"Tires don exits" or the controversy of balance

When you play fighting games, one thing is bound to cross your mind: "[character x] is totally cheap and overpowered."
Do tiers exist? Are all characters balanced? An infamous Internet meme was sparked by this issue. One disgruntled Smash Brothers player got onto the Smash World Forums and angrily posted "Tires don exits." To this day, this phrase is invoked in order to either defuse a serious discussion on balance or to just troll the thread.

Inevitably, it's this humble writer's belief that there's no such thing as a perfectly balanced game. Characters are bound to have more tools and options to make them more appealing from a technical standpoint. In order to get a better idea of where I'm coming from, I present to you this video at Japanese tournament, Kohatsu. It arguably has the best players of their representative characters, Nu and Tager. Nu is the archetype zoning character with low health; where Tager is a grappler who gets in close to grab you, and who has lots of health to compensate for range.

Blazblue: Continuum Shift intro revealed

The new intro to Blazblue: Continuum Shift has been unveiled--courtesy of intrepid arcade goers at nicovideo and someone who of course transferred it to YouTube. The high quality version is here but you need to have an account at the nicovideo.jp website (and it's in Japanese).

A number of things you get to see besides the attention to detail Arc System Works put into highlighting in the video:

• At 00:20 you see how Noel's drive, Chain Revolver has changed. Not only is it darker, but apparently the rumors that you can jump-cancel it are true.
• At 00:26 you see a new move from Litchi.
• At 00:47 you see one of Tsubaki's distortion drives (or super moves).
• At 00:58 you see an ominous glimpse of Hazama's astral heat (do want).

As you can tell, I'm dedicated fan and am glad to bring you this latest bit of news about the sequel. Hopefully the wait for the console release isn't too long.

How do they game in North Korea?

As both a citizen of the United States and a student journalist, I see North Korea as a mysterious black hole. Because of (the beloved) Kim Jong-Il and his authoritarian state, we know next to nothing about what goes on in there except: 1) they have nukes 2) the media is suppressed and 3) Kim Jong-Il starred in Team America.

First Microsoft Store/Party opens.

So the first Microsoft store has opened in Arizona. It was a big deal I guess. Here are two things I thought was interesting in the video:

1. All the people that are cheering are employees. Employees told to be excited by the higher ups. Notice all the people who are cheering are wearing solid colored shirts, all in colors of the Windows logo.
2. A couple of suits are at the end of the unholy gauntlet of happy Windows employees. Obviously they wanted to keep an eye on their investments.

[ via Download Squad ]

Trying Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at Gameplay

Thursday, the week was coming to a close, and I had finally finished the presentations that had been weighing on my mind for the past month. I head for the Sunset lounge at the USU and crack open my laptop with my friends when one of them asks if I want to come with them to Gameplay, down Spring street. Reluctantly, I tag along for their little shopping trip at a mildly-used game store near campus.

Duane and BrandO put your favorite game songs in rap format

Unfortunately, as I point you towards the Adventures of Duane & BrandO, it seems the pair has broken up--not to worry you new adopters! The saga shall continue as "The Adventures Of's".

Some of my favorite songs are hilariously-translated into hip-hop songs. These gems include Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman 2, and Punch-Out!!, with hilarious lyrics making references to characters and trends. My favs are the segments in Sonic the Hedgehog with Metal Sonic, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik (and yes, its fucking Dr. Robotnik. Not Eggman.).

Check them out and support them. I mean, they're releasing LPs for god's sake!

[ The Adventures of DnB brought to you by youtube ]

The Youtube video roundup

Here are my favorites from the past week or so:

Ryu combo exhibition video from EVO09
An exhibition video of some gnarly combos from Ryu, in almost all of his major incarnations, and SFII, all the way to SFIV. Some combos are for exhibition purposes and are tool-assisted. Others can actually be used in competitive play (especially the ones towards the end from SFIV).

Poor Akuma. Raging Demon sucks hard in SFIV
'Nuff said.

Italian Spiderman: the trailer
There is no way this is not real. Watch out Japanese Spiderman!

The rest after the break.

Know your fighter: Jin Kisaragi

Blazblue is the game I want to get better at. As a new IP, I get the head start at adopting the game engine and pick up a character to main and compete with. True, it was out in Japanese arcades for over a year before I got my hands on it, but the majority of the Western audience will be like me, starting at the same time.

Before I start, I should point you to this page. This will explain any terms you may be unfamiliar with. There's a link to go backwards to an onslaught of additional information you may need. It's pretty much a one-spot stop.

What was interesting in my absence

I've come down with a bit of a cold and have been bogged down with homework. Doesn't mean I've stopped reading my feeds though.

• Stabbing little girls won't fix your Internet - Gizmodo
• Not only is Ryu Ji Hye hot, but she's Chun-Li - Real Cute Asians
• More details on Modern Warfare 2, Spec Ops, etc. - MTV Multiplayer
• Great moments in fight game history - iPlay Winner
• My girlfriend wrote about me and this is totally not a plug - My boyfriend is a gamer
  

My paper on casual games in the industry (or something along those lines)

Some of you might've have been interviewed by me informally. Curious on how it turned out? Here's how I'm turning in my article, after the break.

NBA Live proves how unpopular it is with failed 1,000 person achievement

Remember NBA Live 07? Course you don't! A three year old basketball game? My god, that's like a mediocre 10 year old game! And for salt in the wound, people still love games from the NES and the Atari, By god those are old! This game is three years old and People still play Goldeneye!

"Ooooh! Sick burn dude! Wicked sick one bro. Brofists!"

Truly this was the opposite of some of the more whore-ish achievement games out there. Avatar has a reputation of being an awful game, and yet you can get 1,000 points practically with no trouble at all. You just need to mash a button over and over a few minutes, and free points to brag about. But this one? It's nearly impossible to get, and failing to get it even worse, just proves how unpopular the game is and how stupidly ambitious the developers were.

For more, hit the link for Kotaku's post.

Boosting session gone awry via Kotaku

My journey through the harsh world of Street Fighter 3rd Strike

A few days ago, I was lucky to find a disc of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection. How lucky? By my own estimates, the disc by itself could go for $30 easy due to how few copies of the Xbox version exist. Drop by on eBay andd you'll find copies with the box and instructions going for $40, almost as if it was still a new game! But I got it for $12 for just the disc and a free empty box to boot to protect it. The owner acknowledged the rarity of the game and congratulated me on finding the game for cheap. By the way, I got the game from Game Place, which was a nice bonus.