Charlie + Acid = Greenman

Jeff Green nails how I feel about games and competition in his article on Green Pixels. His final paragraph is pitch-perfect:

In any case, this is why I have adopted the "I suck at games" stance. It's an all-purpose defense mechanism that usually succeeds in bewildering and disarming anyone attempting to flame me or engage me in some kind of online pissing match. Yes, you're right, I suck. And now what? It's my own little political statement on the subject of videogaming. Calm down. Lighten up. Remind yourself why you're doing this in the first place. If you find yourself yelling into a mic or typing profanities on your keyboard or throwing your controller across the room, then I humbly submit that that might be a good sign you need to step away for awhile. If your ego is so invested in something as frivolous as video gaming, then I humbly submit that you have lost your way in life. Because there actually is something worse than not winning at video games. And that's not playing them at all.

I know I have a friend with "anger issues." I don't understand why he gets so upset (and so easily!) -- this is supposed to be fun! So you didn't win that round. Maybe there's someone better than you. Who cares? I'm more in it for the ride and the experience (you know, fun?). Winning? Not so much. Granted, it's not fun to keep losing all the time either, but that's probably when you should concentrate your energy elsewhere.

The return of the quarter-circle king

Street Fighter IV is better than any version of Street Fighter II, and that includes HD Remix. I thought I'd just put that out there. While HD Remix managed to put the fun back into SF2, SF4 is ultimately the successor that the series needed. While I still love Street Fighter Alpha and Third Strike and they're still probably my favorite fighting games, SF4 is what people that grew up with SF2 are looking for. I mean, the whole cast of SF2 is there plus some of the "new challengers" from Super Street Fighter II so anyone holding any fond memories of E. Honda or Blanka or Sagat or whoever will be pleased.

Despite what David Sirlin thinks, I think SF4 is far more accessible than any other fighting game that has come out in the past ten years. It's essentially the spirit of SF2 with a few more layers to keep things interesting. I've had great fun playing ranked matches online and I will continue to do so because it's exactly that: fun. While my win/loss ratio is probably leaning toward the latter, seeing the different tactics and quirks in other people's play style is fascinating. I had one guy playing as Abel who played the first round as a turtle trying to do mostly sweep kicks and then in the next round he was an aggressive combo machine! It certainly sent me for a loop.

While my own skill is admittedly lacking, I think that the challenge modes offered are handy in keeping you sharp. The character specific challenges are very difficult, but informative in showing higher level tactics. This is one area where I really wish I had a joystick setup, because I don't think some of the stuff is possible on a regular controller. Also, it would be very helpful if you could see a video of the move being performed with an input indicator showing you exactly what you're supposed to do since some moves that they try and have you do have very vague instructions.

If I have any negative feelings about SF4, they're very few. Mostly I think that the time spent on unlocking all the characters is unnecessarily arduous and that paying for more costumes is highway robbery from Capcom. I'd expect Namco to spit in my face regarding DLC, but not Capcom. Yet here we are being asked to pay nearly $4 for five measly costumes. For something that should be free and has no real value or purpose? Shame on you, Capcom. Otherwise, bring on Street Fighter Alpha 4!

We can't all be cowboys

Let's hit the ground running with what I remember of the Murder by Death concert. First off, the openers were fairly good. I preferred the Fake Problems to the Builders and the Butchers since they seemed to operate on more of a flat plane. I expected the Builders and the Butchers to take off at points, but ultimately they felt lacking... Like they have the backbone of what could be good music, but it's missing a hook or something.

As for the main event, I hated that I had to sit through the entirety of Red of Tooth and Claw in order to get to some Murder by Death that I actually wanted to listen to. I still think it's a very boring album and by far their weakest. Fortunately, they performed the entirety of 2003's Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them afterward to make up for it. Still the entirety of it wasn't really necessary since there are some songs ("End of the Line" in particular) that are best left for atmospheric listenings of the album and not for playing at a concert (the band admits themselves that they're depressing). Finally, Murder by Death finished the set with four excellent songs: "Shiola," "Brother," "I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," and "Those Who Stayed."

So what did I think of the level 21 Wisest Wizards overall? Pretty good, minus Red of Tooth and Claw. I would have greatly preferred to have heard all of Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing instead. Now that's a damn good album.

Grammar Lesson 1

Here's one tech-based spelling mistake that drives me nuts: disc and disk. Any optical media that is disc-shaped (e.g. circular) is a disc. This includes CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, etc. Anything that's solid state or platter-based or tape-based or whatever is a disk/diskette/hard disk. This includes old A and B drive disks, USB flash drives, and your computer's hard drive. Anyone who says disc and disk are interchangeable is lying to you, so please punch them... even if they're European. In which case, punch them harder.

And in the world of memes that have died, but people apparently haven't gotten the memo yet: the words "internets" and "interwebs" haven't been funny for at least six months.

Thank you and good day.

Moondog and Orchestra

I haven't written in a while because I've had this whole cold/flu thing going on. Some things I'll probably write about when I'm feeling better (almost there!): How much I love the TV show Dexter, how awesome Street Fighter IV is, how JCVD is, and some stuff that I forgot that I was going to say I might write about... Yeah. Concentration's not so hot right now.

Now I'm going to have some pizza rolls and enjoy one of the things that I mentioned above.

Tiger Uppercut!

So my birthday present to myself was essentially buying 4000 Microsoft Points so that I could buy Banjo-Kazooie and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. (The pre-order code I got from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts doesn't work, and I got tired of pestering GameStop about it. So I pretty much bought something twice because of Microsoft's incompetence in getting stores enough pre-order codes.)

I beat arcade mode of SF2HD last night with my old stand-by Ken. To me, SF2HD feels far more like my memory of SF2 than Street Fighter Anniversary Collection does. Oddly, the graphics look more like what I think of when I think of Street Fighter in my mind's eye than does the original game. The improved graphics somehow make the game feel fresh -- it's weird since the mechanics are essentially the same, but playing the old SF2 now feels kind of small and limited... Archaic even. Admittedly, playing SF2 in Anniversary Collection isn't very fun. Even on the easiest setting the AI is brutal. In SF2HD, easy is as it should be (unless you play classic mode).

I do have a couple of things on my mind that I wish HD Remix had though. I understand that the project was in danger of being canceled several times and that budget and time doesn't allow for the things I'm about to mention, but in my 'perfect world,' these are some of the things I'd like to see.

The major thing I'd like to see is a real training mode. Having training mode just be a round with unlimited health isn't precisely the most useful thing to someone who's actually trying to learn the game. Instead, I'd like to see something like Street Fighter IV has. Training mode should be tailored to each specific character by showing you how to create effective combos and it should also show you moves for effectively countering your opponent's. Additionally, I would like to see footage or hear interviews from the top players regarding all of the players and see how expert play with these characters actually works. This is important to me because I'd like to actually branch out from someone like Ken and learn something new. I've always been interested in becoming good with Gen from Street Fighter Alpha, for instance. But the problem is that giving me just a move list doesn't really give me any direction.

And just for kicks, I'd like to have some bonus content such as a making of documentary or a retrospective on Street Fighter. Pretty self-explanatory. Video demonstrations explaining some of David Sirlin's notes would also be of interest I think.

So all-in-all, Capcom does another superb job with updating a classic. It respects the original material while at the same time reinvigorating it and making it fresh again. Kudos to you, Capcom. The real test will come in playing it online, however. But I have faith that it will still ring true.

It's safer here

Apparently, you can make the Half-Life movie with $500.

I must say, I'm thoroughly impressed. If it where Hollywood making this, I'd say "No thanks," but this I might actually pay to see. It's a wonderful thing to see something fan-created of this caliber. It's fan fiction of the highest order, but with out the nasty residue of furries and sex that's linked with that. I certainly think it looks cooler than Terminator: Salvation. It also makes me want to finally finish Episode 2, but since Episode 3 isn't anywhere to be seen, I guess I'm in no rush.

Master of Karate and Friendship

Another one of those lazy posts where I just embed video. Possibly my favorite moment(s) on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:

"Day Man" might just rock harder than "Immigrant Song." But maybe that's just me...

Motherfucking Time Vampire!

Via digg: Sony Releases New Stupid POS That Doesn't Fucking Work:

Nobody knows when you're down and out

If I'm ever too cynical for you, or if you want your day brightened, just click this button:

Chalk marks vs. watermarks

You know what? The battery life on the iPod touch isn't very good -- except if you're only using it to play music with minimal amount of cover flow usage. Playing the first level of Fieldrunners to wave 100 used about 40 - 50% of my freshly charged battery with brightness at about 40%. YouTube seems to drain it like a mother too since it's using wi-fi as well as playing video.

I hear the iPhone's battery life is even worse. I don't know if 3G possibly drains the battery more than wi-fi or if it's the calling ability that's the culprit, but I think it's clear that what's included in both devices just doesn't cut it. If there were a removable battery, that would help things, but of course Apple chose to go style over function in this regard (see also: new 17" MacBook Pro). The best you can do is get a third-party battery pack I guess. Or you could be as anal about scrobbling tracks to last.fm as I am by syncing your device about once a day...

But I guess that's enough bitching... (Where are you free energy?)

As for Fieldrunners, I think that it along with PixelJunk Monsters and Desktop Tower Defense are the best tower defense games available. The graphics are pretty nice for an iPhone game and the interface works exactly like it should. If it where more than $5, I would say it wasn't worth it, but $3 - 5 is about right. The thing about it though is that each level makes you develop different strategies since you'll find that the one you used to complete the last level doesn't work for squat in the next. I guess the same could be said about Desktop Tower Defense's difficulty levels. Personally, I like the simplicity of easy mode with only one line of advancing enemies. A game you can only half-way pay attention to, you know?

Switching to the realm of music, I'm geeked out that last.fm is finally going forward with the first phase of cleaning all that incorrect metadata that's floating around. As a stickler for this sort of thing (thank you MusicBrainz!), I'm glad to see this finally start to roll out. I'm super excited for the next phase of the project too, which will finally merge artists who have different variations on their name. For example, Arcade Fire versus the Arcade Fire. Whereas the 'the' is needed for a group like the Smashing Pumpkins because 'smashing' is an adjective and not a verb, in the case of the Arcade Fire the 'the' is optional. Both are right since the band themselves seem to use both (although both their MySpace page and their official website simply use "Arcade Fire").

Also, this alleviates my mind since I have a friend who's ID3 tags are so fucked up and incorrect that I'd gladly pay him to sit at his computer all day and correct them. Do I have a problem? ... Yeah, I think so. Editing ID3 tags = fun? Something's wrong with me, I'm sure of it.

God damn the pusher man

I think everyone's first experience with drugs was through their dentist. I still remember my first time getting high. It involved Battletoads and some freaky music (that I still clearly remember) -- not to mention space dust and the world spinning around me with the drill as the focus point. So, thank you dentists everywhere!

Amazon fun day

I got three items in the mail from Amazon today.

First, I got a 13 month Xbox Live subscription card on the cheap. Now I can finally watch movies via Netflix streaming again! Woo-hoo! Also, this preps me for beating the shit out of everyone in Street Fighter IV... Just kidding, I'm a total scrub.

Secondly, I got a pair of RealTriggers for my PS3 controller. It works as advertised by making the PS3 controller suck less by giving it proper triggers. I don't know why Sony messed with the L2 and R2 triggers from the PS2 controller. They weren't great, but they where a hell of a lot better/more comfortable than what they have on the Sixaxis/DualShock 3. Now, if they would just wise up and put the left analog stick in the right place... Making it more ergonomic would be nice too.

And finally, I got a pair of KOSS KSC75 headphones. I hate, hate, hate my Apple earbuds and I wanted a clip-on style of headphones since I'm not too crazy about inner ear stuff (which is also far more expensive) and walking around with giant cans is for dorks. Websites like HeadRoom and Head-Fi have praised these up and down as the best thing you could possibly spend $16 on. Maybe later on I'll get something more "serious," but right now I wanted something that I would feel comfortable walking around campus in. Although they are ugly as sin... Not very discrete either... But hey, they sound pretty good. Plus there's bass, which the Apple earbuds did not have.

So what's next on the docket? I thought about purchasing Persona 3: FES and Persona 4 before they become too rare. I hear great things about these games, and although playing pretty much any PS2 game now makes me loathe to even glance at my TV, I think I should give them a shot. Also, owning Final Fantasy XII might be a good idea. I give it a bit of a hard time, but I do think that it's a very good game that unfortunately comes out half-baked in the story department.

Favorite song of the moment

"Down the Line" by José González. I don't know what's up with the video though... If a beast escaped the Island of Doctor Moreau to become a lonely countryside hooligan on an ATV? It's creepy, and I really don't like it, but it's the song that's important. So avert your eyes if you must.