London MCM Expo May 2015 Review

Howdy ladies and gents, today I am here to give you my review on the London MCM Expo. Now it has been AGES since my last review of this convention (the last one being in 2011), but I felt like I had to talk about it considering all the madness that’s took place. Now before I get started I just wanted to mention that I only did the one day because I just didn’t have the funds or the free time outside of work to attend all three days. But that’s about it. Okay, let’s get going!

So the London MCM Expo, the biggest UK convention for anime, manga, comic books, movies and video games held two times a year in May and October, it came back this weekend, and I attended for the first time in two years. Last year marked the first time I hadn’t attended since I started going in 2008 which was really random to me, but since I had a great time at the London Film and Comic-Con in July, that more than made up for it. That being said, this event, even though it has gotten absurdly huge and different in appearance over the years, I have such a heavy load of good nostalgia associated with this convention, so it was only a matter of time until I went back. And my Saturday experience was a combination of joy, extreme happiness, tiredness, frustration and confusion. Make no mistake, MCM is still a great place to go for a unique and joyful experience, but some of its pleasures come at a cost, and I’m not just talking about you wallet.

Now I’m going to talk about what I got up to and separate this review into two halves; what and I liked and what I didn’t.

What I liked

This year was all about seeing what’s new, what’s remained the same and enjoying myself, and there was plenty to enjoy. Going to the Expo this year I noticed how huge the hall space was, I feel like it’s doubled in size since my first time in 2008. Walking from one side to the other felt like a 5-10 minute walk, but if you weren’t walking straight, stuck in walking traffic or had to make certain turns at different spots, then it would be a slightly longer trip.

There was this nice wall of cat drawings and I contributed as well, the one cat with his eyes closed and arms crossed on the yellow paper was mine. 😀

In terms of what I got up to, well I didn’t play too many games, see too many talks or even see the Cosplay Masquerade, but I did get to talk to some great artists, play some games and get some photos with some guests. I took a fair few photos of cosplayers. After 2012 I really lost interest in taking photos because I stopped making YouTube videos and it felt more like work than something I liked doing, so I really wasn’t going to do much this year, but then I got a good few photos this year. And just in general there was a lot of great costumes on show, loads of Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Spider-Man, Final Fantasy and Nintendo-related characters among many others. I was surprised by the amount of Game of Thrones characters with a good few Margaery Tyrell and Daenerys Targaryen ladies walking about.

When it comes to games I viewed some cool matches from Dragon Ball Z: Xenoverse, enjoyed seeing J-Stars Victory VS in action and looking at all of the crazy attacks and multiple characters from different anime in one place. The only other game I checked out was One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, it looked a little more impressive than I thought, while the game looked just like your standard hack and slack with really dumbass CPU enemies that run around just to get beating up, but when I saw Fujitora in action with crazy attacks, combos and finishing moves it made me want to by the game. But when it comes to the games I actually played, it comes down to Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. Wii U.

Firstly, even though I’ve had no interest in Splatoon at all since its reveal at E3 last year because it wasn’t my kind of thing, I thought I should have at least given it a try. So with the demo on show I gave it a try and I found it to be pretty fun and much better than I expected. Running around, shooting ink, swimming and defending your territory, it was pretty fun. I even ended up getting the most ink covered for my team and didn’t die once, for a first-timer that was great. The controls felt a bit weird though with the use of the Wii U Gamepad to move the camera around and that threw me off when I trying to move around and defend myself from enemies.

But then I played some Smash Bros. and that’s when things got interesting. For me, this game series is my jam and this was the first time I got to play the game with a Gamecube controller (and it felt amazing), so we played a 6-player stock match, 5 humans and 1 Amiibo and 3 lives. The first match was hectic and it came down to me as Captain Falcon vs Ness, unfortunately I lost, but in the second match I came back with a vengeance as Lucina and schooled Ness as I sent him plummeting into the abyss! The final match I played as Fox, but was knocked out fairly early on because that tricky Mega Man Amiibo kept moving all over the place and giving me problems. 😛

Oh yeah you that where there’s an Expo there will be some Smash Bros. action for me!

But the highlights for me was three things:

• Meeting John Noble
• Meeting Iain De Caestecker
• Meeting Jon Schnepp and seeing “The Death of Superman Lives”: What Happened?

The main reasons I went to this convention was for those three points listed above. When it comes to the photo sessions, when I saw that John Noble, yes, the Walter Bishop from Fringe was gonna be there, I literally exploded in my mind at the chance to see him. So waiting to see him yesterday was insane, long and extremely tedious, but just getting there, meeting him, shaking his hand and being so humbled by his kindness, it was the best kind of overwhelming experience. It was a heartpounding and lovely moment. And then I got to meet Iain De Caestecker later on, I liked him in Filth, but I’ve mainly been invested in his performance as Leo Fitz from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the guy was SO nice and friendly, loved it.

Overwhelming happiness, that’s what it these photos were all about yo!

And the final part of my day was seeing a screening of The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?, the documentary from Jon Schnepp looking into the cancelled Superman film from Tim Burton starring Nicholas Cage. Seeing this film was great, it was such an intriguing and informative look into a film that got so far into development but then got canned. All of the great guest contributors, archive footage, editing and humour all came together in such a fantastic and fascinating manner. This was definitely a story that needed to be told and I’m glad that Schnepp was able to get this documentary finish. And speaking of Schnepp, I just wanted to comment on how great it was to see the man in person. He introduced the film and then did a Q&A afterwards and he was just as hilarious, charming and humble as he is on AMC Movie Talk and getting to meet him after all of these years of watching the online show felt like a dream. Oh and shaking his hand was such a delightful feeling. 😀

Such a good film, one I would recommend to anyone who is curious about this project.

What I disliked

Firstly I have to address the LINES!

Now I know exactly how Cartman felt, it was enough to drive one to madness.

Now I’m no stranger to standing in lines at events like this and I’ve gotten used to it especially when it comes to playing games, watching the Cosplay Masquerade or getting autographs/photos with celebrity guests… That being said, usually there’s a system in place so that you know where to go when you start to queueing and avoid collisions with the general public just passing by, but NOPE, not this year. Those guys at the Excel really dun goofed this year. When it came to photo sessions specifically there was no order, everyone was everywhere, lines for certain people were spread across three different locations, some people skipped the queue altogether and the general public just trying to get by had to force their way through. There was SO much frustration and it was all because of miscommunication and lack or order.

And the staff, they had no clue. Really, you could have asked four or five staff members where you were meant to stand before you got the correct answer  and by that point you had probably wasted 30-45 minutes of your time. And only after allowing you to stand in the wrong places do the get organised and attempt to get a system in place for the different queues passing into each other, and even then, there was conflicting information and a lack clear instructions because no one had a bloody megaphone! I know I complained about the waiting periods at London Film and Comic-Con last year for their outside lines, however, at least their photo session tickets had clear sections to stand in and system in place for calling you up when it was your turn. This kind of thing can’t continue in the future as the fans I was standing with were ready to revolt out of anger, confusion and sore legs.

Now imagine these lines, but with 5 to 10 times as many people squashed in one spot. Chaos!

The only other thing I would complain about is more of a nostalgic nitpick, and it relates to the state of the Expo. A few years ago this convention was big, but it was controlled, fun and felt unique, but in recent times the convention has gotten a little too big. There’s so much going on with the stalls, events and guest stars, I feel like the event’s gotten too big and out of control. Sure making the Expo bigger to accommodate more stuff is always interesting for new and returning fans, but I feel like this isn’t the event I remember and some of the charm has been lost.

In conclusion the MCM Expo in London was a good time. After a little break from this convention it was nice to go back and revisit the place that exposed me to the madness of fans and the content on display. This even was pretty frustrating though, unorganised staff, loads of queues and lack of information really knocked this experience down a few pegs, if the Expo is to continue then it needs to get its act together. But other than those formalities I had a hella good time and should I find a reason to return in the future I may do so.

So did you go to the recent MCM Expo and if so what did you think? Please be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post. Laters! 😀

 

When You Have a Gaming Addiction/Obsession

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to another blog post. Today’s subject matter is one I wanted to write back December during the Christmas season, but I never got around to discussing it until now. Video games are one of my favourite forms of entertainment and at several points in my life I how found them consuming my life to the point of addiction and it took me til 2014 to realise that I’m totally obsessed with it all over again.

Now gaming addiction, anyone within the gaming community knows of it and has seen what it has done to certain gamers when there is no moderation or control. And while the media have tried to understand/show what it is through the news and documentaries, it is mainly just the dark/sad side of things shown and while some of it is true, it isn’t the only form of gaming addiction. To me I think that there are different levels and types of addiction and it also doesn’t have to be so much an addiction as an obsession that just needs to be fed.

So what’s my gaming addiction? Well I think it is just the need to play games and obtain more to extend my super fun time experiences.

You see gaming, it makes me feel like this.^^ Milhouse knows. 😛

But in all honesty my obsession comes from childhood. I’ve been gaming since around the mid to late 90’s with my Sega Mega Drive and Nintendo Game Boy Pocket, and then with my additional sessions with Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation. From Sonic the Hedgehog to GoldenEye to Mortal Kombat, my life has been full of video games of all genres and sometimes it can just be like the best feeling ever. Just you and your games, it can be one of the most engaging experiences and people who haven’t played games can’t begin to comprehend how satisfying a good gaming session can be. But it doesn’t have to be alone, it can be done with friends and family. Besides having some of my favourite gaming memories with my friends, at the same I have shared a lot of my gaming experiences with my sister. We both played game franchises like Pokemon, Mario, Sonic, Kingdom Hearts and Zelda to name a few either together or individually. It is one of our major bonding points.

This was pretty much me and my sister in the late 90’s to early 00’s along with the sleeping father in the background too haha. 🙂

But growing up into my teenage years, I was able to full dive into the world of gaming and find myself getting lost in gaming for days/weeks/months/years on end. I think it was towards the end of my college years in 2010 when I started to move away from gaming and started getting more interested in films, this was mainly due to my only consoles being my Wii, PS2 and DS, so I was limited for choice when it came to new and varied games. But it wasn’t until late 2011 when there was a resurgence and again in 2013 when my gaming fire was relit. By 2014 I was back to being the gaming madman that I remembered from my youth and it was a gorgeous feeling. Going to uni definitely helped as it reminded me why I loved video games and how it really is the best thing for get together or solo activities. But what’s become clearer to me in recent years is that gaming experiences doesn’t end with one game, you need to have more. I mean sure you could play a really good game and you play it anywhere from a few days to a few years, but, once it is over you know you need to find the next best thing, whether it is the same genre or a different one. I’ve always had more than one game on the go, sometimes even leaving a game to play a new one, but the point is that I’m never locked into one game, I’m constantly looking for new experiences and that’s half the fun of gaming; find something new and becoming obsessed all over again. I even buy games when they’re on sale just because they’re games that I like or could want in the future.

Now I just want to talk about some of the games and franchises that have made me feel that insatiable need to play and find similar experiences:

Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II

In the summer of 2004 my friend lent me this game for the Gamecube and it left the biggest impression on me. PSO Ep  1 & 2 is one of those kind of games that hooks you and never let’s go. Once you get into the game mechanics you want to level grind, find better items, beat more enemies and just see how far you can get. Make no mistake the game is not easy and you’ll get beat a lot if you’re unprepared, however, even in defeat you jump back in because you want to do better and get stronger. This is one of the best RPG’s I’ve played as the combat is real-time, challenging and best experienced with others. I lost weeks of my life to this game and I am not ashamed, that was addiction.

Sonic Generations

I’ve always loved playing Sonic games especially the games on the Mega Drive and the Adventure re-releases on the Gamecube, but it wasn’t until Generations came out in 2011 that I found that I’m still just as obsessed with Sonic games as I was as a child. Generations was the best of both worlds; the classic gameplay from the 90’s mixed with the modern speed-based gameplay from more recent games like Rush, Unleashed and Colours. I bled through the demo, bled through main game in a few hours and played so many of the stages on repeat because I loved the music, gameplay and nostalgia.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

If you’re a regular on this blog then you would have seen my recent post on Skyward Sword, but for those who didn’t read it to put it bluntly, I really like this game. Sure it is not the best Zelda game when it comes to the difficulty, side quests and introduction to the game mechanics at the start of the game, at the same time the game was a very refreshing take on the series with motion-based combat, a different approach on dungeons and a more lively and character-based story. I think the game is charming, fun and interesting. The main things that keeps my coming back to the game is the combat, inventive boss battles, character interactions, item crafting and the presentation. I have spent an absurd amount of time just listening to the music, riding on the Loftwing and exploring the different locations below and above the clouds for treasure chests, that stuff is super addictive.

Terraria

Before Terraria, I’d played a few games on Steam like Microsoft Flight, Super Crate Boy and Fieldrunners, but this game was the first to change my opinion on games that could be fun on PC for me personally. This game is like the 2D equivalent of Minecraft, but for me it was way more interesting for me. What I like about the game is the crafting, exploring and fighting, it is simple and yet so gratifying, plus even you really get into the game then you can get lost in it for hours and that’s happened to me on many occasions.

Pokemon series (Pokemon X & Y)

It wasn’t until I started playing Pokemon X upon its release that I realised how closely I’ve been associated with this series since childhood. I spent the majority of my childhood and teenage years with the Pokemon series on my Game Boy Pocket, Colour and Advance. I mainly have love for the first two generations mainly because that was when the series was still new, special and crazy popular, and when you’re young, Pokemon just seemed so much more fun. Pokemon X brought me back to my childhood and gave me that same sense of discovery, mystery and fun that I felt was missing from previous entires. The graphics and music was incredible, the online features were awesome, the new region was fun and the game mechanics had changed just enough so that there was new things to experience for veteran characters. I wasted so much time listening to music and trading random Pokemon with people online, it was great while the fun lasted.

Super Smash Bros. series (3DS & Wii U games)

Then we have the Smash Bros. series, oh how I love it. Since the first game on N64, the SSB series has become more and more dense, inventive, fun and addictive. I have to say that the peak of my SSB obsession was with Melee due to the fact that I played it for so many years before the release of Brawl and still went back to it because of the faster and more chaotic gameplay. But with the release of SSB for the 3DS it felt like I was getting back to basics with the game, having fun and beating up characters with stylish attacks. Playing Smash on the go was something I wasn’t sure that I would love but I honestly couldn’t get enough and the Wii U version is no exception. With the HD graphics and 8-player fights, stage builder and additional music, I find myself getting lost in this madness.

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Now we move onto my most recent obsession. I first played this game in the early part of 2014 and I was addicted. Not since Pokemon X had I felt such a rush and a need to play a game nearly all of the time. I never played any FE games prior to this but since there was so much hype behind it I decided to give it a try and I can say that the hype was to be believed. This is one of the best games I have ever gotten into thanks to the game mechanics, leveling up, various weapons, character relationships and job classes. I spent 47 hours on my first playthrough, but then I had to get rid of it. However a few months ago I bought the game and fell in love with it all over again, my current playtime is around 54 hours. This game is the main reason I turn on my 3DS these days as I love to come back to the game mess around fighting the Risen or Streetpass players.

To conclude video games, they have become my jam again and while I still love my films and going to the cinema, I have really gotten back to gaming and am not satisfied with having one good experience. I need more. I’m constantly on the hunt for more games that will feed my obsession/addiction and I love it. Well that’s another blog post done, thanks for reading and I’ll catch ya later!

 

My Impressions On Super Smash Bros. 3DS Demo

Howdy ladies and gents, today I’m gonna do something a little different when it comes to my blog posts as I am going to give you my impressions on the demo for Super Smash Bros. 3DS. Now wouldn’t usually do a review for a demo of a game, but this game in particular is pretty much one of the biggest games of 2014 especially for Nintendo fans and after several lucky punks got the demo early, I thought I would just give my thoughts.

Gameplay

When it comes to the gameplay, it is just the same as ever, anyone who has played a game in this series will be able to jump right in and play. When it comes to the demo you can only play 2-minute matches with 1-3 other CPU’s at level 1-9 and you’re limited to the Battlefield stage (with the option to play it normally or without platforms). As for characters, veterans Mario, Link and Pikachu return, while Villager and Mega Man join the fray as the newcomers. The old characters are pretty much the same (especially Mario), but there are subtle changes to Link and Pikachu’s movesets where some of their attacks have changed, either hitting harder, changing in range or having slightly different hitboxes than before. As for Villager, that guy is crazy. He’s good for close range combat and all of his moves are based off of the activities and items from the Animal Crossing series and to see him pulling weeds to swinging umbrellas to dropping bowling balls is a delight and his taunts are just the best thing ever. And then there’s Mega Man, his move set is more long distance and unconventional, all of his moves are based on the robot masters powers from Mega Man 2 and 3 (I believe) and they work better from a distance, that’s not to say that Mega Man doesn’t do well in close combat, it is just because he doesn’t have any strong A attacks or powerful special attacks. That being said, when you get the hang of him, he’s hella fun to play as.

Controls

For the most part the controls are fine as the 3DS button layout is very similar to that of a GameCube controller (the standard controller for a SSB game), the only thing that is missing is a C-stick. But even without that little convenience, the game controls well with your A and B buttons being used for standard and special attacks, Y and X are the jump buttons, R being your shield and L being a grab button. The 3DS Slider works for the most part, however, it isn’t as precise as your classic control stick and sometimes the Slider misreads a tap for a dash movement or an upward smash for a jump and it can mess with your flow a bit. And while the button layout is great, any veteran of this series may find that buttons are a bit too close together as well, but maybe that’s just me.

Presentation

One thing that SSB doesn’t skimp on is the presentation which is bloody impressive. Visually the game is incredible and the screenshots online do not do the game justice at all. While this is not the HD glory that is the Wii U version, the 3DS version sports a great cel-shaded look and the level of detail in the animation, character models, backgrounds and foregrounds is nothing short of incredible. In addition to that the game runs very smoothly at 60fps and the 3D in the game is great too with a nice level of depth. The only issues I found was when certain assist trophies, Pokemon or items would be used, there was a noticeable amount of lag and I think that’s mainly due to those items being limited to 30fps. But other than that snag everything works fine.

Summary

Pros

• Gameplay remains unchained for the most part
• The speed of battle is better than
• The new items and assist trophies are awesome
• Mega Man and Villager are great new additions
• Visual and audio presentation is excellent

Cons

• Some changes to veteran character moves feels off
• Hit boxes feel a bit off for certain attack
• The 3DS Slider misreads movements
• Button layout feels a bit cramped

In conclusion, while it definitely feels different Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS feels great and while I am still adjusting to the subtle changes to the basic game system, overall it looks awesome, sounds great and plays wonderfully. I’m still getting to grips with this game, but if this a taste of what’s to come with the Wii U version then I cannot wait at all! I really want it to be October 3rd so I can play the full version with all the other characters, stages and play online with other gamers.

 

Random Blog 12: Me & My Love For Super Smash Brothers!

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for Random Blog entry. And today I’m gonna talk about something that I have a serious amount of love for and because of recent events I just have to talk about it. Today I’ll be giving you a brief history of my experience of the Super Smash Bros. series.

The Games That Have Come Out So Far

Super Smash Bros. (1999)

Euro Cover Art For Super Smash Bros. N64

Ah yes the game that started it all. What we have here is a fighting game unlike any other. Where most fighting games were mainly two-on-two like in Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken, this was a 4-player all-out assault. In SSB you took several famous Nintendo character from their key franchises and made them duke it out in 4-player mayhem. The concept was unique at the time because there wasn’t really many, if any other companies doing the same thing at the time. Players could pick from 12 characters (8 to begin with and 4 more unlockable ones), with 9 stages to pick from and you could either play the solo ‘Classic’ mode or mess around with friends in multiplayer time or stock battles. Each character had a unique moveset but in addition to that you could use items that could heal or damage you or your opponents, and then there were some stages had hazards that had to avoid too. The game was madness, but it was a critical and commercial success and from here the series could only go onwards and upwards.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

If SSB for N64 was the starter in a three-course meal that Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube was the main course. Melee came out and basically blew everyone’s expectations. It dwarfed the original game and improved everything. Going into a bit more depth about the features of the game, you had a character roster of 25 which introduced even more characters from established franchises while introducing some new faces (Bowser, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch among others), there were around three times the amount of stages to select and the combat, oh the combat, it was SO good. In Melee combat was faster, tighter and featured even more moves like directional throwing, one additional special attack, charged smash attacks, air dodging and so much more. Besides the famous multiplayer mode which even had a tournament mode, the solo mode had a Classic mode reminiscent of the orignal game and a new Adventure mode where you fighting characters, but also venturing through large worlds, racing against time and getting to the final boss that changed depending on the difficulty chosen at the beginning. And lastly the presentation for the game was SO good, straight from the gorgeous introduction with the orchestrated music and amazing pre-rendered CG cut-scenes, it was amazing. While the game isn’t as visually stunning as say Metroid Prime, F-Zero GX or LOZ: Wind Waker, I do believe it gave us the most detailed version of these characters at the point in time, and the music is some of favourite remixes and original material from any game ever thanks to the new orchestral sound.

Melee is one of the best GameCube games for a reason, it was and still is til this day one of the best multiplayer experiences that Nintendo have ever given us gamers. This was the game that most GameCube owners had in their collection either as first purchase or obtained a little while after its original release.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

This game took everything about the last game expanded things by 100! I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that everything got a dramatic increase in scope and detail. When it comes to overall including the modes you got in Melee, you had new solo mode, the Subspace Emissary which was an upgraded version of Adventure mode from the last game, there was also sticker and CD collecting introduced, and most importantly there was online play for the first time. It terms of combat the game was changed a bit with some upgrades to combat and item use, however things were slowed down and simplified a bit for casual players. The character roster was boosted from 25 to 35 (39 if you count Sheik, Zero Suit Samus and the Pokemon Trainer’s Pokemon as separate characters) and we got some fighters replaced and some altogether new fighters, but the most interesting of these was the inclusion of Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake and long-awaited arrival of Sega’s mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog.

The hype for this game was ridiculous, ever since E3 2006 and I don’t think I have seen that kind of hype and excitement for a game in since besides possibly the wait for GTA V or Pokemon X & Y. I think the game delivered on the hype for the most part with most fans saying that the game was the best entry in the series and it was also one of the highest selling Wii games too.

The only thing this intro is missing an epic announcer saying the name of the game… That and original cut-scenes. 😛

How This Series Affected Me

To say that I love the Smash Bros. series would be an understatement, I ADORE this series. Besides the days when I played GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and the Mario Kart and Party games, this game series would be the one that provided me with my favourite multiplayer experiences. There is something so satisfying about taking several Nintendo characters and pitting them up against each other in combat. It is an adrenaline-fueled, chaotic and fun kind of experience that is hard to describe unless you’ve played it for yourself. Ever since I started with this game series around the year 2000 or 2001 I’ve been hooked. It was like the Avengers crossover of Nintendo video games (sure the Capcom Vs. series had already did a few crossover fighting games, but this was a different kind of beast altogether). Melee pretty much changed my life, I was obsessed and I was playing that game from the age of 12 til about 18. By the time Brawl came out I had blown up from all the nerdgasms I’d been doing, while I did miss the faster, more technical combat of Melee, Brawl had done so much more right and had online. Only problem was that I never played Brawl as long as Melee, in fact around two years in I sort of left it alone as I went into my hazy phase with video games. That being said, it is pretty much the only Wii game I go back to whenever I dust the old console off because it’s the only one I like that much.

The Smash Bros. series is now one that I adore just as much or possibly more than the Sonic series and that’s saying a lot coming from me. This series has yet to wrong me, it just delivers on the fun and entertainment factor by like 10,000! Just seeing the games, listening to the music or playing it just gives me an immense sense of satisfaction that not many other gaming franchises can.

The Future

And now of course we have Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS coming out later on this year. To say that I’m hyped for this new entry in this series would be an understatement.

When this game was announced at E3 2011 I went mad with speculation just trying to think about how this game would turn out. But it wasn’t until E3 2013 when we got to the first look at the new game and holy crap it was a surprise and a half. The amazing trailer showed off Smash Bros. coming to the Wii U in glorious HD but also on the 3DS too. It was beautiful sight, but the real revelation was seeing Mega Man added as a fighter. I think the internet blew up with all the gaming nerds freaking out. And since then game director Masahiro Sakurai has been giving us fans on the game daily updates since then updating us on characters, stages, move-sets, items and so on, it has been a great time to be Nintendo nerd.

These are the character-specific posters for the new combatants all complete with different styles.

At this current point in time we have 29 characters announced, details on the online modes, several stages shown for both the Wii U and 3DS versions and then of course there’s the release dates with the 3DS version coming out in the summer and the Wii U version coming out in the winter. Right now there’s a been a lot of information at this point in time, however there’s still a lot of time before the games are released, so I am really interested to see what information is released at E3 this year.

Here’s a beast trailer compilation:

So yeah those are my thoughts on the Super Smash Bros. series, it is a series that I can’t see my life without. It is chaotic, unique and a hell of a lot of fun. My excitement for the new games in this series have me freaking out, I have watched all of the footage for the game over and over and I am going out of my mind just trying to be patient. All I can say if you haven’t experienced this game series yet, try out one of the games I highlighted or buy the new games when they come out because the world of Smash Bros. is one of joy that no gamer should be without. 🙂

 

SEGA Announces Sonic Boom: New Game, TV Show and Toys

Well it has been a while since we heard about the new Sonic Boom cartoon, I even did a blog post about it when it was first announced, but now it seems like Sega have come out of hiding and given us our first details and what follows may be shock some of you… The following info comes from IGN:

Jesus Christ what did they do to Knuckles, he’s become some beast, like he’s fucking steroids. My eyes! XD

“SEGA has announced Sonic Boom, a fresh branch of the Sonic universe that includes a video game, toys and a new CG animated television series.

Sonic Boom will introduce redesigned versions of the popular hedgehog and his companions. To get your first glimpse at their new looks, check out the debut trailer for the Sonic Boom video game below, coming exclusively to Wii U and 3DS.

Starring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose, the Sonic Boom game will serve as a prequel to the TV series and will focus on collaborative gameplay. The third title in the exclusive Nintendo-Sega partnership following Sonic: Lost World and Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, it’ll feature all the speed you’d expect from a Sonic game, alongside elements of exploration, combat and “a new Enerbeam tether mechanic”.

The TV series will debut on Cartoon Network during the 2014/2015 series and will be made up of 52 episodes, each 11 minutes long. As you’d expect, a range of accompanying toys and merchandise will be produced featuring the new-look characters.

Hiroyuki Miyazaki, SEGA chief content officer for Sonic, said “SEGA is constantly looking to feed the appetite of Sonic fans, new and existing alike. The various pieces of the Sonic Boom project, such as its unique look, mix of comedy, and action and its focus on the whole ensemble with Sonic as the star, offer another exciting part of that universe for people to explore and enjoy.  It will be at once familiar but also new.”

Earlier this week there were mutterings about a next-gen Sonic game headed to Wii U, PS4 and Xbox One in 2015, though SEGA was quick to deny the claims. We now know where our next Sonic fix is coming from… the question is, when?”

Now before I even start to talk about the news about Sonic Boom actually being both a video game and TV show, I feel the need to firstly address that game trailer…

Uhh, okay, erm, I don’t even know what to say. To be honest I am kind of speechless. One part of me thinks the individual gameplay types between the four looks cool and graphically the environments like nice, but then the other half of me is like what the hell did they do the classic Sonic characters and why has the Sonic series become less and less about fast platforming and more about comedy, teamwork gameplay and all this other randomness. It also doesn’t help that the trailer uses one of the most overhyped and annoying songs from recent history, Skrillex’s “Bangarang”. But really the gameplay does look interesting, looks like some Sonic Heroes with third-person adventure action which could work if done properly and since it doesn’t look like Dimps are involved in the development of this game there may be hope! I’m just not sure if I’m down with such a radical change for Sonic in such a short time. He went from awesomeness in Sonic Generations to some weird version in Sonic Lost World, while at Nintendo, Mario barely changes at all, he just gets a few new power-ups a year and continues to succeed with ease. How can Sega fail to do the same for the blue blur? It baffles me.

As for Sonic Boom on the whole, I am very, VERY concerned. This changed-up gameplay and funky character designs definitely put a spin on my childhood memories and have left me at a loss for words. Is this what Sega and Sonic Team think is the best way for Sonic to get back in the good books of not only the fans but also the people not aware of the Sonic franchise too? I can easily see a lot of fans or outsiders look at this and think of it as a joke and wouldn’t blame them. Sonic’s been on a slippery slope of doom since Sonic 06 and while Sonic Colours and Generations helped him out, Shadow’s guns, Sonic’s Werehog transformation, Sonic’s sword and questionable game mechanics in the recent Lost World haven’t been forgotten.

Now I am ready to give this game the benefit of the doubt and see how it fares, maybe the game will be good, will lead into a great TV show and I’ll take back everything that I said. However change has never been kind to the Sonic series before and I’m not sure it’ll help now and I am afraid that Sonic is being changed and watered down and I’m not sure this will pull in the audience Sega think it will. But we’ll wait and see.

 

What Nintendo Need To Do To Succeed In The Future

Howdy ladies and gents, today I have a blog post I’ve been meaning to make now for about 2 or 3 months now. Basically I’ve been a Nintendo fan in the world of gaming since the days of the Super Nintendo and Game Boy and have grown up with the companies consoles and while Nintendo have always been playing catch up in the world of technology since the Wii and DS came around, they’ve always have the software a loyal fanbase to carry them along. However since the release of the Wii U, Nintendo struggled severely to get same success and good software than their previous home console did, and while the 3DS is keeping them afloat, Nintendo still aren’t in a winning position yet.

So with that in mind I thought I’d share my thoughts on what I believe Nintendo should do to survive and succeed if they wish to be relevant in the next 2 years especially.

Annoyingly IGN already beat me to the punch with their article on this subject matter a little while ago which you can read here: http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/12/04/game-scoop-the-state-of-the-wii-u

Now keep in mind this is just my opinion and are options that I think the company should consider, don’t go trying to murder me with violent words if your one of those crazy gamers, okay? Cool. Let’s go.

In no particular order, this is what I think Nintendo need to do in the future:

1. First Party Content Must Be A Priority!

This one may be obvious but it is true, Nintendo need that 1st party software that makes their games unique to the console which will entice fans new and old towards the console. Now obviously Zelda and Mario sells, that’s common. But Nintendo have many other franchises like Metroid, Pokemon, and many others that they need to make in order help make their Wii U console worth talking about. Sure we have Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Rayman Legends and the recent Super Mario 3D World along with the upcoming Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. games, but we need much more Nintendo content like that which they know fans want and WILL buy.

2. Nintendo Need More New IPs!

As I said before I know that Mario sells, so does Zelda and so does Metroid, those franchises are the money makers. However that doesn’t mean you should continuously keep falling back on them for new games Nintendo, give us something new! This is a company that I feel have been playing it safe for the last few years releasing an absurd amount of Mario games in its many different formats and forgetting about the creation of new material. even though the Wii didn’t have that much in the way of new IPs, there were at least a few that were tried. Games like MadWord, No More Heroes 1 & 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Pandora’s Tower, Boom Blox 1 & 2, Epic Mickey and GoldenEye 007 (2010) to name a few. Nintendo needs this type of variation and fresh material from its developers both 1st and 3rd party based.

Now of course they’ve tried with The Wonderful 101 and have Bayonetta 2 on the horizon and recently the announcement of Hyrule Warriors looks promising/interesting, however they need so much more in order to stay relevant and make themselves noticeable to not only their fanbase, but also developers and critics not convinced that the Wii U is a good bit of hardware.

3. Get That Third-Party Support Back!

This is a tricky one. Nintendo looked like they were onto something prior to the Wii U’s release last year with all of the ports they were gonna release. But since the sales for the console have been so shit, loads of 3rd party developers have cut their ties with the console and have expressed their lack of enthusiasm towards creating future games (besides a minor future who still see a light at the end of the tunnel).

I believe Nintendo needs to make great games that aren’t Mario or Zelda which will show they have more versatility and then make sure that the games in question sell a considerable amount. They really need to shift units for not only the consoles but the games too. Then and only then will developers start to recognize that the Wii U is relevant and worth making games for.

4. Sort Out Those Controls!

This is has been an issue since the Wii came out. But besides Nintendo and a few other developers, no one knows how to make games that don’t have questionable controls. With the motion controls of the Wii there’s always been some sort of problem that’s made the experience tedious or frustrating. The Wii Remote has been in some real stinkers where the control was either broken, lazy, overly complicated or completely unresponsive. And now some games on Wii U have suffered from the same control issues again, Nintendo really need to be smart/careful and make sure that developers are aware of the hardware they’re using and make sure that they’re creating controls for it that are good.

5. Tell Us Why The Console & GamePad is Relevant

This is something that Nintendo have only started doing in recent months, but I still don’t think the message has gotten through to consumers not in the know. The Wii U is mainly looked at in one the following ways:

• It’s an expansion of the Wii (because of the stupid name)
• It’s just the GamePad on its own
• It’s just a HD Nintendo console with no games

Those are legitimate statements I’ve heard several times online from different people. Nintendo really need to drive the message home to all who aren’t in the know that the Wii U is a console they NEED, not want, but REQUIRE. Like make an advert that says: “YO, THE WII U IS AWESOME, YOU NEED THIS CONSOLE IN YOUR LIFE, GET ONE OR BE LEFT IN THE DUST!” Plus Nintendo have to talk about the benefits of the GamePad, how it improves on current gaming experiences and separates itself from other gaming consoles. and there just needs to be an overall mentioning of all the features that make Wii U better than the last console.

6. Bring Back Old Franchises!

This is something that has been bugging me for years and honestly I want it to get done sooner rather than later. I love Nintendo but I feel like Mario is constantly on-show and the rest of some of Nintendo’s other franchises hardly get as much love.I don’t think the Big N is truly aware of the back catalogue they can draw from. There are plenty of Nintendo series’ that have been left on the shelf of history just waiting to make a comeback and the 2 key franchises that are being so clearly ignored and they are of course F-ZERO and STAR FOX! WHY IN THE HOLY MOTHER OF HELL HAVEN’T WE GOTTEN A NEW GAME IN EITHER OF THESE SERIES YET?

Why Nintendo chooses to ignore these KEY franchises that have clearly made them money in the past and that fans have ADAMANTLY cried out for is something I’ll never know. They would clearly lend themselves to the technology, online gameplay and everything and with help from another developer it could be something special. But they choose to continuously ignore these franchises like they don’t existence and it pisses me the hell off. Nintendo just need to take a look and pay attention to what their fanbase are talking about and communicate with them before it falls through.

Well there’s my two cents on the matter. I hope that this has been a least informative to you all who are reading and if you feel the same or differently, drop your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next post yo.

 

Pokémon X Review

Hi people of the internet, time for me to do something I haven’t done for a while… A GAME REVIEW! AND IT’S A NEW ONE! Holy man, now don’t blow up ladies and gents, but I don’t really review any new games because I’m always broke or don’t have a console to play the games that I want. But anyway, today I want to talk about Pokémon X, a game I wanted to play for a while and just wanted to play for the sake of nostalgia. So now that my addiction for the game has died out, I think it’s time to review the game.

There is a story in this game and as usual its kind of linear and never really overshadows your main playing experience. You mainly run around with four friends and from time to time they’ll show up out of nowhere and interrupt your fun to battle or join you on your adventure. Your rival is especially annoying because her timing can be particularly troublesome. Outside of that you’ll have to take on your typical evil Pokémon organization and there’s some crazy backstory involving Pokémon thousands of years ago in war and death, it is kind of surprising, but if you’re like me and only play Pokémon for the gameplay then the story won’t amount too much.

When it comes to the gameplay, there is a basic mixture of old and new implemented into this game that adds some welcome changes, but at the same time has some of the series’ problems still haven’t been rectified.

Firstly let’s talk about the new gameplay features and they include:

• You can customize your character’s appearance (clothes, accessories, skin colour etc.)
• Certain evolved Pokémon can use Mega Evolutions that make them more powerful during battle.
• Also introduced are Sky Battles, mid-air trainer battles that only flying Pokémon can participate in, and Horde Encounters, in which players must battle against multiple wild Pokémon at once.
• You’ll be able to choose from one of the classic starter Pokémon from Red & Blue later on in the game.
• A new type of Pokémon is introduced in the form of the Fairy-type which were added to balance the Dragon-type.
• Then there’s Pokémon-Amie which allows players to interact with their Pokémon, you get to play games and give them food that strengthens bonds.
• Super Training features various mini-games that help build the base stats of the player’s Pokémon, which in turn unlocks training bags that can be used by Pokémon to grow stronger on their own.
• The online experience has been streamlined and made absurdly convenient, allowing for trading and battling to be done in a quick and seamless manner.

Then you have some small variations to basic rules of the Pokémon series that make the experience move a lot faster and smoother than before especially for veterans. But outside of those differences/upgrades, the core gameplay of Pokémon X is exactly the same as it was before. You still start off as a little trainer who goes off and explores the world, catches and trades Pokémon, battles other trailers, takes on 8 gym leaders, take on an evil Pokémon organization and go to the Pokémon League and take on the Elite Four.

As a person who’ been playing Pokémon games since the 90’s with Pokémon Red, I have experienced Pokémon in every form. Generation I and II were my favourites in the series, Gen III was good, but wasn’t leaps and bounds better than Gen II, Gen IV was okay, but very unremarkable and Gen V while different was not nearly as engaging or cool as previous entries. So I was SO glad that Generation VI was WAY more engaging and fun than any game I’d played in ages. I felt an immediate wave of nostalgia mixed in with whole new experiences that made me fall in love with Pokémon again! I liked training Pokémon again, I loved battling and going through the Kalos Region was just a delight.

However for all those good aspects, there are a number of issues I have. Firstly the game is a bit on the easy side and while that’s not too much of a problem at first, it became noticeable towards the end of the game when I was pretty high level and took out the Elite Four pretty easily. Secondly and this is the biggest issue for me, THE GAME LOOSES SERIOUS STEAM AFTER THE MAIN GAME IS OVER! This has been an issue for most games in the series for a while now, but other than Gold & Silver, there hasn’t been a game in the series that has had a lot of replay value outside of the main campaign. Once you beat all the gym leaders and then take out the Pokémon League there isn’t much to do in the main campaign besides the dabble in some mundane tasks, get more Mega Stones and try out the Battle Masion. Unless you’re a completist or love battling and trading online, then this game will run out of steam very quickly.

Presentation-wise Pokémon X is simply insane and never has the production values for a game in this series looked or sounded so good. Visually the graphics have had a major overhaul with the world and battles being completely rendered in polygonal 3D graphics! The world of Pokémon has taken a MASSIVE step forward in the graphical department and I say that is ABOUT BLOODY TIME! For the longest time I have been waiting for the series stop using sprites and go full-on 3D and now it’s finally happened. Seeing all of the Pokémon rendered in cel-shaded 3D models in battles with specific animations really make them stand out and emulate their traits from the anime shows. Outside of battles the new overworld looks brilliant, lively and more dynamic than ever with the varied camera angles, depth of field and a great deal of scope, especially with all the different NPCs on-screen in addition to these different environments. As for the audio it is pretty impressive on this side of things too. The soundtrack for this game is probably the best one I’ve heard since Ruby & Sapphire, it’s so different, realistic and upbeat, it is just a song for every scenario. My personal favourites would be the battle theme, Professor Sycamore’s theme and the gym leader music (which is totally badass). I think my only issue with the audio is the fact that not all of the Pokémon have voices like the anime and still rely on those terribly outdated sound effects (well, besides Pikachu).

In conclusion Pokémon X is one of the best experiences I have had with this series in a long time. For the first time in ages there actually feels like there’s some actual change, innovation and rectifications to the franchise that it so badly needed. The fancy new graphics, refined gameplay and killer online features make it one of the most addictive games for a while. That being said, this game still lacks a good offline mode once the main quest is finished and unless you’re in love with trading and battling the fun factor runs out very quickly. When all is said and done Pokémon X is still a great game for newbies and a fun time for veterans too.

Rating: 8/10 (It may be easy and lacking in offline department, but there’s enough new features to make it a game worth playing)

So have you played Pokémon X & Y? And if you have, tell me what you think of Generation VI as a whole, was it everything you hoped it would be or did you want more? Whatever your thoughts drop them in comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

Pokémon X has taken over my life!

Hi ladies and gents, just thought I’d do a quick blog post about my current status in the world of life and all that jazz. Basically I was meant to go to the cinema recently but because a little pair of new games by the names of Pokémon X and Y was released my time has been eaten up completely.

Never thought a Pokemon game would get a would have my life again like this one has.

So yeah I’m back on the Pokemon hype. I have technically played at least one game from each generation of games right from the start of those pixelated games on the Game Boy back in the 90’s. In recent years the games haven’t been on my radar because there’s been a severe lack of innovation and no hook or addictive nature that the older games had. Both Diamond and Pearl and Black and White failed to do anything for me, but then comes X and Y which really has gone above and beyond to change the basic conventions of the series and it has done so very well.

The differences from the older games to this new game is insane! Just the small things from character customization to the cel-shaded 3D graphics in and out of battle to the new online features that make connecting with other trainers SO much better than before… My god the initial hours of this game have been some of the most addictive stuff ever. Me and my mate Craig got the game on Friday and was have the best times ever just talking about the new stuff and trading Pokemon.

This was me and my mate right after we got our copies of the game. Such a happy moment!

I’ve been playing Pokemon X for two days now and I’ve been having a great session with it so far, but I’ve already fallen behind loads of other people who got the game when I did. My house mate had already gotten his mega evolution for his Blastoise and I’m sure there’s bare many people with stupid amounts of free time. I’m gonna fall so far behind yo. That being said I’m not in the mood to get into competitions with people, especially not when it comes to Pokemon. It’s just not my style. But all I know is that this’ll take up a lot of my free time so I’ll be a little late when it comes to reviewing, so sorry in advance.

But when it comes to Pokemon X I’m gonna be having a great session and I’ll take my damn time! 😀

 

Living The Rough Days

Howdy people and welcome to another blog post. Today I’m just gonna be talking about my recent episodes in life and how the life and times of me have become a tad more difficult.

Yeah, recently I’ve gotten pretty stressed out and looked a lot like this guy.

Basically I’ve just had a few setbacks in my world of recent. Firstly in the last week I’ve moved house from the horrible house I had to deal with to a much nice house 10 minutes down the road. The moving process was kind of frustrating and tedious because me and the guys had to wait for the previous tenants to clean up the house for around 4-6 hours before we could move in. Add on top of that I had so much stuff to move and only had one car, along with my dad to help move the stuff. It took ages. And then we got to the house while our landlord was going through the rules and means of paying him, I’m sure they’d changed since prior to moving in. So yeah I had to quickly fill out some cheques to keep him from hassling me.

Then I find out that he puts in the cheque that I wrote out when I have no cash, and since the cheque bounced I owed my landlord £20 more. So you may say “Why did you make a cheque for a date if you had no money?” Well when I’m under pressure and being hassled I just do things without thinking just to get the situation over and done with. So yeah not smart but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. And with all the money I was meant to pay him between now and September I was stressing out because I had no proper form of income because of the erratic nature of my agency work and the fact that I couldn’t borrow money from my family because they’d already bailed me out in my previous house.

The second major thing that’s happened is that I’ve had to start selling my stuff for money…Again. I never thought I’d have to do this again, but the time had come and I had to give up one of my most precious things, my Nintendo 3DS. When I bought that last year I was the happiest man in existence and I’ve had many great day playing games, demos, messing around on the Mii Plaza and doing all that Street Pass! But the other day I had to sell it, my god it hurt me so bad. Next to films, video games are my in my blood and for me to have to get rid of it for cash made me want to cry. Right now I am still adjusting to not having it with me, I swear life just wants me to suffer right now.

Goodbye 3DS I miss you so badly right now. 😥

And lastly I have two other issues. 1) I am feeling fairly distant from some of my friends because it feels like we’re on two different wavelengths, the compatibility is just feeling awkward and off. May need a change of people yo. And 2) I am currently having to work so hard to find work and am getting next to no results for permanent work, if I don’t get something done soon then I’ll be endangering myself and my housemates.

I know that this is probably true, but enduring it is so painful.

Anyways that’s the dramas going on with my life right now, I know it seems like fairly familiar stuff and I know that these times probably won’t last forever, but luck has always been questionable. It hasn’t been totally bad, I’ve had some fun with some friends who i haven’t seen for a long time and I’ve enjoyed being in a much better house, but the stresses of life aren’t too far away. So I dunno, we’ll see if the summer will present any fun times for me or not. Either way I really need some summertime loving right now haha.

 

Nintendo Direct E3 2013 Round-Up

Oh man, I wasn’t sure what to expect today from Nintendo’s E3 Direct video, but what we were given was surprising, interesting and frigging mint. Some elements were just throwaway bits and bobs but for the most part it was a huge improvement over last year and it has definitely got me hyped for the future. So let’s start talking about the games yo!

Pokemon X and Y

The latest Pokemon is looking good and we’ve found out the game will be released on October 12th of this year. The new features we learnt about in the game include the new Fairy Pokemon type which is effective against dragon types and includes new Evee evolution Sylveon. Another feature that was showed off was a virtual pet feature known as “Pokemon-Amie” that allowed you take care of your Pokemon. All in all the game still looks awesome, probably will get it when it comes out.

Super Mario 3D World

Now this was a nice little surprise. In this new game we have not only Mario, but Luigi, Peach and Toad, the game can support up to four player simultaneously and each of the characters have different traits that make them unique. The latest new Mario game takes inspiration from Mario 3D Land and Super Mario Bros. 2, and there are other neat references from previous games in the series too. But the main cool new feature is the Cat Suit that allows you to climbs up walls and pounce on enemies. The game basically looks great in HD and looks like it could be a fine Mario game.

Mario Kart 8

When I saw this I noticed the improved graphics but then was like meh. But then I saw watched the rest of the video and I then I got interested. In this game we have hover karts and tracks that use anti gravity that means you can race all over the place, even upside down! While I’m not as in love with the Mario Kart series as I was a few years ago I’ll gladly check this game out when it eventually launches.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

This game basically looks awesome in HD, the new make over makes for a much more beautiful game with better textures and facial expressions. The new features being added to the game is the ability to speed your boat up while travelling (thank god) and the Tingle Tuner returns but this time players will also be able to post messages to Miiverse, which exist within the game world as notes in a bottle. Notes will then wash ashore in other players’ games. Overall the game looks awesome and I can’t wait to touch it in October.

The Wonderful 101

This game just looks like chaos and that’s something I like. The only new feature announced about the game is the fact that it will now support up to five players locally in a co-op mode. I was proper hyped about the game a few months ago but now I’m not too sure that this is a game for me, either way I’m glad to see something different in Nintendo’s line-up of games.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

It seems like Retro Studio’s new game is apparently another Donkey Kong title and to be honest that kind of caught me by surprise. The game looks awesome though, the HD graphics look incredible and al the new camera angles look fab and that fact that Dixie Kong is returning is nice for nostalgic purposes.

Bayonetta 2

This game looks like a over-the-top action hack-and-slash kind of game in the vein of Devil May Cry. Bayonetta herself is rocking a new haircut and costume, but is still sexy as hell. The gameplay, style and adult nature of the game still looks intact so I’m happy with what I’m seeing.

Super Smash Bros.

Jesus Christ! Nintendo saved the best for last and took me by surprise with this video. Basically what we see here is the Smash Bros. 4 for the 3DS and Wii U. The 3DS version looks nice with its little cel-shaded graphics and what not, but the Wii U version looks GODLY with some very clean and sexy graphics. It also looks like all the basic game mechanics are the same and the gameplay looks as hectic as ever, but the new additions make the game all the sweeter. Having The Villager from Animal Crossing was the most random thing ever but at the same time its great because his unnatural moveset… But then the new challenger approached and holy fuck it was frigging Mega Man. FRIGGING MEGA MAN! WINNING! He seems to retain a lot of his classic traits from his old school games including his dog, Rush. This was the best thing ever and it made the whole Direct video worth it.

So to conclude while I didn’t get any F-Zero or Star Fox (AGAIN), I am pretty impressed with Nintendo’s presentation though I hope they have much more to offer over the next two days.