Sports Champions Review
By CharlesAlanRatliff 1 Comments
Check it out at the user review section here.
Vito's Game Giveaway #7! Unused Copy of Mass Effect 2 (X360 PAL)!
By CharlesAlanRatliff 29 Comments
Welcome to a very special edition of Vito's Game Giveaway! First, congrats to Daveyo520 for winning Assassin's Creed! Second, the reason this giveaway in particular is extra special is because I've received my first donation! The best part? It's from one of our previous winners, zoskia, who you may remember as the winner of Dead Space!
zoskia has sent me an unused Xbox 360 PAL copy of Mass Effect 2. Note that the copy is not sealed, but it has indeed never been played. This isn't like those unUSED panties you used to be able to find on eBay—this is the real deal! Oh, and this copy even comes with a valid Cerberus Network code, which gets you a bunch of free downloadable content! Wooooooooooo! OK, let's go over some details. The case is in a bunch of funny languages that my ignorant American brain does not know the origin of, but the instruction book and game are in English. As long as you have a PAL 360, you're good to go! The game comes on two discs for those of you that don't know.
Mass Effect 2 is the only game available for this contest. On to the generic stuff (which you should still totally read)!
Donations
If you have games you are no longer interested in that are in good condition (as in, they work), then PM me with what game(s) you would like to donate and I will give you the mailing address you can ship them to. You will be responsible for all shipping costs. You won't get anything for it, but I will list your name (with a link to your profile) by the game you donate in all future contests that they are available.
Please read this before entering -
There is no way for me to really verify who enters, but I'd appreciate it if you only enter if you're actually able to play these games and have interest in them! If something happens to the game during shipping and it doesn't work for some reason, then... oh well! I'm paying for everything, and all you'll have to deal with is minor disappointment. I won't compensate you for that!
I will be doing one of these every week until I run out of games. More games will be added as I beat and lose interest in them or as I receive donations!
Xbox 360
Mass Effect 2 (PAL) - Donated by zoskia
How To Play
You have to do both of these or you won't be eligible. While it isn't a requirement, you guys should totally thank zoskia on his wall, as well.
1. Come up with the coolest name for a space nightclub you can think of. (Any posts stating "Afterlife" will not be counted.)
2. Tell me why you haven't played Mass Effect 2 yet, or, if you have played Mass Effect 2, why you are entering.
Deadline
You have until Saturday, March 5th at whatever time I am awake and decide to end it. I will make a warning post one hour before I close the contest and select the winner.
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Previous Winners
JohnAsscream - Alan Wake (X360)
kestrel10mn - Assassin's Creed II (X360)
zoskia - Dead Space (PS3)
nintendoeats - Splinter Cell: Conviction (X360)
DarthOniXVIII - Left 4 Dead (X360)
Daveyo520 - Assassin's Creed (X360)
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Follow the Twitter and Facebook pages for updates on contests!
Vito's Game Giveaway #6!
By CharlesAlanRatliff 26 Comments
Quick Notes
I've had people offer to donate games to the giveaway. If you have games you are no longer interested in that are in good condition (as in, they work), then PM me with what game(s) you would like to donate and I will give you the mailing address you can ship them to. You will be responsible for all shipping costs. You won't get anything for it, but I will list your name (with a link to your profile) by the game you donate in all future contests that they are available.
These blogs will be attached to the General Discussion forum from now on.
Please read this before entering -
All games are NTSC. There is no way for me to really verify who enters, but I'd appreciate it if you only enter if you're actually able to play these games and have interest in them! These are all my own, personal used copies of these games that I have beaten and have no interest in playing anymore. Some of the game cases got banged up slightly in the move from Texas to Oklahoma (stupid movers!), but these games all play perfectly in my experience—this is more for people that are interested in just playing the games than collectors. Having said all that, if something happens to the game during shipping and it doesn't work for some reason, then... oh well! I'm paying for everything, and all you'll have to deal with is minor disappointment. I won't compensate you for that!
I will be doing one of these every week until I run out of games. More games will be added as I beat and lose interest in them!
I will pick one winner using Random Line Picker and PM them asking for their mailing address and what game they want. The game will be shipped via Priority Mail with a tracking number for your convenience. (If you live in the U.S., that is. If you live anywhere else and want to enter, then you'll get some other kind of shipping speed without a tracking number!)
Xbox 360
Assassin's Creed
How To Play
Make a post saying why you haven't played Assassin's Creed yet or why you want to play it again.
Deadline
You have until Saturday, February 26th at whatever time I am awake and decide to end it. I will make a warning post one hour before I close the contest and select the winner.
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Previous Winners
JohnAsscream - Alan Wake (X360)
kestrel10mn - Assassin's Creed II (X360)
zoskia - Dead Space (PS3)
nintendoeats - Splinter Cell: Conviction (X360)
DarthOniXVIII - Left 4 Dead (X360)
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Vito's Game Giveaway #5!
By CharlesAlanRatliff 39 Comments
Congratulations to nintendoeats for winning Splinter Cell: Conviction! Out of 43 contestants, his username was the one that Random Line Picker chose!
Quick Notes
I've had people offer to donate games to the giveaway. If you have games you are no longer interested in that are in good condition (as in, they work), then PM me with what game(s) you would like to donate and I will give you the mailing address you can ship them to. You will be responsible for all shipping costs. You won't get anything for it, but I will list your name (with a link to your profile) by the game you donate in all future contests that they are available.
Please read this before entering -
All games are NTSC. There is no way for me to really verify who enters, but I'd appreciate it if you only enter if you're actually able to play these games and have interest in them! These are all my own, personal used copies of these games that I have beaten and have no interest in playing anymore. Some of the game cases got banged up slightly in the move from Texas to Oklahoma (stupid movers!), and Left 4 Dead was bought used (so it has those GameStop stickers all over it), but these games all play perfectly in my experience—this is more for people that are interested in just playing the games than collectors. Having said all that, if something happens to the game during shipping and it doesn't work for some reason, then... oh well! I'm paying for everything, and all you'll have to deal with is minor disappointment. I won't compensate you for that!
I will be doing one of these every week until I run out of games. More games will be added as I beat and lose interest in them!
I will pick one winner using Random Line Picker and PM them asking for their mailing address and what game they want. The game will be shipped via Priority Mail with a tracking number for your convenience. (If you live in the U.S., that is. If you live anywhere else and want to enter, then you'll get some other kind of shipping speed without a tracking number!)
Xbox 360
Assassin's Creed
Left 4 Dead
How To Play
Just make a post saying what game you want to win.
Deadline
You have until Saturday, February 19th at whatever time I am awake and decide to end it. I will make a warning post one hour before I close the contest and select the winner.
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Previous Winners
JohnAsscream - Alan Wake (X360)
kestrel10mn - Assassin's Creed II (X360)
zoskia - Dead Space (PS3)
nintendoeats - Splinter Cell: Conviction (X360)
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Vito's Game Giveaway #4!
By CharlesAlanRatliff 55 Comments
Congratulations to zoskia for winning Dead Space! Out of 98 contestants (a new record!), his username was the one that Random Line Picker chose!
Quick Notes:
Apologies for the delay, but my internet wasn't working properly yesterday. Also, the shipment of Assassin's Creed II to kestrel10mn was delayed by a week due to an ice storm.
For those who missed out on winning Alan Wake, Origina1Penguin is giving away a copy in a contest he is hosting here. Check out the bottom of the post for details!
Please read this before entering -
All games are NTSC. There is no way for me to really verify who enters, but I'd appreciate it if you only enter if you're actually able to play these games and have interest in them! These are all my own, personal used copies of these games that I have beaten and have no interest in playing anymore. Some of the game cases got banged up slightly in the move from Texas to Oklahoma (stupid movers!), and Left 4 Dead was bought used (so it has those GameStop stickers all over it), but these games all play perfectly in my experience—this is more for people that are interested in just playing the games than collectors. Having said all that, if something happens to the game during shipping and it doesn't work for some reason, then... oh well! I'm paying for everything, and all you'll have to deal with is minor disappointment. I won't compensate you for that!
I will be doing one of these every week until I run out of games. More games will be added as I beat and lose interest in them!
I will pick one winner using Random Line Picker and PM them asking for their mailing address and what game they want. The game will be shipped via Priority Mail with a tracking number for your convenience. (If you live in the U.S., that is. If you live anywhere else and want to enter, then you'll get some other kind of shipping speed without a tracking number!)
Xbox 360
Assassin's Creed
Left 4 Dead
Splinter Cell: Conviction
How To Play
In celebration of my most recent blog, Igiari! - The Takarazuka Revue's Phoenix Wright Musicals, I want everyone to tell me what game series they would most like to see turned into a game musical. What would it be like? Tell me! Oh, and you should totally check out that blog. =D
Deadline
You have until Sunday, February 13th at whatever time I am awake and decide to end it. I will make a warning post one hour before I close the contest and select the winner.
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Previous Winners
JohnAsscream - Alan Wake (X360)
kestrel10mn - Assassin's Creed II (X360)
zoskia - Dead Space (PS3)
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Igiari! - The Takarazuka Revue's Phoenix Wright Musicals
By CharlesAlanRatliff 11 Comments
Founded by the president of Hankyu Railways in 1913, the Takarazuka Revue is an all-female theater troupe based out of Japan. Often performing musical adaptations of Western works, the Takarazuka Revue has performed shows based on movies like Casablanca and JFK, novels such as The Great Gatsby and Zorro, various plays by Shakespeare, manga, and even video games.
The Cosmos troupe—the newer, more experimental of the five troupes that make up the Revue and the one that did the Phoenix Wright musicals—were performing their rendition of Trafalgar, and I was fortunate enough to attend a showing in July. Though I barely understood any of it, I was enthralled throughout the entire two-hour showing. With a live orchestra located in the lower front, revolving stages, seamless background and scene transitions, crazy lighting effects, beautiful and detailed clothing designs, along with great acting and singing performances, it was quite a show indeed. Now, apply everything I just said to the Phoenix Wright universe and you have something of ridiculously awesome proportions.
The first musical, "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Truth Resurrected", focuses on Phoenix Wright as he tries to prove the innocence of his former lover, Leona Clyde, who has been accused of murdering a senator. Of course, Miles Edgeworth is there to get in his way, and the results are awesome song and dance sequences featuring some of your favorite characters from the franchise. In fact, the big opening sequence features Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Larry Butz, Lotta Hart, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey, and Ema Skye all dancing in tandem. My favorite sequence, however, would have to be the Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth dance-off that seamlessly turns into them facing against each other in the court room. The combination of the music, lighting, and general mood due to their history makes it truly special.
Premiering just six months later due to the popularity of the first Phoenix Wright, Phoenix Wright 2 focuses on a young woman whose mother is a suspect in a crime she didn't commit. Well, that's all the official description will give you, anyway; the story actually goes much deeper, but I won't spoil anything for potential viewers. It does do a good job of capturing the twists and turns the games are so known for, however, and even introduces Franziska von Karma herself—carrying her signature whip, of course! The best part of the show comes at the end, when the main characters dress in extra fancy versions of their outfits and do a song/dance number that lasts for a good ten minutes.
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All images are screencaps I took from the DVDs I got at the Takarazuka Revue gift shop. (The 'u' is silent in Takarazuka, by the way.)
Here are a bunch of images that weren't included in the article!:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Truth Resurrected
Gallery
Phoenix Wright 2
Gallery
Electric Town: An Akihabara Arcade Experience - Part II
By CharlesAlanRatliff 4 Comments
This is the Electric Town: An Akihabara Arcade Experience - Part II piece that I wrote for The Luchazine (October 7th, 2010 edition of Issue #5) that was never released. I'm only including a small image of the design (done by JohnRabbit) this time, as the text included isn't final. You can read the full article below! You can read Part I in the fourth issue of The Luchazine.
My worries of spending more time trying to find these places than actually playing the games in them were instantly alleviated. Turning the first corner after exiting Akihabara Station, I saw this in the distance:
Much like GiGO before it, Club Sega is a six-level arcade that continues the apparent pattern of having the first floor dedicated solely to claw games. Passing by some Hatsune Miku gear and Mickey Mouse pillows, I headed downstairs to B1, only to stand stunned at what I saw next.
"This is what I've been looking for this whole time." I thought to myself. In front of me were twenty-five Virtua Fighter 5 R machines and twenty Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion machines. The best part of all was that this place was packed—if someone wasn't in the middle of a furious battle, they were standing around watching matches. Trying my hand at Virtua Fighter 5 R and failing miserably (a series I am most familiar with via capsule toys in Shenmue), I purchased a Tekken-Net ID card and headed to the back corner of the room. My brother had been fighting this one guy for a while, and I decided to see how I would fare against him. As I sat down, I slid the overflowing ash tray to my side—apparently, people smoke a lot more when playing fighting games—and inserted my card. His Steve and my Hwoarang fought for quite some time, and regardless of how close I came, I just couldn't beat him. I guess that's the problem when you rarely play fighting games and then go to a Japanese arcade.
Coming to the conclusion that I would probably never win and not wanting to waste anymore of my precious 100 yen coins, I headed up to the 2nd floor. If B1 was the fighting floor, than this was the racing floor. Eight Initial D: Arcade Stage 5, four R-Tuned: Ultimate Street Racing, and eight Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX Plus machines took up the majority of the floor space. However, it seemed like most of the people there were far more interested in playing Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Arcade, even if it meant having to stand in a roped-off line for a while. Not in the mood for racing or waiting in line for twenty minutes, I played another rhythm-based game where you hit giant buttons called pop'n music. A 1998 game by Konami that was updated earlier this year with new songs, you select your difficulty by choosing whether to play with five or nine buttons (insanity!). Most of the music was unfamiliar to me, though I did do pretty well when it came to the themes of Gradius and Kill Bill. Another rhythm-based game on this floor was Taiko no Tatsujin 13, which you may be familiar with as "that drum game" from Lost in Translation (though that was an earlier version). I watched a few gaijin play it for future reference (foreshadowing!) and scaled the stairs up to the third floor.
Another room packed with people and fighting games, there was a lot of variety to choose from here. You had your choice of playing: Sengoku Basara X, The King of Fighters 2002, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Arcana Heart 3, Melty Blood, Guilty Gear XX Λ Core, The King of Fighters XIII, and Street Fighter IV. It was, to say, complete madness. Getting my ass kicked once again (my Terry Bogard just wasn't strong enough), I went up to the fourth floor to experience even more craziness.
"Actually, Charles, I think you just suck."
With the exception of the wildly out-of-place Power Smash 3 machines (tennis!), this floor was nothing but seemingly complicated-ass mech games, mostly from the Gundam franchise. Satisfied at being able to grasp Gundam far better than Cyber Troopers, I progressed up the final set of stairs to the fifth floor of Club Sega, only to lay eyes upon one of the greatest arcade setups I have ever seen. Imagine eight players, all with their own arcade cabinets, controlling and managing their football players via collectible trading cards and then seeing the results of their actions on a 100-inch plus screen in front of them which is showcasing the match as if it were a live football broadcast. World Club Champion Football Intercontinental Clubs 2008-2009 must be what Football Manager fans have wet dreams about. I know I would if I were into these types of games.
World Club was so awesome, in fact, that I nearly missed the Shining Force Cross machines. However, due to the awesomeness of the game (it being one of my favorite things I played in all of Tokyo), this author has decided to do a separate feature on it in issue #6.
Leaving the complex in a wave of euphoria, I went in search of Taito HEY wondering if my experience at Club Sega could hope to be matched.
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Obviously, there won't an issue #6 of The Luchazine, but I will continue this series in blog format.
The Ultimate PlayStation Move Breakdown
By CharlesAlanRatliff 9 Comments
This is The Ultimate PlayStation Move Breakdown piece I wrote for The Luchazine (October 7th, 2010 edition of Issue #5) that was never released. Nicolas Perez is monkyofdoom, and I'm Charles Alan Ratliff (duh!). The design is by UberExplodey.
Click here to view the Sports Champions review mentioned on the third page (link takes you to the user review version here on Giant Bomb).
Click the images for a larger view!
Pages 1-2
Pages 3-4
Below are the images I took of TV Superstars as I was playing it. I purposefully chose not to shave before doing this. The first image is the one actually used in the article.
Gallery
Original
Pets Named After Game Characters: Part III
By CharlesAlanRatliff 7 Comments
EVA
EVA was born under my brother's car. He went outside one day to discover our local cat, "Kitty", underneath his car with a fresh litter of kittens. I woke up to the sounds of mewing, only to discover a cardboard box full of adorable kitties in our laundry room. In another case of mistaken gender (much like Nozomi), EVA turned out to actually be male. S/he was easy to name at the time, however, as every Big Boss needs his EVA.
Sadly, the picture at the very top is the only one I have of EVA the kitty, so let's move on to trivia!
Trivia:
- Likes to sleep right on top of you, no matter how hot it may be
- Will jump onto your leg using all claws, ensuring attention is given
- Enjoys trying to eat your people food, potentially ruining your meal
- Very playful and energetic
- A great brother. Likes to sleep with his siblings, keeping them warm and comfortable
As always, tell me about your pets named after game characters! Be sure to post adorable pictures if you can!
Pets Named After Game Characters: Part II
By CharlesAlanRatliff 6 Comments
Nozomi
Found under a tree in 2006, Nozomi was lucky my mom was out at Milford Lake, Kansas that day. The storm had stopped, and Nozomi had taken cover. A tiny, awkward kitten whose fur made it look as if it had been struck by lightning, he was obviously in need of assistance. My mom fed him the last bite of chicken sandwich she had, which he gobbled up quickly. He started purring, and she brought him home and placed him in the bathroom. One of my fondest memories of his time in there was when I went in to keep him company and he ended up sleeping on my face. Literally.
Nozomi quickly grew up into the healthy, stout figure you see above (who, when the picture was taken, was sitting like a human, all on his own, in a way I've never seen a cat do), and to this day, through his affection, still seems incredibly grateful to my mom for rescuing him that day.
But what about his name? Which game character is he named after? Is he named after the fat kid from Persona 3, as some kind of sick joke because he used to be so skinny?:
Seeing as how Persona 3 wasn't released in my part of the world until 2007, and I'm not one to import games—no.
Actually, Nozomi was named after a game character opposite of his gender, a bad habit I seem to have as I always guess the sex of a cat incorrectly. I realized that I had never named a pet after anything from one of my favorite games of all time, Shenmue, so I named him after Nozomi Harasaki.
Trivia:
- Is the most toned, muscular kitty I have ever known
- Is best friends with Big Boss
- Loves to climb up onto your shoulder and be held
- Is the only kitty that all the other kitties get along with and take care of
- Goes by the nickname of "Stormy", due to the circumstances he was found in
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Tell me about any pets you named after video games/video game characters! Adorable pictures welcome!
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