WWE Network Review

After getting a chance to be a member of the WWE Network on launch day, I have put countless hours into the app. I would like to give my thoughts on some of the new shows and features that the network offers.

My main reason I ordered the network was that every single WWE, WCW, and ECW Pay-Per-View is available and able to view. This is a great addition for the ten dollars a month and there are over a thousand of hours of content just by watching the pay-per-views alone. Before the network was available I started a quest to watch every single WWE pay-per-view in order. It was hard because I didn't want to buy dvds so I was looking through videos and videos on the internet to try and find a good quality video of the pay-per-view I want to watch. Now, with the network I have them all at my disposal for a small price. I also like that they are, for the most part, in their original glory. They even included Over the Edge 1999 where Owen Hart fell to his untimely death. I have not made it this far in my chronological viewing, but I am interested how they edit the show. I know that during In Your House: Bad Blood 1997, which was the night that Brian Pillman dies, they still keep all references to Pillman's death. The difference between these two is that Owen died during the show and Pillman died before the show in his hotel room.

Another reason that I like the Network is that all of their original shows are very well done and I enjoy each and every one of them. Here is a rundown of each of the shows:

Raw and Smackdown Pre-show and  Backstage Pass: To make the WWE seem more like a sport there is now a pre-show and a post show. These shows include interviews and segments that can only be found on the WWE Network. I enjoy watching these just to see which legend will be joining Josh Matthews, Alex Ryley, and Booker T as a special guest.

Wrestlemania Rewind: This show looks at a famous match from Wrestlemania's history and what lead up to it and what was the fallout. It includes interviews from superstars and legends about the impact of the match and even the backstage news that was going on at the time. Each episode even includes the full length math. Matches that have been looked at so far are Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff from Wrestlemania 1, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant from Wrestlemania 3, Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels from Wrestlemania 14, Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart and Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna from Wrestlemania 10, John Cena vs. Big Show from Wrestlemania 20, John Cena vs. JBL from Wrestlemania 21, Triple H vs. Chris Jericho from Wrestlemania 18, and Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho from Wrestlemania 19.

WWE Countdown: This is probably my favorite show on the WWE Network. It is a top ten list show that counts down WWE's history. It is interesting seeing the current and past superstars give their point of view on a certain subject. I like that they, for the most part, stay out of character and give their honest opinion. So far episodes have been Coolest Catchphrases, Awesome Entrances, Fantastic Finishing Moves, Backstabbers, Blunders, RAW's Most Memorable Moments, Infamous Gimmicks, and Greatest Tag Teams.

 This Week in WWE: I also enjoy this show. This is just a recap show about what happened the previous week during WWE. Since I am busy on Mondays and Fridays I do not have time to watch RAW or Smackdown. This is a nice recap show to show me the important points that happened during the episode in a 30 minute episode.

Beyond the Ring: This is a documentary of a past or current wrestler. They are taken straight from the DVD's.

I hope that I have swayed some people to consider the WWE Network. You really can't beat that price with all of the programming and every single Pay-Per-View for free. 

WWE Network

On Wednesday, January 8 the WWE announced their new network will be released on February 24, 2014. This is way off their original target date of April 1, 2012. Even though I have been waiting for this since the beginning I am glad they decided to wait. Originally the plan was to have it be a typical channel on a cable provider. Since it kept being pushed back over and over they have eventually decided to release it as a streaming device such as Netflix or Hulu. On its release they will have every single WWE, WCW, and ECW pay-per-view. This is over 300 events already being announced for the network. They are advertising that they will have 1500 hours worth of content on launch date.  They will also have their own lineup of TV shows available to watch and stream on the channel. Not only do you get all the previous pay-per-views, but every single pay-per-view will air live, including Wrestlemania. You get all of this for a monthly commitment of $9.99 with a six month commitment.

I think that the WWE network is a great idea. Not only does it appeal to the current fans of the WWE, but I think it will start drawing in older fans. They can go back and watch all of the older content from WWE television. They can relive their fandom of favorite wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. It will also be great to watch other organizations to like WCW and ECW. Another thing I really enjoy about it is the price. $9.99 is a great deal for all of the content you receive. For example, if you order every single pay-per-view you would pay around $720 for the year. Now, you can watch them all for $120. I don't give the WWE my money very often. I usually stream the pay-per-views online or don't watch them at all. I only own a few DVDs and the only consistent money they get from me is when I buy their video game every year.  I will be buying the WWE network on launch date and would urge any past or present professional wrestling fan to try it out.

My Top 5 Least Favorite Trends of Modern Gaming

Bare with me. This is my first time attempting to do a list...

The very first video game that I remember playing is Super Mario Brothers 3 on the NES. That was way back in the early 90s. Since then gaming has evolved and the same games that were popular back then are being put on the back burner for more modern games. So, without wasting any time, here are my top 5 least favorite trends in modern gaming.


#5. Voice Over Acting

That's right Professor Oak. Your nephew's name is Buttface.

I figure that this selection may come as a surprise to most of you and that is why it is at the bottom of my list. Some games do voice overs great (L.A. Noire) and others leave a lot to be desired (Enchanted Arms). Now, I do not hate the fact that a lot of games have voice overs now, but I do not like that it has taken away the ability to name my character. Character's can't be named now because the developers want to include their character's names so that the player feels more intact with the game. THQ did fix this somewhat with their WWE franchise of video games. After you create your wrestler, you can choose how you want the announcer to say their name as they come down to the ring during their entrance. You can only choose from a selection of sounds and words that are already in the programming. So, for example, my creation of Jeff Hardy now enters the ring as Chef Hard ee.

#4. Online Gaming

I know that this is another topic that will have people causing an uproar. I'll be the first to admit it, I am not a fan of online gaming. There is nothing better than getting a few of your closest friends and racing each other in Mario Kart or beating each other up in Super Smash Brothers. Online gaming has proven that society has gotten lazy. It is too much work to go over to my friends house and play a game with them, so we will both log in at home and not even see each other face-to-face. I also don't like the idea of playing with random strangers. I would rather play with my own group of friends and not worry about anyone leaving the game early. If they do, I know exactly where to find them. I would have a completely different opinion of a decent MMO would come out on the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. 

Give these kids a few more years and they will be arguing with 30-year-olds on Xbox Live

#3. Casual Gaming

Casual Gaming is an interesting topic. It lead to both the Wii's success and its demise. When the Wii first hit the market, it was a big innovation. A video game company has never before completely based a console around motion control. The Wii had some great first-party titles to start off its history, but soon it was overrun with third-party titles that appealed strictly to casual gamers. This lead Nintendo fans to start leaning towards buying Microsoft and Sony consoles. They even started advertising their big series towards casual gamers. This is evident with releases like New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Another reason for the casual gaming boom is the incorporation of mobile gaming. With the iPhone and other smartphones, the idea of video games are reaching a new group of people. People who just want to waste time while they are waiting in a doctor's office or trying not to fall asleep in class. If the only games you play regularly happen to be on your phone, I do not consider you a gamer.

#2. Motion Control

As I stated above, the Wii was a big innovation. I am not a huge fan of how much its games revolve around
motion control. I do not like that how good I am at a game is based around my athletic ability. When I play games it is because I want to do something that I never could dream of doing in real life. I play Madden Football because that is the only time I can be the star of the football team, not because I am an amazing quarterback. When I decide to play a game I want to sit back and relax. I am not planning on moving around a lot. Motion control has lead to a craze of dance games and a way for third party developers to go crazy with all the different games they can make. Whether it is the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation Move, or the Xbox 360 Kinect, I do not like them.

#1 First Person Shooters

The only first person shooter that matters.

Hold on as a duck as all of the Call of Duty fanboys throw something at me... Is it safe yet? I hate first person shooters. It may be because I am not good at them, but I loathe them. They seem to be flooding the
market all the time. You have Call of Duty, Halo, Borderlands, Fallout, Left 4 Dead, and the list goes on and on. I think the thing that bothers me the most about these games are their fans. All of a sudden I am the inferior gamer because I would rather play Mario or Pokemon than one of their games. I am not one of these people that say that playing violent video games leads to violence, but when violence is all that dictates a good game than there is a problem. I just cannot get into these games. I play games solely based on the singleplayer campaign and when there is a good multiplayer replayability that is a plus. I just do not see the need to release a new Call of Duty game every year. Sports games make sense, they need to update the rosters, but a game based around war does not. I understand what games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem 3D did for the genre and video game history, but back then we weren't constantly having it thrown in our faces. That is why first person shooter is and will always be my least favorite trend of modern gaming.

What do you think of my list? Do you agree with some placements, disagree, or do you think that something else should have made it on the list? Leave your comments below. I will be happy to hear from you. Just please don't spam it with fights about what is better, Call of Duty or Halo.

Youtube finds

I have just recently found out some great Youtube channels that I have started following. Today I will be sharing three of these channels with you.

#1. Captain 8-bit

I "stumbled upon" this channel by using Stumbleupon (see what I did there). There main video series is called "The Game Chasers". This series follows two guys (Billy and Jay) and they go around to different flea markets, thrifts stores, pawn shops, and retro game stores trying to find games for good prices. If you are interested in buying old games this is a good series to watch. I get really jealous when I see some deals they make. They also have a series called "That's the Way Game Playin' Go". In this series they look at memories from their childhood based on a specific category such as Zelda or a console like the NES.

 

#2. DYKGaming

If you are interested in random trivia about gaming, then this channel is for you. Their videos are short 3-5 minute videos that cover interesting trivia from all of your favorite video game franchises. They have videos on Mario, Final Fantasy, Portal, and other popular video games. They also have another series called Easter Egg Hunting where they play through a game trying to find all the Easter eggs or they find as many Easter eggs as they can that pertain to a certain topic like South Park.

#3. The Game Theorists

This is one of the most interesting channels I have ever came across. This guy, Matthew Patrick, looks at all of your favorite video games and tries to research real world qualities about them. Have you ever wanted to know what type of frog Frogger is? How about diagnosing all of Batman's villians? They also figure out exactly where Adventure Island is located. This guy puts a lot of research into his videos and they are all very interesting. The video I am including is my favorite one so far. He determines that (spoiler alert if you have lived under a rock) maybe Sephiroth wasn't the one that killed Aerith.

History of Pokemon (Generation 4)

 

Just like in previous generations, the public was introduced to the newest generation by the revealing of a new Pokemon. Munchlax was revealed in the game Pokemon Dash and also was in the seventh movie and in the anime. After that other Pokemon were revealed such as Lucario, Bonsly, Mime Jr, and Weavile in the eighth movie and Mantyke, Buizel, and Chatot were introduced in the ninth movie. 

Diamond and Pearl were eventually released for the Nintendo DS on September 28, 2006. Western audiences would not be able to play it until April 22, 2007. These games introduced 107 new Pokemon and a new region, Sinnoh. This was also the first handheld game to give a 3D rendering to the beloved Pokemon world. This generation brought back the time system and introduced new ideas such as gender differences between Pokemon, splitting physical and special moves, and a new villain team known as Team Galactic. 

The anime coincided with the release of the games and it introduced a new female protagonist, Dawn. There were also three movies for this generation that were a part of a trilogy. They are The Rise of Darkrai, Giratina and the Sky Warrior, and Arceus and the Jewel of Life. A new trading card set was also released. 

Just like in previous generations there were quite a few spin-off games that were released. They were Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Pokemon Ranger: Shadow of Almia, and My Pokemon Ranch. A third version of the main Pokemon series, title Pokemon Platinum came out September 13, 2008 in Japan and March 22, 2009 in North America. Another Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game also came out titled Explorers of Sky.

Due to a high demand Nintendo revealed that it was releasing remakes of the favorite generation 2 games, Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver. They were released on September 12, 2009 in Japan and March 14, 2010 in North America. They were titled Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver. 

After four remakes of rehashing the same old Pokemon formula with modifications for each generation, Nintendo decided that they were going to completely revamp the Pokemon world for their next generation...

Cards Against Humanity is My Favorite Thing

In 1999 a new card game was invented. It was awarded a Mensa Select prizewinner and 1999 Party Game of the Year. This game was Apples to Apples. Now this game is considered a classic family board (card) game up there with Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Scrabble. An issue I have had with my group of friends is that Apples to Apples can get very stale very quickly. You start to notice certain things about the game like, "no matter when you play Helen Keller, it will always be a win." Here is a disclaimer: this game is not Apples to Apples!

Cards Against Humanity took the formula for Apples to Apples and made it fun again. You first start the game by separating the black and white cards. Everyone is then dealt ten white cards. The judge for the first round, in this game they are called the Card Czar, will then flip over a black card. Each player will then throw in what they think is the best white card that fits the black card. The Card Czar then picks the one they like best and the game moves on to the next person to be the Card Czar.

Now, I know that you are thinking, "Man, this is just like Apples to Apples" and in a lot of ways it is. The only difference is that it is geared largely towards adults and the cards are more fun and creative. In Apples to Apples the green cards you flip over are always adjectives and you must find the correct noun that matches the adjective. In Cards Against Humanity the black cards can be fill in the blank or ask a question. Examples are "What is that smell?" and "Sorry professor, I couldn't turn in my homework because of _________." The white cards also are not always kid friendly. Examples of white cards are "Incest", "Hope", and "The Virginia Tech Massacre".

There are also cards that may have you play two cards. An example of this is "Step One:__________, Step Two:__________, Step Three: Profit". There are also two cards in the deck that have you draw two cards at the start of the round, and then you must play three cards. One of those cards say, "Make a Haiku". When this card is played, you must use three of your cards to make a haiku. The haiku does not have to follow 5, 7, 5 format.

The game also has many other rules that you can add. One says that you can sacrifice one of the black cards you won to play two cards into the pile. If you win, you get your card back plus the black card that you won. If you lose, you lose the black card you sacrificed. You can also give up a black card to get rid of any number of white cards in your hand. Also the rules clearly state that you may get rid of a white card if you do not understand what is on the card. The only downfall is that all of your friends may ridicule you for being so naive.

This game may only be bought online at www.cardsagainsthumanity.com. If you do not want to spend the $25 price tag for it, you can also print off all of the cards from the game on their site because the game is in the public domain. Along with the original game there are three expansion packs that cost $10 each.

Half Brother is my Favorite Thing

When I wrote the last post I did not expect that there would be two posts back-to-back that had to do with apes or monkeys, but I just finished reading this book and it was amazing.

This book takes place in 1970s Canada. It is about a 13 year-old boy named Ben Tomlin who must cope with his family bringing home a new baby. The difference is that this baby is not human, but a chimpanzee. Ben's father works for a university and they are trying to see if chimps can learn sign language and communicate with people. Ben must learn to cope with the issues of having a new family member that they are told to treat like a human and not like a chimp. 

At first Ben does not like the fact that they have this new family member, but eventually he starts to feel like Zan (the chimpanzee) is his little brother. Along with the issues of dealing with Zan at home he must also deal with other problems of being a teenaged boy such as girls, classes, and who his real friends are. 

The reason that I really enjoyed this book is that it got me to be emotionally attached to the characters, especially Zan. When the father is thinking of getting rid of him, I felt sorry for Ben and Zan and did not want to see the two brothers ripped apart. This is a book that I could not put down. It is around 340 pages, but they go by really quickly. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science or just want to read a great coming-of-age story about a boy who must learn that the world does not revolve around him. This book has romance, comedy, and emotional scenes so everyone will enjoy it. If you want to read it, go check it out at your public library or buy it online. You can get it for around $5 on Amazon and I would definitely recommend it. I bought it at my school's book fair for $3 because it was on sale and I definitely do not regret it.