Who wants to go home...

..and who wants to go with ME!

Watch the Greatest Scenes of the Street Fighter Movie at 1up

Street Fighter: The Movie 'Guile's Speech' clip

Good ol' Guile... no one inspires a crowd like you...

Street Fighter: The Movie 'Guile's Suicide Mission' clip

I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home.. oh wait.. wrong movie.. I think?

RYU

Cool.  1up.com is doing one of these videos every day this week  :)

Street Fighter 'Ryu Evolution' video

Pathfinder

Ok.. just got back from Philadelphia and some great role-playing... playing in the Pathfinder RPG system.  A brief summation followed by some highlights...

We only get to play for about 6 hours.. so the story progresses slowly.. but we have a great time none the less.  We have been hunting an escaped fugitive who had been working with some local goblin tribes... we tracked the goblin to their fortress which was situated on a rocky-cliff island off the coast.  It towered 80ft up and was only reachable by a rope bridge that swayed precariously over the waters... getting to the bridge itself was a challenge due to a huge maze or brambles/thorns that the goblins used as a forward base/guard house protecting the bridge and entrance to the fortress.

Highlights:

• Maze of brambles patrolled by a Goblin Druid and his panther-like companion, he was playing hide-n-seek within the brambles, some entangling ensued...
• Reached Bride, took out some Goblin "snipers" with Wand of Produce Flame
• Crossing the bridge.. was actually a trap, one side fell away.. and of course.. my character fell.  When he hit the water he had 0 HP.. was able to Channel Positive Energy to Heal, but flailed around, my swim check was -6 at the time, until a rope was finally able to be lowered and I was pulled to safety... almost has to make a new character.
• Searched goblin fortress... found a pen of rabbits the goblins kept for food...our gnome talked to them and freed them to "run amok" in the fortress... lol... silly gnomes...
• We stopped to rest before reaching the fortress, calculated exp and got to 3rd level!  but our party, has a habit of NOT resting long enough for spellcasters to regain spells... (we have a cleric and sorcerer)
• Stumbled into the "throne room", lots of goblins, goblin war chief, goblin war singer, a couple goblin dogs, and a big lizard creature (war chief's mount)... big battle, but we had to stop there...
  

Up till now we had been playing a combination of Pathfinder and 3.5 DnD.. this adventure we switched fully over into Pathfinder.  Here's the big changes to clerics..

Turn Undead is now Channel Positive Energy.  Only usable a number of times per day = to your CHA modifier + 4... My 3rd Level cleric can do it 6 times per day.  30' Radius burst, all undead take 1d6 Dmg per 2 caster levels, and make Will save (CHA based) or flee, save can also half damage.  Any living creatures in the burst are healed the same amount.  Waaaay better than Turn Undead... simple, easy to understand, cool, and very useful.

Domains - You still pick two, but instead of providing you with an extra spell choice for each spell level you know, they provide specific bonus spells (as spell like abilities) or special powers.. I think they hit every 3 levels.. example, my cleric has the Sun and Glory domains:

• Touch of Glory -grants target a bonus to any CHA based check = to my caster level
• Shield of Faith 2/day
• Sun's Touch - Melee touch attack vs Undead, Damage = 1d8 + Caster Level
• Produce Flame 2/day

I get all of those powers/spells.. I don't pick and choose.. I get another power/spell from each domain at level 4, then at level 8.

Basically, they made all the character classes more varied, and took out any of the clunkier abilities.  Everyone has more options...which is a good thing.  :)

The Grind

So.. I was a bit dis-heartened when the 1up gang went through their old lay-off thing.. and still sad about the closing of EGM.. but the website seems to be bouncing back.. they have done a bit of restructuring.. several of the old podcasts are gone, but several more continue on (or are re-done; for example, 1up Yours is now Listen Up)... but they have added a cool blog feature.. in addition to their usually news and video segments they have added a section of "thematic" blogs.. consisting of posts by multiple members of their staff, and occasional special guests.  What's the big deal? you ask... doesn't seem that new... other sites have blogs as well...  Well, the big deal is that these 1up blogs, so far, cover really great topics, are updated multiple times a week, and are very well written.   The two that stand out for me are the Retronauts Blog and The Grind. (they also have the old Hsu and Chan comic from EGM on its own blog too!)

The Retronuats Blog is all about, you guessed it, retro games.  This is tied into their excellent podcast (of the same name) Retronauts.   Its a really great resource for those who have been gaming since the good ol' days of Atari 2600.  (did I just admit how old I am)  I actually find myself strangely nostalgic at times with this blog, and other times, its very informative.. you can learn a great bit about video gaming history with this here blog (and its podcast equivalent).

The Grind however, just started recently, and already has become one of my favorite online destinations.. This blog covers role-playing games.  It covers ALL role-playing games... as their blurb states "The Grind covers all aspects of the role-playing genre: eastern, western, console, PC, handheld, massively multi player and good old-fashioned tabletop RPGs."  They have specific segments running on different days of the week.. one day is a history of Square Enix games, another focuses specifically on upcoming RPG's, and another focuses just on table-top RPGs.   As I said, this blog is just getting started, but its a great resource, and a great read.    

Twitterific

So, Twitter is kinda fun.  I am enjoying it, what little I have experienced so fgar.

Here's some of the folks I am following..

• Darth Vader
  
• Neil Gaiman
  
• Wil Wheaton
  
• Capcom
  
• A bunch of the guys from 1-up
  
• an old friend from college
  
• some weirdo named lokipan.. dunno who he is...
  

Oh, and this guy... Levar Burton.

SF4 Downloadable goodies...

from Joystiq earlier today.

The game's not even on shelves, yet Capcom's gone ahead of the curve to firm up details of Street Fighter IV's first DLC, the "Championship Mode Expansion Pack." Now, before you start getting all riled up about spending more money on a game you just bought, know this: it's free.

Expected to hit shortly after the game's release, the add-on will introduce three significant features aimed at hardcore players. Replay Mode is pretty much what it sounds like: share recorded matches, watch top-ranked ones and vote for your favorites. The enhanced tournament matching system will deliver "improved tournament match making for beginners and mid-level players," with Capcom explaining that "competitors earn Grade Points (GP) to earn entry into more advanced tournaments." Finally, there will be two new point systems -- Championship and Tournament -- for measuring player skill.

The release dates and pricing for alternate character costumes have also been confirmed. The costumes will be released weekly on XBLM and PSN in themed sets containing one costume per character. Each set will run 320 ($4) on XBLM and $3.99 on the PS Store. The full schedule and details of each set are after the break.

Gallery: Street Fighter IV - Alternate Costumes DLC

Sounds like they got some cool stuff planned! (too bad they are losing so much monies) Be sure to check out the gallery of costumes! They look pretty neat!

TWITTER

Hey guys! Follow me on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/pondrepof

Sign up if you haven't  :)

I promise it will be almost as exciting as reading my blog... hehe..

Achievement Unlocked!

OMG!  I FINALLY BEAT AKUMA!!!

In Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix!! I finally beat that sonuvabitch!  It took me soooo long.. and sooo many tries... but I defeated him with Chun Li!  It was the most hard fought 25 achievement points I have ever earned!  :)