"You must defeat Sheng Long before you can beat me"

My first introduction to the world of Street fighter was in 1991 in my old stomping grounds (the upper west side of Manhattan) in a bodega on Broadway between 93rd Street and 94th Street ( it's a "Subway" shop now ) that had Two arcade machines, a broken Neo Geo 4 in 1 Arcade that no one played and GHOULS AND GHOST.

One summer day, I happened to walk into the store to buy a soft drink and noticed a huge crowd of kids waiting for the "arcade guy" that came and collected the quarters regularly to finish installing the new machine.

That Machine... STREET FIGHTER 2.

I didn't give it much thought since it looked like another quarter gobbling Final Fight beat-em up style game, the crowd of kids turned me off and I went on my merry way not realizing that this innocent machine would change my life and lives of those I come in contact with.

One early morning, I found myself in that very store, no kids, with two quarters burning a hole in my palm and I said "fuck it", plunked two bits into the machine and went at it with the "KARATE GUY IN WHITE" vs "THE WRESTLER".

I wasn't too sure what I was doing but I managed to mash my way to a round Three, by now a kid no older than 10 was watching me play and asked if he could join in, I said "sure" thinking that I could breeze through the game with someone else to distract the WRESTLER on one side while I pummel him from the other.

Then I realized "he isn't fighting with me but challenging me....foolish boy I have the KARATE GUY!"

Kid picked the jarhead with the flattop and begins shooting lazers beams at me, round one"PERFECT"....Round Two "PERFECT"..."YOU LOSE" I remember being numb with anger, like someone who had just lost at 3 card monte to a street hustler. That's when I realized that this no mere button masher, this was one on one combat like chess with fireballs.

I was hooked and the rest is history.

This Video goes out to Stephen K, Rich E, Rich G, Robert G, Lou A, Eric "Chung" V, Victor F, Hugo R, Danton C, Anthony "caqi", Tevon G, Raphael R, Larry P, Joey V, Carlos R, EyeSire, True, Rene, Justice, DR.BANES and everyone else who I've beaten in a Street fighter.

thank you

COOL COMIC BOOK MOMENTS : DAREDEVIL (pt. 7)

And we're back!

In Daredevil #231, we see a rejuvenated Matt Murdock slowly begin his ascent back to being a hero again.

First, he rescues Ben Urich (and Ben’s wife) from an attack by Kingpin’s enforcer (that’s how good Born Again is – the scene where Matt saves them is awesome, but I don’t see how I have enough room to feature it).

Later, he shows up to foil a plot by the Kingpin to have a psycho in a Daredevil costume murder Foggy Nelson (Kingpin doesn’t know he has a chance for two birds with one stone, as Karen Page was staying with Foggy at the time).

Beyond a memorable psycho villain, this scene is also marked by some great storytelling by Mazzucchelli and, of course, that dramatic last page, which I would easily count as “the” moment here, as we see that while Karen Page might need Matt Murdock, Matt Murdock sure as hell needs Karen Page just as much!

WHAT DO I THINK OF BLAZBLUE FOR PS3?

I've been playing the PS3 version of BlazBlue for about a day now and the verdict is in....

The creators of this game are out of their effing minds, (in a good way) fast paced combos and moves that cancel into one another at blinding speeds, devastating super attacks and combo breaking defensive barriers are all here to confuse the hell out of you.

The gauges and defensive moves are a little overwhelming at first but if you've ever played any version Guilty Gear or Marvel vs Capcom, it should take you just a couple of button mashing, semi circles crunching matches to find the move set for each character ( or you could use the move list in the pause menu but where's the fun in that? )

Each character has their own unique power ( Ice, Wind, Lighting, life leaching ) and most characters have a familiar look and feel to them:

TAGER = HULK,

ARAKUNE = SHUMA GORATH

CARL = HSIEN KO

LITCHI = DONOVAN

TAOKAKA = FELICIA

Don't get me wrong, they're not ripoffs, but you can see where the creators at Ark System Works wanted to pay homage to those great Capcom characters.

I think it's a great game, made by 2D fighting game fans for fans thats' definitly worth the price of admission. ( Just make sure you have a fightstick or be prepared for some seriiuos thumb blisters)

Bonus! Here's a nice video with some secret moves...Shhhhhhhhhhhhh

COOL COMIC BOOK MOMENTS : DAREDEVIL (pt. 6)

Today we continue our look at what is most likely the greatest Daredevil story ever told, Born Again, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

Enjoy!

When last we saw Ben Urich, he was having his finger broken by one of the Kingpin’s enforcers ("every time you speak Matt Murdock’s name aloud, we break one of your fingers") while Urich watched as the enforcer crippled the crooked cop that was ready to tell Ben the truth about the frame job on Matt Murdock.

Interspersed in the next issue, we see how this affected Urich, all leading up to a really great moment at the end.

Mazzucchelli really shined on these Urich panels, with his depiction of Urich’s reactions to everything.

I love how once again the Kingpin’s actions would have worked had he not gone one step too far. That’s a great little piece of writing right there by Miller.

REBEL ONE......FIGHT!

I was on the fence about getting BLAZEBLUE, a new fighter for the ps3 but this review sold me on it.

(it didn't take much, what can I say...I'm a sucker for pretty 2D fighting games.)

see what all the hub-bub is right below..

Video Games | BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger | Review HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii