Big Update

Hello there! I wanted Kharlo to write the 50th post here but I think he's a little too excited to remember to do so. >_<

Therefore, I'll do it for him! He's currently writing game reviews and other articles for the South Florida Chronicle. 

Check them out here.

If you click on his author name, it'll link you to all of the pieces he has written for them thus far. I hope you join me in saying: Congratulations! He's an amazing person and very much deserves this opportunity.

Fantastic Friday

Hello, hello!

I'm tempted to write about Kharlo's posts first but I'll keep to tradition. Meh! :P

Have you heard J.K. Rowling's announcement yet?  

**Spoiler Alert! (-ish)**

Top Five - Coolest Video Game Weapons Edition

Ah, video game weapons! They exist even in the mildest, family friendly titles. They can range from incredible to absolutely bizarre. See, that's the thing about video game weapons: they can be anything. Play a JRPG and you'll find yourself amused at characters who fight with umbrellas, yo-yos, giant pencils, bycicles, small children, etc. This post is to commemorate what I feel are the five coolest weapons in video game history.



5. Valentine (Soul Calibur Series) -





Okay, Soul Calibur has a lot of neat weapons, like Tira's giant hula hoop of death or Setsuka's umbrella/short katana combination. But none of them can compare to Ivy's sword, Valentine. Valentine is a magical sentient sword created by Isabella Valentine when she sought to destroy Soul Edge, and that means it can react out of its own accord to protect its owner (it's perfectly loyal to Ivy). But it doesn't stop there, because as cool as the idea seems, it's the actual design of the weapon that sets it apart; Valentine has the ability to switch between being a regular sword and a segmented sword/whip hybrid of unimaginable power. It gives Ivy an insane amount of range, vertically and horizontally, which is crucial when playing a fighting game like Soul Calibur where the stages are the size of a pinhead and you can win fairly by "Ring Out." The sword has many uses on top of that and it's versatile when it comes to your options: it can be used to cut, smack, whip, and even grab opponents from a distance. It also sort of lends Ivy a whole dominatrix dimension when she wraps Valentine around an enemy's neck, puts him or her on all fours, and pulls on the sword like it was a leash. Both the sword and its owner are kind of...intense...

Top Five - "Most Aesthetically Interesting Games" Edition

Video games are art. Deal with it, Roger Ebert. But the thing about video games is that they take enormous teams to create and they require more than just looks: the gameplay, the graphics, the art, the music, etc. all must coordinate. This is why, for the most part, many developers find it easier to create games that are graphically similar to whatever else the rest of the industry is offering. It's simpler to just create a safe product. That is the reason so many games today are boring shades of brown, poo, and poo brown (I'm looking at you Gears of War!). It's an easy sell. But once in a while developers go out of their way to experiment with the art design of their games and the result is almost always magical. This article is dedicated to the five most aesthetically interesting/pleasing video games of all time.



5. Prince of Persia (Various Platforms) -





Prince of Persia is the redheaded step child of the PoP franchise, because nobody seems to want it and nobody seems to know what to make of it. It's painfully easy: you cannot die. I mean that literally. You fall down? Elika will save you. A boss takes you out? The battle restarts immediately. You don't even have to hit the ground. But what Ubisoft's line of thinking was with this new Prince of Persia actually becomes obvious as you play through the game more and more: it's all about flow. Moving quickly and expertly through the game's world. In order to make that a compelling prospect Ubisoft was left with an astronomical task: to create a gaming world so beautiful that gamers wouldn't be apprehensive about exploring it. They succeeded.

Future Friday

Hi there!

I wracked my brains for a whole two minutes for a topic for today. Then it hit me:

 *V8 head smack.* Duh. Spoilers!

Top Five - Ambiguously Gay Duos Edition

Ah, ambiguously gay duos:



These are the couples that have been fueling the slash fiction on hundreds of thousands of girls for decades now, and how could they not? See, in plenty of cases it's just a fantasy (like when they slash Harry and Draco together), but in some cases...well, it's kind of warranted since the two people involved are five seconds away from buttsecks.

This article is about the top five ambiguously gay duos in gaming: hope you enjoy it!



5. Male Commander Shepard and Kaiden Alenko (Mass Effect) -





Here's the thing: Kaiden was originally written to be a romance option for both the female and the male Commander Shepard. For supposed reasons of time constraints and of "cannon male Shepard being heterosexual," or some other B.S. Bioware actually cut Kaiden as a male!Shepard romance option before the game released. It wasn't until some ingenious fans modded the first game that we, the gamers, realized just how much of the Kaiden/male!Shepard relationship was done: there were lines and lines of dialogue and even voice acting for almost all of these dialogue options.

Top Five - Best Developers Edition

With E3 just finishing, I thought it would be a good time to post a top five that focuses on developers. Specifically, the best five developers/development houses of all time. I know there will be A LOT of disagreement with this list, as many people have their own personal ideas of what makes a developer good, so don't take it too seriously! It's meant to be mostly about my own personal opinion (and please, if you get a chance, post YOUR top five developers in the comments section below):




5. Valve Software -





I really don't care for Half-Life as a series. I think I'm about the only person on the face of the planet that doesn't, so you might think it's surprising that Valve is on this list. But the truth is that Valve deserves a spot for making some pretty fantastic games and revolutionizing gaming in a lot of ways. Primarily for making amazing games like Portal, Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress, Team Fortress 2, etc.

Furry Friday

Hello again!

This week's is more of a catch-up review for the post I missed reviewing last week. I did have a pretty good time in Texas and ate some amazing steak. Mmm... I will be dreaming about that steak for months.

Before I get to the recap, I just want to share a trailer I just saw after the break! Yep, it's that soon today. : )

Free Roam Friday

Hello there!

Long time no see. We seem to have taken a little break last week but we're back and kickin' now! I'll actually be leaving my desert and be wandering around somewhere in the middle of Texas by the time this post goes live. It's my first road trip in several years and actually should be enjoyable! Very exciting.

I think one of the most important events was the PlayStation Network (PSN) has more or less gone live again. Because of a near-month of shafting its customers, they wanted to offer a Welcome Back package (because, you know, you were the one to abandon them), however the only way to obtain two of the five offered games was to download them from the shop. Which was still down. >_> WTG (way to go) guys.

Um... other than that, I do believe that it has been mostly quiet. This is probably because convention season is right around the corner. I have yet to go to my first con (T_T) but I hope to someday soon! I'm totally ridiculous enough to go in a homemade costume designed to be nothing in particular. Info about upcoming cons are after the break!

Top Five - Best Sidekicks Edition

I already did awful sidekicks: now it's time to pay homage to the sidekicks that actually make games more entertaining/playable because they're made of absolute WIN! Here goes:



5. Max from Various Sam & Max Titles -





I absolutely love point-and-click adventures. I understand why some people don't: it's methodical gameplay, with a very slow pace, and a lot of problem solving required. Even with all my love for the genre, sometimes I too want to just have mindless video gaming fun. But it still remains one of my favorite types of games, and of point-and-click adventures my favorite has always been Monkey Island, followed closely by Sam & Max. Both series are humorous, but their humor comes in different forms: Monkey Island is dorky, nerdy humor at its best. Sam & Max is a mix of unlikely scenarios coupled with sharp writing and rapier wit from the its characters. Nobody exemplifies this more than Max.