#ive seen things like older mortal kombats

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Fighting Games is a genre that I have always loved because they allow for unique player expression like no other genre. You get a wide selection of characters to choose from hailing from various different countries and practicing different styles of martial arts or even wielding melee weapons.

We've been lucky to have gotten tons of different games to choose from, and I have personally singled out the nine most vital franchises to the genre; the pillars of the fighting game community, if you will. Unfortunately, I only get ten options per poll, so games like Killer Instinct, Marvel vs. Capcom or Injustice have been left out. But that's why the tenth option has been left free of choice, as I'm sure that some of you will have the most obscure niche options in mind and will immediately comment "why is X not here" so there.

I'm also not deliberately ignoring Super Smash Bros., I just have traditional fighting games in mind and it's kinda not. But it's very much still a fighting game.

I'm also specifically talking about series of games and not one offs so that's why no Skullgirls and so on.

Anyway, at the end of the day vote for whatever you like, just don't bust my balls about "excluding" your fave 🤣

Really wish I could add:

A. More options

and

B. Images to the options to make them look prettier.

But overall I think polls have been a great addition. Good job @staff 👍😁👏

Here's a few general thoughts

I have a weird relationship with Mortal Kombat. My earliest memory of it must be some older kids next to my grandma's house playing MK4 and letting me watch them play for a while. Then I definitely remember the PS2 era games' covers and the video store, the dragon logo is so cool, but I never actually bothered to pick any of them. Until I got the 2011 game when I had a PS3. I liked it a lot, I kinda liked the story but I never understood the normies obsession with it? And here's a hot take; NRS stories are not that good, certainly not any better than any other fighting game like Tekken or SoulCalibur. The only key difference is that they have relatively good writing, while the rest of the major game, which are mostly Japanese, have cringey anime dialogue that absolutely does not fit the dramatic NRS storytelling everyone has been trying to copy post 2011. I wish they would straight up drop it and go back to having a decent, eight-level minimum arcade mode with character endings and stop trying to do what NRS does, because it's not that great to begin with. Anyway, I have since developed a love-hate relationship with it. I got both X and 11, and while both are objectively good games, with 11 FINALLY even making the characters look not ugly for the first time ever, but I think I've kind of moved on from MK. I don't have any attachment to the overall plot, I only mostly care about Mileena, Kitana and co., I mostly prefer 3D fighting games in general and I'm not that good at it so... Yeah. Still a fan series though, both the Reboot Trilogy as well as the, mostly underappreciated, PS2 trilogy.

I was born in 1997 and arcades weren't really a thing in Greece? I remember only having seen a Tekken 5 cabinet at a bowling alley in my entire life, so I never got to experience the "birth" of fighting games with Street Fighter, and Street Fighter itself was almost completely absent from the PS2, save for a few Alpha and SFII rereleases I think. So I finally got to play Street Fighter during the later years of it's fourth iteration when I got Ultra Street Fighter IV for the PS3. I was VERY frustrated at the beginning like, I was used to Tekken, DOA and SoulCalibur style gameplay, all of which are 3D but also combo-heavy games. Street Fighter was not that at all and I thought this made it a bad game. But I decided to give it a second chance with Street Fighter V. SFV is, perhaps notoriously, more simplified in both it's inputs as well as it's overall difficulty, so it helped me appreciate the series a lot more. Most of the characters no longer look ugly too (heavy emphasis on MOST) so that helped too. What's more, I can now actually play IV a lot better, and I even had money to spare to get Super Turbo II HD and Third Strike for the PS3, though I do struggle a bit with those too still, Third Strike in particular. Street Fighter X Tekken is also my guilty pleasure, don't @me. My only real issue is that I seem to be mostly interested in the "less regular" characters in the series like Elena or Poison or Laura which means that I have to find a new main in every single game and... I really don't care for most of the cast, especially the ones who seem to be featured on most of the games and never skip an entry.

I've been playing Tekken since I was 8 or 9 years old and got Tekken 5, the first fighting game I ever owned and I've been obsessed ever since. I love the gameplay because I feel like the four-limb system feels so natural, you know? If you press the X button you get a left kick, if you press the Δ button you get a right punch. It's so simple. Nina Williams is probably my favourite video game character ever, after Lara Croft, and I just really the series as a whole. It's also the only game I feel confident enough to play online atm.

For some reason I was always vaguely aware of The King of Fighters existence since around 2010-2011 but I never felt the desire to play it? Mai was added in Dead or Alive 5 however and I absolutely loved her. I played so much as her. But as far as picking up her own games... Well... KOFXIV looked like shit and I'd heard that XIII, and KOF in general, was very difficult so that was a bit off-putting. After falling out of love with MK however, I had to feel the gap. And along came KOFXV! I was still not completely sold, but I had money to spare and I got the game and I now love the series so much? Definitely my favourite 2D fighting game series. I wasted so many years gatekeeping myself out of playing the games but, honestly, while I sometimes buy things on impulse, the money I can spend on games is a very specific and limited amount so I always try to actually buy things that I will actually play and enjoy. XV is fun, but it turns out the "ugly" KOFXIV and the difficult XIII are even more fun! Shout-out to KOF for having an amazing cast of characters too. Even with Tekken which has been with me since childhood there are TONS of characters I straight up hate or just don't care about. KOF has over 90 characters and the ones I actually hate are probably fewer than Tekken's. This is certainly not a quantity over quality case (the yearly release for the first decade of the series was insane though, I don't know why they thought that was a good idea)

SoulCalibur is another series I loved since childhood but this one I didn't personally own until my late teens. A friend's uncle had a Dreamcast however, and when he would visit him in the summer he would bring it over and we would play SoulCalibur a lot! I have several reservations about Namco basing the series entire marketing on "who's the guest this time?" and later on the character creation. The sole focus should be on the characters themselves, because SoulCalibur has the most detailed and complex backstories in fighting games. Period. But because SoulCalibur has devolved into an overglorified character creator and the guests get the only media focus the game is gonna get during its promotional period, I feel like the brand itself has lost its mainstream appeal. SoulCalibur I is one of the best fighting games, and it has zero guests and no customization, other than being able to choose different weapons for each character. Have your guests by all means, I personally had tons of fun with Ezio and 2B, and Haohmaru even peaked my curiosity for Samurai Shodown, and customization can be fun too, but don't make it your main selling point. It has evidently not been working as well as Namco wants it to. Tekken and Mortal Kombat have guests and customization too, but they're not the games main selling point, they only help bring in additional fans.

Dead or Alive is the booby pervy game, sure, but it's also a great fighting game? The fast-paced gameplay is extremely fun and satisfying, most of the cast is actually pretty interesting, despite the sexy outfits and bikinis and beach volleyball, and whenever there's a new DOA in the market it it will always be the best-looking fighting game available at the time. There's no contest. I had tons of fun playing DOA2 as a kid and I had tons of fun playing DOA5 as an adult, because since DOA became Xbox-exclusive for a while, I never actually owned DOA3 or DOA4. I wish I could have had more fun with DOA6 too but the game is just... Soulless, and that's a shame. The fact that both DOA and SoulCalibur are unlikely to get sequels any time soon is also very heartbreaking.

I was way past my anime phase when I became aware of Guilty Gear's existence, so I was at first hesitant of checking it out. However, a chain of events led me to eventually get Rev 2. See, Haohmaru was a guest on SoulCalibur VI, and Baiken was a guest in Samurai Shodown and I guess you see where I'm going with is. This is why guests should absolutely not go away, but it is much better they remain actual (fighting) video game characters first and foremost and not stupid horror movie characters that haven't been relevant for decades (fuck every single MK12 guest, but especially RoboCop) Rev 2 is so much fun. It's still hard however, so I'm not yet ready to fully embrace Guilty Gear, but Strive looks more and more appealing each day is all I'm saying. Jack' O and I-No may have helped.

Virtua Fighter forever revolutionized the genre by moving things for the first time in the third dimension. I only had a VF4 demo as a kid and I was creeped out by having to fight Shun Di, a drunken old creepy guy, in a dark cave on a raft as Sarah so I never touched the series again until 5. The game is really fun and I will forever be grateful for it because it eventually lead to Tekken and DOA's creation, but while MK having a "good" story mode does not automatically make it a good game, Virtua Fighter having NO story mode, not even arcade endings, doesn't help it's case all that much either.

I've been contemplating trying out BlazBlue lately, Rachel, Taokaka and especially miss Litchi look really promising, but I'm trying to let the thought mature in my mind first rather than making an impulse purchase. I haven't played enough of any of its installments to have an opinion on it, but I know tons of people love it so it must have a few things going on for it, right?

Shout-out again to Samurai Shodown, I love the "fencing" aspect of its gameplay, but I'm just not as invested to it's cast as I am in KOF's yet. I've also always wanted to try out Darkstalkers but Capcom seems to be hellbent on wanting to make this franchise DIE. I don't understand why they don't at least start adding it's cast in Street Fighter as "permanent guests", in the same spirit as Final Fight characters keep on coming back. Morrigan is too good a character to be left to rot. I'd also love to try Killer Instinct, but it's another Xbox exclusive so RIP. Finally, I do own the first Injustice, but American comic book super heroes have always been morbidly boring to me (except Spiderman and Batman & co.) so, consequently, both Injustice and Marvel vs. Capcom are of no interest to me at all.

[lokigodofaces]

Finally found out what was weird about the Shang-chi trailer! The only live action kung fu movies I’ve seen before were super low budget or are older so they didn’t have too great of special effects. So I thought it was weird when I saw Simu Liu do all of that, when really Marvel just has the money to make this not look like trash. It just took me a few hours to realize it.

[kervinredfire]

My Other Fanfics in the Future

Well, I made announcements about my 2 Loonatics fanfics-related stories coming soon. So here are my other fanfics that I am making. But before I am going to show you my other fanfics, I like to share what most of them are like. Kervinverse related. If you checked my Tumblr header it's pretty obvious.

As you may wonder what is the Kervinverse is all about? The Kervinverse is like the multiverse but with all different kinds of Kervin. Inspired by Spiderman Into the Spiderverse all the versions of Kervin contained different personalities, stories, almost the same appearance, fighting styles, and special abilities. One of the most signature outfits is the black and red formal suit.

I already made a folder in toyhouse. However, most of it are unfinished and still ongoing.

https://toyhou.se/Kervin619/characters/folder:812137

People think that those stories a self-insert but it is actually not. Me and my other Kervins are the same but they are different the appearance, abilities, and personalities. An example is Denk Ops’s Chris Danger from the WWE games. And note that this is another long announcement for the other fanfics

So anyway, here are my Kervinverse stories that I would really like to share about Wattpad in the future. So are book covers later

KERVINVERSE STORIES (Including crossovers):

Grand Theft Auto Origins: Kervin Made Liberty – Set in the GTA HD Universe. Before Kervin (GTA Online) came to the place called San Andreas, he was just a very young boy who was born in the place called Liberty with his parents. His father Claude who became rich and retired to a life crime and his wife Misty who used to be a prostitute. It was normal and happy life for him and his parents. But when years passed when he is getting older, he slowly starts to realize what kind of broken world he is living in.

Now for those who played the HD Universe of the GTA Games you know every protagonist in the HD universe like Niko, Johnny, Luis, Michael Franklin, and Trevor. As much as they have different stories and perspectives but this story about GTA OC that he was living with full of offensiveness, disrespectfulness, brutal honesty, and others. An example in GTA IV a radio commercial of Babies Overnight that said that someone was not satisfied with the baby it can be disposed of. Although it would be interesting to have that backstory for my next OC for GTA. So, this story may contain a lot of murder and crimes on what led to him going to San Andreas. So, watch out. And for those who have not played GTA Online why his parents are both Claude and Misty is because it was part of the premium edition for free in Epic Games.

Def Jam X Kung Fu Panda: Book 1 Fight for A New Fight (maybe a working title) - After the events of Def Jam Vendetta, Fight For New York, and The Kung Fu Panda Trilogy including Legends of Awesomeness. Set during Paws of Destiny Season 2 in the Kung Fu Panda universe while in Def Jam 2 years later in the year 2005 after Crow's death (Fight for NY still takes place in 2003) Kervin (Def Jam Fight For NY) the new leader D-Mob's crew but also officially known as the Def Jam Crew after Blaze appointed him to take his place. Kervin has to manage every venue, club, and arenas in New York including places that Crow took over. But in Chinese New Year there was something strange that Kervin and his crew got transported to a different universe. Including former members, fighters, and circuit fighters.

Now, this fanfiction sounded really odd. As you may know why I am making crossover fanfic of Kung Fu Panda X Def Jam? Easy. The first one is because this is what would have been my PS2 games if I ever have a PS2. I was thinking of Mortal Kombat or Yakuza for Def Jam but Kung Fu Panda is the only thing I know when I was 7 years old. The second is because back in the days Hip Hop mixed with Kung Fu was very popular. Although Def jam may be a wrestling game martial arts stole my heart in Def Jam Fight For NY. I heard about things like the Wu-Tang Clan for example but the biggest problem for me is that I am not a true fan of Def Jam because I don’t know about hip hop artists. Just only the games so I will be focusing on their video game counterparts in their fictitious manner meaning pretending real-life characters with their real name are fictional characters. So, if there and fun facts in those real-life counterparts I may add them to it like easter eggs. The third is that there are Kung Fu Panda characters that did not get enough love and mostly art. So many recognizable characters like Po, Tigress, Tai Lung, and many more have become the most recognizable characters in the movies. But what about the tv shows like Legends of Awesomeness and Paws of Destiny? One of my favorite characters of Legends of Awesomeness is Peng, in short, he is the nephew of Tai Lung and he is such an interesting character that he deserves a lot more love. While for Paws of Destiny is Xiao because she is such a cute character, so is her personality and the best character to have hugs with. So, what I am trying to say is that I need to start off with the character that is unrecognizable then bring it recognizably. I may also add characters from shorts like student Mei Ling in the future book and it would be funny and to see rogue Mei Ling. 2 Mei Lings in one. Even Su and Master Snow Leopard because are both female leopards with the same appearance and outfit. I may also include some characters from the flash game Tales of Po and may possibly rewrite them in different stories because I love the character designs thanks to Blue Maxima’s FlashPoint. And the fourth and final part is that to make the Def jam games more recognizable. Def Jam in music is not absolutely enough but video games are. The Def Jam games did not bring a sequel after Fight For NY so I might as well make a sequel with interesting and experimental crossover fanfic just like The Loonatics Road.

The Red Fox (Kingdom Force Spinoff and maybe a working title) - The Kingdom Force has 5 members defending the 5 Kingdoms. Luka the wolf who leads in red, Jabari who runs in yellow, TJ who drills in green, Delilah who swings in orange, and Norvyn who strengthens in blue. Each of the 5 drives Kingdom Riders and turns them into Alpha Mech to fight against evil in the 5 Kingdoms. But even if they save the day multiple times the 5 Kingdoms are still filled with more crime and every antagonist came back doing other crimes and evil deeds because they were not arrested or eliminated. That's is when a red fox came along...

I have seen popular fandoms in cartoons that were supposed to aim at younger kids like Lion Guard, MLP, Paw Patrol, and even Bluey. But Kingdom Force is the cartoon that did get enough love. It's like Power Rangers and Voltron but with anthropomorphic animals like Zootopia. However, the stories and episodes in the show is very confusing and give me almost a lot of questions. But I do like the character designs in the show. My favorite hero is Luka who is a leader with and cute cuddly character personality and my favorite villain Envie Fernadez which she has a pretty hot design, name and voice and so is her personality. Reminds me of Sly Cooper but I have not played the game yet. But for the red fox also OC Kervin (Kindom Force) It’s still at work.

APB Reloaded X Zootopia: Anyone Can Be All You Can’t Be: - In Zootopia “Anyone Can Be Anything” But in San Paro “Be All You Can’t Be” Zootopia is a place where vicious predators and meek prey live in harmony. This means that people in Zootopia live together without the prey getting eaten by predators and predators not getting feared by the prey. They almost eat like us, they sleep like us, they speak like us, they walk like us, they run like us, they bathe like us (well almost), and most importantly they use technology like us. While San Paro maybe has a good look to sightsee but this city has a lot of crime. Robberies, bombings, thefts, drug dealing, murders and causalities, vandalism, and much more that we can think of. But that does not mean there is no justice in this world. When the Criminals like the Blood Roses and the G-Kings try to take over San Paro? The Enforcers Prentiss Tigers and Praetorians from come and save the day. What would happen when a human Enforcer meets a police fox and a police bunny? And how did it happen? Only one way to find out.

Now this one is also a Kervinverse crossover story. It focuses on Kervin (APB Reloaded) meeting Judy and Nick. I am trying to find a way on how will they meet each other. But the only thing ideas I know is that it can be a delivery gone wrong, an invention gone haywire or maybe a criminal stole something magical that is transported to a different universe. But I have a lot of strange things in the game like the Christmas events and Halloween events. I like to see any volunteers who play APB Reloaded. And for those Zootopia fans who have not played APB Reloaded you check it here. https://store.steampowered.com/app/113400/APB_Reloaded/

Well, that is it for the Kervinverse stories. Now it’s time for the other stories that I also planned in the future.

OTHER FANFICS:

Alza Flare (Road Rovers Fan Spinoff)- Alza is a black cat born in the place in New York City, USA. He was born inside a pet shop without cat parents since he was born. His parents' status is unknown. Although he did make friends with other cats and non-cats in the shop. But it was a short while until a human customer named Drayson Flare and adopted him as Alza Flare. Alza has been Drayson's pet for 3 years and they instantly became best friends but when during the time when they are about to go home from the park. A terrible accident happened.

A long time ago I watched Road Rovers on my phone just to try something nostalgic and the show is pretty good though although there are some parts that don’t use their powers all the time. One part that caught my eye is how brutal car accident in the episode “Dawn of The Groomer” which gave me an idea of my new anti-villain OC character named Alza Flare. Sadly, he does have an image of him yet. But I will tell you that I will give you an interesting revenge story for him.

The Best Surfer In The World (Surf’s Up Spinoff. Maybe a working a title and synopsis change) - After the events of Surf's Up and Surf's Up 2: Wavemania. There was once a wolf who lives in the place of Chicago Illinois. He quit his own career due to being a rejected member of Hang 5 for being too unstable and after beating J.C. in a tournament years ago and after his early retirement, he spends his normal life as an ice cream man in his own ice-cream motorcycle with one of his own freshest ingredients and swears to himself that he would never in the waters again. Until he met a young Toyger.

Surf’s Up is my first favorite mockumentaries since I was young. It’s like you are watching animals andromorphic animals absolutely existed in the world we live in. It had an interesting story and writing so are the interesting characters. But when I watched Surf’s Up Wavemania. Well, I honestly love the WWE Superstars and Diva came into the movie but the story did not actually surprise me a lot. Even if the movie has a lot of beautiful locations it still did not surprise me enough because it is more like an adventure than a tournament. That is why I am planning to start my fanfiction in a new different approach with a real story and a real rivalry. Starting with wolf inspired and based on CM Punk during the part when he won the WWE belt against Cena in Money in the Bank when I watched it since intermediate school with a little rename change so it won’t be obvious. And of course, my Toyger OC because he would be trained by his own surfing master. Also, I added a Slam City easter egg

Fire Pro Wrestling World Origins: Story of 2 Angels – There is no synopsis of them yet. But I will tell you they are brother and sister with the last name “Angel” The brother who is a pop artist while the sister who joined a motorcycle club. What they both have in common is they both can fight. Their stories about my 2 new Fire Pro OCs will be coming soon. But they are not part of the fighting roads.

Well, that is all for all the future stories with some summaries that I really want to share coming soon. Thanks for following including Wattpad

For those who are new here follow me on both Tumblr and Wattpad with the orange word link

Feel free to donate to me in PayPal

Also making fanfic is really long to make just like making an announcement. So again. I only post all chapters in 1 book.

[teaandgames]

The Tea Times - November 2019

Ah, November. For you folks in the United States, this signals a day full of turkey, relatives and drunken conversations. For us over in Blighty, it signals the last warning before that other day full of turkey, relatives and drunken conversations. The wallet’s looking bare, the temperatures dropping, it can mean only one thing - Christmas is coming. Before we begin the panic though, let's look back at the previous month.

At a glance:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Death Stranding, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy and Planet Zoo released.

Everwild, Age of Empires IV, Half-Life: Alyx, Knights of Light, Arise: A Simple Story, Nine Witches: Family Disruption announced.

Google Stadia announces its launch line up.

Someone’s making Silent Hill in first person

New Saints Row to be announced next year

Project C becomes Life Beyond

The Releases

I’ve never followed Star Wars too closely, being more into classic fantasy than sci-fi, but the thrill of lightsaber battling is not lost on me. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seems to have captured that pretty well, with lots of lightsaber waggling and force powers that come together to make a pretty exciting action game. It’s been awhile since a good single player Star Wars game has been on the market and this one seems to fit the bill. It came out on November 15th.

Death Stranding, the premier package delivery game (if the internet is to be believed) came out on November 8th. It being a Kojima game, it’s pretty confusing from an outsiders perspective (and not necessarily straightforward for an insider) but what is clear is that it’s a polarising game. It seems to be about ninety percent walking simulator, which is a divisive genre full stop. Add Kojima into the mix? Then God only knows.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is the release this month that I’m most excited for. Despite being twenty-six, I was transported back to my youth as I added it to the top of my Christmas list. It’s been getting mixed reviews from the community, largely centered around the lack of the National Pokedex. Makes sense. Less pokemon can hardly be a good thing. Either way, it seems to hold the same, good, clean fun that the series is known for. The pair came out on November 15th.

Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy wins the award for longest game title I’ve ever typed out. The next in the disarmingly charming puzzle series came to the Switch on November 8th. I mark it here solely because I didn’t realise it had come out on 3DS two years ago. Still, I hope the series finds a welcome home on the Switch.

Planet Zoo, labelled the ultimate zoo simulator, came out on the 5th November. Made by the people who made Planet Coaster and Zoo Tycoon, there’s a good chance that it’ll be a good follow up. After all, they seem to know what they’re doing. Going by the screenshots alone, it looks like it’s pretty in depth too. One for the hardcore simulators, perhaps.

The Announcements

Everwild is a new project from Rare, the Banjo-Kazooie lads, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. That’s about as much as we know, to be honest, other than it’s likely going to be Xbox exclusive. The trailer shows a group of humans timidly interacting with a number of animals. Some, like the deer, seem friendly. Others… less so. I don’t have any more details on it, at the moment, but it’s worth keeping your peepers on.

Age of Empires IV has been long anticipated since Age of Empires III failed the light the spark in the hearts of die hard fans. I rather liked it but the guns and cannonballs didn’t go down too well. You might be relieved to learn that they’ve been thrown out the window for IV. It’s back to swords, arrows and big chunks of masonry. Hopefully, Age of Empires has gone back to its roots now. No concrete release date yet.

In a fairly shocking move, Valve has revealed the next entry in the Half-Life series. There are two things to note with that. Firstly, it’s a prequel featuring Alyx. That’s not so bad as she was a rather good character. The bigger, second thing of note is that it’s a VR game. Therefore cutting off most of the market. Still, Valve is one of the biggest champions of VR, so it perhaps shouldn’t be so surprising. Half-life: Alyx is coming March 2020.

Knights of Light is a game inspired by Mount and Blade and its trailer and screenshots contain much the same sort of feeling. Horseback combat that looks as exciting as it is terrifying and lots of hitting people with swords. The plot centers around Iraq and the battle of Al-Qadisiyyah, which I absolutely didn’t copy and paste in. I know nothing about that battle but that almost makes it better. It’s a chance to learn while hitting people. Looks like it’ll be hitting early access first, but I’m not sure when yet.

Arise: A Simple Story is a game with an awful title that caught my eye simply because of how pretty it is. The trailer opens with an elderly chap’s funeral pyre, only for him to wake in a snow covered world. As he explores, he seems to enter a forest-like area. I probably won’t be able to tell you much more, as it looks to be a PlayStation 4 title, but it’s coming out on December 3rd.

Nine Witches: Family Disruption is a quirky looking adventure game about an alternate history involving Nazis and supernatural forces. It’s done in a retro pixel art style and seems to be trying to emulate the older school of adventure games. The humour in the trailer seems very hit or miss (mostly miss), but if it’s your cup of tea, check it out in Quarter 2 2020.

Google Lines ‘Em Up

Google has revealed its line up for its launch, which will take place on the 19th November. The list is this:

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Destiny 2: The Collection

Gult

Just Dance 2020

Kine

Mortal Kombat 11

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Samurai Shodown

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Thumper

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

A rather odd choice to include three Tomb Raider games on launch, but it’s a fairly impressive line up. I rather like Thumper being in there. They’ve also promised to add the following before the end of the year:

Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle

Borderlands 3

Darksiders: Genesis

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

Farming Simulator 19

Final Fantasy XV

Football Manager 2020

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Grid

Metro: Exodus

NBA 2K20

Rage 2

Trials Rising

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

A mixed bag of games there but, for all of its faults, Stadia is at least coming out swinging in its first year. Whether it’ll be enough, however, remains to be seen.

The Hills Have (New) Eyes

A quick part here to point towards an interesting development. Someone is remaking the original Silent Hill in first person. It’s only a concept at the moment, but check it out. It looks great. I can, however, hear the terrible siren noise that can only mean the arrival of a cease & desist. Still, Konami may have chucked Silent Hill aside in favour of a pachinko machine but it’s nice to see that people are still carrying the torch.

Even outside of that context, this video looks pretty damn creepy. If nothing else, this might prove that there’s more to the original Silent Hill than awkward controls. It proves that it’s scary full stop.

The Prez is Back!

Didn’t want to stick this one in the announcements because it feels more like a pinky promise than an actual announcement. Still, the current big bosses that own the Saint’s Row franchise, Koch Media, have said that they’ve got a new game in the making. They don’t want to release too many details now and start colouring people’s expectations but more details are going to coming next year.

Saint’s Row IV came out about six years ago and was nothing but crazy, ridiculous fun. It’ll be interesting to see where the series can go from here, to be honest. Once you’ve reached the point of being an actual overpowered superhero, is there anywhere up? I guess we’ll find out next year.

C To (L)B

Project C, a pretty looking social MMO, has gone through a name change, to reflect its core idea. It’s been changed to Life Beyond. To be frank, I had never heard of it, mostly because MMO’s aren’t really my bag. Still, I do like the idea of social MMOs. The idea of trying to bring people together to build communities and make friends is great. It doesn’t always work, mind you, due to the caustic nature of internet communities.

When it does though, it’s great. I’m reminded of that sprawling Minecraft villages where everyone builds their fantasy architecture together. Not sure if I’ll get it myself, but it’s bright colourful graphics make it one to watch. That’s all for November, see you in December!

[sangriatimes]

Nintendo Switch saves Valentines Day

Can you believe that we are almost half-way done with January? Maybe it’s just me and the countless hours I put into reviewing the latest titles for the Nintendo Switch...which is our focus point that can change the tide if you hit a hard spot this V-Day. Maybe you don’t have enough money for that dinner, movie and gift. Maybe you thought that restaurant you made a reservation at is more expensive than you though. Maybe you just started a new relationship but you still have some awkward silences that seem to kill the mood. Whatever the situation may be a Nintendo Switch can get you to second base and home plate...trust me.

So let’s look at some of the titles for switch that are great to play with that special someone. (Games are listed in no particular order; games are not based on “)sales”; Games are mainly hidden gems)

1. Monopoly | 9.5 out of 10

Hear me out. I was one that grew up playing the original board game with my family and the overall appeal of the game was astounding, but I lost interest when I got older and noticed how long it takes to make everyone go bankrupt. ...but this is something...otherworldly. The first awesome thing you will notice when you pick up this title is the use of the Joy-Con controllers to shake the dice and throw them. Though this is still the same mechanic in spirit as its predecessor but with the newly animated boards populated by Mii’s and watching a living city grow as you play and add properties adds an entirely new respect for Money Bags. Our team lost track of time having so much fun with this one and before we knew it, we had seen 5 hours pass. (No one wants to play Monopoly for that long.) 

2. Uno | 8.5 out of 10

Uno is another one of those games I grew up playing with family. When I purchased the game, I was expecting some sort of controller mechanic similar to Monopoly’s dice...but with cards instead...but I was let down. None the less, going into this, I didn’t even know that there were so many ways to play Uno besides the normal rules. Once again, I was amazed at how much more fun this was than the physical cards themselves. Rules like “Stacking. Where Player 1 can play a “Blue Draw 2″ card and Player 2 can counter play a “Draw 2″ card as well. ...but if Player 3 doesn’t possess a “Draw 2″ card, Player 3 then has to pick all 4 cards from the previous turns” was so exciting to try and there are many other ways to customize rules and play styles. 

3. Super Smash Bros | 9.0 out of 10

I really don’t need to go into detail about this one. My only issue with the Smash series is I would really enjoy a multiplayer adventure mode or campaign. I was quite pleased with the full roster of characters though. Disclaimer: Make sure your partner isn’t a sore loser. We all know about SSB’s steep learning curve for beginners. “Don’t be a butt...”

4. Diablo 3 | 9.0 out of 10

I remember having this title on my old PS4 and being able to enjoy it on my PS Vita while I was in a relationship with someone who liked the game as much as I and we would both take our Vita’s to the restroom with us so we could keep the experience going. This title can definitely be used to understand the mindset your partner has by the way they customize their character and the actions they take in response to events. It’s a top-down action-adventure-role-playing-hack-n-slash (inhale.) It is a port of it’s original released on PS3 & 360...the price tag is still $59.99. That’s a deal breaker in my book.

5. NES Emulator | 7.5 out of 10

I honestly chose this one because of how many gamers I know and how 89% of them are males. This is something for those who don’t game to get their feet wet. The emulator is free on the eShop for a 7-day trial but comes with a subscription cost after. Pretty inexpensive for the titles they have. Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, Metroid, and many more. It even comes with special versions of some of the games which gives the player the experience of playing with Game Genie cheats.

6. 99 Vidas | 7.0 out of 10

Your probably thinking, “ Why is this even listed?” Well, just in case that partner your with doesn’t dig the 8-bit look or the low-res adventures of the NES Emulator and desires a little more action and has a fetish for Streets of Rage and Beat ‘em Up’s. Simply. The available characters are cool enough to get players to find a favorite out of them. ...so...that’s good!

7. Oh Sir...The Hollywood Roast | 8.3 out of 10

After seeing the Samuel Jackson clone named “Bad MotherHugger” who’s personality is totally canon, I had to dig deeper. If you didn’t play the prequel, you don’t need to. I honestly only used the first title to learn how to play. In this installment, you and a co-star face off on a movie set where your scenario is to insult the other the worst. It plays like a fighting game, complete with health bars, special insults, tag team insults and so much more. For the price it is, I was expecting something way less entertaining. Oh, and one point or another you will joke against a Deadpool copy...a less funnier Deadpool but funny enough.

Consider this the American version of The Office.

8. Oh Sir...The Insult Simulator | 7.8 out of 10

Obviously, this is the European version of The Office. I won’t say this is better than the sequel and I can’t say it’s worse either but I will say “I am an American...” What this game does is teach you how to layer your jokes and how lay the foundation for repetition in your topics to create combo’ s. I like to let the opponent bombard me with little weak jokes and build a super mean and super long insult that grants victory for only one joke. I call it, “The Kamehameha Effect!”

9. No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Back

The third installment to the series hits the eShop and retailers in a few days and I am super excited to get my copy. If you aren’t familiar with the series, let me fill you in:

Travis Touchdown is the protagonist of all three games. In NMH1 we find Travis at his lowest moment in life. Jobless, hopeless and drunk, he runs into a mysterious woman who offers him employment with a sketchy syndicate group he knows nothing about. Luckily he had lost all his money by winning a bid at an online auction for a Beam Katana,  his main choice of weaponry. Not long after, you find out you were hired as an assassin in a shady game by her higher-ups. Travis takes the job after being promised some passionate TLC if he can take out all 10 of the already top ranking assassins all over the world. Travis is a pretty simple guy. He likes mecha anime, luchador wrestling, old school video games, porn, sex, and sleeping on the toilet.

In NMH2, Travis finds out that after becoming the #1 ranking assassin in Santa Cruise, he finds out that he actually has hundreds of more assassins in a new ranking system where Travis is the lowest ranking.

This time around, Travis is joined by the father of one the assassins he killed in NMH1, and the co-op option is something that would have been outstanding to have in NMH2 but none the less the developers always deliver great content in their titles and this one will not disappoint. Couples will enjoy the kinky nature of the series for sure. It has been proven many times.

10. Broforce | 9.5 out of 10

Every wanted to play Super Mario Bros on NES but with guns? Ever want to change Mario for, let’s say...any huge action movie star from the 80′s, 90′s, 00′s? Ever wanted it to be a co-op experience with up to 4 players with local and online co-op? As a mercenary for the USA, you are sent to 3rd world contries to liberate them from the evil control of Satan and his hell spawn. Before that, you will have to fight through waves of kamikaze soldiers, war dogs, giant helicoptors, aliens (...from the movie “Aliens”) and much more. Along the way, you will recruit an entire cast of badasses. From Rambo to Robocop, you will find Chuck Norris, Neo, Blade, Bruce Willis, Terminator, Preditor, Machette, Michelle Rodrigez, The Bride (Kill Bill) & so many more including Mortal Kombats Raiden.

Very easy to pick up, very hard to put down.

11. Nidhogg 2 | 8.0 out of 10

2D-Side Scrolling Fighter. You start of with a sword. When you die, you respawn with a dagger. When you die, you respawn with a bow and arrow. Die again and respawn with an ax. Die again and respawn with your fist. This cycle will continue until you our your opponent makes it to the opposing end of the map. Maps are relatively small and consist of about 2 to 3 different frames. Sounds easy on paper right? 

Tons of laughs to be had!

12. Tales Of Vesperia

If your looking for an in-depth RPG you both can play while she sits between your legs and you both focus on the Switch screen laying in front of you: this is for you two. The co-op system usually only functions when you enter battle. Player 1 will always be the one running around the world map but this is still fine if you keep an open-mind and communicate on decisions that impact the story and more. (Keep track of your own money.)

side-note: All Tales games are co-op in this sense, even the Super Nintendo picks.

13. Harvest Moon: Light of Hope

I’ve been a Harvest Moon fan since Super Nintendo and got my first copy on the N64. I know a lot of people see this game and hate the thought of a farming simulator but unlike it’s counterpart with the same name-sake; Harvest Moon is so much more. This can easily tame the craving for an adventure-rpg-dating sim with a very rich story and characters that actually grow on you. I have not had the chance to play this particular version yet, but I saw it was multiplayer and that sold me. If you want to try a good yet cheaper version, Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is by far, one of the best, next to Harvest Moon 64.

So there you have it, our picks of love for your love to love with their love! Honestly...I don’ t celebrate Valentines Day (poly-gang), but I love exposing partners to new things that they can enjoy together.

OUT!

[zerohourseraphim]

          An Open Letter to Politicians and any concerned that video games add drastically to the number of incidents of gun violence and mass shootings.

          I watched a video from The Daily Show. In it, Trevor Noah responded to a tweet from Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The tweet came in the wake of a pair of mass shootings, drawing the ire of the collective internet. In the video, Trevor Noah pointed out that in all the events in which there are statistically more deaths than mass shootings, we as a society have many mitigating factors in an effort to ensure the health and safety of the populace. From medical errors, illness, car accidents, suicide and homicide, he went down the list of how we as a society try to stave off a mounting death toll.

          After the video, my mind turned to the blame that violence in video games was recieving once more. Is there a some valid history here? I think so. I have heard of times in which shooters used games and their engines to make mock ups of the grounds they aimed to terrorize and essentially practice their runs. I am also willing to admit that “you are what you eat”, and as such have to be mindful about what you consume. But in the vein of Trevor Noah’s segment, I began giving focused thought on what the gaming industry could do to police itself, more than lip service or pandering. To do something with the aim of quelling violence. After solid consideration there is only one thing that could be done: Rate games more harshly, namely rating more games as Adult Only rather than Mature.

          Back before the 90s, video games were seen solely as a medium of entertainment for children. The game series Mortal Kombat, still in its infancy, gained a lot of attention for bucking that trend and playing to an older audience. The gratuitous death animations and the over-the-top blood sprays on every hit gained the attention of the American government, leading to creation of the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board). Since then, all video games, and many other form of computer software and electronic media, have been subject to a division akin to movies and books. These are…

Everyone (E) Everyone 10+ (E10) Teen (T)- Geared towards ages 13 and up Mature (M)- 17 and up Adults only (AO)- 18 and up

          I am of the opinion that the rating system is not all that useful as it is not accurately utilized. For starters, I have always found it quirky how closely spaced the ages in the latter ratings are. Next, brick and mortar salesman were savvy gatekeepers when such was the only way to purchase games. The staff were, and still can, recognize if a T title is appropriate for younger audiences. Beyond that, in cases where an obvious child strolls up with a Mature game or one for Teens more on the Mature side, a parent is normally not too far away. They are likely to see their child as being “mature enough to handle it” and support the purchase. In this vein it has always been an adult, not the rating system, that has barred my access to a game. If you pull aside an adult gamer and ask them to assemble a collection of their most adult games and you will likely see that they are all rated as Mature. This rating is “as bad as it gets”. Thus I doubt you’ll see any Adult Only games. Why?

Cue my Social Cynic for the answer: Money.

          The video game industry generates billions of dollars worth of annual revenue. Amongst that is Grand Theft Auto Online, an extension to GTA V, which is the most lucrative entertainment property of all time. Not most valuable video game. Highest earning entertainment outlet in history. More than Avengers: Endgame or Avatar. More than Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, or any other popular book series.

I repeat: Grand Theft Auto Online is THE highest grossing entertainment property of all time. And, as it is ongoing, its revenue will only continue to grow.

          So how is this possible? The first answer on the board is microtransactions, which are gaining a number of articles from me and the internet abroad as it stands. But in relation to this article, availability. The difference between a Mature and Adults Only rating is where they are sold. With the former it is virtually everywhere, and it is virtually nowhere with the latter. In the pre-internet age, making a game Adults Only would have killed any chance of it turning a profit. And, while removing a title from retailers shelves may seem major even now, the people that want the game will purchase it online and get a download key or the like. If they want a physical disc instead, they can order it from the company, and will likely be given a key while they wait. In fact, an Adults Only rating would only serve as free publicity.

          I have seen games earn the Adults Only rating. I have watched as they were banned from sale in Wal-Marts, Gamestops, and many digital marketplaces. The fact that they were officially deemed heinous by the ESRB was not taken lightly. But any other game earning a lesser rating that does not gain national news attention for one reason or another? ‘Eh… must not be so bad’ echo the thoughts of most people. This acceptance assures that any game can be easily accessed by anyone. Even though I have gamed most of my life and view video games as a burgeoning artistic medium, there is a part of my brain that is conditioned to think of them as “just toys for kids”. And the games’ industry benefits from this social perception, both from myself, other gamers, and the world at large.

          To illustrate, there were children that I cared for that I allowed to play Saints Row IV, a game series much like GTA. It holds a rating of Mature. Why, if the content was not suitable for them, did I allow them to play it? Because I knew which part of the game they would play. I got their file to a free roaming sandbox portion, showed them how to access a garage for vehicles, change their load outs, and where to shop for clothes and even five years out that’s what they think Saint’s Row is. A fun game to dress up, drive around, and use super powers in. They never got into the story, character development, dialogue, and the bulk of what makes the game mature. They had similar play habits in similar, yet more kid-friendly, titles such as the Lego video games.

          But let us say that one finds my actions with the children appalling. That my supervision was not enough. That my foreknowledge of the the game itself and the playing behaviors of the children was negligent. That I was not a dutiful parental figure. And so we make our Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and other questionably violent game series Adult Only. If your aim is to limit access to the games, it does nothing. It just means that sales of these games migrate from physical to online.

          If re-rating games would do no good, why not take other measures? Perhaps ban games like GTA from being brought to completion in the first place? On the one hand, the Video Game Lobby would push to counter these efforts. As I pointed out, it generates too much money to be written off. On the other, remember the digital marketplaces I mentioned? Even now independent creators make games and post them without ESRB sanctioning. Some companies and platform holders (e.g. Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony)are more exacting when it comes to quality control. Without an ESRB rating, these companies will not allow games to be sold on, through, and for their platform(s). And while the PC market has checks and balances, they are comparatively lax. Some of the most heinous “games” (a term I am using very loosely here) I have ever seen exist in the gutters of Steam. And much like society at large, they thrive in numerous pockets. You take down one and, not only will more just like it take its place, but the original game is likely to be taken down and uploaded again as something else. It’s a whack-a-mole that cannot be won unless you want to take drastic action.

          Now… do I want to see this happen? Do I want more games to be bumped up from Mature to Adults Only? I personally do not care. I am old enough to buy whatever games I wish. But you know what? As ineffectual as I think it would be, and as much evidence as I have seen showing that video games and shootings are unrelated on the whole, I would be willing to abide by a more stringent rating system.

          That said, my abdication comes with one single ongoing condition:

Blame whatever you want, but if you identify a problem, fix the problem.

          I’ve informed you what can be done about video games. If this is where you want to place the fault today… okay. Let’s make games with realistic and gruesomely violent conent harder to access for people who do not have enough external real life experience to contextualize what they are playing. (Ignoring for now how video games aided me in being able to contextualize so much of real life. A discussion for another time.) If, in the wake of another/the next shooter, you are going to point the finger at mental health? Vote for robust healthcare so people get the help they need. Enable that medications are affordable to help keep brain chemistry in check. Improve the quality of life of people so they aren’t driven to violent and deadly outbursts, or perhaps so much medical care to begin with. An ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure and all. Want to blame them being an outlier, racial supremacist and other radical ideologue? Then figure out what lawful measures there are to eliminate them wholly, from the fruit back down to the root. Don’t just denounce them and then tolerate them as they continue to spread hatred and foment terror. Peter denied Jesus Christ three times, but we still regard him as a faithful apostle. Don’t continue to pay lip service by pointing to a problem. Something has to be done at this point, and sooner than later.

As I was finishing up, Facebook reloaded and this was front and center.

          In answer to the question “Do video games increase the potential of violence/mass shooting?” thirty years worth of science and study says no. Additionally, counties that have a larger population of gamers than the United States do not suffer from widespread gun violence. We may not be able to prove the mental soundness of each individual shooter. And things like manifestos and social media profiles can be spoofed if you want to give all sides their due.

          All of these incidents have one common element beyond the shadow of a doubt. All of these killings were perpetrated by people with guns fine tuned to kill a multitude. Even with the current safeguards and measures we have in place, gun violence is still all too common. As what we are doing is not enough, more must be done. Referring back to Trevor Noah, we have to try something. If today it’s my turn with games, that is fine. If, after cutting at every other factor, gun-driven violence is still a problem will it then be time make compromises regarding firearms?

I am willing to Try, Do, and abide to something different in my life and industry to make the America safer.

Are you?

Is there any action that can be taken on video games to mitigate gun violence?           An Open Letter to Politicians and any concerned that video games add drastically to the number of incidents of gun violence and mass shootings.