Saturday, July 30, 2016

The state of pro Heroes of the Storm


Heroes of the Storm is one of my favorite games and most definitely my favorite moba (massive online battle arena game). However, the pro HoTs (Heroes of the storm) scene isn't doing so hot. Although Blizzard isn't necessarily a video game company underdog HoTs wasn't received so well. It wasn't that everybody hated the game its the fact that Blizzard is competing with League of Legends and Dota 2 (two of the biggest esports). They were bound to face a unwinnable battle in that regard.

A year since launch with improvements how does HoTs hold up? When the game launched in 2015 there was a mad dash to get in on the competitive aspect of it. "Big names—MVP.Black, Cloud9, and EDward Gaming—and teams of friends rushed into the queue. Even YouTubers got involved, with Jesse Cox (aka Shaboozey) putting a team together called Stellar Lotus." (Pc gamer) The success of Hearthstone as a casual and competitive game was a good sign that Blizzard would support the game for years to come.

However, HoTs didn't fit the esports fans' tastes. "One of the game’s core changes to the MOBA formula, replacing items with talents that are gained at level increments rather than through accumulating gold, was hard to demonstrate to a spectator—especially as some talents had nigh-identical images despite having dramatically different effects." (Pc gamer)

The accessibility of the game as an esport is where progress has been made. The game was on ESPN and the presentation is inspired by traditional sports broadcasts.

However, one of the most important parts of esports is players and their teams. That's where HoTs is struggling right now. The biggest prize pool for a HoTs tournament was $500,000 at Blizzcon 2015-where Cloud9 won 3-0 in a best of five. They carried on until 2016 and then went on some losing streaks and didn't qualify for the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship. So they disbanded the team entirely.

They weren't the first major team to call it quits either. Natus Vincere (known as Na'Vi) split in April 2016 after a period of losses. Other teams like compLexity, G2 Esports, and Edward Gaming have all thrown in the towel as well.

The reason for all these teams disbanding is poor performance but considering the game has only been out for a year is that truly the reason? Teams wouldn't disband after only one year in any other sport. Esports is an unstable field but some teams just don't have the stick-with-it or drive to keep playing. Another important factor is that teams aren't seeing a financial benefit to sticking with the game. This is a business with managers and for them this isn't a game-its a business.

All of this has lead to Heroes' professional scene full of amateurs. One of the games' defining moments was Heroes of the Dorm-a tournament series for regular people (not pros) that went to colleges around the United States. The prize was a scholarship worth up to $75,000. This showed how broad the community of players was instead of the usual pro player sponsored scene.

This is what makes Heroes' competitive scene great. Blizzard is honing new talent and that's a great thing to see. Heroes will do great as long as Blizzard continues to do that. Given the success of Heroes of the Dorm Blizzard would do well to keep fostering grass roots talent. The esports scene is still questionable and no one knows what it will be like next year. Until then I'll be playing in solo q.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Pharah-unplayable or just not picked that much anymore?


Some people are saying that Pharah is kind of unplayable now. She kinda is and she kinda isn't. Since launch Pharah has been a force to reckoned with. Every time players heard justice rains from above they would either cower in fear or try to shoot her down as fast as possible. She only had problems against Widowmakers and Soldier 76. But since the Widowmaker nerf and the fact that Soldier lacks the burst damage to keep her at bay for too long she's done really well. Ana, the new hero can take Pharah down easily (but slower) so she has to watch out for all the new Ana players. Things are a lot tougher for her, that's for sure. She isn't completely unplayable though.

Now Pharah has to worry about Soldier 76, Widowmaker, all the new Ana players, McCree, and the newly buffed Zenyatta. Once Zenyatta discords her anyone can snipe her down fast. Pharah players now have to play a bit more crafty-staying out of lines of sight, thinking more about enemy and ally positioning, and using terrain to their advantage. This is how it should be. Before she could hang out in the sky and do whatever she wanted-raining death from above. Games are a lot tougher for her now. But she seems playable. However, if things get too tough you should know when to throw in the towel and switch heroes.

One thing I have noticed is the absence of Pharah in competitive Overwatch the last couple nights. I believe this is due to the fact that pro teams are running Zenyatta a lot more often (usually with Lucio) and the fact that he can discord her and shoot her down is a major factor. 

The truth is that unless you're playing in the top 10% of players who have perfect aim and never miss you don't have to give up on Pharah. Keep shooting those rockets and raining justice from above.

*snickers* What's a rocket jump?

Ana, trolling with permasleep


Ana's sleep dart can be devastating-especially when you hit someone when they're using their ultimate. But did you know that the sleep dart can also boot players from the match? This only works with three Anas and a poor enemy team. So this won't be happening in competitive due to the one hero limit.

The way it works is that you sleep dart an enemy player and keep hitting them with successive darts until they're booted from the match for being away from their keyboard. You need three Anas for this to work and you need them to be uninterrupted for a minute or so. Highly unlikely scenario. Check this video out here and let the lol's begin.

It's a funny trick that will probably be patched by Blizzard in an update.

Since Ana got buffed she's really good! Glad to see Blizzard giving her some love.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

[PC] Overwatch Patch Notes – July 26, 2016


HERO BALANCE UPDATES

Ana
Biotic Rifle
Rate of fire increased by 20%
Magazine size increased from 8 to 10

Developer Comments: While Ana has been very well received, she was showing to be a little bit weaker overall. In addition to helping her feel better to play, these changes should also increase her healing and damage output.

McCree
Peacemaker
Primary Fire
Damage falloff range decreased by 10 meters
Damage falloff amount is unchanged
As a result, even with this change, McCree’s effective range is still higher than it was at launch
Alternate Fire
Rate of fire increased by 15%
Flashbang
Recovery time (i.e. the amount of time before McCree can fire again) decreased from 0.5 seconds to 0.35 seconds

Developer Comments: McCree’s latest range increase helped him quite a bit, but it was a bit too much in the right hands. This change weakens his long range damage somewhat, but still keeps it stronger than it has been in the recent past. The other changes combine to allow him to land more alternate fire shots on targets that he has hit with Flashbang.

BUG FIXES
Heroes
Targets of Ana’s Sleep Dart will no longer instantly recover when damaged (recovery time is now 0.5 seconds)

User Interface
Fixed UI compatibility issues for ATI card
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause LĂșcio, Mei, and other models to only partially render (or disappear)

This patch makes Ana super buff. Her new fire rate puts her at over 100 healing per second. Mercy's healing per second is only 50 so Ana now has the best single target healing in the game-if she can hit her shots. Her sleep dart buff gives her more time to respond to a waking sleeping target. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be playing Ana now. There's greater room for error with her faster rate of fire. She's great now. I won a game today using her and played a perfect game with zero deaths. Got plenty of sniped headshots shots and had no problems healing everyone. I'm definitely going to be playing her a lot more-even in competitive.

McCree got a nerf. He now has a damage fall-off after around 20 meters. His full damage range is only 21 meters and then after that you get damage drop-off. We also have a change to his Fan the hammer and Flash bang combo. Fan the hammer's rate of fire has been increased by 15%-meaning you get off the shots faster. And the amount of time you can Flash bang again has been decreased. Fan the hammer is probably going to start being used more.

Blizzard just keeps updating, buffing, and nerfing characters with McCree seeing the most changes. I really like how Blizzard is changing the game as the players play but sometimes I like when games stay on one patch for a while. I liked McCree last patch because he seemed op and I enjoyed playing him. I'll have to check his style out now with these changes. The great thing about all these changes is that it shows that Blizzard is keeping the game fresh-possibly long enough to keep us entertained for quite a while.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Quien es Sombra?


For months now Sombra's name has been hinted by Blizzard. Thanks to some information mined from hardcore fans and Blizzard we now know a bit about one of Overwatch's heroes Sombra. Blizzard has left lots of clues in game about her, something we call args (alternate reality games). That's when developers leave clues in game about characters and future updates and leave it up to the community to make of it what they will. It really brings the community together. Blizzard has had a ton of args with Overwatch so far. 

In Ana's origin story video a code quickly flashed on-screen. This was deciphered to read "She who has the information has the power". In the past few days we got a new clue. At the end of Jeff Kaplan's update video about Ana there was this strange few seconds at the end of the video. It looked like tv transference or possibly a mistake but it was actually a hidden message.

The lines in the image were translated into a bar code-which spat out a binary code, which was then turned into black and white pixels, which leads to a qr code. The qr code displays this message in Spanish: "Estuvo eso facilito? Ahora que tengo su atencion, dejenme se las pongos mas deficil." Which translates to "Was that easy? Well, now that I have your attention allow me to make things much more difficult." This aig hints that there's going to be more difficult clues in the future.

But the clues don't end there. People also found a mysterious image at the end of in game ability videos. A lot of people are saying its a distorted image of Sombra.

Sombra translates in Spanish to Shadow. This suggests that she's going to be Overwatch's first stealth hero. There's a bunch of ptr character voice-lines that suggest that Sombra's a stealth character-similar to characters yelling out spy! in team fortress. It's pretty obvious that the voice-lines are hinting at some invisible hero but it doesn't make a specific reference or say Sombra's name. This leads us to think that maybe Sombra has an ability that can make allies invisible or camouflaged. One could only hope. 

We also know that Sombra is a villain and probably a member of Talon-the Overwatch baddies club that Reaper and Widowmaker are apart of. Reaper has a voice-line (triggered only on Dorado) that suggests this. "Where's Sombra when you need her?" Sombra has a strong presence on Dorado with a bunch of terminals saying access not authorized Sombra protocol. There's also a bunch of classified files with her name on them.

So she's a Spanish stealth-based member of Talon who is associated with the map Dorado. We might see Sombra's debut at Gamecom (which is in a month). That's a short time frame to show the next new hero but Blizzard has a massive presence and they always make big announcements for their titles there.

Honestly there were so many clues hinting at Sombra for the longest time that I thought she was going to be the first post-launch hero. But they gave us Ana instead. The idea of a stealth-based hero in a fps game reminds me of the spy from Team Fortress. Once she's revealed the hype train will be strong-possibly stronger than it was for Ana. Hopefully she has a cool melee weapon or knife like the spy. It would be great to backstab people in Overwatch for the lols. We'll have to wait and see if anything is announced at Gamescom next month for more information.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

What we know about Doomfist


Doomfirst is one of Overwatch's characters that was first hinted at in the announcement trailer.  Doomfist is described as having the capability to level a skyscraper. His gauntlet was the reason for the drama with Widowmaker and Reaper breaking in and Tracer and Winston defending it (opening game trailer). In the trailer one of the kids puts on the gauntlet and uses it to punch Widowmaker-and boy did it pack a punch!

It was revealed in an interview with PC Gamer that the idea of Doomfist was only for that trailer (Blizzard making things up as they go) but overtime the development team came up with more ideas for the character.

In Numbani, the African city where humans and omnics (robots) live in peace, the threat of Doomfist lingers everyday. We're all familiar with the payload on this map. If you take a close look you're actually delivering Doomfist's gauntlet. After the attempt to steal it from the Overwatch museum it was brought to Numbani for safekeeping. If you look around the city you'll find advertisement for the Doomfist exhibit coming to the Numbani Heritage Museum. On the other side of the city and inside the museum you an see a holographic display of the gauntlet and some info about it. On the other side of the wall we can see the characters who bear the name of Doomfist. There's three of them. 

Who is Doomfist? He's a generational character. There's the Savior, the Scourge, and the Successor. The Successor might be the current Doomfist. He might even be omnic too because under his picture is omnic writing. Will Doomfist be the next playable character? In that same PC Gamer article they discussed having Doomfirst as a playable character. There's a good chance that he'd be considered evil and that he might be the leader of Reaper and Widowmaker.

Just the idea of Doomfist is cool. Even in the hands of a child his gauntlet packed a significant punch. Who doesn't want to walk around carrying a gauntlet that can level a skyscraper? It would be great to have more melee characters in the game. Who am I kidding? I just want to sock people in the face.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Heroes of the Storm vs League of Legends


I enjoyed the video game death-battle so much in the last post that I thought I would do it again, this time focusing on mobas (massive online battle arena games). If you didn't know mobas are team based games with 5 players testing their skills against another team of 5. League of Legends (LoL) is one of the most famous mobas and games of all time having 67 million playing every month, 27 million playing every day, and over 7.5 million playing at the same time during each day’s peak play time. That's a lot of people! It's also one of the biggest esports (pro gaming) games. Riot games sure have a winner on their hands. Heroes of the Storm (HoTs) is a relatively new moba made by Blizzard that also has a role in esports. Here I'll tell you a bit about the similarities, differences, and what I consider to be the better game.

First, the similarities. Both games are mobas that feature 5v5 team battles. The object of the game is to destroy the towers in the lanes (mid, left, right) and get to the core. Once you destroy the core your team wins. It's as simple as that for the most part. These games feature champions or heroes that all have unique abilities and play styles. Once you reach a certain level you get your ultimate ability-which is your trumpcard that's used for killing blows.

In addition, both games are featured in the esports scene. LoL is one of the biggest esports and has been for a while. Although HoTs is sort of dying the game still has somewhat of a strong esports following and major tournaments.

Also, both games are free! You can download either of these games free through Riot or Blizzard at no charge. However, both games feature in game cash transactions to buy heroes and skins. I've spent some money on HoTs but haven't delved into LoL enough to want to buy new champions. That's where the similarities end.

The main difference is that LoL features items and HoTs doesn't. You can buy items in LoL in-game from the shop to boost and aim your character is whatever direction you want in terms of stats. The other main difference is that in HoTs levels are shared by the team-meaning that experience you get for killing creeps (non-player minions in the lanes) or players are shared by your entire team. In LoL your experience is your own. This means that if one player gets fed (kills a lot) they can dominate entire teams by out-leveling their opponents. A team can out-level another team in HoTs but in LoL I've seen games where one hero is so much higher than enemy players, its a whole different ball game.

I'm a HoTs veteran that's been playing since technical alpha so I'm very fond of the game. I'm proud to have been apart of the technical alpha. That was one of the first betas that I entered into and actually got into. And you know from reading my posts that I'm a poster boy for Blizzard. Let's put it this way: HoTs is better as a casual game and LoL is better as a competitive game. Let me explain.

Even though Blizzard has been trying its hardest to make HoTs competitive I feel the game is too simple and too cluttered visually to be one of the biggest esports. In addition, even though Blizzard makes great games their games tend to be one giant clusterfuck if you know what I mean. Take a look at Overwatch. The gun is taking up the whole screen and there's so much happening visually that it can be overwhelming at first.

LoL, on the other hand seems to make much more sense when I watch pro game-play from tournaments. LoL has a much cleaner visual style that makes it better to view for esports as well as play-ability.

Even though HoTs has a competitive ranked mode I don't think too highly of it. Too often you get placed with players who give up in the middle of matches or who do their own thing instead of playing as a team-making you drop rank hardcore. I'm sure this happens in LoL too but I feel that LoL has a much better competitive ranked mode.

Anyways, HoTs is better as a casual game because it features all the cool heroes from Blizzard's game roster and they all have unique cool abilities. The fact that you don't have to worry about knowing what all these items do makes the game inviting to beginners. I've tried many mobas but I didn't truly understand how to play these kinds of games until I played HoTs. The game is super fun. Although there are technical things like knowing what skills to choose at certain times, these things can be learned as you play. LoL, I feel requires more practice games to truly understand what's going on. Nothing wrong with that. It just takes more time to understand.

League definitely wins this death-battle based on the fact that its player numbers don't lie. I've only played a few games but I'd be down to play more in the future. Its one of those games that seems daunting at first but once you get into the flow of it its quite natural-like Heroes. I still enjoy Heroes though and I hope that Blizzard continues to throw out updates and give us more cool heroes. I'm down for some more Starcraft heroes that's for sure. I did a video about why I like HoTs that can be viewed here. Mobas are still cool kids!

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Team Fortress vs Overwatch


This has been a big debate even before Overwatch came out. While still in beta tons of people were talking about how Overwatch was going to kill Team Fortress. The truth of the matter is that Tf2 (team fortress 2) is still alive and well-especially with its latest competitive mode update. Blizzard could never deny the fact that Overwatch is heavily influenced by Team Fortress 2. Here I'll talk about what makes the games similar and different, as well as my thoughts on which is the better game.

First, the similarities. Both Tf2 and Overwatch are team-based objective shooters. None have team deathmatch or free for all deathmatch modes. Instead, you play objectives as a team. For instance, you could be delivering a payload, capturing points, or defending points. Tf2 does have a bunch of extra game modes that Overwatch doesn't have. Tf2 has a capture the flag mode as well as this great soccer-like game where you pass a ball to your teammates and throw it into a goal.

Both games feature characters with unique class types and different play-styles. Team Fortess 2 features classes that you would expect in an army: Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, and Spy. They all play like you'd expect them to. The Scout runs fast and shoots a shotgun and uses a bat as a melee weapon. The medic heals. The Sniper snipes.

Overwatch features 22 heroes that are all special snowflakes. Some of them do crazy things that you would never think of on your own. Mercy heals people in the same fashion as the Medic from Tf2. Tracer runs around super fast and shoots fast like the Scout. The tanks which include Zarya, Winston, Reinhardt, and Roadhog are almost like the heavy from Tf2 because of the role they're supposed to fill-take damage and stay alive while the rest of the team takes out the squishes (low health enemies).

Also, both games feature this cartoon-like graphics engine. At first I didn't like the cartoon graphics in either Tf2 or Overwatch. But it's grown on me. I'm now a big fan of that cell-shaded art style. It's a breath of fresh air compared to Call of Duty or Counter Strike. This is where the similarities end.

Now for the differences. Tf2 is a f2p (free to play) game whereas Overwatch has a $40 price tag on pc and a $60 price tag for console. Even though there are more benefits to buying items in Tf2, the thing is you can buy just one 99 cent item and make your account premium just from buying that one item. Then you get all the benefits that come with a premium account which includes a bigger backpack space-really important because you get a lot of items as you continue playing the game. You find items for free just by playing.

Overwatch forces more money on the player and even has a money system where you can buy lootcrates. This gives you random things like skins, voice lines, and sprays for all characters. Not gonna lie, I have bought a couple loot crates but its been worth it. I have some really cool skins that most players don't have. However, you don't have to buy anything because when you level up in the game (a leveling system similar to ranking up in Call of Duty) you get one free loot crate. But as you get higher in levels (I'm level 88) it gets harder to rank up because it takes so many games and xp.

The fact that Tf2 is free definitely made it super popular when it came out. But at the same time last month Blizzard reported that there was more than ten million players on Overwatch. So there's that.

Another major differentiation is the fact that in Overwatch your characters have unlimited ammo. This is almost unheard of in any fps (first person shooter) game. I think this is the first fps I've played that has unlimited ammo. It's amazing but it makes the game a lot less technical than Tf2-which has ammo that you can run out of. Tf2 makes you use your ammo cautiously instead of spamming. You can pick up ammo packs around the map when you run out. This forces the player to learn the ins and outs of every map because you're going to run out of ammo eventually-no matter how good you are. In Overwatch if your healer is doing his job right he can heal the whole team. So you don't need to run to health packs unless your being chased down and need it to survive. 

In addition, Tf2 is more violent. Albeit only a little violent. Sometimes when you take a rocket to the face your body will blow up into little bloody bits. The blood is very mild. This isn't like Doom or GtaV or anything like that. Sometimes the death animations are hilarious. Tf2 is still rated M for mature though. You're going to find a more adult crowd playing this game. Good riddance to all the Cod (Call of Duty) babies. Because the game is so old (2007) the players are all veterans with 7,000 hours of playtime. So nobody's a noob and everybody knows what they're doing. This sometimes isn't the case in Overwatch. 

On the other hand, Overwatch has no blood at all. It's not violent at all other than the idea of shooting guns. It's only rated T for teen. Like that's gonna stop the five year old squeakers though. You're going to find a lot of young kids playing Overwatch-especially during the day.

Now that you know the similarities and differences let me tell you who wins in this death-battle. Despite the fact that I only have 40 hours in Tf2 and 70 hours in Overwatch I think of Tf2 as the better game. It's more technical, has a cooler player-base, and the characters' play-styles are more fun to play-at least for me. Although I jumped on the Overwatch bandwagon hard just like all the other content creators out there in Internetland the main reason I got into competitive fps's is because of Tf2. When Overwatch was still in beta I couldn't play it unless I was at my friends house so I resorted to playing Tf2 because I had heard the games were similar. So I thought if I got really good at Tf2 that I would be able to segue into Overwatch. Which I did. It was a difficult transition at first but I got into the flow of improvement quickly.

You also have to consider the fact that the developers of Overwatch were heavily influenced by Tf2. Some of them were still playing Tf2 during development of Overwatch. In a way you could say that without Tf2 there couldn't be an Overwatch. Or a Battleborn, Paladins, Dirty Bomb, Lead and Gold, etc. It all started with Tf2 back in 2007. At the same time though we have to appreciate what has been given to us by these developers. They've created a great gaming experience that can keep us entertained for years to come. Although Overwatch has taken over the gaming zeitgeist and left Tf2 in the dust they are both excellent games that I will continue to play. You should try them out sometime if you haven't already. These are what great games are made of.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Star Trek Beyond


My friend and I went to go see Star Trek Beyond today. I have my friend to thank for allowing me to see all the blockbusters for free. "It is the thirteenth film in the Star Trek film franchise and the third installment in the reboot series after Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto reprise their roles as Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock, with Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and Anton Yelchin reprising their roles from the previous films, with Idris Elba and Sofia Boutella joining the cast."(wiki)

"Principal photography began in Vancouver on June 25, 2015. The film premiered in Sydney on July 7, 2016 and was released in the United States on July 22, 2016. Beyond marks one of the final film appearances of Yelchin, who died in a car accident a month before its scheduled release. The film is dedicated to the memory of Yelchin as well as fellow Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, who died during pre-production. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed over $22 million worldwide." (wiki)

Now that you know the general specifics I'll tell you a bit about the story, my favorite scenes, and what I thought of the film.

It begins with Captain Kirk giving a gift as an offering of peace from this alien race to another. The aliens don't take too kindly to the gift because it was formerly a weapon of war. So he ends up not giving it to them. Then, while in space they get attacked by these bad guys-more aliens. Turns out that this baddie named Krall (played by Idris Elba) is after the weapon to use it to destroy starfleet-I think? We don't really know what his true intentions are. All we find out in the end is that he's all about war and killing people. He thinks that struggle and conflict is what makes us strong. And that starfleet has made peace with their enemies. That kind of stuff. He's kind of a generic bad guy in that sense. However, he was still a cold-blooded murderer.

Anyways, so they crashland on the planet that the bad guys are on and they're all captured and have to find each other. Here's where my favorite scene comes in. Scotty finds himself in trouble with some random dudes trying to fight him. And then this kick ass alien chick comes to his rescue. She had this technology where there were three images of her and they were all fighting the bad guys. She doesn't use it again during the film but she gives the tech to Kirk, who then uses it to save his crew while riding a motorcycle. Pretty fun stuff.

So the alien chick helps them out and it turns out she lives in an old starfleet ship. They come up with a plan, save the crew, leave the planet, and then have to stop Krall from using the weapon on the starfleet base that supposedly had millions of people on it. The weapon causes these black (insects, nanobots, not sure) to come flying out from space and it destroys everything in sight. That's the gist of it. Plain and simple. But effective.

I really liked when Idris Elba's regular face came up on screen. Most of the movie he's wearing this goofy alien mask playing the role of the villain Krall. When I found out it was him playing Krall I thought it was way cool. But as my dad said,"whats the point of having Idris Elba if all you're going to do is put a fucking mask on him?" He's one of my favorite black actors because he does a lot of the science fiction stuff that I enjoy but also because he has a commanding presence as a black actor. He could join the pantheon of great black actors someday soon. He probably already is at this point. He's one of the best actors around-nevermind the fact that he's black.

The movie was good but I felt like it was a little hyped up. Like most blockbusters once you've seen the trailer you get a sense of the entire film. Nowadays all the trailers are like that. In terms of comparing this one to the other reboots I think the other two reboots are better-especially Into Darkness. Like I said this movie was good but it didn't have any defining or interesting moments per se. Just regular Treky kind of stuff. Which is cool because the movie is for the fans.

In addition, I liked how the movie was dedicated to Spock (Leonard Nimoy) who died during pre-production and  Anton Yelchin (Chekov) who died in a car crash at just 27 years old. The fans will miss them and they were remarkable actors. After the credits there was a little tribute to them. Very touching.

If you're into Star Trek then this is the movie for you. If you like science fiction its also for you. And if you just want a good family movie to see this is also good. I'd give it like a 7 out of 10, maybe 7.5 if I was feeling extra generous. It's not a bad movie but it does feel kind of long and droning at times. Most importantly it was fun. Thanks for reading. Live long and prosper. 

Friday, July 22, 2016

The inimitable competitive gaming spirit


Here I'd like to discuss the inimitable competitive gaming spirit. This could go with any multiplayer competitive games. How does one act, behave, or think when they're essentially competing to see who's better than the other players? Let's discuss that in depth. I'm going to speak for myself because I'm a huge competitive gamer but for others some of these ideas might not be the same-or maybe they are you never know. I learned most of this stuff from being a competitive Starcraft player, continuing to play more games competitively, knowing some semi-pro players, and watching and learning from esports (pro gaming).

First, what goes through the mind of a competitive gamer as they fight for glory? When I first started going to smash 4 tournaments the main thing I used to think about was that I had to play perfectly against my opponents otherwise I would lose. I had this feeling in the back of my mind that if I didn't play the best I've ever played I would always lose. And that's what happened most of the time. I didn't play my best. I didn't adapt to the situations and play better. Instead I got stomped on.

Fast forward to today and I no longer think in those terms. In fact, when I compete in a tournament setting today I don't think about winning or losing at all. Instead, I focus on being in the moment-something that playing jazz guitar as taught me. As a matter of fact the only thing going through my mind when I'm playing tournament matches is that I'm having fun doing what I love to do. Now I can win sets without any pressures or stress. If only it were this easy with everything else in life. It's almost like a zen mindset that I've mastered but it took me a long time to figure out. I even had a great SoCal pr (power ranked by regions) Sheik player named K9sbruce give me morale support once. Thanks man!

However, this mindset doesn't apply to me as easily as team-based objective games like Overwatch. Sometimes when I play competitive (ranked) matches I get nerd rage. Any team-based games are bound to have toxicity (toxic players/bad communities) and overwatch is no exception. Blizzard actually released a statement about how they are going to address the toxicity problems within the game.

Anyways, part of the problem is that I'm playing solo queue and that's a general no-no when you're trying to win games and rank up. You want to have a pre-made group with dedicated roles for that.

At the same time though, not all my friends are on at the same times and some of them don't even like to play competitive often. Also, there's the fact that I'm so used to switching and working with different team comps. I actually like getting new people to play with every game. It keeps the game from getting stagnant.

I suppose I'm stuck with solo queue, work with the players I get, and do my best. That's the mindset I've developed for Overwatch. You're going to win a lot and lose a lot. I'm currently looking for a team to play on in the hopes of finding a great competitive team.

I find for team-based games you have to have a completely different attitude from playing one on one games. You have to think about the greater good of everyone rather than yourself. Just because you played amazing doesn't mean anything unless your teammates were there doing it with you. It's an almost socialist communal idealogy to these sorts of games. That one player who runs off and Rambos by himself might be able to get a bunch of kills but he can't defend himself against an entire team that's hunting him down. You're never the main character in these sorts of games. This Shakespeare quote puts it more eloquently than I can.

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven age."

Basically what this means to me is that everyone has a place in this world. And competitive gaming is no different. Sometimes you have the toxic player who curses and slurs their way through the match. Then there are the true team players who focus on teamwork. There's the quiet player who never uses his mic or types in chat. There is always that one player who's shouting with excitement with their mic, or through text. And then if you want to get more in depth there are the actual dps (damage per second), healing (healers), and tanking (defense characters) roles that overwatch and mobas (massive online battle arena games) have.

I could go more in depth about the mental conditioning involved in video games but I don't want to make this too long. Let's just say there's a lot of mental and physical training that goes into playing these games at high levels. There are pro Starcraft players who put in as much as 12 hours a day practicing for tournaments. As good as you become as a player the main reason you continue to put in time and effort into getting better is because the game is fun. If you're not having fun then what's the point? Some people will go on and join teams and possibly play in the majors but most of us are willing to settle for being great players in our region or even among our friends. One thing is certain-the competitive gaming spirit will never die. Just like how heroes never die. 

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Ana. Much skill. Much wow.


So Ana came out Tuesday and everybody's hyped for Overwatch's first post-launch hero. Well, she's great! Blizzard did a great job with the character design. The addition of Ana brings to prospect the idea of the metagame being changed. For one thing teams are now running two healers with her in toe. And the idea of a triple healing comp might not be that far fetched. We could one day see a Zenyatta/Lucio/Ana combo. I've already been in tons of teams with a Mercy/Ana comp and that worked out well. The last posts have been all about Ana and this is no different. Believe the hype.

Pro players are saying she's the highest skill cap hero in the game.

“I think she's insanely high skill cap, potentially even the highest in the game considering how many options she has, while at the same time they are pretty hard to perform (both abilities being skillshots),” Greg “Grego” McAllen, support player and LĂșcio main for Cloud9, told the Daily Dot. “She adds two new mechanics to the game and I'm looking forward to seeing how other great supports use her as well." (Daily Dot)

“I could be biased, being a support player and all, but I really like her how she is, a mix of damage and healing is always nice to have,” he said, though he’s worried she may be a bit too strong. “Some may argue she needs some damage tweaks, but we will see how it plays out.” (Daily Dot)

The reaction to Ana has been strong and mostly positive. I agree with pro players in that I believe she requires the most skill to be effective. One of the toughest aspects of playing her is when to focus on healing and when to take those sniper shots and pick enemy heroes off. I feel like Ana snipes really well at medium to far range. Playing Ana isn't easy. I have about three hours of playtime with her and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

On the one hand I feel like her healing is great and on the other I feel like her sniper shots are good too despite the fact that she doesn't get a damage multiplier for headshots like Widowmaker or Hanzo. She can really do it all. But the thing is that you can't do both at the same time so depending on the player, they have to prioritize all her options. You'd think a team would want to make the player with the best aim Ana but at the same time she isn't some mass murderer weapon that will rack up eliminations or get too many play of the games.

One of the hardest things to get used to when I first started playing her was getting eliminations with no scope shots. Sometimes enemy heroes get right up in your face and your sleep dart misses and your only way of possibly escaping is to grenade yourself (thus healing yourself) and making a run for it. There are other times when a Genji or a Tracer will try to frag you and you no scope headshot them. It's awesome getting kills with Ana. When you go on kill-streaks with Ana its feels different from other heroes because she's so unique. A special snowflake and all that jazz.

Even though she just came out I feel like the hype has already died down for her in terms of how much I've been seeing her in-game. Tuesday she was in every game. Some games we all went Ana. Fun times. By Wednesday games were back with the old supports. I think people just wanted to try her out but they aren't serious about her once they realize how difficult she really is. In some ways its the same with Mercy. Only dedicated Mercy players play Mercy a lot. Its the same with Ana. She won't work unless a player really knows her kit and knows what they're doing. In some aspects she's a specialist sort of hero that not everyone will be into. I dig that because I'm a big Mercy player. Now I can be a Mercy/Ana focused player on competitive mode.

Lastly, I hope that she stays the same for future patches because I feel like she's everything I could ask for as hybrid support class. I feel that the idea for a healing sniper is more novel than the actual execution of the character design. Blizzard did something new for the first person shooter genre with this character. Not only that but she's Pharah's mum too. Although her kit isn't perfect and her sleep dart has a long cooldown she plays like a support sniper's dream. It's a joy to play her and keep a team healthy as you're delivering payloads, attacking, and defending points. I have a feeling she's going to change the pro circuit as well, giving them more ideas for more varied comps-possibly have more supports or just have one really good Ana who heals entire teams alone. Wouldn't that be something to marvel at? I think so.

Monday, July 18, 2016

What's in your earbuds?


Lately I've been listening to a lot of stuff I've already heard.

I listened to the new Megadeth record Dystopia. This was something like the 3rd or 4th listen. I know the album really well by now and it still holds up well after multiple listens. The album gets tiring near the end but the beginning is a total head-banging metal-fest. The riffs remind me of old school Megadeth records from the 90's and the new members Chris Adler (drums) and Kiko Louriea (guitar) breathe new life into what seemed like a dying band. I'm not the biggest metal fan these days but this is an album I can recommend and say with full confidence that it's great.

Going with more metal I listened to a lot of Malmsteen the other night. Nothing in particular. Just his popular tunes. Something about Malmsteen keeps me coming back for more even though I feel like I've heard everything he can do on an electric guitar. I know all his tricks and scales but I don't get bored of it. He's a true guitar technician.

The other night I also listened to Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced again. Without a doubt one of the greatest rock albums of all time. This is one of those albums that got me into rock music as a teen. It's easy to see why. It's so good!

And then there's the general jazz stuff.

I listened to Frank Zappa's Hot Rats and Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch. Hot Rats is a record I've had since high school and Out to Lunch is a free-jazz masterpiece that I have on CD too. Also, I've been listening to Charlie Parker playlists on the daily. Gotta love Bird.

Lastly, I've been listening to some edm (electronic dance music). This includes Skrillex and Mosntercat mainly. Skrillex is very catchy with their beats and vocals. Sometimes I get so into the music that I bob my head so hard its like I'm headbanging. Monstercat is also great and I dig the way he allows for his music to be shared and used online for free. Not many musicians would do that. That's whats in my earbuds. 

Team Fortress 2 Matchmaking and Competitive Mode Update


Team Fortress 2's latest update launched earlier this month and I finally got around to playing it. Here I'll go into the details of the changes. The update is called Meet Your Match, presumably because you'll be playing up against players of even skills in the new Competitive and Matchmaking modes. The update brings the long anticipated Competitive Mode and replaces Quickplay with an Unranked Casual Mode. Before this update the only way to play Competitive Mode was to get a beta pass from a friend, which thankfully my friend gave me. It was a blast playing that before all these sweeping changes. 

The update also brings us three new community maps-Sunshine, Metalworks, and Swiftwater. There's also four new taunts-three community taunts for Pyro, Spy, and Soldier, and an official taunt for the Scout. There's a lot of general changes-improved UI, replaced sounds, and bug fixes. These can all be found on the Team Fortress 2 website.

Competitive Mode requires a premium TF2 Account. So you'll have to buy at least one item to become a premium member. You can even buy a 99 cent item and you'll be eligible. There's 18 ranks ranging from 'Fresh Meat' to 'death Merchant', and post-match medals.

Now for my personal thoughts on the matter. I feel like Valve made this update because Overwatch is the new hit team-based objective shooter and they feel the need to compete with them. That's a healthy attitude for big gaming companies to be fighting for our attention and wanting us to play their games. However, I feel like this update is too little, too late. TF2 is ten years old at this point and they should've done this update a long time ago. Why did they wait so long? Releasing the update right when Overwatch is still in the eye of the gaming zeigeist seems like a cry for help. However, that being said I do believe TF2 is the better game.

But just because TF2's better than Overwatch doesn't mean that Valve does a better job keeping the game relevant, new, or exciting. Overwatch released its own Competitive Mode and they're already talking about releasing a new hero-Ana.  I feel like Blizzard's dev team for Overwatch is doing more exciting things than Valve is.

The interesting thing about all of this for me is that TF2 is what got me into competitive first person shooters. Before Overwatch was released it was in beta and I never got an invite from Blizzard. My friend is a huge TF2 veteran with some 7,000 total hours played. He showed me the game and I decided to start playing it. I loved the cartoon graphics and the comical death animations. I was hooked. I played TF2 a lot before Overwatch was released. I still do. My exceptional Mercy skills in Overwatch are due to my Medic skills from TF2. When playing Medic and Mercy you have to know the ins and outs of combat positioning. It isn't easy at first and not everyone can master it. But that's the fun of it for me. I also sometimes like to play Soldier, Sniper, and Spy but Medic is my main role. I have tons of fun playing Sniper using the bow and arrow, aka the Huntsman.

I got around to playing the new update today and I gotta say that TF2 is still great. However, I don't think this update is revolutionary for the game and I don't think it will bring in new players. I do think the Competitive Mode is a great idea though. I feel like Valve did the Competitive thing because of the success of competitive modes from CS: GO and Overwatch.

My favorite change is that the medic can now move as fast as the characters he's healing. So I can now move as fast as the Scout when I'm healing him. Pretty sick. I like to play a fairly offensive Medic so this is a change that buffs the heck outta the Medic. 

Lastly, the update is awesome. If you play TF2 I'm sure you've already been playing the new Competitive Mode. If you want to try out a great f2p (free to play) team-based objective shooter that predates Overwatch then this is the game for you. This game was doing what Overwatch does back in the day when I was still a teeny bopper. Now, if you excuse me I have a team to heal.

"Medic!"-My teammates 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Anna's story


Here I'd like to discuss Anna's role in overwatch and her backstory. Unless you're an overwatch lore freak who scours the internet for anything that could be story driven you probably won't know anything about these characters. The fact that the game has no single player campaign hasn't stopped the fans from learning as much as possible about the lore of the characters as well as the world they inhabit. Let's get started.

Anna is an Egyptian sniper and one of the original founders of Overwatch. This includes Soldier 76, Reaper, Torbjorn, and Reinhardt. The sixth is a character named Liao who hasn't been revealed yet from Blizzard. This team ended the first Omnic Crisis (omnics are robot people) and saved the world. They paved the way for the larger Overwatch team that we know today.

In addition, we know that Anna is Pharah's mother. Fun fact: Pharah's real name is Fareeha Amari. Anna's origin story trailer focuses on Anna being motherly to Pharah and hoping she wouldn't follow in her footsteps by joining Overwatch for her own protection. Her digital comic legacy reveals that her driving force for combat was to protect others. Also, her fellow agents called her Mama Bear, reinforcing that motherly image.

All that aside, Anna is an ace sniper due to her cybernetic eye. Her robotic eye makes her vision six times greater than a normal human eye. At least she had a cybernetic eye until Widowmaker shot her straight down her scope, practically killing her. Now she has an eye patch where her aiming eye used to be and we don't know whether or not her one good eye is cybernetic.

As explained in the overwatch legacy comic, (all these can be found online btw by simple google searches) Anna was about to take out Widowmaker but hesitated to shoot-a deadly mistake that nearly cost her her life. The reason she hesitated is related to Widowmaker's backstory. Basically Widowmaker was the wife of an Overwatch agent, got kidnapped by evil baddies, got brainwashed into becoming an assassin, and was "rescued" by Overwatch before her conditioning kicked in. She killed her husband then returned back to the evil baddies. When Anna saw her she realized that she was the missing agent's wife and knew what happened. She paused and Widowmaker fired. Eye patch acquired.

Anna was saved but everyone thought she was dead. This is similar to Soldier 76, Reaper, Genji, this seems to be a trend from Blizzard. Anna figured the world would be better off if she was dead and expresses in the legacy comic that killing so many people took a toll on her. Now sixty years old, we're not exactly sure why she's come back to the forefront of overwatch. In her origin story she says that there are people who still need protection.

In conclusion, Anna is a cybernetic soldier who helped save the world and found the organization the game is named after. She's the mother of the cool rocket launching girl (Pharah), was almost killed by one of the most recognizable villains (Widowmaker), and is the fourth character to come back from the dead. I love the image of a motherly loving figure for a video game. That wasn't really a thing until now and its so radically different from what we see in first person shooter games.

Things are looking great for overwatch's post-launch heroes. Gotta hand it to Blizzard for delivering the goods. I look forward to finding out new information and reading the comics when I find the time.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Thoughts on Anna


So I finally got around to downloading the ptr (public test realm) version of overwatch and trying out Anna. If you didn't know you can already play Anna on the ptr by just clicking on overwatch and changing the version you're playing on.

I've been having more fun playing Anna on ptr than actual competitive overwatch. She's the most awesome, coolest character ever! Part of why I like playing overwatch is because I dig all the waifus the game has to offer. Well, Anna fits the bill as a great waifu-a mom at that. She's Pharah's mother with a wicked backstory. However, you can read about that in plenty of other places. Here I'll talk all about Anna's kit and what I think about her moves. Anna is like the Solid Snake of overwatch. She has grenades and a stun dart just like Snake in Project M. I did a short introduction to Anna back in this post here. I'll do a recap on her kit here.

High health pool
Anna has a solid 225 health which is more than the other supports currently in the game. Although she goes down like a wet paper nap at least she has a good health pool to work with. The 225 health is actually really good at the moment. Although she's glass cannon I feel like I have some wiggle room with her health being high. 

Awesome sniper rifle
She has a biotic rifle that can used to heal allies as well as damage enemies. Although she's classified as a sniper most of your healing shots are all going to be fired from the hip because you have a wider field of vision which allows you to see all your teammates around you. You'll need the wider field of view to keep watch on everybody's health. You'd think firing from the hip with a sniper rifle would be a pain but with Anna its a breeze. It's actually super fun. There's nothing like getting a headshot insta kill with a hipshot sniper shot. Anna does that! Also, her sniper rifle reloads super fast. This isn't like Widowmaker's slow reload. This is more akin to say Call of Duty Black Op 2's Svu-as. Basically a super good sniper rifle with a fast reload. Perfect with headshots too. Although Anna doesn't do a lot of damage if you get headshots you can still instakill or two-shot people. 

Grenades
If she throws her grenades at allies it increases all healing they get. If thrown on enemies it reduces all healing they take. It's awesome and the grenades do a little bit of damage against enemies too.  I think the effect even works on yourself if you throw it at the ground around you. Pretty neat.

Sleep dart
She has a sidearm (shift on pc) sleep dart that puts enemies to sleep for quite a bit of time. They'll stay asleep as long as nobody fires at them for what seems like more than 5 seconds. I've been having a lot of trouble getting my sleep darts to land but once they connect its so sweet. I've gotta practice more with this move. It has a long ten second cooldown so you have to use it sparingly and know exactly when to throw it out. It's super effective!

Nano-boost
Her ultimate nano-boost is going to be one of the best support ultimates in the game once she's official. It makes an ally stronger and faster for a short period of time. I've come to find it perfect for tanks, especially Reinhardt. Once he gets nano-boosted he just becomes an unstoppable Hulk. I've also used it on Zenyatta and it was pretty cool. I even used it on another Anna and it worked out pretty well. However, you probably want to save this for dps and/or tanks not other supports for the most effective outcome.

One of the hardest things to get used to with Anna is not zooming in all the time and going for sniper headshots. If you do that too much you'll miss out on healing your teammates. I like to fish for headshots when I notice enemies' health is low but for the most part I'm on the frontlines healing my team, throwing grenades, and charging my nano-boost. She's so satisfying to play as a character because her healing is great and she does moderate damage. Although that sounds ordinary her playstyle stands far apart from all the other characters and from any character I've ever played in a first person shooter game. Blizzard is breaking boundaries here and giving us something new. I can't help but marvel at this unique and fun character design. This is why Blizzard is so good at making games. They know how to make things fun. Something that gets lost in video game development these days.

However, with that being said I feel like Anna is a little overpowered as of right now. I don't think her nano-boost will be as good as it is now once she goes live. Also, I don't think she will have keep the 225 health because that seems like a lot for a support character. I feel like her damage should be increased to make her more viable as an offensive hero. Don't get me wrong, she can still dish out damage and headshot people but she ain't no Widowmaker. I really like what I've seen and I have to commend Blizzard on a job well done. But we all know that Blizzard makes all their heroes overpowered at first so everyone can jump on the new hero bandwagon. Then, once everybody gets used to the character they nerf the hell 'outta the previously op (overpowered) hero. I have a feeling that's what's going to happen with Anna too. Hopefully she stays this awesome once she's released. I like her so much that I'm planning on being a Mercy/Anna main .

In other news last post I wrote about gaming plans. One of them was to join some competitive gaming teams. Well later this week I'm trying out for a smash 4 team. And next month I'm going to join an overwatch team. Unless I find another team sooner. Things are looking great for the future.

Thanks for reading and I will see you all later!

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Gaming plans


I have some plans for gaming that I'm working on.

Getting on a semi-professional and/or rookie gaming teams
I'm interested on getting on semi-professional gaming teams. Right now I'm in the process of trying out for a smash 4 team. But I'm also interested in joining a team fortress and an overwatch team. I play games so much competitively and I want to get better and keep moving forward with my skills. I know a lot about a plethora of games. Now I want to put my skills to the test and keep improving. It will be great working together with teams and having coordination. Up until now I've mostly been a solo queue type of gamer. I wrote all about what that's like here. As a solo queue player I must say that these are.....trying times. But in all seriousness once I get on a team things will be more difficult because I'll have to play better but I will most likely enjoy it more. Although it seems like a lot of pressure I can handle it. In the past I was on a Starcraft II team called Team Peace and we did scrims twice a week and I even played in a tournament style setting. Good times.

Getting more Twitch viewers
So my Twitch account can be viewed here. While my total views has skyrocketed when I stream I hardly get 2 or 3 viewers. I'm not sure what to do. I post when I'm live on a Facebook twitch streamers group and also on my Twitter but the viewers don't seem to be coming in. I know that streaming is a tough gig and that it might take a long time to get more viewers but I've had moments where I've had like 16 viewers in the past. That was when I was playing Starcraft II. So one thing I'll do is play more Starcraft. And try to find other games that seem to attract viewers. Because right now Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm isn't bringing the noise. An important factor that I've worked hard to improve upon is my demeanor and commentary.  

Making more YouTube videos
My first YouTube video can be viewed here. Although it wasn't that great I think it was a good first attempt at a YouTube vid. I plan on making more. My friend suggested that I make guides for Overwatch. That sounds like a great idea but I'm also interested in making comedy gaming videos as well. My stand-up and general banter is pretty hilarious and I think it would be great to expand on that through viral media. The problem I've run into right now is that my friend doesn't want to help me out with making more videos. Its mostly the fact that he's not good at editing videos himself that's the problem. So I'm going to have to learn something-like in school! My next step is to download Blender and look up some tutorials and learn it myself. Good luck to me!

So yeah hopefully once I get things crackin' on this stuff things will be more interesting. I'm already having fun and enjoying everything but I'm at the point now where I want to work harder and produce better and more content. I've got a whole 'lotta work to do. Rip my free time.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Gul'dan added to heroes of the storm roster


Blizzard unleashed a new hero to the Nexus! Gul'dan from Warcraft. Gul'dan is classified as an assassin. He's the first orcish warlock as well as the founder of the Horde. Abandoning the ways of Shamanism and betraying demon-lord Kil'Jaeden as well as his people, he is directly responsible for the orcs' fall to demonic enslavement as well as the Horde's invasion of Azeroth. If you want to see how truly badass this guy is just watch the Warcraft movie. He's the perfect villain in that flick.

Now onto his primary abilities.

Fel Flame
Release a wave of flame, dealing massive damage to enemies. This is his primary way of dealing damage. It's a great move and does moderate damage. Perfect for sniping low health enemies as well as to throw out.

Drain Life
Drain the life from an enemy over 3 seconds, dealing heavy damage each second and healing Gul'dan for a large amount of Health. If you saw the Warcraft movie Gul'dan uses this ability during the entire duration. It's what defined his powers in the movie. It's quite a flashy move.

Corruption
Call forth 3 bursts of shadow energy, dealing massive damage over 6 seconds. Corruption can stack up to 3 times on an enemy. I actually have to work on using this one more effectively because the 3 bursts of energy have to positioned right in order for them to all hit enemies. This skill will take a bit to get used to. For now I use it primarily for lane clearing minions. 

And for his heroic or ultimate abilities. 

Horrify
After a short delay, deal heavy damage and cast Fear on enemy Heroes in the area for 2 seconds. I haven't used this too often because I love Rain of Destruction to death but I do think it's cool that he has an option to fear enemies. Fear makes enemies run away in what seems like random directions. Reminds me of my World of Warcraft playing days doing pvp (player vs player combat) and running into priests, only to keep getting feared.

Rain of Destruction
Summon a rain of meteors in an area for 7 seconds. Each meteor deals heavy damage in a small area. This is my favorite thing about Gul'dan. Its a flashy move and you can't move while the meteors are being summoned so you better make sure you're safe and protected. It deals massive damage in a large radius.

His trait is Life Tap. He doesn't restore mana passively. Instead, you can activate Life Tap to restore 25% mana at the cost of life. This can be good and bad depending on the map and situation. It's what makes Gul'dan Gul'dan in this game. It takes a while to get used to losing life for mana but once you understand the mechanics you realize how much of a powerhouse this character is. Almost like a Li-Ming or Kal'theas that can gain mana. It's great.

Final thoughts
He's basically perfect right out from the start. At least in my opinion. He does everything a warlock-y warlock should do and his Rain of Destruction ultimate looks so cool! Although he can't move when he's summoning the meteors to rain death its still a great ultimate. Check out this team wipe I got earlier today using it here. Not only that but it can be used to take out towers and even a Nexus effectively. Check this out here. That Nexus went down quick. 

He's awesome. He's my favorite character in the game right now and its getting me back into playing Heroes more often. They also buffed Medivh, making him more viable for Quick Match and Ranked. It's great to see great content like this come out for a free to play game. The best part is that I didn't use real money to buy this character. Instead, I used in game gold. It cost me 15,000 gold but that can easily be made again by continuing to play daily. Check this new hero out. He's quite the spell casting powerhouse.

Anna, overwatch's first new hero revealed



Anna is the first new hero to join overwatch. She's a support sniper with a biotic rifle and grenades that can heal allies or damage and impair enemies. She has a sidearm tranquilizer gun to put targets to sleep and a nano-boost ultimate ability that will give her allies an increase in power.

Her weapon is the biotic rifle that can shoot allies to heal overtime or enemies to deal damage overtime. The base damage is low but there's additional damage overtime. It has a scope that allows her to zoom in on targets.

Her first ability is the sleep dart. She fires the dart from her sidearm, putting them to sleep. This can stop people mid-ultimate. This will perfect for those pesky Reapers and McCree's. Any damage done to the target while they're asleep will pull them out of this effect.

Her second ability is the biotic grenade. Any allies caught in the blast radius will get an increase in healing from all sources for a short while. Any enemies caught in the blast radius cannot be healed briefly.

Her ultimate is the nano-boost. She targets a single ally and temporarily increases their movement speed, deals more damage, and has them take less damage from attacks.

Her kit is cool. She isn't going to be a pro mlg style character but she certainly has style. I love sniping and I love healing. She's also Pharah's mother and one of the original members of Overwatch. It was great seeing her launch reveal today and I look forward to when she's officially launched on the servers.

Just a reminder that Anna is out on the public test realm version of overwatch. You can play her and check her out for yourself. I'll probably write a more in depth description of her abilities once I've played her on the ptr. 

7/10 Fire and Dice Smash 4 tournament Road to Evo Edition



So I attended yet another Fire and Dice Road to Evo Edition Smash 4 tournament. I had work that day and they called me in early so I didn't stay to watch all the matches. But from what I played and what I saw, it was a good day.

First off, I won my first set on stream. It was against this Yoshi player going by the tag Smooth. His Yoshi skills were on point. You can watch the set here. Set the timer to around the 16 minute mark and that's when my set begins. As you can see it was a great set. His style was pretty interesting but once I got into the groove of the fight I started to play better and get the KO's that were giving me trouble. It's a great feeling winning my first set on stream. Although I only took one set it was the highlight of my tournament career. I felt like a million bucks. Smash has taken me far not only as a player but also my confidence as a person and a gamer.

After I won 2-1 my next set was against Void-one of the best Sheiks in SoCal. Hell, he might be one of the best Sheiks in the world at this point. I played him game one as Bayo and he annihilated me. I couldn't do anything and got two stocked instantly. I switched to Sheik game two because I knew I couldn't win with Bayo and I wanted to test if he would play differently against another Sheik. The interesting thing is that he did play a bit differently when I switched to Sheik. It was almost like he respected me more or something, its hard to explain. However, I did manage to put up more of a fight and put a little percent on him before he two stocked me. Again, even though I lost playing Void was another highlight of my smash career. He's one of the best players our region has produced and the fact that he came to our humble local tournament was awesome.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about a great set I saw before I took off for work. It was Bam, one of the premiere smash 4 casters from SoCal against K9SBruce, one of the PR (power ranked player) Sheiks. K9 went Diddy this whole set and Bam was playing Bayonetta. Bam's Bayo took me by surprise here. I've seen videos of him playing from Mega Smash Mondays or Wednesday Night Fights but seeing him play in person makes me think that casters can be as great as pro players-if they stick with it and keep improving. The crazy thing is that I heard K9 ended up coming back from losers and winning the whole tournament. What a player.

Basically in every game K9 combo'd Bam super hard with tons of strings (combo connections). Once Bam got to high percents he was able to bring it all back with short succinct combos. His rage (smash 4 mechanic: at high percentages you deal extra damage and send enemies flying farther) got to high enough levels where he was able to KO Diddy with simple stuff. The score was 2-1. I couldn't believe that Bayonetta could come back from high percentages against Diddy. Bam played smart and carefully, something I need to learn how to do if I'm going to keep playing Bayonetta in tournament.

All in all it was a great tournament experience. Probably my favorite Fire and Dice tournament so far. Looking forward to going back on Thursday and giving it my all. I've learned how to play in tournament calmly and not worry about winning or losing. It's all about playing the game to me now. And that's just the way I like it.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Hot Rats


Earlier tonight I saw an acquaintance wearing a Frank Zappa Hot Rats tee. So if you're reading this man this a tribute to you. Anyways, Hots Rats has been one of my favorite albums since I was a high schooler. Frank's music has a special place in my heart because when I was a kid I thought he was the coolest musician ever. I put him on the same level as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and the Rolling Stones. He played the guitar, wrote hilarious lyrics and great tunes, and his overall persona and attitude was pretty much a big fuck you to the status quo-which made him very punk in a way. I admired his genius but more importantly I believed in his ideals.

For example I agree with him that everyone should vote. People should think for themselves. You can do whatever you want to do as long as you don't harm yourself or others. Drugs and alcohol can fuck you up. These are attitudes that I still hold to this day even though I'm no longer a young man (sorta). When I look back at his work I can say with full confidence that this album was Zappa at his peak. I used to have a school friend and I would come over just to listen to his Zappa vinyl records. Good times. The cool thing about this record is that it's as close to jazz as Zappa gets. Downbeat gave this album a rave review when it first came out in 1969. This album also had a big influence on jazz fusion (jazz-rock).

Personnel
  • Frank Zappa – guitar, octave bass, percussion
  • Ian Underwood – piano, organus maximus, flute, all clarinets, all saxes
Also featuring
  • Max Bennett – bass on all tracks except "Peaches en Regalia"
  • Captain Beefheart – vocals on "Willie the Pimp"
  • John Guerin – drums on "Willie the Pimp", "Little Umbrellas" and "It Must Be a Camel"
  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris – violin on "Willie the Pimp" and "The Gumbo Variations"
  • Paul Humphrey – drums on "Son of Mr. Green Genes" and "The Gumbo Variations"
  • Shuggie Otis – bass on "Peaches en Regalia"
  • Jean-Luc Ponty – violin on "It Must Be a Camel"
  • Ron Selico – drums on "Peaches en Regalia"
  • Lowell George – rhythm guitar (uncredited)

Production

  • Producer: Frank Zappa
  • Director of engineering: Dick Kunc
  • Engineers: Cliff Goldstein, Jack Hunt, Brian Ingoldsby, Dick Kunc
  • Arranger: Frank Zappa
  • Cover design: Cal Schenkel
  • Design: Cal Schenkel, John Williams

Let's talk about the music.

The album starts out with a beautiful song called Peaches En Regalia. Arguably one of Frank's best instrumental works. It's heavily orchestrated with lush keyboard chords, orchestral instruments, and guitar. You can definitely hear the music concrete part of Frank's music here.This is the kind of song that once you hear you can see the beauty in Frank's music-his parody songs aside. From this tune we can see his inner composer and see that he was influenced by classical artists like Stravinsky and Edgar Verese. The tune has so many complex rhythms but the melody remains beautiful throughout. It's a short piece but it does so much in its short time frame. It's also totally jazz despite the heavy orchestration. Very challenging and demanding music. This is one of Zappa's best known tunes. For good reason-its one of his best.

The next tune is a rock number called Wllie The Pimp featuring Zappa's childhood friend-Captain Beefheart! His vocal style is raspy and bluesy. And he does a lot of whoop whoop sounds as Frank goes into one of the greatest recorded guitar solos ever. The thing that's so great about the guitar solo is that its heavily structured and edited but it sounds like it was all recorded in one take. It just seems like its all live but its all edited performances. The title Hot Rats comes from lyrics from this song.

One thing that should be said is that back then Zappa already had a defined lead guitar style. However, back then he wasn't as complex as he would get as the 70's or 80's era. He was still developing as a musician but he was already guitar god status. Although the song might seem meandering to people who don't play instruments the fact of the matter is that the solo flows nicely despite being super long. It all fits together like pieces of a puzzle.

Next, we have Son of Mr.Green Genes. This is a total jazz number. It's heavily orchestrated like Peaches En Regalia but appears to be even more jazz influenced. Sounds like Frank was listening to Eric Dolphy. The vibe of the music is uplifting. Frank definitely knew how to write great melodies. Although the song is cluttered with tons of different instruments all at the same time and I don't like orchestration in my jazz I find it great here. Maybe its the fact that every instrument seems to have a well defined style and tone. Nothing sounds like its too much or out of place.

There's even guitar solos that are totally blues-inspired. That was Frank's Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Guitar Slim influences. Those are some great blues guitarists that Frank listened to as a kid. As long as the guitar solo is, again, I have to say that its all edited so well that it sounds like it flows perfectly together. There's so many chord changes being flown all over the place its like a jazz music theory masterclass. This is the kind of music that all musicians would agree is technically great but also musically pleasing to the ear. You gotta have melody in there too alongside the masterful technique.

Then there's Little Umbrellas. Strange name for a tune but if you compare the name and style of this tune to something like Eric Dolphy you can see how its jazz. It's a short piece like Peaches En Regalia that features beautiful melodies played on keyboards and synthesizers. This album makes heavy use of keyboards and synthesizers-which would play a big role in the development of jazz fusion. There's very little acoustic piano on this record-its all electronic except for the horns and orchestral instruments' parts. Here you can notice the nuances between the electronics and the acoustic instruments. Really cool to hear how they mesh together.

After that we have the Gumbo Variations. This is a jam featuring a tenor saxophone solo by Ian Underwood (who played all the keyboards and woodwinds), some electric violin playing by Don 'Sugarcane" Harris, and a guitar solo by Zappa. It's what an open jam should sound like. Frank is heard calling out the tune saying,"A one, a two, a three, a four" and they all start playing. What stands out here is Ian Underwood's tenor sax solo. He can play straight ahead and pop jazz saxophone like saxophone on classic rock records but he can also do squeeking, honking, etc (free jazz saxophone techniques). He does a lot with his technique. You can tell he was inspired by people like John Coltrane especially with all the free jazz elements in his playing.

After the sax solo there's a sick electric violin solo. This was the first time I'd ever heard an electric violin but there was a time where I rehearsed with a jazz fusion band and I got to hear it live in person. Great instrument. Not light on the ears that's for sure. What stands out during this solo is Zappa's guitar comping. He's playing these funky rhythms that sounds like something off a Motown or James Brown record. Or perhaps Herbie Hancock Headhunters. But this is before that stuff. The violin playing is phenomenal and reminds me of my jazz fusion days listening to Jean Luc Ponty-who also worked with Zappa in the early 70's. After the violin solo Frank goes into this insane wah-wah guitar solo. When I heard this as a kid I knew that I had to get a wah pedal for my guitar. This is what a good jam sounds like.

Lastly, the album ends with It Must Be A Camel. This tune features a violin performance by none other than Jean Luc Ponty-who would go on to make a name for himself as a solo jazz fusion musician. He worked with Zappa in the early 70s as well as the Mahavishnu Orchestra before putting out his own records. The highly unusual melodic leaps and rhythms of this tune look like humps on the manuscript music paper so perhaps that's why it has this title. It's a calming tune to end an album that has a lot going on. As melancholy as the tune sounds it also has a certain beauty to it. Great way to end an album.

In conclusion, this album is musically stunning. Bridging the gap between jazz and rock before fusion was even a thing. Frank Zappa was most definitely trying to leave a legacy when he wrote and recorded this music. This isn't lightweight jazz rock music. It's an important part of jazz and rock music history that needs to be remembered. Zappa isn't dead, he just smells funny.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Saxophone Colossus


Back at 'cha with a jazz post!

This is without a doubt one of the best Sonny Rollins albums ever made. Not to mention the fact that saxophone colossus is the perfect name for Sonny Rollins. It was recorded in 1956 with Rollins on tenor saxophone, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Max Roach on drums. Let's talk about the tunes.

The first tune is St. Thomas, a calypso style piece inspired by Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands. The melody is melodic and catchy and repeats twice before Rollins goes into his permutations-improvised lines that change slightly but have a profound change in the rhythm and melody of the song. Max Roach plays a stunning drum solo here. His drums sounded like they were tuned perfectly for this song, especially the tom-toms. This gives the piece that island feeling. Then Rollins re-enters with the band and takes off with more lines. It's hard to describe exactly what Rollins sounds like. I could easily say Charlie Parker and perhaps he was influenced by his contemporary John Coltrane but Rollins simply sounds like himself. Tommy Flanagan's piano tone is bright and upbeat-perfect for the song. Then they bring it back home, repeating the head and ending it.

Next, we have You Don't Know What Love Is. A total ballad. Every straight ahead jazz album has to have a ballad or two, ami right? The tempo is slow but still driving for a ballad. Rollins' sax sings sweetly here as opposed to fast bebop lines. Flanagan's piano comping gives the piece weight, essentially being the meat and potatoes of the band. Doug Watkins' bass anchors the whole thing with the piano, making sure nothing gets offtrack. This might be a bit of a stretch but I actually hear melodies from other jazz tunes here-particularly Body and Soul.. I heard that Sonny liked to use everything he heard in his improvisation. As musicians we all take everything we've heard and use it for ourselves, sometimes stumbling into our own styles in the process.

Then, there's Strode Rode. This one's an uptempo bebop tune that has a bluesy melody for the head. Once Rollins begins his extemporaneous improvisation its just him and the bass for a bit. The bass player stands out here because he's playing a fast walking bass line with style. Then the piano comps along. Max Roach focuses more on the cymbals here-albeit adding lots of tom-tom fills. There's a part near the end where Rollins and Roach take turns trading licks. Rollins plays a line then the whole band drops out and Roach plays tasteful licks with his monster chops. Roach's solos on this album were legendary. Rollins wasn't the only star in this line-up.

The next tune is Moritat. This one has an upbeat melody and tempo that sings sweetly. It sounds like some kind of show tune to my young jazz ears. We know as jazz listeners that a lot of great jazz standards came from Broadway. Although the opening of this piece has a lot of charm the improvisation gets a little fluffy-that is until the end when Rollins and Roach trade licks again. Rollin's lines get more technical but still retain that harmonic and melodic style. The end breaks down with a straight drum solo from Roach. This solo could be a template for jazz drumming. He does everything a great jazz drummer does. I can't explain it because I'm not a drummer but I know it when I hear it. You probably can too. After the drum solo there's the first bass solo of the album. This song also has many familiar melodies in it. I think it's a strong suit of Rollins that when you hear his work you can hear a lot of other famous tunes and melodies. Here I can hear the standard Mack the Knife. The way Rollins focuses on melodies keeps the listener focused on the structure of the song rather than fancy technical skills. Although this group possesses both.

Lastly, we have Blue 7. It starts with a slow walking bassline and eventually the drums join in-mostly hitting the cymbals focusing on beats two and four.  It's a blues for sure. Rollins throws out a lot of fast technical licks among the soulful bluesy stuff. The entire rhythm section shines here. It's pretty difficult for me not to bob my head or tap my foot as I listen. The highlight of the piece is when Roach goes on another drum solo excursion. It doesn't feel forced and it doesn't seem unnecessary when he takes many solos. It's so bloody good that you can't help but marvel at the rhythmic variety. This song has so much going on for it in terms of structure I would find it hard to believe that it wasn't recorded live without sheet music.

This album has a lot of variety and a lot to offer, even to this day. It still sounds fresh and engaging even in the current climate of jazz. This is everything a great jazz album should be and more. Great tunes, focus on melody, phenomenal solos, and a plethora of different styles. As I like to say, "It's all good." I have this album on my Ipod and CD and every once in a while I have to go back and re-listen to it. It's always great to listen to something over and over again and notice different things and the inner nuances of the musicians. This album has gotten rave reviews from all the major jazz publications and you can see why. Albums like this give me inspiration as a musician. I wish I could've seen Sonny Rollins perform live before he went into retirement. I almost had the chance to see him at CSUN college a few years back but the show was cancelled for unknown reasons. I suspect they weren't able to sell enough tickets or Rollins' health was too poor. Either way it's great knowing that the saxophone colossus is still alive and well. He's the only guy from this lineup that's still alive and kickin'. The masters have all left us but we can still look to the past and use their work as a template for the future. 

Blizzard's twitter tease


Blizzard recently released a tweet, teasing us with the possibility of a new hero soon. We all know that this is without a doubt Sombra's sniper rifle. If you didn't know, Sombra is supposed to be a new hero that's classified as a support sniper.

"The picture in the tweet displays an archived conversation between Overwatch heros Torbjorn and Mercy, discussing the blueprints for a prototype "biotic" rifle. This rifle is a combination of the biotic technology that powers Mercy's Cadeceus Staff and Soldier 76's Biotic Field. In the conversation Mercy is concerned about the weaponization of biotic technology." (Akshon esports)

Here's what it says.
As discussed, this is the proposed rifle that could be equipped by medics in the field. Despite what my esteemed colleague will surely suggest, the application of her biotic technology is only intended to be used for healing.
— Torbjorn

While Torbjörn has, as ever, put forth a very clever design for his latest weapon,” Dr. Angela “Mercy” Ziegler responds, “I would like to remind everyone that my intention when agreeing to the development of different biotic delivery mechanisms was to save the lives of Overwatch agents and others in need of medical aid. With this latest proposal, it is clear to me that we are on the slippery slope to modifications that will inevitably result in a weaponized version of this technology: something that I have been completely opposed to from the beginning.
— Mercy

Sounds awesome! These characters all have interesting unique personalities even outside of the actual game. From clues that gamers have put together we know Sombra is a masked hero similar to Soldier 76 and Reaper. In Dorado, there are files directed toward Soldier 76 referring to a masked sniper hero (Sombra). Also, Reaper has a dialog where he says,"Where is Sombra when you need her?" It remains to be seen wheather or not she is on the side of justice or a cool super villain.

"Overwatch fans have been making connections between these points and come up with a rather interesting theory – Sombra was a soldier in the same conflict that supposedly killed Reaper and Soldier 76, who both resurfaced as mask-wearing combat experts." (vg247)

The idea of a sniper healing through shooting sounds amazing. It seems like my kind of thing because I love sniping in fps games and I also like healing too. This seems like the most interesting idea Blizzard has brought to the table with overwatch-at least for me. It's also cool how fans have come to the conclusion that Sombra is Pharah's mother. We'll have to wait and see how this unfolds.

New Year, New Me, [Not Really]

Hello Universe ,  How is it going out there in the free world ? It's a new year, happy 2024! It's time for all those happy go lucky...