Current American president Barrack Obama has made U.S. history for being the first black president in America, but could he also be the last? Now before you try to pull the racist card on me, which is a stupid move anyways, read the information that is presented before trying to label me. President Barrack Obama was voted into the White House in 2008 with the promise of change, helping the middle class, and thinking of ways to sort out their deficit. He was reinstated in 2012 when he won the election yet again... by making the same damned promises. So what exactly happened? Let's find out.
In 2008 when Obama was elected in, the western world proclaimed in one big voice "Racism is finally gone, we can all get along!" So, was racism finally gone? Fuck no, there are still bigoted assholes around the world, it's quite ignorant and single-minded to assume that because America has a black president that racism is gone. Obama promised in office that he would help out the middle man by giving the 1% higher taxes so that the wealth would be re-distributed fairly amongst the people. The U.S. is till waiting on that. He also promised to have a 10 year program that would help to dampen the $14 trillion US deficit. It's now 2014 and the debt ceiling has gone up to $16.7 trillion US and the deficit sits at $16 trillion US. So he's messed up there as well. In fact, he's messed up on a lot of his policies and is missing up on things the American people, and the world, hate.
In 2013 there was a tragic shooting at a school where 20-odd students were killed and several other innocents injured. My condolences are with the families who tragically lost loved ones. Obama decided to capitalise on this event and try to push anti-gun laws down the throats of the people, successfully disarming them and unconstitutionally preventing them access to military grade firearms. The second ammendment to the constitution states that "A well regulated state militia and the people have the right to take up and bear arms." This means that in the event of a president or the government having too much power the people can fight back against such a tyranny. There's a reason the founding fathers thought it ideal to have this in the constitution. His unconstitutional laws don't stop there, in recent years Obama fought hard with the support of big name companies to try and limit our internet (yes he wanted to do this worldwide) and restrict the freedom of speech to the people. The bill named SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) would target sites like youtube, where footage from all sorts of shows/movies/music/games is used in reviews. Under the fair use act the people have a right to use footage and what-not if they claim fair use, which allows the footage to be used if under scrutiny. SOPA would completely by-pass the fair use act and immediately shut you down if you so much as looked at copyrighted content. In the bill it stated that you could spend up to 50 years in jail for illegally downloading a movie. 50 years?! A paedophile spends much less time in jail than that! Because of these reasons and so many more Obama has completely ruined any and all chances for any black president in the future.
I'm interested in what you guys think, do you agree with Obama's unconstitutional acts or are you completely opposed to them like I am? As always this is open to discussion.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
The Pokeddexy challenge: My favourite Fighting type?
In the beginning, there was the fighting type, one of the most reliable anti-Rock and anti-Normal/Snorlax types in the game, giving them a valuable niche in the metagame. However, due to the infamous power of the Psychic type in Red and Blue, Fighting types weren't entirely useful. This all changed in Gold and Silver. In Gold and Silver fighting types rose from the ashes left from Gen I to take down the pesky new Dark and Steel types. However, they were still hard strapped for coverage, since pretty much every Fighting type was physically based. Generation IV was a blessing in disguise for a lot of Fighting types, old and new, with the Physical/Special split of moves, giving a lot of Fighting types some much needed coverage in the elemental punches (Ice, Fire and Thunderpunch). In Generation V (Black/White and Black/White 2) they received Superpower from a move tutor if they didn't get it already. Gen VI (X and Y) did more bad than good to a lot of Fighting types thanks to the new Fairy type. In saying all of this, which is my favourite?
Who else than the famous Gallade? Gallade is interesting in having a Psychic/Fighting type, giving him some key resistances such as 2x resistances in Fighting and Rock types, making him take less damage from the infamous Stealth Rock. It only has two weaknesses in Flying and the new Fairy type, meaning it can switch in easily enough. With a pretty varied movepool Gallade can almost always cover his counters with moves such as Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Close Combat and Psycho Cut. He also looks like a complete badass, having blades for arms and a head the looks like it has a blade on it. His shiny is exactly the same as Gardevoir in tone as well (fitting since they both come from Ralts) and has an amazing Attack stat, anything that doesn't resist it is going to be hit hard. All of these reasons combined make Gallade my favourite Fighting type.
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Who else than the famous Gallade? Gallade is interesting in having a Psychic/Fighting type, giving him some key resistances such as 2x resistances in Fighting and Rock types, making him take less damage from the infamous Stealth Rock. It only has two weaknesses in Flying and the new Fairy type, meaning it can switch in easily enough. With a pretty varied movepool Gallade can almost always cover his counters with moves such as Leaf Blade, Night Slash, Close Combat and Psycho Cut. He also looks like a complete badass, having blades for arms and a head the looks like it has a blade on it. His shiny is exactly the same as Gardevoir in tone as well (fitting since they both come from Ralts) and has an amazing Attack stat, anything that doesn't resist it is going to be hit hard. All of these reasons combined make Gallade my favourite Fighting type.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
My personal drawings - Blinx the Togekiss
So yesterday I said that Togekiss was my favourite fairy type, and she is. I decided to draw a picture of her because why not? I've already explained why I think Togekiss is an absolute beast so let's talk strategy.
Togekiss has amazing defensive capability due to a good 85 Hp/ 95 Def/ 115 Sp. Def stat spread with resistances to common attacking types, such as a 4x resistance to Fighting, 2x resistance to Grass, Bug, Dark types and a complete immunity to Ground and Dragon types thanks to her unique typing. This comes at a cost of a 2x weakness to Rock, Electric, Ice, Poison and Steel types, which are as common as her resistances and immunities. If you can get rid of threats that hold these types however she can be a real asset to your team. With a great attacking stat spread of 50 Atk/ 120 Sp. Atk/ 80 Speed Togekiss can be a really dangerous specially offensive threat, especially with the amount of versatility she has.
Who's using an Assault Rifle?
Togekiss @ Modest Nature (-Atk/ +Sp. Atk)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/ 252+ Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Serene Grace
Moves:
Slot 1: Air Slash
Slot 2: Dazzling Gleam
Slot 3: Aura Sphere
Slot 4: Flamethrower/ Fire Blast/ Signal Beam/ Shadow Ball
Not the best name for the set, but it get's the point across. With an Assault Vest Togekiss get's a scary 388 Sp. Def, allowing it to only take about 25% damage on most super-effective special hits. With Serene Grace, her STAB Air Slash has a 60% chance to make the opponent flinch if she goes first and the move connects, this is incredible for taking out slower opponents. Dazzling Gleam is a good STAB move, hits Dark, Fighting and Dragon types hard, and is the only worthwhile Fairy STAB she gets. Aura Sphere is to hit Ice, Steel, Rock and Dark types hard who would try to stop you, for e.g. Tyranitar. The last slot is about what you want to cover, Flamethrower and Fire Blast take care of Steel, Ice, Grass and Bug types, Signal Beam hits Psychic and Grass types hard, and Shadow Ball hits Ghost and Psychic types hard. I personally use Flamethrower so that I don't get walled by either Forretress or Ferrothorn.
What a devious ploy...
Togekiss @ Timid Nature (-Atk/ +Sp. Atk)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252+ Speed
Item: Leftovers/Focus Sash
Ability: Serene Grace
Moves:
Slot 1: Nasty Plot
Slot 2: Baton Pass
Slot 3: Roost/ Dazzling Gleam
Slot 4: Air Slash/ Aura Sphere/ Thunder Wave/ Toxic
The purpose of this set is to Baton Pass a Nasty Plot boost so that a faster special sweeper can come in and clean up the competition. The choice between leftovers and focus sash comes down to what you need, leftovers is better for more survivability whilst boosting, Focus Sash is to survive a Choice Banded Stone Edge from Tyranitar. The nature and Speed EV's are to outrun Jolly Choice Scarf Tyranitar and many other slower threats with a possible scarf. Roost is there for more survivability, Dazzling Gleam if you need to put out some damage. The last slot is all about what you need, Air Slash for some good STAB damage plus a 60% flinch rate, Aura Sphere if you positively, absolutely must try to get rid of Tyranitar or even Mega-Aggron, Thunder Wave to paralyze faster threats (although Ground types will be unaffected) and Toxic is for use against stallers like Blissey who don't appreciate the poison damage.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 85 50 95 120 115 80
Hindering Nature
Level 50 145-192 49-91 90-132 112-154 108-150 76-118
Level 100 280-374 94-179 175-260 220-305 211-296 148-233
Neutral Nature
Level 50 145-192 55-102 100-147 125-172 120-167 85-132
Level 100 280-374 105-199 195-289 245-339 235-329 165-259
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 145-192 60-112 110-161 143-194 132-183 93-145
Level 100 280-374 115-218 214-317 269-372 258-361 181-284
Togekiss has amazing defensive capability due to a good 85 Hp/ 95 Def/ 115 Sp. Def stat spread with resistances to common attacking types, such as a 4x resistance to Fighting, 2x resistance to Grass, Bug, Dark types and a complete immunity to Ground and Dragon types thanks to her unique typing. This comes at a cost of a 2x weakness to Rock, Electric, Ice, Poison and Steel types, which are as common as her resistances and immunities. If you can get rid of threats that hold these types however she can be a real asset to your team. With a great attacking stat spread of 50 Atk/ 120 Sp. Atk/ 80 Speed Togekiss can be a really dangerous specially offensive threat, especially with the amount of versatility she has.
Who's using an Assault Rifle?
Togekiss @ Modest Nature (-Atk/ +Sp. Atk)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/ 252+ Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Serene Grace
Moves:
Slot 1: Air Slash
Slot 2: Dazzling Gleam
Slot 3: Aura Sphere
Slot 4: Flamethrower/ Fire Blast/ Signal Beam/ Shadow Ball
Not the best name for the set, but it get's the point across. With an Assault Vest Togekiss get's a scary 388 Sp. Def, allowing it to only take about 25% damage on most super-effective special hits. With Serene Grace, her STAB Air Slash has a 60% chance to make the opponent flinch if she goes first and the move connects, this is incredible for taking out slower opponents. Dazzling Gleam is a good STAB move, hits Dark, Fighting and Dragon types hard, and is the only worthwhile Fairy STAB she gets. Aura Sphere is to hit Ice, Steel, Rock and Dark types hard who would try to stop you, for e.g. Tyranitar. The last slot is about what you want to cover, Flamethrower and Fire Blast take care of Steel, Ice, Grass and Bug types, Signal Beam hits Psychic and Grass types hard, and Shadow Ball hits Ghost and Psychic types hard. I personally use Flamethrower so that I don't get walled by either Forretress or Ferrothorn.
What a devious ploy...
Togekiss @ Timid Nature (-Atk/ +Sp. Atk)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/ 4 Sp. Def/ 252+ Speed
Item: Leftovers/Focus Sash
Ability: Serene Grace
Moves:
Slot 1: Nasty Plot
Slot 2: Baton Pass
Slot 3: Roost/ Dazzling Gleam
Slot 4: Air Slash/ Aura Sphere/ Thunder Wave/ Toxic
The purpose of this set is to Baton Pass a Nasty Plot boost so that a faster special sweeper can come in and clean up the competition. The choice between leftovers and focus sash comes down to what you need, leftovers is better for more survivability whilst boosting, Focus Sash is to survive a Choice Banded Stone Edge from Tyranitar. The nature and Speed EV's are to outrun Jolly Choice Scarf Tyranitar and many other slower threats with a possible scarf. Roost is there for more survivability, Dazzling Gleam if you need to put out some damage. The last slot is all about what you need, Air Slash for some good STAB damage plus a 60% flinch rate, Aura Sphere if you positively, absolutely must try to get rid of Tyranitar or even Mega-Aggron, Thunder Wave to paralyze faster threats (although Ground types will be unaffected) and Toxic is for use against stallers like Blissey who don't appreciate the poison damage.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 85 50 95 120 115 80
Hindering Nature
Level 50 145-192 49-91 90-132 112-154 108-150 76-118
Level 100 280-374 94-179 175-260 220-305 211-296 148-233
Neutral Nature
Level 50 145-192 55-102 100-147 125-172 120-167 85-132
Level 100 280-374 105-199 195-289 245-339 235-329 165-259
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 145-192 60-112 110-161 143-194 132-183 93-145
Level 100 280-374 115-218 214-317 269-372 258-361 181-284
The Pokeddexy challenge: My favourite Fairy Type?
Ever since the release of Gold and Silver, there was a huge cute baby Pokémon explosion with popular Pokémon gaining new, adorable pre-evolutions and cute baby Pokémon for new Pokémon entirely. One of the most popular and famous one's is Togepi. Togepi had a spot as Misty's cute baby Pokémon in the anime for years, eventually evolving into a Togetic and being released to live with its own kind. Well when Generation 4 came around Togetic and Togepi got a brand new evolution in the form of Togekiss! By this point you're probably saying "But Mr Author guy, you said that Fairies weren't released until Gen 6, so why are you talking about Togekiss?" and you're absolutely correct, Fairies weren't in anything before X and Y. So why am I talking about Togekiss, who was Normal/Flying type? Well, Togekiss is now a Fairy/Flying type.
Togekiss's journey has been an interesting one. In Generation 4 it had two distinct roles, a Hustle abusing (extra attack at the cost of 20% accuracy) STAB Extremespeed user (which was pretty good at revenge killing) or a good Special Sweeper with Serene Grace (Doubles the chance a move's secondary effect occurs. With Air Slash it had a 60% chance to flinch, a 20% chance to burn with Flamethrower, and chuck in paralysis from Thunder Wave and you have a great support Pokémon). Generation 5 didn't really change much, it just gave it a couple of new toys in the form of Roost and Choice Scarf, making the Hustle set even more viable and the support set immensely difficult to take down. In Generation 6 it was blessed with the amazing new Fairy type. Fairy type, after Steel type, is the best defensive typing in the game, having a complete immunity to the infamous Dragon, a resistance to the popular fighting types and a resistance to the less popular but sill used Dark type. Putting this on top of Togekiss' Flying typing gives her a 4x resistance to Fighting types, a 2x resistance to Dark Types, a 2x resistance to Grass types, a 2x resistance to Bug types and a complete immunity to Ground types, only exposing her to Electric, Rock, Steel, Ice and Poison types (who all only do 2x damage). She also has a new toy in the form of Assault Vest, allowing her to be a specially bulky tank who can take special variant hits of all aforementioned types really well, and taking normally-effective moves especially well. She also looks absolutely beautiful in her normal form, not her shiny form (for once). All of these reasons combined make her my favourite Fairy type.
Togekiss's journey has been an interesting one. In Generation 4 it had two distinct roles, a Hustle abusing (extra attack at the cost of 20% accuracy) STAB Extremespeed user (which was pretty good at revenge killing) or a good Special Sweeper with Serene Grace (Doubles the chance a move's secondary effect occurs. With Air Slash it had a 60% chance to flinch, a 20% chance to burn with Flamethrower, and chuck in paralysis from Thunder Wave and you have a great support Pokémon). Generation 5 didn't really change much, it just gave it a couple of new toys in the form of Roost and Choice Scarf, making the Hustle set even more viable and the support set immensely difficult to take down. In Generation 6 it was blessed with the amazing new Fairy type. Fairy type, after Steel type, is the best defensive typing in the game, having a complete immunity to the infamous Dragon, a resistance to the popular fighting types and a resistance to the less popular but sill used Dark type. Putting this on top of Togekiss' Flying typing gives her a 4x resistance to Fighting types, a 2x resistance to Dark Types, a 2x resistance to Grass types, a 2x resistance to Bug types and a complete immunity to Ground types, only exposing her to Electric, Rock, Steel, Ice and Poison types (who all only do 2x damage). She also has a new toy in the form of Assault Vest, allowing her to be a specially bulky tank who can take special variant hits of all aforementioned types really well, and taking normally-effective moves especially well. She also looks absolutely beautiful in her normal form, not her shiny form (for once). All of these reasons combined make her my favourite Fairy type.
Monday, 24 February 2014
The Pokeddexy challenge: My favourite Electric Type?
I started playing Pokémon in the second generation (Gold and Silver) so I was never one of those people who were told stories about the elusive Pikachu in Viridian forest, but over the generations Electric Pokémon have come to be known as the glass canon type, they can do a huge amount of damage but take a huge amount of damage in return. They're generally quite fast as well, and no Electric Pokémon epitomises this more than the legendary Thundurus.
Thundurus is unique in the fact that it has two different forms that perform drastically different jobs. It's regular forme, the Incarnate form, is a speedy status setter with Thunder Wave and his ability Prankster (gives priority to non-damaging moves), and can be an incredible special sweeper with Nasty Plot, which harshly increases his Sp. Atk. His Therian forme however is a potent stall- and wall-breaker, with massive Sp. Atk straight off the bat with an expansive movepool and, whilst less than his regular forme, a blazing 101 Speed stat by the standards of the current meta-game. His Incarnate forme also flies around on a cloud, whilst being buff as hell, how awesome is that? For all of these reasons combined, Thundurus is my favourite Electric type.
Thundurus is unique in the fact that it has two different forms that perform drastically different jobs. It's regular forme, the Incarnate form, is a speedy status setter with Thunder Wave and his ability Prankster (gives priority to non-damaging moves), and can be an incredible special sweeper with Nasty Plot, which harshly increases his Sp. Atk. His Therian forme however is a potent stall- and wall-breaker, with massive Sp. Atk straight off the bat with an expansive movepool and, whilst less than his regular forme, a blazing 101 Speed stat by the standards of the current meta-game. His Incarnate forme also flies around on a cloud, whilst being buff as hell, how awesome is that? For all of these reasons combined, Thundurus is my favourite Electric type.
Sunday, 23 February 2014
My personal drawings - Serenity, the 10 year old Gardevoir
Ah Serenity, how I love thee, as much as one can have an emotional attachment to some pixels (if you want to look at it that way). When I first got Pokémon Ruby back in 2004, one of the first Pokémon I ever saw was a Ralts, and was shiny (I freaked out about a blue Ralts), so what did I do? I caught it, well, her. Ralts is known to be the emotion Pokémon, only showing itself to those who don't harbour negative feelings. So in light of this, I named her Serenity. When she eventually got to level 20 she evolved into a Kirlia, and when she got to level 30, she evolved into the beautiful Gardevoir. Ever since, she has always been in my team. When Diamond and Pearl came out I transferred Serenity over where received a huge buff in the form of Focus Blast, a fighting type special move that would take care of the steel and dark types who would otherwise wall her. When Black and White were announced I was giddy, as I would finally be able to see Gadevoir's animated movements (in a constant motion, in Emerald they only moved when they were released). She also got a new buff in Psyshock, a special type Psychic type move, which used the foes Defense stat in the damage calculation. Blissey would no longer wall her. When X and Y were released, not only did she get a new toy in Mega-Evolution, but I could finally interact with her. This pretty much brought me to tears, I could finally pat, play with and feed the Gardevoir I have had for so long. She will always have a spot in one of my teams.
Now, let's talk strategy. Gardevoir has an awesome typing. Before X and Y, Gardevoir was pure Psychic, which left her with 3 glaring weaknesses in Dark, Bug and the less common Ghost type. In X and Y she was blessed with the Fairy type, giving her a neutrality to Dark, a 4x resistance to Fighting, an immunity to Dragon, at the cost of a Poison and Steel weakness. However, she has toys to work around them with. With a great stat distribution in her Sp. Atk and Sp. Def, with an average Speed stat, she may seem about average. However, her new Mega-Evolution completely changes this, giving her a more than usable Speed stat and awesome Sp. Atk and Sp. Def stats, Mega-Gardevoir is a new terror to behold in the new meta-game. There are two possible sets to run with Gardevoir and I will list them below.
Dual Screens
Gardevoir - Timid Nature (-Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/4 Sp. Def/252 Speed
Item: Light Clay
Ability: Trace
Moves:
Slot 1: Reflect
Slot 2: Light Screen
Slot 3: Memento
Slot 4: Taunt/Psychic
With access to both Reflect and Light Screen, it's no wonder that Gardevoir is able to utilise a set that helps its team. With Light Clay, Reflect and Light Screen work for 8 turns instead of 5. Memento is used when you want to force a switch on a sweeper (due to harshly lowering Atk and Sp. Atk) whilst also giving you a free switch to your own sweeper (Gardevoir faints after using this). The last moveslot is personal choice. Taunt stops slower taunters from stopping you in your tracks, and Psychic is there if you think you need some firepower.
All out Mega- Firepower
Gardevoir - Timid Nature (-Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk/4 Sp. Def/252+ Speed
Item: Gardevoirite/Life Orb
Ability: Trace/ Pixelate (Mega-Gardevoir ability)
Moves:
Slot 1: Psychic/Psyshock
Slot 2: Signal Beam
Slot 3: Focus Blast
Slot 4: Hyper Voice/Moonblast
The item choice is dependant upon if you want a very powerful wallbreaker in the form of Mega-Gardevoir, or a slightly more powerful sweeper utilising Life Orb. Psychic is a very strong special STAB aimed at physical walls with a low Sp. Def stat (such as Rhydon, Carracosta, or Weezing) and hits Poison and Fighting types hard. Psyshock is still a very powerful special STAB, but because it uses the opponent's Defense stat instead of their Sp. Def stat in the damage calculations, it hits Special walls with a lower Defense stat much harder (such as Blissey, Muk and Chansey). Signal Beam hits opposing Psychic types hard, plus it hits Grass and Dark types hard as well. Focus Blast really hurts Steel types hard who would otherwise block Gardevoir from a sweep, and is a more powerful move to use against Dark types and Rock types. Hyper Voice benefits from Pixelate (turns it into a fairy type move, making it a STAB move, plus increases power by 30%) and should only be used on Mega-Gardevoir. It circumvents Substitute this generation and is a huge boon to her. Moonblast is for the non-mega variant, being a very powerful STAB move that hurts anything that doesn't resist it.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 68 65 65 125 115 80
Hindering Nature
Level 50 128-175 63-105 63-105 117-159 108-150 76-118
Level 100 246-340 121-206 121-206 229-314 211-296 148-233
Neutral Nature
Level 50 128-175 70-117 70-117 130-177 120-167 85-132
Level 100 246-340 135-229 135-229 255-349 235-329 165-259
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 128-175 77-128 77-128 143-194 132-183 93-145
Level 100 246-340 148-251 148-251 280-383 258-361 181-284
Mega Evolution stats:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 68 85 65 165 135 100
Hindering Nature
Level 50 128-175 81-123 63-105 153-195 126-168 94-136
Level 100 246-340 157-242 121-206 301-386 247-332 194-269
Neutral Nature
Level 50 128-175 90-137 70-117 170-217 140-187 105-152
Level 100 246-340 175-269 135-229 335-429 275-369 205-299
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 128-175 99-150 77-128 187-238 154-205 115-167
Level 100 246-340 192-295 148-251 368-471 302-405 225-328
Now, let's talk strategy. Gardevoir has an awesome typing. Before X and Y, Gardevoir was pure Psychic, which left her with 3 glaring weaknesses in Dark, Bug and the less common Ghost type. In X and Y she was blessed with the Fairy type, giving her a neutrality to Dark, a 4x resistance to Fighting, an immunity to Dragon, at the cost of a Poison and Steel weakness. However, she has toys to work around them with. With a great stat distribution in her Sp. Atk and Sp. Def, with an average Speed stat, she may seem about average. However, her new Mega-Evolution completely changes this, giving her a more than usable Speed stat and awesome Sp. Atk and Sp. Def stats, Mega-Gardevoir is a new terror to behold in the new meta-game. There are two possible sets to run with Gardevoir and I will list them below.
Dual Screens
Gardevoir - Timid Nature (-Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 252 Hp/4 Sp. Def/252 Speed
Item: Light Clay
Ability: Trace
Moves:
Slot 1: Reflect
Slot 2: Light Screen
Slot 3: Memento
Slot 4: Taunt/Psychic
With access to both Reflect and Light Screen, it's no wonder that Gardevoir is able to utilise a set that helps its team. With Light Clay, Reflect and Light Screen work for 8 turns instead of 5. Memento is used when you want to force a switch on a sweeper (due to harshly lowering Atk and Sp. Atk) whilst also giving you a free switch to your own sweeper (Gardevoir faints after using this). The last moveslot is personal choice. Taunt stops slower taunters from stopping you in your tracks, and Psychic is there if you think you need some firepower.
All out Mega- Firepower
Gardevoir - Timid Nature (-Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 252 Sp. Atk/4 Sp. Def/252+ Speed
Item: Gardevoirite/Life Orb
Ability: Trace/ Pixelate (Mega-Gardevoir ability)
Moves:
Slot 1: Psychic/Psyshock
Slot 2: Signal Beam
Slot 3: Focus Blast
Slot 4: Hyper Voice/Moonblast
The item choice is dependant upon if you want a very powerful wallbreaker in the form of Mega-Gardevoir, or a slightly more powerful sweeper utilising Life Orb. Psychic is a very strong special STAB aimed at physical walls with a low Sp. Def stat (such as Rhydon, Carracosta, or Weezing) and hits Poison and Fighting types hard. Psyshock is still a very powerful special STAB, but because it uses the opponent's Defense stat instead of their Sp. Def stat in the damage calculations, it hits Special walls with a lower Defense stat much harder (such as Blissey, Muk and Chansey). Signal Beam hits opposing Psychic types hard, plus it hits Grass and Dark types hard as well. Focus Blast really hurts Steel types hard who would otherwise block Gardevoir from a sweep, and is a more powerful move to use against Dark types and Rock types. Hyper Voice benefits from Pixelate (turns it into a fairy type move, making it a STAB move, plus increases power by 30%) and should only be used on Mega-Gardevoir. It circumvents Substitute this generation and is a huge boon to her. Moonblast is for the non-mega variant, being a very powerful STAB move that hurts anything that doesn't resist it.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 68 65 65 125 115 80
Hindering Nature
Level 50 128-175 63-105 63-105 117-159 108-150 76-118
Level 100 246-340 121-206 121-206 229-314 211-296 148-233
Neutral Nature
Level 50 128-175 70-117 70-117 130-177 120-167 85-132
Level 100 246-340 135-229 135-229 255-349 235-329 165-259
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 128-175 77-128 77-128 143-194 132-183 93-145
Level 100 246-340 148-251 148-251 280-383 258-361 181-284
Mega Evolution stats:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 68 85 65 165 135 100
Hindering Nature
Level 50 128-175 81-123 63-105 153-195 126-168 94-136
Level 100 246-340 157-242 121-206 301-386 247-332 194-269
Neutral Nature
Level 50 128-175 90-137 70-117 170-217 140-187 105-152
Level 100 246-340 175-269 135-229 335-429 275-369 205-299
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 128-175 99-150 77-128 187-238 154-205 115-167
Level 100 246-340 192-295 148-251 368-471 302-405 225-328
My personal drawings - Gallahalt the shiny Bisharp
Recently I have gotten back into drawing with an animé style, and lately it's mostly been Pokémon. So I thought, why not upload my images here whilst writing some handy strategy guides for using said Pokémon. I will do this as often as I can due to University.
The first is my drawn line-up is Gallahalt, my shiny Bisharp. Bisharp is a beast in the current metagame, having an awesome STAB combo of a Steel/Dark typing, giving him a neutrality to Fairies and 8 resistances with 2 immunities. The only downside is having 3 weaknesses, one of them being a 4x fighting type weakness. Nonetheless this guy is a threat to anything that doesn't resist its STAB combo. The set I run is:
Bisharp - Jolly Nature (-Sp. Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 58 Hp/252 Atk/198+ Speed
Item: Razor Claw/Life Orb
Moves:
Slot 1: Sucker Punch
Slot 2: Iron Head
Slot 3: Night Slash
Slot 4: Swords Dance/ Brick Break
Sucker Punch is a must on Bisharp due to his rather lackluster base speed stat (Base stats will be provided below), giving him a nice STAB priority move to punish those who are faster who would try to take the bladed knight down. Iron Head is a hard hitting STAB move the punches holes through fairies and decimates anything that doesn't resist it. It's a nice counter to Rock types too. Night Slash is there as a more reliable STAB move than Sucker Punch and tears anything that doesn't resist it apart. It's also nice to hit things like Metagross and other Psychic types to shreds. The last move slot is personal choice. Swords Dance is preferable if you can out-judge your opponent or calculate switches so well that you're guaranteed a turn to set-up on. Brick Break is to hit opposing Dark types who may try to act as a check, but generally Iron Head hits almost as hard and does the job well. The choice between Life Orb or Razor Claw is dependant upon if you want immediate power at the cost of life, or to try and increase the critical hit ratio of Night Slash.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 65 125 100 60 70 70
Hindering Nature
Level 50 125-172 117-159 94-136 58-100 67-109 67-109121-172
Level 100 240-334 229-314 184-269 112-197 130-215 130-215
Neutral Nature
Level 50 125-172 130-177 105-152 65-112 75-122 75-122
Level 100 240-334 255-349 205-299 125-219 145-239 145-239
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 125-172 143-194 105-152 71-123 82-134 82-143
Level 100 240-334 280-383 225-328 137-240 159-262 159-262
The first is my drawn line-up is Gallahalt, my shiny Bisharp. Bisharp is a beast in the current metagame, having an awesome STAB combo of a Steel/Dark typing, giving him a neutrality to Fairies and 8 resistances with 2 immunities. The only downside is having 3 weaknesses, one of them being a 4x fighting type weakness. Nonetheless this guy is a threat to anything that doesn't resist its STAB combo. The set I run is:
Bisharp - Jolly Nature (-Sp. Atk/+Speed)
EV Spread: 58 Hp/252 Atk/198+ Speed
Item: Razor Claw/Life Orb
Moves:
Slot 1: Sucker Punch
Slot 2: Iron Head
Slot 3: Night Slash
Slot 4: Swords Dance/ Brick Break
Sucker Punch is a must on Bisharp due to his rather lackluster base speed stat (Base stats will be provided below), giving him a nice STAB priority move to punish those who are faster who would try to take the bladed knight down. Iron Head is a hard hitting STAB move the punches holes through fairies and decimates anything that doesn't resist it. It's a nice counter to Rock types too. Night Slash is there as a more reliable STAB move than Sucker Punch and tears anything that doesn't resist it apart. It's also nice to hit things like Metagross and other Psychic types to shreds. The last move slot is personal choice. Swords Dance is preferable if you can out-judge your opponent or calculate switches so well that you're guaranteed a turn to set-up on. Brick Break is to hit opposing Dark types who may try to act as a check, but generally Iron Head hits almost as hard and does the job well. The choice between Life Orb or Razor Claw is dependant upon if you want immediate power at the cost of life, or to try and increase the critical hit ratio of Night Slash.
Base stats list and min-max list:
Type of Nature and level Hp Attack Defense Sp. Atk Sp. Def Speed
Base Stat 65 125 100 60 70 70
Hindering Nature
Level 50 125-172 117-159 94-136 58-100 67-109 67-109121-172
Level 100 240-334 229-314 184-269 112-197 130-215 130-215
Neutral Nature
Level 50 125-172 130-177 105-152 65-112 75-122 75-122
Level 100 240-334 255-349 205-299 125-219 145-239 145-239
Beneficial Nature
Level 50 125-172 143-194 105-152 71-123 82-134 82-143
Level 100 240-334 280-383 225-328 137-240 159-262 159-262
The Pokeddexy challenge: My favourite Dragon Type?
In Pokémon Red and Blue, there was but one humble Dragon type, the famous Dragonite. In Gold and Silver, only one newcomer was introduced to the party, Kingdra. However, after Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the Dragon type would no longer be an exclusive club. The Dragon type exploded with a lot of newcomers, a lot of them being legendaries. So in light of this, which is my favourite Dragon type?
With the way it's built, she is one of the best defensive Pokémon in the meta-game. According to Smogon's tiering system (I play Smogon), she is one of the most over-used Pokémon in the game, and with her sorta signature item (she shares it with her brother), she is a forced to be reckoned with in the Uber's tier. I am speaking of none other that the legendary Latias. In my team she is my specially defensive wall. With access to both Recover and Roost she can heal up in an instant, restoring 50% of her maximum health. With Healing Wish she'll sacrifice herself, but completely heal the next Pokémon you switched in PLUS alleviate their status. With her 80 HP/90 Def./130 Sp. Def spread, she has great bulk, and with attacking stats of 80 Atk/110 Sp. Atk/110 Speed, she can reasonably go one the offensive using her Special Attack. She looks nice too and her shiny is amazing. All of these reasons combined make her my favourite Dragon type.
With the way it's built, she is one of the best defensive Pokémon in the meta-game. According to Smogon's tiering system (I play Smogon), she is one of the most over-used Pokémon in the game, and with her sorta signature item (she shares it with her brother), she is a forced to be reckoned with in the Uber's tier. I am speaking of none other that the legendary Latias. In my team she is my specially defensive wall. With access to both Recover and Roost she can heal up in an instant, restoring 50% of her maximum health. With Healing Wish she'll sacrifice herself, but completely heal the next Pokémon you switched in PLUS alleviate their status. With her 80 HP/90 Def./130 Sp. Def spread, she has great bulk, and with attacking stats of 80 Atk/110 Sp. Atk/110 Speed, she can reasonably go one the offensive using her Special Attack. She looks nice too and her shiny is amazing. All of these reasons combined make her my favourite Dragon type.
Saturday, 22 February 2014
The Pokeddexy challenge: My favourite Dark Type?
Since the second generation when they were introduced, the Dark type has been one of my favourite types, featuring a lot of badass Pokémon. This makes picking a favourite very tough, but when it comes down to it, my favourite Dark type Pokémon is Drapion.
The beast that is Drapion is primarily physically defensive, however due to his decent Speed and Attack stats he can be used as an offensive juggernaut. Drapion's origin is based on the Theyphonida, a scorpion with its arms close to it's face. It's potent Dark/Poison typing gives it a coveted neutrality to the new Fairy type, which has only been given to 4 Pokémon in total. This thing looks awesome, has an awesome, varied movepool and can perform well in whatever it does.
Friday, 21 February 2014
The 30 day Pokeddexy challenge!
To those of you who may have been following, or those that are new, I'm a huge fan of the Pokémon franchise. With a lot of kickass monsters that battle for you it's hard NOT to be a fan of the series. In amongst my regular posts I will be doing the pokeddexy challenge. Over the next 30 days, including today, I will post a new picture and explanation of my favourite Pokémon or the favourite that best fits the description.
So the first one on the list is my favourite Bug Type. My favourite bug type is the first bug type to receive the coveted steel type, the amazing Scizor. Scizor is an absolute beast in the meta-game, having the ability Technician makes his priority STAB Bullet Punch 2x power instead of 1.5x power. Scizor is also one of the lucky few to have received a Mega Evolution, which took his badass design to a whole new level. Overall Scizor is a beast and will most likely always be my favourite Bug Type.
Let's talk Pollitics - America: The Latest Police State?
America has essentially become a Police state in the latest news of Police brutality. A few days ago a 17 year-old boy by the name of Christopher Roupe was shot dead at his front door by an armed Police officer all for the crime of using a Wii remote in his house. Chris was 17 with his whole life ahead of him, he was about to graduate High School and join the Marines, all that was left was his graduation.
On the morning of the shooting Chris had sat down on the couch in his living room about to put on a movie using his Wii + Wii remote, when he heard a knock at the door. He'd called out "Who is it?" like we all would, and when he got no answer he opened the door, only to be open fired on by the officer. Chris' younger sister heard the shot and ran downstairs to find him lying on the ground crying in pain. When she went to comfort him through his pain and hold him, the female officer in question pointed her gun at the sister, told her to shut up, and forced her off of Chris. Throughout all of this Chris' aunt, Renee Vance, was an eyewitness, able to testify everything that had happened. The officer and her partner who was with her are currently on Paid Administrative Leave.
This really shits me off, yet again the Police are getting away with flat out murder, and they're still being paid for what they've done. The female officer's excuse? She thought that Chris was wielding a Pistol. Since when in America has holding a pistol/handgun in your own house illegal? Last I checked it was one of their constitutional rights. You know what really pisses me off? In 2010 in Marryland on one of their highways a man was arrested for being a reckless driver, riding his motorbike at the speed limit and popping wheelies. Ok, that seems pretty reckless, but what the arresting cop does next would be terrifying. The cop pulls him over in an unmarked car, doesn't engage any sirens or blue lights, already has his handgun drawn, takes a few moments to recognise himself as an officer of the law, and is wearing the most casual clothes you could find. In the motorcyclists eyes this was your everyday carjacking, not an arresting cop. You know what shits me off even more though? Because there was an argument on a really busy highway, the state attorney wanted to jail the motorcyclist for an extra 5 fucking years, for embarrassing the cop. I just don't have the words to describe how much of a fucking stupid idea and reason that is, I just don't.
Unfortunately Chris lost his life to an obviously deranged cop who works in a corrupt system. Unfortunately a family has lost one of their own to such a stupid excuse about mistaking a Wii remote, a fucking Wii remote, with a pistol. It just boggles my mind, and my sympathies are with the family. As always this is open to discussion, every is allowed to have an opinion but please be civilized about it. Sources will undoubtedly be included.
Sources:
1. "Teenager Shot Dead for Holding a Wii Remote (Share this story),"AlphaOmegaSin, YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJ1_RZmHV0
2. "Child Gunned Down by Cop for Answering Door Holding Wii Controller (VIDEO)," The Libertarian Republic -http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/child-gunned-cop-answering-door-holding-wii-controler/#.Uwb_n6gW1c7
3. "YOUNG BOY SHOT TO DEATH BY COP MOMENTS AFTER SITTING DOWN TO WATCH A MOVIE IN HIS HOME," Filming Cops -http://filmingcops.com/young-boy-shot-to-death-by-cop-moments-after-sitting-down-to-watch-a-movie-in-his-home/
4. "Embarrass A Cop In Maryland? That'll Be Five Years In Jail," Popehat - http://www.popehat.com/2010/04/14/embarrass-a-cop-in-maryland-thatll-be-five-years-in-jail/
On the morning of the shooting Chris had sat down on the couch in his living room about to put on a movie using his Wii + Wii remote, when he heard a knock at the door. He'd called out "Who is it?" like we all would, and when he got no answer he opened the door, only to be open fired on by the officer. Chris' younger sister heard the shot and ran downstairs to find him lying on the ground crying in pain. When she went to comfort him through his pain and hold him, the female officer in question pointed her gun at the sister, told her to shut up, and forced her off of Chris. Throughout all of this Chris' aunt, Renee Vance, was an eyewitness, able to testify everything that had happened. The officer and her partner who was with her are currently on Paid Administrative Leave.
This really shits me off, yet again the Police are getting away with flat out murder, and they're still being paid for what they've done. The female officer's excuse? She thought that Chris was wielding a Pistol. Since when in America has holding a pistol/handgun in your own house illegal? Last I checked it was one of their constitutional rights. You know what really pisses me off? In 2010 in Marryland on one of their highways a man was arrested for being a reckless driver, riding his motorbike at the speed limit and popping wheelies. Ok, that seems pretty reckless, but what the arresting cop does next would be terrifying. The cop pulls him over in an unmarked car, doesn't engage any sirens or blue lights, already has his handgun drawn, takes a few moments to recognise himself as an officer of the law, and is wearing the most casual clothes you could find. In the motorcyclists eyes this was your everyday carjacking, not an arresting cop. You know what shits me off even more though? Because there was an argument on a really busy highway, the state attorney wanted to jail the motorcyclist for an extra 5 fucking years, for embarrassing the cop. I just don't have the words to describe how much of a fucking stupid idea and reason that is, I just don't.
Unfortunately Chris lost his life to an obviously deranged cop who works in a corrupt system. Unfortunately a family has lost one of their own to such a stupid excuse about mistaking a Wii remote, a fucking Wii remote, with a pistol. It just boggles my mind, and my sympathies are with the family. As always this is open to discussion, every is allowed to have an opinion but please be civilized about it. Sources will undoubtedly be included.
Sources:
1. "Teenager Shot Dead for Holding a Wii Remote (Share this story),"AlphaOmegaSin, YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJ1_RZmHV0
2. "Child Gunned Down by Cop for Answering Door Holding Wii Controller (VIDEO)," The Libertarian Republic -http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/child-gunned-cop-answering-door-holding-wii-controler/#.Uwb_n6gW1c7
3. "YOUNG BOY SHOT TO DEATH BY COP MOMENTS AFTER SITTING DOWN TO WATCH A MOVIE IN HIS HOME," Filming Cops -http://filmingcops.com/young-boy-shot-to-death-by-cop-moments-after-sitting-down-to-watch-a-movie-in-his-home/
4. "Embarrass A Cop In Maryland? That'll Be Five Years In Jail," Popehat - http://www.popehat.com/2010/04/14/embarrass-a-cop-in-maryland-thatll-be-five-years-in-jail/
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Let's talk video games - Pokémon: is it the same every time?
Now, with the release of Pokémon X and Y fans of the franchise around the world freaked out about how innovative the game was overall, which to a very large extent is very true. However, do the games have something that has been inherently the same with each generation/game? Well, let's take a look at the evolution of the franchise.
Pokémon Red and Blue took the world by storm, selling way over the amount Nintendo and Gamefreak respectively expected. The game was praised by children around the world, clamouring over the fact that you could battle and collect awesome creatures that literally had the power to change the world. From the adorable and loveable Charmander to the mighty and terrifying Mewtwo, the game was very successful. However, there were a slew of issues that broke the game immensely. One example is that Psychic types centralized gameplay, they had no reliable counters (bug type was super-effective against them but this hardly mattered as bug types sucked big time back then, and ghost types, but the only Ghost type, Gengar, was weak to Psychic types) and were for the most part incredibly diverse in what they could do. The next is that speed altered your critical hit ratio, there was no flat percentage. This means Pokémon like Persian, with it's blazing (at the time) 115 base speed and access to Slash, would crit 170.34% of the time. This means that only rock types, and ghost types to due invulnerability to normal type moves, would be able to survive a hit. Mewtwo get's an average of 27.84% crit chance on ALL of his moves due to his blazing 130 Speed. On top of his base 154 Special he decimated teams, with the only check (not even reliable) being either Slowbro or Mew. If he wasn't carrying Blizzard his most reliable counter was Exeggutor. These are only a few of the myriad of issues that Generation I had.
In 1998 Nintendo released another two Pokémon games to the world, aptly named Gold and Silver. These games were even more popular than the last, with colour sprites and environments, new Pokémon, a whole new region with whole new regions, the split of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense, and two new types, Dark and Steel. Now, you may think that adding two new types to the game may not do a whole lot. Dark and Steel types would change the metagame forever. Dark type was a fully dedicated anti-Psychic type, being fully immune to Psychic and super-effective to it. Along with this it took reduced damage from Ghost and Dark types and did super-effective damage to the former. The only three types that were super-effective to it were the still terrible Bug type (except for Heracross), and the revitalised Fighting type, with new fighting types like the powerhouse Heracross and the dedicated defensive powerhouse Hitmontop, Dark, Normal, Rock and now Steel types were in serious danger. The Steel type is a fully defensive typing, having a massive 11 resistances, including the new Dark type, and 1 immunity to Poison, Steel types were coveted by many stalling teams around the world and breathed new life into some older pokémon, prime examples being Magnemite and Magneton. In addition to these resistances it only had three resistances, Ground, Fighting and Fire, steel was beloved even more. Even the Day Care got an upgrade. Pokémon could finally hatch eggs and transfer moves they normally wouldn't get to their off-spring, giving some poké's some much needed coverage moves. The coveted Hidden Power was also a result of this Generation, giving even more coverage options on top. Weather effects like Sunny Day and Rain Dance were introduced, improving the power of water and fire type moves respectively, and altering the mechanics of some moves entirely. Another weather effect, Sandstorm, didn't empower any moves or types, but did residual damage on anything that wasn't Rock, Steel or Ground type and changed the mechanics of some moves entirely as well. You could even travel back to Kanto and challenge all of their gyms after beating the league. A new concept was also introduced at the same time, shiny Pokémon. Shiny Pokémon were simply recoloured sprites of Pokémon, nothing too special, but incredibly rare. The chance of finding a shiny was 1/8162, making them the most infamous addition to Pokémon. All in all Generation II certainly impressed and had very few issues.
Now, Generation III (Ruby and Sapphire), was it hit or miss? Well, Generation III was a monumental hit, being revered amongst players around the world as being either the best Generation or the most innovative. There was a new region, even more Pokémon, quite a few legendaries, a gripping storyline and a brand new villainous team. Remember how I said that in Gen II there were two new types that changed the metagame? Well in Gen III there weren't any new types, but there were two new concepts: Natures and Abilities! These were massive changes to the metagame, Natures heavily influenced the way a Pokémon's stats would grow by reducing one stat and increasing another. This changed the metagame is a big way, but not nearly as much as Abilities did. As the name suggests, each Pokémon, old and new, got an ability assigned to it. These abilities could influence either the overworld (things like Pickup, which had a chance to pick up an item after a battle), just during the battle (abilities like Speed Boost, for example, would raise your speed one level after each turn in battle) or both (Suction Cups, for example, makes hooking fish easier in the overworld and ensures you don't lose your item in battle). This made a huge impact on the metagame worldwide, making some older 'mos absolutely terrible and some new one's absolute beasts. Gen III would change the Pokémon world forever.
Now, Generation IV. Diamond and Pearl quickly became the Pokémon franchises biggest sellers worldwide, but did it impress? The short answer is, not entirely for a lot of the fanbase. The long answer? Well, let's find out. Generation IV, just like Gen III, brought an entirely new region filled with entirely new Pokémon (150 new Pokémon pre-event, the biggest addition to the roster since Red and Blue), a new villainous team and a different storyline. So, what didn't impress the world? The storyline and the characters. These were some of the weakest characters in the Pokémon franchise and the story was really complicated for 10 year-olds, and older audiences didn't gravitate towards it. The story line, in the barest of bones, was about a group that wanted to capture the Pokémon that controlled space or time (Space for Pearl, Time for Diamond) and create a new universe for them to live in and rule. This is the story with all of the meat stripped away, and these were concepts that were brand new to little kids. The villain was one of the weakest in the franchise and the villainous team just looked incredibly silly in their outfits (so did the teams in Ruby and Sapphire but to a much lesser extent). However, there were many things that worked in the games favour. Gen IV finally brought in the Physical/Special split. Whereas in the last 3 gens where moves of a certain type were either physical or special, Gen IV changed this up by having different moves being either Physical (like Aqua Tail) or Special (like Hydro Pump). This radically changed the metagame, allowing Pokèmon like Feraligatr to have what's called a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB for short) on a move that favoured it's higher Attack stat. This revived the usage of a lot of old 'mons, making them very usable again. The next thing that really impressed was the soundtrack, the soundtrack, for the most part was fantastic. It is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in the Pokémon franchise. Another thing that really impressed was the legendary Pokémon. I am dead-set serious, the legendaries in Diamond and Pearl had some of the best designs and a lot of them have quite an extensive lore behind them. Generation IV also slightly changed the mechanics of Sandstorm, giving Rock types a 30% boost to their Special Defense whilst in the sandstorm. This allowed Pokémon like the monstrous Tyranitar to take hits far better, allowing him to take on many threats like Alakazam as though they were throwing marshamllows at him. The last thing that ensured that Diamond and Pearl would be forever remembered is the final Champion (or boss battle) at the Pokémon league. This is a battle done right, it was intense, the theme was perfect and the battle offered enough of a challenge to be a huge amount of fun. Overall I feel that Generation IV did a lot more things right than it did wrong, and damn did it really do a lot of things right.
Now we come to Generation V (Black and White, Black 2 and White 2), the generation that spawned a lot of what's called "Genwunners." Genwunners are people in the Pokémon fanbase who proclaim that only Red and Blue were good games, often using the "better graphics" argument and better designs to attempt to prove a point. Whingers aside, how did Gen V do? To this day Gen V is the best selling Pokémon generation in the franchise, boasting a whopping 17.1 millions sales worldwide. Gen V is the most refined generation of Pokémon games at this point, improving the gameplay slightly and changing up strategies. What exactly worked in it's favour? Well, almost everything. The mechanics of a single battle for the most part was the same, although we got new abilities like Prankster (improves the priority level of non-attacking moves by one) which did a huge number on the meta-game in it's entirety. Double battles would forever be changed by moves like Wide Guard (provides a protect for your allies) and the Pledge moves, which were unique to the starters and would change field effects (which are different to weather effects and affected gameplay separately). Triple battles and rotation battles were also introduced, which spawned their own meta-games. In a Triple Battle, it was 3v3 on the field, with only the middle Pokémon able to attack all three of the opponents Pokémon (but only one at a time). Rotation battles were similar but at the same time vastly different. In a rotation battle it was still 3v3, but only one Pokémon could fight at a time and you could switch between the other two you had on the field, making predicting the opponent's moves all that much harder. The story was another bonus for this generation, being much darker and less predictable than the last few generations. Whilst the story was weaker in Black and White, it was vastly ramped up in strength in the dedicated sequels, Black and White 2. The story is so complicated that a barebones version can't even be made. The soundtrack for the games also got bonus points with fans, being incredibly intense at times and generally having a fast pace during a battle. The fifth generation also introduced a new concept called the Dream World. What the dream world did was unlock Hidden Abilities in Pokémon, reviving old favourites like Staraptor who got Reckless (improved the power of recoil moves, greatly enhancing Staraptor's potency) and turning some old 'mon's into absolute rubbish (Tyranitar for example got Unnerve, which prevented the opponent from eating berries. An absolute rubbish ability on Tyranitar.). The games were amazing and they came so close to being perfect, if it weren't for one major flaw, the exp system. The exp system in Black/White and Black 2/White 2 was the system used in major MMO's like World of Warcraft, where you got less exp from the same Pokémon the higher your level was. In World of Warcraft this system works due to the sheer size of the world, in Pokémon it fails hard due to the low level of all the wild Pokémon and all the trainers, meaning progression was a grind at times or extremely limited. On my first encounter with the Pokémon League my entire team was barely over level 40, something I had never experienced in the other games. Overall the games were a huge success and did a lot to improve the franchise.
Now we get to the latest release in the franchise, Pokémon X and Y (Generation VI). Gen VI has been interesting so far, there have been a lot of major innovations and a heap of changes done to the old formula. How does it compare to the games of old? Well, in terms of the fun factor, the game provides a lot. It introduced the new horde battle feature where instead of encountering one Pokémon at a time, you encounter 5. This made training so, so much easier. On top of this, the chance of finding a shiny is significantly increased due to encountering 5 Pokémon instead of one. They can sometimes even be found with their Hidden Ability. Another new battle type was also introduced called Sky Battles. Essentially only Flying types (not all of them) and levitate users can participate in these battles. Whilst fun, this overcentralizes gameplay, thus turning a lot of players off. Speaking of shiny Pokémon, the natural chance of finding one was also increased from 1/8162 to approximately 1/4000. Not much of a difference, but a difference nonetheless. The game also introduced Mega Evolutions. Mega Evolution is where a final stage Pokémon can evolve one further stage, giving it a new ability (sometimes), a new typing (sometimes) and a huge buff to it's stats. However, only about 33 Mega Evolutions have been introduced so far. This has changed the meta-game quite a bit, with some Mega-Evolutions being outright banned from most competitive communities. The new games also got rid of the terrible exp system Gen 5 had and buffed an item called Exp. Share, giving all of your Pokémon half the exp in a battle, even if they didn't participate, as opposed to one Pokémon at a time in every gen before it. The soundtrack is also a huge plus in Gen VI's favour, having some remixes of old themes and having stellar new themes (the Champion theme and Villain leader's theme are the best). The characters are pretty strong as well, and the villainous team, whilst not the strongest, hold up well in these games. Their goal is pretty simple, eradicate everything on Earth apart from their team and start anew because they think everyone sucks. This is the darkest story in the entire franchise, and although it's glanced over, it still makes a huge impact. Gen VI also vastly changed the meta-game by removing perma-weather granted by abilities like Drizzle, Dought, Snow-Warning and Sand Stream, thus reducing the potential of a lot of the most popular threats in the game. Gen VI also introduced the new Fairy type, which resists Dragon type, Dark type and Fighting type moves and is super effective against them. They are also incredibly weak to poison and steel type moves. Fairy impacted the meta-game in more ways than one, reducing threats like Hydreigon to dust and empowering old favourites such as Gardevoir and Togekiss by granting both of them with the new typing, thus improving their versatility. Steel also lost two key resistances, Dark type and Ghost type moves are now normally effective to pure Steel types. For Pokémon like Metagross, this is the worst thing that could happen, because of his Psychic/Steel typing he now had two new weaknesses. The new region is also one of the biggest in the franchise, giving a lot of variety in terms of Pokémon that would show up. All 718 Pokémon at this time are obtainable in the game without cheating or hacking, which was a huge difference to the last five generations. Gen VI in it's current form has impressed a huge number of fans worldwide, giving something new and somewhat familiar to experience.
In my opinion, the games are significantly different from each other that those who are unfamiliar to the franchise or are just uneducated about the games are the only ones who will stand there and say that "They're all the same." The games are and will most likely continue to be hugely popular and successful.
Pokémon Red and Blue took the world by storm, selling way over the amount Nintendo and Gamefreak respectively expected. The game was praised by children around the world, clamouring over the fact that you could battle and collect awesome creatures that literally had the power to change the world. From the adorable and loveable Charmander to the mighty and terrifying Mewtwo, the game was very successful. However, there were a slew of issues that broke the game immensely. One example is that Psychic types centralized gameplay, they had no reliable counters (bug type was super-effective against them but this hardly mattered as bug types sucked big time back then, and ghost types, but the only Ghost type, Gengar, was weak to Psychic types) and were for the most part incredibly diverse in what they could do. The next is that speed altered your critical hit ratio, there was no flat percentage. This means Pokémon like Persian, with it's blazing (at the time) 115 base speed and access to Slash, would crit 170.34% of the time. This means that only rock types, and ghost types to due invulnerability to normal type moves, would be able to survive a hit. Mewtwo get's an average of 27.84% crit chance on ALL of his moves due to his blazing 130 Speed. On top of his base 154 Special he decimated teams, with the only check (not even reliable) being either Slowbro or Mew. If he wasn't carrying Blizzard his most reliable counter was Exeggutor. These are only a few of the myriad of issues that Generation I had.
In 1998 Nintendo released another two Pokémon games to the world, aptly named Gold and Silver. These games were even more popular than the last, with colour sprites and environments, new Pokémon, a whole new region with whole new regions, the split of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense, and two new types, Dark and Steel. Now, you may think that adding two new types to the game may not do a whole lot. Dark and Steel types would change the metagame forever. Dark type was a fully dedicated anti-Psychic type, being fully immune to Psychic and super-effective to it. Along with this it took reduced damage from Ghost and Dark types and did super-effective damage to the former. The only three types that were super-effective to it were the still terrible Bug type (except for Heracross), and the revitalised Fighting type, with new fighting types like the powerhouse Heracross and the dedicated defensive powerhouse Hitmontop, Dark, Normal, Rock and now Steel types were in serious danger. The Steel type is a fully defensive typing, having a massive 11 resistances, including the new Dark type, and 1 immunity to Poison, Steel types were coveted by many stalling teams around the world and breathed new life into some older pokémon, prime examples being Magnemite and Magneton. In addition to these resistances it only had three resistances, Ground, Fighting and Fire, steel was beloved even more. Even the Day Care got an upgrade. Pokémon could finally hatch eggs and transfer moves they normally wouldn't get to their off-spring, giving some poké's some much needed coverage moves. The coveted Hidden Power was also a result of this Generation, giving even more coverage options on top. Weather effects like Sunny Day and Rain Dance were introduced, improving the power of water and fire type moves respectively, and altering the mechanics of some moves entirely. Another weather effect, Sandstorm, didn't empower any moves or types, but did residual damage on anything that wasn't Rock, Steel or Ground type and changed the mechanics of some moves entirely as well. You could even travel back to Kanto and challenge all of their gyms after beating the league. A new concept was also introduced at the same time, shiny Pokémon. Shiny Pokémon were simply recoloured sprites of Pokémon, nothing too special, but incredibly rare. The chance of finding a shiny was 1/8162, making them the most infamous addition to Pokémon. All in all Generation II certainly impressed and had very few issues.
Now, Generation III (Ruby and Sapphire), was it hit or miss? Well, Generation III was a monumental hit, being revered amongst players around the world as being either the best Generation or the most innovative. There was a new region, even more Pokémon, quite a few legendaries, a gripping storyline and a brand new villainous team. Remember how I said that in Gen II there were two new types that changed the metagame? Well in Gen III there weren't any new types, but there were two new concepts: Natures and Abilities! These were massive changes to the metagame, Natures heavily influenced the way a Pokémon's stats would grow by reducing one stat and increasing another. This changed the metagame is a big way, but not nearly as much as Abilities did. As the name suggests, each Pokémon, old and new, got an ability assigned to it. These abilities could influence either the overworld (things like Pickup, which had a chance to pick up an item after a battle), just during the battle (abilities like Speed Boost, for example, would raise your speed one level after each turn in battle) or both (Suction Cups, for example, makes hooking fish easier in the overworld and ensures you don't lose your item in battle). This made a huge impact on the metagame worldwide, making some older 'mos absolutely terrible and some new one's absolute beasts. Gen III would change the Pokémon world forever.
Now, Generation IV. Diamond and Pearl quickly became the Pokémon franchises biggest sellers worldwide, but did it impress? The short answer is, not entirely for a lot of the fanbase. The long answer? Well, let's find out. Generation IV, just like Gen III, brought an entirely new region filled with entirely new Pokémon (150 new Pokémon pre-event, the biggest addition to the roster since Red and Blue), a new villainous team and a different storyline. So, what didn't impress the world? The storyline and the characters. These were some of the weakest characters in the Pokémon franchise and the story was really complicated for 10 year-olds, and older audiences didn't gravitate towards it. The story line, in the barest of bones, was about a group that wanted to capture the Pokémon that controlled space or time (Space for Pearl, Time for Diamond) and create a new universe for them to live in and rule. This is the story with all of the meat stripped away, and these were concepts that were brand new to little kids. The villain was one of the weakest in the franchise and the villainous team just looked incredibly silly in their outfits (so did the teams in Ruby and Sapphire but to a much lesser extent). However, there were many things that worked in the games favour. Gen IV finally brought in the Physical/Special split. Whereas in the last 3 gens where moves of a certain type were either physical or special, Gen IV changed this up by having different moves being either Physical (like Aqua Tail) or Special (like Hydro Pump). This radically changed the metagame, allowing Pokèmon like Feraligatr to have what's called a Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB for short) on a move that favoured it's higher Attack stat. This revived the usage of a lot of old 'mons, making them very usable again. The next thing that really impressed was the soundtrack, the soundtrack, for the most part was fantastic. It is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in the Pokémon franchise. Another thing that really impressed was the legendary Pokémon. I am dead-set serious, the legendaries in Diamond and Pearl had some of the best designs and a lot of them have quite an extensive lore behind them. Generation IV also slightly changed the mechanics of Sandstorm, giving Rock types a 30% boost to their Special Defense whilst in the sandstorm. This allowed Pokémon like the monstrous Tyranitar to take hits far better, allowing him to take on many threats like Alakazam as though they were throwing marshamllows at him. The last thing that ensured that Diamond and Pearl would be forever remembered is the final Champion (or boss battle) at the Pokémon league. This is a battle done right, it was intense, the theme was perfect and the battle offered enough of a challenge to be a huge amount of fun. Overall I feel that Generation IV did a lot more things right than it did wrong, and damn did it really do a lot of things right.
Now we come to Generation V (Black and White, Black 2 and White 2), the generation that spawned a lot of what's called "Genwunners." Genwunners are people in the Pokémon fanbase who proclaim that only Red and Blue were good games, often using the "better graphics" argument and better designs to attempt to prove a point. Whingers aside, how did Gen V do? To this day Gen V is the best selling Pokémon generation in the franchise, boasting a whopping 17.1 millions sales worldwide. Gen V is the most refined generation of Pokémon games at this point, improving the gameplay slightly and changing up strategies. What exactly worked in it's favour? Well, almost everything. The mechanics of a single battle for the most part was the same, although we got new abilities like Prankster (improves the priority level of non-attacking moves by one) which did a huge number on the meta-game in it's entirety. Double battles would forever be changed by moves like Wide Guard (provides a protect for your allies) and the Pledge moves, which were unique to the starters and would change field effects (which are different to weather effects and affected gameplay separately). Triple battles and rotation battles were also introduced, which spawned their own meta-games. In a Triple Battle, it was 3v3 on the field, with only the middle Pokémon able to attack all three of the opponents Pokémon (but only one at a time). Rotation battles were similar but at the same time vastly different. In a rotation battle it was still 3v3, but only one Pokémon could fight at a time and you could switch between the other two you had on the field, making predicting the opponent's moves all that much harder. The story was another bonus for this generation, being much darker and less predictable than the last few generations. Whilst the story was weaker in Black and White, it was vastly ramped up in strength in the dedicated sequels, Black and White 2. The story is so complicated that a barebones version can't even be made. The soundtrack for the games also got bonus points with fans, being incredibly intense at times and generally having a fast pace during a battle. The fifth generation also introduced a new concept called the Dream World. What the dream world did was unlock Hidden Abilities in Pokémon, reviving old favourites like Staraptor who got Reckless (improved the power of recoil moves, greatly enhancing Staraptor's potency) and turning some old 'mon's into absolute rubbish (Tyranitar for example got Unnerve, which prevented the opponent from eating berries. An absolute rubbish ability on Tyranitar.). The games were amazing and they came so close to being perfect, if it weren't for one major flaw, the exp system. The exp system in Black/White and Black 2/White 2 was the system used in major MMO's like World of Warcraft, where you got less exp from the same Pokémon the higher your level was. In World of Warcraft this system works due to the sheer size of the world, in Pokémon it fails hard due to the low level of all the wild Pokémon and all the trainers, meaning progression was a grind at times or extremely limited. On my first encounter with the Pokémon League my entire team was barely over level 40, something I had never experienced in the other games. Overall the games were a huge success and did a lot to improve the franchise.
Now we get to the latest release in the franchise, Pokémon X and Y (Generation VI). Gen VI has been interesting so far, there have been a lot of major innovations and a heap of changes done to the old formula. How does it compare to the games of old? Well, in terms of the fun factor, the game provides a lot. It introduced the new horde battle feature where instead of encountering one Pokémon at a time, you encounter 5. This made training so, so much easier. On top of this, the chance of finding a shiny is significantly increased due to encountering 5 Pokémon instead of one. They can sometimes even be found with their Hidden Ability. Another new battle type was also introduced called Sky Battles. Essentially only Flying types (not all of them) and levitate users can participate in these battles. Whilst fun, this overcentralizes gameplay, thus turning a lot of players off. Speaking of shiny Pokémon, the natural chance of finding one was also increased from 1/8162 to approximately 1/4000. Not much of a difference, but a difference nonetheless. The game also introduced Mega Evolutions. Mega Evolution is where a final stage Pokémon can evolve one further stage, giving it a new ability (sometimes), a new typing (sometimes) and a huge buff to it's stats. However, only about 33 Mega Evolutions have been introduced so far. This has changed the meta-game quite a bit, with some Mega-Evolutions being outright banned from most competitive communities. The new games also got rid of the terrible exp system Gen 5 had and buffed an item called Exp. Share, giving all of your Pokémon half the exp in a battle, even if they didn't participate, as opposed to one Pokémon at a time in every gen before it. The soundtrack is also a huge plus in Gen VI's favour, having some remixes of old themes and having stellar new themes (the Champion theme and Villain leader's theme are the best). The characters are pretty strong as well, and the villainous team, whilst not the strongest, hold up well in these games. Their goal is pretty simple, eradicate everything on Earth apart from their team and start anew because they think everyone sucks. This is the darkest story in the entire franchise, and although it's glanced over, it still makes a huge impact. Gen VI also vastly changed the meta-game by removing perma-weather granted by abilities like Drizzle, Dought, Snow-Warning and Sand Stream, thus reducing the potential of a lot of the most popular threats in the game. Gen VI also introduced the new Fairy type, which resists Dragon type, Dark type and Fighting type moves and is super effective against them. They are also incredibly weak to poison and steel type moves. Fairy impacted the meta-game in more ways than one, reducing threats like Hydreigon to dust and empowering old favourites such as Gardevoir and Togekiss by granting both of them with the new typing, thus improving their versatility. Steel also lost two key resistances, Dark type and Ghost type moves are now normally effective to pure Steel types. For Pokémon like Metagross, this is the worst thing that could happen, because of his Psychic/Steel typing he now had two new weaknesses. The new region is also one of the biggest in the franchise, giving a lot of variety in terms of Pokémon that would show up. All 718 Pokémon at this time are obtainable in the game without cheating or hacking, which was a huge difference to the last five generations. Gen VI in it's current form has impressed a huge number of fans worldwide, giving something new and somewhat familiar to experience.
In my opinion, the games are significantly different from each other that those who are unfamiliar to the franchise or are just uneducated about the games are the only ones who will stand there and say that "They're all the same." The games are and will most likely continue to be hugely popular and successful.
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Vaccines and Autism, are there any links?
Since the early to mid 90's the diagnosis rate of Autism has gone up exponentially, meaning that more and more people are being diagnosed every day. At this very moment, 1 in 50 Australians are being diagnosed as Autistic. Since the early 80's we have been vaccinating our kids against various deadly diseases and have seen that the diseases are dying out, but vaccine rates are rising as well. Is there a correlation between rising Autism rates and vaccines? Well, yes there is, and it's due to a larger population and a broader definition of Autism. However, correlation has never meant causation, and thus I will be talking about the mindset of an anti-vaxxer by explaining how Autism is not caused by vaccinations whatsoever.
First, let's look at the anti-vaxxer argument shall we? The first argument is that the various different minerals and ingredients, such as mercury and thimerosal cause Autism or Autistic tendencies, or will straight up kill you. The only study that has ever shown this to be the case was done in 2006 in sub-par testing conditions and was thoroughly debunked by the scientific and medical community. In fact, the mercury from a tuna fish is 28 times more likely to kill you than a simple vaccination would. That's how infinitesimally small the amount of mercury is in a vaccine shot.
The second argument is "Well if my kid gets sick the other kids won't get sick because they're vaccinated, so stop worrying." No. This is a terrible mindset to have and a rather detrimental one at that. Sure, most of the kids who got inoculated won't get sick, but the kids whose vaccines might not work will get infected with a preventable disease, as vaccines, much like everything else, aren't 100 percent effective. One good example is the measles vaccine. It has a registered success rate of 95% - which is great but definitely not perfect. That unvaccinated kid may also go on to infect babies who haven't yet been vaccinated for the preventable disease, or adults with weak immune systems that haven't been vaccinated.
The last argument is that "Because every medicine has some potential side effects, I want to protect my kids" which is ironic because they are doing just the opposite. Yes, vaccines, like most medicines do have potential side effects. Some of them include; mild swelling, prolonged crying, temporary fussiness and in babies mild vomiting and diarrhoea after having their DTaP and rotavirus vaccines. It's very rare for kids and adults alike to have an allergic reaction to a vaccination and require immediate medical attention. The preventable disease or illness that's being vaccinated against is more dangerous than the potential side effects however, so inoculating kids is always recommended.
So in conclusion, you are 28 times more likely to die from the mercury in a tuna fish than the mercury content in a vaccine shot, unvaccinated kids can cause much more trouble than you would like to assume, and the side effects are nothing in contrast to the illness being vaccinated against. Having Aspergers Syndrome, a neurological disorder at the high functioning end of the Autistic Spectrum, I don't know who this offends more, medical professionals or those with Autism.
As always this is open to discussion. If you have an opinion and evidence, such as peer reviewed studies, to back up your assertion, leave a comment. If you're an anti-vaxxer, explain to me and the rest of the world exactly why you think vaccines are the purest form of evil.
First, let's look at the anti-vaxxer argument shall we? The first argument is that the various different minerals and ingredients, such as mercury and thimerosal cause Autism or Autistic tendencies, or will straight up kill you. The only study that has ever shown this to be the case was done in 2006 in sub-par testing conditions and was thoroughly debunked by the scientific and medical community. In fact, the mercury from a tuna fish is 28 times more likely to kill you than a simple vaccination would. That's how infinitesimally small the amount of mercury is in a vaccine shot.
The second argument is "Well if my kid gets sick the other kids won't get sick because they're vaccinated, so stop worrying." No. This is a terrible mindset to have and a rather detrimental one at that. Sure, most of the kids who got inoculated won't get sick, but the kids whose vaccines might not work will get infected with a preventable disease, as vaccines, much like everything else, aren't 100 percent effective. One good example is the measles vaccine. It has a registered success rate of 95% - which is great but definitely not perfect. That unvaccinated kid may also go on to infect babies who haven't yet been vaccinated for the preventable disease, or adults with weak immune systems that haven't been vaccinated.
The last argument is that "Because every medicine has some potential side effects, I want to protect my kids" which is ironic because they are doing just the opposite. Yes, vaccines, like most medicines do have potential side effects. Some of them include; mild swelling, prolonged crying, temporary fussiness and in babies mild vomiting and diarrhoea after having their DTaP and rotavirus vaccines. It's very rare for kids and adults alike to have an allergic reaction to a vaccination and require immediate medical attention. The preventable disease or illness that's being vaccinated against is more dangerous than the potential side effects however, so inoculating kids is always recommended.
So in conclusion, you are 28 times more likely to die from the mercury in a tuna fish than the mercury content in a vaccine shot, unvaccinated kids can cause much more trouble than you would like to assume, and the side effects are nothing in contrast to the illness being vaccinated against. Having Aspergers Syndrome, a neurological disorder at the high functioning end of the Autistic Spectrum, I don't know who this offends more, medical professionals or those with Autism.
As always this is open to discussion. If you have an opinion and evidence, such as peer reviewed studies, to back up your assertion, leave a comment. If you're an anti-vaxxer, explain to me and the rest of the world exactly why you think vaccines are the purest form of evil.
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1,000,000
As the title so vaguely points out Call of Duty has been the bane to a lot of gamers world wide due to the sheer repetitive-ness of the franchise. The only breaths of fresh air the series has had since CoD4 is the Black Ops franchise, which is starting to dry out itself. I bring this up because Activision has announced that there will be a 3 year, 3 developer cycle for their multi-million dollar franchise. Treyarch and Infinity Ward will continue to develop CoD games for Activision with Sledgehammer Studios taking up the honour of third place.
Sledgehammer Studios worked in tandem with Infinity Ward in 2010-2011 to develop MW3, which was a massive disappointment to fans everywhere. SH Studios will be developing the next installment due to release in about November this year. One can only hope that they will revive their 3rd person CoD project that they had going before having to work with Infinity Ward. Treyarch, the studio responsible for the smash hit Black Ops franchise will finish development of their instalment next year in 2015. With Black Ops 2 being damned near perfect after 2 years of development hopefully their next CoD game WILL be perfect after 3 years development time. Treayarch have been responsible for having the most entertaining games of the franchise. Lastly, Infinity Ward will publish their title last in 2016. If you don't know who Infinity Ward are, I'll explain.
Infinity Ward started working with Activision in 2003, bringing the now infamous CoD franchise to life. They continued to work with Activision to release CoD 2 and then in 2007, CoD 4: Modern Warfare. They took 2 years development time and made CoD: MW2, which most say was just a clone of MW. In 2010 Infinity Ward dismissed 2 of their most senior staff, Jason West (president of Infinity Ward, game director, co-CCO and CTO) and Vince Zampella (CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward). Later in April of 2010 more than half of Infinity Wards Employees resigned, among them were lead designers and programmers for MW2. These people were invaluable to Infinity Ward and it shows how much this hurt them with their latest addition to the franchise, Call of Duty: Ghosts.
There has been a lot of controversy around the game as it runs by the exact same formulae as the last 4 or 5 CoD games have, the amount of assets it outright abused from CoD: MW2 (seriously, a lot of the cut-scenes in the campaign are absolute rip-off's from MW2) and how the game didn't deliver on most of it's promises. PS4 and Xbone users alike were promised a true 1080p HD resolution and not the scaled up 720p resolution they have today. The graphics engine is heavily outdated and the game looks ugly. Scripted events for "destructible" terrain, terribly designed maps that don't allow for an actual pseudo-war experience like they said. The game in design and aesthetics is absolutely terrible, even the sounds are off. The guns don't sound like real guns. Speaking of the guns, they feel like pea-shooters, nothing connects like it should. Collision detection in the game is also awful. Activision need to tell Infinity Ward to step up their game, and desperately need Sledgehammer to develop a good CoD game or else their franchise is in serious trouble.
Let me know what you all think. Whether you agree with me or not, all opinions are welcome for discussion.
Sledgehammer Studios worked in tandem with Infinity Ward in 2010-2011 to develop MW3, which was a massive disappointment to fans everywhere. SH Studios will be developing the next installment due to release in about November this year. One can only hope that they will revive their 3rd person CoD project that they had going before having to work with Infinity Ward. Treyarch, the studio responsible for the smash hit Black Ops franchise will finish development of their instalment next year in 2015. With Black Ops 2 being damned near perfect after 2 years of development hopefully their next CoD game WILL be perfect after 3 years development time. Treayarch have been responsible for having the most entertaining games of the franchise. Lastly, Infinity Ward will publish their title last in 2016. If you don't know who Infinity Ward are, I'll explain.
Infinity Ward started working with Activision in 2003, bringing the now infamous CoD franchise to life. They continued to work with Activision to release CoD 2 and then in 2007, CoD 4: Modern Warfare. They took 2 years development time and made CoD: MW2, which most say was just a clone of MW. In 2010 Infinity Ward dismissed 2 of their most senior staff, Jason West (president of Infinity Ward, game director, co-CCO and CTO) and Vince Zampella (CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward). Later in April of 2010 more than half of Infinity Wards Employees resigned, among them were lead designers and programmers for MW2. These people were invaluable to Infinity Ward and it shows how much this hurt them with their latest addition to the franchise, Call of Duty: Ghosts.
There has been a lot of controversy around the game as it runs by the exact same formulae as the last 4 or 5 CoD games have, the amount of assets it outright abused from CoD: MW2 (seriously, a lot of the cut-scenes in the campaign are absolute rip-off's from MW2) and how the game didn't deliver on most of it's promises. PS4 and Xbone users alike were promised a true 1080p HD resolution and not the scaled up 720p resolution they have today. The graphics engine is heavily outdated and the game looks ugly. Scripted events for "destructible" terrain, terribly designed maps that don't allow for an actual pseudo-war experience like they said. The game in design and aesthetics is absolutely terrible, even the sounds are off. The guns don't sound like real guns. Speaking of the guns, they feel like pea-shooters, nothing connects like it should. Collision detection in the game is also awful. Activision need to tell Infinity Ward to step up their game, and desperately need Sledgehammer to develop a good CoD game or else their franchise is in serious trouble.
Let me know what you all think. Whether you agree with me or not, all opinions are welcome for discussion.
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Sega unveils a new Sonic game?
So Sega announced very recently that they were to start development on a new Sonic game and TV show both aptly named Sonic Boom. What are my thoughts? Well, after the success of the last two Sonic games I think Sega are on a bit of a roll and this game should do well. Who did they get to produce the game for them? A studio by the name of Big Red Button Studios. Wait who are they? Well it turns out that they are Ex-Naughty Dog developers, and if you know Naughty Dog then you know that they can do platformers really well, just take a look at the Jak and Daxter franchise.
The show is looking to have some promise as well, with the teaser trailer being pretty awesome. However there is a bit of controversy around the character designs, particularly Knuckles. In the past Knuckles has been a lanky sort of bloke with massive fists that would just fuck shit up. Now he looks like an absolute beef cake who can really mess up your day. Sonic also has a bit of change in design, having bandages wrapped around his hands and a Nathan Drake style scarf.
All in all I have high hopes for the game being developed by Big Red Button Studios and the show has some promise. Links will be provided.
Sources:
1. "SEGA Launches New Franchise Strategy for Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Boom"- Sega Blog
http://blogs.sega.com/2014/02/06/sega-launches-new-franchise-strategy-for-sonic-the-hedgehog-with-sonic-boom/?0=1
2. "SEGA Announces Upcoming Sonic Boom Game & TV Show" - AlphaOmegaSin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnMEBsqqI4I&list=UUVtEytgcL5fZcSiKx-BjimQ&feature=c4-overview
The show is looking to have some promise as well, with the teaser trailer being pretty awesome. However there is a bit of controversy around the character designs, particularly Knuckles. In the past Knuckles has been a lanky sort of bloke with massive fists that would just fuck shit up. Now he looks like an absolute beef cake who can really mess up your day. Sonic also has a bit of change in design, having bandages wrapped around his hands and a Nathan Drake style scarf.
All in all I have high hopes for the game being developed by Big Red Button Studios and the show has some promise. Links will be provided.
Sources:
1. "SEGA Launches New Franchise Strategy for Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Boom"- Sega Blog
http://blogs.sega.com/2014/02/06/sega-launches-new-franchise-strategy-for-sonic-the-hedgehog-with-sonic-boom/?0=1
2. "SEGA Announces Upcoming Sonic Boom Game & TV Show" - AlphaOmegaSin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnMEBsqqI4I&list=UUVtEytgcL5fZcSiKx-BjimQ&feature=c4-overview
Friday, 7 February 2014
Justin Bieber fans: Ignorance is Bliss
Justin Bieber may be a cancerous turd that humanity has produced, but my god, no one pisses me off more so than his followers, the aptly named beliebers... They are so conceited and so blind (or ignorant) about how bad Bieber could have fucked up with his drunk driving. He was a very serious threat and danger on the street, someone could have died, thankfully that didn't happen but it was most certainly a risk. His followers are supporting him in saying he did nothing wrong, that no-one was hurt and he shouldn't be punished for it. Bullshit. If here in Australia, especially Queensland, we can get arrested for going to the pub with our mates, then he should be arrested for reckless driving while under the influence. He fucked up, his fan's are ignoring the fact that he fucked up, and he should be in prison for it. End of story, I don't want to see anything more about this shit stain anywhere.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Video games being blamed for violence
Yeah, a little late to this party is what you're thinking right? Well, just like everyone else I do have opinions on this. For the last few years the media has exploded with news about teenagers committing murder. Generally these teens will be about 16 years-old, the age where they should be playing violent video games. Such games are, but not limited to; God of War, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat etc. etc. These teens will portrayed as bad kids but only because of video games. So what do I think of all of this?
Well, as a gamer I feel that this is yet another scapegoat for the media to use so that they can push their anti-video game agenda. It was done with movies in the 70's and 80's, although not nearly as wide-spread. I myself have been playing violent video games since the ripe old age of 13, and since then have not been provoked into committing any murders or beating anyone whatsoever. The people who do commit these atrocious acts are either mentally ill, or just general douchebags. Take for example a recent example of when two Americans beat the living hell out of a disabled guy and stole his GTA5 game. The two people who did this were bullies, needing their fix just as much as a bloke on crack. The good news is that they were jailed and the game returned to the bloke. The even better news is that the Gamestop he bought his game at gave him a limited edition of GTA5 on the house. So this is an awesome ending to a bad story.
The point of this post is to highlight that video games aren't the cause of all the violence that is showing up in our youth today, it's shitty parenting. People are so afraid of responsibility they'd rather blame video games than to suffer any circumstances whatsoever.
As always I will leave this open to discussion. I am interested in what you all think about violence being influenced by video games.
Well, as a gamer I feel that this is yet another scapegoat for the media to use so that they can push their anti-video game agenda. It was done with movies in the 70's and 80's, although not nearly as wide-spread. I myself have been playing violent video games since the ripe old age of 13, and since then have not been provoked into committing any murders or beating anyone whatsoever. The people who do commit these atrocious acts are either mentally ill, or just general douchebags. Take for example a recent example of when two Americans beat the living hell out of a disabled guy and stole his GTA5 game. The two people who did this were bullies, needing their fix just as much as a bloke on crack. The good news is that they were jailed and the game returned to the bloke. The even better news is that the Gamestop he bought his game at gave him a limited edition of GTA5 on the house. So this is an awesome ending to a bad story.
The point of this post is to highlight that video games aren't the cause of all the violence that is showing up in our youth today, it's shitty parenting. People are so afraid of responsibility they'd rather blame video games than to suffer any circumstances whatsoever.
As always I will leave this open to discussion. I am interested in what you all think about violence being influenced by video games.
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Justin Bieber, just rack off already
As hilarious as it is to see Justin Beiber having been arrested finally, and how hilariously stupid his fanbase is in defending him, I've already gotten sick of hearing about him. How is it that this asshole managed to make front page news for mainstream media outlets instead of alerting everyone to real news? It just baffles my mind at how superficial our society is and how wrong our priorities are.
Introductions
Since this is my first blog post I suppose some introductions are in order. My name is Jacob, I'm 19 years-old and most definitely am male. My main hobbies are gaming, reading, watching movies, hanging out with mates when I can, discussing everything and anything, and critiquing movies and video games.
I've started this blog so that I can open topics up to discussion, whether it be religion, politics, economics, equality you name it and I'll talk about it. I also plan to post some movie and/or game reviews here as well since I love to do both in my spare time. However, since I will be getting back into my university course soon I won't be posting a whole lot. In the mean time though I will post whenever I can and whatever it is I want to post. Peace.
I've started this blog so that I can open topics up to discussion, whether it be religion, politics, economics, equality you name it and I'll talk about it. I also plan to post some movie and/or game reviews here as well since I love to do both in my spare time. However, since I will be getting back into my university course soon I won't be posting a whole lot. In the mean time though I will post whenever I can and whatever it is I want to post. Peace.
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