Philippines Photo Blog Part #1

I might as well start this thing up rolling in the photos from my time at the PI.

I'm on a boat!

Walking the Boracay beach - Wish you're there?

Boracay from a distance at its highest view.

Next part will showcase more of the scenery instead of me.

What I missed out while on vacation: Gaming

While I'm still going crazy with the official MvC2 announcement, I should of posted this yesterday oh well.

UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo - Good thing a demo for this game came out to get players used to the controls especially controlling the ground game with the right analog stick. It is about time a good UFC game came out with the sport being very popular now. The tempo is very Fight Night-ish in terms of being methodical and picking your spots to take out opposing fighters rather than mashing away with strikes praying you get a knockdown. The demo only has Shogun Rua and Chuck Lidell playable, but there's local multiplayer for two players to try it out. There's also a helpful tutorial in the demo to learn the controls especially when on the ground pounding away or going for submissions. I haven't grasped those controls yet, but eventually I will and use them to my advantage rather than winning by striking. The game is out next month and I'm now excited because I'm a UFC fan and seeing a good game out of this makes it better.

Street Fighter IV Championship Mode Patch - I messed around with this for a little bit as it is just another online mode for Street Fighter IV for players to play for bragging rights and more. Replays are also available in this mode only to look at matches learning what you did and what you need to improve if you lost. Anyway, I need to sharpen my skills again since the Arcade Infinity Ranbat 2.2 tournament is this Sunday and I should use a different character to try my luck.

Red Faction Guerrilla Demo - Quick one here as I played it once and it is another third person shooter with neat explosions and physics. Maybe I'm not a fan of these anymore due to the genre being unsaturated and I rather play an AAA one like Uncharted 2 (Multiplayer confirmed by the way).

I also bought PikelJunk Eden and its Encore expansion recently (Also finally) as it is another reason why I love downloadable games especially on PSN where quality > quantity compared to Xbox Live Arcade. So far, I barely started the game as I only played the first two gardens and not the new Encore content yet, but I can see why this game is pretty awesome right off the bat and picks it up later on. It's always nice to play some unique games once a while compared to your generic stuff you see at retail these days. (By the way, I almost bought Afrika and Aquanauts' Holiday to increase my random PS3 game taste at the Philippines, but decided not to). I look forward to play more Eden likely at a slow pace and hopefully have a review of it along with the Encore content soon.

Updating LittleBigPlanet and Noby Noby Boy - I just updated them and didn't mess around yet. Noby Noby Boy now has local multiplayer, so that's cool for such a trippy game.

That's it for now as I'm still excited for downloadable MvC2, but I might take a field trip to Arcade Infinity later this week to check out the arcade versions of BlazBlue and King of Fighters XII along maybe getting some practice in for the SF4 tournament, so look forward to impressions of those and the MvC2 Demo on PSN Thursday soon.

Its Mahvel Baybee!!!! Finally official on XBLA & PSN

It is only a matter of time with all the rumors and leaks, but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is finally confirmed for release on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network sometime this summer. Excitement is at an all-time high as I still play this game from time to time at arcades and never owning a console version (Dreamcast, PS2, or Xbox). Also cool is that an exclusive PSN Demo is coming out this Thursday with six characters playable (Spidey, Strider, Chun-Li, Iron Man, Ryu, and Wolverine) and local multiplayer. Here's the other stuff these new versions will offer according to all the major sites.

• Dreamcast version
• Online play similar to SSF2T HD Remix
• HD upscaling
• 16:9 widescreen support (4:3 also there)
• Custom music/soundtracks for those who hate the original soundtrack (I'm keeping it)
• 1200 MS Points / 15 bucks on PSN
• No character unlocking = Yes!!!!
• Exclusive PSN Demo as mentioned earlier this Thursday

I'm gonna take you for a ride online when this comes out. Trailer is below...

Oh yes, it is not a MvC2 blog post without this...

What I missed while being gone on vacation: Music

So I came back from the Philippines yesterday - blog about that soon when I have time (???). I might as well try to catch up on what I missed. First up is the music, which is not much other than two anticipated videos.

Amazing from kwest on Vimeo.

Kanye West - "Amazing" feat. Young Jeezy... Kanye has done it again with this video showcasing Hawaii and how beautiful (Or amazing as the song is) it is.



Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow" Well they did deliver on the futuristic stuff as they promised (Blame it on the Ayo Technology) and I surprisingly think this video could of been better as it doesn't get u hyped up like the song would at a club or something like that.

That's it for now I guess as I continue to try to catch up with reality.

Retro reviews showcase...

Okay, not really a retro reviews showcase, but here's some reviews I done earlier in this generation of consoles that I didn't link up here.

Prey (360) - 7.7/10: This long-awaited FPS came out in the summer of 06 and didn't really deliver in the hype. I remembered called this a FPS and Magic Mountain combined into one, but then again that's the case with most FPSs today.

Legend of Zelda: Twlight Princess (Wii) - 8.6/10: I remember getting hate by fanboys for this one as it didn't recapture the magic previous Zelda games did by sticking to an old formula that worked in Ocarina of Time. In the end, I think the crowd eventually thought the same way that TP is overrated and it can't top OOT or even A Link to the Past as the best Zelda game.

God of War II (PS2) - 9.4/10: I actually had to borrow my cousin's PS2 just to play this game back in March 2007 and it was indeed worth it. Another brillant game from beginning to end especially in the last years of the PS2. Obviously, I'm looking forward for the third game to end the story with a bang.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBLA) - 8.9/10: I missed this wonderful gem when it first came out for the PS1 in 1997 and it was also my first Castlevania game even though I respect the franchise what it is, but never interested in playing them. SOTN is still considered one of the greatest games of all-time by being perhaps the perfect "Metroidvania" game and still a classic among the hardcore crowd.

BioShock (360) - 9.5/10: While I probably got caught up in the hype in this review because it was something else at the time, BioShock was indeed an unique FPS. Even though the sequel is looking too similar to this one according to the first gameplay footage, I'm still hoping it will deliver in the end.

Super Metroid (Wii VC) - 9/10: I never beaten Super Metroid until its re-release on the Virtual Console and it is still indeed an amazing game in the early 90s. Definitely worth playing if you're a fan of games period.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 9.0/10: I would rank this one better than Echoes, but the original Prime is still king even though the Wii controls for Corruption work mostly well. Even though it was a change of pace compared to the previous games, Corruption is still one of the better Wii games around.

Kung Fu & Physics = A Deadly Combination... The Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic Review

Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic has been one of the highly anticipated downloadable titles for the Playstation Network. It is made by Tarsier Studios, which consists of former Media Molecule guys that brought us LittleBigPlanet. For those who never played the PC original, Rag Doll Kung Fu is a four player free-for-all fighting game in the vein of Super Smash Bros. and Kung Fu Chaos. It has the charm that LittleBigPlanet along with a physics system that similar to that game in terms of platforming. While a simple free-for-all fighting game seems fun on paper, Fists of Plastic does not really offer enough value to keep players coming back even though it is ten bucks. Instead, this game is somewhat of a disappointment despite some neat ideas to the combat and the special charm.

The main modes in Fists of Plastic are a standard free-for-all mode and a challenge mode testing your skills in the game earning medals and unlock more stuff like characters and extra outfits for a customized character. Even though the combat seems simple at first with punch, kick, jump, and block buttons, the advanced tactics, especially the ones that require Sixaxis motions, have a steep learning curve and will take players some time to master them effectively, but at least the challenges are there for players to practice those skills. Other than the punching and kicking, there are items and weapons to use, which are similarly used in Super Smash Bros. to throw at opponents and cause more damage. I appreciate the effort that the developers took with the Sixaxis controls such as tilting upside down to recover health while losing magic, shaking the controller to use a lightning ball, and tilting it towards a certain direction for a lunging attack, but since they are motion controlled, at times they do not feel precise and could be frustrating when things get chaotic. The challenges range from a basic survival mission, target practice that you have to keep a combo alive for higher scores and medals, and so on. The standard free-for-all mode is just a quick match offering that consists of a normal deathmatch, king of the hill, capture the fish, and dodgeball. The non-deathmatch modes do offer the game a little more variety, but it is just a small twist to the core fighting. The character creator also does not do anything special other than dress characters up in different clothes with no effect to the action. Even though Fists of Plastic can be played with up to four players locally, there is no online multiplayer at all present and it is indeed a bummer since games like this demand something like that. The only online support in this game are just leaderboards for the challenges.

The game itself looks fantastic running at a smooth 60 frames per second with no sense of slowdown. The characters actually do feel like rag dolls and this game heavily relies on physics for the game to function effectively. Even though these characters feel somewhat generic to the theme, their charm does set them apart from other games like this. The sound is also remarkable stuff especially the soundtrack having that similar style LittleBigPlanet had. Fists of Plastic is arguably one of the most polished games on the Playstation Network representing a certain graphical style and great sound.

Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic is still an enjoyable time if you like free-for-all brawlers and have local friends to play this with. There is enough simplicity there to go pick up and play, but the advanced skills do in fact have a steep learning curve to master. I like the fact that some games like this are taking an effort to have effective Sixaxis controls as there are neat ideas how they are implemented in the combat, but they can be imprecise at times when you need them the most especially in the challenges. While the game looks stunning and charming, it is unfortunate that it has no online multiplayer at all, which hurts its replay value, but hopefully it can be added in a future patch if the developers are able to add it in effectively. For ten dollars, Fists of Plastic is still a good game and worth checking out, but it could have been so much better with more content than the initial package.

Score = 6.5/10

Pros:

• Great graphical style running at 60 FPS with no slowdown
• Filled with charm from the characters to the soundtrack like LittleBigPlanet
• Neat ideas with Sixaxis controls
• Still a fun game to have around to play with local friends (if you have more than two controllers).

Cons:

• Not enough replay value - Lack of modes
• Advanced tactics require a steep learning curve to master them effectively
• Sixaxis controls can be frustrating when you need them most
• No online multiplayer

Appreciation for the 1st Mortal Kombat movie...

Remember when the first Mortal Kombat came out and shook the video game industry up a bit in the mid 90s? These were the good old days when arcades were still relevant and it is about the gameplay and graphics before it went 3D. Randomly, I watched the first Mortal Kombat movie again today and reliving some of my 90s childhood. I did watch this and the sequel, Annihilation, at the movie theatres when they came out and while the sequel is somewhat of an abomination, the first movie is actually still good to this day. Honestly, it is still the best movie based on a video game ever.

Mortal Kombat pretty much satisfied both the average movie crowd and fans of the franchise when it came out in the mid 90s by being perfectly accurate to the game with the characters, their personalities, the fight scenes, and the story. Pretty much all characters from the first game were in this movie from Liu Kang, the main character, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Kano, Goro, and Shang Tsung while some characters from MK2 were in as well like Kitana, Reptile, and Jax. If u have seen this movie, you can tell it is pretty accurate to the first game in terms of story from Liu Kang's quest for revenge against Shang Tsung, Sonya's goal to kill Kano, and so on. While some fight scenes could have been better, the fight between Liu Kang and Reptile (video of that above) was the best one of the movie.

I would also like to mention the awesome soundtrack for this movie too, which brought us the Mortal Kombat theme and other techno songs like the one played during the Liu Kang/Reptile fight. It was such an energetic soundtrack that makes u want to beat up somebody and also can be played at random raves.

While recent video game based movies suck (Max Payne, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li), the first Mortal Kombat movie is arguably still the best movie based on a game because it flat out didn't suck as bad as other movies. It actually felt like a video game done right from the action as it was accurate incoporating the characters' special moves from Liu Kang's Bicycle Kick, Scorpion's Spear, and Cage's Split Punch to the balls. If any upcoming game-based flick is coming soon, they should learn from Mortal Kombat of what to do right and please the fans.

Street Fighter Bar Fights Megapost!!!

Last night was an amazing night as I was at Street Fighter Bar Fights inside Jake's at Pasadena along with nearly 300 other crazy people to witness some amazing Street Fighter IV action among SoCal's best players. SoCal SF4 ambassador Ryan "Gootecks" Guiterrez put this whole event together spreading the word out to the community to come to this special event. Dogface from the Dogface Show was MCing the event and I chatted with him for a small conversation before the thing got started. The place was really packed and at max capacity as long it felt like an oven being inside watching all the madness in the main area, but it was hella worth it. As I thought A.I. Ranbat 2.1 was the best time I had in relation to Street Fighter IV, SF Bar Fights easily tops that as it was full of HYPE!!!

There will be a DVD of this whole event out sometime next month, but here's some YouTube footage and results from the amazing night.

Sanchez (M. Bison) defeats Bebop (Vega) 3-2. This first match definitely set the tone for the rest of the night as two of the hypest people I met put up an entertaining match. Later on, I was hanging out with them and Luka (The hypest man I met u could hear him everywhere) to spread the hype even further. During the Kai vs. Gootecks match, I had some first hit bets with Sanchez and that was fun stuff.

Keno (Balrog) & his mystery partner Fuson (Guile) (aka Team Video 94) defeated Dae (Chun-Li) & Bustabust (Abel) 3-2 (Team Denijin Arcade)

This team match was also hella fun as Dae took off his shirt as expected and played the whole match like that. Bustabust has the best Abel I seen personally as Fuson has currently the best Guile I seen too. Keno's Balrog was pretty much on last night as he had a 20+ win streak earlier at casuals and stayed that way during the match. In the end, Keno also took his shirt off and hugged Dae for a good game.

Another awesome highlight of the night was a random game called Roseball. This game is pretty simple as one Rose starts it up with a Soul Spark and other Rose reflects, so on. Watch this video above to see this awesomeness and as Kai said, "It is the greatest game ever!!"

Bobino defeats Ken I 3-2 in a Rufus mirror match. This one also went to the wire as it was full of Messiah Kicks and dive kicks.

Gootecks (Balrog) defeats Kai (El Fuerte) 3-0. As people like me, Sanchez, and Bebop were screaming "Teach me the infinite Kai!!!" Kai's Fuerte put up a good show and it is always fun to see an awesome Fuerte player in action even though Gootecks pretty much was in control. As mentioned earlier, me and Sanchez were at first hit bets and let's just say always bet on Balrog. As u can tell from this video, the HYPE is starting to go to epic proportions.

Paul "SoMuchDamage" (Sagat) defeats Mike Ross (E. Honda) 3-1. Another entertaining match as Paul's Sagat is one of the most patient and old-school style Sagats I have seen & u all know Mike Ross is the best Honda player in the West Coast. Obviously the Honda/Sagat matchup is not good for Honda obviously, but Mike did what he could. Sanchez, Bebop, and Luka (the tall dude raising his hands in the pic above) were obviously rooting for Paul and u would hear "Mike, go back to Marvel" or random Sour Skittles comments during the match. Next time, I should bring buy some Sour Skittles from a vending machine to make things more interesting if that joke is still relevant (HYPE has entered its peak at this point).

The main event of the night: Combofiend (Balrog, Viper) defeats Edma (Ken, Balrog) 5-2. This lived up the hype as these two guys are at a league of their own. Edma (pic of him above) has indeed the sickest Ken out now doing amazing link combos to EX hurricane kicks while Combofiend (pic of him below) does have the best Balrog now despite SoCal being known for the Balrog army these days in the SF4 scene. Edma did perfect Combo once during the match and the place went nuts.

And that was Street Fighter Bar Fights in a nutshell. It was such an amazing night and lived up to the hype. It was nice hanging out with the community chatting up a bit with players like Mike Ross, Sanchez, Bebop, Luka, Keno, Bobino, and other new faces that showed up. Thanks again to Gootecks for making this event happen and I'm looking forward to Bar Fights #2 soon.

Seriously, if u live in SoCal and love SF4 a lot, u should of came to Street Fighter Bar Fights. U missed out!!! It was just too HYPE!!!

UPDATE - This post has now better footage courtesy of YouTube user striderzer0 showcasing the HYPE up close and personal.

A new feature added to G Unit Ver1's World...

As u can see on the right side with the links to reviews and various lists, I added a new feature to this blog, which is not really original called "Top 10 Songs I'm Blasting." Basically, this may substitute for the music roundup blog posts, but it is pretty much a typical top 10 list of my favorite songs currently. As expected, the list currently features some hype songs that make me go nuts whether driving or whatever else. I blame that one fateful night if those know what I mean why I started to enter this club music phase (Also the Power Party Mix at noon on Power 106).

My Obligatory Top 10 Soundtracks for Video Games...

Lately, I have been feeling like I should blog more even though Twitter has pretty much taken over. So I might as well do another obligatory top 10 list in relation to games, which is for my favorite game soundtracks for now (Keep in mind - Mostly recent stuff, no RPGs, and licensed stuff, sorry - plus this list could change anyway).

10) Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Even though I'm not that good at 3rd Strike, this game is still a crowd favorite even though SF4 is out. The music for the Street Fighter games underwent a new direction with 3rd Strike being more hip-hop, which is something that's worth it. Certain standouts from the soundtrack are Elena's theme, "Beats in My Head," and Ken/Alex's theme "Jazzy NYC 99."

9) WipeOut HD

Okay, maybe we are starting to get a theme going with the hip-hop/electronica, but I love the soundtrack for WipeOut HD. It fits the futuristic theme and makes u want to blast the sounds way up. Even though custom soundtracks are more preferrable to this game for more electronica music, the base soundtrack alone is still worth listening to while racing at breakneck speeds.

8) Super Smash Bros. Brawl

What happens when a soundtrack gets the ultimate Nintendo fan service treatment, you get Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A great mix of new and old tracks from Nintendo games of the past and the present. Even the third-party franchises, Metal Gear and Sonic, had a great selection of tracks in this game. Then again, if you're a serious player, you are probably sick of the Final Destination theme since that stage gets played a lot in tournament-level events. Despite whether or not the fans love or hate Brawl because of the gameplay changes, it is still an amazing package and the soundtrack is one of the reasons why its amazing.

7) Bionic Commando Rearmed

BCR's soundtrack is arugably the greatest example of how a remake should be done. The remixed tracks just sound amazing from the theme song or the albatross theme at the end of the game. It has the sense of both old and new for the fans of the original game on the NES. I just hope Grin will deliver on the 3D Bionic Commando soundtrack as well when the game is out next month.

6) Super Mario Galaxy

Once again, another example of a soundtrack consisting a bit of the old and the new making it special. If u remember, Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite game of 2007 despite the stiff competition from Halo 3, COD4, and Mass Effect, because the game is that damn good. The soundtrack is the main reasons why SMG is such a special game with the orchestral tunes at Battlerock and Gusty Garden to the nostalgic remixes of the Airship theme from SMB3 and the Bowser theme from Mario 64. Every song this game offers just puts a smile on your face because it is that special and epic.

5) Street Fighter IV

Love or hate the intro song, "The Next Door" by Exile or "Indestructible," Street Fighter IV's soundtrack is still another great mix of the old and new from the remixed character themes to the some of the other stages' music. Personally, its the character themes that make the soundtrack special and #5 on the list even though they rarely get played (only in single player rival battles and online lobbies).

4) Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion

I still think the Tekken franchise offers the greatest soundtracks for fighting games and Bloodline Rebellion is another example of that. There is lots of variety contained in this soundtrack within the stages from the Electric Fountain theme of techno reminding u of Maximum Tune, to the random yodeling stage of awesomeness, which is the Hidden Retreat.

3) Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (franchise)

Alright, I'm counting the entire Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune franchise as one spot in my top 10 because Yuzo Koshiro is too awesome and this is just an example of his greatness with his music. Maximum Tune 3 DX does contain some new songs, but also contains the soundtracks of the previous 3 games, which is cool hearing stuff like "This is My Destiny," "Blue Blazes," "Get You Cornered," and more. This soundtrack is too good that I sometimes blast it while driving in my car because its actually relaxing music for me to drive to that I don't need to change track on my iPod that much. Even though it feels like driving electronica music, it is also randomly club music in some way as well, which is crazy.

2) Rez / Rez HD

I finally showed this off to friends last night (Even though I showed them area 1) and yeah, they don't get the awesomeness that is Rez, aka agruably my favorite game of this decade. I already put up a video of the greatest level in all of gaming, area 5 in previous posts, so might as well post the video for the second greatest level in all of gaming, area 4. If u played Rez before, Area 4's song just keeps building and building to the main event, aka the boss battle, which is one of many reasons why Rez is awesome in so many ways. I just wished I can show off these areas to more people because even though it is still trippy stuff, it is one of the greatest games ever among the hardcore crowd.

 

1) Streets of Rage 2

So my favorite gaming soundtrack for now is Streets of Rage 2 because it is just filled with memorable tunes from beginning to end with "Go Straight," the greatest song in all of gaming, "Dreamer," and the hype fest that is "Expander." I just love this game too much I guess as u just want to blast the music loud while beating up fools and perhaps even dance to it at a club, which is the case in the video below. (Skip to 4 minutes for "Dreamer") Quite simply, Yuzo Koshiro is still my favorite video game composer and SoR2 is a showcase of his greatest work and WMMT is most of his recent stuff.

Okay, this post is getting long. Might as well end it here. More obligatory top 10 lists coming soon.

UPDATE - Honorable Mention: The Mortal Kombat movie theme song!!

Okay, it is in this clip that YouTube user TheSwitcher made featuring the awesomely bad movie, Mortal Kombat Annhilation (Hey, it was cool when I was young). This video is actually the movie in ten minutes in case u have never seen this thing called a movie (Actually the first movie was pretty good).

Plugging something special about the SF4 scene again.

The fighting game scene is still pretty strong and perhaps the strongest it has been in a while with the console release of Street Fighter IV. I might as well plug something amazing about the scene again with this trailer for a documentary called I Got Next. Yes, this is real stuff and it is indeed a beautiful thing. This documentary features Final Round XII and Sinstation Fight Club along with the players like Justin Wong, Gootecks, Combofiend, Mike Ross, and many more. If you're really serious about SF4 like I'm trying to be, this is just an example of how beautiful the fighting game scene is and it will never die.

Anyway, here's the main highlight from last month's Final Round XII. The HYPE is everywhere!!!