Fierce Punch

Japan Blog, Part 5

2009-11-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

November 15th, 9:07am

Training with Seno-sensei and Oguri-sensei wrecked my knees, but I had a good time. I don't think I caught too much, but I'm sure my body caught more than my mind did. Oguri-sensei's structure is mindblowing. His posture and position put him in such a place that he can shift forward and throw your entire body off-balance. Experiencing it directly was a little scary, but it helped. I can't even begin to replicate his technique, but at least now I know that it's possible.

I had another freaky moment when I trained with Oguri-sensei's daughter. She's 16 and very friendly, and she speaks enough English to explain simple concepts. The scary part was two-fold. One, I was worried about what Oguri would do to me if I accidentally offended her. Two, her father is a shihan, so I was doubly worried about what she would do to me. She has one of the best right-punches I've ever seen. Turns out I didn't have to worry very much, because she was really nice and helpful and even corrected my posture for me by adjusting my knees and feet so I got a feeling similar to Oguri-sensei's. I was pretty thankful for that.

After class, we stopped by a shrine in Noda to walk around for awhile. It was really humbling to see these ancient structures and stones covered with moss older than I am. I took a bunch of pictures. It occurred to me that I have no pictures of Japan with me in them. I think I prefer it that way.

Later, I had a birthday beer and we went out for Korean barbecue again for a meal. We went to a different place this time, but it was just as good, though a little pricey. Today, I'm taking it easy, because my knees are stinging when I bend too much. I'm going to take in a class with Hatsumi-soke, do some laundry maybe, and hit up a Mos Burger. Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to rest, so I'll definitely have photos up by then. I'm thinking of just adding a public album to my photobucket account and dropping the pics on FB rather than clogging my blog with them. Either way, I'll link the visual evidence of my adventure so far.

Japan Blog, Part 4

2009-11-13T15:04:00.001-08:00

I'll have some pictures up sometime tomorrow, because today is going to be busy.

I decided to bike into Noda yesterday because it's cheaper than taking the bus all the time. I figured if I went slow enough, my knees could handle it. Unfortunately, even going slow on a one-speed bike means a lot of repetitive movement, and I wrecked my legs again. They were stinging all day throughout class. I'm hoping I can get enough ice on them to get the swelling down enough, otherwise I have to cut out training for a few days at least.

Last night was my first class with Hatsumi-Soke. I've seen pictures and video, but I didn't realize just how funny and playful he is until I saw him in person. His hair is purple right now, and he came into class wearing a Bugs Bunny sweater. Hatsumi classes are very weird, because even the 15th degree black belts generally have no idea what he's doing. Everyone just tries their best, which is difficult when you pack 50 people into a tiny dojo. John and I hid in the corner so that at least on two sides, we knew things would stay still, so we only had to worry about bumping into people from two directions.

Halfway through class, we were dealing with multiple attackers, and Hatsumi called up a few high-ranking people to show how a technique. Somebody near me who I know from the guest house was called, and he turned and asked one of my colleagues and I to go up with him. I hesitated for a few seconds in shock and then went up. Some people never get to go up there, and others take years to get to go up and demonstrate. I'm a green belt, and it was my first class with Soke, so you can imaging how terrified I was.

My friend and I both punched at our house mate and he took us down. Then we did my friend. I went last. I managed to wrap both of them up, take one down and have the other off-balance, which is more than I expected. I don't think I've been that nervous in my life, but I kept moving, which is all you can really do. Some people congratulated me after for having the stones to go up there and not freeze. It's not a big deal, but I take it as a small accomplishment.

My birthday is today in Japan, so we might go to Kashiwa for a few drinks after classes with Oguri-sensei and Seno-sensei. I'm burning through a lot of money out here, but I keep telling myself that I'll only be here once. I can make money back later. Besides, after today, there's only two and a half weeks left. Even if things go terribly, I can survive until then. I'm hoping to take in some actual sightseeing this week or next. I didn't realize that my rail pass doesn't work on subways, so I dropped a lot of money on something I really don't use. I'm going to try to figure out places I can go for day trips on the train so I can make the most of it.

Japan Blog, Part 3

2009-11-11T23:44:00.000-08:00

November 12th, 4:45pm

I stopped for lunch at a Japanese McDonalds. It tasted exactly the same as it does back home, but the bonus is they bring your food to you. After a homesick-inducing Big Mac and fries, I set off for Akihibara, the geek capital of the world.

I got to the Akihibara station well enough, but once I got there, I wasn't exactly sure which way to go. From the exit I took, I was a block or two off from the main drag, so I wandered around for about half an hour until I found it. It's a good thing I did some research before going so I knew which street was the main one.

While I didn't exactly have a full-on nerdgasm, I was really impressed with the area. Akiba, as it's called colloquially, was originally Tokyo's home for computers and electronics. While it's now filled with French maid cafe's, porno outlets, video game shops and anime stores, there are still quite a few stalls and shops in the back alleys that peddle used computer parts and cables. I'm told that the further you get from the main street, the less people care for foreigners, so I kept to the beaten path.

Knowing how much I love video games, you wouldn't be wrong if you assumed I headed right for the nearest arcade. I'm happy to say I visited four arcades - three of which were six stories high. Japan's arcade market is interesting. Usually, one whole floor of an arcade is devoted to UFO catchers (those crane games, but nicer) that dispense everything from Gundam models to ice cream and "love pillows". Don't ask. From there, games are generally divided by type. Border Break, the newest mecha game, is all over the place. There's also a lot of card battle games and this soccer pro league game that people gather to play on individual large screens. It looks like a boardroom meeting when a whole bunch of people are getting into it.

I was low on cash at the time, so I only played a few games. I dropped a few hundred yen on Pop N' Music The Movie, the latest in the series, and DeathSmiles II, Cave's newest ridiculous maniac shooter. Since money isn't currently a huge issue, I'm thinking of dropping some more coin there next week.

I stopped on the way back at the local super market and picked up some ready-to-go gyoza. When I came back, I found out that I had been assigned a bike so I can travel to the dojo a lot easier. As long as I keep it slow, I won't wreck my knees too much, and it'll save me some money on transit because I found out that my JR rail pass only works on trains, not subways and busses. Best of all, I don't have to pay for using the bike, and I can ditch it at a train station if I need to and come back for it later. I know I bag on my accommodations a lot, but at least the managers throw in a lot of extra things to help you out.

Tonight is another Noguchi class, and tomorrow morning we're training with Lubosh, an amazing ninja from the Czech Republic. Then, tomorrow night, I get to attend my first class with Hatsumi, our Soke (family head). This is why you come to Japan. I took some pictures of my surroundings, so I'll try to have those up sometime tomorrow while I'm recovering.

Japan Blog, Part 2

2009-11-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

November 12^th, 6:51 AM

After lunch yesterday, I tagged along with the rest of the group to the honbu dojo. Normally, the guys bike up there, but I asked that we take the bus or train since my knees won’t last if I start biking again. We got there on bus at around 2pm and attended Nagato-sensei’s class. My first class at honbu was a little harrowing, and I was quickly introduced to the way Japanese classes work. After paying and bowing in, you find a partner and watch the first technique. Once sensei shows it, you do it yourself. You have enough time to try it maybe twice before he calls your attention to the next technique.

It’s all good-natured, and funny things happen. Even though it’s is a killing art, budo taijutsu has always amazed me by how fun it can be. Nagato-sensei’s class was overall really worthwhile, though I was very nervous and stiff.

After, we went to a local mall in Noda. I always wanted to see a Japanese mall. I forget the name, but the one we visited was deep in Noda. Noda is considered a dying area, with the Kikkoman factory serving as the only large employer in the area. As such, the mall was big and fairly well kept, but you could tell the district has seen better days. We had a quick dinner in the food court and then took off to visit some stores. We wandered through some stores, laughing at the Engrish shirts and toilet covers. At the 100 Yen Store (dollar store) I picked up what looked like a Kit-Kat bar flavored with apples, carrots and other fruits and veggies. It was actually surprisingly tasty. I’ve dubbed it the Clusterfuck Medley.

We managed to make it back to the honbu later for Noguchi-sensei’s class. I was expecting my already-weary body to be destroyed, since I was told he’s into deep postures, but I came out feeling completely refreshed. It was more of a dance class, fast-paced with a lot of sweeping gestures and hard strikes that put people in awkward positions so you could fold them like pretzels. I trained with a nice girl from France who was very good about hitting me if I left a hole open. I did that often.

After class, a colleague took us to a really nice Korean barbecue place. We drank Kirin beer – not my favorite beer by far, but about the best you can get here – and ate some delicious meat that we grilled outselves. We stopped at a small bar for a night cap in a prefecture I can’t recall, took a cab home around midnight and called it a night.

While the day definitely got better, and I got to see more of Japan, it wasn’t all good times. I goofed up a lot, either through ignorance or nerves. Japanese busses work differently from Edmonton busses. You take a ticket when you get on, from the back of the bus, and you pay when you get off based on how far you traveled. However, the driver’s machine only accepts coins, so when you show him a bill, you have to change it several times in a change machine to get the right coins. I didn’t know this and thought that him beckoning me to the machine and running a bill was enough. I had to have someone explain to me why he wouldn’t let me off the bus when I had already “paid”.

Later, I closed the door of a Japanese cab after I got in. Never touch the door of a Japanese cab. Apparently the driver opens and closes them remotely, and slamming them like an American taxi will damage them. I didn’t realize this and had to apologize. I felt a little embarrassed, but a little angry in both cases. I’ve never been to Japan, and really, there’s no way of knowing all of the little subtleties, like pouring a beer with the label up. Even if somebody published a book on how to survive out here, it wouldn’t cover everything. I try not to be too hard on myself, but some people get very angry when you mess up something simple that you couldn’t have known about. I won’t get into too much detail, but all I’ll say is that the people who get annoyed with you are rarely Japanese. Let’s leave it at that.

Today, I’m going to skip most of the day classes and explore the train system a bit. My plan is to hit up Akihibara for a few hours and have a nerdgasm. This will be my first time totally out on my own in a complicated and foreign place. So long as I keep track of where I’m going, I should be able to retrace my steps. I’m not entirely 100% on how to get to the honbu, though, so hopefully I can make it over there for a class later on tonight.

Japan Blog, Part 1

2009-11-11T15:47:00.001-08:00

November 11^th, 10:56 AM

We arrived last night at around 6pm Tokyo time. It took my traveling partner and I almost three hours to get to the Guest House Hanata due to my lack of familiarity with the thousand-headed dragon that makes up the Japanese transit system. I’m sure I’ll get it eventually, but right now, the system is so foreign and confusing. You have to buy a subway ticket for your destination, and if you go too far, you have to “top up” before you can even leave the paid area.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting when it came to our accommodations. It basically feels like I’m back at camp, sleeping in a tiny cabin and cooking in a shack. I have a small room with a Western style bed and a tiny bathroom. I pay for electricity and water every time I use it, so I’ve been sitting in the dark quite a bit. There’s a common area across the drive way with a tabby cat and a stove so I can do some basic cooking.

The house is a short bus from the Kita-Koshigaya train station. This is old Tokyo, a run-down area that you could get away with calling “the boonies”. Noda, home of the honbu dojo where I’ll be training, is a bit of a ways away. I’m trying to get one of the guys from our group to show me how to get down there by train so I can get the most out of my rail pass. The rainy weather, culture shock and my lack of direction have me paralyzed at the moment. I can’t do anything right now, and I’m about ready to write off today altogether. I won’t be going out to see anything amazing. I might get some food from the store (once I find it) and figure out how to get to some basic places.

My fear is that I’ll finally see the big city lights of Tokyo up close and be unimpressed. I’m getting to the point in my life where I’m focusing on exciting and new things to keep me going. I need this country to not just be another place. I need to know that there’s more out there than what I’ve seen. If it’s all the same, I don’t know what I’ll do.

Japan Bound

2009-11-02T08:11:00.001-08:00

By this time next week, I'll be on my way to the airport, packed and ready to fly to Japan. I'll be staying at a guest house just outside of Tokyo from November 9th to December 3rd. Thankfully, the house is just two trains or so away from the city's main transit hub.

The purpose of my visit is mostly martial arts training. Several times a week, I'll be taking the train east to Noda, in the Chiba prefecture, to train at the Honbu dojo with Hatsumi sensei and his shihan. My goal is gain insight into one technique while I'm there. I'm not concerned with belts, ranks, politics or anything else. As long as I come out slightly improved in one area, then the trip is a success.

I'm also going to spend some time sightseeing. I've always wanted to explore Tokyo - especially Akiba - and we're planning a trip to Nagano on the 19th. My birthday is on the 14th, and I was hoping to catch a round or two of the Grand Sumo Tournament while I'm there. I'm sure I'll run into some shenanigans along the way and some unexpected traveling.

I'll be documenting my trip here as much as possible. The goal is to update every 2 days, barring any travel that keeps me away from my wifi connection. I'll post pictures from my trip at the same time, as well as any video content I might film. I hope you'll stop by. If you have anything you'd like me to check out, and places to visit or weird things to eat, let me know. I'll try to accommodate requests as best I can.

This Friday is my small going away party, and I still have a lot of packing and preparations to make, so this will be my last blog before my trip. Stay tuned for my first update from Japan sometime next week, and tell your friends to stop by the blog and leave comments. As always, you can reach me at mrcrousseau at gmail dot com if you'd prefer.

You're here, now, and that's what should matter.

2009-10-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Brutal Legend, despite its mixed reviews, got one thing really right: its soundtrack. From head to toe, the game is steeped deep in some of the best metal and rock music of the last 30 years. Now, the game is well-positioned, like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, to usher in a new wave of metal converts.

Look up any song in the game, go find a youtube video of it, and you'll likely find comments left by posters who just heard the song in Brutal Legend and decided to check out more from the band. You'll also see twice as many butthurt lifelong metal fans who take offense to some tweens suddenly being into the same music they've loved their whole lives and spouting about how they're just as big of a fan as you are. That feeling of being invaded comes from a sense of identity people draw from their interests. Often, we associate ourselves and define ourselves by what we do. When too many people claim the same identity, it loses its lustre. Naturally, people feel devalued by that, and get hateful over it.

I think the hate is a little misplaced. Yes, I think it's right to be angry at people who jump into a scene and claim they're "hardcore" and are bigger fans than anybody else. I know the feeling, and I still get a bit of a twitch when some teenager tries to school me on game history. But just because somebody hears a song and gets turned onto it doesn't mean you should immediately tear him/her apart, and certainly not because he/she found out about the band through a video game. If anything, you should be glad you have more people to bang your head with. It doesn't matter how you get there; the important thing is that you're there, sharing in that thing you love together.

Of course, if they act douchey and get too big for their britches, feel free to verbally smash their hipster know-it-all glasses into their bearded faces. Record it and set it in slow-motion to Ministry. Love what you love, defend what you love, but don't be afraid to let genuinely curious and cool people into your ranks. As long as you don't lord your knowledge and experience over them, you should get along just fine.

Writers, Assemble!

2009-10-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

When I tell people (begrudgingly) that I'm employed as a writer, I find that nobody actually knows what that means anymore. Do I write poetry? Have I published a novel? Do I put the instructions on soup cans? Or am I really just an unemployed fop churning out fanfics in my mom's basement?

It got me thinking, and I came to the conclusion that the title of writer no longer has one real meaning. So, for my final project to cap off my Bachelor of Applied Communications in Professional Writing degree, I decided to explore what it means to be a writer in today's workplace. The paper will focus on how different people define the word "writer", what role the writer has in the professional world, and the common misconception that everybody can write.

For this, I need your help. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you to start my study. Simply email your responses to these quick questions to "michael at exploding-barrel dot com" (don't forget the hyphen). From there, I may ask you a few specific questions based on your results, but nothing major.

I'm looking for novelists, bloggers, technical writers, poets and anyone who considers themselves writers. Any help would be appreciated. Your name, job (if applicable) and responses may be used in my paper. I don't plan on getting it published after I hand it in for marks, but if I do decide to go that route, rest assured I'll contact you first to get your permission.

Here are the questions:

What makes somebody a writer?
Do you consider yourself a writer? Why or why not?
What do you do for a living?
How much do you write, and what kind of writing do you do?

Simple enough, right? Send your answers off to "michael at exploding-barrel dot com" as soon as possible. Thanks for your help.

Geek Chic, Cheap Trick

2009-10-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

I've worn video game shirts for as long as I can remember. I've tried to upgrade to more fashionable and tasteful game shirts as I've grown older, but I still keep a few garish, blatant logo shirts around for under shirts or gym wear.

I wear game shirts because gaming is a huge part of my life. It's been a long time coming, but in the last few years, I've finally come to terms with who I am and what I do with my spare time. Wearing it on my sleeve is a way of self-induced hazing. It puts myself and my hobby out there for people to judge so I can develop a thicker skin about it. Wearing game shirts allows me to show the world who I am tacitly as sort of a social litmus test. People who will have a problem with me just because I like what I like can save me the time by fucking off before we even talk. My wardrobe says, "Hey, I like these kinds of things, I'm a little awkward socially, but I shower and care about my appearance. You might find me interesting."

What bothers me about geek attire is geek chic. By definition, geek chic is the act of taking certain perceived elements of the pop culture image of the geek and incorporating them into modern fashion in an ironic way. It's a hipster mentality, all flash and no substance. But the reason it bothers me isn't so much that late-to-the-party geek chic hipsters are biting parts of my style and gaining notoriety in contrast to my relative obscurity; it's that they're giving false hope.

Let's be clear: geek chic does not equal true geeky behavior. Slapping a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and an Oregon Trail shirt on does not make you a geek. However, because of the lifted elements of geek culture, OG Mathletes everywhere are receiving a dishonest message: "Geeks are in, and we welcome you."

Geeks still aren't cool, per se. Unless you're a geek or a nerd yourself, you probably don't actually find pi that interesting, you don't run a Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition game because you think 4th edition is too big of a departure from Gygax's original vision, and you probably can't beat Super Mario Bros. in 5 minutes flat. Leave it to the hipsters to imply that society will now accept its stereotypically-awkward masses with open arms just because Snake Eyes now looks good on a shirt. The memo should have read: "Parts of geeks are in, but we still don't like you unironically."

I personally don't like labels, but some people want to own one so badly that it's hard to deny them the categorization they clamor for. Everybody wants to belong, and for a lot of people, thick-rimmed glasses can now make that happen. I just don't believe in giving false hope, hope mostly given through sensationalist blog titles and newspaper headlines about the second (first?) coming of nerd culture. Geeks are not in. Geek chic is something else entirely, and I'm not entirely against it. Some good things have come from it, like those Oregon Trail shirts. I just wish people could be honest about how they portray themselves and not dress just to contort themselves into a neatly-labeled box.

On the Right Path

2009-09-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

I've been very stressed lately. In a few months, I'll be a professional writing graduate and a degree holder. No more safety net. It's almost time to go find a game writing job, and I've been wondering for the past few years whether I've been wasting my time with school by working towards an irrelevant degree. I've also been writing the copy and preparing samples for my upcoming portfolio site, all the while struggling to figure out what game companies want to see.

A desperate Google search led me to these two fantastic books, both written by the IGDA Special Interest Group for Writing. I didn't even know there was a group like this. I never thought to Google "game writing books" before, mostly because that would be too easy.

I'm kicking my ass right now. These two books basically map out the next several months for me, from what my portfolio needs to contain, right down to the different tasks I need to be prepared to do on the job.

According to my reading, my choices up until now have been correct. From my choice of degree down to individual courses I took, I didn't take any unnecessary steps to get to where I am. I missed some things, sure, but I can fill those holes now that I know what I need to do. It's comforting to know that, while I thought I was blazing a fresh trail, the discovery of the somewhat-beaten path showed a massive overlap. My instinctual trail just didn't go quite as far.

Now that I have a better view of the full picture, the hard part is over. I know what I need to do. Now I just need to do it. There are only 200 or so game writers currently working in the industry. That means one of two things: either I'm trying to break into one of the smallest niches ever, or I'm going to arrive on the scene just as the need for game writers grows.

If you're interested in game writing, I can't recommend these two books enough:

Professional Techniques for Game Writing

Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames

The PAX Panic

2009-09-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

As I was going over my final equipment list tonight for PAX '09, I found myself getting very nervous. You would think that I'd be incredibly excited to go to a video game convention. And I am. But that's not all I'm feeling at the moment.

I guess there's some residual bad mojo that's bothering me. Last year wasn't the ideal experience for me. While it was only my second PAX, the change in attitude and feel from the previous year was very noticeable. PAX was originally for the fans, but more and more, it's starting to look like a media circus. Last year, on my old 1up blog, I talked about my frustrations with extra service and freebies being given to the press, who have at least three conventions of their own compared to our one. It didn't seem fair. I'm a little worried that the same thing will happen this year. I'm worried that it'll continue to bother me.

I also took issue last year with the "celebrity" hogging. It was impossible in most cases for me to even approach a writer I admired just to get a handshake and say "thanks for inspiring me." There were just too many throngs of clingers and hangers-on that somehow felt that being close to a real game writer granted them some sort of social status. There were literally trains of people following our digital glitterati wherever they went. It was obscene.

It's nothing to get bent out of shape over, but it got to me because of what PAX meant for me last year. At that time, I was under the impression that I could use the convention to get some networking done and hopefully get some face time. That didn't happen. What's more, seeing the press getting all the special treatment drove home just how far I am from where I want to be.

I'm nervous because I'm worried I'll let things get to me again, and in doing so, I'm not going to have any fun at PAX. I've decided that aside from one important visit, I'm not going to worry about my career at all during the convention. I'm going to do my best to relax, see what I feel like seeing and do whatever I feel like doing at any given time. No more trying to pack in relevant panels and looking for things to blog about to get page hits.

This year is different. This is a vacation, a time to meet up with old friends and have some laughs. I want to see concerts. I want to play some new games. I want to hear the writer of Monkey Island hold court. But if I don't get to do those things, I'm going to try not to stress too much. PAX is different for a lot of people. Everyone has their own focus and priorities. This year, my priority is fun, not work. My career can wait. Honestly, it's not going anywhere. I'd normally be sad about that, but right now, it's a good thing.

Curb Your Enthusiasm?

2009-08-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

People who write about videogames for a living are often called game journalists. The problem is that few "game journalists" do anything remotely related to actual journalism. The more apt term would be "members of the game enthusiast press." It doesn't roll off the tongue, but really, we don't have a better term yet for people who review and preview games and re-post news stories.

So, with that in mind, I ask you: how much enthusiasm is necessary for members of the games enthusiast press? Obviously, you need to have some love of games to keep doing the job, but it looks like a hard line to walk. If you're too excitable and susceptible to hype, nobody will take anything you say seriously. If you hate every game and show no love for games whatsoever, like Yahtzee, you end up at the same dead end.

The goal of the games enthusiast press is to inform and advise members of the game-playing public. How much enthusiasm is appropriate?

Charting faster than ever before

2009-08-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Shadow Complex hit Xbox LIVE Arcade this week for 1200 moon dollars. The game is an overt homage to Super Metroid and similar titles, titles known for a practice called sequence breaking. Sequence breaking is the art of exploiting glitches and unintentional game exploits to skip large sections of a game. It's a great example of emergent gameplay. I'm pained to admit that fact, because I hate the term.

I'm not really sure whether it was an intentional design decision in honor of the genre's pedigree, or just a happy accident discovered during testing, but Shadow Complex can be beaten with 4% items. To date, the lowest item percentage people have been able to achieve in Super Metroid is 15%. Developer Chair Entertainment even added an official challenge in the game to let players know they could beat the game in this way.

The only non-developer who was able to achieve the 4% run at launch was IGN.com's Hilary Goldstein, and he was told how to perform the trick by the developers. He remarked that nobody would be able to find it on their own without help. While I'm not sure of the exact time it was discovered, the exploit has been revealed as of Saturday, August 22nd, a scant few days after Shadow Complex was released.

That the game's biggest secret has been discovered this quickly is nothing short of astounding. When I was growing up, secrets like this existed in games, but they were only talked about in rumors and wild claims. It took one dedicated person years to document all of the ways to break a game. Now, we can do it in under a week. The Internet is directly responsible for this.

The net lets us share information like never before. Dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people can collaborate on a single challenge until it's been cracked. One person's idea inspires another. Test are suggested. Results shared. It's a lot like scientific collaboration. Our gaming forums have become mini-symposiums, in a way. We're not solving problems related to quantum mechanics, but we move forward nontheless.

Now, here's the question: is this a good thing? Is this progress? Is it killing the joy that comes with discovering undocumented secrets? Is it making it harder for developers to create lasting hidden content? Is it spurring them to try harder?

You work for me.

2009-08-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

Game developers and the people who play games have a symbiotic relationship. However, it's a one-way symbiosis, and not the mutual relationship most game developers and superfans mistake it for.

If we buy games, game developers make money. This money is used to fund new games, with a chunk kept for overhead and investor dividends. They make those games and throw them on the shelves so we have something to purchase and play. From that, we get enjoyment. It's a really nice relationship.

Now, if you remove gamers from the equation, you have developers making games that aren't selling. If the entire game-buying public stopped purchasing games at once, every developer in the world would go under. The reverse isn't true. If game developers got fed up one day, threw their hands in the air and said "enough", all we lose is a hobby. We don't lose our livelihood. I'm sure we'll find something else to do to occupy our time, as human beings got along without videogames for a massive chunk of recorded history. I don't like to think about what I'd do without videogames in my life simply because it scares me. I'm sure I could manage, though.

Guess what that means, developers? You work for me.

If I stop buying and playing, your companies cease to exist. This is why I get frustrated when I start up a new game and it doesn't engage me within the first hour or two. Random message board fops always say "you have to give it a chance" or "it doesn't get good until a few hours in, so keep going". Bullshit.

There are enough games out there today that I can afford to be choosy. I'm not 10 years old anymore. I'm not on an allowance. If I pick up a game and it's terrible, I'll play something else. I don't feel some sense of fealty that compels me to play something that isn't worth my time.

That doesn't mean I won't give a game a chance. If I can sense some promise or some interesting mechanics that might be worth sticking around for, I'll stay the course. But I'm sick of developers thinking they can get away with hiding their best gameplay elements or producing lackluster opening halves of games. I'm also sick of the fans that defend this kind of behavior. The best games are the ones that hook you early on and keep giving you reasons to keep playing. We're no longer living in an age where you can implement "spray and pray" game design and hope people will be forgiving. We're not. I'm not.

Spelling is fun. No, really.

2009-08-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

I glossed over the first Bookworm Adventures, mostly because I was frustrated with its predecessor Bookworm. Having to form words only from letters that touch really limits the number of possible words I can come up with, and basically transforms the game into a crossword with only a few correct answers at any given time. I assumed that the Adventures would have the same problem.

This is one case where I'm glad to be wrong. Bookworm Adventures 2 removes the limitations of Bookworm, allowing the player to create words from tiles that aren't connected. It basically takes the original spirit of the game and drops it into an RPG-lite battle system. Tiles form words that you use to damage your enemies. Spelling larger or more complex words causes more damage to enemies, damage that can be increased or softened by a variety of tile and status effects. Best of all, I'm finally able to unleash the massive vocabulary that I generally keep in check so that I can write with a register that most people can follow. Last night, I finished off a prideful monk with the word "bidet". I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

Having to dip into that mental lexicon of mine and really exercise it makes me even more excited for Scribblenauts. The two games seem linked, in a way, and not just because of the fact that both use terminology as weaponry. Bookworm Adventures 2 makes you remember lost words that you didn't even remember, and in desperation, you'll randomly come up with a few new mottes that will confuse you enough to head for the dictionary. I think the constrained nature of Bookworm Adventures 2 could inspire some verbal discipline, which should make the chaotic literary playground of Scribblenauts all the more rewarding.

What gives us the right?

2009-07-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

I like to frequent Kongregate in my free time. I enjoy completing achievements to earn Kongai cards, and once in awhile, I stumble on an inspired game. However, more often than not, I run into some truly terrible Flash games.

Case in point: I logged on last Thursday once I realized I hadn't completed that week's card challenge. The game I was supposed to play was Hedgehog Launch 2. Once I got into it, I realized that there was very little instruction, and that the game didn't really convey its purpose very well. I was making about $0.30 per flight, and no matter what I did, I couldn't figure out what the actual goal of the game was.

I expressed my frustration in the chat channel that comes standard with each Kongregate game. Thankfully, the testicular fortitude of relative anonymity contributed to the usual Internet discourse I've come to expect. The usual comments about how much and what exactly I suck flew back and forth, but one choice one stuck with me: "Close the window, open Flash, make a better game, then come back and be a critic, otherwise you have no right to complain."

This bothered me, so I came back with the same reply I give everybody who questions me. I'm a critic, and I have every right to be, simply because I have an opinion.

Many people suffer from the misconception that a critic is a professional judge of a particular field of interest. If you go by dictionary definitions, a critic is someone who is critical of something. It says nowhere that you need to be a professional with a piece of paper that gives you a license to be snarky. It says nowhere that you need to be able to do the thing you're critiquing. If it did, only those who can make games would be worthy of critiquing them.

Games aren't made for game makers. They're made for us, the consumer public. The consumer, the end user, is best-suited to pass judgment on a product. The only differences between a professional game critic and myself are that a professional has much more experience than I do and I don't receive a paycheck for being critical. We're both driven by the same love of the medium, and we both have the same capacity for critical thought. I may not be a very good critic, but the fact that I buy and consume games gives me every right to have an opinion on them simply based on my position in the marketplace.

Of course, the caveat is that everybody gets their fair say about something. This leads to some very poorly-trained and unskilled writers making all of us look bad. These days, a few $10 words and a high register are all you really need to impress half of the Internet. As sad as it is, even ignorant critics still have the right to be heard. We have a right to ignore them or disregard them, but we can't deny anybody the ability to have an opinion. We're all critics in some way. The trick is to decide whose criticisms are worth listening to.

Splosion Man IS Xbox Live Arcade.

2009-07-23T22:16:00.001-07:00

This year's "Summer of Arcade" kicks off with Splosion Man, and I couldn't be happier. It's just what Live Arcade needs. The game is a platformer in the vein of N+. You run through levels, 'sploding your character to jump, bounce off walls and ignite objects around you. All of the buttons have the same function - save for a suicide button - and your one move is used to accomplish every task in the game. By the time you master the momentum and flow of the game, sequences become one long, fluid chain of explosions that send you careening through levels at high speed, invoking shades of Sonic the Hedgehog at the height of his greatness.

Splosion Man is the first game I've played in a long time that lacks any form of pretense about what it really is. It feels honest in its presentation. It sets out to do one thing, and one thing only, and it does that thing to near-perfection. It's also only 800MS points, and for that, you get 50 single player levels, 50 multiplayer levels and an unlockable Hardcore difficulty mode. Splosion Man is a bargain, especially considering the trend towards charging 1200MS points for products that don't pack half as much value and polish.

Why BlazBlue is important

2009-07-14T21:33:00.001-07:00

Let’s face it: the economy is in a bad way, and the fighting game genre isn’t as prominent it used to be. When you take both of those factors into account, it’s no wonder that more people haven’t heard of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, the latest fighting game from Arc System Works. That’s a shame, really, because despite its relative obscurity in the eyes of the most gamers, BlazBlue’s design and execution are worthy of notice. If you’re on the fence, I have three reasons why you should give exactly one (1) Flying Fuck:

1) Easy Inputs

BlazBlue, like its predecessor Guilty Gear, is a complex beast with many subtleties. Make no mistake: you’ll need to put in some serious time with any one of the game’s 12 pugilists to be successful in online matches. However, Arc made some interesting design choices in regards to input methods that make the process a little easier.

Each character in BlazBlue has a weak, medium and strong attack, which you can combine with various directional inputs to perform special moves. This is all fairly standard; what’s interesting is the Drive button. The Drive button performs a unique action for each character that is integral to medium-to-high level gameplay. Drive attacks range from combo extending attacks to counter stances to the ability to control gusts of wind that drastically change the game flow. Having access to such potent moves with a single button press means even beginners can perform a cool and effective technique without derailing their training by resorting to macro and shortcut commands.

And when you’re ready to start learning combination's and special moves, BlazBlue has you covered there, too. Unlike most fighting games – most notably Street Fighter IV – that require machine-like timing to pull off, BlazBlue’s engine will repeat your button inputs for 5 frames. For the fighting game layman, this means that if your timing is a little off on a fireball technique, chances are you’ll still land the move you intended to use. There’s still timing involved, and button mashers will still lose to experienced players, but now, mere mortals have a chance at greatness formerly reserved for only the truly Godlike players.

By streamlining command input while retaining complexity, Arc has created a situation where players can spend less time learning techniques and commands and more time figuring out how to effectively use them. The result is a quicker path to high-level strategic play and a much more rewarding experience overall. Many developers could stand to learn from Arc’s example.

2) Online Functionality

I’m going to be blunt, here: Street Fighter IV is one of the worst examples of online functionality I’ve ever seen. Consistent lag, poor matchmaking and a two-player lobby limit top my personal list of complaints. With arcades become scarcer by the day, online play is the only way most people will ever get to fight other players. It’s a critical feature in today’s marketplace, and thankfully, Arc didn’t mess around with BlazBlue’s online experience.

BlazBlue features a six-player online lobby with full spectator support, a great range of search filters, the ability to save fight replays, and best of all, negligible lag. Delayed input is the death of a high-level fighting game, but through some kind of network necromancy that borders on sublime, Arc managed to come up with a way to synchronize players before each fight so that “I lost because of lag” is no longer a valid complaint in most cases.

Recent botched releases like Battlefield 1943 prove that a simple, versatile and reliable online experience is key to any product that has “Multiplayer Gameplay” as one of its bullet points. Fighting game developers, and all developers in general, should pay attention to what Arc has accomplished here in the online realm.

3) Underdog Success

Chances are, if you don’t play fighting games, you didn’t know BlazBlue was even coming to North America. Though there’s been a recent resurgence in the popularity of fighting games, the former glory of the genre is gone forever. BlazBlue is the epitome of the specialized niche game. It was a risky move publishing the game at all, considering the relative lack of mainstream appeal. Looking at all of the localization work that went into the game, one wonders why the game wasn’t published solely in Japan on a region-free disc to satisfy the North American fanbase in a much cheaper way.

Regardless, BlazBlue made it over, and so far, it’s making reasonably sized waves. For two weeks, the BlazBlue Xbox 360 board was at the top of GameFAQs’ Top 10 Boards list. As of the time of this writing, both the 360 and PS3 versions of the game are on GameStop’s Best Sellers list. In Canada, Gamestop only received 500 copies of the game nationwide initially – not enough to satisfy the 742 preorders that had been placed for the game as of my last inquiry.

Simply put, people are buying this highly specialized niche game, and I don’t think anybody could have expected the level of success BlazBlue has seen. Whether the game’s sales will justify its development, publishing and localization costs remains to be seen, but it’s mere existence is a notice to all developers. You can be different. You can develop for specific segments of the audience. You can take a risk and people just might buy your game. If the product is solid, people will buy it.

So, that's why you should care about BlazBlue.

A Theoretical Approach to Gaming Skill

2009-07-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've talked before about how terrible I am at games and how I believe it doesn't matter. That's not entirely accurate. It does matter, because I'm the kind of person who only has fun when he's winning (whining?). I also subscribe to the idea that everybody has a plateau for every possible talent and skill that cannot be crossed. I often feel that I've reached my plateau and can no longer improve.

I started thinking about why, exactly, I suck at games so hard. While I'm as of yet unable to put the theory into practice to fix my playing habits, I'd like to share it anyway.

I believe in four main skill sets that make up a gamer's ability to play a game: input proficiency, genre familiarity, game familiarity, and attitude/mental fitness. Missing one of these means you're not going to be a pro, but if the rest are strong, I believe you can still be very competent at a game. Having all four and honing them means success in a particular game.

Input Proficiency - This refers to the control method that the player is using. If you're unfamiliar with a mouse and keyboard, you're missing a key skill. If you're very good with a mouse and keyboard, errors in judgment can be compensated for by quick reflexes and instinctive actions. Knowing your way around your input device means you'll hit the button you want, when you want it. This puts you head and shoulders above someone who has to look down at a controller.

Genre Familiarity - This refers to a player's ability to understand the basic mechanics of a game through analogy. "Counter-Strike is like Half-Life" is an example of the mental process that may take place within 10 seconds of playing Counter-Strike, assuming you've played Half-Life 2 or any FPS before. The controls may be slightly different, but to an extent, any skill you have with previous games that are similar to your current game will carry over. This is the biggest point of contention with people who believe you have to begin each game from scratch. You may lack the subtle knowledge of a game's nuances, but you've got a leg up on people who have never played this kind of game before, so your initial skill will be much higher.

Game Familiarity - This refers to a player's ability to play a specific game. This leads to genre familiarity, in some form or another, with all other games related to it. For example: if I was a solid Street Fighter II player, and that was the only fighting game I ever played, I may not be as good at Fatal Fury Special if I jumped into a match. I have genre familiarity with FFS, but not specific game knowledge, so I wouldn't know how to perform a Desperation Move. Many argue that game familiarity the most important skill. Learning maps, moves and nuances is considered the ultimate goal of a pro gamer.

Attitude/Mental Fitness - This refers to a player's ability to combine all of the previous skills into a skill set. If your attitude is poor, like mine, you can't use your full range of skill. If you're tired or haven't been keeping mentally fit through practice, every other skill degrades in varying degrees. I would argue that this is the most important skill for any gamer, as the ability to approach a situation positively is what allows the other skills to be possible.

If I applied this to my situation with any given game, I could rate myself like this:

Input Proficiency - High (Medium for mouse and keyboard)
Genre Familiarity - High (Medium for RTS, racing and sports titles)
Game Familiarity - Medium (for any given game that I've spent a few days with)
Attitude/Mental Fitness - Low

The conclusion I can draw from this is that my poor attitude is what keeps me from developing the other skills to a proper level. I can't "Play to Win" because I don't believe I can, and I'm wired in such a way that winning is my goal for playing games.

Unfortunately, how to fix a poor attitude is beyond my understanding at this time. I can identify the problem, but various solutions I've attempted don't seem to work.

In any case, if you find yourself struggling with a particular game, try rating yourself loosely based on these four criteria to find where your problem area lies. That may help you improve as a gamer over time.

Being Realistic

2009-07-02T21:14:00.001-07:00

Let me get this out of the way: I'm a terrible martial artist. I can barely throw a punch and my ability to take one is minimal at best. In a real fight, I would get utterly destroyed. I suffer no delusions about my skill.

However, there's a common misconception in our society that martial artists are somehow invincible, or at the very least harder to kill. This is flat out wrong, in my opinion. All martial arts training gives you is a better chance at avoiding injury. If you train for a long time, your chances of avoiding injury may be huge. However, if the dice roll doesn't come up in your favor, or if you make a mistake, you can be taken down by a 5-year old with a butter knife.

I bring this up because of an incident that happened here in Edmonton on Sunday morning. A man sitting on a concrete divider was sucker punched, fell off, and walked away. Several hours later, he was a quadriplegic. One punch paralyzed this man for life.

Now, I don't know if Darren, the victim, had any martial arts training. A good martial artist would have sensed what was happening, or at least would have been wary enough as the men approached to get off of the divider and stand in a natural posture. Maybe he would have been conditioned enough to take the hit. Maybe his ukemi (ability to take a fall) would have allowed him to hit the ground safely. Or maybe, that martial artist would have been distracted or drunk and would have shared the same fate as Darren.

The point is to recognize the value of your training, but not to think of it as some kind of shield. Everyone dies. Everyone is vulnerable. Martial arts helps you cover weaknesses, but you're still human. Your dice are slightly loaded, but even loaded dice come up snake eyes sometimes.

Credit where credit is due

2009-07-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I posted an email that I sent out to some Microsoft executives about the problems I've been having re-licensing my content for use with my replacement 360. In what amounts to be the biggest surprise I've had in months, I received a call today from a very nice Microsoft employee named Michael.

He explained to me what I needed to do, and I explained right back at him that tech support had already told me numerous times what to do; the solution wasn't working. I'm more than happy to do what they request, but Marketplace errors kept me from doing it.

Here's the scoop: turns out all of those Marketplace errors (codes 8000ffff, 80004004, and 807b01f4) have not been rectified yet, contrary to that Major Nelson would have you believe. Still, my situation seemed to be "an anomaly."

I was instructed to try re-purchasing some of the content I already owned. If it charged me for it, I would be refunded the points, but Michael wanted to see if that would fix it. Sure enough, the downloads went through, though they only appeared to be asking for payment. I couldn't purchase anything higher than what I had on hand for points, but luckily, I had enough to "buy back" my 400 point items.

What this amounts to is problems with Marketplace not syncing with other XBL systems. By "buying" the content I already had over and over, I was able to force the system to reload my licensing information. This information would stay active for a few downloads, allowing me to download my higher-priced content, but then the Marketplace would lose it again.

It was a painful process, but I re-licensed all of my content, and I'm pleased with the attention I received. I had to basically threaten to close my wallet for good to get that service, but I got it. Michael even told me he would call me on Friday to check in on how things were going. Some of my confidence has been restored. Unless something unacceptable occurs again with no explanation and through no fault of my own, I'll continue supporting the 360.

My Email to several Xbox Executives

2009-06-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post this here to make good on my promise. I doubt anything will come of this, but I'm too frustrated to be quiet about it.

Dear Sirs,

I hope you'll pardon the direct email, but the xbox live support site is a convoluted mess that only deals with hardware issues, and I've yet to find someone who can understand my problem when I call the tech support line.

My 360, purchased in 2006, finally gave me the Three Red Ring error two weeks ago. Though it was a hassle to get it sent out for service, my system was replaced and the new unit shipped to me in record time. Kudos on an efficient delivery system. However, while the service was free, I'm now paying far more than I realized.

Because I was given a new system, I have to now re-sync all of my downloaded content and transfer the license. For over $200 (conservative estimate) of content, this is a pain to do, but I'm more than willing to go into my download history and click on each item. In fact, I began that process this morning. I got through less than 25 items before the network stopped recognizing that I had purchased the content in my download history, and now, the Marketplace is charging me for content I have already purchased the license for.

Now, I understand that the license is only for use on the original console, and I wouldn't be bothering you about losing $200 in downloaded content unless I felt I was being treated poorly. I did not ask for a new system. I asked for my system to be repaired. If my system is under warranty, and it's replaced with a new system, shouldn't I still have access to my content? Why am I losing out on an arrangement I did nothing to provoke? As-is, I can only access it from this new unit when I'm connected to Xbox LIVE, and this isn't always possible for me. I've essentially lost access to most of the content that I've purchased a legitimate license for due to a system swap that, while I'm grateful for, I did not request. I did not misuse my 360 in any way; I simply enjoyed it as intended for two years. Ignoring the fact that my 360 had the shortest lifespan of any system I've ever owned, having to lose money in the process through no fault of my own is nothing short of ridiculous.

The entire process of dealing with support staff, trying to navigate the website, spending hours on the phone and generally wasting my time trying to get my system repaired and back to normal has been difficult and unnecessary. This isn't something a 1-month Gold card can fix. I've been an avid Microsoft supporter since Windows 3.1, up through the Xbox, and through to my 360. Because of this incident, I've lost all faith in the Xbox brand, and will no longer continue to support it. I'll also be advising my friends, family and anyone I happen to strike up a conversation about games with to avoid Microsoft products due to my negative experiences. I've stood up for your products in the past, and I've jumped through numerous hoops to enjoy them, but this is too much. This whole ordeal has become more expensive than initially indicated, and if I knew it would cost me this much, I would have found someone to repair my old system so that I could retain access to the content I rightfully paid to access.

Never before have I been so frustrated with a piece of consumer electronics. I've been told that Microsoft doesn't care about its customers, and that any communications I send you will fall on deaf ears. I may be wasting my time, but I wanted you to add my voice to the collective of dissatisfied customers who bought into your ideal and are now suffering for it.

If you end up reading this, thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Michael Rousseau

Leigh Alexander needs your help!

2009-06-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Re-posted from SVGL:

Hi SVGL readers! Many of you saw my Tweet last week asking about the ways you used to play pretend about video games with your friends as kids, and I've gotten some great responses from you guys.

But I need more, so here's the deal: When you were a wee game fan, did you used to play video game-related imaginary games about the stuff you were playing? Search drain pipes for Mario, hold Mortal Kombat matches at recess, fight over who got to be Ryu? Attach to certain objects, toys or places because they reminded you of video game levels? Did you write books, draw comics, et cetera? Did games give you weird ideas about how the world works? (What? You mean there are no turtles in the sewers?) If video games inspired your childhood play and lots of happy memories and silly stories, I need 'em.

Email leighalexander1 at gmail dot com with subject heading GAMING CHILDHOOD and share some of your memories, will you? Come on, I showed you my embarrassing emo Phantasy Star II novelization from third grade .

Even further, I'm interested in how those memories of play shape your relationship to games today. Are any console titles that launch today that immediately evoke young memories of playing previous installments Back In The Day? Learn anything about games or yourselves? Does your current station in life -- job, leisure time, relationship with kids -- have any relationship to the way you imagined play as a kid?

This is for an article, so if you write in, please include how you want to be cited. Responses from working game developers and journalists are especially welcome -- you can use your full name, part of it, your company name, your internet handle, or be wholly anonymous, really, whatever you'd like. Link this inquiry to your friends, reblog, retweet, whatever you like, spread the word!

Thank you as always for supporting the stuff I do, and hopefully you'll dig the result.

Tetris Friends, minus the Friends

2009-06-27T14:06:00.001-07:00

I decided to check out Tetris Friends this week after a post on Destructoid tipped me off about it. Since then, I've been playing about 30 minutes a day, and it's started me on one of my many infamous Tetris kicks.

The site, branded as an official Tetris product, is a browser-based collection of Tetris game modes for play on virtually any computer. It offers ten variations on traditional Tetris, with only one of the games really sticking out as unpolished and inconsistent. The no-frills N-Blox, developed by interactive designer Paul Neave, is a basic version of Tetris with some odd control issues and an overly minimalist aesthetic.

However, like all of the Tetris games on the site, N-Blox allows you to accrue tokens that can be used to purchase new tetronimo designs and ghost patterns for use in most of the game modes. Beyond alleviating boredom and giving you limited goals to work towards, these new designs will presumably show up on other user's screens in multiplayer games.

This is where Tetris Friends tips its hand and makes you wonder if the site name is something of a misnomer. The site allows you to create an account, choose an avatar, and add in a status line, which leads you to believe that Tetris Friends has social network components. However, there is no option to add users to your friends list, or even to search for users in any way. The only contact you have with other people on the site is by using the Leaderboard function to view top replays in each game mode.

In fact, there's no multiplayer component available whatsoever, which really makes the "Friends" moniker seem erroneous. Joining a Battle or Sprint game matches you instantly against "players" with random names and avatars, all at your exact skill level. Each one plays roughly the same - almost as if each player was AI-controlled. Suspicions are confirmed when you realize that you have the ability to indefinitely pause a "multiplayer" game, or when you find you can click "Finish" to see the rankings as soon as you've completed your goal in Sprint games. When I finish at 2:37 and click instantly on Finish, only to have the game tell me it took my opponents around 5:40 to complete the game, I wonder if I'm supposed to believe that browser-based Tetris is capable of temporal displacement.

I feel somewhat deceived. The fact that Tetris Friends goes to such great lengths to imply that there is a multiplayer experience to be had here seems dishonest when the product doesn't deliver on that implication. As a single-player game, Tetris Friends is still a fun, well-designed product, perfect for brushing up on Hard Drops and T-Spins at the office. I only hope that when the site leaves its Beta status behind, it picks up some social networking and multiplayer features in the process.

The Nerf Maverick Rev-6

2009-06-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, Nerf wars became pretty epic. Diving behind couches and stalking hallways became commonplace. Hoarded ammo led to cease fires where empty arms were trained for ammo, allowing us to continue the fight but giving our opponents a new means to launch hot foam at us. It was war, and it was serious.

As good as the weapons of my era were, I wish I had the Nerf Maverick Rev-6 with me during those hectic battles. It does just about everything I could want a Nerf gun to do.

The first thing you notice when you pick up a Maverick is the weighting. An ergonomic grip counters the front-heavy design, leaving you with the ability to quickly acquire targets and run with ease. The semi-auto slide cocks the gun, and pressing the trigger cycles the barrel, chamber, which doubles as the barrel. You get a good 20ft or so of distance out of a single shot, and while I would have liked to be able to rapidly fire off shots, cocking in between rounds isn't a big deal. The only caveat is that quickly slamming the barrel back in place has a tendency to cause misfires, and if your darts aren't chambered all the way, the gun won't fire at all. Small gripes overall.

Furthermore, the gun is easily to modify. From modifications that let the barrel roll out at a 90 degree angle for rapid loading, to the removal of air limiters and substituting springs, I've yet to see a Nerf gun that has this kind of aftermarket customization with such little effort. The Nerf Crossbow has officially been dethroned.

With how much I've been gushing about this thing lately to friends and coworkers, I almost wish I was being paid to talk about it, because it sure sounds like I am. Now I fit in with the majority of the blogosphere.