Skullgirls (Demo Impressions)

I know this is a little late seeing as Skullgirls came out a month ago but seeing as I was finally able to get an internet connection at home earlier this week you could cut a guy some slack.

After watching a few videos of Skullgirls matches on the youtubes, I got instantly hyped for it. Obviously watching is avery different from playing and up until this morning I had not played Skullgirls so I didn't know how the combat mechanics work, I could only guess. I figured that the combo chains are similar to that of Capcom's Versus series where you could chain a basic Low to Med to High attacks but would resemble more like the style of Melty Blood. Looking into a few more matches, I noticed that you can choose to have either 1, 2 or 3 members in a team with each setting having their own benefits and drawbacks. The best comparison you could make about this game is to compare it to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with it's 2D and since you have to option to have up to 2 assists and tag out. Having fewer characters means less assist options but in turn have more powerful characters.

In the demo there are only 2 characters available for play out of the 8 in the roster. The first is Filia, a school girl who plays host to a demon made of hair. The second is Cerebella, a circus performer whose hat sprouts 2 giant arms. From what I guessed I was right. The combo system does feel very similar to Melty Blood (even the soundeffects sound alike) and supers are performed like in MvC2 wherein you perform 1 motion and hit 2 attack buttons. Dashing can also be performed in the same manner by simply pressing 2 attack buttons.

I only tried out what I think was 2 battles in Arcade mode then dived straight into training mode. The demo is very fun and I can't wait to purchase the full game ($14.99), I'm planning to get a $20 PSN maybe tomorrow. If you like fighting games but is still a bit iffy about Skullgirls then try out the demo. You might just like it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrRNSqRr1Q[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nIAzbCjuUI[/youtube]

GameBoy Color Emulator in HTML5

Want to go retro on your browser? From whom I'm guess is the same person who emulated The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on HTML5 comes a full fledged GameBoy Color emulator that runs on HTML5. With games such as Super Mario Land, Mega Man Xtreme, and the 3 major Zelda games on the GameBoy, this cool little blast from the past is sure to be a... well, blast.

From site;

Button Map: X or J = A Z or Q = B Shift = Select Enter = Start D-Pad = JoyPad ESC = Fullscreen r = Raise Volume d = Lower Volume

About: This is a GameBoy Color emulator written in JavaScript and uses HTML5. This is a GameBoy Color emulator written in JavaScript. This page takes advantage of modern browser capabilities like HTML5 and JIT engines to provide a desktop emulator experience right inside a webpage without the use of plugins (If you disable plugins on a browser, the graphics will still work, though the audio might stop working for users that need flash to run the audio output). You can either select a game from a list, or drag and drop a .gb or .gbc file into the emulator.

In case you missed the link the first time, you can play the GameBoy Color emulator here.

Thanks to @twittkins yet again for the tip.

Weekend, What Are You Playing?

Weeeekkkeeeennnd!! Sorry, a bit too much but hey, weekends are awesome. What are you playing?

Quash: This weekend I played a couple of games, games that would soothe the wait for Diablo 3(Yes I really can't wait). So I started playing Torchlight, an amazing action RPG. Yes, it's a Diablo clone, but definitely the best clone. Even with its cartoon art style, the game screams Diablo, which is a great thing and is exactly what I was looking for. Plus some Diablo 1 and 2 devs who left Blizzard worked on Torchlight, so yes its a clone.  I'm a sucker for action RPG's right now.

Path of Exile

This weekend I also participated on Path of Exile's Open beta stress test weekend. Path of Exile is also an action RPG but will be free to play and only accessible online. It's currently on closed beta but for this weekend only the beta is open to the public in order for the developers to stress test their servers. Again, a Diablo inspired video game. Developers are called Grinding Gear Games and is literally a group of gamer's that felt the lack of action RPG's and decided to make one for themselves. but there's so many features in the game that got me interested. for instance - There's no currency. Yes, an island filled with people exiled from the world did not bother with a currency system, but instead make business by trading an item for an item. Selling all your crap normal gear will earn you items like wisdom scrolls(identifies items), weapon upgrade items and more. believe it or not - Getting stuff like a wisdom scroll and usable items are quite rare, so it works out.

You know those red and blue potions that keep action RPG players alive and kicking against hordes of monsters? They work differently in Path of Exile. Even how you level up and earn skills are quite interesting. This game can't be called a Diablo clone. It has a lot of unique features that could make the game stand on its own without the comparison. The game also has a passive tree where you spend all the point you earn when you level up. The passive tree is just like Final Fantasy X's Sphere grid system and yes it is also massive.

The beta players so far gets access to 2 acts of the game and have a level cap of 60, which is impressive compared to past beta's that give you around only an hour of content.

If your interested in an action RPG that isn't Diablo or Torchlight, this needs your attention. I'm really pleased with the progress of the game and will definitely give this game a go when it comes out officially. And no this isn't an MMO. Players in the beta love comparing this game to the likes of World of Warcraft and Star Wars because it's online.

You can participate with the ongoing closed beta if you choose to support them by buying one of their packs. The cheapest is 10 bucks and earns you 100 points for online store the game will have and a beta key.

Migoy: Hopefully this will be my last late entry in a long time. Didn't get to play much in Saturday as I was asleep during most of the day and out during the rest. I did get to try out Mortal Kombat on the PS Vita and it was pretty smooth, a nice handheld port of the gorey fighting game. Got some good time on Sunday though. Finally started playing Kingdom Hearts for real but the differences in combat between the first and the second game clearly shows. Everything was so much smoother in KH2 but KH is still a pretty neat game for it's age.

Weekend, What Are You Playing?

It's the first week of May! For me, I consider this Diablo month since Diablo 3 is literally days away from release. In preparation, I already know what I'll be playing before May 15. How about you guys? What are you playing?

Quash: Just 10 days left and Diablo 3 will be released to the public. So to keep the hype going, I'm playing Diablo 2 again for the 9th time. Well, I believe it's the 9th time. I've lost count on the number of times I've re-installed Diablo 2 just to have another go at acts 1 - 5. I still can't believe I was just in high school when I first played Diablo 2 for the first time. The gap between Diablo 2 and 3 is pretty big.

In celebration of the release of Diablo 3, Diablo 2 Battle.net ladders had a reset last May 2. Reset meaning all ladder characters created online will be brought back to level 1 with all your epic items erased. So with all those level 99 characters gone, I gave it a shot at rising up the ladder to make a high level character. I'm currently at level 43 as an Assassin character and nowhere near the top players in the asian realm. Don't get shocked,that only took two days thanks to some playing doing free runs through all the acts in normal difficulty. Now I'm going through Nightmare alone on act 2, hoping to get better gear.

With a player like me who has not played the game in a while, and was able to reach level 43 in just 2 days, you must be wondering how the hardcore players are doing. Well the overall highest character at the moment just hit level 93. So yea, I'm not that crazy after all. It looks like my aim to have my character as one of the top characters is looking pretty grim, but at this point - I just want to finish Hell again. This will be pretty much my game until the 15th. I have plans to play either an Amazon or Barbarian but this time on Hardcore.

Migoy: And yet another late entry for me though I hope that will be remedied very very soon. For this weekend I spent a crap ton of time playing 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. I got 2 endings earlier in the week and spent most of my Saturday getting the other 4 and oh man was it a wild ride. This is by far the best game I've played all year, sure we're only half way through 2012 but out of the games I've played so far I haven't enjoyed nearly as much as this. If you ever get to play 999, I suggest play it the first time around with absolutely no help/guides. Just enjoy your first playthrough then if possible do the same for your 2nd and 3rd only then will I allow you to look up the Safe and True endings (pro tip; do the True ending last).

After that I finally started Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. I gotta say that I did not enjoy the first Uncharted game but the 2nd is easily enjoyable. It's not one of those "hard to put down" games, at least for me, but  it's definitely one of those games that makes you think "I wonder what happens next?" which makes it easy to keep on going.

Monthly Gametime Roundup - April

With one-third of the year already gone and the month of May just starting, it's time to count up my crimes~I mean my total gametime for the month of April.

My numbers are up compared to last month's total so I guess summer really does that to a person, in or out of school. Maybe it's the heat that puts me into the mood to play videogames. Now on to the list.

PS3: Bayonetta Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (Demo) Vanquish Tekken 6 Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Street Fighter x Tekken Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Mass Effect 3 (Demo) Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Demo) Final Fantasy XIII Pixel Junk Side Scroller (Demo) Soul Calibur V Marvel vs Capcom 2 WWE All Stars (Demo)

PS Vita: Motorstorm RC

PSP: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force SD Gundam G Generation World Naruto Shippudem: Ultimate Ninja Impact Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max Rock Band Unplugged (played on PS Vita)

PS1: Mega Man Legends Spider-Man Street Fighter The Movie: The Game Chocobo Racing Pepsiman Crush Gear Turbo Kotobuki Grand Prix Bust A Groove 2 Rival Schools: United by Fate Evolution Disc Bust A Groove Chrono Cross Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter Marvel vs Capcom Mega Man X4

Wii: Lost in Shadow Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Battle Rage: The Robot Wars Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare) Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 M.S. Front Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Calling The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Arc Rise Fantasia Boom Blox Boom Blox Bash Party Cabela's Survival: Shadows of Katmai

GameCube: Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom (played on Wii)

DS: Tetris DS Mega Man Battle Network 5 Double Team DS Pokemon White Mega Man Zero Collection 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

GBA: Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters

My total gametime for the month of April - 87:07:47