Tag Archives: gaming

Thursday in the Zone

Glasses Off: 4 Entertaining Online Gaming/Gaming News Sites

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If you’re gaming more through your computer these days (and who isn’t? LOL), there are literally thousands of sites which cater to our needs. Games of all flavors, whether single-player Flash games or multi-player server-based games, exist to entertain us–and, as you’ll see below, all sorts of gaming news sites have popped up to tell us about new games we’d like to play, too. Here are four I really like:

AddictingGames
Flash games, Flash games everywhere…

Neave
Creative games and online timewaster toys abound on this awesome little site.

MarvelHeroes.com
This site is the online home of the free-to-play Marvel Comics-based MMO, available through Steam as well as downloadable through this website itself. (I still miss City of Heroes, but this game helps fill in the void some.)

Massively
Any kind of gaming news you could want is probably already profiled at Massively…they seriously cover just about everything.

Thursday in the Zone

Glasses Off: 4 Useful Collectible Gaming Sites

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If you play Magic: the Gathering, HeroClix, or any other type of tabletop game, the Internet has proven itself over and over again to be an awesome resource for gaming tips and news. Here are four of my favorites:

BoardGameGeek
Any and all board games…it’s AMAZING how many games this site has sections for!

HCRealms
One of the best HeroClix resources out there, not only for game news and figure information, but for Clix player community as well.

MTGSalvation
I used to try to keep up with all the M:TG set lists out there…then I found out that MTGSalvation already covers it all, in a wiki format. That and much more behind the click!

TabletopGamingNews
Keep up with news and announcements for all sorts of miniatures games!

(bonus: Roll20.net–a virtual tabletop where gamers can meet and play!)

Thursday in the Zone

One Year On, We Still Miss City of Heroes

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imisscoh

I miss this vista. I miss being able to fly over Atlas Park at sunset, or at any other time. I miss this game, which was closed far sooner than it should have been.

Even though the one-year anniversary of City of Heroes’ closing is but two days away, there are still plenty of players like me who love and miss this game for what it meant to us. #SaveCoH is still a popular tag on Twitter for this reason; we former players still share memories and creative ideas for characters we never got to try. And yes, we’re still angry that this game, this virtual world which we gladly paid to access, was so cruelly taken away for such trivial reasons as “realignment of company policies.” (Those new policies apparently included utter refusal to heed customers’ complaints and wants.)

Perhaps I’m beating a long-dead horse. But City of Heroes was far more than just a “superhero MMO”–it was a haven for creative people. You could create original characters, design original costumes in minute detail, choose your own powersets, and play your character in hundreds of beautifully-rendered virtual environments. Not only that, you could meet other creative people and form teams and supergroups (guilds) with them. City of Heroes attracted a different type of MMO gamer, the kind that wasn’t just interested in constant raids and multi-hour quests, but camaraderie and working as a team. It attracted working people, parents, and other folks who didn’t have a ton of time to dedicate to a game–it wasn’t as intensive a game, so it was easier to approach and easier to enjoy casually. It was an MMO for people who don’t like MMOs, in other words; it provided a sanctuary from other time-consuming games (*cough*WoW*cough). It was unique, just like its playerbase…and we grieve for its loss.

And yet City of Titans represents hope amid this grief, because it is at least a partial return to the virtual world I miss. Even though November 30th tolls like a somber bell in our minds, we have something to look forward to, a fan-created virtual world where we may fly over another Atlas Park. We are still sad and angry, one year later, but we have used those feelings to propel us forward. On this Thanksgiving Day, this resilient community of CoH players, with its creative vision and firm resolve, is something for which we can all be thankful.

Thursday in the Zone

Hidden Clix Gem: Tessa/Sage (AKA The Swiss Army Knife)

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sage If you’re new to Clix or simply haven’t explored many of the older Clix pieces available, you probably haven’t heard of this little lady, who goes by Tessa in her Rookie form and Sage as an Experienced and Vet figure.

Though she doesn’t look like much at first glance, her entire set of 3 figures are excellent Support pieces–simply because they do it all! Whether you need Enhancement, Outwit, Perplex, or Prob, the Tessa/Sage REV is worth fitting onto your team; if she gets hit and/or healed back up, she’ll be useful no matter what click she’s on!

The Dials and Stats

rookie_tessa
Here’s the Rookie, called Tessa (the character’s real name). The front-dial combination of Energy Shield/Deflection and Enhancement is simple but effective for a range-heavy team, and if she gets hit or pushed 2 clicks, she falls into Perplex with Combat Reflexes–helpful if she gets involved in close combat! The last two clicks, combining Stealth with Prob, are a subtle but lethal addition; the Stealth protects Tessa at range, and the Prob can keep her teammates a little safer. All that, plus 6 range and free move (through the Brotherhood TA), for 39 points? WOW!

exp_sage
The Experienced figure, called Sage (her alter ego’s name), features Outwit instead of Enhancement front-dial, and keeps that for 2 clicks. The 3rd click is the main reason Sage made it into my collection–she becomes Destiny with 18 defense and Phasing! And, if she gets somehow knocked past 3rd click, she becomes useful as a Mind Control piece for a couple of clicks…then she becomes a Perplex piece, and finally an Enhancement helper. 6 range and Brotherhood makes her easy to fit into your team strategy, for 60 points–a good bargain, given that hilarious 3rd click!

vet_sage
I don’t own the Vet Sage (YET!), but this one is just as handy as her Rookie and Experienced, starting off with a powerful supportive combo of Super Senses and Perplex. (The 3rd click is hilarious, with Mind Control, Combat Reflexes, and Prob!) And past 3rd click, she’s useful as a range-team booster and Outwitter back-dial. This figure adds a second range target, which can make her a solid second- or third-string attacker. Plus, the Vet replaces Brotherhood TA with X-Men, giving her the option of being healed with fellow X-Men TA pieces, all for 78 points. Considering all the usefulness you get packed into that point total, that’s awesome!

Why Should You Run Tessa/Sage Figures?

In short, you should use these figures because they never lose their effectiveness. At no point do you look at a wounded Tessa or Sage and say, “Well, this figure’s completely useless to me now,” because no matter where she is on her dial, she’s got at least one power that can help you out. I love figures like this, who never become just a meat shield for other characters on your team–I don’t have to worry that my entire strategy’s blown to pieces because my Tessa or Sage got hit for a couple of clicks of damage. I might have to shift my thinking a bit, but I can still win! (And if you run a Medic on your team, you can heal her back to where you need her most! Well, maybe that’s just my strategy…LOL)

Credits

All images retrieved from HCRealms.

Thursday in the Zone

My Favorite Video Game Music

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Loving both video games and music as I do, the genre of video game music has drawn me since I was a child. Over the years, I’ve found that many video game tunes have stayed with me and become part of my music collection; music from video games has also been a way to bond with fellow players as we share about which music we like.

Today, I present to you my collection thus far, retrieved in the form of Youtube videos arranged alphabetically by series (with a small miscellaneous game section at the end). Click through and enjoy!

(Currently, I have music from these game series: Animal Crossing, Beatmania, Castlevania, Chrono Cross, DDR, Digital Devil Saga, Everybody Loves Katamari, Final Fantasy, and Super Mario. I know there’s plenty of other great video game music out there, but these are most of the ones from my collection so far 😀 )

Animal Crossing Series


K.K. Bossa – Animal Crossing for Gamecube


Marine Song 2001 – Animal Crossing: Wild World!


Neapolitan – Animal Crossing: Wild World!


The Roost – Animal Crossing: Wild World!

Beatmania & DDR Series


Sphere (Tatsh feat. K. Nayuki) – Beatmania IIDX


XEPHER (from Beatmania or DDR? No one can agree; I saw this–or a version of it–played on a DDR game)


The Legend of Max – DDR Extreme


MAX FOREVER – Flash Flash Revolution


Sakura – DDR Extreme 2


Can’t Stop Fallin’ in Love – DDR 5thMix


Exotic Ethnic – DDR 6thMix


Butterfly – DDR 3rdMix

Chrono Cross Series


The Girl who Stole the Stars – Chrono Cross


The Girl who Stole the Stars (amazing live musicians cover)


Radical Dreamers – Chrono Cross


Time’s Scar – Chrono Cross

Final Fantasy Series


Battle with the Four Fiends – FF4


Cosmo Canyon – FF7


Gold Saucer – FF7


Looking… (this is called Ahead on Our Way here) – FF7


Main FFVII Theme


On the Other Side of the Mountain – FF7


Aerith’s Theme – FF7: Advent Children


Suteki Da Ne – FF9


Not Alone – FF9


Terra – FF9


To Zanarkand – FFX


To Zanarkand – Final Fantasy Orchestra (AMAZING :D)


Hymn of Fayth – FFX


1000 Words – FFX-2

Super Mario Series


Water World Theme – Super Mario 64


Wing Cap Theme – Super Mario 64


Star Cove Theme (Cosmic Cove Galaxy Theme) – Super Mario Galaxy


First Battle with Smithy – Super Mario RPG


Forest Maze – Super Mario RPG


Second Battle with Smithy – Super Mario RPG


SMRPG Boss Battle


SMRPG Ending

Other Game Series Music


Bloody Tears (Piano Arrangement) – Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (Rey Tang, pianist)


Divine Identity – Digital Devil Saga


Blue Orb – Everybody Loves Katamari


Disco Star Prince – Everybody Loves Katamari


Wind’s Nocturne – Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete


The Forest of Hope – Pikmin


Still Alive – Portal: The Orange Box

Thursday in the Zone

AMAZING Fighting Game Moments, Captured for Posterity

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If you’ve ever played a fighting game, you’ve likely experienced those jaw-dropping moments–the move you can’t believe you pulled off (or have no idea how you triggered it to happen), or surviving a fight with so little health you thought you would drop any second.

Moments like these are memorialized in the following videos–some are compilation videos, while others are simply one captured moment. Click through and enjoy (and maybe even learn a new trick or two!)


EVO 2004 Semifinal–Daigo vs. Justin Wong. This is one AMAZING Ken vs. Chun-Li fight, which does NOT end how you’d expect!


Watch Player #3 in this Super Smash Brothers Melee Competition (with SSB:Brawl music), held in Ottawa, Ontario, in 2012.


This compilation video does start out kinda slow, but these are all epic SSF4 comebacks!


With only one half-pummeled character left on Marvel Vs. Capcom, this player battles against two nearly full-health characters on the opponent’s force…click the video to see what happens!


Marvel vs. Capcom 3/Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom Comebacks…you’ll watch these with your heart in your throat!


And this post would not be complete without a nod to Combofiend, who has MANY amazing fighting game moments to his name.

Thursday in the Zone

Soon, Heroes Shall Fly Again, in the City of Titans

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Last fall, City of Heroes players wept and raged as Paragon City darkened on November 30th, in spite of everything we tried to do, in spite of protests and calls. It seemed all had finally been lost when the 30th rolled around and NCSoft’s stance had not changed.

Most of us fans crept away and mourned, trying to find solace in other games or projects. But for one small band of players, their response was to recreate the City they had so cherished in a game of their own making. That game is called City of Titans.

The Facts

This group of players formed The Phoenix Project and MissingWorldsMedia, and are currently developing City of Titans as a self-described “spiritual successor” to City of Heroes. According to the FAQ, the game will be built on the Unreal 3 engine by former CoH players, and the studio is shooting for a release date sometime in 2015. Support for Sentinel+ character files (developed by the Titan Network) is planned (yay!).

Lots more is covered in the WorldsFactory interview with TPP’s project lead, Warcabbit–well worth a read to get a good sense of how CoT is developing!

City of Titans Still Needs Your Help!

And most importantly, keep spreading the word! Soon, we heroes will have a City to protect again! 😀

Thursday in the Zone

The Question: 37 Points of Unquestionable Good

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If you’re looking for Outwit and Perplex at a cheap point cost, and you’ve not already running this figure, you, my friend, need to know about The Question.

thequestion_fig thequestion_dial

Hard to believe this figure is 37 points, isn’t it? With all her standard powers, she’s a fine second-string ranged attacker as is; 6 range and 10 attack with Stealth and Willpower on first click is awesome for her point cost, and even as she goes down the dial, she maintains her usefulness, adding Close Combat Expert, Energy Explosion, and Combat Reflexes (for a defense boost!). But it’s her special power on damage that really makes her shine.

thequestion_card2 “Ask the Question” is, in a word, powerful. Not only can she Outwit when needed, but if she’s needed to reduce the effectiveness of an opposing character, she can do that too. That doesn’t sound like much, perhaps, but in the middle of battle where 1 less defense or damage can make a big difference, you will soon see how much that ability matters!

This is the reason I have two Questions in my Clix collection, and the reason why she gets played with some regularity–she’s not only a good tactical figure, she can play a little offense as well. Always nice to have a pinch-hitter if one of your other figures unexpectedly bites the dust!

thequestion_card1 As for keywords, she’s a definite boon to Detective keyword teams, as well as to Gotham City (though one can argue that there’s already plenty of Outwit available on Gotham City’s keyword). I also like that she’s Martial Artist; it gives the keyword one more tactical piece, which they can definitely make use of!

So if you’ve found yourself with 37 points open and a need for cheap offense and tactics, grab yourself a Question and start a game. You’ll definitely be glad you did!

Thursday in the Zone

Plains and Forests Unite, part 2: Modifications

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Last week, I showed my Plains and Forests deck, naming the combos and synergies I had within the deck already. This week, I’m tackling some modifications I could make to this cool little deck–and some which I already have!

Research, then Proxy City

I did quite a bit of research on White/Green multicolored cards, using Gatherer‘s advanced search, and came up with a short list of interesting cards which I might want to fit into the deck. From those, I narrowed it down to three cards I definitely wanted to fit into the deck:

wiltleafliege Wilt-Leaf Liege is a great card just for pumping up Selesnya creatures’ P/T, but it also has a surprising defense against being discarded from your hand by another player–you can put it straight into play instead! Plus, you can’t beat a 4/4 for 4 mana, especially hybrid mana.
trostani As well as being a walking Angelic Chorus (yay life-gain), Trostani also serves to help produce creature tokens. This ability doesn’t help my deck very much at the moment, but I like her P/T–she’s a 2/5 for 4 mana, and the mana cost is balanced enough for my current mana curve. (And she’s a Dryad! <3)
messengerfalcons Because this deck needs some more flying defense and card draw, I included Messenger Falcons. (Added bonus: Knight of New Alara‘s ability gives the Falcons +3+3, because part of its casting cost is Blue!

What I Took Out

Since I’m running a 60-card deck and want to keep it that way, I had to take out three cards from my deck:

  • Chrome Mox (because it’s always a dead card in my hand–I hate removing a card from my hand for mana, even if I can’t play it right then)
  • Safehold Duo (never gets to trigger more often than +1/+1 or possibly +2/+2 if I’m lucky)
  • Oversoul of Dusk (it’s a big stompy creature with good protections and 5/5 P/T, but…that’s about it…?)

Other Possibilities I’ve Thought About

  • Barkshell Blessing – nice boost for 1 hybrid mana, but it’s only temporary
  • Call of the Conclave – gets a creature token out–might still be useful with Trostani if I so choose
  • Voice of Resurgence – this would be SO silly with a creature token deck, but I’m not sure I want to go that direction
  • Armadillo Cloak – would be AWESOME in this deck, just can’t figure out what to replace
  • Congregation at Dawn – like Eladamri’s Call x 3, but it doesn’t pull the creature to hand
  • Ranger en-Vec – nice first strike for Selesnya, but that’s about it
  • Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers – vigilance and bigger P/T, but that’s about it
  • Ancient Spider – good, but a bit too expensive for flying defense
  • Bronzebeak Moa – runs into same problem as Safehold Duo
  • Heartmender – would be great for Kitchen Finks, but ONLY Kitchen Finks
  • Horned Cheetah – for Green/White, there is better for cheaper
  • Mystic Enforcer – works directly against Wheel of Sun and Moon, which is not going ANYWHERE
  • Juniper Order Ranger – again, like Safehold Duo, it works IF you can play creatures reliably
  • Sigarda, Host of Herons – YAY for Green/White Angel, but it doesn’t QUITE fit this deck yet.
  • Collective Blessing – it’s Glorious Anthem/Gaea’s Anthem x3, but you have to wait 6 turns…
  • Risen Sanctuary – it’s a big creature, with vigilance. That is all.

Results of These Modifications: Next Time!

In the next post about this deck (which will not appear for a couple of weeks, since I need to test these changes), I will recount how these modifications have either helped or hindered the deck’s performance. Were my instincts about these cards right, or did I only hamstring myself? Stay tuned!

Thursday in the Zone

Plains and Forests Unite, part 1: The Decklist

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plains_forests_unite
Plains and Forests Unite!, one of my decks on EssentialMagic

I built this deck a couple of years ago, after I had reevaluated a couple of my multicolor decks and realized they needed to be mono-color. Out came the White and hybrid spells from my Elvish Piper deck, which then became mono-Green; out came the Green and hybrid spells from my Windborn Muse deck, which then became mono-White.

These hybrid spells, combined with other Green and White bits of my collection, became the “Plains and Forests Unite!” deck. The main philosophy? White’s life-gain meets Green’s might–a common theme for the Selesnya guild and for Green/White in general.

Combos and Synergies

dawnglowinfusion boonreflection
This combo is hilarious–Dawnglow Infusion allows me to gain double the life for the mana that was spent, and then Boon Reflection doubles that again!
wheelofsunandmoon safewrightquest
With Safewright Quest for land fetch and Wheel of Sun and Moon helping to keep spells rotating through the deck, I’m just about guaranteed to stay up on land counts.
knightofnewalara bantsureblade
Bant Sureblade gets bonuses for other multicolored creatures being in play; Knight of New Alara gives Bant Sureblade an additional +3/+3 (because Blue is also in its casting cost)!
wheelofsunandmoon eladamriscall
I love this little combo for being able to pull whatever creature I like to my hand, many times over!
grizzledleotau shieldoftheoversoul
Putting the Shield on Grizzled Leotau = indestructible flying blocker cat. (This is an LOLcat waiting to happen)

Other Cards I Love Using in This Deck

loamlion oversoulofdusk
qasaliambusher watchwolf
kitchenfinks safeholdduo
sigilofthenayangods chromemox
sungrassprairie templegarden

woodedbastion

Any Changes I’d Make?

Since I haven’t kept up with new developments in White/Green, I need to research to find out if there are any new creatures I’d swap into this deck.

…And that, my friends, is where we’ll pick up next week, with some epic new research into the Selesnya guild and White/Green in general. 😀 Stay tuned!