NYAF/WCG

I was at the New York Anime Festival on Saturday in order to check out the WCG. I must admit that it was a last-moment decision so I didn't really get to take too much advantage of the event as I should have.

When I walked the first thing I noticed was the Sega booth. I played a demo of Beyonetta. It was a nice demo. I might buy it once it comes out.

I spent a good amount of time at the WCG booth checking out a match now and then. The WCG Ultimate Game cast members that were at the US Invitationals plus one more (Dante) showed were also there. I played some casual matches. The Street Fighter IV line was packed so I didn't get too many matches in. But I did get to play some Gears and Halo.

The was a lot of stuff at the con. DVD sellers, autograph booths, Artists selling their work and drawing on the premise. I saw an interesting DVD for $5.00 but didn't buy it. I later found out that they it sell for over $20.00. Just perfect. I also saw redesigned Wii Classic Controller. I know the sellers store so I kept that in mind. I learned a big lesson. If you go to a convention with intention of holding on to your money. You won't really enjoy it as much as you should.

The NYAF was okay but I felt I should have enjoyed it more. I learned a few thing about attending conventions though:

• Never go to a convention broke. (Golden Rule)
• Know all the events going on beforehand such as contests, tournaments, autograph signings, etc.
• Try to attend all the days of the convention.
• Bring a buddy with you.
• Don't be shy to take pictures.
  

For the kids (originally written on Feb of 2008)

Blogger's Note: This was originally a blog post I written February of 2009. But I (unwisely) scrapped the entire blog in order start fresh. I decided to add this post on after coming across my notes for it. Enjoy. - Lance

I was asked by Triforce to join in an EMP group visit to The Children's Hospital at Montefiore to spend some time with the kids for A Gamer's Valentine 3. It was an offer I could not refuse.


The day started with a meetup at Game Express. I made the journey to the Bronx the winter rain armed only with Wii-stuffed duffel bag and a malfunctioning umbrella. When I showed up I noticed that the New Smash Bros. was playing in the shop courtesy Justin's Japanese Wii. I also noticed that Ms. Nightmare was there as well. Haven't seen her in months. Legaia, David, and DA's Dire were also there for the trip. After last minute preps, we made our way to the hospital later to be joined Daisy and Comp.


When we reached the hospital the staff greeted us and gave us a quick rundown about the facility. Since there were two rec rooms we agreed on splitting up the groups. Justin, Legaia, David, and Comp made up the group that would present Brawl to one room while I partnered with Daisy, Nightmare, Dire and Triforce to entertain the second room with Mario/Sonic Olympic Games and Mario Party with a switch so both rooms would get a chance to play Smash Brawl.

When the kids saw the Wii in the room their eyes lit up with joy. They took turns on the Wii and DS games and the competition got a little fierce at times. Two kids competed in a Sonic/Shadow 100m dash!

With the day of fun nears to an end, Triforce, showman that he is, treated the young ones to a Star Fox run.

Well it was good day for me. I helped brightened the children's Valentine's Day. It feels good doin' good.

The Fastest Perfect Pac-Man

Twin Galaxies has verified another perfect Pac-Man run performed by David Race from Beavert Creek, Ohio. He also has done so in the fastest official time.

Only six players had ever submitted perfect Pac-Man scores, the first being Billy Mitchell in 1999.

For more information about this feat go to http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1849

Ryu Tutorial Vids

Several Months ago I saw a Ryu Tutorial posted by player Mickey D in SRK Forums. It was pretty much straightforward. He demonstrated Ryu's bread and butter combos and explained the Ryu mindset one must have compared to that of Ken or Akuma. Later on Mickey D would continue with more useful information for any aspiring Ryu.

Part 2 shows some more Ryu combos and verbally explains more of what one should be thinking as a Ryu player. It's pretty much an extension of part 1.

Part 3 dwells into Ryu's Focus Attack and why it is important implement in your gameplan in both defense and offense. Catching projectile, setting up your opponent for a combo, lots of stuff.

Part 4 is my most favorite part of Mickey D's tutorial, followed by part 3. You get to see what makes Ryu shine above most characters: his zoning strategy revolved around his Hadouken. He divides the stage into zones and tells us what attakcks work where and why. If you only watch one of the four videos please watch part 4.

If you like Mickey D's work on these video you can view his blog or PM him on SRK.

Jinx Commercials

In Jinx's latest "glog", they post a couple of commercials on there, one of which features Empire Arcadia members Justin, Prod1gy, and TriForce. The other stars Zadi Diaz of Epic Fu.





If you want to get the gear seen in the ads, or just want to see what else they have, be sure to visit www.jinx.com.

TG's Wii Sports Resorts Scores Posted on Kotaku

This morning and I found out that Kotaku had posted Wii Sports Resort scores. That was something I didn't did not expect to see. Seeing my name among those listed was also nice to see.

I'm glad to see a well know blog like Kotaku taking notice of the score posted on Twin Galaxies. Hopefully this will be a trend and not a fad.

Not so good

The last few days just had not gone my way at all. Not to sound to misirable but they were quite bad.

For starters my phone died. It was washed with the laundry. I pretty much NEED my cell phone so it was quite a frustration to loose it.

Also, my arcade stick for Street Fighter IV went broke. A wire snapped when I was changing the screws. I managed to salvage the Sanwa parts but I can't get any good practice at home. So I'm have to settle for whatever outside practice I can get.

I supposed all this bad momentum was what did me in in Battlefield Arcadia 3. I played Ken and lost to two straight boxers. My trademark jittery reflexes left me open to too much in both matches.

On top of doing bad in the tournament, I played lousy in my exhibition match against fellow Empire member Noel. When I lost a game and changed my character, Noel changed his. Winner players changing characters for the next game was not something I agreed upon. I knew he was screwin' with me. I managed to win one game but I lost in game 4. Triforce told me I though I was gonna bring it to a fith match at the end. I pretty much agreed.

The results of the tournament can be found on http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=206522. Some of the matches will be on youtube as well. Will link to that a bit later when some more gets posted.

I'm pretty much taking a break from SF4 until I can get a replacement arcade stick. Might take me a while though, but I think I can take the losses and correct my play to do better next time around and hopefully I will be in a better mood.