This is a little better.

New color scheme, and logo. Needs more work, however.

What the? It's been two months.

So yeah, I've been lazy. I recently came from Vegas not too long ago, did pretty well in a NL Hold'em tournament.

I come back, get Gears of War and the Wii for my mom.

Wii is good stuff. It will make fat gamers a little bit less fat. Graphics are disappointing, although Zelda looks good.

Gears of War is insanely fun. Not because it's a shooter's rehash. The campaign mode is great, the online mode is even better. I don't need to go over the stuff, many people know already.

I still need to work on this blog. It's not pleasing to the eye.

This blog is ugly.

I'm going to have to change it. It's too plain, and it's hard to read. Hopefully in a week or two I can get this thing going.

I better make it quick, since I'll be in Vegas in two weeks.

Why You Shouldn't Buy Anything From EA

From Kotaku:

Battlefield 2142 With a Dash of SpyWare

Buggy software on consoles, and now this? If you are too lazy to click and read through, it's as simple as this. EA is installing spyware in conjunction with Battlefield 2142 that delivers in-game advertising based on web browsing habits.

It's already reached a firestorm before I even typed this. This is the last straw, EA. I want to buy a game, not a living advertising machine.

It's bad enough I'm having problems with Madden 07 for Xbox 360. Here are my problems with it.

1. The game crashes seemingly at random.
2. The game doesn't reward achievement levels correctly. I am at Madden gamer level 11, and I still don't have my level 10 achievement!
3. I have to update my rosters EVERY TIME I GET ONLINE.
4. When I do update, I find that the Denver Broncos are rated lower than the Houston Texans!
5. You expect us to pay for a "strategy guide" and for Alternate uniforms and old stadiums, when they were completely free last year?!?

Jeez. I shudder to think what Tiger Woods 07 and NBA Live 07 are like. Doesn't matter. I will not buy another EA game until they remove the spyware crap on BF 2142, and they put out a decent product for their consoles (that does not crash). Here's hoping that MS can get an in-house studio to make an NFL game...

Xbox 360 to Have 1080p Capabilities

Yes, you heard right. Announced at the Tokyo Game Show, Xbox 360s will have the ability to output both game AND movie content (for the HD-DVD add-on) at 1080p via a software update later this fall.

Quote from Shane Kim, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios:
"If it is running at 720p we will up-res it to 1080p, if it it's already 1080p then we can display it in 1080p," he said. " This is a great example of our console's ability and the great advantage of being a software company."

Of course, movie content in 1080p had to be inevitable with the HD-DVD addon. But with games, it's only a bonus. While it doesn't really mean a whole lot to the current crop of games (and maybe even the next generation), it does send a message to Sony: "Hey, we can do 1080p as well!"

"We believe 720p is the sweet-spot for high definition," says Kim. Keep that in mind, because there won't be a lot of options for 1080p in the foreseeable future.

EVIL has a name, and it's name is Elmo.

Yes. We all remember this from 10 years ago. Some of you may have even had one as a kid! Well, he's back. He's bad. And watch for fighting parents come Xmas time!

"Maddenoliday" is upon us!

Madden 07 is here. Hide your women and throw away the key!



I'm going to get my copy sometime after work, but many stores around the country were open at midnight in order to start selling all the various copies. My money this year is on the 360 version, as it should contain all the features that the other console versions should have, with the pretty graphics to boot. Even though my team sucks, I am going to play the Houston Texans. I'm a homer, but who cares? I should be easy to beat. (especially since I didn't really play at all last year)

New Sony SXRDs are here!

The well reviewed SXRD Rear Projection HDTVs from Sony are back, and are now available in this year's models.



Available in 50" ($2799) and 60" ($3699) models, these HDTVs improve on the initial SXRD design by eliminating the dumbo ear speaker eyesore and moving them to the bottom ala the A10 designs, accepting true 1080 inputs, and being a lot cheaper than what they were 1 year ago. Imagine. the 60" was $5000 1 year ago, which makes it about 25% cheaper this time around. Don't you love technology?

It's Been Awhile...

I'll be making a post soon, promise.

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD - May, 2006

Since we all know about Microsoft's HD-DVD option and Sony's Blu-Ray on PS3, it's time for a perspective at this point.

HD-DVD: Already out, $499 entry price by Toshiba. Backed by a $200-$300 option by Microsoft's Xbox 360. Does 720p/1080i upconversion on existing DVD media through HDMI. Certain movie studios backing this.

Blu-Ray: Comes out later this year. Standalone players expected to debut at $999. 1080p is possible through HDMI. PS3 will natively carry this at $499/$599. Certain movie studios backing this.

I thought E3 would help me decide in which format to support. It really hasn't done squat. I think if the PS3's high price point would have been at $399, then Blu-Ray would win hands down. We'll have to see what's going on as time gets closer to the Blu-Ray launch in order to determine the DVD format of the future.

Post E3 Impressions: Hardware

Obviously, there is always a plethora of news coming on the heels of E3. I'll simply discuss hardware here.

Nintendo Wii: The inital price point seems to be set at $249. A 3 hour wait at E3 just to play the thing. My past experiences at E3 usually indicate that Nintendo always has good stuff happening, and this is no different. Virtual console seems a bit promising, but personally I've moved beyond simplistic play (except Super-Punch Out, I'll never get tired of that). Turbographx 16 games? Intriguing. Controller mechanics seem interesting, but may end up being gimmicky. The $249 price point is particularly interesting. It would seem that it would provide as a viable and affordable alternative to Xbox360 and PS3. I'm still a bit peeved about no official HDTV support (so far) and no HDMI output.

Playstation 3: $499 and $599 price points? The lesser version has NO HDMI, no wifi, and only a 20GB hard drive. The better version HAS HDMI, wifi, and a 60GB hard drive. Potentially crippling. The price points are actually more than the Xbox 360, which is kind of hard to believe. GT4 demo was unimpressive, MGS4 is well, Metal Gear Solid. Popular opinion of E3 indicates that Sony fubared this pretty badly.

Xbox 360: The system is already out, so I'll just comment on the HD-DVD drive and Xbox Live. $200-$300 seems fair for the add-on. It gives gamers an option to buy HD-DVD if they so choose for a cheaper price point (that is, until the prices on the players drop). Not impressed with regular progressive DVD capabilities on the 360 as it is, so I remain unmoved. Xbox Live did a great thing with releasing lots of trailers and demos for the masses to see.

Opinions: The PS3 prices are a bit much. People will still buy them once it comes out in November, but supply will again be an issue. That will put Microsoft in a great position to convert would-be PS3 buyers into 360 buyers since it will be logical that way more 360s will be available. (360s are still selling like hotcakes around here). That, and the lack of options on the PS3 is a bad, bad idea. Wii is in a great position with it's smaller pricepoint - it still feels like a Pug fighting against a Pitbull and a Mastiff, but they have Zelda, Mario, Metroid, all those classic franchises to back up on. I do forsee issues with the controllers, however.

Next-Gen DVD Cripple Option?!?

You should read this first. In short, the article is about content providers having the ability to "cripple" the component outputs on HD-DVD players like below.


Toshiba's first model for HD-DVD. Retails for $500 at Crutchfield.

A bit shocking, isn't it? To give content providers (like movie studios) the option to downconvert the component outputs to 960x540. While I can see why they would allow this to happen (for older, non-HDTVs), it is an utterly absurd solution. One additonal reason is to help the public with the transition from standard 480i/p content into eventual HD content. Yet, an underlying, hidden reason to do this is to help circumvent piracy. But copy-protection schemes have been broken in the past.

A better solution is to allow the players to do their job, which is to display in 720p/1080i, with the ability to downconvert to 480i/p. This option should be set by the consumer at the player's settings menu, and default to a specific setting.

In any case, this could be a hot topic concerning the next generation DVD war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. And this option will only set to confuse less knowledgable consumers in the short run.

Major League Gaming Gets TV Time

So, you've probably heard by now that Major League Gaming procured a TV deal with the USA network. As you may know, MLG teamed up with us on Texas Showdown 5 and on Evolution

And now, they are on television. Good for them. And I wish them luck. They'll need it, too, since video games as a competitive event is not as exciting or as easy to follow as the three major sports (Sorry Hockey, you took a year off). 2005 in Las Vegas. Texas Showdown went on to arguably be the best tournament that year, while Evolution 2005 had a large divide between the Halo 2 and the fighting games crowd.


To the casual observer, Halo 2 is not easy to follow.

FPS games are not easy to follow. In fact, it gives some observers and gamers motion sickness. Unless you are playing the game yourself, you might find yourself having a hard time following the action. That goes for any other game (except fighting games - MvC2 not included). Unlike in sports or competitive games like in Poker, there is no charisma to draw from. While there might be charisma between the player and the character(s) he/she is playing, that necessarily doesn't hold true to the casual observer. Let's face it, when you see a game you particularly like at a gaming kiosk, you want to play it yourself.

With that said, while there might be some charisma coming from the players themselves, their focus is usually taken away by the action of the game. The charisma given off by sports athletes simply cannot be compared, as they are finely tuned humans who usually are in great physical shape, who do what they do like no other. I'm starting to ramble, but the simple point is this: Video Games make for great entertainment, but they do not necessarily make for great television. Well, not Super Smash Bros. and Halo 2, that is.

"Mainstream" Music in Video Games

Looking back, we've come a long way since the sounds of bleeps and bloops of video games 20 years ago. 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, immersive environments and creative music now fill our ears when we now play our video games.

But now there is something else out there, something that has come quite subtle... music by "real" musicians. It's been around for quite a while now. Remember the arcade shooter Revolution X? They used Aerosmith to help sell the game by including their faces and tracks.

Not so anymore. There now several games out there that incorporate soundtracks in order to enhance the game. The Gran Turismo series, Project Gotham Racing and many of the EA Sports series all have soundtracks that include both established and upcoming artists.

No longer is the case where the artist drives the game. It is the game that exposes the user to new music. I do remember in Madden 2003 in which a little band called Good Charlotte had a song called "The Anthem" well before it became famous on MTV and radio.


Good Charlotte's "The Anthem" was a
recognizable tune on Madden 2003 long
before MTV.

This is another reason why video games are now the big time - it can increase exposure of a certain musical artist and lead to fame, fortune, etc. just like it did for Good Charlotte. I'm willing to bet a dollar that the record companies are taking note of this. It may not be as upfront as ITunes and MTV, but it does reach a large audience, and can impress itself upon a gamer many, many times; leading to future sales.

Innvoative Billboards

Billboards. You can't avoid them. They are on your daily drive if you are on the highway. Most are annoying, but some are lighthearted (ex. Chick Fil-A and the cows).

But Honda is trying something new. There are some billboards out there that say "What would a Honda Element and a crab talk about? Tune to 1660AM to find out!" Guess what? Once I saw that billboard, I tuned into 1660AM. A lot of it was nonsense, but it was throughly amusing nonetheless. Look for them. Good for a minute.

Dead or Alive 4 Update

On Friday, Tecmo updated Dead or Alive 4. Here are some of the changes, most of it being with the online aspect:



1. On the character select screen and the stage itself, you now are able to view the rank of all the participants of the current fight.
2. When entering a lobby, the contents of the match is now preloaded. It means once you join the match, you can see the match in progress a lot quicker than previously.
3. The handicap is now determined by your proximity to the character's rank (as opposed to the letter grade in the past). Basically, if there are two 'C's fighting, the higher rank now gets a small handicap.
4. "Now saving" is now on most loading screens - if only to state the obvious.
5. Last character (costume, too!) and stage picked are now remembered within a session.
6. You have the option to perform a one time reset of your ranking and wins/losses. Again, this is optional. This reset does not reset any money and items you have earned.
7. Sparring exercise position remembered.

There may be other changes, but there are the obvious ones.

The So-Called Next Gen DVD Copy-Protection Debacle

Link - Gear.IGN

Quote: "In perhaps the greatest disservice to the general consumer market yet perpetrated by players in the electronic entertainment industry, it has been revealed that next-generation DVD technologies (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) will only function with monitors and HDTVs with HDMI or DVI connections."

It basically means that the industry wants to enforce HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection). I believe it's a bit difficult to do that, since there are a lot of early adopters of the HDTV format that only have component (an analog format) inputs. In addition, those TVs that have DVI mostly are not HDCP compatible. Is the industry going to alienate millions of users just to enforce HDCP? I think not.

So what does that mean for the next-gen consoles? For Xbox 360, it means nothing. For the upcoming Playstation 3 (now rumored to be delayed until '07), Sony cannot afford to alienate the vast majority of its PS2 userbase. Sony can't implement HDCP on their games. As for DVD content - they can, but they won't since they are trying to push Blu-Ray.

I'm No Game Designer.

I just read Derek's(omni's) post on Game Designer's Tax, and it got me thinking: why didn't I become a game designer/programmer/ whatever, like some members on Shoryuken are?

A lot of people on the forums aspire to reach such a goal, but I realized that I did not want to go that route. I feel that I may lose some of the enjoyment of the game. It's definitely like that sometimes in Web Development. I do so much development work on websites, I don't really want to do any other work, whether it be past work on Shoryuken or present work like Texas Showdown. But I must, so I toil on.

I always encounter the same scenarios when I think about it; will I start to break down a game to actually look for design flaws and bugs? Will I be developing so much that I do not get to enjoy other games? This is my feeling... what is yours?

AOU2006: Virtua Fighter 5 shown

Source - Kotaku



The news is a few days old, but still a bit new nonetheless. At the AOU '06 Show, they unveiled a prelim version of Sega's Virtua Fighter 5. The game will have networking capability, some customization and a VF.TV add-on that will allow non-players to view matches.

Something to note: The cabinet will house a 32" LCD widescreen monitor - a first for arcade fighting games. Based on my previous entry, you might notice that I'm a wee bit estatic at this news at VF5 being widescreen. Perhaps there are more games to come?

Fighting Games and the 16:9 Aspect Ratio

Disclaimer: By no means am I a game designer, nor do I claim to be one.

With that out of the way, I'd like to bring up the topic of the Aspect ratios, and what they mean to today's gamer. In this post, I'll be referencing the 2 main television aspects, 4:3 and 16:9. We all know that up until fairly recently, most televisions have the 4:3 ratio. With the advent of HDTV, widescreen televisions are capable of a 16:9 ratio.



The image above shows an in-action shot of Street Fighter III: Third Stike and it's native aspect ratio. The image also shows you how much extra space you can obtain if you use a 16:9 ratio. In many games such as Quake, Doom, and other FPS games, it gives you an increased Field of View (FOV) so you can see more of the environment, and maybe pick off someone that you may not see in the 4:3 ratio. In games like Madden 06, the 16:9 ratio will allow you to see your entire formation without having to move the camera.

So what does this mean to fighting games?



In games like Dead or Alive 4, the additional space from the 16:9 ratio just allows you to see more, as the game is not limited to a 2D plane and the characters don't have an overexaggerated jumping motion. Let's assume that 3rd Stike would allow for the 16:9 ratio. It can have a profound impact on actual fighting game strategy, as the fighting environment is bound by two endpoints in each fighting stage. Would the one stuck in the corner have the advantage? Or the one thats doing the cornering? Will more turtling occur with the larger area to fight in? That's an argument for the Theory Fighters out there.

But what do you think? Rereleases like many of the Capcom games are bound to the 4:3 ratio. But what about any fighting games bound in the 2D plane? Will they still be at the 4:3 ratio? Or will they go the 16:9 route? And if they do, will they change age-old strategies? And what about arcade releases, rare as they may be? What happens to them?

With the advent of the Xbox 360 and it's HDTV-friendly support, who knows what we'll get when Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting comes out on Xbox Live Arcade... my guess would be either a 4:3 game with borders, or a game that is stretched/compressed to fit the correct aspect ratio.

About the Blogger... (me)

Somehow, I've forgotten to include why I did this blog in the first place. I am Javier Moreno, I live in Texas. I am a junior/senior (in transition) web developer.

Besides doing that, I help run Shoryuken.com as one of the four original founders of the website. I am also the founder and co-director of Texas Showdown, a little tournament I started with Chris Chou which turns out to be one of the biggest Street Fighter tournaments in the United States. These two things are some of the things I am most proud of in my life.

I am not actively in the scene currently, due to married life and the increased responsibilities of getting older. But that doesn't mean I don't have an opinion. You might find that my opinions may vary as opposed to inkblot, omni, or anyone else. I also have different interests, as you might already see.

I hope to keep you entertained, and you'll visit me from time to time.

Sony Going the "Life" Route

Link - Sony Decares "Full-on Assault" on Xbox Live

Cliffs - Sony is developing a XBL-like experience on PS3.

I'm glad Sony is realizing this. XBox Live is truly a great experience. Now... will Sony match the Live service itself, or offer just enough to keep the masses happy? We shall see.

The Addictiveness of World of Warcraft

I've played World of Warcraft (WoW) for about a year, and for the longest time I have found it strangely addicting. To this day, I wasn't even sure what really pulled me in. Was it that my SF buddies were playing this? Was it the hype on all the gamer sites? Was it because of the promise that a casual player can play this and stay competitive?

I'm not sure. But I do know this: when I did play, hours and hours would waste away. You want to get that something that makes you a little better than the next person. And what would the end result be? Something better is out there for you to get. Sure, Blizzard promised the casual gamer that they can get in and be competitive, but now, that's not so true. I've stopped playing due to that very reason. Now that I'm married, I find myself with a new sense of responsibility. With that responsibility comes with decreased free time.

I would easily waste 3-4 hours a night on WoW, easily thinking that I've accomplished something when I really haven't. I would run the same raid 2-3 times a night to get something that might not come. That's not really a game where you can pour 30 minutes into, and feel satisified. Pre-60 (the highest level in the game), you really do feel like you've done something. But after that? Not much can be done in 30 mins. It was sometime in October/November is when I realized that I could put my 3-4 hours elsewhere.

It also seems that I'm not alone, a lot of people are playing this game. Some have realized the same things I have, some have not. And that addictiveness will seem to get worse with the expansion that Blizzard is coming out with later this year...

Sony 50" Grand Wega SXRD HDTV

Man, this TV is great. I seriously want one of these... too bad it's $4k for the 50", and 5k for the 60" version. I hear the prices are going to drop soon, however. Good, since I'll be in the market for a larger (think 50" plus) HDTV.

It has 1080p resolution (1920x1080) - but only accepts 1080i input. There are many reviews out there praising this TV set. I want. You should too.

Battery Prices

Kroger (grocery store): $9.99
Ebay - around $3-4, but $7 shipping
Circuit City - $13.99
Best Buy: $14.99 - wth?

Lesson: Don't buy batteries, cables, misc. accessories from Best Buy, CC, etc. - blatant ripoff.

Running wires in the home

Link - http://www.fadden.com/homewiring/

Hrm... I've had some complaints about my connection with other people while running wirelessly. I'm thinking about running wires into the wall, therefore eliminating the wireless... but is it worth it? Something to ponder...

360 Gaming Goodness

So I now have three Xbox360 games. Project Gotham Racing 3, Call of Duty 2, and now Dead or Alive 4. I really can't imagine having any more for a while, since all three are fun.

I'm naturally a fighting games fan, so I have a natural affinity towards DoA4. But I'm not feeling it like I think I should... who knows. I've added my gamertag to this blog, so you can see how I'm doing in the different games. 5 game winning AND losing streak in the same day - go figure.