It has been well over a week since I was at the Retro Gaming Expo in Fisher Mall and then uploaded the vlog, so I got to think over everything I saw and experienced over 4 hours of being there while getting myself hopped up on caffeine and other legal stimulants. You should be able to sense the weird mix of enthusiasm and dejection from the vlog as I alternated between having fun looking at retro gaming stuff and getting pissed at something else. (more…)
The last two weeks have been rather weird for me. I came out with that vlog for Retro Gaming Expo on the Facebook page and got a good number of positive reactions to it, which is gratifying. However, my desire to record more AVDRshows was hampered by indecision and anxiety as I planned to have one on current events (from three weeks ago). Unfortunately, I sat on it for too long and it’s no longer relevant, so I now salvage what I had by putting it all here. (more…)
Spending time in the martial arts space is kind of like being in a school playground. Imagine you’re at the swings, and everyone brags about their own way of pushing the swings to make it swing higher. But who really gives a shit about that playground stuff? Nothing about it matters in the grand scheme of things. However, it’s this perplexing seriousness and tendency to care about what doesn’t really matter that I’d like to talk about here. (more…)
Overwatch is a sinking ship. I start this blog post with that statement as I’ve seen this before with another Blizzard game I used to be obsessed with. StarCraft II peaked in 2012, then floundered in the following years due to numerous issues. I’m seeing the same patterns now with Overwatch, but there’s a lot more going on with this one due to what is both its biggest strength and weakness—its expanding lore. (more…)
Fighting anime and manga have played a big part in supplementing my fascination in martial arts over the years. While most shonen has some element of physical combat, I gravitate to realistic fighting with detailed explanations of techniques and tactics like in Hajime no Ippo, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, Baki the Grappler, All-Rounder Meguru, and so on. This one in particular is no different, and it hits the spot for me with its level of detail. (more…)
Perhaps you’ve seen the recent viral news on an American missionary travelling to the infamous North Sentinel Island to spread the Gospel to the primitive residents there, only to be killed by their arrows. There have been other victims before him, but he is of significant interest due to his purpose for being there. I wish to take this opportunity to talk about well-meaning idiots, who seem to be everywhere in this world. (more…)
At the moment, I have a video project queued up regarding deliberate practice and the importance of stakes in competitive video games to incentivize performance improvement. Perhaps I’ll actually finish that video one of these days, but I felt like I should post something about what Overwatch had got me thinking as of this writing. As I delve more into topics related to competitive gaming, I hope to dig deeper into the attitudes and behaviors I’ve been observing first hand in games so far. (more…)
Never mind how more expensive video games may get later on due to the current situation regarding graphics cards. Prices have gone as high as twice the MSRP and are keeping consumers from building their dream rigs. Imagine finally being able to save up enough to build your own rig after working so hard in that call center job or whatever else you have. Your household is in order, and you just want to be able to play games after coming home from a hard day’s work. However, you either can’t or have to settle with an inferior GPU because you can’t get a better one. (more…)
There has been talk lately about how video games may actually be underpriced these days, as unbelievable as that may sound since AAA games are quite expensive already. However, pundits are making their cases as to why the video game industry is now at its current state of having microtransactions and other predatory forms of monetization being shoved down consumers’ throats, as well as horrible working conditions for the rank and file in the industry. I’m no insider, but I’d like to try making better sense of the whole video game price debacle. (more…)
What I wish to talk about here is not a new trend, but definitely a recurring one. As of this writing, the divisiveness of Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still harped on every now and then in memes and flame threads. It’s the sequel of a sequel, and other sequels and sequels of sequels have been subject to similar heat, especially if they come out a decade or more after the original. Never mind what they did to Luke Skywalker, they turned Michael Corleone into a mental patient in The Godfather Part III and the story is a complete crock of shit in Diablo III. (more…)
After much deliberation, I’ve decided to make a full post to take responsibility for something I’ve gotten flak for. At the start of my retrospective video on Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, I committed the gaffe of calling the game a “GTA clone”. Some may be puzzled at what may be wrong with that, and I’m still a bit on the fence on how wrong it really was to have done so. At first, I thought it’s like referring to caviar as “salty fish eggs”, which may upset connoisseurs, but is certainly true. But in this case, as I’ve found out, that would actually be a flat-out lie. (more…)
This may be the perfect way to end a year full of personal breakthroughs—becoming the ring announcer of Manila Wrestling Federation (and doing it well) and figuring out how to cover events my own way. The latter has been more hit than miss this year, after having tried making event vlogs for a few years now. Cosplay Matsuri 2017 seems like a great way to cap things off and celebrate the realization that doing this content creation thing isn’t just a waste of my time. (more…)
