I don't want to give up my old consoles (namely the Saturn) once I get my new monitor. In order to use them on a VGA monitor, however, I'm going to need to get an upscaler. The more I looked around, the more the prospects of getting a SCART RGB -> VGA upscaler seemed bleak. There's always the XRGB3, but that thing costs as much as a candy cab.
Then I stumbled upon a new upscaler made by the same company as the XRGB3, Micomsoft. It's physically smaller and has less inputs/outputs, but it'll (probably) still get the job done. Price hasn't been announced yet, but they've said it's going to be cheaper than the XRGB3. The best part? It's called the fucking FLAME MEISTER.
So yeah, once I get my FLAME MEISTER, I'll be sure to let you all know just how good it is. It looks promising, though. If it upscales comparably to the XRGB3, keeps the lag below 1 frame and emulates scanlines, it'll be a winner in my eyes.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Netplay 101: Prologue
As you all know, I'm hyped for the console ports of KOFXIII and Gundam: EXVS. There is one thing, however, that is eerily looming over my anticipation of both releases. You may have already guessed from the title: I am talking about netcode.
Looking at the track records of both SNKP and Bandai-Namco, I can't help but bea little scared DEATHLY AFRAID of both games having shitty netcode. The 360 ports of KOF98UM and Garou: Mark of The Wolves have some of the worst netcode of any videogame I've ever played. If you didn't know any better, you could be forgiven for thinking you were playing them on a Dreamcast via dialup. It's that bad. Tekken 6 didn't exactly set the world on fire with its netcode, either.
KOFXIII is only a little over a month away from release, and there's still no word on how good the netcode is, or even if it's rollback or delay based. I and everyone else that's buying the game are going in completely blind as to what the online experience is going to be like. While I'll be disappointed if the netcode sucks, at least I'll still have arcades to play at. But what about the rest of the non-Japanese world?
While you may be able to live without netplay in Japan, it's essential for the rest of us. It's a good way to play with local players on short notice as well as a good way to expose yourself to unfamiliar matchups. I'll go more in depth on this at a later time, but needless to say netcode matters a whole hell of a lot if you have no other way to play.
The question we should all be asking fighting game developers is this: if I can't play my friends just 20 miles away without the game turning into a slideshow, then what's the point of even including online play?
The excuses of "Japan has the best internet in the world" and "they're making games primarily for their domestic audience" are bullshit. First and foremost, a good connection doesn't fix shitty netcode. If you've ever watched a Godsgarden SSF4 netplay stream, you know that they conduct lag tests before every match (both players are in Japan, mind you). On average, they lag anywhere between 2 and 6 frames.
Additionally, if a game's being released in the US market, it's not unreasonable to expect netcode that performs acceptably on American internet connections. While GGPO is probably too much to ask for in most situations, could we at least start to see some steps in the right direction? Can we just phase out delay based netcode already? We won't miss it. Really, we won't.
I realize that there will always be a market for bad ports because people will always buy them, but this shit has really gotten out of hand. SSF4 and MVC3 both have bad netcode (MVC3 especially) and they're the two most popular fighting games in the US right now. This may give our friends in Japan who make these wonderful games the impression that either the netcode is fine or that we just don't care if it's bad; neither is true. If KOFXIII has bad netcode, I'll be playing KOF98 on GGPO instead. If Gundam has bad netcode, I'm going to rage because I'm getting a PS3 just for that game. Also, it's going to cost $100+ to import, lol.
Bottom line: if a game is unplayable online, it's unplayable to the majority of the world. Online play doesn't have to be perfect (nor is it ever going to be), but it should be good enough that you can still learn from it. It's clear that Japan wants to sell fighting games to the West; what's unclear is whether or not they care enough to give us a decent product we can play online. Hardcore fans of fighting games will buy them no matter what, but what reason does Joe Gamer have to play SSF4 over the latest COWADOODY if he can't even play it online? Plus, isn't Joe Gamer exactly who they're trying to win over by releasing these games in the West?
To be continued...
Looking at the track records of both SNKP and Bandai-Namco, I can't help but be
KOFXIII is only a little over a month away from release, and there's still no word on how good the netcode is, or even if it's rollback or delay based. I and everyone else that's buying the game are going in completely blind as to what the online experience is going to be like. While I'll be disappointed if the netcode sucks, at least I'll still have arcades to play at. But what about the rest of the non-Japanese world?
While you may be able to live without netplay in Japan, it's essential for the rest of us. It's a good way to play with local players on short notice as well as a good way to expose yourself to unfamiliar matchups. I'll go more in depth on this at a later time, but needless to say netcode matters a whole hell of a lot if you have no other way to play.
The question we should all be asking fighting game developers is this: if I can't play my friends just 20 miles away without the game turning into a slideshow, then what's the point of even including online play?
The excuses of "Japan has the best internet in the world" and "they're making games primarily for their domestic audience" are bullshit. First and foremost, a good connection doesn't fix shitty netcode. If you've ever watched a Godsgarden SSF4 netplay stream, you know that they conduct lag tests before every match (both players are in Japan, mind you). On average, they lag anywhere between 2 and 6 frames.
Additionally, if a game's being released in the US market, it's not unreasonable to expect netcode that performs acceptably on American internet connections. While GGPO is probably too much to ask for in most situations, could we at least start to see some steps in the right direction? Can we just phase out delay based netcode already? We won't miss it. Really, we won't.
I realize that there will always be a market for bad ports because people will always buy them, but this shit has really gotten out of hand. SSF4 and MVC3 both have bad netcode (MVC3 especially) and they're the two most popular fighting games in the US right now. This may give our friends in Japan who make these wonderful games the impression that either the netcode is fine or that we just don't care if it's bad; neither is true. If KOFXIII has bad netcode, I'll be playing KOF98 on GGPO instead. If Gundam has bad netcode, I'm going to rage because I'm getting a PS3 just for that game. Also, it's going to cost $100+ to import, lol.
Bottom line: if a game is unplayable online, it's unplayable to the majority of the world. Online play doesn't have to be perfect (nor is it ever going to be), but it should be good enough that you can still learn from it. It's clear that Japan wants to sell fighting games to the West; what's unclear is whether or not they care enough to give us a decent product we can play online. Hardcore fans of fighting games will buy them no matter what, but what reason does Joe Gamer have to play SSF4 over the latest COWADOODY if he can't even play it online? Plus, isn't Joe Gamer exactly who they're trying to win over by releasing these games in the West?
To be continued...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Shitty Blog Post #1
So I've decided on my recording setup for KOF and Gundam. It's modest, but it'll get the job done.
- Flip camera I got for Christmas last year + tripod
- Viewsonic VX2268wm (which only lags by one frame)
While I know I'm going to rage at the colors (especially the blacks), it beats letterboxing. Also, that first part can be taken way out of context. I should be more careful.
I'll probably play my own music over the replays for Gundam, since I don't want to listen to ANIME OPS, and neither should you.
On a different note, if you're reading through the previous posts and noticing that they've been edited, it's probably because they have been. That last post in particular was a trainwreck because I went semicolon crazy for no reason.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Chipp Chipp Chippin
A friend of mine wants to learn Guilty Gear and the character he's decided on is Chipp. Likewise, I've been learning a bit about Chipp myself so I can help teach him.
I've always considered Chipp to be a bit of a weird character. In a game where most characters have both basic okizeme (meaty normals/projectiles) as well as more advanced stuff (fuzzy guards, short hop mixups, etc.), Chipp doesn't really have any of that. Instead, his oki is almost entirely based around safejumps and ambiguous crossups. In that sense, he almost reminds me of a KOF character.
Still, Chipp's a pretty fun character. TK Alpha Blade combos are pretty satisfying, especially since they feel so weird and hard at first. It's also pretty great to be able to actually do run in -> throw mixups because of how fast he runs. And, last but not least, catching someone at full screen with Gamma Blade is probably a hell of a gratifying experience. I wouldn't know, since I haven't done it on anything other than a training mode dummy. BUT I CAN ONLY IMAGINE.
I'll probably keep grinding Chipp for the next week just to stay sharp. Past that though, I don't think he'll even be a secondary character of mine. I think I'm just gonna stick with Johnny and maybe keep Eddie as a secondary to cover the stupid matchups (Potemkin and Zappa).
Actually, what the hell am I talking about? I don't even play this game anymore.
I've always considered Chipp to be a bit of a weird character. In a game where most characters have both basic okizeme (meaty normals/projectiles) as well as more advanced stuff (fuzzy guards, short hop mixups, etc.), Chipp doesn't really have any of that. Instead, his oki is almost entirely based around safejumps and ambiguous crossups. In that sense, he almost reminds me of a KOF character.
Still, Chipp's a pretty fun character. TK Alpha Blade combos are pretty satisfying, especially since they feel so weird and hard at first. It's also pretty great to be able to actually do run in -> throw mixups because of how fast he runs. And, last but not least, catching someone at full screen with Gamma Blade is probably a hell of a gratifying experience. I wouldn't know, since I haven't done it on anything other than a training mode dummy. BUT I CAN ONLY IMAGINE.
I'll probably keep grinding Chipp for the next week just to stay sharp. Past that though, I don't think he'll even be a secondary character of mine. I think I'm just gonna stick with Johnny and maybe keep Eddie as a secondary to cover the stupid matchups (Potemkin and Zappa).
Actually, what the hell am I talking about? I don't even play this game anymore.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Back in Action
I went to NCI on Saturday. While I didn't enter any tournaments for a few reasons (broke, headache, generally don't care), I did finally get my stick back. The first order of business?
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| The most important mod you can do to your stick. |
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| Perhaps koogy and haunts will appreciate the free advertising, even if it means sharing space with a 90's skater brand that features ANIME GIRLS. |
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| I hope some people laugh and give me a thumbs up, but more importantly I hope some people RAGE. Also, I'm so glad I discovered the macro lens on my camera. Not my fault it's so fucking vague! What the hell is a flower supposed to mean to me? Should've read the manual, lol. |
Speaking of which, I did play one match of KOFXIII on Saturday — though I really didn't want to — and I paid for it dearly. I really hate going in to that game cold, lol. You think you're okay, and then the other guy does a fucking EX DP; and even if you manage to safe jump, you miss the fucking HD activation link (which isn't even hard, lol). Console release really can't come soon enough.
Now that I'm back home, I must say it's nice to be able to practice GG again. Even if I'm not really going to play the game for much longer, it's still therapeutic to be able to go back and grind training mode; I can't tell you how many lazy summer days going back to 2008 I've spent doing just that. Oh, and I'm learning a new character. I think I've already told one person, but I'll just give you the hint that he covers my two most hated matchups.
I might go back and edit that last entry tonight, maybe tomorrow. I don't know. It was something I wanted to do at the time, but now that I'm writing more important articles it's taken a back seat. If only that wretched site wasn't down when I was about to sit down and do it. Oh well.
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