move set. With that arsenal of attacks, she made herself into more than just a damsel in distress and was a force to be reckoned with.

In the new series, I'm removing the colors energy and giving her shine, or light, or something along those lines. Even though I will be changing the same of some of the attacks and completely removing others, I still want Krystal to be a force to be reckoned with. She'll be kind of an all round fighter like Marko, but with a much more aggressive, offensive fighting style, wanting to push the action and get the damage in rather than bait around for a counter attack. It will prove to be an interesting dynamic when all three of them get used in the same battle.

Attacks

• Krystal Kick: The same as it ever was, a powerful, energy kick. Probably slightly faster, but not as strong as Marko's Mega Kick.
• Shine Blast: A simple energy blast.
• Shine Bomb: A not so simple, rather powerful energy blast.
• Fireworks!: not exactly sure how I'm going to have this work... either it will be a blast into the air that explodes and rains down energy projectiles or it will be a series of four to six blasts fired at one time.

Krystal has always been a fun character to use in the series, and I think that with the given modifications to both her and the series, she'll be even more to write. I still have a number of things to consider with this character, such as whether she just has raw energy or if there should something deeper with the light in her, as well the use of other attacks that she had that weren't necessary overpowered, but may not fit how I want the character to operate.

Well, that's all for now. Everything else, you'll just have to wait to read it. I will leave off with a couple of final thoughts...

Final Overall Notes:

• Most of the characters no longer have flight. They will be able to jump rather high though, and maybe even have a double or triple jump...
• Combos are still going to be present... it's gonna be so much fun writing combos that have a double jump in them. :)
• Just because I didn't post an attack within this series doesn't mean that the character lost the attack... for example, it's a very safe bet that Marko Man is going to eventually get his Turbo Charge.
• I'm going to try and make it such that character actually learn their attacks in the process of fights, rather than just picking them up on the fly. However, if a character goes on a hiatus and comes back with a new attack... well, can you blame me?
• Whether I get a publisher deal or I go independent, quality will NOT be sacrificed. Wish me luck!

Video/Song of the Day

Not only is the song awesome, but so is the video.

The video description calls it "The Greatest Video of All Time." It was definitely one of the most expensive videos of its time, and it's still hilariously entertaining.

Not to mention that there's lyrical skill here... the various styles of the Wu Tang Clan are on display heavy in this song.

Overall, this set my Friday off. Today could end right now, and I'd be perfectly fine with that.

The Things That Touched Me Today...

Sony's out here violating the rights of privacy. Long story short, a hacker named George Hotz wanted to reimplement a PS3 feature that Sony had removed, and he's getting sued for it because even though he has said that he doesn't support piracy, his hack to the PS3 apparently allowed the gateway for piracy to occur. Now, Sony has been given the right to view all the IP addresses of people who have visited his website.

lol really? I dunno... it gets harder and harder to support the video game industry with dick moves like that. Maybe that's why the ways played out in my life the way they did...

Japan got hit with another earthquake at a magnitude of 7.4. Apparently that blue light in the beginning of the above video is a nuclear reactor going off. Another tsunami is coming as well. Things are just not looking well for Japan. It's especially crazy because you have people that are still there, living amongst the chaos. I wish them all well.

So apparently, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition is coming out... as Downloadable Content. Instead of buying a brand new game at the store, you get to download all of the changes made from Super Street Fighter 4 to the Arcade Editions, including 4 new characters: Yang, Yun, Evil Ryu, and Oni.

I just wanna know why Evil Ryu has a big ass hole in his chest. I also heard that they're not as broken as they look like they should be. Only modern Capcom could do that... make characters that should obviously be broken not be broken... or maybe they got that Seth syndrome...

Sonic Generations!
The world is calling it that because apparently Sega registered website domains that have the words "Sonic" and "Generations" in it. 20th Anniversary of Sonic is coming up. We got Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic running side by side. Let's just hope Silver has nothing to do with this.......

And that's pretty much all I got for the day. I'll be off the interwebs until tomorrow or something.

Character Change Notes Part 2 of 3: MIKE!

So yesterday, I posted some notes on Marko Man's changes. In generally, it was more the removal of things from the character's fighting style rather than explicit changes... pretty much the opposite of what we see here with MIKE!

Mike

Mike had somewhat inconsistent "psychic" powers. In reality, the vast majority of his attacks were based on Psychic Pokemon attacks. Psybeam and Psywave had direct name rips, but worked slightly differently. Super Team was essentially Double Team. He also had the ability to read into what abilities an opponent knew they were capable of doing. His fighting style was pretty straightforward, but using the Super Team that could create 10 copies of himself, he could pull off some silly tricks.

This time around, Mike won't have the inconsistent, but rather have powers that will tentatively be called "the Force." Yes, just like Star Wars. Mike will be a more defensive fighter, using his force powers to force and punish an opponent's mistakes, as well as deal with hoards of enemies with particular ease.

Attacks

• Force Punches: Punches that have some force on the end of them, giving him extended range. Whether this will be with his kicks is something I'm still debating on in my head.
• Force Rush: This is what the Psybeam was, a direct shot at an opponent to do damage.
• Force Wave: Like the Psywave, this will be able to knock an opponent or multiple opponents away from him
• Force Coaster: Mike uses a bunch of energy to use a large force that will knock opponents up into the air, and then another that slams them back down into the ground pretty hard.

Like I said, the force is the tentative name, and honestly, the power still needs works. The force isn't going to be like the average energy projectile... it's going to be different, but I'm not 100% sure how so. I also don't want it to be completely invisible like it would seem to give the impression that it would. There are a lot of details within Mike's power to work with, and it will definitely prove to be something interesting within the context of various battles and storylines.

Tomorrow, I'll cover Krystal. No more rainbows for her. lol

Allegedly, Mr. Cee is Gay.

My mind was blown upon hearing that Mr. Cee was arrested for public lewdness... with another dude. The story is that some guy was sucking him off. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. I think it's true, but I'm open to them being untrue.

Still, if he's gay, why hide it? I won't respect his past accomplishments or the shitty music that he blasts for the radio any less.

But it gets worse...

So there's this video of a radio broadcast of Funk Master Flex defending Mr. Cee, claiming that the rumors are untrue and that the people in 105.1 got gay people too.

WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL?


They're gay. Men like men. And? 
Now don't get me wrong, I use gay as an insult. I use retarded, fat, short, burnt dark black, stupid, and various other insulting statuses to insult people too. People insult me as well. Four eyes, skinny, big head... where the fuck are my friends when you need them, they're better at insulting me than I am... 


Point is, Mr. Cee being gay shouldn't be used a cheap shot to get ratings, and someone being gay over in 105.1 shouldn't be this big "gun that's being loaded to keep my man's name out your mouth." 


I guess the point that I'm trying to get at is embrace what you are. People will insult and discriminate regardless, so there's no point in hiding it. 


And they call children immature.

Character Change Notes Part 1 of 3: Marko Man

A couple of days ago, I was randomly thinking about some of the changes that I would be making to various characters in the Marko Man series. I have decided to post changes that are being made to the first three heroes that will be introduced to the series, Marko Man, Mike, and Krystal, here over the next few days.

Marko Man

Marko Man was a very overpowered character in the Marko Man series with enough tools to survive any given situation, sometimes using tools that I just wrote in out of nowhere. The entire series is getting its power level nerfed down to slightly understandable levels, and Marko Man will be loosing some of his tools that would allow him to get out of any situation so that the audience can be like, "Hmmm... maybe he won't be able to get out of this."

Attacks

• Mega Kick: Same as it ever was, but note that the Mega Punch will be gone and might stay gone.
• Megodoken: Also the same as it ever was, but the Rapid Megodoken, where he's capable of launching multiple Megodokens, will be gone. That's not to say that this attack will be as stale as it seems it will be. 
• Blaze Dash: Can be used to run into people and possibly open up combos. It will have a minimum distance and a maximum distance, as it's more a spurt of energy used in a dash rather than a blazing fast run. He would be able to use it to get himself out of certain situations, but nine times out of ten, it won't put him in a position to counterattack immediately. Marko Man will still be quick, but there will be quicker characters. 
• Bazooka Blast: Since I want to make the use of energy attacks one of Marko's strengths, this attack will definitely have a much more dramatic effect.

You might notice missing attacks. Some attacks will definitely be learned later on, but moves like the Super Teleport and the Dive Bomb are gone. In the end, those attacks don't fit the mold of the kind of warrior I want to build Marko Man into. I'm probably going to make Marko Man a defensive, counterattack character or something like that, but like the rest of the heroes, he will definitely be learning as the stories go on, allowing him to grow into something much more legendary.

That's pretty much all I had for Marko. I don't have much radical changes for him so much as it's just the removal of a lot of abilities including flight (instead, he will be able to jump really really high). From whatever tools he keeps, he will still be a rather familiar character to the long time fans of the series, but there will still be a noticeable difference. Tomorrow, I'll post the changes that I made to Mike and you'll see that I've completely revamped his character from its original design. Krystal as well, on Friday.

Quick Review: WWE All Stars

So I played WWE All Stars at a friend's house last night.

That game is weird. I play wrestling games and I play fighting games, and it's like a sick little combination between the two genres. (Note: one could consider wrestling games fighting games, but I feel there's a difference between the two that justifies my separation of them... trust me, I've been playing wrestling games since like 2005 and fighting games since 1995 or something like that)

One thing I will say is that this game definitely has this old school game design feel to it. You can easily pick the game up and play it, press buttons (two strike attack buttons, two grab buttons, two reversal buttons), and hope to see some really cool stuff, and you will. However, I can feel some form of depth to this game. You can reverse reversals, you can toss characters up and juggle them (and then you can catch them into another toss mid-juggle to juggle them again... whether or not you can do this forever if the opponent doesn't reverse is something I don't know), I'm guessing you can do some kind of mix ups, you can press a given sequence of buttons to consistently perform the same combo... there is definitely a fighting system here that can be explored. Time will tell if it's deep, if it's good, if it's broken, etc.

The one thing that may keep the game from being too broken is reversals. You can reverse certain moves, but fear not; if you're good, you can reverse your opponent's reversal. That's pretty sick, as while the opponent may break up a potential big time combo with a reversal, you can still maintain control of the match with your own reversals.

So there's definitely going to be a tier list of some sort if people decide to take this game seriously like that: Andre the Giant is a big problem (literally and figuratively, powerful hits, lots of life, hard to knockdown), Edge has the quickest finisher by far in the game (finishers can and will end matches, so to have one that much faster than everyone else's...), and the combo potential right now seems huge... simply because I have no idea how to time reversals in this game yet.

So I totally skimped out on the bells and whistles that most players care about... the graphics are cool, the sound is awesome, although theme songs get cut short compared to other wrestling games so that the matches can begin, created characters is simple compared to other wrestling games, and the controls... well, the controls feel weird to me, but they are responsive during game play. There's a bit of lag on certain menus, but that's what you get when your console pretends its a computer anyway.

Overall, it's a fun game. I like its first impression, and I'm definitely willing to learn it if given the opportunity, which is more than I can say for MvC3. /cheapshot.

Still, I'd recommend that you tinker with it for a while before deciding to purchase it if you can... I can tell that eventually, I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this. :)

EDIT: BAM! I KNOW NOW!
WWE All Stars feels like a "looser," more over the top version of Def Jam: Fight for NY. Okay, there's actually a number of significant differences between Fight for NY and All Stars upon second thought, but that's pretty much what kind of brand of fighting game you're dealing with here.

Quick Review: Super Street Fighter 4 EZ... I mean, 3D Edition

So a friend of mine copped a Nintendo 3DS with SSF43D. I played it for a bit and I can tell why people are calling this the best launch title, even though its a port of a game that's been out for about a year now.

The game is beautiful, 3D mode for Street Fighter is awesome. There's actually two ways to view the fights; in normal mode, which is the standard way to view fighting games, and in dynamic mode, which turns the camera to a behind the fighter type of angle that's literally kind of like what you seen in the commercials (if you've seen theme). Chun Li fans, rejoice, she looks amazing in Dynamic mode.

Still, this is not a game for serious competition at all... you might as well play it on the consoles if that's what you're going for. The d-pad works fine, I guess, and you're definitely going back to the SNES setup when it comes to mapping your buttons and whatnot. But the easy mode buttons? That changes everything, and is essentially the reason why the game can't be taken seriously in my opinion.

I had read an article about how this is the first step of how Ono, the producer of Street Fighter, wants to reduce fighting games to a casualized attack fest (well, that's not what he said exactly, but that's clearly what he implied). Talk about a first step... anything you ever seen anyone ever do in this game, you can probably do it. If you're Sagat, you can set a button for EX Tiger Uppercut, set a button for a Focus Attack, and set up a button for the Ultra. Then you can do the combo with no problem... all you gotta do is know how to dash.

Don't even get me started on Guile... Sonic Boom and Flash Kick without having to charge?

All in all, it's a fun experience, which is what I guess they were going for. But it's seriously too easy to take seriously... so simply put, your ability to enjoy this game will be in your ability to not care about being competitive.

And remember, according to Ono, this is the future of fighting games..........

This Day in History... April 1, 2004

Ahhh... April Fools Day... aka Troll's Day...

Once upon a time, on this day, Jacko and I were on the bus, on the way to school, thinking about various different stupid April Fools Jokes that we could randomly play on people. It was mostly simple shit like letting someone borrow a pen with no ink and saying "APRIL FOOLS!" or sticking out your leg while someone's walking and saying "APRIL FOOLS!" or giving someone a sandwich with no meat in it and saying "APRIL FOOLS!" or saying that someone you like got hit by a car and saying "APRIL FOOLS!"

And that's when something clicked.

(From this point on, names are withheld to protect the innocent.)

We knew a female friend who liked male friend of ours but didn't get to see that person often enough to be in the know of what was going on his life. Soooooo... we cleverly came up with the idea to tell that person that he got hit by a car yesterday. While it was our idea, I was the one that had to execute it because Jacko went to the school next door, but the female friend and I went to the same school.

So I see the female friend, and I tell her that the guy she likes got hit by a car yesterday as me, Jacko, and another friend of ours were rushing to cross the street. She asks me if I'm serious and in my best Oscar winning performance ever, I tell her yes, I'm serious. Now she's shocked, she gives me a hug, and as she hugs me, my face is hidden from her so I can let out a silent laugh. The hug breaks, and I don't exactly remember what happened immediately after save her leaving the class room (since she wasn't actually in that class).

Later, her cousin asks me why I wasn't too upset about it or anything like that, and I pretty much told her that while he had gotten hit and it was pretty bad, he was pretty okay and I was sure that he would make a full recovery. My gosh were my acting skills on point, and thinking on my feet against unknown skeptics too? Yeah, I'm awesome.

So a few periods pass, and I'm ready to tell her that it was an April Fools' Joke... but she comes to me with this heartfelt note that she wants me to give to him next time I go to the hospital to see him. More thinking on my feet has me decide to extend this longer than it needs to be, so I take the note and "ensure" her that the guy who got hit by the car will receive this note.

School day finally ends (period 2 to period 10... fuck sophomore year in Edison), and I meet up with some friends, including the one getting pranked and her cousin. As we walk towards the bus stop, I show the intersection where the guy who got hit got hit... she was further stunned by spontaneously derived information.

I don't remember exactly how that bus ride played out, but I do know that when I was finally left alone from everyone, I could not stop laughing... I immediately headed to Jacko's house and showed him this note, and he was like "Whoa." Yeah... neither of us had idea it would go this far.

I write a response in the dude's name, but Jacko insists that he hold on to the note so that he can show the guy who actually got hit, which is perfectly fine since I knew we were gonna meet up on the bus the next morning anyway. Next morning, I receive the note, and I hand her the response.

Win. Her reaction was priceless. Whatever it was... I don't remember it exactly, but I do know that she got got.

For many years afterwards, I tried to top that April Fools' Joke, attempting to play with emotions at every turn, but in the end, nothing was as good as that particular joke.

So last year, I pretty much retired myself from trying April Fools Jokes. Either people are too smart or the execution of a given joke isn't all there. And nothing will come as innocently, or evolve as wildly, as the joke of April 1, 2004.