Hoping you have a wonderful holiday season filled with delicious food, quality time with your loved ones, and everything you asked Santa for sitting underneath your tree. We’ll continue our regularly-scheduled program tomorrow. That said, if you’d like to hang out here anyway, get comfy by the fireplace and enjoy a few more quality holiday tunes!
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!
Cosplay has grown to become an integral part of the convention experience. Whether you buy a completed costume from a store or create everything from scratch, fans love the experience of adorning the gear and assuming the roles of their favourite characters. My wife, sister-in-law, and brother are all avid cosplayers, I’ve been fortunate enough to see firsthand how much effort and passion goes into this hobby. Cosplay and those who partake in it are awesome!
Side note: follow my wife Steff @copperkeycosplay cause she makes dope stuff! Also, her sister cosplays too and she also makes dope stuff! Follow Michelle @michimadeit!
Steff’s influence in cosplay has rubbed off on me…a bit. While I have little interest in dressing up and zero desire to make a costume of my own, I have ended up donning the robes of multiple characters throughout the years. Here’s a look back at some of my costumes for conventions and other events!
Welcome to Convention Week! We start things off with a subject that has been an annoyance since the very first convention I’ve ever been to: the line to play video games.
Each year, Fan Expo hosts an exclusive period for patrons with a deluxe pass or higher. If you have one, you can get into the show two hours early. As a deluxe pass holder, I use this time to run straight to the Nintendo booth every year. With the way things work out, this is the only time I have to play video games at this show.
It’s Convention Week at In Third Person and I’m giving you VIP access! Starting tomorrow and ending on Saturday (with a quick intermission on Christmas Day), each post will focus on a particular aspect of the convention experience. Some of the subjects I’ll be touching on include the experience of playing video games at these types of shows, my cosplay looks, convention tips, and more! Hope you can make it for the show!
With eight badges in hand and a second tournament bracket of competitors left in the dust, it’s finally time to fight Leon, right? RIGHT?! Things get derailed in my quest to be the very best in Pokemon Sword and Shield! I also share a really embarrassing story about a recent wardrobe malfunction!
Click through for the highlights and shoutouts!
With the Winter Wonderland event going on in Overwatch, I’m in a bit of a giving (health) mood! I noodle around with Mercy and Zenyatta, but actually play my best game as Hanzo. Along the way, we discuss our lukewarm impressions of this year’s Game Awards, share our holiday plans, and get into a spirited discussion about review scores in video games.
Click through for the highlights and shoutouts!
When Tetris 99 introduced Invictus Mode, I switched to playing that mode exclusively. Part of it stemmed from believing that I have the skills to compete at that level. Wins are sparse, but I’ve won enough Invictus matches to feel like this is the right mode for me.
Beyond that, I also chose to play Invictus matches as a means of attracting viewers to the stream. Skill can play a major factor when it comes to drawing an audience, and I felt like I had to play at Invictus-level difficulty in order to stand a chance against other streamers in the directory. Even though the focus of my show isn’t so much about competitive play, I figured that players streaming classic Tetris 99 would get left behind.
Skill still goes a long way, but the factors that determine viewership are more complicated than that.
Playing as the grapple-happy stone golem, I take on a pair of online opponents in Fantasy Strike! I hope this is a much better demonstration of how fun and involved this game can be vs. my first video. Loving this game a lot and I’m hoping to have a full review up for the new year!
Mr. Driller on the PS1 may look cute, but his quest to the bottom is treacherous. As he digs below the surface, he must be mindful of his depleting air supply and falling blocks that can flatten our hero like a pancake. How low can you go?
One cannot overstate the importance of characters in a fighting game. We play these games in large part because we want the power fantasy that comes with being that character. It’s probably even more important than having tournament-level balance or a deep feature set.
Reflecting on my own life, there are so many examples where my character selection was the primary driver of my enjoyment in a fighting game. Discovering Rose in Street Fighter IV changed my life, as she and I melded into one being while climbing to the top of the leaderboards. The Marvel vs. Capcom series intimidated the hell out of me until Wolverine slashed his way into my heart. Despite my fundamental issues with Street Fighter V, I played that game for way longer because Rashid mobility and aggressive offense were so fun to use. Fight of Gods is a straight-up bad game, but I still found enjoyment out of playing as Jesus while making great use of his juggle combos.
Most recently, I’ve been dabbling with Fantasy Strike. Exploring what each character has to offer, my quest for a main character has taken me in an unusual direction.
In Third Person 