Archive for the Best / Worst Category

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New Cube Order Placed!!!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Personal on February 7, 2013 by slateman

mf8-gigaminxMy birthday approaches and somehow my 3x3x5 is missing. I have a feeling one of my students may have lifted the Cube4U 3x3x5. Whatever the case, I can’t find it and…oh right, my birthday is coming! My mother sent me a few bucks and she originally wanted to get me my new cube of choice for Christmas. Therefore, the cash is going to a new cube order – an expensive one at that! So, I am replacing my 3x3x5 with a 3x3x7! I’m looking forward to this and hope it’s as good as the 3x3x5. I found it to be a very fun cube; it’s not very challenging but enjoyable to solve.

However, that cube doesn’t cost very much and I did mention this was an expensive purchase. Well, after a long wait, I’ll be adding an MF8 Gigaminx to my collection! This is a 5×5 version of the
Megaminx I got last March. I’m pretty psyched to try such a behemoth of a cube…and of course, my eyes have already wandered to the 7 and 9 layer versions (Teraminx & Petaminx) however, while the former is somewhat manageable financially, the latter is an absurd $230 or so. I think my wife would have a hard time with that. Especially when the PS4 is likely to come out this year. I digress. I won’t get these cubes before my birthday (Sunday) but I can’t wait to test them out. Stickering the Gigaminx isn’t high on my excitement list…but it has to be done. Happy birthday to me!!!

2013 Video Game Release List

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists on February 3, 2013 by slateman

Colonial-MarinesI had to cancel my GameFly subscription but I hope to re-start soon and begin playing all the new stuff set for 2013. 2012 was a good year for games, mostly thanks to GameFly! Now, with new hardware to come, and many titles not yet announced, this is clearly incomplete. AND, since I don’t have a 3DS or a Wii U, there are actually more things I’d like. However, we’ll keep it brief. Let’s see what’s coming this year, and, like my Metal Release List, it’ll be followed by a number (out of 10) ranking my excitement level. Kalmah’s new record on that list was clearly an 11!

02/12 – Aliens: Colonial Marines (10)
03/05 – Castlevania Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (0 – No 3DS :()
03/12 – God Of War: Ascension (7 – b/c I don’t care about multiplayer)
03/19 – Gears Of War: Judgement (7 – Dunno why so low!)
03/26 – Army Of Two: Devil’s Cartel (8 – fun co-op!)
05/07 – The Last Of Us (10 – Naughty Dog!)
09/17 – Grand Theft Auto V (8)

No Date/Not Announced Yet
??/?? – Ys: Memories Of Celceta (10!)
??/?? – Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2 (8)
??/?? – The Walking Dead – Season 2 (10!)

Hardware
??/?? – Playstation 4 (10) – I love the PS1/2/3
??/?? – Xbox720 (9) – Love hardware, not MS as much tho!

There are some high-profile games not on my list – guess I just don’t care that much about them! Looking like a good year, not a great year…not yet. We’ll see how it goes!

Updated: 2013 Metal Release List

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Lists, Music on February 3, 2013 by slateman

The Living InfiniteAs I work on my Best of 2012 article, I can tell last year was a weak year for metal. In looking around, it was evident that 2013 would crush last year’s offerings with an incredible listing of albums to come. In the very least, there’s a new Kalmah which alone should do the trick. However, I’m also terribly excited about a new October Tide and I’m curious about the Soilwork double album. And..Skeletonwitch is in the studio? Lantlôs?!?! Fuck yeah! So…let’s see what’s coming. Better than 2012? It has to be! What follows is the Date/Release/How Excited I Am (out of 10).

Out! – Helloween – Straight Out Of Hell (It’s quite good!)

02/27 – Soilwork – The Living Infinite (8)
03/19 – Anthrax – Anthems (6)
03/22 – Hypocrisy – End Of Disclosure (6)
03/25 – October Tide – Tunnel Of No Light (10)
03/25 – Finntroll – Blodsvept (6)
04/19 – Amorphis – Circle (9)
04/?? – Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn (9)
05/28 – Dark Tranquillity – Construct (7)
06/?? – The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack (8)
09/?? – Solefald – Kosmopolis (6)

??/?? – Kalmah – ? (11)
??/?? – Lantlôs – Melting Sun (10)
??/?? – Skeletonwitch – ? (10)
??/?? – Amon Amarth – ? (8)
??/?? – My Dying Bride – The Manuscript (EP) (8)
??/?? – Children Of Bodom – ? (7)
??/?? – Down – Down IV Part II (5)
??/?? – Megadeth – Don’t really care (5)

I added a few I’m not too excited about…but still…this should be a pretty good year! Imagine Moonsorrow announced a new album too? Oh….just imagine!!!

2nd Best 3×3 Record – New Best Average Of 5

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on February 1, 2013 by slateman

zhanchi-stickerlessI love my stickerless Dayan Zhanchi. The thing is just the smoothest cube I’ve ever touched and solving it is such a joy. It’s been referred to as the butter cube because of its absurdly smooth turning.

And today, I figured I’d take 5 minutes and do some quick runs. Not only did I get another best average of five (41.09) but I also performed my second-fastest solve ever! 33.67 seconds is still more than a second and a half slower than my record, but also a second and a half faster than my old record! The fact that I averaged 41 seconds over five solves is amazing (but also mostly credited to that 33-second beast of a run). In any event, it’s a new record and a new 2nd-best record and for that, I’m pretty thrilled. My times:

42.32 / 33.67 / 44.72 / 43.78 / 40.96

Ys: Memories of Celceta Coming To The U.S.!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Ys with tags on February 1, 2013 by slateman

YsCelceta01I’ve been an Ys fan since Ys I & II dropped on the TG-16/PCE back in 1990. In fact, I even made a shitty site on it. Today’s news is exciting though, even 22 years after I started playing the series. Ys: Foliage Ocean In Celceta (Memories of Celceta for the U.S. version) will be coming out this autumn via the spectacular XSeed Games. I’m so psyched. Finally a reason to own my Vita!!!

Ratchet & Clank Logo Collection

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Game Art, Games with tags , on January 29, 2013 by slateman

logo-collectionFortunately, I don’t really care what people think. Because…well…this appears to be a complete waste of time. However, upon final inspection, I quite like it, and that’s all that friggin’ matters…got it? Well, since I started going through Ratchet & Clank HD this past week, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the game. Getting all the gold bolts, skill points, weapons, etc. has been a cool challenge and a nice memory (unlike that THPSHD DLC) Anyhoo, it’s been a lot of fun and so I had that stupid inspiration to collect every R&C logo from every game. I was surprised to find so many!!! I compiled all the Japanese releases, one French and another Spanish and tossed in all the alternate European titles. It’s absurd…and that’s why I love it. Head over to my main site for the complete collection of R&C logos. Just be prepared for it to be a waste of your time. A good waste.

Mini-Review: Ratchet & Clank HD

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Reviews with tags , , on January 25, 2013 by slateman

logo-r&cI played through the first three Ratchet & Clank games back in 2002-2004 and loved every minute of them. I am fairly certain I went back to the second and beat it again at a later date. I own the two R&C Future titles as well, though a friend has lost A Crack In Time. :( Anyhow, I love the series and this week’s PSN update was just too good to be true. The first R&C HD remake was 75% off for PS+ subscribers? $3.75 for the game? Couldn’t turn that down and I’ve been enjoying my purchase the past few days.

I’m still recovering from this surgery and I haven’t done much of anything so it’s been nice to get some game time in. (I’ve also been playing Darksiders as it’s free for PS+ subs, how awesome is this service?!) Anyways, it’s been great fun going back to the series’ roots. You can see how certain things were tweaked later, and for the better. Not having more slots for quick select makes things slightly annoying but man, this game is still pretty solid a decade later! The gameplay is still superb and so many little details were innovative and fresh for 2002 (getting rid of the standard ‘lives’ is one of my favorite changes to gaming around that time.) I’m at the very end now and looking through the trophies, I doubt I’m going to rush forth and try to get the platinum. However, it’s spectacular and if by any chance Going Commando or Up Your Arsenal are on sale too, I’m going to have to plunk down a few more bucks. TOTALLY loving PS+ right now.

Massive SFG Update Is A Go!!!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Game Art, Games, Street Fighter, Web Design on January 24, 2013 by slateman

I couldn’t contain myself the other day and spilled the beans but today the huge update is live. Having tweaked more than two dozen different sections by adding posters, new galleries, fixing old ones and revamping a few pages, it’s easily the biggest update since the site launched 11 years ago. And, congrats to me for another long-running site. Crumbling Flesh turns 18 this year, the empty shell that is Planet Tony Hawk would be 14 and this one 11. Rock on! I was psyched to make this big update, giving me 106 galleries in this humble site. Here are the samples I listed over there. Excellent!!!

SSF2X
SF3-2I SFZ3
MSF SFXT

Street Fighter Galleries: Enormous Update

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Game Art, Games, Street Fighter, Web Design on January 22, 2013 by slateman

I’ll be posting a huge update over at Street Fighter Galleries soon, in honor of the site’s 11th anniversary. What turned out as a few gallery updates has become an enormous undertaking. By my latest count, I’ve updated or added no fewer than 23 galleries and added at least a half dozen posters. So…while I want to wait to post the big update, I’m also psyched to fix a lot of things that were slightly broken (10 year old code) and also fill some gaps that were missing. This last update of the day was to Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter. Never one of my favorite games, its art is impressing me lately! Check out the new updates!

Average Of 5: 41.60!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on January 22, 2013 by slateman

dayan-zhanchiI’ve done a few average of 5 runs in the past few months but I’ve never posted the results. Today is nice and quiet, as all the kids are in school and I haven’t had time to speedcube in a while. So, I tossed the awesome SpeedCube Timer on my phone and went to it. The results were satisfying, particularly because I haven’t gone for speed in weeks. The numbers don’t lie…let’s see how they were!

41.05 / 44.46 / 39.21 / 39.84 / 43.44

Back-to-back sub 40s! That’s pretty solid if I might say so! And after five runs, I averaged 41.6 seconds. I’m unsure what my old record was but I’m fairly certain I never had such a low average of 5. Not bad! Guess it’s worthy of my Cube Records Page!

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