Didn't realize this thing is already a year old...

So this blog is already a year old... and it will still roll on for more.

And apparently, I'm 22 in about a hour... So yeah.

Okay, I'll end this post with a song...

Music Video Roundup for 3/25/09

First off the gaming stuff - My thoughts of Nintendo's GDC '09 Keynote are on my Twitter, so read that. I'm also still considering typing up a Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty review even though I beaten it on Saturday. If I'm not reviewing it, here's the short version: Buy it at the discounted 10 bucks and its worth it if you're never played any of the other games in the franchise like me. Also, I traded in Skate 2 and some Wii accessories for Buzz Quiz TV and apparently I can dominate at some categories, but suck at everything else (Doesn't matter, it is a worthy purchase anyway).

Okay off to the music...

First up is "Love, Sex, & Magic" by Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake. These two make a great duo together and it shows in this video.

Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo: "Knock You Down"

Pretty straightforward video considering the song...

Arcade Infinity Ranbat 2.1 Madness!!!!

Yesterday was a long day being at Arcade Infinity for the Ranbat 2.1 tournament. There were so many people in one place that the tourney was capped at 64 entrants and lasted 12 freaking hours ending at 1:20 am on Monday (Craziness indeed). As a special intro to the Ranbat, the hosts Sanchez and Shoo did some special introductions with the first time entrants like me (See video) asking us random questions and I think I answered wrong (could of picked a better cartoon). The picture above is from Gootecks's Twitpic (see if u can spot me there) as I had a great pleasure to meet that man, aka the SoCal SF4 ambassador and chatted with him for a bit. Anyway, I at least won my first match, which was my goal for the tournament (better than going 2 and out on Tekken 6 BR). My first match was against some average Viper player and the first round was the first double K.O. of the day. I never felt the tournament atmosphere had some kind of rush, but it was intense. Then I lost to Bebop, aka the best Vega player in SoCal as I rarely fight awesome Vegas, so I didn't know how to play the matchup. After Bebop sent me to Losers, I lost to Moval's Blanka in a fun yet close match. Unfortunately, Blanka's Ultra was too much for me in the end. I finished tied for 33rd out of 64, but I was there for the rest of the tournament and the hype was everywhere.

There were so many awesome close matches and funny "hype" moments from Sanchez "Hulk Smashing" the 1P machine breaking the strong punch button for a bit after doing Bison's Nightmare Booster Ultra during Rufus's EX Messiah Kick (played by Bobino) to a little kid by the name of Private Link winning a Losers Bracket match beating an average Zangief player by his Ken, but in one match he did I think EX Hadouken to Ultra and the place went crazy. I hope these moments were on tape as there was an awesome setup for direct feed footage on YouTube as well as commentary by Sanchez and Shoo during Top 8. Gootecks was also handing out posters throughout the day for Street Fighter Bar Fights on April 5 at Pasadena showcasing key fights among SoCal's best players. 

The MVPs of the tournament to me are Slinkun, a Guile player from out of town, and Kyrojenix's Viper, an A.I. regular and has improved (The best Viper player in SoCal I personally have seen). In the end, at 1:20 in the morning, Mike Ross, the best Honda player in the country, won the tournament beating Ronstoppable's Balrog (The OG SF4 Balrog of SoCal). Keno's Balrog finished 3rd and Bobino's Rufus finished 4th. Funny note about Mike Ross, I played him at his old game, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and he perfected me, but I didn't mind it. Despite all the claims he stopped MvC2 seriously for SF4, he's still got it. The character selection was basically charge character heavy with lots of Blankas, Bisons, Balrogs, and some Guiles and Vegas. El Fuerte was only played once, since Kai, the best Fuerte player in SoCal, wasn't there. Basically, the whole roster was playable at least. The Tekken community also showed up in numbers from Rickstah's Dhalsim, who was tearing it up for a bit, MYK's Sagat who finished 9th, and others like Rip, True!, and Chojin. Despite the tournament lasting as long as it did due to the big turnout, it was arguably the best time I had regarding Street Fighter IV. It just feels good to be the premier arcade at SoCal playing and hanging with the best SoCal SF4 players like Mike Ross and Keno (cool dudes). I hope I can make it for the next Ranbat, but that day was pretty hype!!!

Even though videos of Top 8 will be posted soon with commentary by Sanchez and Shoo, the hosts of the tournament, here's one match earlier in Winners Bracket with Kyrojenix's Viper and Jack's Sagat. Too bad the cheering was left out, oh well.

Music Video of the Week for 3/18/09

This week's music video roundup features one song and it is a club banger. Admit it, you would go crazy when this song gets played.

Okay, a bonus one since I'm in a Pitbull mood for this post.

Appreciation for the Power Rangers franchise

When I read on the SRK (Shoryuken.com) forums that the Power Rangers franchise has been cancelled, it felt like another end of an era for me as that series has been a part of my childhood for a while and I admit I was still watching it in my high school days. In the 90s, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers era was pretty awesome and nothing has really come close to topping that in recent seasons except for taking advantage of CG in some cases with the Disney takeover. After the Space season ended, that was then Power Rangers was at its peak and it went downhill from there even though I kept watching. The OG show brought many memorable moments like this:

At its 17th season on ABC / Toon Disney called R.P.M., its pretty much over for the franchise. I remember watching clips of some Power Rangers convention that happened two years ago, which was pretty crazy. This whole series brought us lots of badassery from certain rangers (usually the red ones and bonus "6th" ranger) along with sexual fantasies if anyone went down that dirty path with the female rangers. The last season I seriously watched was Dino Thunder with the return of Tommy (the Green and White Ranger from the OG season) and pretty much stopped caring catching time from time with S.P.D., Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive, and Jungle Fury. When it was on Fox, it was good times, but I think with Disney taking over sometime during the Wild Force season, something special was missing. Usually the can't miss episodes are when the sixth ranger gets introduced, a team up of a current season that's going on and the one previous to that, and the finale. Then again, certain episodes came out that were awesome were "Forever Red" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg1Uf_gj4Nw from Wild Force and "Once A Ranger" from Operation Overdrive.

Yeah, I also watched the first movie when it also on theaters and that was basically an extended everyday episode. Some of them have moved on from those days, but certain rangers had more successful careers like Adam (OG Black, Zeo Green) played by Johnny Yong Bosch, who moved on to do voiceovers for lots of big animes and even Nero for Devil May Cry 4. Okay, I feel like I rambled enough for this while getting nostalgic for it at the same time. Here's the SRK thread remembering the good times from certain moments to debating who's the hottest girl in the franchise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg1Uf_gj4Nw

Okay, I'll try to rank them (I'm probably wrong)

1. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
2. Space
3. Zeo
4. Turbo
5. Lost Galaxy
6. Dino Thunder
7. Ninja Storm
8. Time Force
9. Lightspeed Rescue
10. Wild Force
11. Operation Overdrive
12. S.P.D.
13. Mystic Force
14. Jungle Fury
15. R.P.M. (Haven't watched it)

This Week's PSN Demo Showcase

Yesterday's PSN Store update had a lot of demos out, which are for WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania, The Wheelman, and The Chronciles of Riddick: The Assault on Dark Athena. These have been out on 360 for a week or two, but now they're also out on PS3 and here's my impressions of them (Footage is from the 360 version, but they're pretty identical).

First up is the WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania Demo and my obvious favorite of the three. This is potentially my return to the wrestling game genre as it is basically a simpler version of the Smackdown games with lots of QTE (Quicktime Events) moments. The first thing that struck me in a good way is the presentation as it is faithful to wrestling fans and those who appreciated it back in the day. You hear Hogan's enterance music, "Real American," when you boot it up from the XMB and then hear others' enterance themes on the main menus. The demo has an exhibition mode in which only Hogan and Andre the Giant are playable, but there's an option to put Hogan's title on the line and add along a manager as well. The demo also shows off the main mode the final game will have, which is the relive mode. The relive mode is basically trying to repeat what happened at a Wrestlemania event as the demo features Stone Cold Steve Austin's Wrestlemania 15 victory over The Rock. One nice touch this mode has is a WWE-style promo video to hype up the match just how the WWE does before big PPV matches. In this instance with Austin/Rock, you get to see the buildup to the match and then highlights of it showcasing certain objectives you have to do to gain points. The wrestlers themselves look good in the ring and the animation could be a little bare bones and not as fluid, which is expected, but the crowd themselves look pretty horrible and I hope it gets improved in the final game. The gameplay as previously mentioned is a simplified version of the Smackdown games with three bars to build up as levels. The higher the level, the more moves you have at your disposal. At level three, your finisher is available in which is two face buttons in this game. If you're trying to relive specific moments, these usually require a quicktime sequence (pressing one button at a time to initate an action) for them to go down. The same thing goes for finishers as Austin would his Lou Thesz Press as one button, his signature elbow for a second button, and then finish it off with a Stunner pressing another button (For Hogan, it is three punches leading to the Irish Whip as one button, the big boot as the second, and then his signature Leg Drop for the finish). The controls are also simplified, but you're still used to Smackdown vs. RAW's deep controls, it may take a little time to adjust. THQ and Yuke's wanted Legends of Wrestlemania to be more casual friendly as it is sort of a back to basics thing and I think it works. I had a fun time with the demo and I might actually buy this game because it is a representation of the good times for wrestling rather than today's era.



Next up is The Wheelman by Midway, Ubisoft, and Tigon Studios. This open-ended driving/action game stars Vin Diesel as he is the Wheelman and he's good at driving. You're given objectives or jobs to drive certain people around to their destination avoiding the opposition (either gangs or the police). Any car is actually a weapon and tilting the right stick left and right allows the car to sideswipe enemies. The game also has drive-bys using a gun while driving and also special powers that depend on a focus meter to initate a slow-mo sequence of shooting enemies out of the way. The focus meter is also used for boosting as well. The majority of the demo is a chase mission from the police as you go through the streets of Barcelona, both narrow and wide, to avoid getting busted. The driving and shooting itself feel a little awkward or janky at times. In addition, the graphics don't really impress me even though it is a demo as it looks like a early current-gen game. Sound-wise, its okay, but it mostly depends on whether or not you like Vin Diesel. The Wheelman could be a decent game, but definitely a rental at best.

Lastly, there's The Chronicles of Riddick: The Assault on Dark Athena Demo with more Vin Diesel action. First of all, this is a remake of the XBOX classic with the Dark Athena content added. Not a lot of people bought The Escape from Butcher Bay when it first came out on Xbox, as Dark Athena is its second chance. I didn't play Butcher Bay as this is all new to me. Just from playing the demo, I can see why Riddick was an amazing game from the atmosphere and the gameplay. The demo is quite short, but for those who never played it last generation, but want to now, I think it is worth it and still holds up compared to today's shooters.

So that's it for this week's PSN Demo Showcase. I recommended playing this demos in case you're not sure you want to buy them.

3/8/09 Tekken BR Vid 94 Tournament Highlights...

Last Sunday was another Tekken 6 BR tournament at Video 94 and well it was another early exit for me, but I lost to some heavy hitters. My first match was against Kane and that was pretty much no contest. My second match was against Rickstah with his Ganryu and that ended pretty quick too. Other than Street Fighter IV casual madness full of hype and laughter, there are some highlights from the event (One match that wasn't recorded was Cynnik's loss to Hellsent in a Raven mirror match).

Other than the crazy SF4 commentary, this game between Cynnik's Raven and ChetChetty's Paul went down to the wire. (Rage Death Fist FTW!!!!)

From the same match, this last game was also a little tense.

The next Tekken 6 BR tournament will be on the 21st at Super Arcade, but I think I'll practice up for the Arcade Infinity Ranbat 2.1 SF4 tournament which is on the 22nd. We will see how SF4 will go for me that day.