Jumping in Headfirst

One of the titles announced at Sony's pre-TGS conference for the Japanese launch of the PS4, Natural Doctrine is a Strategy RPG coming from Kadokawa Games, the developer behind Lunar 1 & 2 (two of my favorite video games of all time).   Featuring designs by Atsushi Ikayrya (Fate/Zero) of ufotable and directed by Atsushi Ii of Patapon fame, Natural Doctrine is set in a world where high fantasy world where humans are suddenly being forced to co-exist with a number of hostile species.  The main character, Jeff, is a guard who is assigned to help acquire resources by clearing out goblin dens to help the human race's continued existence. Though the game's battle system appears to be reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy Tactics , Fire Emblem , and Valkyria Profile , when I look at the screenshots and video footage, it just reminds me of those action figure and playsets combos I used to see in toy commercials as a kid, and the more elaborate ones used for with adul

I have no idea what bullshit happened with Shotgun Suge.  That was a match that I wasn't really hyped for since I don't know Suge and didn't know Charron, but when it turned into DNA vs. Charron my interest picked up.   Believe it or not, DNA is probably one of the most hated battlers online, but I've liked the guy ever since I saw him battling against Dizaster a few months ago.  He's got a lot of freestyle talent and he always brings a crazy amount of energy to his battles. That said.  Charron was crazy with this, giving one of the best second rounds I've ever seen (probably the best of the year), with an insane verse--especially for someone who only had eight days to write.   You can score it how you like; personally I liked the match so much I don't really care who won.  DNA kinda sorta edged Rds 1&3 but Charron's 2nd was so good I can see someone going either way.  Both emcees brought the best of their abilities and made something great f

And side-scrolling beat 'em ups is one of them.  Phantom Breaker is one of those Japanese 2D fighters that's got very little chance of ever making it over to the States.  Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is an "8 bit" side-scroller beat 'em up that came to XBLA this February, and Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive (confused yet?) is one the same thing, only coming to PS4 and with some additional characters. The game reminds me of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, of which I was a major fan.  There's just something more addicting about games done in an 8-bit style but with HD graphics that's more fun to me than a lot of these games that try to literally be 8 or 16 (or even 32)-bit games.  Teased at Tokyo Game Show, hopefully this thing comes to the States.

I'll be the first to admit that, compared to many gamers, my PS3 game collection is pretty small.  So small, that nearly half of the games I've played in the console's life have been licensed properties High Moon's Transformers: Cybertron series, Batman: Arkham City , Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions , and later this year Batman: Arkham Origins and Injustice: GOTY .  When it's a series I enjoy, one of my favorite things is to have a game to let me play in that universe.  But unfortunately, as much of an anime junkie as I am, I've yet to come across and interesting anime-based video games. Until this TGS when they came out all at once.  Life's funny like that. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z   The main problem with Dragon Ball Z is that after you get one really good game...what's left?  You get all the characters, all the forms, an fun story mode, and that's pretty much all you need.  Sure, they could add what-if stories and gi v e

Let's get this straight: The last Final Fantasy I liked? Was IX.  The last Final Fantasy I loved? Was Tactics.  I am not, by any means, a Final Fantasy "fan".  They release games, sometimes I play them, a lot of times I don't even bother.  XIII burned up so much fucking good will with me, not just with the franchise but Square-Enix in general....  And then this came and fucked my brain. A Final Fantasy that's an ACTION game?? Dirge of Cerberus was one of my favorite titles for the Playstation 2, so I love when Square screws with the formula of their own games to create something new.  By all accounts, this looks sickeningly awesome.  I just need Noctis to have a personality, because I can't play anymore quiet/stoic emo Cloud-type guys wandering around.  Tell some jokes.  Be at least slightly pissed about all the shitty situations you will no doubt find yourself in over the course of the game.  Just do something to set you apart, please.  Because

I should be posting Dizaster vs. Arsonal, but I'll get back around to that presuming the shit ain't wack.  I'm technically posting this from the past since I saw this battle Sunday and I got a super busy week. If you watch these battles and you're not a fan of my man Jayblac, that's a serious mistake.  Dude is the best battle rap reviewer on YouTube--he's great with the jokes and he always makes intelligent points.  He's good enough that his review will make me go back and catch some of the things that I missed in a battle, and sometimes even make me appreciate a battle more.  (I honestly thought Hollow/Surf was trash aside from Hollow's third until I saw the Jayblac review.)  Anyway, Jayblac made a great point when he said that people need to start peeping other Leagues, especially when they have better material/rappers than the so-called "pros". This, is one such battle.  Bar for bar, this battle can compete with nearly all of the on

After the abysmal Spring and Summer seasons that were so garbage I only watched two airing series consistently for the past, we return with a fall that's actually...pretty overwhelming. I guess that's cool.  I've been using this new editable site called Anichart to keep up with what series are coming out during what season, and so far it's been pretty useful.  Here's the Fall Chart .  Now, let's take a look, hm? Tokyo Ravens     Tokyo Ravens is a series about a guy from an onmyouji family (think priests/magic users) who's completely powerless and promised his sister as a child that he would become her familiar.  Now off that synopsis, I don't really know what direction they're coming from.  I do know that trailer has a lot of slice-of-life-y elements, and in the worst sort of way, at that.  I'm giving this series a shot because this year has been sorely lacking in action series, but if the aforementioned sister character (or any girl, f

One of the things I've chosen to work on as a marketable skill is my Japanese ability.  To that end, even though the vast majority of them bore the hell out of me (it's like where television goes to grow up, to me), I've decided to wade through the sea of J-Drama from now on to learn what Japanese people sound like when they aren't talking about robots, swords, and beings from other dimensions.   So, here's the list I'm working from, with the picks below, supplied with either promo photos or PVs.  Kumokiri Nizaemon Okay, so the series probably WON'T look like this... Right out the gate and I'm already failing with the picture thing.  This was apparently a movie back in 1978, apparently a Robin Hood-esque story set during the Kyoho period where a group of bandits rob the wealthy with a series of schemes and an array of impressive techniques.   This would make it a Jidaigeki , or "period drama", since its set in Japan's past.  I'

King of the Dot's World Domination 4 event a couple weeks ago featured a title match between current champion Arcane and challenger Pat Stay.  Now Pat Stay's been in quite a few battles over the past year or so, with legends like Head Ice, and well-known battlers like Math Hoffa.  In every battle he's participated in, Pat's always brought endless humor and an almost undeniably likable personality, even though he tries to play the villain. Now, about seven months or so ago, Dizaster and Arcane battled for the chain and Arcane took that, despite Dizaster revealing that Arcane had bought some bars that may or may not have helped him get his title shot.   Unfortunately, bar theft or not, Arcane won that chain.  And he won this one, even though the judges said differently.  Yeah yeah I know, he bought bars--but look, if you're that upset about it?  Ban the guy from your league.  I mean seriously--listen to that fucking crowd.  Pat ain't THAT fucking popular

I'm shifting away from DC Comics for reasons that I'll explain in a future blog post.  Of course, that still leaves me with the problem of deciding what to read while I wait for them to right the ship.  But if things like what BOOM! Studios has in the works keeps happening, I think I might be good. All I know right now is that She-Devils is a project by George Perez, the guy who's responsible for some of the best art of the 80's, 90's, and even today.  And yet, I still need this comic so bad, I might actually buy it as it comes out, rather than wait on it to be released in a trade format.   That art is just too amazing, and personally I love the idea of an all-female super-team.   This information comes from CBR's coverage of the Baltimore Comic-Con , with no other news other than it launching in 2014.  Looking forward to it.

It looks like BBC's got another fantasy-type series coming out.  Now I was a huge fan of BBC's recent Robin Hood series, despite the fact that it had more anachronisms than your average Flintstones episode.   I skipped out on Merlin because quite frankly I thought the series tagline of "Keep the Magic Secret" was a weak excuse to hide their shitty television budget.  Plus I was worn out on modern retellings of Arthurian lore that couldn't be bothered to get it right, or at least if they got it wrong, make things interesting.   So now, with Robin Hood and Merlin both gone, we have BBC's Atlantis, and I'm completely unsure of what to make of it.  When I think of Atlantis, I picture mages and an ancient but beautiful underwater civilization.  What I don't think of is Jason (presumably) of the Argonauts.   I get that they both have their origins in Greek mythology, but what I don't get is why they conflated the two when one or the other woul

I honestly hate one round battles.  They give the illusion of some battles being closer than they really are, since by the time both rappers are finished they both rapped for so long that people can make a case for a battle going in either way, even if somebody got bodybagged.  (See: Charlie Clips vs. X-Factor.) In this case, I watched Yung Ill spaz for like, 14 minutes, then watched T-Rex do the same thing and somebody could argue for either rapper, even though Icepack Ill prolly took it.  Oh well. Next week either another old-school battle or some stuff from King of the Dot's World Domination 4 card.  We'll see.