History of Jax

Jax's character design was based on the character in the 1985 movie American Ninja. He was created for the original Mortal Kombat game and was supposed to have Sonya's story. Since there were no female characters in the original game, Jax was scrapped and they put Sonya in his place. Jax's original name was going to be Kurtis Stryker. That name was later reused in the making of Mortal Kombat 3. He also was originally supposed to be a kickboxer, but Midway thought that he would be too similar to Balrog and Sagat from Street Fighter. He was wearing a yellow martial arts gi and had metal hands. They then decided to make him shirtless because they felt that the gi covered up too much of his muscular physique. While filming footage for the game, his actor, John Parrish, ended up splitting the yellow pants.

Jax is a United States Special Forces major. He first appeared in Mortal Kombat II. His goal is to find and rescue his partner, Sonya Blade. He ultimately wants to bring Kano into custody. During Mortal Kombat 3 Shao Kahn invades the Earthrealm. To help fight him off, Jax gets bionic implants added to his arsenal. During this game, Sonya and Jax find the Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA) which specializes in exploring and creating maps for other worlds. During Mortal Kombat 4 he helps the Earthrealm group in stopping Shinnok from entering Earth. Jax then sees Jarek trying to kill Sonya and Jax saves her, killing Jarek in the process.

While they are returning to Earthrealm they see Cyrax malfunctioning in a desert. They bring him back to OIA  and return his humanity to him. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance the OIA's underground base is destroyed by Hsu Hao. Jax has a score to settle with him, even though Hsu Hao was just sent there to kill Shang Tsung. Jax eventually kills him by ripping out his artificial heart implant. Jax and the other Earthrealm warriors end up being killed by Tarkartan warriors. The dragon king, Onaga defeats Raiden, but ends up resurrecting Raiden and the other Earthrealm heroes to be his slaves. Ermac and the spirit of Liu Kang are able to eventually break his mind control. During Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Sonya sends Jax in to find survivors on the destroyed warship, but they vanish and are captured.

Prince of Persia is My Favorite Thing

Release Date: 2008
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer
# of Players: 1

The game starts out with your main character, a nameless adventurer, looking for his donkey in the desert. The game is based on an area of Persia and around the  Zoroastrianism religion. While the main protagonist is looking for his donkey, he comes across an Ahura named Elika. The Ahura people have forsaken the god of light, Ormazd, and tried to release the god of darkness, Ahriman. Upon his escape, Ahriman wants to take over the entire universe.

After the two main characters meet, they must work together to send Ahriman back to the Tree of Life. Elika informs the protagonist that they must return the areas of the land back to their former state. Now you must travel to the different areas of the land while fighting off the four main bad guys The Hunter, The Warrior, The Alchemist, and The Concubine. You must defeat each of these characters four times and then you have a final three part battle against each of them. After you have healed all the areas, you must go back to the temple and defeat Ahriman himself.

The game was alright, but I do have some issues with it. The game should have come up with more original characters. You have to fight each character of total of five times and only The Warrior's battles change more than just the surrounding. Another thing that bothered me was that the final showdown with Ahriman was just a simple sidescrolling platform level. Another issue is the length of the game. When I get a game I like to see what achievements there are for the game. There is an achievement for beating the game in under twelve hours. My initial thought is that you can only get this achievement if you know exactly where you are going and have played the game before. When I finally beat the game, I got the achievement. I am pretty sure that I even let the game sit for a while when I made a meal or had to go and do something. I am glad that I only ended up paying three dollars for this game due to its shortness.

Now for my biggest issue with the game. I will warn you that this contains spoilers about the ending. You spend all this time trying to heal the lands and throughout getting to know Elika, you learn that she died and her father gave Ahriman the land in order for her to be brought back to life. Elika keeps telling the main protagonist the importance of bringing the lands back together and healing them. After you go through the trouble of defeating Ahriman, Elika dies. The credits roll and it shows you taking Elika out of the temple and placing her on an altar. You then go to the four trees of light and destroy them, thus giving the land back to Ahriman so that Elika can live again. Therefore, the last twelve hours are pointless and everything is back to where it was at the beginning of the game.

Overall, I enjoyed the game for what it is. I am glad that it was only three dollars. I would not want to pay more than ten for this game due to how short it is. I will say that there is downloadable content, but I never played it. I do know that it is an epilogue to the game, so it may address the crappy ending. Also I would have liked a reuniting with his donkey, Farah at the end, but that is just being nit-picky.

History of Eddy Gordo

When it came time to start developing characters for the video game, Tekken 3, the developers wanted to include a Capoeira fighter. Capoeira is martial arts style that incorporates dance into its fighting moves. He was originally supposed to be a female character, but the artist that was in charge of creating her said that it was too difficult to create. Masahiro Kimoto stated in an interview that Eddy Gordo is his favorite character due to the complications they had during his development.

For the motion capture, Namco used Capoeira master, Marcelo Pereira, from Brazil. During production he was injured and was unable to do a majority of the moves that they wanted him to do. Pereira criticized the developers saying that Eddy Gordo is not a Brazilian name. He also stated that "gordo" means "fat" in Portuguese and that they did not use any of the traditional names of the moves he gave them for Eddy's move set.

Eddy with his replacement Christie

Eddy made his first appearance in Tekken 3 and the following title, Tekken Tag Tournament. When Tekken 4 was released, Eddy was replaced by Christie Monteiro, who also fought in the Capoeira style. The main reason for replacing Eddy was that the development team finally figured out how create a female character in the Capoeira style. Christie was again showcased in Tekken 5, but Eddy did appear as an alternate costume for her. In Tekken 5's update, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection he did appear as a separate character, but had the same move set as Christie. Eddy again appeared in Tekken 6 and its remake Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion.

Eddy was born into one of the richest families in Brazil. When he was nineteen years old, Eddy's father got killed while trying to bust up a drug cartel. Before his death, Eddy's father asked him to take responsibility for his death. Eddy ended up serving eight years in prison where he was taught Capoeira by an old man. While in prison, Eddy became a master. When Eddy was released he heard about the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 and the Mishima Financial Empire (MFE). He thought that if he could win the tournament he could either get MFE's help or gain control of the company so that he could avenge his father's death.

After the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Eddy looked for the old man's granddaughter, Christie Monteiro. He promised to teach her the Capoeira fighting style. After two years of training Eddy left to again avenge his father. Christie looked everywhere for Eddy, but could not find him. She entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 hoping that it would eventually lead her to Eddy.

Eddy then learns that his master is about to be released from prison. When Eddy returns to the prison to meet his mentor he learns that he has turned into a frail old man and is not the amazing fighter that he once knew. Eddy takes him to the hospital and learns that he has a disease and only six months to live. Eddy learns of Mishima Zaibatsu's Technology, which may be used to help cure the old man. He enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to earn money for this technology. Christie also enters to help her grandfather.

After King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, Eddy speaks alone with Jin Kazama. Jin tells Eddy that he will help him save his master's life with money and resources. The only thing that Jin asks for in return is Eddy's allegiance to Mishima Zaibatsu. Eddy agrees since this could be the only way that he could save his master. Eddy enters King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 and does many illegal activities for Mishima Zaibatsu. After the tournament, Jin does not hold up his end of the bargain and Christie's grandfather and Eddy's mentor ends up dying. Eddy throws his Mishima Zaibatsu badge to the ground, ending his allegiance with them.

History of Barret Wallace

Barret was one of the original ideas to be included in Final Fantasy VII. The game only had three playable characters at first and he was one of those three. The other two characters were Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough. During early production it was decided that one of the player characters should die. The decision came down between Aerith and Barret. The producers ended up choosing
Aerith because they thought that Barret's death would be "too obvious".

Barret from the movie Advent Children

Barret's name is based on the Japanese pronunciation of the word bullet. That is why they chose the gunner as his character class. He is also the first black playable character in the Final Fantasy series. When the movie, Advent Children was being created, the movie animators decided to go with a different look because they thought he looked too much like Mr. T of Hogan's Heroes fame.

Barret is the leader of the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE. His group opposes the ruling company Shinra, and their idea of using "Mako" energy as a power source. AVALANCHE believes that it is killing the planet. AVALANCHE hires Cloud Strife as a mercenary and Barret follows Cloud in pursuit of the game's antagonist, Sephiroth.

Along their journey, Barret encounters his former friend Dyne. Dyne forces Barret to fight him and Barret defeats him. After the battle, Dyne kills himself. Through a flashback you learn the history between Barret and Dyne. They were both fleeing Shinra, who destroyed their town and killed Barret's wife. Along the way Dyne slips off a cliff and Barret grabs his hand. A Shinra soldier who is pursuing them shoots and destroys Barret's right hand, and Dyne's left. This causes Dyne to fall and supposedly die. Barret adopts Dyne's daughter, who was also fleeing with them, and has someone create a gun to put in place of his lost hand.

After Dyne's death, Barret admits that his hatred for Shinra is solely for revenge and that he was using the "saving the planet" idea just as an excuse. Barret eventually gets his thoughts straight and switches his goal to saving the planet and helps Cloud defeat Sephiroth.

ClassRealm is my favorite thing

Today I am deciding to write about something that has not been released yet. It is a classroom management tool known as ClassRealm. ClassRealm was created by Ben Bertoli as a way to keep his students interested in his classroom. He theoretically turned his own classroom into a roleplaying game (RPG).

At the start of the year, each student can choose a race and an enhancer. The list of races are Mermaid/Merman, Vampire, Werewolf, Goblin, Troll, Witch, Wizard, Ogre, Elf, Ghost, Angel, Cyborg, Yeti, Zombie, Human, Fairy. The list of enhancers are Ninja, Pirate, Warrior, Samurai, Knight, Prince, Princess, Alchemist, Mystic, and Mage. After the students pick their race and enhancer they fill out a get to know you card with their character, a picture, and their strengths and weaknesses.

The students have different achievements that they are able to accomplish and they can earn experience points and try to gain levels. The achievements are level based, so there are easy and harder achievements. Sample achievements include anything from reading so many books to not getting in trouble. Some achievements have nothing to do with their normal schoolwork and may include extra credit items that are not done at school.

The creator has different awards for individual levels and team levels. They have to earn so many experience points to gain a level. Some awards may include extra points on a test of the person's choosing, extra recess for the whole class, and a class ice cream party. ClassRealm has been proven to help with classroom management. Ben Bertoli has noted that he noticed a significant decline in behavior problems and missing work. This idea has increased the attitude of his students in the classroom.

One of the achievements he does for his class includes the students writing a report or story that includes six paragraphs. In the first two weeks of the beta test, every student had turned in a paper. These were all done outside of the classroom.

When I get my own classroom, I am definitely going to incorporate this idea. I like the fact that I can bring my love of video games into the classroom. You can find more information about the idea at www.classrealm.com. I will also be putting a link in my sidebar.

History of Atari Basketball

I chose to start of Black History Month by giving the history of Atari Basketball. This was the first video game to include a black character.  It was released in 1979 around the time that Atari was releasing a series of sports titles. They were Atari Football, Atari Basketball, Atari Soccer, and Atari Baseball. The unique thing about all of these arcade cabinets is that Atari used its largest ever trackball at 4.5 inches. The basketball game was the only one of the four that was placed in an upright cabinet. The others were in what was known as a cocktail cabinet where you looked down on the screen instead of straight at it. The reason behind this was that unlike the other three games where you were looking down at the field, you watched the basketball game from the sidelines of the court. You were able to play one player versus the computer or against another human player in two-player mode. 

The first black character in a video game

Along with the trackball there is one button, which is used to shoot the ball. The game starts with each player choosing their team. You can either be on the white team or the black team. The ball drops to the center of the court and each player must run there and try to grab it. You may push the button for an extended period of time. Depending on how long you push it, your character will raise the ball over his head and lower it again. The higher it is over the player's head, the farther the ball will go. If you are on the defensive side of the ball, then you can push the button to jump up and block the shot. If you are directly in front of the player with the ball, then you will attempt to steal it. 

The Lion King is My Favorite Thing

If you are one of my friends, it is no surprise to you when I say, "I am a huge fan of Disney." Today I will be talking about one of my favorite Disney movies, The Lion King. It was produced during the Disney renaissance and was one of the last great Disney movies for a few years (not including Toy Story which is considered Disney/Pixar and I do not consider it a part of the Disney animated classics). A little known fact about The Lion King is that it is loosely based on the play Hamlet. 

There is one factor to why I love The Lion King so much and that is Scar. I believe that he by far is the best Disney villain. First of all, Scar's intentions throughout the movie are all based on jealousy. He is envious of his brother who was chosen to be king of the Pride Lands over himself. He becomes even more jealous when Mufasa's son Simba is born because he will be next in line and Scar will have no way to become king. This leads scar to attempt to kill both Simba and Mufasa, which he succeeds in the latter by pushing his own brother off a cliff. He then puts the thoughts into Simba's head that it was his fault that his father died. 

Another reason that I love Scar is that he has a huge following. While most villains have an idiot sidekick, Scar has a whole pack of Hyenas to do his bidding. He promises them that they will never go hungry again and they blindly follow his lead. He could almost be considered the Adolph Hitler of the animal kingdom. This is also where he sings my favorite villain song of all time, "Be Prepared." I have always wanted to play Scar in a production of The Lion King just so I could sing that song. 

I know that I have pretty much turned this post from "The Lion King is My Favorite Thing" to "Scar is My Favorite Thing", but he is the main reason I love The Lion King. I also really enjoy the music in this movie. I do not thing that there is a more recognizable opening to a song. As soon as you hear the Zulu at the beginning of the song, "Circle of Life," you just cannot help but sing along. I looked up the English translation to those words and here they are:

Here comes a lion

Oh yes, it's a lion

There comes a lion

Oh yes, it's a lion

We're going to conquer

It's a lion and a tiger

The English words are definitely not as exciting as the Zulu words. 

These are the reasons that I love The Lion King. It is up there with Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast as my favorite Disney movie. I would recommend that if you have never seen the movie (all three of you) then go and see it. It was truly the end of an era of great Disney movies. 

I also want to give a quick shout out to The Lion King video game on SNES. It is, by far, one of the hardest video games I have ever played. I had it when I was younger and now I play it on an emulator. Even with the save states, I cannot beat the game. After I asked the question, "What is the hardest video game you have ever played?" on Facebook, it was determined that Disney had some of the hardest games. People said The Lion King, Aladdin, and Toy Story were some of the hardest games they have played. Leave a comment with the hardest game you have ever played.