Capcom’s latest update to the iPhone Street Fighter IV series is Street Fighter IV: Volt, which is available now. If you are reading this before July 1st and have even the slightest interest in the game, buy it now. It’s on sale today for only $0.99. As for the rest of this limited time offer?
Month: June 2011
Game-Breaking Glitch Stops Me From Finishing God of War II
After my initial lukewarm impressions on God of War II, I thought things were starting pick up. Some of my lingering quirks with the sequel in regards to déjà vu and ambiguous puzzles remained, but I was enjoying the game more after giving it a second chance. In light of my recent experience with the game, I will not be giving it any more chances.
Pick-Up Post: Mortal Kombat Season Pass
One of the most recent developments in DLC is the idea of paying for a set of content up-front and receiving a discount on the set rather than buying the components of the set separately. From a business perspective, this makes a lot of sense, as it’s a lot easier to ask me for $15 now rather than four payments of $5 spread out over 8 months. It also makes sense from the player’s perspective, as we get stuff at a discount.
Case in point, the Mortal Kombat Season Pass. There are four DLC characters scheduled for release at $5.00 each. However, if you buy the Season Pass up-front, you’ll get all four characters for $15, which is a savings of $5.
Haters Gonna Hate: The Worst of My XBOX Live Message Inbox
It is unfortunately, a fairly well-known fact that the online video game community is not the most pleasant place in the world. Especially in the competitive gaming space, where there are no shortage of people spewing hateful epithets from their mouths, or sending over colourfully-worded text messages to others about others’ in-game behaviour.
During the last few weeks of playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I’ve received an abnormally large amount of hate messages; way more than I ever did playing Street Fighter. I don’t play Marvel to infuriate others, but for whatever reason, the player base seems to either really hate me, or are just a talkative bunch.
I thought I’d share some of the messages I’ve received with you just for kicks (and to expose some of these jerks who really should behave themselves). As much as I’d like to expose their gamertags, I have censored those (and any coarse language) out of respect to the message senders and to my readers. Anyway, here’s a taste of some of the worst messages I’ve received through XBOX Live of late.
Will You Ever Grow Out of Video Games?
A few months ago, my dad came down to the basement as I was playing a video game. I don’t remember which game, but I guess that’s irrelevant to the story. He said something that kind of struck a chord with me. “Are you ever gonna give this up?”
Once upon a time, video games used to be a kids-only deal. My dad used to be into games during the Atari/golden era of arcades, but he pretty much dropped games because that’s what adults did at the time. I’m well into my 20s, but I haven’t let the medium go and don’t plan on doing so any time soon. He’s still confused as to why I haven’t given up this ‘kiddie thing’.
Mortal Kombat Gets Patched on XBOX 360, Online Play Improves
The new Mortal Kombat in my eyes was a pretty fantastic game with one fatal flaw (no pun intended): crappy online play. It would take forever to get matched up with anyone and if you did get into a match, it was always a laggy mess. At Mortal Kombat’s best, it was as laggy as Super Street Fighter IV’s worst. As much as I wanted to deep dive into the world of Mortal Kombat online play, it was an unplayable mess. Without good online play, I had basically no one to play against.
If you’ve been disappointed in Mortal Kombat’s online play to date, I’ve got good news for you.
Universal Fighting Game Guide: How to Deal With Cross-Up Attacks
With fighting games experiencing an upswing in popularity, there are a lot of new players getting into fighting games and fighting game veterans taking on new games. With any new fighting game you take on, whether that’s a mainstream hit like Street Fighter IV and Mortal Kombat, or a more niche title like Arcana Heart 3, comes a learning curve that’s usually steeper than that of most other video games on the market. Playing against the computer or playing with your friends of similar skill is fine and dandy, but if your goal is to play these games on a competitive level against anyone is going to take some smart training and elbow grease.
The good news is, a lot of the knowledge you’ll learn in one game is transferable to the next, which makes learning fighting games as a whole a task that’s not as daunting as it seems on the surface. It also makes it possible for someone like me to write a somewhat-one-size-fits-all guide to fighting games that you can apply to any fighting game you play.
I’m not sure how far I’ll go with this series of posts, but for my first attempt at this, let’s talk about fighting games from a defensive perspective. More specifically, how to deal with cross-up/cross-over/cross-under attacks.
Off-Topic: Bring The Beat Back
Long before the Internet knew me as a video game blogger, I made music. I was an aspiring hip-hop music producer. I wanted to be the next Dr. Dre, Timbaland or Kanye West. During my run, I made hundreds of hours of music. Some of that music ended up on Soundclick and MySpace, which were heard by thousands of people. I even managed to make a few fans in the process. However, most of my work (and the stories that go with them) never left my bedroom studio.
Out of fear that my work will ultimately go to waste if it’s never heard, I began archiving my music on Bring the Beat Back.
Review: Candy Train
The makers of Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies are back! Sort of. From PopCap Games 4th and Battery division comes Candy Train, a universal app for the iPhone and iPad that is free as I type this. I’m not sure if that’s going to change by the time you read this. In any case, if you have either of those devices and the app is still free, you don’t need me to give you a review. Just go grab it already and come to your own conclusion. If you’d still like to hear what I’d think, then I’m not stopping you from reading my review, either.
Novril’s MS Paint Guide on How to Beat Phoenix
YouTube user Novril is back! I loved his first MS Paint video guide on how to beat Sentinel, and this time he’s back with a great guide on how to beat Phoenix. It’s comforting to see that much of the Phoenix knowledge I wrote about a few months ago is in here, but he also has some great strategies I wasn’t aware of until watching this video.
Also, the MS Paint style and charm are pretty funny. I’m looking forward to newer installments of this series, as I think the world needs a guide on how to beat the over-powered Yun and Yang in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Anyway, click through to see the Phoenix video and share your appreciation with Novril if you enjoy this series!
In Third Person 