#then again i used to love playing the x wing vs tie fighter and x wing alliance games

[kyber-heart]

I played my first ever Starfighter match today...

I’ve never had a laptop that could support playing it until this one, though i think i might have to drop to potato graphics so my circuitry doesn’t melt. 

I gotta say, I think I like Starfighter... I want to make a pilot OC even more. 

Or just play Jost more since I hc that he can pilot.

[loopy777]

A larger question that needs two asks to cover. One of the biggest criticisms against the star wars sequel trilogy, is that all the OT main characters died complete failures after having all their work undone. Luke was the shining hope for new jedi, but had his academy killed, gave up, and essentially just became a bitter Yoda, then after returning to the man he used to be, he dies. Han saw his son become evil, abandoned his wife and became a smuggler again, and died failing to redeem him.

Leia worked so, so hard to make the new republic happen, only for it to die ridiculously easy. Essentially, there's an argument to be made that all their work was undone and they all died miserable failures. What's your thoughts on the subject?

Well, my take on this comes my philosophy on sequels in general. Unless it’s something with enough entries to really play with things, sequels need to maintain or escalate the story stakes. James Bond and Marvel movies, for example, can sometimes go big and sometimes go smaller scale, because they’re essentially episodes in a television series or chapters in a massive book.

Star Wars, on the other hand, is all epic all the time. Its movies are always events- and when they aren’t, the titles of the movies themselves tell us that they’re small skippable little things. Episodes 1-6 are about the greatest threat ever to the galaxy and Jedi; a sequel trilogy can’t follow that with a story about mopping up and just doing the stuff implied by the ending of Episode 6. But Episode 6 was meant to be the finale to the saga, so there’s no remaining threats or plots on the same level as Palpatine, the Empire, and the Sith.

I thought the sequels, at least TFA and TLJ, had an interesting way around that by being about the concept of sequels themselves. In order to create the proper stakes, the heroes were indeed turned into failures- and the heroes are directly reacting to that! Leia reacts by digging in trying to keep fighting. Han reacts by going back to just surviving. Luke reacts by giving up and trying to die. They hate the sequels turning them into failures as much as the audience.

And then TFA brings them back into things by having them become aware of the new heroes and the cycle of stories. What so many people took as Han’s moments of “Wow, I think Rey might be my daughter,” I took as “Huh, another wide-eyed prodigy from a desert planet who’s dragging me into an epic adventure.” I took Luke’s reaction to Rey offering him the lightsaber as him realizing that the story is starting over again and trying to draw him back in. Even Kylo Ren is actively trying to fit into the Darth Vader role and is frustrated that he’s just a cheap copy.

(I could have done without the repetition being so explicit with the return of X-Wings, TIE Fighters, a jungle base for the Rebels, another desert planet, Bigger Death Star, etc. The themes could have been there with new visuals that merely homage the old stuff. But I think the choice to recycle so much was a direct ploy to ease people back into Star Wars after the reactions to the prequels, so hoping for a lot of new stuff in TFA was probably always futile.)

And then TLJ directly follows this up by making the concept of a repeating story one of the major themes, explicitly! I considered it solid validation of my interpretation of TFA! (Now I honestly have no idea what was intended with TFA, because I think Rise Of Skywalker is completely disconnected from it. If ROS indeed represents the original intentions of J.J. Abrams, then TFA must have been heavily pulled off track, to its benefit, by Lawrence Kasdan.)

Han’s death, to me, was a mix of triumph and failure. On the one hand, he finds the strength to give himself over to The Story, to let go of survival and offer everything up for the chance to save his son. I think he knows that it’s not going to work, but he understands that it’s a step that has to be taken, and so he makes the attempt and lets his life be claimed.

This is the problem facing the young cast in TLJ. They trust too much in The Story, in heroes and last stands and destiny and redemption and sacrifice and a righteous cause. Luke, on the other hand, sees how all of that accomplishes nothing in the long run; he sees The Story at work and knows that a Happy Ending depends on where the storyteller stops, that continuance inevitably brings back the darkness. He realizes that the storyline of the prequels was forced on him in a repeat, despite his victory in Episode 6, and wants no part in an endless cycle of dumb movies about space wizards killing people.

It’s Leia who seems, in TLJ, to see the possibility for a path of balance. She’s still part of The Story, still values the things that the younger generation does, but she also sees that those things won’t bring victory by themselves. They need to be smart about how they participate in The Story. Strategic with when they invoke The Story and when they should shy away from it. The failures of the younger cast eventually teach them this, as well. Rey uses the Millennium Falcon to bait the First Order at the end of the movie, pulling TIE Fighters into a reenactment of Return Of The Jedi to save her friends, but she no longer thinks she can force the redemption of Vader onto Kylo. Poe and Finn learn lessons about how the true value of Heroic Stands isn’t taking out bad guys, but changing the direction of The Story.

And Luke finds the path of balance as well, finding that The Story can be turned against the darkness. Where Finn and Poe learn when not to invoke the Heroic Stand, he rediscovers the moment when both a Hero and a Last Stand is the greatest weapon to employ against the enemy, and so steps back into his role in a way that will let the younger generation learn and continue to grow. That he does so in the single greatest feat of the Force in the entire saga makes it especially triumphant.

Kylo Ren, meanwhile, has likewise become frustrated with the nature of sequels, but instead of finding a balance between new and old, he casts away everything old (”Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It's the only way to become who you were meant to be.“) and seeks only something new- and in doing so is defeated by the protagonists who have weaponized The Story against him. Because a franchise like Star Wars can’t go fully New as there’s too much valuable IP to mine.

This is why I had such high hopes for ROS. Luke had already turned the tide of The Story, and the next cast had been set up to find an Ending that would prevent The Story from happening again. Literally all the next movie had to do was deliver on what was already set up with some plot mechanics.

And that’s why Rise Of Skywalker is so bad, to me. After two sequels dealing, on a meta level, with the concept of sequels themselves, ROS just copies tropes from the classic trilogy without adding anything, without finding new meaning in anything. Rey learns that her father is Darth Vader (metaphorically), and struggles with the same themes Luke did, eventually coming to the same conclusions. She confronts Palpatine just like Luke did, with the aid of a darksider she helped pull back to the light, and makes the conflict into just another clash of Jedi vs Sith, doing nothing to guarantee that another sequel down the line won’t bring that enemy back for a nostalgia cash-in.

Even Leia becomes a failure, throwing a Redemption trope at her son with no meaning behind it, turning him away from the darkness but without any insight into how he became Anakin Skywalker Redux, how she and Han and Luke had previously failed. She did nothing to prevent it from happening again in another generation; she just solved this one problem and then died, tidying up her subplot but having no lasting impact.

All of this confirms that Han, Luke, and Leia are merely failures, as you describe, as ROS shows that they’ve left nothing behind that will continue. Where TLJ introduced the idea that they had to fail in order to gain greater understanding of The Story, so that they could teach its mastery to the next set of protagonists and end things with merely one Sequel Trilogy,

And thus ROS confirms that failure is inevitable; Rey, Finn, and Poe will fail again the next time Disney needs to exploit nostalgia, because they never mastered The Story. The full cast tried to confront the nature of Sequels, saw the conundrum that they can have no impact while Disney sees more money to be made from Star Wars...

And they all give up, surrendering to cliche. Han, Luke, and Leia repeat their acts from previous movies, or the acts of their predecessors from the prequels, and cash their checks and walk away. I don’t mean the actors; I truly mean that ROS turns Han, Luke, and Leia into Space Opera jobbers.

So yes, they all died as miserable failures.

But, dangit, until ROS, I thought there was going to be a greater, beautiful point to it.

And there’s no fixing it now. This isn’t a story that can be retconned or ignored. ROS’s abandonment of the themes of the previous two sequels stands as a glaring Statement Of Intent from Disney: there is no meaning in these movies, just the exploitation of a thing we once loved.

And that’s going to take a lot come back from.

[emperor-uncarnate]

My Top 20 Favorite Video Games

(Listed in the order in which I played them)

Pokémon Red Version - Along with my matching red Game Boy Pocket, this was the first video game I owned that was purely mine and not handed down from an older kid. I still go back and replay this every couple of years on that very same Game Boy Pocket or on the 3DS Virtual Console. I know there’s FireRed and a whole series of more modern Pokémon games at my disposal but the original Red Version easily gets the most nostalgia points. Sometimes that’s what it’s all about, no? Banjo-Kazooie - Similarly, the N64 became my first home console that wasn’t a hand-me-down and it came equipped with both bear and bird (complete with “screaming about it on Christmas morning”). After going back and replaying this almost twenty years later I gained new appreciation for how goofy and colorful it is. Treasure Trove Cove is so fucking catchy. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - From its kickin’ soundtrack to its satisfying controls to its random-ass virtual pet simulator this game has it all. Multiplayer was always pretty exciting too, I remember many an afternoon trying to one-up a friend during a grind race. No 3D Sonic game compares to this if you ask me, although Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed come sort of close in their own ways. What I wouldn’t give for a proper Sonic Adventure 3... Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - I remember playing this at my local arcade in my youth before eventually getting a port of it for the Xbox 360. The look of its 2D sprites are phenomenal and - if it will help you understand why I love this game - I’m singing “I Wanna Take You For a Ride” to myself as I type this. Metroid: Zero Mission - This was the first Metroid game I ever actually beat, and it was the game that made me fall in love with the series. I love Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Samus Returns as well but I like Zero Mission’s visual style the most. I was so thrown for a loop when Samus lost her Power Suit towards the end of the game but it only made getting it back that much sweeter.  Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - I started playing this one in 2004 but didn’t officially beat it until way later in 2017. For a while I had a pattern I’d go through every few years of “start playing, enjoy it for a while, get lost, and start over for some reason.” Took me thirteen years to get serious about it but it earned its place as my favorite of the 3D Metroid games. I felt so fulfilled once it was complete, like I was achieving a childhood dream. Kingdom Hearts II - I don’t think I would’ve gotten into this game if not for my friend’s suggestion but I couldn’t thank him enough for it. This is another one of those games you only vaguely understand when you’re a kid only to realize how complex and intuitively designed it is in your adulthood. After the long wait, Kingdom Hearts III proved to be pretty satisfying but I just have too much history with its predecessor for it not to win a spot on this list. Jak 3 - Though my interest in this series burned fast and bright, this game still sticks out to me as one of the best I’ve ever experienced. I played the third installment before Jak and Daxter or Jak 2 but that’s fine because it’s the best goddamn one. Driving around in the desert, swapping out gun modules, and taking flight on some janky wings made of light were definitely the highlights for me. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - I got into this game during the latter period of Wrath of the Lich King but I didn’t feel like an official WoW player until this fiery, grim expansion. It was the first real online game I’d ever played (if you don’t count Neopets and Adventure Quest) that I started as a Night Elf Warrior in a PVP server and ended as a Worgen Hunter in a non-PVP server. Because fuck the Horde, that’s why. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I got Skyrim on a whim because I literally couldn’t think of anything else I wanted for Christmas in 2011. There was no hype for me, I knew nothing ‘bout no Dragonborns, but I thought “heck it” and dove in anyway. After originally playing it on Xbox 360 and replaying it more recently on PS4 (with a slew of mods) I can say with confidence this game continues to blow me away. I always seem to find something new even though I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. I did get involved in The Elder Scrolls Online later on but Skyrim is still where it’s at. Soul Calibur V - I was first introduced to the tale of souls and swords (eternally retold, of course) through Soul Calibur II and only because you could play as Link on the Gamecube version. Fast-forward to 2012 and I was still on board with its story and cast of characters but its character creation was really what kept me hooked. Soul Calibur VI turned out to be a little disappointing but I definitely got the most out of its fifth installment and I’m guilty of having played for hours and hours on end. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward - What began as a free trial because I was bored turned into a years-long interest in yet another MMO. While the base game was okay it really picked up speed with Heavensward and I was hooked from that point onwards. After a certain point I caught myself not skipping cutscenes and discovered - oh hey - the story’s actually really good. Star Wars Battlefront - I loved this game when it came out on PS4 and used it often to get my insatiable Star Wars fix. Aerial combat was my downright favorite part of the game and I loved smoking some TIE Fighters in an X-Wing or in the Millennium Falcon. Its sequel Star Wars Battlefront II could’ve made this list but EA was being a real dirtbag about it and now I find it hard to look back on happy memories of it the same way. The 2015 game is thankfully unsullied by those sour elements, however, so I’d say its gotta be my favorite Star Wars game ever. Overwatch - This game came to me at a time when I only wanted to play games that had character creation. I was hesitant to get to know all the characters and lore but I’m overjoyed I did since they’re so rich in personality and fun details. Once I got the hang of characters like McCree, Soldier, Reinhardt, and Widowmaker I was absolutely sold and I still play it two years later. Sonic Mania - The delightful trailer for this game got me all riled up but I wouldn’t know just how great it was until I was playing it myself. I don’t think I could ever truly enjoy my previous favorite 2D Sonic games (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD) ever again because this game just feels better than all of them combined.  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I didn’t really grow up with the Legend of Zelda, only ever playing A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess, but I immediately knew I was going to enjoy this open world take on the series. Just the sheer freedom of what you could do and where you could go was enough to reel me in and its aesthetic still amazes me with how great of a mood it generates. Final Fantasy VII - I still remember going into a GameStop when I was in high school and naively attempting to buy a used copy of this game for the PS1. It was an “epic fail,” as I would’ve said at the time. But over a decade later I downloaded it on the PS4 and went to town, getting my full FF7 experience at long last and loving every minute of it. Very stoked for the remake; it’s probably my most anticipated game right now. Marvel’s Spider-Man - What a surefire hit this was. From the moment the first gameplay footage was out I knew this was going to be the must-have web-swinging, wall-crawling good time. I love that there are so many ways to play the same character and everyone can really embody their own version of Peter Parker. I’m also from New York City so seeing a digital rendition of Manhattan was a real treat (even though they changed uptown a lot and my old apartment doesn’t exist in the game). Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Nine of the other nineteen entries in this list feature a character who’s playable in this latest Smash game. I get that people like Melee for reasons and whatever but how can you not like SSBU, the game that has it all? I’m still riding the high of Banjo and Kazooie entering the fray and I absolutely cannot wait to see where things go from here. Never had more fun playing local multiplayer in my life. Red Dead Redemption II - Never cared for Grand Theft Auto and the first Red Dead Redemption was fun but damn, there’s nothing quite like its sequel. I’m still working my way through the story just because I’ve spent so much time out in the wide open world, taking my time and seeing the sights. I might be a city boy but I have a deep appreciation for the American West and if this game ain’t just the prettiest damn thing I ever did see... hoo-WEE! Top shelf.

[pianoperson]

Get to know me (if you want)

No one asked for this. Questions are from @chvmpagne-and-gasoline so if you wanna answer them, feel free to.

1. 6 of the songs you listen to the most?

La Campanella by Liszt, Humoresque by Dvorak, Rolling Girl by wowaka, Servant of Evil by mothy (?), Circles by Kira (?), Comptine D’un Autre Été (yes I don’t give a damn about pop culture)

2. If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

Brett and Eddy from TwoSet

3. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17.

“1997—X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter” from Armada by Ernest Cline

4. Who do you think about most?

My real life friends because they’re great, and IkeRev guys (especially Jonah)

5. What does your latest text message from someone else say?

Asking them where they are

6. Do you sleep with or without clothes on?

With. How do people sleep without clothes?

7. What’s your strangest talent?

Having random thoughts enter my mind that actually predict the future (but I never really tell anyone so)

8: Girls are cool; Boys are cool. (everyone is cool period)

9: Ever had a poem or song written about you?

Nope, well at least I don’t think so. But I did write a poem about someone (it was never meant to be a roast poem, just a poem that was meant to be an outlet for my sadness, but it was accidentally written in such a way that it can be interpreted as one)

10: When is the last time you played the air guitar?

Bold of you to assume I ever played guitar. The closest was ukelele but that was for school.

11: Do you have any strange phobias?

No

12: Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose?

No, unless your finger counts (hey, it gets bothersome sometimes to feel something within your nostril)

13: What’s your religion?

Roman Catholic

14: If you are outside, what are you most likely doing?

Either I’m going out to eat or exercising

15: Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

Behind, but I always end up in front of it

16: Simple but extremely complex. Favorite band?

I don’t have a favorite band.

17: What was the last lie you told?

It was probs a yes to a question I no longer remember.

18: Do you believe in karma?

I joke about it, but honestly, no.

19: What does your URL mean?

I’m a person who likes piano. That’s it.

20: What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength?

My greatest weakness is being too cautious to the point I get tense due to fear of failure. My greatest strength is probably scrape by school with grades 90 and above without putting in my best.

21: Who is your celebrity crush?

Bold of you to assume I even have one.

22: Have you ever gone skinny dipping?

Nope, never

23: How do you vent your anger?

If I want to rant, I either rant alone or with people who think alike. But that’s with  really shallow stuff. If it’s really bad anger, I tend to keep it to myself because I feel like I’m gonna waste people’s time and my own energy.

24: Do you have a collection of anything?

None

25: Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

Depends. But I’ll go with talking on the phone.

26: Are you happy with the person you’ve become?

Nope. Not yet.

27: What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?

I hate Edgar Bright’s voice the sound of a spoon or fork accidentally scraping against the plate. I love the sound of pianos and flutes.

28: What’s your biggest “what if”?

What if I screw up so badly that I’ll end up a failure, a loser, and a loner for the rest of my life and end up dying in pain alone?

29: Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

Ghosts, no. Aliens, a bit.

30: Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm.

With my right, I touch air. With my left, I touch the TV screen,

31: Smell the air. What do you smell?

Nothing

32: What’s the worst place you have ever been to?

If it smells like garbage, then automatically, it’s the worst place for me. And I’ve been to a number of places like that so I can’t specify.

33: Choose: East Coast or West Coast?

West Coast just because I’ve been there

34: Most attractive singer of your opposite gender?

Does Jonah Clemence count? He sings lol But in all seriousness, none.

35: To you, what is the meaning of life?

Life is like a Pokemon game. You’re not going to win all those battles, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give up. But if your life is Pokemon X and Y, you’re lucky.

36: Define Art.

Art is something universal yet personal.

37: Do you believe in luck?

Yes. Of course, you need to work hard, but you still have to hope that things go your way.

38: What’s the weather like right now?

Pretty cool since it’s nighttime. Clear skies too.

39: What time is it?

10:07pm

40: Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?

Nope. 

41: What was the last book you read?

Armada by Ernest Cline. It’s a great read, especially if you read Ready Player One by the same author.

42: Do you like the smell of gasoline?

Yes. Everyone around me finds it weird.

43: Do you have any nicknames?

Yeah 

44: What was the last film you saw?

Infinity War

45: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?

When I was grade one, I fell and hit my head. 

46: Have you ever caught a butterfly?

Never had, never tried.

47: Do you have any obsessions right now?

IkeRev I guess

48: What’s your sexual orientation?

Bi

49: Ever had a rumour spread about you?

Yep. Quite a bit.

50: Do you believe in magic?

Nope. But I wish I have.

51: Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?

Nope, because that’s a waste of time and energy. Also, I tend to forget they even did anything to me lol

52: What is your astrological sign?

Sagittarius

53: Do you save money or spend it?

For school and food, spend. Otherwise, save.

54: What’s the last thing you purchased?

Takeout from a restaurant because there was no food at home.

55: Love or lust?

Love

56: In a relationship?

Nope

57: How many relationships have you had?

Was single, has been single, always will be single

58: Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

I think I used to, but no.

59: Where were you yesterday?

At home

60: Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

Nope

61: Are you wearing socks right now?

Nope

62: What’s your favourite animal?

Idk. My dog I guess.

63: What is your secret weapon to get someone to like you?

I don’t even try.

64: Where is your best friend?

At home

65: Give me your top 5 favourite blogs on Tumblr.

@just-shower-thoughts​ @extramadness​ @laineclemence​ @theundyingskeleton​ @valkryie-nyte​

66: What is your heritage?

Filipino with a bit of Chinese and Spanish

67: What were you doing last night at 12AM?

Answering some questions on Tumblr

68: What do you think is Satan’s last name?

He doesn’t have one.

69: Be honest. Ever gotten yourself off?

Sorry, what does that even mean?

70: Are you the kind of friend you would want to have as a friend?

Considering I talk to myself a lot, yes.

71: You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

Go to work. I don’t think I can save that dog.

72: You are at the doctor’s office and she has just informed you that you have approximately one month to live. a) Do you tell anyone/everyone you are going to die? b) What do you do with your remaining days? c) Would you be afraid?

Yes I will tell my family and friends that I will die. Yes I will be very afraid. I will go to confession as soon as possible and perhaps try to do some stuff before I die.

73: You can only have one of these things; trust or love.

Trust

74: What’s a song that always makes you happy when you hear it?

The One That Got Away by Katy Perry just because nostalgia

75: What are the last four digits in your cell phone number?

My lips are sealed about that.

76: In your opinion, what makes a great relationship?

Being great friends grants a great relationship.

77: How can I win your heart?

You can’t.

78: Can insanity bring on more creativity?

No, but it can make you do the things you want to do by removing all insecurities and inhibitions preventing you from doing those things.

79: What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far?

Staying alive

80: What size shoes do you wear?

If we’re talking about closed shoes, size 5

81: What would you want to be written on your tombstone?

Never thought about it

82: What is your favourite word?

Right now, it’s Queen.

83: Give me the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word; heart.

Jonah Clemence (ok how many times have I said his name in this post)

84: What is a saying you say a lot?

“Lol”, “nice”, “I wanna die.”, or “Patayin mo na ako.”

85: What’s the last song you listened to?

Melt’s cover of Rolling Girl

86: Basic question; what’s your favourite colour/colours?

Blue and black

87: What is your current desktop picture?

A galaxy

88: If you could press a button and make anyone in the world instantaneously explode, who would it be?

I don’t want to have that on my conscience and my record so nope.

89: What would be a question you’d be afraid to tell the truth on?

Do I have a kink?

90: One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren’t really doing anything, they’re just standing around your bed. What do you do?

Clutch my blanket and stay still, trying to think of a way to get them out without inadvertently causing my death.

91: You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What is that power?

Psychic powers

92: You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again?

That one time I touched a thermometer that wasn’t supposed to be touched in grade two. Everyone got mad at me for it. It took me three or four years to get over the shame from that incident.

93: You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

2016. What a time waster.

94: You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who would it be?

That’s uncomfortable...

95: You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go?

Iceland just because it sounds great

96: Do you have any relatives in jail?

Nope

97: Have you ever thrown up in the car?

Never, which is great

98: Ever been on a plane?

Yep

99: If the whole world were listening to you right now, what would you say?

Jesus is the answer.

[starboy8]

So I'm going to go on a rant for once on the newer stars movies

With episode 8 around the corner I still wana stress how much i want this movie to have it's own personality or identity. Episode 7 is a movie I wish I could enjoy more but like everyone says it's too much like episode 4. But i think the parallels go further than that to me which is why i find it hard to care about the movies world. Regardless of what you may think of them the prequels have their own identity that while i think looks different than the orginal trilogy still feel starwars. The starships and fighters from the prequels look like their own thing yet still being similar to stuff like the Star Destroyers, X-wings, or Y-wing bombers. However in these new Movies instead of making their own technology and new desgins they played it super safe by just using X wings... again... and Star Destroyers....again ... even though plenty of years have passed and odds are technology would advance or change. They just re-use so many already existing assets instead of making their own. Part of the allure of starwars to me is seeing the world and seeing the technology. I've already seen X-wings I've already seen tie-fighters i want something new. But episode 7 was too afraid to make it's own stuff in fear that it would be rejected. This is now going to hurt the entire rest of the new trilogy as the style has now been established and all that style is is nothing more than Orginal Trilogy 2.0. This is boring and gives it no identity to it's own. And hey look if you really really hate the prequels fine I'll give another example. The MMO starwars the old Republic is a game I've personally never played but it had some great trailers. And those trailers alone have more of an identity than anything the new trilogy has. The technology on that looks like stuff that was in the orginaly trilogy yet has it's own sense of personality to it. I honestly think one of the things the prequels got right giving it's own additions to the starwars world. And look hey if even the planets in episode 7 are all things we've seen in the orginal trilogy. Like christ you're a Sci-fi universe you literally have opportunity to do anything you want with planets and yet all we get is world's that look exactly like ones we've already been to.

And this here is more a personal thing but in the end i would have loved for the story to be something new not rebels vs the evil empire when like the empire i mean AHEM "first order" shouldn't even be as strong as they are IN FACT there shouldn't even be rebels! But no gotta have those rebels so that say we feel as close to the orginal trilogy as possible no need to have any identity of our own that would make us like the prequels and people don't like those let's just be as closet the the ones people liked as possible so we don't have to be afraid of being called un starwars like. Why can't we have a movie that is about keeping the peace Luke and the others made instead of making it seem like everything they did in the last movie literally amounted to nothing since apparently we are back at square 1 again. In the end episode 7 has already kinda fucked it up for the new trilogy because it's already set the tone of being "Orginal Trilogy 2.0" which is sad because my expectations for this new trilogy have kinda dropped.... and i hate that i feel way.

[tecnomagzne-blog]

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Lego – or LEGO – is pricey and children – my youngsters specifically – need a whole lot of it. Our basement appears just like the returns division of a significant toy retailer, coated from nook to nook with toys and, most notably, and countless minefield of little constructing blocks. And we get pleasure from constructing fashions and imaginative play and my youngest little one, Guthrie, loves Star Wars. However all that high quality plastic is pricey and the Star Wars kits are the costliest of all. What are we to do? Add his favorites to vacation present registries so his grandparents can purchase it for him? Spend lots of of {dollars} on ships that crash and go away a subject of particles and minifigs for miles? Or can we flip to the Web, that fount of all solace, and discover Lepin.

A very long time in the past in a galaxy far, distant there have been Lego knock-offs. The preferred come from an organization known as Lepin which I first discovered about from this surprisingly full assessment of the First Order Tie Fighter set. This video, which contains a surprisingly thorough take a look at Lego vs. Lepin, was a household favourite for some time, taking priority over the Star Wars trailers and Unhealthy Lip Studying my youngsters normally watched. They had been mesmerized by the sluggish and regular tempo of the video and I used to be mesmerized by the thought that I may avoid wasting cash on my Lego.

Earlier than you get excited concerning the morality or legality of those knock offs perceive that I effectively know that Lego deserves each penny they get. After constructing the Lepin set I started to higher perceive the care that goes into a great Lego set and the satisfaction of getting a product that doesn’t crumble mid-flight. That stated, this was an experiment and it was really to shocking to see such a whole and blatant copy of Lego’s equipment are available a plain brown paper sack. Not like different knock-offs I’ve seen – swap meet Louis and faux Rolexes, for instance – the Lepin equipment was a one-to-one copy of the unique, albeit with a couple of main points.

So I hit Alibaba and purchased the Tie Fighter equipment, a mannequin that directly pushed all the best nostalgia buttons for me and the joy buttons for my youngsters and was sufficiently advanced and costly that we didn’t need to order the actual mannequin. I might construct this Tie Fighter… for science.

The equipment value $48 with $12 transport and arrived in two weeks. It got here in a plain brown padded envelope with an instruction handbook and little baggage of items. The Lepin items aren’t organized in any discernible manner though among the bigger items are caught collectively in the identical bag whereas smaller items are crammed inside a number of smaller baggage. There is no such thing as a bag order and the handbook doesn’t anticipate you to open any bag first. Principally your greatest wager is to dump out all of the items and get constructing.

The very first thing you’ll discover is that the pegs are fully clean with a couple of indented the place the injection mildew went in. These blocks haven’t any Lego branding and are as a substitute disturbingly naked, as if somebody had sandblasted away the logos on an actual equipment. The minifigs are additionally problematic. The faces and portray aren’t fairly as crisp as Lego’s and the equipment – on this case slightly hose connecting to the pilot’s helmet – was oddly linked to the helmet itself, a cost-saving measure that appears prefer it may snap off and get misplaced pretty simply.

When you’ve organized your items you may start assembling the equipment. That is while you meet one other cost-saving measure. The handbook reveals solely the piece you simply assembled in shade. The remainder of the items are greyed out. This implies you don’t know what the equipment is meant to appear like because it’s being constructed which makes it particularly onerous to assemble the internals. Additional, your complete handbook is chock stuffed with steps. Whereas the Lego equipment paces you thru every step, putting one or two steps on the web page, this handbook is chock stuffed with them. It’s very straightforward to get misplaced.

We constructed this mannequin in two days. My son was capable of construct fairly a little bit of it however I stepped in on the finish as a result of I preferred the problem and he acquired bored. Quickly we found the deadly flaw within the Lepin system: the fashions don’t stick collectively.

My spouse’s father used to make injection molded toys. He all the time speaks reverentially of Lego, repeating to us time and again that the corporate repeatedly destroys is plastic molds to make new ones, thereby making certain that every piece is crisp, clear, and straight. The molds, you see, are the costliest a part of the method, costing tens of hundreds of {dollars} to fabricate. To create new molds for one thing as advanced as that is wildly expensive however, so far as plastics lore goes, Lego is greater than keen to spend that money.

Lepin isn’t.

As you start constructing you’ll discover that among the straight items curl up. The hinges don’t fairly stick collectively. The large boards don’t fairly match. As you construct you end up questioning if the entire thing will maintain and, in the long run, it received’t. For instance, this mannequin makes use of 4 little U clamps that stick out on all sides to connect with 4 bars embedded into the wings. These U clamps typically appear to click on into place however once they don’t the wings fall off and break, requiring one other ten minutes of rebuilding. These will not be constructed for tough play – or any play in any respect – as a result of even the hatch into which you slide your pilots will fall off for those who shut the door all the best way. The tolerances – these candy, Danish, Lego tolerances – are gone right here, abandoning one thing that’s greatest displayed on a shelf.

For those who or your child are nice with having knock-off Lego on a excessive shelf the place nobody can get a greater take a look at it then by all means choose up a mannequin or two. However perceive you may be disillusioned. Whereas this can be a close to actual clone of the unique equipment, the little variations add as much as a large number. This Tie Fighter is at the moment subsequent to our hermit crab cage, untouched, whereas Poe Dameron’s X-Wing is usually strafing Storm Troopers and the remainder of the Lego is being repurposed into bases, homes, and Minecraft adventures. The one toy that isn’t being performed with is the Lepin equipment.

That claims lots. Certain it can save you cash, however do you have to? Lego shouldn’t value a lot and our children shouldn’t need a lot of it however, in the long run, aren’t we educating them the worth of tactile play, the ability of constructing out of constituent components. Additional, I received’t begrudge a child who desires to play with Lego the flexibility to construct their very own Tie Fighter if that is all they will afford. However, in the long run, Lego wins in a head-to-head, minifig claws down.

Must you purchase Lepin? The stalwart model defender in me says no. Nevertheless, for those who’re trying to save a buck and need to give your youngsters the enjoyment of constructing a knock-off – however not the fun of taking part in with it – then you may most likely get away with this little little bit of C-3PFaux. Could the Drive, as they are saying, be ever in your favor.

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Assault of the clones – TechCrunch Lego – or LEGO – is pricey and children – my youngsters specifically – need a whole lot of it.

[robbiefarlow-sidequestfitne-blog]

New Post has been published on Side Quest Fitness

New Post has been published on http://sidequestfitness.com/kick-ass-games-that-should-have-been-remastered/

Kick Ass Games That Should Have Been Remastered on Xbox One and PS4

11 Kick Ass Games That Should Have Been Remastered on Xbox One and PS4

This article had started with some long winded intro about how fucking disappointed I’ve been with the current console cycle.

But honestly, that’s not why you clicked on this link.

You’re here to read about a list of kick ass games that Sony and Microsoft should have remastered or remade on their four-year-old systems. Because at first, that’s all the Xbox One and PS4 were good for, remastering games that were barely out of diapers.

And besides the obvious reasons for why that pisses me off—chiefly, that game companies already siphoned enormous sums of money out of me for games like Grand Theft Auto 5, Skyrim, The Last of Us, Gears of War, and Uncharted to name a few—now you expect me to get excited to play the same (great) games again but with “updated” graphics?

Look, I loved Skyrim. I loved Uncharted and Grand Theft Auto 5. But if I buy a new system, I expect new games, not a bunch of games I played just a couple years ago. That’s not how nostalgia works.

Instead of trying to get gamers dick hard about games that were the best games of 2011 or 2009, you—Sony and Microsoft (even Nintendo)— failed to remaster games that would’ve excited old school gamers (drowning them under a tsunami of nostalgia) and made them want to buy your new-fangled consoles.

Damn it. I said this wasn’t going to be a long intro and here I am 260 some words deep and not to the point. Fine.

Here are the 11 kick ass games Sony and Microsoft should have remastered.

1. Road Rash

Technically, a spiritual successor to Road Rash called Road Redemption has been in development since 2013.

After a Kickstarter campaign, the game was supposed to be released in the summer of 2014. It was not. And as of now, it is still TBA for 2017.

I’m not a developer, and I don’t understand all the tech that goes into making a game happen. So I’m just mouthing off as a fan and gamer.

But what the fuck is taking so long?

We’ve seen four different Call of Duty’s in four years—each one selling less than its predecessors year after year—and remakes of games that were already HD. So why am I not able to drive a motorcycle and bash people in the face with a sledgehammer?

The gameplay footage of Road Redemption below is enough to take me from six to midnight. So, um. Yea, gaming industry. You’re failing. This should have been done years ago.

2. Mutant League Football

This is hands down the greatest—and most fun—football game ever made. So why has this game not been remade in over 25 years?

NFL Blitz was an amazing game, there’s no doubt about that. But MLF allowed you to play in space with aliens, skeletons, robots, and trolls. And to make the game even more awesome, each stadium had its own special hazards that could kill members of your team or the opponents.

And each team had crazy ass audibles that you could call which were far dirtier than deflating a few footballs to beat the Colts. Including the option to bribe the refs, where they’d call a “fake” penalty on your opponent, like a 5-yard penalty for crying.

Here’s what made Mutant League Football the best game ever: you could win the game by killing the opposing team’s players. Yes, you didn’t even need to outscore the other team. You just needed to tackle more of them into landmines, fire pits, off the edge of the field and into space, or call your team’s special audible that killed the QB in one hit.

Below is some video of a pre-alpha build for Mutant Football League—supposedly—due out on PC in 2017 and 2018 for Xbox One and PS4.

25 years after the first game, is far too long to wait. This should have been done ten years ago.

3. Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Back in the day, Lucasarts created some of the best video games on Earth: Secrets of Monkey Island, all the Star Wars games, and Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Zombie games are one of my favorite genres. Left 4 Dead was amazing. Dead Rising was a lot of fun. But neither of them compare to the ridiculousness of Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

My cousins and I couldn’t stop playing this game. We may have played it more than Mario Kart and Zelda combined. And though you can download the original on Nintendo’s Virtual Console, I still have no idea why this hasn’t been remade?

Oh, right. I know why.

Because Disney shut down the video game development side of Lucasarts. And I doubt The Mouse will want to release any game that involves zombie, werewolf, and vampire murder. Goddamn it Mickey.

4. Battletoads

I don’t have kids. But if I did, I wouldn’t send them to time out for punishment. I’d sit them down in front of Battletoads, with implicit instructions that the only way to get out of timeout is to beat the game.

They’d either stay in timeout forever, or they’d apologize and beg for the torture of this game to stop.

A remastered Battletoads would be huge. And yes, I know Rare released it on their compilation, Rare Replay, for the Xbox One. But the game only took up half the screen; plus, that border is obnoxious. And though the original is fun, in a sadistic kind of way, I’d rather have a remastered Battletoads to play than another broken ass Gears of War.

5. Conkers Bad Fur Day

Since I’m already on the Rare bandwagon, we can’t forget about Conker. This is still, hands down, the most expensive N64 game you can buy on Ebay. Not kidding, I’ve seen this game sell for damn near $200 before.

And yes, Microsoft and Rare did remake the original 64 game in 2005 for the original Xbox, but it deserves to be re-released in HD—with none of the original humor censored.

So I guess this would be a remake of a remake? But who cares. Conkers Bad Fur Day is the most ridiculous game ever made. Not only for its adult humor or smart ass wise cracks that Conker makes to the player as he breaks the fourth wall, but the multiplayer was, next to Goldeneye, the best on the 64.

It deserves to have a modern remake for the Xbox One.

6. X-Wing vs Tie Fighter

I don’t need to say much more here. This is one is pretty much a no-brainer. But it won’t happen. And if it did, EA would probably muck it up. So maybe it’s best left as a fond, but distant memory.

  7. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem

There were a ton of amazing games that disappeared into the background on the Gamecube. But Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem was a literal mind fuck.

You can read what the story is all about here. But what made this game such a mind fuck is that the game employed what it called, the “sanity meter.” And as you roamed through the game—the hub of the game being your character’s family mansion—if your sanity meter began to get low, the game would do really crazy shit; it was designed to represent a reflection of the main character’s grip on reality.

The lower the meter dipped, the more health you’d lose.

At the same time, you might notice that all of a sudden the camera angle changed. Or that you’d suddenly hear cries, whispers, or unsettling sounds emanating from the speakers.

The game even broke the fourth wall and would give you a “blue screen of death,” making you think the game/system had malfunctioned. It had not. But it was designed to pull you in and mess with your own sense of reality.

Here’re a few more of the crazy things that could randomly happen in this game:

Your character would enter a new room and be walking on the ceiling instead of the floor

Walls and ceilings would bleed

The game would lower its volume and then put a “fake indicator” on your screen, making you think “something” was controlling your TV.

The appearance of large numbers of monsters that weren’t really there and would disappear when attacked

Statues heads would turn and follow your character.

This game was genius. Terrifying. But genius. And a remake by Nintendo, specifically on The Switch, could grant them a ton of opportunities for even crazier mind fucking moments.

8. Earthworm Jim

Do I even need to go any further here? No. I don’t.

Give us Earthworm Jim. The end.

9. Superman 64

Wait, what? How in the hell could I include (arguably) the worst game ever made? Well, for one, it deserves to be remade. Hear me out, though.

Until Rocksteady came along with Arkham Asylum, Batman games kind of sucked. So who’s to say that someone—cough, Rockysteady, cough—couldn’t make a good Superman game?

Plus there are a ton of Easter Eggs in Arkham Knight that allude to the fact that Rocksteady’s next game might include The Man of Steel.

  10. Deer Avenger

I didn’t get a computer until 1999, so I didn’t get to play a lot of PC games. But Deer Avenger was one of a handful of PC games I got to play at my friend Julian’s in the late 90s.

The premise is simple: you assume the role of a deer named Bambo who hunts humans in the same way you’d hunt deer in Deer Hunter. But with a whole hell of a lot more jokes about rednecks.

Five games were made in the series. It was nothing Earth shattering gameplay wise. But it was a whole hell of a lot of fun and one I’d love to see updated, especially, in today’s world.

11. Dr. Mario

Nintendo, why in the name of all things holy have you not remade Dr. Mario?

You probably expected something epic at the end and not Dr. Mario, didn’t you? Well, this is my list after all and I fucking loved some Dr. Mario.

Actually, a remake of Dr. Mario would be a great successor to Mario Run as a mobile game. So, um, Nintendo get on that.

If you had it your way, what games would you want to see remastered or updated for this console generation? Let me know in the comments below.