[Sports] Αντίο, Φράγκι

Χωρίς πολλά λόγια, ο Φραγκίσκος Αλβέρτης αποτέλεσε μία από τις σημαντικότερες προσωπικότητες στην ιστορία του ελληνικού μπάσκετ. Μπορεί τα στατιστικά του να μην ήταν πάντα εντυπωσιακά (όπως και του Διαμαντίδη), και τα τελευταία χρόνια να μην έπαιξε ουσιαστικά μπάσκετ, αλλά η παρουσία του και μόνο, όπως επίσης και το φονικό του σουτ μπορούσαν να αλλάξουν ένα ματς.

25 τίτλοι σε 17 χρόνια, για έναν άνθρωπο που δεν είχε πρωτάθλημα Ελλάδας τα 8 πρώτα χρόνια της καριέρας του. Σε άλλα αθλήματα στη χώρα μας θα το βγάζαμε loser, αλλά ευτυχώς για όλους μας, οι άνθρωποι του Παναθηναικού ήταν πιο υπομονετικοί.

Σημαντικό και το γεγονός ότι αποσύρεται η φανέλα με το #4, για πρώτη φορά στη χώρα μας. Ελπίζω να γίνει και με άλλους παίχτες στο μέλλον.



TL;DR version:

Από σήμερα, το Tales of the Bored θα έχει posts αποκλειστικά στα ελληνικά. Αυτό δε σημαίνει ότι θα γράφω πιο συχνά από ότι τώρα (μια φορά στα 32 χρόνια) πάντως.

[Greek] Οι 100 μεγαλύτεροι μαλάκες Έλληνες

Αν έχετε βαρεθεί, όπως και εγώ, την απίστευτη παπαρολογία τελευταία με την ψηφοφορία για τους 100 "Μεγαλύτερους" Έλληνες του (παλιότερα σχεδόν αξιόλογου) τηλεοπτικού καναλιού ΣΚΑΙ, τότε αυτό το blog είναι ό,τι χρειάζεστε.

Δεν συμφωνώ με τις απόψεις τους για όλους τους υποψήφιους, ακόμα και αν δεν είναι να πάρεις την λίστα στα σοβαρά. Όταν βέβαια από την άλλη, στη "σοβαρή" λίστα βρίσκουμε γνωστούς δικτάτορες, τότε τρέχα γύρευε.

TL;DR Version

Τι κόλλημα έχουν με το soundtrack του Street Fighter IV σε αυτόν τον ΣΚΑΙ τέλος πάντων?

[TV Saturday] To Galactica!

You had a good run, old girl.

Shit got a bit weird at the very end, but as always, there were the moments of absolute brilliance that made this show what it is. Anders' speech beautifully captured the spirit of the show itself.

It's all about these brief moments of perfection.

TL;DR Version

There must be some way out of there.

Though dancing robots ain't it.

[Movie Monday] Slumdog Millionaire

I saw Danny Boyle's latest yesterday, in the midst of all the post-Oscar hype, and as a fan of his previous work, I was prepared to like it a whole lot. Little did I know.

Holy crap, how overrated is this film? I don't mean to sound like the typical Internet critic douche, but come ON. Far from Boyle's finest, let alone the best film of 2008. Sure, it's better than the Beach, but what the Hell people.

My main gripe is the fact that it feels like there's a huge disconnect between the two parts of the movie, kind of a reverse La Vitta é Bella, in a sense. In this case, the first part is a gritty, dark and realistic drama, while the second part is something of a Bollywood farce with an old-Hollywood forced happy ending. But between the two, there's no real link, nothing that glues them together. Even the characters feel like completely different people.

I feel the need to emphasise just how forced the happy ending is. Of all the horrible clichés storytellers can use to pull their characters out of the shitholes they've dug for them, fate and predetermination are amongst the very worst. I don't mean to get all philosophical about the nature of choice and whether we are in control of our destinies, but as a storytelling technique alone, it's just lazy. It sends out the message that if you're meant to be awesome, you barely have to try. The right answer will come to you anyway. Of course, if it wasn't written that you'd be awesome, you're royally butt-fucked. Hooray!

Now, I don't mean to sound grumpy and imply that happy endings, especially forced ones, are necessarily bad. They work just fine in goofy movies such as A Life Less Ordinary (incidentally, another Boyle film) but in a gritty, realistic drama, ehhhh... that's asking too much from poor ol' Ms. Suspension of Disbelief.

Don't even get me started at the dancing scene at the end.

The Final Verdict:

2 out of 5 (Zelda) rupees.

TL;DR Version

Academy awards are becoming more and more like mercy fucks lately.

[WTF Monday] A new blog

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally started to finalize the changes I was talking about in my last post here, approximately 3000 years ago.

I decided that instead of changing this entire blog into a gaming-only blog, I would start a new one, and keep TotB for those occasions my brain feels like farting. So, I won't be abandoning this blog completely, but it will definitely not be updated as often as my new one which you can visit here:

Playing With Words

Catch you there!

Happy Holidays/Merry Jesusmas

Pretty much what the title says. I'm putting the blog on hold again until next year, hopefully with more reviews this time.

In the meantime, here's my favorite Christmas song. All the best.



TL;DR Version

I'm unemployed again. Best holiday gift yet. \o/

[Game Review] Samurai Shodown II (XBLA)

(Rough draft version, to be updated later tonight.)
- Later update, I accidentally deleted the review and never got around to re-writing, consider the article K.I.A.

A somewhat belated review, but with the recent release of STHD, quite a lot of people have a renewed interest in fighting games.

Let’s start, as usual, with a brief history lesson. The original Samurai Shodown was released by SNK for the arcades and SNK’s own Neo Geo home console in 1993. Immediately it became a showcase for the company’s hardware and the perfect example of how a fighting game can be inspired by Street Fighter 2, without shamelessly copying it*.

*None of that World Heroes bullshit.

[Game Review] Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (STHD for short) could have been a legitimate candidate for the "Game with the longest name ever" award, if not for that Penny Arcade game. It is, however, the favorite for receiving the "Most often remade" award, currently numbering... Actually, I lost count.

More importantly, though, it's also one of the prime candidates for the "Most finely-tuned and balanced competitive game ever", and that one is something to brag about.

Enough fancy talk for now, though. Time for a little history lesson. Given that the first edition (oh, there’ve been a few) of Street Fighter II, called The World Warrior, came out seventeen (17) years ago, and the last version, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, came out fourteen (14) years ago, quite a few people may have missed on the behemoth that this game was back then. Not only did it shape the entire fighting genre for years to come, as countless imitators appeared overnight, it also became a new benchmark for success in the market.

At a time when videogames were still ignored by the mainstream, SF2’s protagonists Ryu and Ken were amongst the few characters alongside Mario and Sonic to be recognised by anyone except the most dedicated of gamers. SF2 not only managed to revitalize the Arcade (the what?) scene, where it created huge lines of people waiting to play that guy “that just beats everyone!”, it was also the first arcade game to be ported (almost) perfectly in a home console, in its 1992 SNES version*.

Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, it was the first competitive game to achieve such unprecedented popularity. There were games were it was much more fun to beat a human opponent than the CPU before (*2) but never before was a game so perfectly balanced for competitive play, nor had its multiplayer aspect as its focus. I’m probably going to get crucified for this, but I’ll argue that had it not been for Street Fighter II, the entire competitive aspect of gaming would have been vastly different, and games such as Quake 3: Arena and Counter-Strike might have not been as popular.

Just look at the early FPS games, none of them had anything more than an afterthought of a multiplayer. Technological issues were obviously a factor here, but competitive multiplayer in FPS’s didn’t become a factor until after the popularity of fighting game (and SF2 in particular) tournaments.

Now that the history lesson is over, let’s take a closer look at this specific version of Super Turbo. As you may have guessed, the “HD Remix” part refers to the game being redone for a contemporary audience. The graphics were redone in High Definition, from scratch, by UDON Entertainment, also responsible for the successful Street Fighter comic books, the music themes were remixed by the people of OverClocked ReMix (*3), and the gameplay was rebalanced by long-time Street Fighter tournament player and gaming developer, David Sirlin.

This means this version is a labor of love from people who love Street Fighter and “get” what made it great back in the day, and why it is relevant even today, more than a decade since its release. Their intentions, to make this new version the best possible. The result is a game that looks, sounds and plays great, even without nostalgia clouding our judgement. STHD is a great game with our current standards.

So, without further delay, on with the lists:

Things STHD does right:

- It’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo, for the HD generation. As corny as that sounds, it’s true. Gorgeous high-definition graphics, a remixed soundtrack that works wonderfully in a contemporary environment and the tried-and-true gameplay of Super Turbo, a game that’s still being played competitively today, with some enlightened changes that make it even better (*4). It’s an amazing remake of what’s undeniably a classic game, it’d be hard for anyone to ask for more.

- Another thing about the music, the folks at OCRemix managed to make even Sagat’s theme sound good. I never thought that was actually possible.

- Yet another sidenote on something mentioned earlier, the changes made to the gameplay and certain movement inputs succeed in making the game simpler (so that you don’t have to worry about actually performing the move but rather when to perform it) but never make the game simplistic. You still have to have the muscle memory and timing needed for pulling off a 7-hit combo, button-mashers need not apply.

- The online multiplayer is amazing, which is a needed change after the atrocity that was Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting on the Xbox 360. Capcom had an entire beta test devoted to getting it right, and through the use of GGPO, they succeeded. There’s the occasional laggy match every now and then, but for the most part it’s very smooth, even when playing across continents.

- You can’t see which character your opponent selects on online multiplayer. This is HUGE. So many times people would cheese it out, waiting for you to pick a character after like half an hour, so they could pick a counter-character. One of my favorite changes.

- There’s no denying it, Super Turbo is still one of the best fighting games around, and this enhanced version only adds to that. It’s intuitive, easy to pick up yet demanding enough to challenge most players when it comes to mastering it.

People that had either forgotten about this fact through the years, or had never spent any time with SF2 back in the day, now have the perfect opportunity to remember/find out what the big deal is(*5).

Things about STHD that aren't that hot:

- For all its smoothness, there’s a few bugs plaguing the online multiplayer part. The music sometimes stops abruptly and you have to restart the game, health bars have the tendency to disappear leaving you clueless as to how much life either player has, and there’s also a few random disconnects as a fight is about to start. The latter is particularly annoying in ranked matches, as it counts as a defeat. Nothing a patch wouldn’t fix, let’s hope one is on the way.

- The animation is unchanged from the original, as this would have required remaking the entire game from scratch. As a result, it looks kind of strange at times, but you get used to it eventually.

- Being a rather delayed project, means that STHD was released very close to the next real chapter in the franchise, Street Fighter IV, which is coming out in late February. As such, STHD may be seen by some as merely a prelude to SFIV. Their loss, however.

- No other single-player modes other than Arcade (Story) and training. I confess, I’m just grasping at this point. A survival mode or such would have been neat, but it’s hardly a glaring omission. Multiplayer is the game’s selling point, after all.

Things I just don't get:

- The lack of a real demo is rather perplexing. The Playstation3 version has no demo whatsoever, while the X360 version got the Ryu/Ken multiplayer-only beta version offered earlier this year with Commando 3. Not that you need a demo for what is essentially a fourteen year old game, but it could help convincing those sceptical newcomers.

The above signify that on George's Intention-Meter, Super Street Fighter II HD Remix receives of the title of:
The Genuine Article

TL;DR version:

Seriously, just listen to this music:


If you ever loved Street Fighter 2, chances are it will remind you why it was that great back then, even if you can’t quite put your finger on it. If you were never a fan, well... what’s your excuse? As I said earlier, there’s a reason why people are still playing this game, in tournaments or otherwise, and why it makes so many “Best Games Ever” lists.

Go on, try this shiny new version. You know you want to.

* In fact, it’s still Capcom’s best-selling game, even after all these years.
*2 Hell, its prequel was one of them!
*3 You can download the full soundtrack at their website, too!
*4 I can actually do Hooligan Throw now.
*5 One thing I find particularly amazing is seeing how many people this release has brought back to this game. Styles of play differ for each version of SF2, and people using them are very distinct. You can tell when somebody hasn’t played SF2 since, say, Champions Edition, and seeing them back in a SF game just brings a smile to my face. I’m weird like that.

What (redux)

Christ on a stick, November just breezed by and I only made one post. That's just sad.

I've to confess I bought the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King A.K.A. digital crack, but that's not really the reason for this extended absence. I haven't been playing a lot of WoW either, which is perhaps worrying. Or healthy.

Regular blog updates will adjust to my new schedule, and thus will be weekly, while random updates will occur... randomly. Also, the blog will focus on gaming from now on. It's not like it didn't before, anyway.

TL;DR version:

Then again, never trust the George to stick to a schedule created by himself, for himself.

[Adventure Monday] Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice

I've never tried to hide the fact that I'm a huge fan of the Ace Attorney series. Even though it's been only two years since I played the first game, then called Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, it has become one of my favorite series in gaming, among other long-time faves such as Castlevania or the Legend of Zelda.

No small feat, to be sure, but since apparently today's post is all about honesty, I have to confess I had set my expectations rather low for the latest entry in the franchise, Apollo Justice. Not only because changing the whole cast from previous iterations is an idea that rarely, if ever, works, but also because thanks to a major fuck-up the publisher's part, the previous entry in the series, Trials and Tribulations hasn't been released in Europe yet. So basically us Europeans jumped straight to the fourth game in the series from the second one. Thanks for that, Capcom.

The following is my first impressions after having played through the first case and most of the second one in the game.



I have to say, the (almost) entirely new cast was what worried me the most at first. Aside from a couple of returning minor secondary characters, we're only treated to cameos of former protagonist Phoenix Wright, and Emma Skye, who played a central role in the fifth case of the first game.

And these characters... Nick and Emma have changed, perhaps a bit too much from the previous games. Apollo Justice takes place seven years after Trials and Tribulations and while that's enough time for a person in real life to become bitter and melancholic, but this is a game, and these are characters which were introduced as cheerful and optimistic to us. Seeing them all brooding and cynical feels a bit strange, to say the least.

As for the rest of the cast, they certainly lack the charisma of their predecessors. Apollo is funny, but lacks that special charm that Phoenix had, with his "Chords of Steel" tag-line especially making me want to bathe myself in H2S04, and while Trucy, his sidekick, is quite adorable, she feels almost a carbon-copy of Maya. They not only share a rather quirky personality, but they also share several mannerisms to the point that, at times, I could swear that the creators took Maya's sprite and repainted it as Trucy. The secondary characters are as nuts as ever, and they get the job done, but nobody really steals the show.

Naturally, since I haven't finished the game there's still a good chance I'll be pleasantly surprised by the time it's over. I won't be holding my breath about that, though. If anything, I'm still slightly worried over its writing. One case in specific really stood out to me, as the whole "mission" where you had to find 15-year old Trucy's stolen panties, with her making all sorts of awkward comments on how "My customers will be waiting to see my panties at night" and somesuch felt a little bit too much like Pedobear territory for my taste. While I did laugh at times, it was also rather embarrassing to go through. And videogames, especially good ones, really shouldn't make their audience feel embarrassed for playing them. I'm looking at you, Soulcalibur IV, with your scientifically-enhanced balloon animals, I mean female warriors.

Lastly, I can't help but think that removing an excellent character like Phoenix Wright from the spotlight of the series was a bad move. Nick had that certain something that characters like Guybrush Threepwood did. Guybrush wanted to be a pirate, in other words an adventurer, and Nick wanted to be a lawyer because he believed in truth and that it's worth fighting for it. Both things most people can and will relate to. Apollo just comes off as a scared kid who's trying his hand at something that looks cool, and the difference between the two really shows.

TL;DR version:

George is missing virtual characters from a game he played like 17 months ago, and also hopes he won't have to search for any more panties before he finishes Apollo Justice.

The game is still pretty fun mind you, despite my bitching.

P.S.

I've apparently been banned from Xbox Live, and for no apparent reason. That's great.

Stop the press! Edgeworth is back!

Miles Edgeworth that is. If the name still doesn't ring a bell, I feel sorry for you since it means you've missed out on the Ace Attorney series of games. You can't really see me right now, but this is me mocking you. Ner ner!

The Ace Attorney series is arguably one of the best adventure game franchises in recent years, and the games themselves are without a doubt the best adventure games on the Nintendo DS. Excellent dialogs, great balance between comedy and drama, clever gameplay, I've been through it before.

(Ner ner!)

What came as a surprise to me is the fact that Capcom is going to release a new spin-off based on the series, starring none other than everyone's favorite Prosecutor/Antagonist/All-around Badass, Miles Edgeworth. Since Edgeworth is one of my favorite characters in the series/genre, I'm personally thrilled.

(Ner ne... all right, I'll drop it.)

The game itself looks to be different from the main Ace Attorney franchise as these screenshots from Famitsu show, since it will be sporting a third-person camera, and perhaps even two playable characters? At least that's what I get from seeing Detective Gumshoe follow Edgeworth around, and his "Objection!" screenshot.

Apparently, there won't be any courtroom scenes in this game this time around, which is kind of a bummer, but I guess a little change is always good. Not to mention that it needs to differentiate itself from the previous games, which were all about the courtroom drama.

There's also a short trailer available, and while it doesn't really show much, it's enough to hype people up. I really love the art in this game so far.



Looks like a lot of characters from previous games are making a comeback, yay for Franziska!


TL;DR version:

Release Ace Attorney 3 and 4 in PAL-land, Capcom, please. Willing to grovel. Thanks.

Waiting for Godot

No, not that Godot.

It has been confirmed (for a bit now actually) that Phoenix Wright 3, the final Ace Attorney game to feature Nick Wright will be released in the States and Europe in Fall of the current year. It's also supposedly the best game of the series so far.

As a huge fan of the series, I'm really looking forward to it. #4 scares me a bit, but I'm prepared to love #3, even though I've read some spoilers I really wish I hadn't. >.>

And of course, playable Mia! Who can say no to that?

Here's the official trailer:

Spine tingling legal action!

Mind numbing legalese!
You will say "wow"!

Wait, I used that last line in my previous post. Oh, well. Since I can't sleep, here's another Phoenix Wright video, something of a recap from the first two games, with a few scenes from the (as of yet unreleased in the Western world) third game, so spoiler warnings apply to those sensitive to uh... spoilerage.



I think this is a really beautiful video. I have no flippin' clue of what they're talking about either, but I just like how they say it. From what I understand, they are reciting lines from the first two games, so that's definitely no bad thing.

It also got me thinking. A Phoenix Wright game with speech, if done wright, erm... right, would be like the best game ever. And given the care that goes to the script and dialogs, there's no reason to suspect Capcom wouldn't try their hardest to hire some really good actors for the job. Though given that they are Capcom, finding good actors may actually be impossible for them -Resident Evil series, anyone?

Still, such a thing could never be done on the DS anyway, and I think the system is perfect for the game, so it's just wishful thinking, really. Perhaps on the Wii, who knows. Plus, hey, if Resident Evil 2 was released on a Nintendo 64 cartridge, anything is possible.

Court is back in session!

In my second post ever in this blog I mentioned a DS game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I recently got the second game in the series, Justice for All, though now Capcom officially renamed the series Ace Attorney. I still consider Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney as the best game I've played in the last oh, several years. Bring me your Twilight Princesses and your Halos, your Half-Life 2's and your Oblivions, WoW's, anything. Nick Wright's misadventure of comedy and turnabouts is that much better. If you're interested, you can read my review in Adventure Lantern,

Here's a trailer from the second game:



I've been playing Justice for All a lot these days, I'm currently at the beginning of the third case, out of a total of four. Sadly there is no special fifth case with new gameplay elements this time around, so the game initially feels like a step backwards from the previous entry. That, combined with a few music tracks that are kinda "meh" and some mediocre writing in the first case, troubled me at first. But after one hour in the second case, when the game really starts rolling, oh my. As Maya Fey says, "You will say 'wow'!"

As I said in my first post all way back in September, Phoenix Wright has mastered one thing really rare among games; perfect balance between humor and drama. For every hilarious moment, there's a touching one, for every silly occurrence, there's a genuinely spine-chilling one. It's so well-written, it even puts several TV shows and movies to shame.

Which is why I personally like it so much. It has that elusive quality, a certain "je ne sais quoi" that ye old games of yore had, it's truly entertaining, but in a deep way, not a superficial one. It has characters and stories that will stay with you long after you've finished the games. Personally, after the seeing the quality of the second game, I now consider the Ace Attorney series one of my very favorite ones, up there with Castlevania, Street Fighter, Zelda etc.

Now some people, for example my good friend Tom, would say "But at the heart of it, it's just a traditional point & click adventure"

In response to those,



*slams both his hands on the desk and raises his left index finger towards the people in question*

Good games are more than just the sum of their parts. Sure, the core mechanics of PW's gameplay are based on a point and click system, but both games make significant advancements with regards to visual and audio presentation. Essentially, the trial parts of PW are a fighting game in adventure game format. Hell, Justice for All even has a health meter! And a person (Maggie/Maggy I think) calls for Phoenix to perform his "special move". Which is probably another reason why I like these games so much, given that since I were a teenager, my two favorite gaming genres were adventures and fighting games. So what better than a game that combines both of these genres?

Anyway, don't want to rant more than I have to (again). I have another video and a few more things to say, but I'll do that in a follow-up post.