The Pewdiepie Problem: Now What

     For the people who have been in a coma for the past few weeks, you have missed a major scandal involving mega internet superstar and YouTube Jesus Felix Kjellberg a.k.a. Pewdiepie. So here how it went down. Pewds made a video about a website named Fivrr that, by giving five dollars they will do anything you want. While discussing the company, he decided to make a couple of jokes by having two people holding up a sign saying Death to All Jews, subscribe to Keemstar and having a guy dress up as Jesus say Hitler did nothing wrong. Funny? Not according to Wall Street Journal who saw this and decided to make a story accusing Pewds of being a nazi. This has sparked outrage and led to probably one of the biggest internet celebrity scandals of the year, so far.
     The scandal has led to the company he was signed with, Maker Studios who is owned by Disney, to drop him, the cancellation of his upcoming show on YouTube Red, and YouTube to demote him by removing his premium ad service. Pewds have been silent for a few days until he made a video addressing the video and apologizing for the joke.

“I'm sorry for the words that I used as I know they offended people, and I admit that the joke itself went too far,”

He continues on to say:

"I do strongly believe that you can joke about anything, but I also believe that there's a right way and not the best way to joke about things. I love to push boundaries, but I would consider myself a rookie comedian and I've definitely made mistakes like this before. But it's always been a growing and learning experience for me. And it's something that I actually learn to really appreciate. And I think this whole situation has definitely been that for me, and it's something that I'm going to keep in mind moving forward."

     Is anybody in the wrong? Are things being too PC? Is Pewdiepie a nazi? This scandal, and whole ordeal has been an example of certain media outlet sensationalizing certain things just to cause a scandal and most importantly to get views and clicks. For those who don't know what sensationalism is, it's basically when media takes something and completely run away with giving bogus and untrue stories just for attention. It is unethical and goes against journalistic morals. Not all media do this and this isn't a caution to distrust all media outlets. I am however shocked that out of all places, Wall Street Journal is responsible of this.
     Pewds is of course not a nazi, unless he is a part of some secret club and that's a probable as me winning the lottery. He did however got himself in this situation and Wall Street Journal saw an opportunity to pounce and they did just that. As for Disney and YouTube, they did want was logical and you can't be really mad at that as they saw a potential problem and scandal and protected themselves and their money. It what corporations do.
     The question is now what is to be done after the interwebs have shitted itself and threw it at the nearest fan? Well, Pewdiepie did what he was suppose to do. He acknowledged the issue with his joke and apologized and set the story out. He should also be aware that this will not be the last of it and there will be a target on his back. I think he has learned a lesson not to give people ammunition to attack. As for Wall Street Journal, they did what they sought to accomplished, not what he said as a attack to get him, but get their story and get their views. Other news sources who do nothing but sensationalize will be out to do the same and how this thing exploded will give just enough reason to do so.

What are your thoughts?

Pokemon Duel: Does It Suck?

     Pokemon Go was the breakout mobile game of the summer. It got a lot of to venture outside to discover dead bodies, get hit by cars, and most importantly discover their neighborhood by discovering Pokemon. So, what happens when you make a hit game? Try to make another hit game with Pokemon Duel. the Pokemon Company did a surprise release of the new game but, is Pokemon Duel any good? Will it be as big a Pokemon Go was?
     Unlike Go, Duel focuses more of battling Pokemon instead of capturing them. This time around instead of battling with actual Pokemon you battle with Pokemon figurines. Unlike most games in the series, Duel's is more strategic.

    Most duels involve you and an opponent battling on a board and your objective is to move your Pokemon figurine to the end point of your opponent's side of the board. It's basically a game of checkers as you have to not only think of where to move your figurines, but how are you going to win either by cornering your opponent's figurines or make a route straight to the end.
      Battling has more of a rock-paper-scissors aspect as when your Pokemon figurines fight, there is a roulette wheel that will draw on you and your opponent's moves. The roulette wheel is made up of four kinds of colors: Blue, Purple, Red, and White. Blue are defense moves that beat purple and white moves, Purple are status moves which beats white moves.  White are the offensive moves which again, who has the highest number wins the match, Reds are misses and are beaten by other colors. There are no type advantages/disadvantages like the other games. Instead the the color system determines who win with Blue being the highest class, Purple, White, and then Red (Miss). You also have boosters that can be purchased by gems, which you earn in events.
     Pokemon Duel overall does seem like it is a solid game. It's not a bad concept overall and it is another unique spin on the the series just like Pokemon Rumble was. Despite that it doesn't feel like it won't be something you'll play in the long run. It doesn't have the draw that Go had and eventually you'll get bored playing it in probably less time. If there's one thing it has above Go is that its launch was smoother and less server problems. It get a three and a half out of five.

Does the Nintendo Switch Need More Exclusives?

     Last week we got a bit more information about the upcoming console for Nintendo, The Switch. We also got to see a ton of games that are coming out around launch. We finally got an insight of the new Mario game, we saw some huge surprises like Skyrim, Ultra Street Fighter II, I Am Setsuna, and Sonic Mania are going to be playable on it, and we saw more of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is never a bad thing.
     While we do have an abundance of games coming out, few of them are exclusive to the console. About 14 out of the 65 confirmed titles announced. Not even the biggest title they have at launch, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, is not exclusive to the Switch as there will be a Wii U version as well. This might worry some Nintendo fans or people in general that either may want to buy the switch and may not be completely sold on it because there are not so many games that are just for the console. You want something that will absolutely get to to buy the console, instead of just buying a copy for the game for the PS4 or Xbox One. But does it really need more exclusives?
     Already it has a ton of good games and a solid lineup of launch titles. It is a big improvement from the Wii U which while it also didn't have that many exclusives, it also didn't have a impressive lineup of games that didn't get people to be sold on the Wii U and in turn didn't help sell the console. Personally, I feel that with the games the has Switch not only at launch, but until the Christmas season right now is impressive enough that it doesn't matter if they don't have as many exclusives. To me it has already have me considering buying it and maybe others too based on hearing what they're offering right now.
     Let's also remember that more titles will be announced later on this year. Just making sure that we are not in a game drought, like the Wii U may be the plan this year and more exclusive titles may be the plan for the next or following years. Despite it not having as many exclusives people are excited as pre-orders have already sold out at Gamespot. We'll see how everything turns out in the future or if whether exclusives are critical when it comes out in March. 3

Games We Probably Want to See in 2017

2017 is here and there are promises to be made. No, not that promise to lose weight and quit smoking? Promise game developers, and companies promised to give us great game this year! These are so games that we either would like to play or at least hear more of this year.

Yooka-Laylee

We we're suppose to get this game last year which was a bummer. If you didn't know about it or haven't heard about the game, Yooka-Laylee, made by Playtonic, is suppose to be a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series that was on the N64. It is a 3D platformer that is pretty much its predecessor was and that make me really excited to finally get my hands on it. The reason it was delayed, again, was that they wanted it to be on the upcoming Nintendo Switch. Hopefully we will play this sometime this year, hopefully.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Another game we were supposed to get in 2016, Breath of the Wild is not your typical Zelda game. It is huge on the idea of scavenging and exploring the incredibly vast land of Hyrule to make food, and weapons that will help you on your quest to save it from Ganon. It is a huge call back to the original Zelda where things are not linear and it's all about you discovering secret trials and dungeons. We seem that we're going to get it soon when the Switch comes out. Let's hope that this is true.

Prey

The first Prey was pretty cool. This one is both a sequel and and an enhanced remake of the original. You are a character on a space station that, according to creative director Raphael Colantonio, every event that happens in the game is continuous instead of it being broken up in levels and missions. Instead of going to spirit form in the original, you will acquire the powers of various alien enemies giving a different spin to gameplay. I can't wait to see how this works out and how the whole thing plays and looks.


Allison Road

When we heard their was going to be a Silent Hills Game made by Guiellermo Del Toro we were excited. When we heard it was canceled we were devastated. Luckily we had P.T. which wowed us. Allison is considered to be an homage to P.T. and is basically have similar gameplay. It was quickly cancelled for a while and it is now back in production. So even though we might not gotten Silent Hills, but it is nice that we get to have something that came from it and hopefully it comes out some time this year.

Red Dead Redemption 2

We haven't gotten much news or saw anything about Red Dead 2 other than a teaser image of some guys in a sunset.  The series is basically the wild west version Grand Theft Auto. Hopefully we see something soon because the other games in the series were amazing. Especially if they still want to cash in on the Westworld hype that is still going on.

Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania is a much waited return to the classic 2D Sonic games. This is a real throwback. Not a enhanced version like Sonic 4 or some anniversary thing like Sonic Generations. A back to basics thing that is chock full of nostalgia and tons of easter eggs from the series. Sonic games have been pretty hit and miss, mostly miss but this looks very promising.

God of War

What do you do when you killed all the Greek gods? Kill the Norse ones. That is not the only new thing as they redone the gameplay completely from the ground up. There are more RPG elements as you build more knowledge points for weapons meaning that you'll be more skilled at using them as well a a newly revamped rage ability. We saw this at E3 last year we were blown away. We want more.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

We love the Mass Effect series so another installment is something good. The concept of Andromeda seems to be to give the players more meaning that you get to explore a more vast open world than the past Mass Effect games and have the player create characters with a complete free reign of skills to obtain.


Friday the 13th: The Game

We've seen the beta of this and everything looks wonderful. You can play as probably horny but terrible acting teen counselors of Camp Crystal Lake try to survive or Jason himself and hunt down everybody in a not so senseless blood bath, because they did neglect and drown you were were a kid while they were trying to bone. Anyway this looks great so it will be nice to see what the finished game will look.

Resident Evil 7

It seems that we have a lot of games that are going back to the basics on this list along with Resident Evil 7. This time around Capcom is scaling back with the action-horror elements and is doing pure survival horror with 7. You're roaming around a large mansion solving puzzles much like the original Resident Evil. While their might not be zombies there are monsters and the Baker Family you will need to fight off. The demos look promising so hopefully it delivers.

Kingdom Hearts 3

We haven't heard anything about this in a couple of years, but we've gotten multiple remixes and 2.5s and 1.8s and whatever. Square, just hurry up and release it. We're waiting for this and we are impatient.

Any games on this list that I missed and you can't wait to see or play?

Attractions We Need In Super Nintendo World

I know just like you, when you heard that there was going to be a Nintendo themed amusement park at Universal Studios I got pretty excited. This has been something that I've wanted ever sense a child. Earlier this week we kinda got an idea of what it would look like, at least the Mario portion of the park. Universal Studios has said that there will be other portions of the park that will be based on other games from Nintendo history. We may even have an idea on what some of the rides may be. Some leaked patents have reportedly leaked that shows that we might get rides based on Donkey Kong's mine kart rides from the earlier Donkey Kong Country games and a Mario Kart ride. What would the other rides might be? Well here are some ideas that I might want.


X: The Ride

For those who don't know, X was a game for the Game Boy. In the game you ride in this spacecraft. One of the pivotal parts of X was the music of you traveling through tunnels. The music was epic enough to be featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Wii U and 3DS versions. For an experience that inspired an epic score, why not have make it an epic ride. This could be the theme park's Space Mountain.

Charizard Roller Coaster

What's a amusement park without roller coasters? All those loops and turns and the feeling like your flying in the air. What could be more awesome, riding on an actual Charizard which is why a roller coaster ride based on the awesome dragon dinosaur? pokemon will be awesome. Would make you feel like you're riding on the back on one and using Fly.

Pokemon Stadium

I remember playing the awesome Pokemon Stadium games on my N64. Nothing like it. While we had similar games to it like Pokemon Coliseum, it was never the same. Why not bring it back, only to make it more epic. This attraction can be a booth that works like the games on a grander larger screen. It's a nice little throw back to nostalgia.

Badge Arcade

Nintendo has a lot of games. Why not play a ton of them. You could probably play some of the classic NES ones! Also, depending on how many token you get you can win real Nintendo badges. I think it would be a good way to show Nintendo's history of making excellent games over the years, and getting some pretty cool badges to show off to.

Metroid Space Tag

Inspired for the game form Nintendoland. It would be nice to see this become real, minus the obvious technological stuff we can't do yet. I'd still probably be cool to run around with Samus cannons and try to be the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. It would be like Metroid Prime Hunters, except fun.


Kirby's Hat Shop

Kirby has had some awesome hats in the series. Wouldn't it be nice if you could wear one too? You can wear a few of Kirby's iconic hats in the series. These won't give you powers.


Kirby Warp Star Ride

When we first saw the Warp Star in the Kirby games it looked pretty awesome. That's why a ride based on the Warp Star would be awesome. You'll almost as cool as Kirby does riding it in the games.

Hyrule Castle Town

In the teaser photo of Super Nintendo World we see what the Mario attraction would look like. We know that there will be other attractions as well. Why not a hub based on Hyrule and what would be better than Hyrule Castle Town. It will be like you're in Hyrule yourself as it will have games, goodies, and restaurants.

Link Cross Bow Training

Learn how to be an master archer like Link with archery practice. You get to shoot arrows at targets. Light Arrows for experienced archers too.

Luigi's Mansion

Luigi's Mansion is an amazing series so why not make a mansion based on the games. This could be the theme park's answer to Disneyland's Tower of Terror. You explore different rooms and may even encounter ghosts. We can even have a mini ride in it too.

Mario Obstacle Course

The Mario courses look like they can be fun if you tried them. This can be like Ninja Warrior where you can run a couple of courses designed after Mario levels. Swing on vines. Maneuver on rotating blocks. Climb and scale blocks. Even learn how to do a Super Jump into a foam pin.

What rides would you like to see?

Where Is Zelda in Breath of the Wild?

     We were recently treated to a new trailer for the next Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. In it we see towns and settlements as well as NCPs fighting Moblins. We also see what looks like the ruins of Hyrule Castle town in the wake of Ganon awakening and decimating the area as well as Hyrule Castle. What we also see is a bunch of characters most notably two female characters.
     One of the female characters we see is wearing a female attire almost identical to what Link's default outfit in the game and promotion. She also has a Sheikan tablet in her hands. Another woman is standing next to Link. We see this woman is wearing a gown embroidered in gold and blue. We  don't know exactly who these women are as their faces are not shown.

     Going back to the female in Link's clothing, you would think that this could be a female version of Link, right? Well, according to Eiji Aonuma, the director of the Zelda series, we are not going to have a female version of Link in this game. Perhaps this character will be Zelda in the game. This isn't the first time in the series where Princess Zelda's role hasn't been solely princess of Hyrule. She has been a pirate, and a Sheikan warrior in the past games. This could alude back to Aonuma's comments about a female Link in the game. He did say that if there were to be a female protagonist in the game, it would be Princess Zelda. In some form Zelda could have a role where she is going through trials and awakening posts just like Link is in the game or may even assist Link in some of his trials.

      If the woman in the female version of Link's cloths is Zelda, then who could the woman in the gown be? There have been rumor that this could also be Princess Zelda later on in the game, but it could also be another important character in the game. It could be Impa. The gown looks similar to the outfit Impa wears in Skyward Sword. It even has a braid, just like the braid Impa had. It makes sense for her to make an appearance in the game since you are using Sheikan technology and the Sheikan tablet in the game. Impa's role could be just like Skyward Sword where she is a guardian, or like other Zelda games where she is a sage. She could also very well be a priestess of something.

WTF Are Ultra Beasts: A Theory

 

     Pokemon Sun and Moon are mere days away from being released worldwide and the game looks like it is loaded with tons of goodies. Z-Moves, Alolan forms of classic Pokemon, revamping classic game mechanics like HMs and Gym Leader battles with Trials and Poke Rides. This is a lot to take in from one game. One of the biggest feature in this is also its biggest secret, the Ultra Beasts.

     With the game only days away we still have no clue on what exactly who they are. The only information they have given us is that the are "really powerful creature that could pose a threat to both pokemon and humans" and due to data mining we know that we are able to catch them. But exactly what are they? 

     With the ones that haven been revealed so far, we see that some of them look like characters from the game. UB-01 looks like Lillie, UB-02 Beauty looks like Lusamine, and UB03 - Lightning does looks like Guzma. UB-05 Gluttony does look like the new pokemon WishiWashi's school form. Hypothetically you could suspect that the Ultra Beasts are creatures that are made up of human and pokemon DNA. This isn't new to the series, at least not new to the manga series. In the Pokemon Adventures manga Mewtwo was made up partially of Team Rocket scientist and Gym Leader Blaine's DNA. If this theory is partially right, this leads to the question, who made them?
     There are two possibilities. The first one is Team Skull. We don't know what Team Skull's true intentions in Sun and Moon might be, but it might be more than just being gangsters in Alola, especially since they are at odds with the Aether foundation which is doing research on Ultra Beasts and where they come from. Another possibility on who created them is the unkown legendary pokemon that was revealed in the latest issue of CoroCoro last week. The unkown pokemon does bear a striking resemblance to the Ultra Beasts. Going back to what I said earlier, with Team Skull, and basically every villainous team in the series since Ruby and Sapphire,  this could be their intentions in the game to create their own pokemon using this unknown pokemon. What also supplies this theory is that one of the members in Team Skull, Gladion, has new pokemon Type-Null which seems to be a genetically man made pokemon almost in the same way Mewtwo and Genesect were man-made as well. It is almost named the same way as the Ultra Beasts are.
    These may be theories (wild guesses actually) and nothing is concrete but we will probably find out when Pokemon Sun & Moon comes out November 18th.