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.