Random Quips and Pre-E3 Predictions!
A little more than a week out from E3 means several things for this blog – that it’s time to start writing in it again and that it’s time to make some bad, ill-informed E3 predictions! However before we get to the predictions, a couple of tidbits sloshing around in my head that were unfortunately not substantive enough to merit their own entry.
Street Fighter IV: Championship Mode
While there wasn’t too much in terms of character balance changes (that feature will almost undoubtedly be reserved for the next incarnation of the game), the new Championship Mode introduced in the latest Street Fighter IV patch is phenomenal. The mode is divided up into multiple grades and it mimics the conditions of actual SFIV tournaments – blind character select, multiple rounds, and a payout at the end for winning the tournament. The entry-level tournament tier you’re placed into is Grade 3 (G3) with the opponent challenge is more or less analogous to normal ranked matches – meaning Sagats and Flowchart Kens aplenty. With each successful win, you’re awarded Championship Points (CP) which contribute to your overall Grade Points (GP). When you accumulate enough GP, you eventually progress through the classes of each Grade till a certain threshold when you are then promoted to the next Grade – and that’s where the fun really begins. When eventually reach G2 (and reaching G2 is an inevitability – there is no point degradation in G3), the first thing you notice is the sad fact truth you are no longer winning anymore; in fact, you’d be lucky to be winning half as much as you were in the previous Grade. Competition is tremendously disparate and the players are noticeably better: I considered myself competant and played maybe ten games before I was able to squeak out a victory. Currently I’m at about 2750 GP, most of which was fueled by second and third round butt kickings, but I’m still having a ton of fun running with the tournament folks and their 8000+ GPs. And even though I still lose a lot, I do feel that I’m adapting to the heightened level of competition.
WoW Patch 3.1 and Ulduar Raiding
The other majority of my gaming time has been spent playing World of Warcraft (of course) and raiding Ulduar with my guild on Gorefiend. So far, we’re doing pretty well and we’re currently working on the final boss in the instance before we start working on the hard modes and Algalon the Observer (coined by Blizzard as the Destroyer of Raids). Most importantly however is the fact that I’ve been working hard on the video footage for our first successful kills for the guild, going so far as to even make a YouTube Channel comprising of most of the video work I’ve done. I intend on editing the hard-mode footage when we get there so there’s certainly still a lot work that needs to be done and there’s plenty of room for improvement. Stuff to look forward to!
Blizzcon 2009
This year I was again fortunate enough to be able to attain tickets to this year’s Blizzcon convention in Anaheim, California. As with last year, we booked the hotel and flight months in advance, even before we even knew of when tickets were going on sale. Thankfully with some dilligence and a new and improved ticket purchasing system, we were able to get tickets to the show floor. It’s still astounding that even though the convention tickets are 25% more expensive this year (due to the extra convention hall for exhibits), the first batch of tickets still managed to sell out in a mere thirty-three minutes. Then again, maybe it’s not so surprising with tickets on eBay already going at 300% markup. Still, I look forward to spending time with my fellow Blizzard fans, regardless of how rabid (and possibly unkempt) they are.
And that’s it for now. E3 Predictions forthcoming!
