Happy April Fools Day BITCHES!

Go outside and confess your love to someone and then take a second and say april fools, greatest prank ever. If they say they love you too before you get to say april fools, greatest-est prank ever.

LAIUSGLFIUBASHLKJDGAWJBHGKDFSAGMSNBFHAS

HOLY MOTHER OF THE SON OF THE BROTHER OF THE SECOND COUSIN OF THE SISTER-IN-LAW OF THE CREEPY UNCLE OF THE COOL GUY WHO ISN'T REALLY YOUR UNCLE BUT YOU CALL HIM THAT ANYWAY OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, okay, gotta...gotta breathe.
Warning: The following post information may or may not be true, but god I hope it is.

The Good News

Let that sink in for a moment.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Holy shit.
I mean, MvC2 was the game. It's up there with Melee for me. Melee may have been a little more polished balance wise, but how much fun is it to just say "Fuck it!" and play with Dan, Servbot, Sentinel (because you are a bitch); or Cable, Magneto, and Sentinel (because you are such a bitch that if you got near a Metaknight main-er, the amount of bitchness would collapse into a bitch singularity). Personally, my team is Tron Bonne, Venom, Megaman. Why? CAUSE IT'S MAHVEL BABY!
Lets get this out there right now, MvC2 is broken. It's broken like the universe after the end of Akira or Evangelion; it's broken like the logic behind the book Liberal Fascism; it's broken like the bones of all those MMA fighters you see in cringe worthy gif's; but damn it is fun. Who cares about the infinites, the cheapness, or anything else, when the game is so damn fun? I'll tell you who. Anal retentive jerks who ruin everything good by complaining about it; and probably accountants (I really don't know any accountants, and so have no reference here. They are a rare breed, often sticking to the shadows to avoid detection by more adapted predators.).

Hey, if you look at it upside down, the .). looks like Doug Funny.

The jump from MvC to MvC2 was crazy. What could they possibly have in store for 3?

Now, the other side. I love Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Yes, there are less characters, less assists, and they are less recognizable. In spite of this, it is a more balanced game; perhaps even because of this. Certainly, having a massive roster of characters, assists, and team combinations would make balancing a nightmare. The more manageable roster of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom makes a big difference. The other changes are nice as well. The music is much more apropos, I love the way the background disappears when you hit with some of the better specials, the Baroque canceling and Mega Crashes are nice; overall, good stuff. Also, Zero circa X4 and Rockman Volnutt are in the game, both of whom are among my favorite Megaman characters. But, the Tatsunoko characters aren't as recognizable, the grandiose feeling is missing, and overall it just doesn't give that same sense of excitement as MvC2 does.
So, what does all this mean? Let's recap.
1) HOLY SHIT MvC3
2) MvC2 Was fantastic, fun as hell, but broken.
3) Tatsunoko is more balanced, but simplified, and doesn't provide the same level of fun.

I would be very happy to see MvC3 (assuming it is coming) implement some of the things Tatsunoko vs. Capcom introduced, however I'm loathe to say it should be more balanced. That might be good, but wasn't part of the charm of MvC2 being able to play skilled with some characters, and be a bitch with people like Juggs. Balancing isn't always everything. But who knows; maybe there is a perfect middle ground somewhere. Balanced, but still varied enough to be completely ridiculous.
Like I said, I would be ecstatic to see MvC3 come out with new characters, new innovations, and incorporate all the things Capcom did different in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Honestly though, Capcom could put two new characters into the game, add new music, change nothing else, and I would still pay $60.00 for it, because it would be awesome.

To grind, or not to grind

So, I'm playing Jump Ultimate Stars last night and, as with any game, I wanna get everything, here being read as level up all my komas. Now, you can all start praising me as the gaming god that I am for maxing out all the playable characters and being able to occasionally win online without abusing the fuck out of Trunks, but it got me thinking; here I am, playing this game for hours, farming gems, just to get the satisfaction of maxing everything out. There are a couple of points I'd like to go over from that statement.
1) Playing this game for hours
2) Farming Gems
3) Satisfaction of maxing everything out

Now, lets talk about #1 for a second. I have invested untold hours into this game. I have played this game for more hours than I have put into some classes. Compared to the job security that good grades would assure me, the rewards I would get for putting that time into a relationship, or even the satisfaction I would get at learning a new instrument or language, it seems almost silly.
About #2, how can something like this be fun? I would venture to say that about 1/3 of those countless hours mentioned above were spent farming. What is farming you ask? Okay, so you need green gems. How do you get them? Why, go to a level with green gems as enemy item drops. But, you need to pick the best level to maximize your intake. So, you are playing the same level, over and over, getting between 200-300 gems on average. Now, do that for about an hour. Congratulations! Now, go do it for red gems and green gems, and then realize you can max out about 5 good koma, if that. Speaking of that...
Maxing out everything, our #3. What is the satisfaction in maxing things out? I mean, it's virtual stuff. How can getting virtual rewards give actual pleasure?

In the end, it's just a matter of psychology. #1 is clearly about both immediate rewards and the pleasure of accomplishment. Beyond that, a lot of what people do isn't directed towards long term goals. Movies, board games, crosswords, even most reading doesn't really help you in the long run. It keeps your mind active, and without some of those immediate rewards, you would probably go insane. #2 Is a Skinner Box type deal. Press the Button, Get Bacon as it were. Instead, I press the buttons, and get my gems. Finally, to the people who subscribe to the "#3 is stupid school of though", fuck you! Did you know that once currency was taken off the gold standard, it only had value because a bunch of people said "Yeah, this paper is worth something. In fact, it's better than that other kind of paper over there for some very boring and complex economic reasons" (note: clearly I am oversimplifying macroeconomics here). Even when it was on the gold standard, it was only valuable because gold was a limited resource that people wanted. Gems are both a (somewhat) limited resource that I need to earn and someone has given it a real world value by assigning buying power to it, even if that buying power is for virtual things.
When it comes down to it, I love level grinding. I really do. And I think most people love grinding (heh, sexual innuendo) to some degree. It's a psychological matter. Some people might think that just because games seemed designed to take advantage of our evolutionary mental structure they are somehow bad. Well, eating ice cream is the same way. So is sex. So are drugs. When done in moderation, all are great things, because they feel great. It's fine to enjoy pleasure in moderation without slipping into full on hedonism. Your body was designed with so many ways to feel pleasure. Take advantage of it.
So just remember, videogames are good. Even grinding is good. But drugs are bad, m'kay?

Just kidding. Drugs are awesome. Go do them. Now.

And so it begins

Today marks the start of the 16bit blog, basically we started thinking, HEY we have alot to say, and news to share, but we dont really have a way of doing it. Then we thought BLOG so from now on if we get some news early on, we'll be sure to share it here for now.
Look forward to updates in the future.

Justin L.