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. 

Ape Escape is my Favorite Thing

Release Date: 1999

Developer: SCE Japan Studio

Genre: Platform

Ape Escape  is the first game that required the dual-analog controller for the Playstation. The premise of the game is that you run around as the human character, Spike, and try to collect all of the apes so that they cannot reshape history. The game uses a series of sneaking and gadgets to help collect the different monkeys that are located in the level. Each ape has light on his helmet that acknowledges how aware of you they are. 

One of the details that make Ape Escape one of my favorite games is how bright and colorful the graphics are. Some games have a bad habit of making bright games too childish, but Ape Escape is able to avoid that conflict. Since this game came out about five years after the Playstation's release, it utilizes it to the best of its abilities. 

Each level requires a specific amount of monkeys that need captured. There are always more monkeys in a level than you need to capture to complete the level. This is helpful so that if you are stuck on trying to capture a certain monkey, then you can look for another one. If fact, some cannot be captured until you receive a certain gadget later on in the game. This adds to the replayablitiy of the game. 

The gadgets also add some uniqueness to the game. They range from a remote-controlled car, a magic punch, and a sky flyer. After you receive each gadget, there is a practice level that you must complete to learn how to use the gadget. Ape Escape also has minigames that can be played. These are helpful for people who just want to get away from the main story of the game and wind down. After you have played the whole game and defeated the main boss, Specter, you must play the game again in order to capture all the monkeys. Even after you beat the game twice, you still must get a gold medal in all of the levels, plus beat each minigame. With all this, Ape Escape, can last a person a very long time, especially for those people who love to 100% games. 

Overall, I would recommend Ape Escape to anyone looking for something different. It is an innovative game that you can just relax to. It is a good way to get away from those mature rated games that seem to be all over the gaming community in this day in age. 

History of Pokemon (Generation 3)

Again, the introduction of a new generation of Pokemon came bout with the reveal of a new Pokemon in the anime. The Pokemon was introduced during episode 205, "The Kecleon Caper". Soon after Kecleon was revealed other Pokemon showed up in a Pikachu short. They were Wynaut, Azurill, Duskull, and Volbeat. Wailmer, Latios, and Latias had roles in the fifth Pokemon movie. During the Silver Conference at the end of the Johto season, Ash battles Harrison a trainer from Hoenn, the region from generation three. With all these introductions, fans started speculating about the new generation of Pokemon. 

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire were released in Japan on November 21, 2002 on the Game Boy Advance system. There were more Pokemon revealed in this generation than there was in generation 2 with 135 new Pokemon added to the lineup. There were also many new features introduced on these games. They were contests, double battles, and that each Pokemon could have a specific ability and nature. Also, Team Rocket was not in this game. Instead two new teams were the antagonists for our main heroes. They were Team Aqua and Team Magma. This generation introduced specific weather conditions and it was the first set of games to not be compatible with the previous games due to the significant changes they made. 

The anime also started a new series. Instead of the show just being called Pokemon, it was called Pokemon: Advanced Generation. This series started in Japan on the same day that they released the games. This series introduced two new main characters, May and Max to Ash's journey. Brock also joined Ash, but Misty did not resume her role as a main character. Pokemon movies six and seven were released during this series of the anime. They were Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys. 

Pokemon may have been popular in the United States, but it was not nearly as popular here as it was in Japan. A show called Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station debuted October 15, 2002. Its stories, instead of focusing on Ash would focus on other characters of the anime such as Misty, Brock, and Tracey. Parts of this show were eventually dubbed into English in May 2005. The newly titled show was called Pokemon Chronicles.

This generation of Pokemon also introduced many spin-off games. The first of these was Pokemon Box Ruby and Sapphire. This was not really a game, but additional storage to be used with your Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. It could store an additional 1,500 Pokemon. Other games that came out were Pokemon Channel and Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire. Finally, fans could also get a taste of Pokemon in a 3D environment. Pokemon Colosseum. This game introduced players to a new region, Orre, and introduced shadow Pokemon to the growing Pokemon universe. This was also the first game to allow you to use an evolved Pokemon as a starter (when Pikachu was a starter, Pichu wasn't revealed yet). You could choose either to start with Espeon or Umbreon. 

The creators of Pokemon decided that they wanted to give newer fans of Pokemon a chance to replay some of the older classics. They released Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on the Game Boy Advance. This game revisited the original games and the Kanto region. It also introduced the Sevii Islands. Also, just like in previous generations, they made a third game in the Hoenn saga. Pokemon Emerald was released on September 16, 2004 in Japan and May 1, 2005 in North America. This game introduced the Hoenn Battle Frontier, the chance to rebattle gym leaders, and different animations for all the Pokemon.

To go along with these new games, the television show also traveled back to Kanto. Ash battled the Battle Frontier there. During this season, two new movies were produced. They were Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokemon Ranger and they Temple of the Sea. They then released new spin-offs like Pokemon Dash, Pokemon Trozei!, and a sequel to Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Players also got their chance to play as a Pokemon for the first time ever when Pokemon Red Rescue Team and Pokemon Blue Rescue Team on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Another new concept was introduced where players were Pokemon rangers instead of Pokemon trainers in the game Pokemon Ranger. 

In 2006, Pokemon celebrated its 10th anniversary. To celebrate, they released a CD titled Pokemon X: 10 Years of Pokemon and a traveling expo called Journey Across America. A special titled The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon was introduced and the new Pokemon Trading Figure Game debuted. 

That is three generations down and two to go. Pokemon has lasted ten years and does not show any sign of stopping.

King of the Nerds is My Favorite Thing

With the series finale of King of the Nerds on TBS last Thursday I thought that I would weigh in on my thoughts on the show as a whole. I will not reveal the winner or the results of any competitions.

The premise of the show is for eleven nerds to duke it out and find out who is the nerdiest of them all and end the game sitting of the Throne of Games. The winner also receives $100,000. The show is hosted by Bobby Carradine and Curtis Armstrong, both made famous by the cult classic Revenge of the Nerds.

The contestants on the show range in their area of nerdy expertise and that is something I really enjoy about the show. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. There is Virgil who is a master hacker, Moogega who works for NASA, and Ivan who creates his own tabletop roleplaying games. The other players range anywhere from a professional video game player to a young adult phantasy book writer. Then there is Alana, who just kind of sucks at everything. Seriously, I do not understand how she got on the show.

At the beginning of the series they split themselves into two teams by the way of every nerds worst nightmare. They are chosen dodge-ball style with each previously selected member of the team picking the next member of the team. Every week the teams compete in a Nerd War. There is also a theme of each weeks Nerd War. The competitions range from bowling with D20s to performing their own nerdy anthem in front of a panel of judges. After a winner is decided the teams get to decide who to send to a Nerd-Off. Each of the two teams get to send one member from the losing team of the Nerd War to the Nerd-Off.

After the two players are selected they are given a clue about what their Nerd-Off is about and then they get time to study for it. Usually the Nerd-Off has something to do with the Nerd War. For example, when they had to make their own nerd anthem during the Nerd War the Nerd-Off competition had the two players competing against each other in Dance Central. The losing player is then told that they are leaving Nerdvana.

I really love the premise of this show. The house they live in, Nerdvana, looks amazing. There are so many cool things in the house like statues of Batman, video game systems, and it even has a RadioShack room with many different gadgets. Each of the players is unique in their own ways and I love that they try to get all the different spectrums of what is considered nerdy. Right now I am making an audition tape for the second season, which was announced in February and will air in 2014. So I am announcing that I will be entering to be a contestant in the next season of King of the Nerds.

History of Pokemon (Generation 2)

 

 Last time when we left off, Pokemon was on its way to becoming Nintendo's second best selling franchise. It seems that the creators always knew that there were going to be more Pokemon games and that they were going to be a hit. This was relevant during the first episode of the anime where Ho-Oh was seen, but was not able to be identified by Ash Ketchum's Pokedex. Later on in the series during the episode "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon" the main characters find a Pokemon egg. This egg eventually hatches into Togepi in the episode "Who Gets to Keep Togepi." 

Pokemon Gold and Silver

A new generation started to become real when MParill, Snubbull, and Donphan were introduced during Pokemon: The First Movie. Lugia, Slowking, and Elekid were then introduced in the second Pokemon movie, Pokemon The Movie 2000: The Power of One on July 17, 1999 in Japan. Finally, on November 21, 1999 Pokemon Gold and Silver were released for the Game Boy Color. In this game they introduced a new region, Johto, and 100 new Pokemon were introduced. These games introduced many new features, the most prominent and important being the idea that Pokemon can have different genders and can breed. A time system was also introduced where new different events can happen during the day and night. You could also catch certain Pokemon only a certain time of day. The friendship system was also introduced. Different events would happen based on how happy your Pokemon was and certain Pokemon evolved only when their happiness was at a certain level. This was also the first game to introduce shiny Pokemon. The most notable of these being the red Gyarados found in the Lake of Rage. Along with the Johto gym leaders players could also face all of their favorite gym leaders from Kanto. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000. 

The anime also brought our favorite characters to Johto. After the Orange Archipelago series, Tracey leaves Ash and Misty and they are joined again by Brock who is finished with Valencia Island. During the Johto Journeys, Pokemon the Movie 3: Spell of the Unown is released on July 8, 2000 in Japan and April 6, 2001 in North America. This movie featured the legendary Pokemon, Entei. Two more movies were made during this generation. They are Pokemon 4ever: Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias. 

On December 10, 1999, the first trading cards with the new generation of Pokemon was revealed in Japan. On September 21, 2000 a sequel to Pokemon Puzzle League called Pokemon Puzzle Challenge was released on the Game Boy Color. Fans got their first look at the generation 2 Pokemon in 3D for the first time with Pokemon Stadium 2 was released on December 14, 2000. 

The two main characters from Pokemon Crystal

Just like in generation 1, a third game was made called Pokemon Crystal. This game had many changes from the original games. Suicine was featured on the cover and was a part of the main plot of the game. This was the first game to include animations for every single Pokemon and allow you to choose which gender you would like to play as.

Super Off Road is My Favorite Thing

Release Date: 1993
Developer:  The Leland Corporation
Genre: Racing
# of Players: 1-2


This is a game that I have fond memories of. My brother and I would go to my grandma's house and this was one of the few games that we could agree on and play. For a racing game during the 16-bit era it does an amazing job.

This games main premise is to race off road with trucks against three other drivers. You start the game by deciding whether there is going to be one or two players. My advice is to find a friend to play this game with because if there are two players, the game will never end and you do not have to deal with that awful game over screen and start with race one. Player one will get to be a red truck and player two will be the blue truck. Also racing are the yellow truck and that dreaded gray truck.

The gray racer usually always wins.

I call it the dreaded gray truck because if you are not going to win the race, you can be assured that he will. Before each race, you are allotted some cash to spend on nitros, tires, shocks, top speed, or wheels. After you spend your hard-earned cash you are sent to the beginning of the race. There are 99 races in all, but you race each one more than once. Each time you race a track it is a different experience. You may end up going through the track backwards or there may be a haystack in a place that it wasn't in a previous race. After the race is over you will get a championship scene with the top three racers and a valet.

I'm not a huge fan of racing games, but this is the first racing game that I can remember playing and enjoying. It is a fun game with pretty good graphics for the SNES. This game was originally an arcade game and released in 1989. It was not ported to the SNES until 1993. If you have an SNES or an SNES emulator I would recommend trying this game out.

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. 

History of Pokemon (Generation 1)

Pokémon Across Japan:

Clefairy, One of the First
Pokemon Created

Pokémon started as an idea that Satoshi Tajiri wanted to base off of his favorite hobby, bug collecting. After coming up with this idea he got the help of his friend Ken Sugimori and they formed Game Freaks and a design studio called Creatures. When Tajiri saw the Game Boy and the Game Boy Link Cable he imagined the bugs traveling across the wire. Satoshi Tajiri created the game Capsule Monsters and pitched it to Nintendo, but was turned down. After other attempts were turned down he got the help of his friend Shigeru Miyamato, the creator of the Super Mario series and the Legend of Zelda series. After that Nintendo decided to fund the project.

For six years Satoshi Tajiri worked on the game and Ken Sugimori worked on the artwork. The first three Pokémon that were created were Rhyhorn, Lapras, and Clefairy. In 1995, sprites of Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Meowth, and Mew appeared in Game Boy Camera. They also decided to change the name of the game from Capsule Monsters to Pocket Monsters.

The first Pokemon games, Pokemon Red and Green, came out on February 27, 1996. This allowed children of all ages to catch and train the 150 different monsters that were available in the game. Shortly after Nintendo released Pokemon Blue with updated sound and graphics. Then the Pokemon Trading Card Game was created by Media Factory. It was released on October 20, 1996 and had 102 cards in its first set.

The popularity of the video game and trading card game led to an anime that came out on April 1, 1997. They named the main character of the anime Satoshi after Pokemon's creator, Satoshi Tajiri. The name was changed to Ash Ketchum in the English dub. Sathoshi's rival was named Shigeru, after Shigeru Miyamoto. In English he was named Gary Oak. Along with the anime, Pokémon also released several manga. The most popular being Pokémon Special, which was first published on August 8, 1997.

On April 25, 1998, Pokémon was able to open its own store in Tokyo. This led to other stores being open and there are now six stores in Japan. There was one in New York City, but it has since been shut down and turned into Nintendo World with a section devoted solely to Pokémon.

Pokémon Comes to America:

The United States got its first taste of Pokemon on September 7, 1998 when the first episode of the anime was dubbed into English and released. They also got Pokemon Red and Blue on September 30, 1998. With these releases they also revealed a new slogan, "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" They also released the Trading Card Game on January 9, 1999. It was created by Wizards of the Coast.

While this was going on Japan tried to release a Pokémon game on the Nintendo 64. This game was called Pokemon Stadium, but it only had 42 of the 151 original Pokémon. It was considered very unsuccessful. While this game was a huge flop, the anime was soaring to a huge success. On July 18, 1988, Pokémon: The First Movie was debuted in Japanese theaters. It was followed up with a United States release on November 10, 1999. It would hold the record shortly for highest-grossing opening for an animated film.

Soon, it was decided that they should release a game that was more closely corresponding with the anime. So, Pokémon Yellow Version was released on September 12, 1998 in Japan and October 25, 1999 in the United States. This was very similar to Red and Green/Blue except for that Pikachu is your starter and follows you around outside of his Pokéball. There were also changes to some of the gym leaders lineups and you were able to get all three original starters in the game.

On December 18, 1998, a Game Boy game based off of the Trading Card Game was created. It arrived in North America on April 10, 2000. A year later, in Japan, it was followed up with a sequel titled Pokémon Trading Card Game 2: Here Comes Team GR!. The creators realized that Pikachu was the brands most popular character and they decided to create their own game based off it called Hey You, Pikachu!. This game involved a microphone and allowed the player to interact with Pikachu through voice commands.

This is a picture of Aree and myself at Pokemon
World in Japan

After the anime finished the game's story, it started a spinoff season in the Orange Archipelago, and this sprung a new movie, Pokemon the Movie 2000. With a new take on the series, a game called Pokemon Snap was created on the Nintendo 64. In this game, the player takes control of Todd Snap, a character from the anime, and they go around and take pictures of different Pokémon. There was also another Pokémon spinoff game called Pokémon Pinball on the Game Boy Color. A sequel to Pokemon Stadium was also released. This time in both Japan and the United States. Unlike its predecessor, it had all 151 Pokemon. The stadium series was the first time that audiences could see the Pokémon characters in 3D. Also on the Nintendo 64, Pokémon Puzzle League was released. This was the first Pokémon game that was created strictly for the United States.