NO ARTICLES TODAY! SORRY!

"Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold."

((Expect our normal schedule of articles to resume on Sunday.))

NERDCULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON X & Y UPDATE! #3

POKÉMON DIRECT: SEP. 4, 2013!

POKÉMON X & Y SEP. 13th: 10 NEW POKÉMON

JWITZ's POKEMON NEWS: 9 NEW POKÉMON, ETC.

 JWITZ's SEP 13th UPDATE

I'm afraid most of the news isn't conveniently in video form, just yet, as the corocoro spoilers hit the web yesterday.

This week we haven't gotten a big shake-up like with Mega Monday but there is probably about as much if not more than the E3 Trailer update! We got the second stage evolutions of the Kalos staters, the other mega evolution of Mewtwo, a mega evolution for Garchomp, four new Pokémon, information about Fairy typing and a bunch of information on the Pokémon Bank & Transfer system coming out this year.

Let's start with the Pokémon, specifically with the mega evolutions:

You see that on the right? We're getting two mega evolutions with Mega Mewtwo X being exclusive to Pokémon X (with the other Mega Mewtwo U being exclusive to Y version) and the mega evolution is pretty cool and, to a lot of fans, represents what fans were looking for in a Mega Evolution of Mewtwo. He is going to be a Psychic/Fighting type, so that definitely wins him some cool points. Maybe Y will turn out to be Psychic and Fairy?

This is a problem. Garchomp is already sitting high and mighty up in the Uber Tier and is generally considered to be one of the most overpowered Pokémon in the competitive meta. MEGA Garchomp getting the ability Sand Force and some sort of stat boost is ridiculous. This is a Pokémon that will sweep teams that don't have an answer to it. Maybe fairy type can stand a chance?

KANTO MEGA EVOLUTIONS HERE! (CLICK THE LINK)

Let's start with the evolutions of the Kalros starters (which seem to fit a theory that they are based on the basic fantasy RPG characters):

Chespin's evolution has been taking more insults for putting on pounds than a teenage girl coming back from summer vacation a Paul Dean's butter buffet. Putting this out there... does anyone really care about the second stage of a starter's evolution tree? The only one I particularly liked a lot was Wartortle. Furthermore, I know you guy's wanted a badass gopher ninja, but I like this cute and cuddly chestnut themed fellow. Reminds me of Pignite. I can dig it. I'll wait to see the final stages to make my choice for starter, though.

UPDATE: Chespin's evolution is called Quilladin. Perhaps, we'll be seeing a lot more quills in his next form?

Apparently, a lot of people are jumping on the Froakie bandwagon after the reveal of his rather sleek tree-fog evolution. With a sleek body shape, a pair of slicked back horns on his head, and a really cool color coordination gives this frog Pokémon an upgrade that still leave us mostly in the dark about what the third stage is gonna be. Froakie is still probably just a nose ahead of Chespin for my pick.

UPDATE: Froakie's evolution is called Frogadier? Like Bombadier? We're getting some bomb themed rogue, mayhaps?

You know why I dig Fennekin's second stage? There is a clear theme emerging that indicates she won't be a Fire/Fighting type because of all of the witch imagery-- the skirt, black stockings, and a broom for a tail-- and I'm thinking Fire/Psychic or Fire/Fairy or Fire/Dark or Fire/Ghost (yes, those're what they can be) would all make for cool third stages. A witch fox is definitely different than the kitsune theme of Ninetails.

UPDATE: Fennekin's evolution is Braixen and definitely uses the stick in her art as a wand! Fire/Pyschic final form or bust.

Beauty is definitely a theme in this set if you think getting a customizable poodle Pokémon (in the wild it is covered in fur, but you can get it groomed) with normal typing is any indicator (there are many others) and, as we're dealing with a Pokémon that is otherwise difficult to qualify at this point, I'm gonna make a guest to it's name. Here are three guesses: 1. Pompadour+ Poodle= Pompadoodle, 2. Pom Pom + Pompadour= Pompompadour, 3. Poodle + Salon= Poodleon.

UPDATE: I actually thought of the name they chose...but thought it was too stupid. The poodle's name is Furfrou.

MOTHER F***ING T-REX! We're getting a Rock/Dragon Pokémon based on everyone's favorite dinosaur, the T-Rex. Folks are glad to see a confirmed pair of fossil monsters in the set. I wouldn't be surprised to see it's evolution covered in feathers (look at the ring of feathers around his neck and his chicken body shape). Just a theory. The other dinosaur is an Ice/Rock sauropod that, honestly, I am excited to see it's evolution.

UPDATE: Tyrunt is the perfect name for a chicken sized T-rex and Amaura has ability, Refrigerate, that turns normal moves into ice moves.

A new Psychic cat Pokémon that differ, drastically, based on their gender were revealed with this two slick two-tailed felines. The male, on the left, has more supportive moves and the female, on the right, has more aggressive moves. I'm excited to see if they're one offs, which I think they are, and whether they'll be worth taking a slot on your team.

UPDATE: Just a couple of Mewstics.

The final image to get spoiled, by accident on IGN, was of Litleo's evolution the Fire/Normal type Pyroar. I really hope this isn't his final stage, as I think we all wanted to see some more manticore qualities, but I'm pretty pleased with his overall design. We've had another lion Pokémon in the form of Luxray, but Pyroar certainly looks unique with his bright main and unique coloration. It has also been confirmed the female will have an alternate longer, sleeker haired form.

That's it for new Pokémon. Let's keep the show rolling with the new info on type weaknesses and strengths...

You can see the updated type match-up chart on serebii.net, but here are the basics. They divulged the info on Fairy's strength in weaknesses, as follows: resistant to fighting, bug, & dark, immune to dragon, and weak against poison and steal. They're super effective against fighting, dragon, and dark. Fire, poison, and steel are resistant to fairy type. We also saw some updates to the meta of steel, which allegedly will be losing it's resistances to dark and ghost (to help balance the meta).

There were some other unusual immunities added (I apologize if I didn't know about these): Fire types cannot be burned, Grass types are unaffected by leech seed, powder, or spore moves, Electric types cannot be paralyzed, Ice type cannot be frozen or affected by hail, Flying type are immune to spikes and poison spikes, Rock types get a Sp. Def boost from sandstorms, and Ghost types are not affected by moves that prevent them from fleeing (boo).

These sound like great changes since fairy's addition will counter some stronger types and give some weaker types a chance to shine.

Pokémon Bank is going to be an important step forward for the games into the digital age; as a cloud-based application that you can download onto your 3DS, you will be able to store up to 3,000 Pokémon from the fifth and sixth generation of games. This application will also come with the Poké Transporter, allowing you to transfer your Pokémon from the Black & White games (and their sequels) to the Pokémon Bank for convenient transfer to your X or Y game. The service will be free for a 30-day trial period until it's official launch on January 31st. After that date, the service will have a yearly fee of five dollars (at least that's the idea).

I hope that the service allows you to retrieve Pokémon from your account, whether you pay or not, but requires you to pay to deposit Pokémon so that you're friends aren't trapped behind a pay wall. Otherwise, I think the fee of five dollars would be reasonable for the most hardcore Pokémon fans. Personally, I'll probably just use it to transfer my Pokémon during the trial period.

We also got an update that confirmed we would be able to customize our character's hair, clothes, and more at a salon.

We also found out Diantha is a stylish actress who will help us in our quest.

Finally, it was confirmed that Team Flare's objectives revolve around beauty and are ran by five scientists/executives. Maybe an evil fashion/makeup company?

And that's all folks. What do you think? Which starter are you leaning towards? Which version are you getting?

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/13/13!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: TEAMWORK OP

OP [oh-pee]
acronym
1. Slang/jargon. Over-powered.

EX. Teamwork is definitely OP in League of Legends. It took us a few months to form our 5 V 5 Ranked Team. To play 5 V 5 Ranked, you need 5 players of Level 30. Nick and Steven are the most veteran players, Chris hit level 30 shortly after I started playing in March, I hit level 30 in May, Clay started playing in June and hit level 30 this week. Five friends getting to Level 30 is only the first challenge in making a ranked team.

The other challenge of making a 5 v 5 team is figuring out who plays what roles; Nick is the MVP of the team and could probably take any role, but rocks the jungle hard with Nocturne, Rengar, & Shyvana, Steven's favorite role is the often under-appreciated support (Nami, Soraka, & Thresh) because of his experience of filling the roles left over by other players (he's a cool guy like that), Clay pretty much took to Top Lane and has excelled in that role, though occasionally experimenting in Jungle or Mid, and usually plays Shyvana or Volibear, Chris is best at solo lanes, so it only makes sense that he would take the role of mid with champs like Annie & Malzahar, , and I, after a lot of struggle, bounced around between all the roles, tending to play fill like Steven, and have found my role in bot lane, with the role of ADC with champs like Caitlyn & Quinn.

We've only just begun our quest to climb the Ranked ladder and, while there will be lots of hardships along the way, I believe we'll persevere.

To all the Summoners out there, GLHF.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/12/13!

KANTO STARTER MEGA EVOLUTION TRAILER!

Kanto starters [kahn-toh-stahrt-ers]
noun
1. The Pokémon that Professor Oak offers to the protagonist in the 1st Generation of Pokémon games; Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and, technically, Pikachu. But we'll ignore the last choice for the purposes of this article.

EX. So, let's talk about the mega evolutions of the Kanto starters (excluding Pikachu, even though it would be awesome if he got a competitive mega evolution).

With the knowledge that in Pokémon X & Y, players will be receiving a new starter from the Kalos region (seen HERE), a special event Torchic over wi-fi, AND a Kanto starter, I have a feeling that X & Y will be the biggest game release since Red & Blue catapulting Pokémon's popularity to greater heights and selling a lot of 3DSes. Seriously, this is a key franchise for Nintendo. The biggest gimmick, so far, in the new games coming out WORLDWIDE on OCT. 12 is mega evolution.

The basic concept of the mega evolution, which seems to be a huge factor in the Pokémon X & Y games as both a theme and possible plot point, is taking a Pokémon fan favorite and kicking them up a notch. Sometimes they get new abilities or typing, but usually they at least get a stat boost and an awesome design. Let's talk about the mega evolutions of Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard.

A lot of people think Mega Venusaur has gotten the short end of the stick, but I completely disagree. He gets the very useful ability Thick Fat to protect him from Fire & Ice moves, defensive boosts, and will make a great wall on any team. Furthermore, I like the design. The leaves placed on his legs look like pauldrons and the added foliage gives him this bulkier tank look that I think fits him well.

Mega Blastoise is probably the fan favorite since, if you pick up Chespin (the most popular 6th gen starter so far) and Torchic, he completes the trio. He gets Mega Launcher which makes certain special attacks more effective and will get other boosts accordingly to this aggressive stance. As for his design, I think it works since any more metal on his design and we'd probably be questioning why he doesn't change to Water/Steel type.

Last but not least, everybody and their mom wanted a Mega Charizard and, while the design is cool, his typing didn't change. Boo! But hey, let's look on the bright side, he got Drought (lol, nice accidental pun). His design is pretty slick with all the angles and I'm sure that Shiny Mega Charizard will be the bee's knees.

And really, I don't have much else to say. Which starter/s do you want to get in Pokémon X & Y? At the moment I'm leaning toward Froakie, Bulbasaur (even though Charmander is my main man), and Torchic (since we don't get a choice there).

WTF WED! EMPEROR MARK HAMILL'S MINIONS GO TO PREDATOR COLLEGE!

THE EMPEROR VOICED BY MARK HAMMIL!

This is a frickin' masterpiece. There are many Star Wars mash-ups and there are many Batman mash-ups, but never before have I seen the two married in to such a perfect matrimony of merriment in the form of redubbing scenes from The Return of the Jedi with Mark Hamill's Joker! It's a brilliant, twisted, and multi-layered bit of meta humor to have two of Mark Hamill's characters play off of each other so naturally. It even has a big bonus for fans of the Dark Knight Rises.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: MINION APOCALYPSE!

I don't we Summoners often give the minions in the League of Legends much thought than what they can do for us and what they can do for our opponents. Yes, the little stream of minions, super and non-super, can take out each other, towers, other champs, etc. but do we ever consider their feelings about being murdered by the hundreds every match? No. Maybe every time a minion gets in a lucky kill or a jungle creep fights of an overeager champ, we should consider the oppressive lifestyle they lead in the Summoner's Rift and on other maps.

TWO BEST FRIENDS PLAY: PREDATOR COLLEGE!

One of my favorite animators on youtube, plagueofgripes, has really outdone himself (again) with his latest animated Let's Play of the guys from TWO BEST FRIENDS PLAY! going on a ludicrous and fantastic tangent about the university years of the Predator from the "classic" video game Predator: Concrete Jungle. The animation really elevates the bit from what most of us would imagine to something truly, truly outrageous! Enjoy!

BONUS FUN FACT: The classic and quintessential manga and animated film, Otomo's Akira, predicted Tokyo winning the big for the location of the 2020 Summer Olympics. In fact, the climax of the film takes place in the stadium built for that Olympics. The film hit theaters in 1988.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/11/13!

cacophony [kuh-kof-uh-nee]
noun
1. A harsh dissonance or discordance of sound.
2. A meaningless mixture of sounds in a discordant manner.
3. The use of inharmonious or discordant sounds in speech.
4. A chaotic flurry of sounds, ideas, suggestions, etc.

EX. It seems that the cacophony of selfish or stupid suggestions by Pokémon fans has made the people at Game Freak deaf to our input. This is slightly disappointing but, as a creative type (or as someone who likes to present himself as a creative type), I can understand this sensibility. Amongst writers, there is a certain schadenfreude to criticizing a bad piece of work, especially with an audience or a group of other writers. Riffing on a bad film or picking apart a bad draft can be a very fun experience for those in on the joke. It is easy, as a writer, to find pleasure in the critiquing of bad design and methods.

Game makers probably find the same sort of perverse pleasure in examining a poor piece of game design or bad concept. Most gamers are very opinionated about video games but have little knowledge about game theory, design, or creation. The problem with the suggestions he points out above is that a) making a new Pokémon game with all of the regions would be a massive undertaking (good content stretched too thin), b) just having the first gen Pokémon to fill the whole world would get boring and repetitive, and c) including all of the legendaries would already make the reoccurring "too many legendary" problem even more obnoxious. If there are literally dozens of them, how legendary are they?

All in all, it might seem cruel but it's probably an honest quote.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! AUG. 26 - SEP. 3 2013!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

THE WEEK OF A GOOGLY EYES DERPLY!

7. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/27/13! NOT EVEN CLOSE BABY!

I dunno what to blame my absence on... I've been looking for a job, but haven't found one yet.

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/3/13! PAX.

My good friend Steven "Aceofspadescard" Pullam had a blast at PAX Prime, or so he says, where he got to talk to gaming industry folks, play demos, got in a little magic time with the most current version of my GW AGGRO DECK and brought back swag to share with the Action Society.

My favorite gifts were the Arcade Hecarim & Riot Blitzcrank Skins and a Shadowrun poster. Thanks Steven!

5. MUSIC MON! HEY! MR. WILSON! LET'S BE BEST FRIENDS & PLAY VIDEO GAMES FOREVER!

The world don't move to the beat of just one drum! What might be right for you, may not be right for some! Different strokes.

4. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/31/13! Decapitation!

Apparently, less than half of my friends have played Brutal Legend. My advice? Play Brutal Legend. Next time you see an opportunity to pick up this quirky Double Fine title, do so.

3. WTF WED! JAPAN #6 THE JAPANESE TAKE PRANKING TO THE MAX!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT! IT'S A DINOSAUR! JESUS! WHAT THE FUCK! OH MY FUCKING GOD! FUCKING DINOSAURS! HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK!

And, in unrelated new, I'm really excited to continue getting better at League of Legends. I might write some articles on other MOBA and include some special guest pieces by fellow summoners, that I play with, in the near future.

What do you think?

2. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/28/13! Imagination.

'"And you'd be like "Texas walk out of this shit!" As you knock [Chuck Norris] off the platform into a blackhole beneath you.'

"Then you'd hop on a flying stingray with the Spider Queen giving you like six handjobs at once as you fly off into the sunset while Morgan Freeman narrates..." ~ Excerpts from this article

1. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/26/13! Salutations!

Expect MTG articles in the last week of the month with the release of Theros.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/10/13!

frolic [frol-ik]
noun
1. Fun, especially silly fun, merriment, gaiety, etc.
2. A party or shindig.
3. A prank or gag.
4. Playful behavior.
verb
5. To gambol about merrily, to act in frisky, light-spirited manner; a good romp.
6. To engage in party, merriment, fun, etc.

EX. Sometimes, you just gotta frolic. Like a moron. Especially like a moron. Sometimes you gotta frolic like a moron.

MUSIC MON! POWER RADDISHES, AGGRO CRAGS, & THE GAME GRUMP ANTHEM!

GAME GRUMPS REMIX: POWER RADISH  

VS.

 POWER RADISH: GAME GRUMPS REMIX

First up, we have a GAME GRUMPS VS. or rather a GAME GRUMP REMIX VS.! With Ego and Dan really hitting their stride in recent episodes and finding a good bit of chemistry/insanity that I was worried would be lost without Jon, we get brilliant moments, musical and manic, like the proclamation of Power Radish. Which remix do you like best?

GAME GRUMPS: AGGRO CRAG REMIX

I've talked about the Aggro Crag and Guts before, but that doesn't mean I haven't missed out on sharing more awesome Game Grumps: Guts related nonsense with ya'll in the form of an awesome remix that captures the might and majesty of the Aggro Crag!

TRI-FORCE COLLAB 2: GAME GRUMPS ANTHEM

Atpunk01, liltommyj, and xXJerryTerryXx are back this week with another remix masterpiece in the form of this lovely collaboration that elevates the medium and lifts the Grump Nation up with a stirring anthem. Grump fans everywhere are divided in everything but our passionate enjoyment of the machinations and madness that is Game Grumps. As a proud co-owner of a pair of "I'm a Grump"/"I'm not so Grump!" T-Shirts, I'm glad to be part of the fandom.