Kingdom Hearts: Prologue To An End, Pt.1 - MMOs.com

Fans and newcomers of the Kingdom Hearts series rejoice! I tackle one of the most complex video game stories within the past twenty years in preparation for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8.



Kingdom Hearts Unchained X





Kingdom Hearts: Prologue To An End, Pt.1 - MMOs.com:



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Kingdom Hearts Unchained X (Chi) Zootopia event is OVAAAAA!

The Zootopia Event quest for #KHUx officially ended May 16th at 3:00 A.M. EST! The event began one week ago, offering five event boards and two avatar boards. The avatar boards ran for 3000 jewels a piece- quite a sum when you could spend the same amount for a chance at ten high-powered medals. Some prefer customization, but I am more of a core player. Thus, I attacked this campaign aiming for TOTAL EVENT BOARD DOMINATION! I suffered a frustrating incomplete during the Epic Kingdom Hearts II Event quest by a handful of nodes, so this time it was personal haha.

The Event boards offered wrist and chest accessories for your "stylin and profilin'" avatars, but the true gold this time around was the Munny and Experience Medal board (pictured above). Each event board also contained on Cid Cost Reduction medal for 200 coins. Merge five of those bad boys together and a 6-Star medal drops from 46 Cost to 41 Cost. But alas, we can jump into the fine details later. For now, check out the Event board recap below and let me know how you did this time around!

Until Later Guys ,

^_^

Zootopia Event Recap

Did you miss the event entirely? Then you should peek at these too!

Zootopia Event Quest: Eggcognito
OMEGA Queen Bee Raid Boss

Have questions or comments for me? Leave one below or try the following for a quick reply!

Twitter: @Xminess
Facebook: facebook.com/astateofgaming
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Xminess

Indie Arcade!!

Short post today! I found out at the very last minute that an event called Indie Arcade was taking place from 1pm-7pm at the Smithsonian American Art and Portraiture Museum. The courtyard had been transformed into a beautiful haven of arcade cabinets, consoles, and gaming laptops for kids young and old to enjoy. The event was free and the games were on freeplay as well. From what I could gather, the sponsors of Indie Arcade were familiars in the video game world: MAGfest and Game Lab (American University's gem). 

"Indie" is a term that is thrown about plenty nowadays and its meaning changes depending on who you talk to and which generation you are from. This minifest served as a stage to show the world just how diverse many newcomer developers' ideas are and what they use to start them. Why the classic cabinets like "X-Men" and Tron then? Well, jump back to the early 70s, 80s, and 90s- you know, before EA, Activision, or Ubisoft were big names in every household. The developers from back then were independent (where "indie" stems from) developers at their very cores! Video games were a new platform that many companies had no faith in. Think of the Magnavox Odyssey, created by the pioneer Ralph Baer (who recently passed away and who the gaming industry owes so much). If it were not for him and his small team working against the odds and disbelief of their employers, there would never have been a Magnavox Odyssey or your living room's next-gen console for that matter. Video games from decades long past were the blood, sweat, and tears of individuals and/or teams that had nothing to go on but their daring ideas and willpower with little to no funding. We have their original premise to thank as the guidance for our generations' Indie Developers.

Ahh crap, said I would keep this short didn't I >.<.  Well, thanks for reading and I hope many of you had a chance to enjoy the Indie Arcade like I did.


Until Later Guys,


^_^


Quick thank you to Kotaku.com 's Luke Plunkett who's article is theRalph Baer link referenced above. Also, check A State of Gaming Facebook , A State of Gaming's Youtube Channel, and A State of Gaming's Twitter for clips and footage from the event 

EVO-Nation Hype

EVO-Nation Hype

The weekend of Friday July 11^th was an exciting time for fight gamers everywhere. The annual EVO tournament was held and the competition was intense. This year, EVO was held at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Second round footage of the fight between Filipino Champ and Apologyman in Ultimate Marvel Versus Capcom 3 left me in complete awe and served as a reminder that I have so much to learn. With only one character left, Filipino Champ managed to chip (PRINGLES!) away at Apologyman’s remaining character’s heath with only seconds to spare. In a miraculous display of technique and finesse, he managed to deal enough damage in approximately ten seconds to cause a draw- resulting in a tie breaker match.

EVO was not just the usual “wombo combos” and trash-talk this year though. Big names in the gaming industry gave us teasers of what to expect in the fighting game world. As some of you may have noticed, A State of Gaming was one of the first gaming news outlets to report that Tekken 7 will be released in 2015! The accompanying game trailer showed that we may finally get to know what really happen to Kazuya’s mother Kazumi. The trailer also implies that the origins of Kazuya’s devil gene may stem from his dear old mum. For those of you that are not familiar with the game and cannot understand the hype surrounding this (seriously...get hype!!!), here is a brief summary:

Kazuya Mishima is the son of Heihachi Mishima who at one point was the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu. As a child, Heihachi throws his son off a cliff and into a ravine, assuming him to be dead. Kazuya, was under the impression his father had killed his mother Kazumi. The games and movie adaptations lead us to believe that Kazuya formed a pact with the devil in order to stay alive after his father’s fatal toss. It is then that the devil gene inside him awakens and Kazuya becomes the raging, red-eyed, devil we have come to recognize. Fast forward a few years and Kazuya has fathered a son with Jun Kazama, a fellow king of Iron Fist Tournament contestant. Jun is of a spiritual variety and is portrayed as the angel yin to Kazuya’s devil yang. Jun eventually discovers that the damning gene had been passed on to Jin via his father. Jin grows up to hate his father and struggles to control the corroding devil gene. His father on the other hand has embraced the power entirely. From Tekken 4 to Tekken 6, we basically see this Three Stooges comedy of Heihachi wanting to kill Kazuya and his grandson Jin in order to get rid of the devil gene; Kazuya wants to kill his dad to avenge his mother and his son because he wants to absorb the devil gene power from him; Jin wants to destroy his father originally because he is tired of the gene wreaking havoc upon his life. This simple plot line twists when Jin takes over the Mishima Zaibatsu with the intent to kill his father, conquer the world, and take the power for himself (or so we are lead to believe...). Kazuya becomes the head of G Corporation, the Zaibatsu’s rival.

Without spoiling the ending of Tekken 6 for those that have yet to play it (shame on you), this is where we are left at in Tekken 6: A seemingly corrupted Jin, a powerful and evil Kazuya, and Heihachi M.I.A.  Tekken 7 going back to the beginning is a bold move. Bandai Namco are shining light on a case that every Tekken player has assumed was closed and shut. This could change the tide of the game completely because what was Kazuya fighting for to begin with then? Kazumi’s bloodline passed the devil gene to Kazuya?! So what really happened to Kazumi? We can only speculate, but we will have our answers in what has been teased as the final chapter/installment in the Tekken franchise in 2015.

In the meantime, EVO was not content with merely satiating our desire for competition and Tekken news; we also received word that new characters would be added to the Super Smash Bros. Wii U roster. As IGN noted around 8pm July 14^th, 2014, Captain Falcon, Lucina, and Robin will join the Smash Bros. line up. For those unaware, Lucina and Robin are from Fire Emblem. There seems to be female and male variants for Robin, but as IGN points out, it has not been reported whether or not these are distinct characters with their own fighting techniques or not.

As always, EVO was quite the treat this year. Man do I have a ways to go in the UMvC3 skills department haha. 

Until Later Guys,

^_^

If you enjoyed this blog, there is plenty more where that came from. You can always check out my work here on my blog, but for the latest in the gaming industry from gamers like you, check for  future  gaming news  at the  A State of Gaming Official Facebook Page. We stay up-to-date on the gaming industry so that you can just enjoy the games.

Soundtrack Nostalgia

Soundtrack Nostalgia

         

No matter which gaming genre you are into, I am sure you have felt this way. Gaming soundtracks have become as essential and important as the games that we play.

For those of you O.G.s (Original Gamers...gosh what were you thinking?), can you imagine what the Famicom’s Mario Bros. would have been like without the music? The original Mario Bros. game only had approximately five songs: above world, underworld, victory, underwater, and Bowser’s Castle. These songs are what clued us in as gamers to the environment our little sprite was about to jump into! As a three-year-old kid, trying to make my way through Bowser’s castles was already intimidating. Add in the creepy I’m-going-to-get-you-MWAHAHA music and now we have been warned that whatever we encounter in these silver castles will be dangerous. Those five simple songs are still iconic today!

The game franchise Bust a Groove, known as Bust a Move in Japan, had equally delicious tunes- most rhythm and dancing games have to since that is what reels their audience in. As my friend Chip pointed out above though: ‘They just suck you in and there’s no getting out once they got a hold of you.”

Yup.

The soundtracks from Bust a Groove and Bust a Groove 2 have followed me for fifteen years now. Every. Single. Song. I have played my fair share of Dance Dance Revolution, In the Groove (Rest in Peace my arrow-y friend), and recently Pump it Up, but unlike the BaG series, only a few of the other games’ songs stay in my head.

Then we have the Final Fantasy franchise. Bloody hell! The compositions that pull at your heart strings, the battle themes, jumping Tonberries!!!

... *takes a break to collect herself*

What made the first 20 years of Final Fantasy great was not just the storylines or impressive graphics; it was the MUSIC, or more specifically, Uematsu Nobuo! Uematsu-san composed the soundtracks for every Final Fantasy game until Final Fantasy X-2. The luscious melodies and energetic boss themes resonated with many gamers. Even players who were not fans of the series have a profound respect and appreciation for Uematsu-san’s musical contribution. So much so, that when he left Square Enix in 2004, many fans of the juggernaut franchise were concerned about how Final Fantasy soundtracks would fare from that point on. I have not personally played any Final Fantasy game after X-2 and Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, but I can tell you that I noticed a significant change in feeling from Final Fantasy X to its direct sequel. Many of the orchestra sounds in FFX that gamers knew were replaced with synthesizer pop, ballads, and a little EDM. Now do not get me wrong, I will always be a fan of YRP, but FFX’s soundtrack will forever resonate with me more than FFX-2’s because I feel more emotion from it. The “Normal Battle” theme from FFX always gets my blood pumping! “To Zanarkand” is one composition that further influenced my goal to play the piano. That song summed up the sadness of knowing that Tidus lost his home and had essentially been used by the Fayth throughout the ENTIRE game just as a means to an end. I could have devoted this article to just Final Fantasy music by itself, but instead I will move along and point out this:

There is a good reason for the insane hype many FFX and FFX-2 fans had when they found out the soundtracks were also going to be in the re-mastered HD release. Just saying.

If that testament alone does not exemplify music in gaming, think about this: Remember the Last of Us? You know that game that won awards for “Best Game of 2013” and “Best Narrative” at the Game Developers Choice Awards? It has little to no music in it. The title screen music is present, but you play most of the game with no soundtrack. The only sounds to comfort you in your moments of conflict, despair, fright, and joy are: ambience, gunfire, bottles clanking, and the unsettling noise of clickers nearby. Why is that? One arc of symbolism is that music represents life and that we are not alone. In a world with music, someone wrote the notes you and I hear and someone is listening to them. It is a sign that we are still amongst the living and with our peers. The Last of Us takes place in a desolate, virus-infected populace where the few humans you encounter most likely want your supplies and everything else is trying to kill you. You are utterly alone. Can you imagine how much our the Last of Us experience would have changed if there was travel music or a battle theme? The scenarios probably would have felt ridiculous. The gaming industry has learned from its movie industry big brother that the presence- or lack there of- of music affects our involvement, enjoyment, and overall remembrance of the game.

Some people remember “Titanic” because of Celine Dion belting out “Heart Will Go On.” I remember Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog 1 because of “Marble Zone Theme”. We take the music we enjoy from the games that we love with us wherever we go.

Sources/Credits:

-Uematsu Nobuo’s Legacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuo_Uematsu

-Final Fantasy X/ Final Fantasy X-2 Re-Mastered Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpwr_mRSGFM&feature=youtu.be

-Naughty Dog’s the Last of Us awards: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-wins-gdc-game-of-the-year-award/1100-6418420/

Bust a Groove and Bust a Groove 2 are owned by 989 Studios and Enix (now Square Enix) and the musical scores were developed by Avex Trax.

Thanks to my friend Chip Vaughn for allowing me to use the above screencap from his page of our conversation!

Also big thanks to the guys and gals at A State of Gaming for allowing me to post up this piece there as well. If you are looking for gaming industry news and in-depth reviews of games, definitely check out their Facebook page at the link above. You can also follow them on Twitter: @AStateofGaming

Until Next Time Guys,

^_^

A Martial Perspective

I am a traditional karateka.

I have been trained in some basic kung fu stances and I have a great Wing Chun instructor. I also study lethwei with a wonderful martial arts family. Scratch that- I am a martial artist, but at my foundation lies a karateka’s style and creed. Am I tooting my own horn? Nope, just giving a little background. Within my spirit also lies a yearning to test myself in combat and apply what I have learned. Can I defend myself as those before me were forced to do not for sport, but for survival? As a karateka, we are trained to be ready for battle, but not go searching for it or be eager to use our “weapons”. Yet here I am aiming for a professional fighting career.

Did I mention I am a woman?

 I will let that sink in for a moment.

So let me address a few questions that might have popped up after the previous note: Am I serious? Yup. Does my mom know? Yes, although at times I wish she did not. Does my dad know? Methinks possibly. Do I think I can handle it? Well that is the point of this is it not? Ahhh, now with those out of the way I can continue.

Being a martial artist in our modern world already has its setbacks. Few schools teach with “handling yourself offensively” being a main goal. Most teach with tournament competition and/or exercise in mind. The schools and gyms might offer self-defense classes, but often what you learn is remedial at best. Bloody hell I will not even get into kickboxing classes at gyms; that is another discussion in and of itself. By now, you may be asking “what does this have to do with being a professional female fighter?”

Everything.

Most modern karate dojo (school) encourage the students to focus on kata (forms), especially the female karateka. Now before I get copious amounts of hate, I appreciate kata/patterns immensely as there are many bunkai (hidden techniques) one can discover. More so, one truly can begin to understand themselves and their art the more they practice the forms.

With this said though, being able to efficiently apply the skills you have learned in combat and make the art your own is just as important. Ever heard the saying “flowery kicks and embroidery fists”? It is referring to the idea that if you can only demonstrate a good kata or pattern but are unable to defend yourself, what is the point? You are merely practicing what I heard a student a few weeks ago refer to as “kitty fu”. If some sifu and sensei (these represent plurals in their respective language despite their singularity) are encouraging this type of practice, then one could say our traditional roots are lost and the students unprepared.

For the female karateka, not only must she usually focus on kata, but she is not expected to want to immerse herself in full-contact fighting. Actually, I take that back; for the female martial artist, full-contact fighting is as difficult to get into as it is for the scientific community to except new findings that differ from the standard (despite the standard having recently overcome the same bias). Why? Frankly because we are women and because of the mantras our society has been led to take stock in.

Stop. Take a deep breath, and reign in your “here comes the feminist talk” mental ramblings.

-Due to anatomical build, men are prone to be stronger than women.

-Men should never hit women.

-Women are supposed to maintain a ladylike “air”; no cursing, no fighting or playing in the dirt, frilly clothes, etc.

Any of those sound familiar?

Hey guys, show of virtual hands: Were you advised not to hit a girl- even if she hit you and deserved it- during your upbringing? I bet most of you answered “yes”. Now for those of you that are male martial artists and answered “yes”: when you are asked to spar or have a full-contact bout with your fellow female martial artist, do you often find yourself not going “all out” or holding back because you do not want to hurt her? Do some of you even refuse to fight? I am sure some of you answered “yes” to those questions as well. Do I blame you? Nope. This is a prime example of what I mean when I say that society has corralled us into that mindset.

Now imagine me trying to enter the professional fighting arena. Frontrunners like former Kickboxing Champion Kathy Long and current Ultimate Fighting Championship Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey have made a makeshift path in the woods for the rest of us to follow, but the struggle is still there.

Luckily I have a supportive Sensei and an equally supportive coach, but I still encounter the “I cannot hit a girl” schpeal. That boils my blood to no end. So does the equally ignorant “she hits fast/hard/good for a girl” nonsense that seems to spill from the younger generation nowadays.

See, I have this mindset that when I decided to practice martial arts, I signed the unspoken waiver that there is no gender, no separation, and no stigma; I am an honorable karateka and warrior. Should oppression and/or harm dare to raise its hand against the innocent or those I care for, I am supposed to step in and fight the good fight. In a struggle of life or death, in the ring, in this world, there is no male or female when determining the “winner”; there are only those who fight for it. I do not expect any leniency from my Sensei or trainers when conditioning. I do not expect a different round time just because I was born with lady lumps. I signed the waiver and dove in knowing that when it balls down to it…

I am a karateka.

I am a fighter.

That is what matters.

Until Later Guys ^_^

Have an interest in what I do? If you have Facebook, check out The Arts of Martial Arts Group Page run by myself and fellow Okinawan Kobayashi Shorin Ryu practitioners. Not a karateka? No worries, we do not discriminate and enjoy learning and sharing with fellow martial artists. We are all from the same root.

Looking for a Wing Chun instructor in the D.C. area? You can visit my instructor's Facebook page Wing Chun D.C. FB or the main website Wing Chun DC for more information. Feel free to send him a message and inquire. Serious inquiries only though.

Bumping elbows, knees, and heads more your thing? Then Lethwei may be what you are looking for. Follow the link provided to the Wiki page to get a better idea of this Muay Thai branch.

AriZona Cherry Lime Rickey Can Design

Hi Everyone!!!


AriZona had a design a can label contest for their 20th Anniversary flavor Cherry Lime Rickey. So, I decided to try my hand at it. Wish me luck! All entries will be available to vote for starting July 12th, 2012 thru July 29th, 2012. Please vote for meh!!!!!

Piper's Cherry Lime Rickey entry
AriZona Can Design by Piper Alston:

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Until Later Guys ^_^