Ibuki’s arrival spawned a renewed interest in SFV and the story mode was really quite enjoyable. I took some snaps, figured I’d share with you all. It starts with my silver trophy for 100 wins. Kinda proud of that one. Of course, I have more than 200 losses to go with that!!! The rest are just misc. shots I liked. Enjoy!!!
100th Win!
Classic Matchup!
Story Mode’s Ending
Love SFV’s style
Glorious
A handshake
Cammy deliberating
Goofy Duo
We all know that Cammy broke free of Vega’s grasp and he later commissioned a dozen similar fighters from around the world. These were only truly expanded upon in SFZ3 with Juri & Juni, both of Germany. In USFIV, Decapre appeared. However, in the new story mode of SFV, all nine other dolls were represented. While the story has been critiqued by many, I embraced the single-player experience and fully enjoyed the absurdity of the tale and the gravity of the Guile/Nash battle. The appearance of all the dolls, each with unique moves, made me smile. Therefore I tossed up a section highlighting them and comparing their appearances with the small cameo many of them had in SFZ3. It’s the usual unnecessary stuff I put up on my sites. Click the images for the full gallery!
A pair of recently-uploaded YouTube videos follow. The first is the long-gestating tutorial for the Diamond Skewb. I tried to make this video twice and both times the puzzle exploded on me. That just let pieces everywhere and no inspiration to fix/record a movie. So, I finally got around to it. This is an update to my Skewb & Skewb Diamond Algorithms post from last year.
The second video is just stupidity. This is from when I went to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2003. Mat and I were on the Jaws exhibit and as he rose from the depths, I got my camera right on in there and then…DEATH. Absurd. Don’t watch this, it’s a waste of your life.
Time to start naming these fuckers…I had an epiphany and I think this should start sounding better than before. Here’s just a sample track, testing levels and new effects. Enjoy!
| Bone Fire: 1601 |
I love me those odd-numbered cubes. Those even-numbered ones are a PITA sometimes and their parity is obnoxious. However, a nice 5×5 is a relaxing, fun jaunt. And relaxing is the word to use…as it’s not difficult and there’s only this parity to know. It’s an easy algorithm but I’d forgotten it along the way. Muscle memory only goes so far when you haven’t used it in a year plus. Here’s a quick-to-look-up algorithm. Placing the mismatched singletons on the right just do the following algorithm for an easy fix!
(Ll)’ / U2 / (Ll)’ / U2
F2 / (Ll)’ / F2 / (Rr)
U2 / (Rr)’ / U2 / (Ll)2
The BiasFX tests keep going forward. The last I posted was 15 and we’re now up to 23. I’m frustrated with finding a good sound as well as writing a good riff. It’s all around mediocre, really. So, why not fuck around with clean tones? Oh this one I like. As I approach the final days of school, I’ll be bidding adieu to some important people to me. Friends, coworkers, students. This minute-long nonsense is my ode to adiós…for what it’s worth. Enjoy.
| Bone Fire: 1623 (Goodbyes) |
I’m not quite done with Uncharted 4 yet, but I’m impressed and enthralled upon reaching each new locale. While I wait for the credits to roll before issuing a verdict (hint: it’ll be good), I figured I’d share some photos. The in-game photo mode is rather amazing and I’ve found myself more than once just gazing on the landscapes and views offered up. Naughty Dog has crafted another masterpiece, even if the gaming tropes still remain. The age-old “I don’t want to beat it yet” adage remains but I fully expect to run through this again, much as I did with the prior 3 titles. For now, here are some gorgeous views from the final entry into Nathan Drake’s adventure.
This is older but I somehow missed it. I knew Battle Chasers was returning, but a new game was announced, Battle Chasers: Nightwar. I want to look forward to this all but as history has taught us, I’ll believe it when I see it. For now, at least, some artwork. Man, I wish I had bought one of those collection books when they came out. Going through my collection, it appears I missed a few issues of BC back in the day. Too bad those books cost a stupid amount of money. :/
I moved to Maine in December of 2005 and it’s crazy to think that the first GoW was less than a year old at the time. In the decade since, three more console titles came out, a pair of handheld ones and compilations gathered them all in remastered form have shipped.
The remastered version of GoW3 for the PS4 was a mere $20 and I decided to pick it up. Coincidentally, some old class-action type thing offered me the initial game for free on the PS3 just a day later. Here we go again.
I did this once before with Metal Gear Solid. Then later on with Super Mario Bros. and another time with Resident Evil. It seems I’m no stranger to revisiting entire series and I inadvertently stumbled upon a new GoW run. There are worse things in life!
So, I blazed through the PS3 remasters of PS2 games in a short period of time. The first still has the strongest story and while the gameplay tweaks have certainly made the sequels better, they can’t hold a candle to Kratos’ initial journey of anger. As the second game progressed, I marveled at the sheer beauty of the PS2’s swansong. It was remarkably-gorgeous and its scope truly redefined the cinematic nature of games. Both games were superb. And so after hitting up PS2 games on a PS3, I went to a PS3 game on a PS4 (this is silly) and OMFG it’s utterly stunning! I don’t know how they remaster games to look this good but it is outstanding. Kratos’ perpetual sneer has yet to get old, though the game’s tropes remain true to its nature, the formula is not immortal. How many more times can we do this….oh wait, then they made GoW: Ascension.
Turns out Ascension was a free PS+ title a few months back so halfway through GoW3 I deleted 70Gb from my PS3’s HDD (yes, SEVENTY) to download this guy and I think I’ll hit up the fourth title for completion sakes. I played the first three already, why not round up the thing with an unnecessary prequel? Oh, and I realize I’m skipping out on those handheld titles. I played them briefly, never completed them, but can’t say I have much desire to do so. See if I can muster a fourth game before the impending Norse GoW is announced. BTW, that’s going to fucking rule if they do that. Norse mythology is bad-ass and twisted.
Finally, note that God of War just missed out on my Top 8 Best Gaming Series Ever list. It might have made it to #10 had I managed to learn to count that high.
Barring the highly-enjoyable Episode VII, the season two finale of Star Wars Rebels was the best SW outside of the original trilogy. What I just witnessed was nothing short of a brilliantly-written and outrageously-exciting anthology of what we all love about SW. The ending…and here are indeed SPOILERS…so, is Ahsoka dead? Vader’s messed up. Maul is off doing something. Kanan is blinded and beat down and Ezra…wait. WAT? Ezra is gonna hit up the Dark Side? OMFG that episode was legendary! A friend said it best, “I feel bad for any fan that doesn’t watch this.” I think that sums it up. Missing this would be folly. That episode was the best SW anyone could ask for and it goes toe-to-toe with the greatest the movies have to offer. Wow…