I tend to live in a gaming world. Not just to play, but to express and inform as well. You can see plenty of just that as the posts continue to come over time.
So, here we are, towards the end of another year. Here I am, making a post before Christmas Eve. A time of celebration and people show their true colors as well. Christmas is all supposed to be about what you give to others and a good time spent with such people. Friends and family time. Of course that comes later, onto some games.
PlayStation 3 - PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Sony Smash Bros. as I commonly refers to it as, with good reason, has enough similarities in it to Smash to just pick up and play. When you start playing Ranked Matches and such, you start to realize how very different the game is. Even in playing Arcade Mode, you see this. When you play online however, you are forced to think and use your supers properly, with good timing and predict things that you opponents are going to do. This is the case with any fighter but being able to do this with no lag is what keeps me going. Bring a friend to do 2v2s, and you're golden. It gets points over Smash Brawl for this reason and will keep it in my PS3 for months to come.
You will see this. A lot...
PC - League of Legends
This is a strange pick for anyone that knows me and for me personally as I am still trying to learn this game. Based on games I have played and skills I've become used to, I think I've decided on a Champion. That being said, I'm told you don't really "main" a Champion and should know how to play with multiple Champions. There's something to this feeling like you have an army, with a team of five (yourself included) against an opposing army. A game that seems so simple, in theory, but once you play for yourself, you may find yourself not just curious about the game but stuck. There always seems to be something to learn. I'm still misplaced on my feelings with this game, but it has me interested enough to have made time for in a already busy schedule. That being said, I haven't touched Torchlight II yet, and I'm not even gonna get started on Diablo III. I already did that.
Badass Sword. Badass Female. The bunny suit is a bonus. Thank you, Jeremy.
Nintendo Wii - Super Smash Bros Brawl
Alright, so this one didn't come out this year. Well, I didn't want to leave out the Wii. Unfortunately, since I got the console for Christmas for some time ago, the very reason I wanted a Wii is still the only game I'm really that attached to, provided I have friends to have fun with it in. If I want to play online, I'll stick with PlayStation All-Stars. That's all I've got.
Peach Power!
Xbox 360 - Halo 4
Honestly, this whole list is somewhat surprising, because every game on here I have originally thought not much of. Except Smash and that's the one out of all of these I come to the least. Go figure. Anyway, sidetracked, Halo 4.
I hated on this franchise for multiple reasons. Ignorant twelve year-olds who think Halo revolutionized console shooters, being taken advantage of in Halo 3 when I first attempted to play the game, and others I can't remember. I decided to try it. I had little faith in both this and Black Ops 2 but I knew they would be hot games regardless. As it turns out, Black Ops II continued to only bring so much different to the table, while Halo 4 just flat out impressed me. The multiplayer works much better than any Call of Duty since the original Modern Warfare ever will, and the campaign was quite enjoyable; on Solo Legendary. Yep, first Halo game I play and this is what I do. Short story, I succeeded at this earlier today. I will probably make a separate post to get into all this after Christmas. Maybe before the new year. We will see.
These things are assholes. All of them.
Well, that will just about do it. With holiday cheer, comes holiday rushing out the door due to horrible planning. For now, I must run. Merry Christmas everyone and with Christmas, came yet another video. Yep, even right before Christmas Eve I'm putting out content. I play through the Giana Christmas level.
Street Fighter X Mega Man is a fan project brought to life and with this fan project came a much a needed revival to the Mega Man franchise. The game accomplishes successfully closing out the anniversary of Street Fighter and starting the Mega Man one with a bang. You can see why the name is what it is based on everything just said. The game mostly succeeds and is a great things too see. The future of Mega Man may be safe yet, but what is a fun game is simply over way too quickly.
You are treated to eight new master robots or excuse me, "World Warriors", that Mega Man has to of course defeat and take shier powers. If you have played any Mega Man game before, you know exactly what to expect here. What makes this experience different is that you see this version of classic Mega Man with brand new music that changes between 8-bit themes of the Street Fighters themselves, or clever mixes of other classic Mega Man tunes mixed with such 8-bit Street Fighter themes. The music is a strong point for the game, and was fan-made as well. Fans of both franchises will be treated to great level design and somewhat of a challenge. This Mega Man game in particular will have you doing things you did not in any other classic game such as Dhalsim's level that offers somewhat of a maze experience, climbing ladders not just straight up or down, and bosses that chase you the whole level. Real treats await past the initial eight bosses. As far as the bosses go, they may seem a bit frantic and complex at first. Once you get past the fact that each boss will from time to time throw a super move at you and you have the proper boss order, as mentioned before, you will get through this pretty quickly.
I've mentioned the length of the game now twice. It is rather short for two reasons. For one, it's about the length of the original Mega Man or Mega Man 2 as opposed to the later games that would have a castle, then another castle leading up to Dr. Wily. Because of this, the decision would be made to not have a save system, nor a password system. The other problem is that the game was toned down in difficulty in comparison to Mega Man 9 or even Mega Man 10 that had it's moments. When the novelty wears off, it will be easy to dismiss this game as a tease for what it to come for the Mega Man franchise. With all that being said however, this game is worth trying out if for no other reason than because it's free.
You gain the ability to slide and charge shots again, which were missing in 9 and 10 respectively, and they are very welcome additions considering how crazy some of the stages and bosses are upon first playthrough. I have no doubt that fans will enjoy this game, but at the end, a feeling of being underwhelmed and wanting more are a very likely possibility. The only real incentives to go back are to try and unlock the "Secret Boss" or to play each level with a special code that enables you to listen to a cleverly named track called "Goes With Everything". Luckily, it seems that Mega Man is indeed back and hopefully this is the start of good things to come throughout the Blue Bomber's 25th Anniversary.
It's 5:10 am. I've been up since around 4 am. Why? Well, I set myself up for it, and I'm also anxious/excited about the Mega Man 25th Anniversary Video I am going to be putting out just tomorrow. Let's just right into the topic though. Gaming is always in my life, so I'm trying to make a name for myself. Problem is, I have to juggle that with the need to find a job that grows more and more desperate by the day.
A few weeks back, I made a post about The Future of Video Gaming Hard Corps and this is kind of a follow-up to that as well as clarity. I tend to jump in an out of things. While gaming will always be in my life, I still seek my gaming niche. When running a community, I have to get my feet wet with quite a bit to entertain as well as socialize. While the past six months have not been successful for a job that is paying the bills, I have two as a writer for GamerSyndrome and Examiner.com. The interesting part about the latter is the focus I've put in since it has the most potential to get my name out there and the fact that I've been examining my life quite a bit lately. As cool as it is doing the things I do with VGHC are, I can do better for myself as a person.
I'm not trying to take away from VGHC, I just think that part of this passion I have for it should also be put into strengthening my life as a whole. I've been distant from friends. This has been for several reasons. I won't list them, as I don't want this to be some big emotional post or anything like that, but 2013 is gonna be different and I see it as a year of change. I already have as a person and a close friend that told me he didn't even know who I was anymore. This was however because I finally decided to try out a big gaming franchise I hated on for years. The franchise being Halo, and with Halo 4, I'm loving every minute of it. The point is this, I seek stability. I want it in my life. This means in my family, friends, future girlfriend, and career. Not a job. Jobs are temporary, a career is what moves you forward and you feel comfortable in (hopefully) also with benefits. The closest thing I've ever had to that was my old job, and this new gig over at Examiner, which I recently got promoted in.
It's easy for people to look back and call this lack of a real social life "sad" or "lame" or "boring", but it benefits me. I've been doing me for some time now, because I need it. I've held myself back in life always because of something and things just need to be put in motion. With VGHC 3.0, I plan to have a job to help support that, still write content for places, and continue to take the stances I do for self-respect. With all of this however comes the point in life I've been referring to as "the storm". A storm's coming. I can feel it. It's already started. I'm more willing to push aside the ones who I comes to realize don't really support me or really care if they have me in their lives or not. I think it will continue. Some of these realizations are more harsh than others, and I fear one very close is coming when this new site rolls out. I will have no choice but to face the storm though, because in the end the steps I've taken with VGHC have helped me as a person and made me feel good about bringing up something in gaming from the ground up with the potential for even more growth. In the end, I won't compromise what I feel is ideal for the brand. 3.0 means stick to what works, ditch what doesn't. The problem is, what currently doesn't was part of our "focus" and I'm simply not willing to put in the effort when to this day, I'm the only one who has unless the name "Triple Threat" is involved, and even as far as that goes, I have much to consider.
I'm laid back, and too nice of a guy to be the leader I need to be at times and that's the part that really sucks about the whole thing. I don't regret any of it though. I'm most thankful for the ones I don't know that actually stick around to talk to me or even just leave a comment on my videos. Sometimes that makes all the difference and tells me that I'm not wasting my time. No one is getting any younger. Sticking to what works and ditching what doesn't applies to life as well. The excuses end here. I just want results. Stability.
There is no way this wasn't happening. Everyone that knows me is aware of my love for Mega Man. Hell, I have a sub-series dedicated to it on the VGHC YouTube channel called "Mega Madness". The full title was indeed "Mega Madness: Tributes to the Blue Bomber" but I ditched the sub-title in favor or making things more simple and organized on the channel, but enough about all that.
If you are here, you are aware of my preview video, because I will be debuting it here on my personal blog. Since we are in the process of re-creating the Video Gaming Hard Corps website, I didn't want to post something there in case we are not able to hold onto old content (which I believe we will be able to do, so no worries). The benefit to coming here outside of seeing the video are details for a even further sneak peek on what I have been working on over the past week. Also, while this is the perfect video for "Mega Madness" it will be under the latest review playlist, reason being is that I basically combine everything I've done on the channel thus far, and put it into this video. Rants, game impressions, music rants, ect. All being said, let's get into some details.
- New intro just for "Mega Madness" videos from this point on.
- A new run of the very first Mega Man was done, just for this video, only clips for time sake.
- Permission granted to VGHC to use a song by "The Megas" for my ending montage portion of the video
- Mentions of other Mega Man themed music you should hear
- My personal feelings on the first Mega Man and the series as a whole
- A clip taken from the TV series to illustrate a particular point
- None of our usual links will be attached to this video and is strictly a Mega Man tribute vid.
I think that about covers everything. Total run time I believe is close to twenty minutes or just below. You didn't think I'd be able to shorten this, did you? Don't be silly. Really though, it was a person mission of mine to put out this special video to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a series that I hold very close to me. Because of this, I've worked hardest on this video and it shows. That being said, I'm no professional video editor. I haven't spent this much time editing any videos outside of places I'm sure I'll never get proper credit for them, but was done for the greater good. With all being said, this will be the biggest things for the VGHC YouTube channel and the brand as a whole until the 3.0 site rolls out. As I post this, final touches are being put on the video so it is ready to go on Dec. 17, which leads me into one more thing I want to reveal...
I will be streaming Street Fighter x Mega Man on Dec. 17, since that is now a thing. You can read more about that here and here. Enough talk from me, check out my preview and stay tuned to the YouTube channel on the 17th for the full video. I can't wait to share it with everyone probably more so than anything I've done thus far.
Just yesterday, the opportunity presented itself to be able to try out the Wii U. A small gathering was arranged with friends to be able to test this system out to see what it was all about. Four of us in total, we all sat and chatted around the TV until the Wii U finished it's initial setups and installs. This process was boring, took way too long, and I'm sure none of you want to hear about it. Let's pretend we didn't spend about a hour and a half waiting to play and get right into this.
Nintendo Land, if you buy the Deluxe Edition of the Wii U (highly recommended) is actually pretty fun. I do think much like Wii Sports, once the novelty wears off, people won't be coming back to it much. It has much more to offer than Wii Sports ever did, and has some clever and fun games. I could picture people getting together and having some laughs over some of the games. After about an hour though, it will likely be put down. Consider Nintendo Land an appetizer of sorts. Considering the experience we ended up having, calling Nintendo Land an appetizer is not a stretch at all. We were just getting started. Some of the games leave a bit more to be desired from them, but is a nice introduction to what the Wii U can do. Now if only Monita (Nintendo Land companion tutorial bot) would not talk as much and stop one from playing and exploring for themselves, that would be great. Really annoying at first but naturally as you progress, she shuts up a bit. Excuse me, let me not say that. She closes her mouth for a bit and lets you enjoy the Nintendo Land experience. Hopefully the "Miiverse Police" didn't see my vulgar language I used there.
Moving on and jokes aside, let's talk about the "main event" game. The one Nintendo gets right, like it or not, every single time. Mario. Is it the same Mario game you have played about three times now? Yes, yes it is. If you have played any of the New Super Mario Bros games, you know exactly what you are getting with this. That's not a bad thing though, and the game looks impressive in HD. You run, you jump, you ride on Yoshi. New fun is provided with the new "Flying Squirrel" suit and the inclusion of Baby Yoshis, all with different abilities to help progress in the game. The game was made with the fans in mind. It's a good thing they put lots of love into this title in particular of the NSMB games, otherwise I would be telling a much different story here.
The most fun actually comes from that 5th player, assuming you have four others as the Mario Bros and the two Toad characters. The person with the gamepad can place platforms to help or hurt you. We had a nice combination of both, and the latter led to quite some funny moments in the game. All while enjoying the best parts of Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3 thrown into a blender. Combine this with one crazy co-op package, also making it in high definition and you have New Super Mario Bros. U. Not much new to be expected, but it's the Mario we all know and love. We spent hours playing the game. If we weren't short on time, I think we would have played through the entire game.
With all being said, the problem is this; will it last? Once that experience is done and over with, what keeps you coming back? Mario is fun and all, but doesn't carry the same reply value as the multiplayer heavy titles of today. The efforts to make this better are there from Nintendo this time around. There is a much stronger focus on the third party titles this time around, much more so than with the original Wii system. For the ones who dismiss first party titles now as being "kids games" you need something to capture that audience looking for something more. Zombie U, Bayonetta 2 (in the future), there is improvement. Nintendo has also shown that they have picked up on social trends with the efforts of Miiverse and TVii. The latter cannot really be talked about though, because apparently said features have been delayed.
One may have a problem calling the Wii U a "next-gen" system, because let's be honest, Nintendo is playing catch up. Regardless though, Nintendo has proven in the past that this doesn't matter as long as you have a decent line-up of games. Nintendo needs to prove just that to gamers and also deliver on the ability to offer a fresh new take on those pre-existing titles, such as Assassin's Creed III and Ninja Gaiden: Razor's Edge. Give people a reason to want to play these games that probably were already played on previous generation systems. These same concerns have some conflicted about whether or not they want to buy a Wii U. Also, the built in storage space leaves much to be desired. If you plan to buy a Wii U, I would suggest skipping over the "Basic" and buying the "Deluxe".
If you want to see what it looks like, we have a unboxing video for you.
Will Nintendo last in the new generation of gaming, or will people stop caring after a year or two? It shall be a interesting future for Nintendo.
WARNING: I shall attempt to make this post and have it as spoiler proof as possible, but I fear in making some points I want to make that I WILL spoil some points of the movie. If you are okay with this, please read on. You have been warned.
Let's just get one thing out of the way. Whether you come into this movie as a casual or hardcore gamer, YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT! I have made two posts in the past about "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" and "Indie Game: The Movie" via Video Gaming Hard Corps, but I approach this post in a slightly different way. The previous two movies are indeed documentaries, while this one is a Disney film that has gotten the attention of several gamers, due to it's several gaming cameos. I am here to tell you that you definitely want to watch this as it is a great movie. I'm also here to tell you that I see more in this movie than most probably do.
Enter Litwak's Arcade. A place that could easily make you think of Funspot Arcade. Also, the owner of the place could make you think of Walter Day (founder of Twin Galaxies). He has the ref uniform and everything. You are instantly treated a nod to the arcade generation of gaming. While some of us wonder what an "Arcade" is nowadays, this movie is entirely based on what goes on behind the scenes of these arcade games. I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here though.
The main focus of the movie from the start is with Ralph. His job, is a crappy one. He is the villain in a video game called Fix-It Felix, Jr. When you get a close look at this game, it looks like Donkey Kong, for sure. Upon starting the game, Ralph comes in with the infamous "I'm Gonna Wreck It!" quote and destroys a building while people panic, and Felix Jr. goes around fixing things. Felix Jr. is also introduced upon starting the game, with a cheesy phrase "I Can Fix It!" and a golden hammer. You get a preview of what the game is like as Ralph tells his sad story. When Felix Jr. does his job in-game, he gets a medal, while Ralph simply gets thrown off the building, being the bad guy and all. When Litwak's Arcade closes, several of the characters in various arcade games in the store all gather in a place known as the Game Central Station as the Wreck-It characters all celebrate in a Penthouse of sorts. Where does that put Ralph? Well, he's just a bad guy in a video game, so he gets a pile of bricks and a stump while everyone else lives the good life. Poor Ralph.
The main plot, told by the trailers, is that Ralph is sick of being the bad guy. He reveals this in what looks to be like a therapy session. A support group, to be more precise, where all the villains of the various arcade games gather. In this very scene, you get various gaming cameos from Zangief, M. Bison, and Bowser, just to name a few. When Ralph makes the aforementioned announcement, the villains are worried that he might "Go Turbo" (this is explained later and main plot point) and they proceed to tell him that bad guys cannot change who they are. On the way back from this meeting, he finds not only the people from his game in the Penthouse as usual, but they are throwing a party. It's the 30th anniversary for the game, and nobody invited him. Ralph attempts to be a part of the party, but eventually Ralph becomes annoyed by the things said to him and does what he does best. Wrecking things. It is at this point where he is told he will never be accepted as the rest, and doesn't earn a medal like Felix does. This sets the tone for the movie.
Now I don't want to get into too many spoilers, so I'm only going to list a few things from time to time to help prove my point I want to eventually make with this post. Ralph's journeys take him into other arcade games. Over time, Litwak's Arcade starts to lose some of it's older games because eventually they become "Out Of Order" which basically means they get phased out and replaced with newer games. The machine will be looked at and repaired if possible, but eventually the arcade cabinets just die out and get replaced accordingly. He travels to "Hero's Duty" (another arcade game) in attempt to win a medal and runs into Sergeant Calhoun who exists in a first person shooter type game. Not only is Calhoun a take nobody's crap type of lady, but Ralph is introduced at this point to a first person shooter type game. His journeys eventually take him to another modern game known as "Sugar Rush" which a candy themed kart racing game. Here he meets Vanellope von Schweetz. She has her own story similar to Ralph's as to why she is not wanted. She is a glitch in the game, and because of this, is treated similar to how Ralph is treated. So the two of them find themselves as friends. Retro and Modern. How about that?
Similar to the above, Felix crosses paths with Sergeant Calhoun, in his attempts to find Ralph. While Ralph is on his journey, suddenly everyone cares. Without Ralph, the game doesn't work right, and is subject to being "Out Of Order" so Felix searches for him. When running into Calhoun, it's a interesting dynamic between the two. Much like Ralph and Vanellope, they hate each other at first, but learn to appreciate one another. That's all I will be saying on that. Once again though, Retro meets Modern. Lots of scenes take place in this journey that eventually has all four of these characters in the same place, at the same time. When they work together, they learn to appreciate one another and work better as a team. Vanellope uses her glitching to good use and Felix Jr helps fix broken roads and overall helps Calhoun in situations she otherwise can't seem to handle on her own.
Imagine if gamers stopped complaining about every little thing, and dealt with it? Glitches were awesome back in the day, and you were awesome if you found one. It's bound to happen considering that games now require that much more to make. As long as it isn't game breaking or preventing you from progressing in the game, perhaps it's not so bad. Maybe we can accept those glitches for what they are or simply wait for a patch to likely fix it. With multiplayer, I would say deal with it as well unless a glitch gave one team or the other an unfair advantage somehow, or a certain weapon was overpowered. Not everything is worth complaining about, is my main point here.
Towards the end of the movie, this very point of Retro and Modern both existing in the same world (an arcade world that is), is further proven by something Ralph says. I can't remember the exact quote, but he says something along the lines of Wreck-It Ralph (referring to the game) is now considered a Retro Game, which is basically old, but cool.
This movie, to me, puts out a hidden message that perhaps all types of gamers can exist together. The movie succeeds in doing just that, with cute characters, but an interesting enough story (with gaming cameos and a stupid amount of clever product placement) to make this world a reality - in movie form. It does a good job of showing all types of games, even more modern "violent" games, while keeping it PG. This is a family movie, but also covers many generations of gaming. It's something that can be appreciated by people, no matter how old you are.
Pros:
- A story of being left out
- Several, several gaming cameos
- Clever use of the Konami Code (watch the movie to find out)
- Is a great display of gaming culture, while keeping it PG for all ages to enjoy
- The acting is superb, and you really feel for the characters and their personal struggles
Cons:
- Would have liked to see more of the other gamer cameos perhaps more involved in the movie
- The soundtrack (it's not bad, but there's missed potential here, I'll explain)
This is a great movie, but it isn't going to teach you any lessons like a documentary of sorts. If you are an older gamer, chances are you notice a thing or twenty about this movie. So many things to notice. Rainbow Road anyone? I'll go as far as to say though that kids may see some of this stuff and wonder what it is, and perhaps even be curious enough to play it. Gaming isn't just about your Halos and CoDs, or even about your Zeldas and Marios. It's also about a time where arcades were a big deal, and Pac-Man and Pong was amazing. Although harder to find now, arcades do still exist, and people indeed have fun in them.
There are many gamer related characters featured in this movie. Now while I did put this as a con, I suppose they wanted to focus on their very own video game based characters, which definitely aren't bad. The one that are not original had limited roles, and the most of them are seen casually throughout the movie or just at the support group. Sonic and Q*Bert in particular however, stood out. Sonic because he talks and mentions in Game Central Station that if you die outside of your game, it's game over. Him getting run into and dropping rings was also a plus. Q*Bert talks with both Ralph and Felix Jr. at key points in the plot.
About the soundtrack thing, it could have been better. The reason I say it's missed potential is because this movie does span several gaming generations. They used all modern music. Why not chiptune music as well, to represent the older games? Sure, use Skrillex and Rihanna if you must, but why not some 8-Bit Weapon or Sabrepulse to go with it. Or here's a better idea. Go with Anamanaguchi, and make up for the music you clearly stole for that PIXEL'D app you made sometime back, eh Disney?
In conclusion, this is just one huge gaming appreciation movie that is a must see for gamers. For non-gamers, I would still highly recommend it. It exceeds in doing so much in a mere ninety-three minutes. When this comes out on Blu-Ray, I'M GONNA BUY IT! Expect me to randomly change out "wreck" in place of other words in normal speech, to quote this movie of course, from this point forward.
Greetings once again readers. I know there are likely only a select few of you who may see this unless it blows up for some reason. For the sake of sounding more "professional" I will refrain from using the curse words that were used in my angry Mega Man rant over in the VGHC Facebook Group. Since I've already set the tone for being not pleased, and referenced what I'm not happy about right in the title, let's get right into this.
Let's skip the intro and get right into this, shall we? I'm glad I waited so long to make this version, because it's gonna make things even better!
Anyone that has been following Capcom lately - well it speaks for itself. They have been putting out things that have been disappointing for some - Resident Evil 5, anyone? Now we also have 6 to look at. Apparently also crap. Go figure.
Really...call him. Please.
I want to put you all in my shoes here. I know of this news, but none of it matters to me. Will I poke fun at it? Absolutely. Do I really care? No, no I don't. What I care is that the Blue Bomber I spent a good portion of my childhood with returns to it's past glory, and if it won't, for the love of god just leave Mega Man be. I'd really appreciate if you guys bring him back, but you're too busy fucking up Resident Evil and making multiple versions of your fighters (with on disc DLC) to care, eh?
Let me ask a question. What do you get, when you take the Mega Man from Battle Network, put some white armor on him, similar to X, and make it look like as if he has a winter coat on?
Christmas Mega Man anyone? This isn't quite what I had in mind for his american 25th anniversary come December.
Maybe it's just me...moving along though. This is OVER-1. Yeah, you heard me. The character you see above is called OVER-1. Amazing! So the impostor Mega Man you see pictured above was apparently created in a collaboration between Dr. Cossack and Dr. Light. This was done to save the "Crossover World" that is under attack by of course Wily and Sigma, because why not right? No, I'm sorry. I can't accept this. This makes no goddamn sense. You can customize this new character with Battle Memory, which makes you think maybe it's referencing now three different Mega Man series games, but to compare this to any of them I think would be an insult. Is this how Capcom brings Mega Man back? Is this the way to celebrate one of their biggest title's 25th anniversary? The answer - hell no! This is a mockery of what could have been. It gets better, I'm not even done yet. The game will be "free to play" but will charge for items and such. Sound familiar? Silly micro-transactions. You know what else has those? Stupid Facebook games (they are all stupid, IMO). The mention of Facebook was done intentionally. This is a "social game" and you can summon your friends to battle with you if you happen to find someone else stupid enough to play this game with you. So, OVER-1 is created the way he is according to story, but everyone can customize their own OVER-1 character that I assume is what gets sent into battle, and you guys can battle together and talk about how totally awesome your OVER-1 model is and I'm so OVER this nonsense. Really, I am. I can't believe THIS is what you guys have to offer. If "Remember Me" didn't interest me so much, I'd rent DmC, and just call it a day with you guys. This shit is absurd. What else is there really to say? Not much. Oh, excuse me guys, I forgot one more thing! If you're sold on this game that sounds super special awesome, you can play it on iOS! Yep, on iOS - and that's it. I have no more to say on this game, I will now explain my frustration before finding out more about this silly game that I honestly overlooked and took for a joke anyway.
Really, it doesn't matter what this exists on. Seriously. Someone made this same game in Flash. In fucking Flash. If this doesn't speak for itself about the quality of this game, I'm not sure what does. Capcom's Senior Vice President, Christian Svensson had the following to say about the Mega Man franchise: "I (and probably I alone, so please don't ascribe said belief to "Capcom") think one of the problems MM has had as a brand is that we've had too many competing splinter sub-brands within it. I'm not sure starting yet another is the way to get the franchise as whole back on track more than creating greater brand confusion, but we'll take it under advisement." Well, maybe this is the one man's said opinion, but it was Capcom's decision as a whole to keep putting out the games, even when Keiji Inafune himself didn't want to go on with them. So yeah, I'm going to blame Capcom. Who are we going to blame? Did the fans not give you enough input? Definitely not the case there. Speaking of fans, which Capcom has clearly forgotten about over the years, most fans know, X5 was supposed to be the end. This would lead into the Mega Man Zero series. Capcom went on with the X series anyway, and well, we know how that went. You guys killed the X series (you bastards), fine, I'll deal. You guys made several other spin-offs as well, and somewhere down the line Inafune left. Now Mega Man is one big joke, because all we get is a mockery of him in Street Fighter X Tekken and skins for Zero in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. How about a Mega Man 11, in the style of 9 and 10 before it? Credit to Xavier "xm" Dang and company for making an attempt (and a damn good one at that) at what this could possibly be like. Hell, talk up a deal with him about the art/music that went in to this project and put THAT out. How about a proper burial for Mega Man if you guys clearly don't care about him anymore. Better yet, a proper burial through a proper celebration for the 25th anniversary of the franchise. It's not ALL about Street Fighter (and it's several versions) you know? I'm gonna get off-topic here for a second...
I'll give you guys some credit, you decided to go free with the DLC that was on disc with RE6 instead of charging us for it like assholes like you did with SFxT. Now call me one of those who should be told "I'm not entitled to anything". Well, technically, you're right. I read a post not too long ago on ScrewAttack talking about the whole DLC thing on disc and actually got into a debate with a friend about the exact same thing. The post on ScrewAttack however ended his post with one simple comment. The only real way to fix this is to not buy the game. Problem is, most will buy and just deal. I'll be smart and simply not buy, because really, times are tough. I expect to get what I pay for when I buy it, and if you want to hide something from me even though I already have said product in my hand, so be it. I don't agree with it, and I won't support it.
Back to my original point, now that I got that out of the way. Both franchises (Mega Man and Street Fighter) were responsible for bringing you guys to make your Resident Evils, Dragon's Dogma, and now DmC - you get the idea. Is it so hard to bring back a franchise that not just myself, but several people out there want back in it's true form? I have a separate sub-series on my videos dedicated to the better days of Mega Man, because I definitely can't expect anything new, so why not, right? I've been waiting from a solid effort from you guys. You blame it on Mega Man having this identity crisis, but you guys decided to whore out the franchise much like Square-Enix whores out Final Fantasy. You know what happens when you do that? Your fans give up on you. I hope justice is served here, and perhaps you guys have something up your sleeve for later this year.
This lack of a good Mega Man game is killing me. Especially since X7 and X8 were garbage. I can forgive it. Just bring it back. Even classic had it's crap games (the same numbers funny enough). The lack of Mega Man is a running joke. We want the Blue Bomber back. THIS is not enough. Repackaging existing music as a celebration? Maybe with some super awesome game collection to go with it. Look what you guys did for Street Fighter. Where's the same love for Mega Man? Why must I keep seeing games that I compare to it, and not be able to make that comparison to a more modern game? Why must I keep doing things such as having backgrounds made, buy shirts, listen to your soundtracks like crazy, ect in order to remind myself that Mega Man doesn't suck?
Mega Man sucks because of YOU Capcom. You and you alone. You can make all the excuses you want, but this can be done. You just don't want to. It's such an easy way to make fans not hate some of the more recent stunts you have pulled with either killing off game franchises or shady practices. December is coming...and I will be waiting. Impatiently, but still waiting... Until I hear any confirmation of this, I'll keep playing the older games I happen to enjoy very much. I'll be passing on Megaman Xover and awaiting a proper Mega Man title. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go searching right now for a copy of Mega Man Soccer instead. Or better yet, make a hard copy of Xover for me, so I can smash the living hell out of it. - Victor Max Vellon Commissioner and Leader
Credit comes where credit is due. With the help of the VGHC core (Jeremy, Dustin, Ray), Dan being there for support during preparations to help test streams/audio levels, and Tom being there for what I just mentioned and live tweeting at the event itself, we've been able to run two successful tournaments, with the second being so much better than the first it not even funny. Definitely proud of this one. In addition to tournaments, there are obviously discussions, promotion, ect, that goes into it. It's not easy, but mostly business related, even if we aren't one. It's treated like one. All to build up to that one day of excitement. It makes what is done all worth it in the end, to have people come up to you personally, and thank you for having these tournaments. I knew Jeremy already, easy pick. The rest were friends of friends and all connected. This is one side of the story.
On the social end, because it is not business related, and also the foundation of the brand, there is more I can speak about from that end. Just so I'm not taking away from the competitive end, I'll try to be as brief as possible. Matter of fact, I won't even give details. I will list results. VGHC over time has continued to grow in the Facebook Group, which are the roots. During Triple Threat II promotion/more social posting on the page that I have done, as well as putting through promotional effort done by both Dustin and Ray, likes have come in. I'd say about seven to ten new ones, at least, since the time of working on Triple Threat II and getting more active with one of the latest social features, VGHC Radio. We just got a new one, actually. Running the Twitter page, I've gotten 277 followers. I will take credit for that as I have been the only one to run it. The VGHC Radio has brought some more people to the site. The efforts of Dan, Srakin, Senkei and myself have pushed a trend for people to simply come and join in on our crazy gaming track rotations. We've got some regulars along at least one of us that are there most hours of the day. The efforts of Triple Threat brought in four new followers on Twitch. My streams thus far (random content related) have gotten two. It will be a continued thing though.
Here what it all comes down to. Competitive and Social aspect WILL co-exist. No one is greater than the other, and both have benefits to VGHC as a brand. The problem? The both need to be properly maintained in order to be completely effective, and to be quite frank, I can't do it all. Part of this is my fault, because I take it amongst myself to do things, but the other part is simply not having people that can do it, or want to do it. Let me just give an example of what I'd like to see.
- A competitive scene on the VGHC site, which otherwise isn't there outside of Triple Threat.
- We (social) figure things out and launch our podcast already.
- VGHC becoming a LLC (at least).
- News posts to be more frequent on the main page of the site.
- VGHC Teams? An idea brought up by Dustin that I want to see take off.
- Actual events for some of the bigger gaming soundtracks to come, for the VGHC Radio plug.dj lobbies.
- Dedicated strategies for both Facebook Page and Twitter accounts.
This is just a few things, I'm sure I'm forgetting more. I have content to manage for both Twitch pages, as well as the YouTube channel. Aside from all this, I'm trying to make a name for myself in the gaming world through blog posts on VGHC, Players of America, and GamerSyndrome.
One can't do it all though, and I've started getting help in certain things, but I need a system to be able to manage it all and not have to worry about much outside of it being done or not done. As I continue to work on previous vids to put out for content, other plans are being thought of. I no longer want VGHC to pick up steam and then just disappear, and that's for both ends of the brand respectively.
I'm also, admittedly, still jobless. I'd like this to change soon, then things can REALLY get in motion, because let's face it, money makes the world go round. I am thankful for everyone I have worked with throughout this journey thus far, just know that change is coming, and it will be for the better. If you're involved, you're in for a wild ride.
tl;dr version:
Strengthen the competitive end of VGHC so it does more than just Triple Threat with the hype leading up to it and further branch out social efforts to improve on a already successful formula that has been mostly responsible, at this current time, for pushing VGHC's fan base to where it is now.
Fair warning, this one does get personal, but is still mostly gaming related, given what I do for a passion. I also will try to not stay on one point for very long before moving onto the next. I have lots I want to say, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on any of them. Just want to get things out. Hence, this blog post. Here it goes...
My birthday last year changed everything. My outlook on life, me as a person, and probably the most important thing that came of it. I gained more of a backbone than I previously had, and also pushed the idea that is Video Gaming Hard Corps out there that much more. Some of you may think it's all I speak of lately. Well, why not? I'm proud of something that WAS nothing. Given the journey into competitive gaming, this could mean big things for the brand.
A big thing that has happened though, or better yet hasn't happened is a real push for the competitive side. I'm not going to sit here and point fingers because one of the biggest problems is organization, and that's a problem as a whole for planning these bigger events. Even with complications, things seem to be in order. So much has happened since VGHC was only a Facebook Group that only consisted of local friends and friend of those friends. I've interacted with many, and pushed the brand more so than most realize. What might not seem like much to most, I've watched it grow, obviously. Never expected to get nearly as far as I am now and it only gets better.
A big obstacle has been finances and it continues to be. As my journey to find a job continues, I've pushed both the brand and myself to simply get out there and get known. For what, who knows? I stumbled upon Players of America and GamerSyndrome. Two sites that let me express myself freely, much like I do on the YouTube channel and VGHC site. I've also now worked on three collab posts. One for VGHC with Tom, one with Flapperdoodle on ScrewAttack, and one with Nathan Jang of GamerSyndrome. I've had my hands full lately. I keep it that way because it makes me not stressed and I can say I did something at the end of the day.
I've met some great people leading to more great people, which from time to time lead to some of these people working alongside me. Tom Hall, the best man I've had the pleasure of running to online thus far, sees my vision. There are many people I treasure a relationship with, but this man works with me, understands my visions for VGHC and also is coming for Triple Threat II. Some of these connections lead to other connections for myself and even for others.
I've started a completely different division of VGHC to go with the social practices via the plug.dj site. Enter VGHC Radio, where me and three other mods , one of them being one of my longest known friends, Dan Janoff, sit in a lobby that plays gaming tracks, chiptune, and gaming covers most of the day. You can also chat on the side as well. We've even gotten some artists such as Dave and Leon (guitarists) from The Cartridge Family, the one man genius behind Pokemon Reorchestrated (Braxton Catherwood), and Dj CUTMAN! I plan on putting something out to talk about this new "experience" of sorts at some point, where all involved will be getting the credit deserved.
As far as credit goes, the first Triple Threat was great, but bothered me very much. The small flaws got to me. We started working on Triple Threat II. Jeremy Waxman, Dustin Steiner and myself sat down and plotted what to do about things, how we were going to have a tournament, and replace our lost member, Jose Denis. The answer was our best commentator at our first tournament, Ray Linsalato. All of us, each using different strategies of sorts put out this tournament in a much better way than we did the first time around.
It hasn't been easy, and it's thanks to Jeremy that I can even hold it all together sometimes, and I can't honestly think of ANYONE else I would trust with "Business Relations" for VGHC. Arrangements made, and promoting done. Equipment was tough, especially with me being broke. Compromises were made, but we had issues. We fixed those issues. Real people, real problems. SRS business leading up to what is going to prove to be one of the best weekends of my life.
Lots has gone down over time, and it DEFINITELY hasn't been easy. I don't want to make this huge post trying to explain all these things, I just finally feel like I'm doing something and who knows where it leads, but it continues to grow. There's only so many things you can do to push forward though until you reach a standstill, and that right now is where I stand.
Triple Threat II isn't just gonna be great, but it also determines the future of VGHC as a whole. Things will be pushed forward post Triple Threat II, but how that happens all rides on this event, which I plan on making nothing less than pure win and awesome. One thing I can promise is this. I've done lots on my own, but I want to have people with me. Some will stay, some will go, or not be as involved. I already lost a member after the first Triple Threat because of several reasons I won't be listing here. Whoever really stands by me and understands VGHC as a whole, we're going places. You're gonna see results, and my success will also be your success.
Triple Threat II is in a few places. The site, Shoryuken, ect. A post on GameZone by core member Dustin Steiner however, does a great job of describing TTII without just saying the where and when for promotional purposes.
To conclude, I simply say, Sic Parvis Magna - greatness from small beginnings. For one thing or another, VGHC will be known for something, because as of right now, it's probably the only thing I can say that I would leave behind, outside of being responsible for changing a select few people's lives.
I took a chance, and it worked out. GamerSyndrome.com has accepted me as a writer. I made some silly mistakes like an idiot, but that's okay. It's gonna change over time. Practicing here, VGHC, as POA as well. Why? Because I can, that's why.
I should be working on an article right now, actually, although right now it's kinda free range, and I haven't been assigned anything. So, I chose something I thought would be worthy and I'm gonna actually play the game to be able to report on it better. The game I would be playing is actually and older version of a game that is getting a reboot, and comes out tomorrow on PSN, and the next day on XBLA. Alright, perhaps here isn't a good example of practice, because this is where I break all the rules. I'd do some gameplay, but it doesn't really fit with my current video plan. Jeremy has jumped back on board to offer two videos to the VGHC channel. Haven't done anything with him since Mega Man X. We gotta do X4 at some point...
I get distracted, quite easily, actually. It doesn't help that I'm giving myself more and more to do. Why not, right? Doing nothing is boring! I wanna do stuff, of course, let's just keep it indoors, because I'm a broke bitch. That and there isn't a huge list of people I care to really do that with at this current time anyway. When I find myself a job to get the ball rolling again financially, then things will be different. Meanwhile, I'm gonna keep trying to grow the brand and myself as a person. Really should be working on this article...
I was set to do this last night, but things ended up running late between pressing matters with VGHC, making and appearance on InRetroSpection and after doing stuff before that, well, the time simply wasn't there. After the podcast of sorts, Dan and I were too tired to record more than what we did, so that got postponed. We didn't split, however, until we watched the videos Jeremy put out there. Yes, I'm gonna use names. They are on the site, and people should know who you are, especially if you help. Here are the two videos he put out, and I think are pretty good actually. Check 'em out!
Triple Threat II is getting closer and closer. I'm not sure what I'm more excited for. The event we're busting our asses to make happen, or what's going down the day before that I really haven't planned out yet. All I know is Tom is coming down specifically to see us an attend Triple Threat. This is awesome because I'd really like to meet the guy I've been working with behind the scenes, and also that someone is willing to actually make a trip for something being put together by VGHC as a whole, under a brand I created almost two years ago now. The fact that I even call it a brand now is a sign of progress. This is the typical day in VGHC HQ, and by HQ I mean the inside of my head. It only becomes "VGHC HQ" truly when there are more people but me thinking on something. I do tend to spend lots of time with just me though, so I'm always coming up with stuff.
Speaking of stuff...I swear I'm gonna work on that article now...for real...
Yeah, I'm excited. I'm gonna promote the hell out of this as Ray and I have both been doing since the core members all sat down and finalized everything. I've been having this feeling things are gonna turn around for the better for both the brand and myself. Triple Threat II is definitely one of the better things that will happen this year. Incoming brand plugging.
Registration starts at 12:00 PM for all games, 10 minutes before start time is the cutoff for all four tournaments.
FEATURING:
SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV ARCADE EDITION 2012
PERSONA 4 ARENA Starting at 1:00PM
ULTIMATE MARVEL VS CAPCOM 3
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 Starting at 5:00 PM
After the first VGHC Triple Threat tournament, lots of thought went into preparing for a second coming and here it is. New venue, new games, new Team! Here comes a new challenger!
This time we will be coming to Zero Ping Gaming in Ft. Lauderdale (right across the street from the Hard Rock). One of our team has a great relationship with the owner of the venue and got us a great time slot and his cooperation in hosting a great tournament. The game lineup has changed since last event. We wanted to showcase the newest games along with the best games from last tournament. SF4:AE, UMvC3, Tekken Tag 2, and Persona 4! This event will be run with 2 tournaments running simultaneously at the times shown in the flyer above.
Details
-All games will be on Xbox 360! No exceptions! We will not be supplying converters or controllers! This event is BYOC.
-Each tournament will be Double Elimination
-2 out of 3 games (UMvC3 will be 3 out of 5) for the regular bracket
-3 out of 5 for finals of each bracket (Winners & Losers) (UMvC3 will be 4 out of 7)
-No game freezing glitches or bugs will be permitted, Offending player will forfeit that round.
-In the case of a pause, it is players discretion but Offending player will forfeit the round in the case of a judgment call on the Teams part. If you plan on playing on an Xbox pad, bring a wired pad if at all possible. Xbox does not carry the same issue as PS3 when it comes to wireless but we want to avoid any problems. Batteries in your controller dying constitutes a "Pause" ruling. Make sure you have your equipment in tournament condition to avoid problems.
*Details and tournament info are subject to change
We also have a pretty awesome trailer. I can't take credit for it, but it's good. Core member Ray made this, and it is pretty damn good.
Things just got better, and why stop there? I kind of already started a personal blog here, but why not another extension to that. One that continues on my blogging kick as of lately. Even on my own site, I try not to curse and such to be more professional. On here, no one can stop me!!! Because this post does mention Triple Threat though, I won't keep going on about all this.
What is important is that this is happening and it will be better than the first. Period.
My name is Victor, I am 25 years old, and I game for a passion in between working (actively looking for a new job), managing VGHC, trying to come up with blogs or interesting posts for VGHC/Players of America (possibly another soon), and whatever else gets thrown my way. Sometimes, I really don't know what my days are going to be like. I don't want to waste time with this big silly intro...then again, that would defeat the title of this first blog entry, eh? I feel like I've said this all before on some other blog I made like a crazy person...
To explain my passion for gaming, I have to think back to memories that are not very clear to me as this was a very long time ago. Mega Man 4 was released in January in 1992, and I got this game for my birthday, I believe the year it came out. I want to assume I got my first NES in 1991 for Christmas. I could be making this up...who knows. I definitely did receive MM4 as a birthday gift at that time, or at least I'm going to assume it was that time. Perhaps if I'm feeling brave, I'll see if my mother has the VHS tape with that, and I'll put the clip up somewhere to show you guys just how excited I was to have it. Latest update - this actually happened, with a review to go with it.
So I've been gaming since I was pretty young, roughly around since I was five years old. I technically had an Atari 2600 before an NES. I understand now, it was given to someone in the family less fortunate after I got the NES, but the nostalgia in me made me wish I still had one. I did get one back, after finding an ad on Craigslist a few years back.
Skipping forward by a lot, my most recent screen name has been KidMachinate, recently changed to VGHC_SidKid to represent what I like, part of what my favorite band is about, rep my brand, and still leave in the "kid" portion of it. That was until I came up with a way to keep the name I've become attached to with clever use of 1337 speak. I'll explain some of my Xbox 360 Gamertag and latest name.
GT Explanation (MidniteBlaze69): Usually (not so much lately) around midnight, chances are I would still be playing games, and the fire still burns. Of course in doing this, even being a DDR player, I overlooked the song MidniteBlaze. So I get that a lot. Plus the g/f I was with at the time, made a screen name along the same lines of what I did to match. One of several reasons I have considered a official GT change.
KidMachinate: Machinate is essentially to plan or scheme, Make no mistake though, I don't have evil plans for any group I am involved in (I save that for behind closed doors). I'm always thinking of new ideas. I may not have the best ways to actually execute them, but I have them. Constantly. The Kid part came in...well from many places. People don't take me seriously. Which I suppose is okay, because sometimes I don't take me seriously either. Most people can look at me face value, and regardless of what steps I take to better myself or be responsible, I'm just that guy who plays video games, to forever be viewed as a kid because of that. At my current old workplace, the good one anyway, I was called "Kid" constantly, because if for no other reason, because I was the youngest one there. I don't think they really took me seriously though. Only from time to time when I would notice something they didn't. "Junior" became the new thing, but you get the idea.
KidMachinate, the name on my Twitter that has brought me a spike in VGHC and some form of success is my clever name that puts me out there as well...a kid who likes games, but in reality is poking fun at friends, family, anyone on the outside that takes me for a joke. I have a pretty good idea of who does and doesn't out of the friends and family I do know, IRL, and it matters not. How much I've learned about that since this post was originally made - I'm not even gonna get started on that.
That entire rant was copied and pasted now twice, and modified now slightly for the sake of this re-launch of sorts. I originally answered this in a rock group on Facebook, founded by a close friend named Amber. In this group, I talked about where my name on Twitter came from. I don't even remember how it really came up. I think it was through Tom. So you guys might be wondering...what is VGHC?
VGHC is the acronym for Video Gaming Hard Corps. I created a site for this back on April 1st, 2011, and created a Facebook Group for this sometime before then. The idea originally was simply to be a connector of sorts and unite gamers. I still do that. Our focus, however, is to raise brand awareness and enter the local tourney scene with fighting games to start and hopefully shooters in the future. I won't go too much into all this because you can find about about this by going to the website, Twitter, or well...a lot of places. I since then broke the site, and established a team of sorts, to both push things further, and get the VGHC 2.0 site up and running. I now am also starting to realize why everyone and their mother uses WordPress, but we've come too far to worry about that. Far for us anyway, because as a organization of sorts, we have quite a way to go.
The idea of VGHC is to connect, and unite gamers, with an idea built from the group up. In it's most recent endeavors, the focus is on pushing eSports into the mainstream, or at least getting people to view as a more legitimate means to devote ones time to. The amount of time and effort put into become good at (insert game name here) isn't much different from a regular sports player.
I'm a gamer, and it's become a lifestyle. I'm not ashamed of it, regardless of how much people may look down on it, not take me seriously, ect. To be honest with myself, I spent a good portion of my life doubting myself and quite frankly not doing things I felt I could be doing with myself. Part of this was my fault, part of it was home, and part of it was self-destructive situations I put myself in, whether it be through relationships or stressing myself out trying to "make everyone happy". While I still try and do the latter, the keyword, is TRY. Don't work so hard for that anymore and truth be told, I have a lack of patience for most things. Looking at all this all now...god damn I was happy but pretty depressed on the inside. How pathetic is this?!? I swear, looking at all this now is one big joke...I'm getting side-tracked. I do that. A lot.
Perhaps I will get more into these things in another entry (no, I won't, maybe in my crazy blog). Who knows. Right now, you just get a simple and lengthy taste that I am most definitely a gamer, but also a person like anyone else that lives life accordingly, and games don't get in the way of my responsibilities...most of the time anyway. :)
You may notice the title of my blog. I made it that, because there are plenty of times, especially way back when where I did game on my own and there was no "Player 2" most of the time, but I welcomed it when there was. As of lately, when I've referred to "Player 2" it refers to a subject matter of partnership that I've become desensitized to (never really did). Open to it, sure. I've put it behind me though and it's not a priority. It's all about finding a way to make money to I can adequately "screw the rules", upgrade/replace things in my gamer cave, and spend money from time to time like a dumbshit on digital items in D3 because everything cost way to much in that damn game.Moving on...
"Player One" (spelled out this time on purpose) is a song, my favorite off the first album from the band full of "Pure win and awesome", Machinae Supremacy. Since accidentally stumbling upon them via a Dance Dance Revolution spin-off game (In The Groove), I first heard "Hybrid" and "Bouff" for the first time. I was in love since.
To finish this out, I will leave a link video to the song I mentioned. If you decide to listen, you will hear something from my favorite band, and if you pay attention to the lyrics, you will see exactly why this track is my favorite off their first retail album "Deus Ex Machinae". If you like what you hear, you can download the full album, and a bunch of theirs songs completely free. This will conclude my first blog entry, which could be confused for a really long rant, which is okay. This is my blog, and much like before, I do what I want! The video is not an official MaSu vid, but a fan-made AMV, and it's of Death Note, so it's like one of very few animes I like. I doubt I can even name the rest. This is not taken from the MaSu AMV section though as it was re-uploaded for some contest or something. Maybe that's even old. Who know...was too lazy to look into it. Anyway, awesome song, awesome fan-vid, check it out. This is post one. There will be more. Many more.
