YouTube vs Twitch: Who Will Get the Streaming Crown?

   
YouTube is planning to revamp and relaunch their live streaming service. The reason behind is because YouTube wants to put its live streaming in a direction that will cater to gaming and eSports companies and viewers.

     "Gaming and eSports in particular are going to be a big driving force for the new-look YouTube Live," one source said. "There'll be huge opportunities for established streamers and organizations soon and I would say that the record numbers of eSports viewers are only going to grow when Google starts promoting and partnering with these events." 

     As you can tell, this us starting to sound a bit like another site that allows. People to live stream playing video games. What site could that be? Of course Twitch. Twitch hosts over 45 million users with 12 billion minutes of streaming games. Only last year that Google, YouTube's owner, tried to buy Twitch before its deal with the site fell through and Amazon ended up buying it for 1 billion. So Google and YouTube has learned the motto if you can't buy it, beat it. But can they?
     Twitch has made itself know to be the place online where you can go to watch people playing games live. Anything that will try to compete with that will have a hard time to beat Twitch, including YouTube. YouTube has their work cut out for them. Although YouTube still dominates as the source for gaming content with Let's Plays and people who had became internet famous for playing video games like Pewdiepie, Markiplier, and The Game Theorist, Twitch is slowly coming for that crown. Twitch hasn't taken YouTube's place but it's starting to take its spotlight. So it's no wonder that YouTube is trying to outdo Twitch. The question is will it?

As I said earlier it will be hard to do, but it seems that it won't be likely for YouTube to upstage Twitch with live streaming gameplays. Twitch has put itself in a niche that people will most likely stool prefer to do eSports and do live streams no matter what YouTube does. Twitch has made itself synonymous with live streaming games. There's also the question of content. YouTube as it is now seems like a mini basic version of Twitch and until we see the finish product, which their probably won't be that much improvement, it will still come off as a basic Twitch.
     YouTube and Twitch are two different sites with different content. Again, Twitch is mainly for live streaming video games and YouTube has become a palette for creating other gaming content like shows and other forms of entertainment. They should stick to what works for them.

What do you think?

Nintendo and DeNA: A Smart Move?

     Earlier this week we learned that Nintendo is making a partnership with DeNA in order to make games for smartphones. That's right! Nintendo is starting to make games for your smartphone. Director and president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata stated:
     "One of my goals here is, now that we are challenging ourselves with this endeavor by making use of Nintendo IP, to produce multiple hit titles at an early stage after we start releasing our software on smart devices. Also, until now, when we said, “platform,” it meant a specific video game platform. Now that we are going to release games on smart devices and make use of globally widespread PCs and smart devices for our new membership service, we would like to offer more consumers with software that is suited to their tastes. In other words, we are challenging ourselves to redefine what “Nintendo platforms” mean."
     This means that soon you will be able to play Zelda or Super Mario on your iPhone. Aside from just releasing games on smartphones, Nintendo will be using its partnership with DeNA to create a membership service that will connect all devices, smart devices and game consoles. Meaning that you could have ccontent that could connect your 3DS, Wii U, or even the new Nintendo NX they announced as well this week with your iPhone or iPad. There have been some indications in the past that Nintendo will be doing this or that they were testing the waters. Not too long ago, we had Nintendo announcing they would be releasing a Mario Kart 8 app on smartphones weeks before the game came out. We also have a crossover with Mario and the popular Puzzle and Dragon series in Japan which will be coming here to the US in the near future.
      Whether or not you feel that this will help Nintendo, this was a decision that they desperately needed to make. It was no secret that Nintendo was facing some problems over the past years. The company has reported financial loss for the past three consecutive year due to the Wii U and the 3DS underperforming.Super Smash Bros, the Majora's Mask remake, and Mario Kart 8 Nintendo did well. They brought up sales Wii U and Nintendo 3DS sales as well as help sell the New Nintendo 3DS, but it is still not enough. Nintendo needs to do more to get them back to the top again.
There's a great chance that this could work for Nintendo. Here in the states, with games like Flappy birds and even the game from her whom we shall not speak of, mobile gaming is becoming a new medium to play games almost like handheld was years ago. This is more evident in Japan with the success of mobile games like Puzzle Dragon. We've come a long way from Minesweeper on you old Nokia phone. Nintendo sees this is becoming a big thing and know that this is where they need to go. It will be interesting to see that they are thinking forward on doing something like this. They are excited to go further with DeNA, hoping that there will be a mobile game at the end of the year. Whether or not it will work, we will have to see.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo and DeNA's partnership. Will it work for Nintendo?

Five Nights at Freddy's 3: Does it Suck?

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 was released on Stream last week. After weeks and weeks from playing the last game, the third installment of the famous Five Nights series is finally here. The Five Nights series has swept the internet by storm for the past year. We've spent countless hours online not only playing the game but watching YouTubers play, and freak out by the jumpscares. Considering on how big Five Nights at Freddy's 1 and 2 were, 3 has huge shoes to fill. Especially considering that there hasn't been that much of a break period between each games, with all three games being released in over a year which is not only crazy, but the series does risk getting old and stale. Has it? Let find out.

Story

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 sets us 30 years in the future since the events of The first game. Freddy Fazbear's pizza restaurant has become an urban legend. So what do you do when you want to make money off of an urban legend other than make two really horrible slasher films about them? You make an attraction based off of an urban legend. That's right Freddy Fazbear's is now an amusement park and you're the star. You play an fake security cop watching over the attraction trying to survive the nights and you'll also be actually working to "keep it authentic" or the people in charge are REALLY cheap... The story is a big shock as some Freddy Theorists had hypothesized that the third installment would had taken place with the original restaurant. If you're new to the games and lore, there was an original Freddy Fazbears that was bought and the restaurant became a franchise a la Chuck E. Cheese. There were four restaurants in the series total. The original one, and unknown one that was referenced, the one from Five Nights at Freddy's 2, and the one from the original game. It is interesting that instead of doing the obvious, the creator, Scott Cawthon, decide to give us all a twist and go in this direction.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Five Nights at Freddy's 3 has been revamped a bit. You are up against one animatronic, Springtrap. You have a new maintenance panel. It mostly works like the ones from the previous games. You don't have battery life like the other games so you have to reboot everything to make sure things are working for you. You still deal with the same camera functions to monitor everything in the building. They do go out so they need to be rebooted so you can know where everything is. The ventilation mechanic is to help calm things down as when it is down, you zone in and out and this gives Springtrap a better opportunity to reach you and he moves more frequently. You have audio devices in order to distract Springtrap as it works like the door switch and the Freddy mask from the previous games, being the only thing to protect you from getting killed.  The other animatronics from the previous games appear as hallucinations that try to hinder you. They mostly appear when you look at the cameras. They can't kill you, but Springtrap can. Minigames between nights are back. They are just as fun as the ones from the previous game. The minigames are important in order to get the different endings in the game. The maintenance panel mechanic was confusing at first. Some game mechanics didn't work. The ventilation mechanic didn't make sense gameplay-wise and storywise. It has no purpose other than to freak you out even more, which the hallucination animatronics kinda already serve that purpose.

Visuals
Visuals look sleeker than the previous games. Instead of everything just looking like images getting closer and closer, they have more movement. There are some scenes that when Springtrap is near your office, he slinks towards across the office window to the doorway. The jumpscares are more fluid. Cawthon did a good job with the visuals.

Final Verdict
So, does it suck? Yes. It is obvious that Cawthon had a lot to live up to with the hype and success with the other games. Sadly he didn't do it. The first game was good and simple. The second one with all the changes to the gameplay was amazing as it took everything with the first one and went big. The third one fell flat as he seemed to lose the focus of what made the series great in order to focus on story and trying to make things more twisted and scary, which he didn't do as well. I love the idea of the phantom animatronics, but they get boring and less scary in a short amount of time. Springtrap loses his scare appeal as well. Again, I understand that Cawthon tried to piggyback off of the fasicnation of the series' lore, but when you try to do that instead of focusing on how to improve the gameplay, the game gets less fun to play. Hopefully this will be the series' swan song. Five Night's at Freddy's 3 gets a 2 out of 5. 

The Power/Rangers Fan Film: Does it Suck?

     So, if have been living under a rock, we were blessed with a Power Ranger fan film. This wasn't not just your filmed in the backyard fan film. This was a fan filmed that featured talent like actors James Van Der Beek and Katee Sackhoff, producers Joseph Kahn, and Adi Shankar. The film has currently over 12,000,000 view on YouTube. Saban and the creators of this fan film have been in a bit of dispute this week as Saban has shown disapproval with the gritty fan film and has threaten to take legal action if the video wasn't taken down. Apparently a deal has been made and Saban has agreed to allow the video to stay up, for now. Good? Probably so, unless it sucks. But does it? Let's find out.

Story
     The fan film opens with an epic battle with good and evil to get you in the mood and let you know just how intense this battle is. The setting is in an Angel Grove a la Blade Runner. Everything is futuristic and robots of the Machine Empire are running everything. The Power Rangers are a resistance team set on overthrowing this tyranny. The whole film revolves around former Ranger Rocky interrogating Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, for the whereabouts of Tommy, the Green Ranger. As the interrogation goes on, you get a backdrop of how gritty and fucked-up things are as well as the background of the other Rangers. Zach is your stereotypical black celeb loaded up with money, drugs, & women and Billy is basically Tony Stark. The fan film plays every cliche in every gritty and mature film. Ton of drugs, a crime boss fights, an over the top betrayal scene, and throw in a ton of really gruesome deaths. It was nice that they've kept a few things from the series like Kimberly's relationships with Tommy and Jason, Tommy's power issues being referenced, and Zach's in his parachute pants and getting his Shaun T on, just like he did in the series along with some easter eggs like Klank from Zeo, Divatox from Turbo, and Scorpina making cameos. It was also cool to see them do a nod to the actress that played Trini, Thuy Trang, who died in a car accident.

Effects
     The effects, considering who was aboard with the film, were cool. Of course it was low budget and of course we all know we will know that watching this fan film we would not be getting the Avatar treatment of CGI. For the most part, it was as good as it got. It was cheap, but it didn't look cheap at all. And we've known we've seen worse.

Cinematography
     The Power Rangers fan film has been credited as a Joseph Kahn  film, he is the director. For those who don't know Khan's work he has been the guy who you would go to to make music video all throughout the early 00s. Most of Kahn's work was filming music videos. It's interesting to see him not only do something like this, but do it well. It looked like an actual film was being made. It doesn't look like the stuff Kahn usually makes so it's nice to see a director improve or do something different.

Final Verdict
     Does it suck? Not really. Yes it does every gritty action movie cliche, but it does it well that you're not really bothered with it. The only problem I had was trying to fit everything together. There were some inconsistencies in the script, like how did Rocky become a Ranger and betrayed everyone while Jason was still there, unless he was the White Ranger or something? We've been begging for a more adult Power Rangers theme and we kinda got it. With Saban and Lionsgate doing a Power Rangers reboot of their own in the near future, this fan film show what creativity and what direction they can go or do better. This gets a 3 out of 5.

What are your thoughts on the fan film?

LGBT Couples in Video Games

Valentine's Day is here! In celebration of today (and since I have no plans for the day because I'm single T_T), I decided to do a post about the romantic couples in video games. I could've done the usual. I could've done Link and Zelda, Mario and Peach, and Sonic and Amy, but that would've been normal, and boring. Instead I decided to do a post about LGBT couples in video games. As a gay person who plays video games, it's nice as well as important to not only see me being represented in video games, but to see LGBT couples in games as well. It almost helps spread that message that says that my love is no different than your love and counteracts homophobia that some people have in not only in the gaming community, but in society as well. With no further due, here are the LGBT couples in gaming.

Birdo and Yoshi


Let's get started with the most famous: Birdo and Yoshi. Yoshi, even though is considered to be gender neutral, is mostly associated as a male. Birdo's gender has been controversial from the very start. According to the instruction booklet of Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario USA in Japan), Birdo, or Catherine, is described as a boy who think he is a girl. This is further confirmed with not only the Japanese commercial for Super Mario Bros. 2, but in Captain Rainbow for the Nintendo Gamecube. Birdo and Yoshi have been a couple and have had great chemistry in most of the Mario Spin-offs like Mario Party 7 and Mario Tennis. Mario Kart: Double Dash's japanese website has jokingly stated: "Catherine appears to be Yoshi's girlfriend... or does that mean boyfriend!?" (「ヨッシーの彼女に見えて実は彼氏!?」).

Rudolph Gartheimer and Damian Shade


Rudolph and Damian both hail as the Fighting genre's first openly gay couple. Groove on Fight was released by Atlus in 1997. While not as popular as the Street Fighter series or SNK, Groove on Fight was a cult classic in Japan. Damien (17) is an orphan and was adopted by Rudolph (45). They are polar opposites as Rudolph is considered to be a very aggressive while Damian is a pacifist. They seem to be very protective of each other, Rudolph being more protective as when playing as Rudolph, Damian is usually seen in the back watching the fight when playing as Rudolph.

Venom and Zato-1


Zato and Venom are both characters from the Guilty Gear series. Venom was an orphan that was was about to be kill when Zato-1 saved Venom's life. Ever since then Venom has dedicated his life to Zato. Venom is fiercely loyal to Zato. Most of his action in the series is either doing what Zato says or looking for his master. Even when Zato-1 died, Venom was devoted to tracking down his killer, Millia Rage, and killing her. Sadly the love isn't really returned as Zato has a thing for Millia, who he also hates.

Crystal and Amber Bailey from Dead Rising

Crystal and Amber are twin sisters that both work as hostesses of the show Terror is Reality in Dead Rising 2. They also work as Tyrone King's bodyguards. Both of the twins are very flirtatious saying innuendos throughout the game and even flirting with you during the boss fight. Amber also gropes Rebecca. These two are close. Very close. The cutscene when you kill the one of the twins does say that there is something more to them just being twins.

Ellie and Riley


Ellie and Riley are two characters from The Last of Us. Their relationship pretty much plays like a romantic comedy in a zombie apocalypse. They both meet during a zombie epidemic and mostly everyone is dead and they form a friendship where they pretty much have each others back. Throughout the game, their friendship does blossom into something serious and touching. The creator, Neil Druckmann, has talked about their relationship and confirmed that both Ellie and Riley do both have feeling for each other.

Dragon Age: Inquisition: Your avatar and Iron Bull, Josephine, Sera, and Dorian

When Dragon Age: Inquisition came it, it came with the possibility of your character being able to not only have a relationship with a person in the game, but with a select few people regardless of gender. You can have opposite and same sex relationships. This isn't new. Inquisition isn't the only game in the Dragon Age series to have this option. Origins had the option to marry someone of the same sex. You can pick from four out of the eight characters in the game: Iron Bull, Josephine, Sera, Dorian. Here's how to can court them.

Are there any couples I missed? If so, please let me know in the comments section. Also, Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

The Netflix Legend of Zelda Series: A Good Idea?

     News had just hit us that reportedly NetFlix and Nintendo are both working on making a live-action series based off of The Legend of Zelda games. As soon as word got around of this supposedly happening the interwebs was set ablaze. I, along with mostly everyone else, am very excited about this possibly happening. People have been praying to the gods of Nintendo to make something like a movie or anything else with The Legend of Zelda since I can remember. Even before the Super Mario Bros. movie was even being considered. Just as I am excited about this possibly happening I am also curious about whether this could work.

     First of all there is the major part of the Zelda games that NetFlix could have problems with: the source material of the games. If they decide to follow the source material, it could be hard to take stuff from the games and transfer it to this live action series. Especially if you consider that the entire Zelda series spans not only a few millennia, but also three alternate timelines. Which timeline will this series be based on and will seasons be set hundreds of years apart? It is possible that the series could set a new timeline where things like a Majora's Mask could be a bit influential for a season and the events in Twilight Princess could occur in the next.

     Another issue could be a royal pain: Princess Zelda. In the games Zelda is the damsel in distress and it is up to Link to save her. This could work in the first season, but what about the next seasons? It could be hard to write for Zelda as it wouldn't be that much development for her because she is often captured. Zelda is one of the few video game characters from the old days that have evolved from being just a helpless woman that completely depends on the hero to save her to having a bit of a backbone and can actually hold her own and even assist Link in the final battle, but having her not being held captive could, if not written correctly, could just have her be a prop.
     This hasn't been Nintendo's first go with a Legend of Zelda series and with live-action. Of course we remember, hopefully, the Legend of Zelda cartoon series and again, there's the Super Mario Bros, movie. Both haven't really been good. The Legend of Zelda cartoon is just this big campy mess and the Super Mario Bros movie has been considered to be one of the worst video game movies of all time. I doubt that the live-action Zelda series will be that bad, but hopefully the people at Nintendo and NetFlix have done their homework. It will be interesting to see how this will all look.

Do you think a live-action Zelda series is a good idea?

Super Smash Bros 3DS/Wii U Alternate Costume Easter Eggs Part 3: The Fountain of Dreams Children

     Part 3 is finally here! If you haven't read parts 1 and 2, trophies, stages, hints aren't the only source of Nintendo history in Super Smash Bros for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. You can see the vast history of Nintendo's games even in the alternate costumes of the characters. Part 1 was the original 64 generation of fighters. Part 2 was the Melee fighters. In part 3 I will be doing the Brawl characters. Let's do this.

Charizard
Orange: Default Costume.
Red: Based off of Charmeleon.
Green: Based off of its Green palette swap in Brawl.
Pink: Based off of a shiny Aerodactyl.
Yellow: Based off of shiny Charmander and Charmeleon's palette swaps
Grey: Based off of Aerodactyl.
Blue: Based off of Golbat.
Purple: Based off of Charizard's old shiny palette swap.

Diddy Kong
Red: Default Costume.
Yellow: Based off of his Player 2 palette swap in Contest Mode.
Pink: Based off of Dixie Kong.
Purple: Based off of his Player 2 palette swap in DKC 2's Contest Mode.
Green: Based off one of his alternate color palette swaps in DK 64 with Donkey Kong's fur color scheme.
Blue: Could be based off of Kiddy Kong.
Brown: Could be based off of the color scheme of the Zinger enemy in the Donkey Kong series.
Light Blue:  Could be based on Funky Kong's color scheme.

Ike
Red 1: Default costume. Based on his appearance from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Yellow: Based off of Greil from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
Red 2: Based off of Zelgius from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
Blue: Based off of Sigurd from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.
Green: Based off of Geoffrey from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
Brown: Could be based off of Micaiah from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Black: Based off of the Black Knight from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
White: Based off of Chrom from Fire Emblem: Awakening.

King Dedede
Red: Default costume.
Pink: Resembles his alternate costume in Kirby 64.
Green: Resembles his alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride. His belt feature the Waddle Dee's from Kirby's Epic Yarn.
Purple: Resembles his alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.
Light Blue: Belt is based off one of the Menu schemes in Kirby 64. The rest of the outfit resembles an alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.
Grey: Based off of the black/white color of the Game Boy pocket era Kirby games.
Blue: Resembles his alternate costume in Kirby 64.
Black: Resembles his alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride.

Lucario
Blue: Default costume.
Red: Based off of a shiny Zoroark.
Light Blue: Based off of Riolu.
Grey:
Green 1: Resembles shiny Mega Lucario.
Blue 2: Resembles Mega Lucario.
Green 2:
Purple:

Meta Knight
Blue: Default Costume. Based more on his recent appearance in the Kirby series.
White: Based off of his alternative costume in Kirby Air Ride.
Red: Based off his concept art found in Kirby Collection.
Green: Based off of his alternative costume in Kirby Air Ride.
Blue 2: Loosely based off of his official art work in Kirby's Adventure except for the red eyes.
Pink: Based off an alternate costume in Kirby Air Ride that is based off of Kirby.
Purple: Based off of Galacta Knight's appearance in Meta Nightmare Ultra.
Black: Based off of Dark Meta Knight.

Captain Olimar
Yellow: Default costume.
Red: Could be based off of the color scheme of the Onion from the Pikmin series
Green: Based off of Olimar's son.
Black: Could be based off of The President from the Pikmin series.
Light Blue/Alph 1: Alph from Pikmin 3.
Green 2/Alph 2: Based off of Charlie in Pikmin 3.
Pink/Alph 3: Based off of Brittany from Pikmin 3.
Red/Alph 4: Based off of Captain Olimar.

Pit
White: Based off of his appearance in Brawl which was used for his appearance in Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Yellow: Based off of his color scheme in the Captain N: The Game Master comic.
Red: Based off of a color scheme in Kid Icarus.
Green: Based off of a color scheme in Kid Icarus.
Blue: Based off of the Reaper from Kid Icarus.
Purple: Referred to as a fallen angel in Smash Dojo.
Light Blue: Based off of the palate swap of the Medusa's domain in Kid Icarus.
Pink: Based off of Palutena's color scheme in Kid Icarus.

R.O.B.
White: Based of its Famicom design. The default design in the Japanese version of the game.
Grey: Based of its North American NES design. The default design in the North American and PAL versions of the game.
Yellow: Based off of the color scheme of the glitch, Flipper, from Stack-Up.
Purple: Based off of the color scheme of the glitch, Spike, from Stack-Up.
Blue: Based off of NAV-COM from StarTropics. Could also be based off of the box R.O.B. came in.
Green: Loosely based off of the R.O.B. Launcher from the Subspace Emissary minus the bright blue cord and missile launching face.
Light Blue: Based off of the mint x white colored Nintendo 3DS.
Red: Based off of the Virtual Boy.

Toon Link
Green 1: Default costume.
Red: Based off of the Red Link from the Four Swords games and when Link gets the Red Ring from The Legend of Zelda.
Blue 1: Based off of the Blue Link from the Four Swords games and when Link gets the Blue Ring from The Legend of Zelda.
Purple: Based off of the Purple Link from the Four Swords games.
Green 2: Based off of Link's appearance in the NES era Zelda games, A Link to the Past, and Oracle of Ages/Seasons.
Black: Based off of Dark Link.
Blue 2: Based off of the Blue Mail from A Link Between Worlds.
Green 3: Based off of Link's appearance in A Link Between Worlds.

Zero Suit Samus

Light Blue: Based off of her appearance in Metroid: Other M minus the gun holster.

Blue: Based off of her appearance in the ending of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes minus the grey patches.

Red: Based off her appearance in the end of the original Metroid.

Black: Based off of her undersuit in Super Metroid and her appearance in its Japanese commercial.

Green: 

White: Based off her younger appearance in one of the endings in Metroid Fusion.

Orange: Based off of her appearance in Metroid: Zero Missions.

Blue 2: Based off her appearance in some of the endings in Metroid Fusion.

Sonic
Red 1: Default costume. Sonic's current design.
Purple: Based off of NiGHTS.
Light Blue: Classic Sonic's palette swap with the Crystal Blue Ring power-up from Sonic Adventure.
Grey: Could be based off of Silver the Hedgehog . The bracelets resemble what Shadow the Hedgehog's cuffs look like when his inhibitor rings are removed.
Black: Based off of Dark Sonic from Sonic X.
Yellow: Bracelets resembles the ones worn by Silver the Hedgehog.
Green: Wristbands/gloves resemble the ones that appear in the special stages in Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Orange: Wristbands/gloves resemble the ones that appear in the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Wario
Yellow 1: Default costume. Based off of his appearance in the WarioWare series.
Red 1: A combination of his red and black alternate colors in Brawl.
Green 1:A combination of his yellow and green alternate colors in Brawl.
Purple:
Yellow 2: Wario's classic look.
Red 2: Based off of Mario's classic appearance.
Light Blue: Based off of Mario's appearance in the Japanese boxart for Mario Bros.
Green 2: Based off of the European boxart for Wrecking Crew.

Did I miss anything? Please let me know. Part 4 soon!