Blog Banter: My Wish for the Year

Welcome, welcome to Blog Banter, the monthly blogging extravaganza headed by bs angel! Blog Banter involves our cozy community of enthusiastic gaming bloggers, a common topic, and a week to post articles pertaining to said topic. The results are quite entertaining and can range from deeply insightful to ROFLMAO. Any questions about Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!


"In a perfect world, to me, I still think it would be cool as hell to see Ryu from ‘Street Fighter’ and Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. I just think it would be cool. To me, ‘Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter vs. Tekken vs. Virtua Fighter’ would be the coolest in the world. The reality is you’re going to have [the other development teams] on the other side of the world. So, who makes it? Who does what? It would be awesome. And who knows what they’re gonna say if this is big."

That was a quote from the loveable Ed Boon in July of this year, co-creator of Mortal Kombat, and apparently bearer of an extra Y-chromosome, evident from that picture. Said quote is relevant because of the Blog Banter question of the month:

If you could ask for one thing this year from the gaming industry as a whole, what would it be and why?

In my early awkward years as a gamer girl in seventh grade, I also longed to see a fight between Chun Li and Sonya Blade, just to see who would kick more ass. I eventually grew out of that stage, and took a more serious eye to games and their contents. However, it seems some people will never get out of it. So my wish this year is for the end of video game crossovers. There are actually a lot more than people realize, and rarely are they ever successful.

Battletoads Double Dragon

First up is Battletoads Double Dragon. Now, I played both of the original games in my extreme youth, and their sheer difficulty got me bored and frustrated really quickly. However, such an amalgamation of characters changed everything. Double Dragon's plot was based on dealing with gang war and rescuing a girlfriend, but this...thing disregarded that plot altogether. The game was made solely by the Battletoads team and just shoved the DD dudes in there for novelty. That's probably why the Battletoads logo is so much bigger.

Capcom vs. SNK

Seriously, does this game really need THAT many characters? Sure, it let you pit characters of your wildest dreams against each other (how about some Mai x Cammy boob action?) But couldn't some more work have been put into this to make it look more...what's the word...cohesive? It's basically a cut and paste of characters sprites that just don't fit together well. Simply look at that shot of Ken performing a Hadoken against Mai. Ken has short stumpy legs with thick feet, while Mai takes on the more animesque style of mile-long legs. Not to mention the pixellage of her boobs are roughly the size of Ken's head. Varying character proportions does not a good game make.

Namco x Capcom

Another Capcom amalgamation that never even got to the U.S, and took the form of a cross between action and strategy RPG (you'll understand action RPG if you've ever played a "Tales of" game). On the left are two original characters that drive the main plot, while on the right are all the Namco and Capcom characters you can ever think of as basic side characters that mysteriously appear in the main characters' world. That's the plot. You work alongside them in themed stages, and then they get replaced by some other gimmicky characters. Woohoo. You may only get some of the references and characters' moves if you've played some of Namco's other games or know something of their backstory. There's a reason this crap stayed in the Japan. Nice opening song, though.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympics

I've been predicting a game with Mario and Sonic since I was 11, and it finally came true (I also predicted a Sonic RPG, but whatever). Unfortunately, it had to be something stupid like the Olympics. Where there's running. Which is Sonic's forte. I'm sorry, but a fat plumber with a wind drag for a moustache is, keeping it canon, not going to beat the infamous blue hedgehog, no matter how fast you want to button smash.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC

When I first heard this was going to happen, I wanted to rip my eyeballs out. Seriously?! The last time there was a DC fighting game was on the Genesis, and that game sucked so much ass. Now you want to take the stiff animation of MK, throw in some DC characters, and make the whole shenanigan 3D. I force myself not to look any further into this game, but can anyone tell me if gallons of red paint splash about when you punch someone in the face?
Don't get me wrong. Not all crossovers are bad. Just the majority of them are. Take the below examples.

Marvel vs. Capcom

Ok, yet another Capcom babymaker, but this one was actually done well because *fanfare* Capcom did the animation for the Marvel characters as well. Now, I can actually see a Chun Li vs. Psylocke fight actually look proportioned. Not to mention it had a finger-saving mode, where each button was assigned to a special move. Plus you got to fight Onslaught, which I praise as one of the most interesting villains Marvel has ever created (go read some comics if you want to know what I'm talking about).

Kingdom Hearts

Ok, I still refuse to play this colourful kid-fest of cute crossed with emo storyline, but from people's praises and reactions to this game series, it's apparently well-liked. What makes this different from Namco x Capcom is that the Disney characters are integrated into the KH story, no backstory knowledge required when you meet any characters.

Smash Brothers

Another game I refuse to even give a glance at, simply because I don't enjoy the gimmick of throwing characters out of their normal lives and place them in a slugfest of silliness. However, the inclusion of new characters from other games has kept fans enjoying Smash Brothers and its sequels, placing bets who is going to show up in the next game. I have no proof, but I'm sure this game is the reason why Soul Calibur added Link, Spawn, Darth Vader and Yoda to their console specific games.

So that's my wish for the year. No more characters from different companies being mashed together into one game, please. It will rarely ever work.




Other participants!
What I want in 2009
The "Roxanne" Edition
Dear Gaming Industry
If the industry gave us all presents this Christmas
Demands for the industry
Santa, Don't Bring Me Toys I Have To Share
All I Want for Christmas Is…
Crossing Over
Checkpoint Unobtained. errr.
Loading Requests
LISTEN BITCH!!!
One Wish
Dear Video Game Industry
More games like Portal and Braid
Dear Video Game Industry
Imagine
A Wish for 2009!

Japan: land of the perverted and unsatisfied.

I'm sure most people by now have at least given Mirror's Edge a try. Whether you're happy with it or not is besides the point of this post. Apparently, the good ol' crazies over in Japan are not too happy with the way Faith looks.

A hint of some reactions over at Danny Choo

Apparently, the Japanese prefer their women with wedge-shaped chins that don't exist and large Western eyes, which a lot of Asian people have gotten surgery to have (including Jackie Chan). And large chests with nipples. Can't forget that. Little do they forget that Japanese have very little body fat due to the mostly healthy stuff they eat. Meaning lack of boobs and asses.

Here's another gander of alterations made

You can see that they smoothed out her arm musculature, lowered her cheekbones and inflated her boobs a tad. Just looks to me like she would fall over from the weight of her own boobs, not be able to hold up her own weight with all the gymnastics she has to pull of, and have shorter lower jaws (makes it easier to swallow all that bukkake I guess, but it looks to me as if she has a tremendous overbite). Although, I shouldn't really be surprised, considering how many panty dispensers there are and the complacency with groping and fondling on public trains in that country.

Bad figures

See, this is the perfect example of why McFarlane needs to stop making Halo figures
I admit, I gave in and bought a Brute and Arbiter figure, but if I could go back and stop myself from doing that, I would. As detailed as these figures are, they're still crap. McFarlane is best at making detailed static figures. Good articulation does not exist, hands don't hold weapons properly, and you have to put them in the stupidest poses in order for them to stand up (as evidenced from the pictures in the link; honestly, it looks like Master Chief is constipated).
Bungie, please stop using McFarlane to make these tiny figures that are overpriced. You're lowering my faith in you.

Upgrade!

Tada! I've upgraded from my tiny Nokia piece of crap I've had for a year to a beautiful new blue Chocolate 3!
Helloooooooooo, baybeh! I actually tried the Blackberry Pearl, but it's annoying to be sitting at your laptop, sending an email, and then having your phone vibrating, informing you that you've just sent an email. 8/ Not to mention that it never rang when I got calls!
However, my new blue baby has already been adorned with Halo 3 wallpapers. Now I just need to find an appropriate ringtone to convert and edit, find a hard cover for it, and find some way of attaching my Renji and Senna phone charms to it.
The weekend trip to Ohio was quite2 relaxing, even though long. The drive took us through miles and miles of grape fields, as well as through an Indian reservation that had the best sign ever:

"COME C Y U SHOULD GET PUNCHED!"

I have NO idea what the sign was pertaining to, but it's a shame I couldn't get a picture of it. Also saw the best name for a street: Two Rod Street. Only to be followed 5 minutes later by Three Rod Street. Why do people do this?!
And here's a video to remind you of the old-school gamer within you:

Choices

I discovered from Hawty McBloggy's that there's a FLAG (Fight Like A Girl) tournament on the 25th-26th of this month to raise money for Breast cancer and Cervical cancer. 10 bucks to enter each competition (there's a Free For All and a Teams competition), and although I'm tempted to play, I'd feel terrible for any team I end up on and make them lose (yeah, I'm convinced I'm that bad). On the other hand, it might be fun and the 10 bucks are for a good cause. I've always felt a bit bad about playing online and contributing to the loss by being easy pickings. I'll have to think about it, maybe.
On another note, I'll be flying tomorrow for my mini-vacation, but most of it will be spent doing notes of some kind and filling out the Bar application form. But at least I'll be away from this boring hellhole of a place.

The doctor is in

I tried out the new Fracture demo, and I'm both impressed and a little disappointed at the same time. The ability to raise or lower the landscape and provide NPCs with some cover is a neat idea. I just sat there for a few minutes just seeing how high I could make the ground. Although it's in 3rd person, it's not directly behind the player like in GoW, giving you a better opportunity to look around and actually see what cover you can hide behind. The grenades are quite interesting as well, such as the sticky bombs that you can shoot onto structures and blow up their supports. The voicework, even though just a demo, was actually not that bad.
However, the armour and character faces simply look plastic, and you run like you're carrying some baseballs in your crotchular area. The ability to zoom in for an easier shot at the enemy like in GoW is not that helpful, since the zoom doesn't really go in that far.
I can see it being fun in multiplayer as you shoot the ground, and suddenly there's a nice hill there for cover. Or you could simply eliminate your enemy's hill by lowering with the gun or the "lowering" grenade. Should keep your gaming fingers on their toes.

A step up in the right direction

I've finally finished basic training (unwillingly) and fell into the horrible, terrible world of Ranked and Social playlists. =/ No more easy kills in Snowbound, now that the shields have been taken out. Instead, I get a betrayal in Shotty Snipers (thanks a lot, asswipe!), left alone in Social Skirmish Territories(yeah, ok buttmunchers), and abandoned by a team mate in Multi-Team towards the end (yeah, SORRY for not being as great as you, Mr. Lieutenant, but I'm just playing for fun; don't take it so seriously and just give up like a pansy). The night finally got a bit more rewarding in a Social Slayer Pit match; no, our team didn't win, but at least I was pitted with more evenly matched people (I think maybe one player was a girl). Otherwise, I'm just going to stick to Matchmaking during the day, when the younger crowd are on. ^_^;

Doing study notes for the MBE is taking longer than I thought it would. 2 days, and I'm still not done with Criminal law. Not to mention including all the Model Penal Code changes, even though it's not even really law. =/ *sigh*

Games to look forward to buying:
-Guilty Gear 2: Overture (come on, Sol Badguy's hot)
-Dead Space
-Braid
-Tales of Vesperia
-Infinite Undiscovery (maybe)
-Fracture
-Far Cry 2 (...possibly; the original is kind of fun, but unexpectedly hard, even on the easy setting)