Looks like we have pictures of Pokemon Black/White's Legendary Pokemon. White get's RESHIRAM and Black will receive ZEKROM. I'm a little let down in the design. Just a bit! I think Reshiram looks a little wonky but is truly weird looking. I have to give them credit in creating a truly bizarre looking Pokemon. I love the big white wolf cock sprouting between its legs. Hilarious. Zekrom is completely badass but a little too boring looking. Here is what the Japanese site has to say...

"Reshiram, with a pure-white body, will be in Pocket Monsters Black, while Zekrom, with a lacquer-black body, will appear in Pocket Monsters White. Each of them are Legendary Pokemon that have a big connection to the history of the Isshu region and hold the important key to the story."

Let's hope the "story" is a completely new and engaging experience this time around!  Thanks pokebeach.com for the info!

Other games have done similar things, I believe Dragon Quest VII had a job system, and Guild Wars had a dual class system that was also pretty similar.  The ability to create a custom team, each person built from 2 completely different jobs/classes is immensely exciting to me, and fills my head with thoughts of all the interesting combination one could make.

I Ever since i played FFV back in early high school roughly 8 years ago, I've been waiting for a new RPG to come along with a similar job system... at least one that doesn't have a concept worse than FFV (I'm looking at you FFX-2.)

I was upset when I heard DQIX changed from an action RPG to a standard JRPG, and so I haven't bothered reading up on it until it was recently announced.  First thing to catch my eye was a job system very faithful to FFV, actually it sounds pretty much identical, and not only is that okay, I'm really excited about that!  If no one can do a great job system, than steal from the best.

But there's more!  Every characters physical looks, gender, clothes can be customized.  From what I am hearing about this game, is that instead of trying to be a western game (and failing), it plays to the strengths of what makes JRPGs great, and adds a little flair of customization that has become so popular with western games.

I'm officially excited.  Bring it on!

Prof. Rowan: "Your puns are weak..."

Now we have full body shots of the Black/White starters. Like with EVERY release of starters, people have been bitching and cumming in their pantaloons across the web. Me? I’m on the fence here. The Kanto starters will always be my favorite. Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur are just too darn cool and their find forms are pretty badass. What I see a lot of on the nets is the constant complaint that these new starters are uninspiring. Huh? Hold on. As cool as the Kanto starters were, they were essentially a lizard, a toad, and a salamander. Uninspired? Let’s give the new starters a once over, shall we?

Tsutaaja (Grass-Type)

I like this look. I find the artwork very unique considering it is called the Ivy Snake Pokemon. I’m guessing the final form will be Poison/Grass-Type. I think Ken Sugimori did a really nice job with the design. This group of Pokemon really stand out from one another and I think it’s due to this guy right here. Pokabu looks like a pig-rabbit and Mijumaru looks like an otter. Tsutaaja looks like a weird cross between a snake, a bug and a gecko. Cool!

Pokabu (Fire-Type)

Awwww!!! Look how CUTE this guy is! So far, from what I’ve read online, Pokabu is the fan favorite in terms of cuteness. He is indeed extremely cute but I feel like Spoink pretty much covered the pig look. Grumpig turned out pretty excellent as well. It would be cool to see this guy go from uber cute to uber baddie when he’s fully evolved. Maybe a Dark/Fire-Type? I like this pig rabbit very much.

Mijumaru (Water-Type)

This guy will be my starter. No doubt I’ll have the other two on my team via trade, but this guy will be my team leader. I love the water types in these games and have used them since the beginning. I have fond memories of selecting Mudkip. I like this design a lot but like Pokabu, we had an otter Pokemon with Buizel and Floatzel. It would’ve been nice to see another animal used. I bet this little fuzzball ends up being a Water/Ice-Type Pokemon in the end. I’m basing this on the coloration. Who knows? I do know I like him and can’t wait to choose him.

In the end I have to say this is truly a unique group of starter Pokemon. I would’ve liked to have seen a better selection of animals, but I’m pleased with the designs. Below is a picture of our beloved Pokemon artist and designer.

Ken Sugimori

]]> http://www.turbobossbattle.com/2010/05/15/start-here-blackwhite-starters-overview/feed/ 0 http://www.turbobossbattle.com/2010/05/13/tilt-to-love/ http://www.turbobossbattle.com/2010/05/13/tilt-to-love/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 01:13:10 +0000 Alex http://www.turbobossbattle.com/?p=711

I love Tilt To Live.  I've been hearing about it for weeks now thanks to Mr Justin Mcelroy. (Check out the the Mcelroy brothers' new podcast, it's my new favorite.)  I couldn't imagine that it was that great, another throw away iphone game (i've bought plenty.)  No, this game is perfect.  Clearly this game took a very successful game, Geometry Wars, and tweaked it in two very specific ways.

1)  A major problem with lots of iPhone games is that your finger covers up a part of the screen you would like to see.  Tilt to Live solves this by making the controls completely based on tilt.  That may sound terrible but they did a great job making them feel responsive, never once have a blamed the controls when I die.

2)  The other change is what really makes Tilt to Live stand out among all the other "twin stick" shooters that came after Geo Wars.  Instead of aiming where you shoot, there are always 3 items floating around the field.  Pick it up and the item is automatically unleashed.  So far, a bomb, homing missiles, a shield, a large cannon blast, and an ice bomb are available to me, but more unlock as you unlock more achievements.  This somewhat small change to the game play makes a huge difference.  It is exciting as you weave through red dots to get the weapon that you want to activate.

I'm rarely one to aim for high scores, but this game has me hooked, I only wish i had some friends to keep me pushing for higher scores.  This game could actually translate to the big screen very nicely, or even the small screen as a PSP Mini.  It's $2, go buy it!

Prof. Rowan: "They look dumb!"

Alright! Looks like we’ve finally got those leaked CoroCoro scans! Woo! Below is a picture of the three new starters. They are Tsutaaja (Grass), Pokabu (Fire), and Mijumaru (Water).  They look… interesting. They roughly translate to an ivy snake, a fire pig, and a sea otter. The fire pig looks kinda’ stupid but I dig the otter and snake style the other two are sporting. Should evolve into some rad looking Pokemon. Here is some general info about what the articles detail. Click on the images for a high resolution!

The new region’s name is Isshu and is very far away from the other Pokemon regions. Derr!!! Hopefully SO far away that this game will basically hit the restart button and we can get a fresh take on the Pokemon franchise. There is a city shown in the article that has been dubbed Hiun City. This looks to be the city that appeared in the first ever screenshots release. See my previous post. Zoroark’s ability is called Illusion. It basically turns Zoroark into so much of a pussy that he needs to change into your Pokemon in battle. What a dick.

There are only two new attacks mentioned so far. They are Trickery, “which outputs damage depending on the opposing Pokemon’s stats”, and Claw Sharpen, which “raises your Attack and Accuracy.” There is a bit of information regarding the three shiny Legendary Beasts. If you trade over your 12rh movie shiny Entei, Suicune, or Raikou, you can battle and capture a Level 25 Zoroark. It will take the form of your Pokemon and battle your ass. At some point it will revert back to its normal form and you can try to catch him. Cool!!!  Thanks to Pokebeach for the info!

In my last post I went over some things I’d like to see changed in the Black/White. Now I’d like to go into more detail about the series as a whole and what I honestly think would make the series better.

Hiun City is a breath of fresh air in the series. For the first time, a “city” in Pokemon looks like a goddamn city. Usually they look like small towns or rest stops. This is the real deal. Hopefully this city (due to the ships pictured in the artwork) will act as a hub for players. It would be nice if you could take boat trips to far off islands and other regions, not necessarily Kanto, Hoenn, etc., but some larger places to explore.

The problem with Pokemon games is that you always feel like you’re on a journey, not really an adventure. Cities and places all start to look the same and the wilderness in between is pretty stale now. Hopefully this game will be really expansive. It’s hard to tell now, but I have a feeling this game will really push you to explore the far off wilderness to look for your Pokemon.

HMs need to go. Seriously. Why would ANYONE think teaching your Pokemon these moves would be a good idea? Strength, Fly, and Surf are pretty much the only good HMs. Maybe keep those but just give us some rock climbing gear or some jungle expedition gear to climb mountains and cut through brush. Or what about a fucking flashlight for going through caves?! Flash sucks!

What I really dig is that the protagonists are older now. I already feel like a huge weirdo playing this game centered on a little girl and boy who collect creatures with their balls… Hopefully this will open up some mature scenarios in the sense that a little more may be at stake this time around. I’m not talking about murder, this is Pokemon, but I’d like to see some really ruthless bad guys this time around.

A more expansive game is what it really comes down too. I know the information on these game carts is limited but I’d take a more expansive experience over 100 new Pokemon any day. It’s time to revive this franchise!

Prof. Rowan: "There's no excuse for this. You were just being fucking lazy."

Wowee!!! It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? These past few months have been a roller coaster ride for me. But who cares about that, jazz? It’s Pokémon time!

So, what’s new? A few months ago, CoroCoro released the first ever screenshots of Pokémon Black/White. Like most prerelease pictures, these are probably beta shots. I hope they are at least. The new “3D” aspect of going through cities looks a little bland. Hopefully with the release, the city in this pic will have more life. The new battle mode could be cool if they smooth out the sprites significantly. Again, most likely beta shots. I’m guessing HP gauges and stuff will move to the bottom screen this time around so you can see all of your Pokémon in battle. Cool town! I also love that  Pokémarts will be in Pokémon Centers now. Never understood the point of having two separate shops. There's a lot of talk about cars being used in this game lately. Dunno. Sound ridiculous to me. You’re supposed to be a kid in this game.

But the Pokémon precum doesn’t end there! Pokémon Sunday released the silhouettes of your Pokémon Black/White starters. From the looks of it, I love how weird these starters could be. Usually you get a hint of some sort of animal or reptile with starters. But this trio looks really weird. I can make out a duck creature, a pig creature, and maybe a beaver type creature. You poons are gonna love my thread about choosing starters when this game finally comes out.

Forums and nerd sites have been listing what they want in a new Pokémon game so I’ll throw my hat in the ring and do the Celery Man for you guys.

KEV’S PKMN BLACK/WHITE WISH LIST

1. Let’s cut the crap with all these contests!

Seriously! Beauty contests? Pokémon Olympics? I guess these are fun distractions but why not make a spin off game where you can transfer your Pokémon to do this kind of stuff? We buy Pokémon games to train and battle. If anything, add MORE Battle Frontier competitions. I absolutely love Battle Frontier. It’s merciless and addicting. I think Pokémon could use more of that throughout the game instead of lame ass Pokémon dick sucking contests.

2. Let’s have some awesome villains this time!

To be fair, Team Galactic was pretty badass. Cyrus was a true asshole and his plan to wipe out time and space was pretty cool. Your journey to Distortion World was fun too. But all of that really took full form in Platinum. I watched a Pokémon movie with my younger brother a while back, before the release of HeartGold/SoulSilver and the plot centered around Lugia and the Legendary Birds destroying the planet. There was this insane Pokémon collector riding around in a huge flying battle fortress with laser cannons and stuff trying to capture them all. That’s what I want. I want some crazy ass Roger Moore villains this time around with super crazy Japanese flying submarines and floating strongholds. This is the LAST Pokémon game for the DS so ley’s go out with a bang.

3. Pokémon that don’t suck!

In your quest to catch `em all, you always run into the road block of catching awful looking Pokémon. Idiots like Cherim and Sunflora are Pokémon I’d rather stomp on than catch. I know they’re for the little girls who play these games, but shit, at least have a badass evolution for the rad dudes like me! Platinum only had a few awesome new Pokémon. Hopefully Black/White will step it up a bit.

4. More Dark-Type Pokémon!

I hate when people say something needs to be “darker” for it to be any good. It’s not necessarily true for everything! I don’t want these games to turn into something like The Dark Knight or some shit. It’s fucking Pokémon! But in all honesty, Pokémon could really use more Dark-Type Pokémon. Gotta love these badasses. I’ve been wanting to make a Dark-Type team for a while now, but I’m always hesitant because there aren’t a lot of good ones out there. Let’s see some more ferocious Pokémon like Sharpedo!

5. More rematches. More trainers. Less of a pain in the ass to find them!

I think HeartGold/SoulSilver’s biggest flaw is that it’s too much a pain in the ass to rematch trainers and gym leaders. Having to track down all of the fucking gym leaders at certain times and days of the week is absurd! And even after you find all the gym leaders again, you can ONLY rematch them at a certain day of the week! That’s insane! The phone app was a pain in my ass too. Constantly getting calls from idiot trainers you humiliated ages ago is annoying! If you want to rematch them, you have find them on the map again with an “!” on it. There’s gotta be a better way of doing this. I want to battle tougher opponents but shit… I’m a Pokémon Master now, I shouldn’t have to run around like a headless Pikachu to find these queefs.

6. Keep the Pokéwalker app compatible! PLEASE!

I have a love hate relationship with my Pokéwalker. It’s pretty much a cheap asshole but I’m so addicted to it, it’s outrageous. I really hope they keep this app as part of the Black/White game. Please! New courses, new Pokémon with weird moves, and more items to find! It helps during my commute to my soul crushing job in the morning!

7. Transferring made easy!

Let’s all be honest here! With each new Pokémon game, no one REALLY considers it a “new adventure” in the Pokémon universe. Fuck no! You’re a Pokémon champion traveling the globe to be the best! So let’s cut the shit with pressing the restart button and let us transfer our collection/teams into the new game with ease! I hate having to capture a billion weak Pokémon just so I can trade my team from Platinum over to SoulSilver. I guess it defeats the purpose of Pokémon, but I really don’t have the time to recapture all of these idiots again.

Platinum’s BIGGEST mistake, other than beauty contests, was its insane demand of having you complete the Sinnoh Pokédex before you got your National Pokédex. That pissed me off. Most of us aren’t concerned with completing our Pokédex, we just want to train our Pokémon for battle. My Aggron and Salamence from Pokémon Emerald have seen a lot of bullshit in their time. It’s insulting having to trade them over from Platinum into SoulSilver for some stupid Pidgey and Sentret.

I think if they created some sort of Pokéwalker device that could transfer PC Blocks over, that would be so much easier! Maybe have it locked until you beat your 8^th gym leader or something. I’ve been making a list of Pokémon I absolutely must take over to Black/White. I shouldn’t have too.

8. Less ridiculous Pokéballs!

I’m working on a Pokéball article as I type this so I won’t get into too much detail about this complaint, but in short… Either make Pokéballs that REALLY help or just don’t add any at all! Some of these things are just for show and it drives me insane. Here’s my advice, you only need Ultra Balls, Dusk Balls, Dive Balls, and Quick Balls. The rest you can hang as Christmas tree ornaments.

9. New moves!

New game? New moves? Hopefully we’ll see some unique moves this game. I love updating my teams with new moves. HeartGold/SoulSilver changed some of the moves up win evolution and breeding so I’m hoping we see some really wild move sets this game.

10. A Rival you want to battle.

Red/Blue and Gold/Silver had the best Rivals. They were such assholes to you and you really wanted to beat their asses when you ran into them. The Dutch Boy from Platinum was too much of a nice guy. Having him be your childhood friend and such a stand up kid made it hard for me to put his face into pavement. Emerald… don’t even get me started. The dick in HeartGold/SoulSilver was excellent. He was a real horn smoker and deserved getting stomped. Let’s have someone you can’t wait battle.

This is a Slaking BTW...

Beyond Fun & More Fun

I try to avoid using the word visceral on this blog because of it's toxic "video game marketing" bent - but I have to say that summer is the most visceral month.  It is a season dominated by sensations and feelings, instinct and nostalgia - and excepting the oppressive heat - all of these feelings are positive. Even mosquito bites have a kernel of happiness at their center because one only gets them in the summer (ideally at a BBQ... at a yacht club... on Martha's Vineyard). 

But any serious gamer spent a decent amount of their summers indoors playing video games. Sure this sounds sad, and is probably a truth that is best left unsaid to any girl, but memories of sitting in front of a fan, possibly shirtless, playing Final Fantasy are the equal to any day at a beach eating cheese sandwiches. As a kid/adolescent, summer was an infinite sprawl of free time to play as many video games as possible. I would give a few toes to be as carefree and steeped in games as I once was able to be, able to casually knock of 30 hours on RPG in just a week instead of a month. 

 As my ability to acquire games outpaces my ability to actually play them, I've built up a shamefully thick backlog of games-to-play in my library. This summer, with at least a week out of commission due to impending surgery, I've been thinking about what games I should finally beat and/or rack up more hours in. Yeah, I'll probably just winding up playing Mass Effect 1 and 2 again, but at the beginning of summer I get so nostalgic for the summers of my youth that I only want to play old games. Here are THE five games I need to play this summer:

• Beyond Good & Evil
• Skies of Arcadia
• Final Fantasy XII
• Star Ocean: The Second Story
• Vagrant Story

And, like every summer, I swear to play a 3D Zelda game. Every summer since it was released, I drag my N64 out and hook it up to the TV so I can take another pass at Ocarina of Time. But I only ever make it through the first dunegon and out onto Hyrule Field before I put the controller down, throw up, and never to pick it up for the rest of the summer. Is it because my surviving N64 controller is sorta busted? Or perhaps because the N64 on an HD-TV looks like shit? Or is it because I never really liked Ocarina of Time as much as I wanted to? I suspect the former two, but deep down, I know it is the latter. And that's why I think I try to play it every year - because I love A Link to the Past so much, why shouldn't I love Ocarina of Time? Looking at the other games in the series, would I like Major's Mask and it's eccentricities more? It's arguable that The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are just updated, more contemporary versions of Ocarina of Time, so maybe I should just skip to them?

Zelda and summer go hand-in-hand especially in my mind because the Zelda games were the first ones to impress a sense of environment on me. Plants, animals, all seemed to be a part of their surroundings, and exploring ones surroundings is what Zelda, and summer, are all about. Ocarina of Time had a fantastic, almost impressionistic sense of place, probably necessary beause of hardware limitations. The impression of these Zelda games always brings me back, but the mechanics of actually playing it aren't that appealing to me. And you know what? I guess I could say the same for summer - it's a fantastic memory, but often in the thick of it, I'm sweating my ass off and giant bugs constantly harass me.

Epilogue: After I finished writing this Zelda rant, I realized that what I love most about Zelda games is present by the boatload in Beyond Good & Evil, the game at the top of my summer list. So check that game out!

When deciding on what I wanted to study in college it was between communications and computer science.  I accidentally ended up at an engineering school so I went with programming.  I really liked programming because when the day was over, you had something interactive, something you can show to people and say "check this out, I made this."  Even stupid homework assignments usually resulted in something to feel proud of.  Then again, maybe math majors feel proud about having 8 pages worth of Greek symbols that no one can read or appreciate except other math majors. 

Unfortunately, I'm not someone who loves programming so much that I feel a compulsive urge to do it all the time, so I never attempted to make much more than what I produced for my homework.  After my sophomore year I took a shot at making a game with XNA, and in 3 weeks time, working about 7 hours a day, I made a pretty decent Bejeweled rip-off. I learned a lot, and it was really exciting to show people who were not only a little interested, but refused to give me back my computer because they were playing it.  Then I started working again, 40-60 hours a week, and the game got shelved.  It lives on my hard drive now, collecting virtual dust. 

During my junior year in college I took a game design course. It was focused on board and card games, but touched briefly on video game design.  I found that designing games is where my true love was.  However, as most people know, or should know, game design is not something you just walk into and expect to be paid.  But, with a degree in programming, I had a skill so I decided I would try for my old dream of making games. 

I applied to lots of game companies before graduating college, just like many others did. Those who succeeded in getting those jobs, I congratulate you.  My admitted laziness clearly held me back from getting a job, something I regret.  However I still love video games, and I've learned a lot in the past year since graduation (sorry this has become a coming of age story).  More than anything though, I've learned in the past year to motivate myself enough to successfully complete projects.  What projects you ask?  This blog.  It is now 4 months strong, and I'm proud of it.  It started as a little dream, and it because a reality. 

I have never made pong... just a variation on it.

While I'm not done with blogging, Paul and I have added a new video game project to the table.  This time, we are MAKING a game.  I still have to do the programming, but at least I have a 50% share in the design of the game, which is infinitely more than I would have had at a large company.  I get really excited thinking up new ideas and discussing them, I almost called Paul at midnight when he was probably sleeping one time because I came up with a great new game play concept and didn't want to wait till morning. (Asleep at midnight? Ha, never! - Paul) 

Currently I'm simply learning the ropes of the language and tools, but even the simplest tutorials make me happy when they are done.  Tell someone you made an interactive thing, and they are instantly impressed.  It's a good feeling.  Now I just need to keep this motivation going.