Anaheim Convention Center

If there’s one thing that Americans do best (apart from massive food portions which I love) it would be hosting conventions. To say The Anaheim Convention Center was big is an understatement. After conquering the jetlag and collecting our pass and swag bag the night before, we started day one of BlizzCon. Where to begin! You are greeted with three huge sections representing the three Blizzard games being showcased; World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3. Each section had hundreds of PCs with the latest expansion packs installed for you to try, with Diablo 3 being a hands-on beta version. Not only that, but you also got to play on some rather nice hardware, such as the Razer headset, keyboard and mouse set for StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 gear as well from SteelSeries. There were many other sections as well for competitions; World of Warcraft PvE matches and the highly anticipated GSL finals for StarCraft 2, where players from South Korea flew all the way to Los Angeles to participate. If you weren’t into any of that, there is plenty to do such as the artists stage where real art was being drawn and auctioned off on the day, and many upon many talks about game lore or developer discussions on game mechanics.

The amount of thought and effort that went to the event was simply amazing, with everything looking fantastic. I particularly loved the giant statues that were dotted around the convention center. My favourites were the rather menacing but seductive Kerrigan from StarCraft 2 and the mighty Tyrael from Diablo 3. StarCraft 2 dominated day one for us, with many matches being played out by some of the very top eSports players.

Starcraft 2 GSL and BlizzCon Invitational Finals

The Global Star League, or better known as GSL, is the most famous StarCraft 2 league in the world. Normally held in South Korea, the GSL finals were for the first time coming over to Stateside and to BlizzCon along with our favourite commentators such as Day 9 and Tasteless. It was just by sheer luck that the one time I wanted to go to BlizzCon was the year the GSL was happening there. Also on the cards was the BlizzCon Invitationals, whereby some of the very top players were invited to play to be the BlizzCon champion. The players that stood out for me include GamaniaSen as Zerg, a great guy and he even signed my StarCraft 2 game, with Dignitas.Select as Terran. But there are three players in particular that had the audience screaming and gasping at every turn as the night unfolded. For the GSL finals, it was IMMVP as Terran (or MVP for short) vs SlayerSMMA also as Terran (also known as MMA). Looking at the match statistics for both, MVP comes out on top by a mile and based on this I thought he would win. But MMA caused a massive upset for the favourite, with the last game going down to the wire and MMA coming out on top to take the GSL crown.

The last game was… ridiculously insane. The amount of Ghosts/nukes deployed was too many to count, the shouts of OH MY GOD and NOOOOO!! from the crowd created such a cacophony that even the WoW players had to stop and look. MMA played a superb game and his last play was mind blowingly good. He was basically playing how MVP SHOULD have played, but didn’t. A great win thoroughly deserved, edge of the seat stuff.

The second final was the BlizzCon Invitationals involving IMMVP again vs NesTea as Zerg. NesTea is the King of Zerg; the best Zerg player in the world by far. His macro skills are inhuman and the same can be said for his micro. MVP on the other hand wants to redeem himself from the GSL upset and again be recognised as the best Terran player. If you think the GSL finals was amazing, then this match up was unbelievable. More so in terms of NesTea’s tactics; at one point he had over 100 Banelings at his disposal with a double digit count for Broodlords. Again, the last game went right down the wire with neither player wanting to commit to the final assault. The key things that slowly swung the tide was a) MVP doing mass medic marine drops into NesTea’s bases which caused a lot of harassment and track back, b) the ridiculous amount of Ghosts and nukes produced by MVP wiping out NesTea’s crazy Hive base count and c) NesTea’s indecisiveness at certain times and mistakes such as Nydus tunnel placement.

To be fair to NesTea, it was an impossible situation to be in; both players had so much arsenal that if they were destroyed in one rash move then it would take too long to reproduce again. Having said that, he had more income than MVP by a factor of a hundred so he would have had the upper hand in that respect. Either way, NesTea committed his Zerg Baneling deathball and then his Broodlords were crushed by MVP’s defences. Tactically, MVP played a superb game and had the right mix of units at the right time. The Broodlords from NesTea were a mistake without being accompanied by other units and the lack of scouting meant he could not see the Ghosts early on. But Ghosts against Hive tech is just not balanced at all in my opinion but you cannot take anything away from MVP as the winner. If he played like that in the GSL finals it may have been a different story.

I have some videos I need to edit from the GSL finals so I will upload that shortly. Suffice it to say, it was awesome to be there.

I heart Heart Of The Swarm

The new upcoming StarCraft 2 expansion, henceforth known as HOTS, was exciting to play. New units for all three factions and additional abilities for some units. The most notable for Terran players is The Shredder; an AOE unit (Area of Effect) for mass radiation damage within a certain radius  But personally I feel the key units here are with the Zerg and Protoss. The Zerg have the Viper which has an Abduct ability to drag enemy units into harm or friendlies to safety. I have seen this in action and it can drag a Collossus, even with the sheer size of the latter. I am assuming that it can also drag a Siege Tank even in Siege mode ala Phoenix for Protoss. Coupled with the Swarm Host which can produce an instant swarm of units and it can be an interesting mix. Burrowed Ultralisks is also a welcomed plus, I for one am looking forward to this.

This leads me onto Protoss. They have more flying units now but the one that rings alarm bells is The Oracle. It can halt mining production, unit production and spy enemy buildings to see what tech is currently being researched. Basically, it will know everything in advance and stop your macro and economy in the process. A very dangerous unit in my opinion and one to watch out for in multiplayer games. Mark my words, it’s going to be a pain in the ass unless you have ample air defence.

The HOTS campaign itself will take place after Wings of Liberty and reveal the true nature of Kerrigan after the events in WoL. As a Zerg player, I am dying to see this plot play out. Additionally for fan boys everywhere, Nova will play a part in the proceedings as she is ordered to hunt down Kerrigan. What will Jimmy do? Can he truly love a Zerg Queen? Or will he be eaten by Banelings in his sleep!?! All will be revealed with this instalment which has no release date, hurry up Blizzard.

Day two was Diablo 3 day

Last but not least, we have Diablo 3. I only had a quick multiplayer game but it was enough to get a real taste of what is in store. I played a Mage class which has some powerful spells, but I feel the cool down time for some of them was a bit long… especially when you are being axed to death constantly. I was using the ice spell a lot to freeze opponents in their place to make my escape. Clothies always were a bit soft for close combat so distance is necessary if you can get said distance. One of the warrior classes have the ability to chain you to bring you closer, so that yes you can get axed to death. Nice.

In terms of story, it’s all about Tyrael and the full plot is a little sketchy at the moment. Blizzard do not want to reveal too much about this are building the anticipation; again there is no release date and “it will be done when it is done”. The waiting is absolutely killing us.

In between playing and watching and listening. I got some great game posters and had them signed by the developers for each and the Battlenet staff. I waited two hours in the queue but it was well worth it. It was all too easy to drop money at BlizzCon but the swag bag contents were pretty good even if you didn’t want to spend. My Mini Tyrael statue sits proudly on my desk.

Closing ceremony

The Foo Fighters did a live concert to close out a a thoroughly enjoyable two days of gaming heaven. If I could go every year I would, but being a Brit it would be a costly exercise. I am just glad that I was able to go at least once to one of the greatest gaming conventions the world has ever seen. As a side note, Diablo 3 will be free to all World of Warcraft annual subscribers (yes I know, what about us StarCraft 2 folk). My BlizzCon 2011 flickr set can be found here.

There were a lot of fans from all over the country to see this performance, and some cosplayers too! Seeing Sephiroth at The Royal Albert Hall was quite strange at first. There were also other fans dressed as SeeD from Final Fantasy VIII amongst other characters. I cannot tell you how excited I was about this concert; I bought the tickets in January this year and they were sold out in weeks. Ten months later the day finally arrives!




It’s all about the music

After an introduction to the composer Nobuo Uematsu and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the night kicks off with Liberi Fatali. Final Fantasy VIII is one of my favourites in the series and hearing it live for the first time was simply amazing. The strong choral sections were performed by London Voices which penetrated every part of the hall. Each instrument and note was heard with crystal clarity even though I was sitting in the Grand Tier section of the hall which is fairly high. When the piece finished, I just knew we were going to be in for something very special indeed.

During each piece, a video montage is displayed on two gigantic screens to give you a full multimedia experience. The great thing was seeing actual game footage being played out which synchronised with the orchestra absolutely perfectly. An example of this was the opening sequence and Bombing Mission song from Final Fantasy VII. You know the one; the camera zooms to Aerith walking out onto the streets of Midgar. The camera zooms out and pans onto the train where your character Cloud starts off and then straight into the bombing mission itself. The graphics back then was thought to be groundbreaking at the time, of course now they look very dated but I lost part of my youth in that game and I never stopped loving it. Seeing it there before me made me want to play it all over again.

Fond memories

If you think VII was dated, we have much older ones. The concert’s aim was to play at least one piece of music from every Final Fantasy game ever made to date. Everyone will know the Prelude song, a solo harp plays with London Voices completing the piece. My favourites from the bygone era include Terra’s Theme from VI and Theme of Love from IV. To be brutally honest, it is very very difficult to pick any favourites at all, I loved each and every one of them. Nobuo Uematsu is a musical genius.

Fast forward to some of the more recent titles, and we have Zanarkand from X; everyone loves Yuna. Some of the theme songs were also performed such as Eyes On Me from VIII and Kiss Me Goodbye from XII. Both were performed so beautifully by singer Susan Calloway, flown all the way from America to perform for us. The open space of the Royal Albert Hall was no match for her voice, and I would not be surprised if it could be heard all the way into Kensington. There was some fun to be had with a Chocobo Medley, which was put together in 2010. The screens displayed some of the best Chocobo highlights from all the games.

Some of the staff at Squeenix also attended the performance; I was two sections away from them!







Wishing it would never end

The entire performance was finished in about two hours including the interval. I could have sat there all night listening but the night drew to a close, with scrolling credits of everyone that made Final Fantasy happen. Many worthy mentions include Uematsu of course and Yoshitaka Amano, who drew many Final Fantasy illustrations for the games and were displayed on the screens for some of the pieces. Of course a big big thank you also goes to Arnie Roth who conducted all the pieces and is the music director for the Distant Worlds concert tour. He apologised for taking so long to get to the UK, but he and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra more than made up for it by bringing us one of the most spectacular concerts I have ever witnessed.

However, the night did not end until the ultimate encore, One-Winged Angel – Sephiroth’s Theme. Oh My God. If you think it sounds amazing at home you have no idea the magnitude of amazingness when you hear this with a live orchestra. A truly fitting way to end. Coupled with the choral London Voices singing in perfect unison, this piece is something else. And yes, I did watch Final Fantasy: Advent Children as soon as I got home.

Mark in your calendar!!

The next Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds concert will be back at the Royal Albert Hall on 17th November 2012. In December of that year, it will be the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy so we can expect a very special performance this time around. Tickets will go live around December this year, visit http://ffdistantworlds.com/ to keep up to date on tour dates. I for one will definitely be there next year, if the world doesn’t go boom that is. If you cannot be there yourself, then I highly recommend the Distant Worlds CD One and CD Two.


“My last night here for you. Same old songs just once more…”

Before I get to the anime themselves, there are a few things you need for any Sci-Fi London all-nighter event.

Sleep. Keep your Saturday as free as possible to conserve energy. Sleep, a lot, and try to take a nap before you head out. By 11.30pm you should be fully awake for the viewing experience ahead.

Mountain Dew. Well for me it is Mountain Dew, but any energy drink works; Monster, Relentless, Red Bull… you get the idea. Coffee doesn’t really cut it but they do serve free coffee and tea during intervals which is welcomed. Most of all, stay hydrated and have a bottle of water with you.

Food. Bring snacks with you as you will get hungry as the night/morning progresses. They do give you free Haagen Dazs ice cream to keep you going.

Bio breaks. There will be 2 or 3 intervals in between showings, so make use of them. Empty that bladder and grab more supplies!

Above all, have fun and be nice to other people in the cinema. For the anime ones at least, there is always a fun atmosphere and you are with these people for a very long time, so try not to make others angry. You may also get the odd person dozing on other people’s shoulders. Do not fret, give them a gentle poke and all will be well.

This year, the May lineup looks promising.

The Anime

Akira HD. A classic and one that all anime fans should know and love. Today, it stands the test of time and now that it has been given the high definition cleanup, it looks even more amazing than before. It tells the story of Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang and their fight against their rival The Clowns. During a high speed chase, Tetsuo splits from Kaneda’s pack and crashes into a strange boy trying to escape. From here on in, Tetsuo’s life changes dramatically with Kaneda trying to save his long time friend. Seeing this on the big screen was, to put simply, awesome. I loved every minute of it; the colours are rich and vivid and it brought back so many memories of when I first saw it.

Eden of the East: Air Communication is a very condensed version of the anime series, picking out key scenes to tell the story. I love Eden of the East; Production I.G did an amazing job with the animation and storyline that captivated me from the get go. Unfortunately, because of how deep the story goes with multiple plot threads, this summary doesn’t do the anime justice. It is even worse if you have never seen Eden of the East before. For example, Mr. Outside is suddenly introduced to Takizawa and you don’t fully understand who or what he is. You can just about grasp the concept of the Seleção and the 10 billion yen they are given to save Japan but still, you are left with the echoes of why what and how in your mind. I definitely recommend seeing the anime in full, where you will be able to appreciate Eden of the East much more.

Eden of the East the Movie I: The King of Eden. This is the first movie follow up to Eden of the East. It follows on from another “Careless Monday” incident that happened at the end of the series and Takizawa’s final requests to Juiz. Saki is back looking for Takizawa 6 months after these events, who disappeared and brainwashed himself once more. The other Seleção are also looking for him, which puts Saki immediately in danger. However, an unlikely ally helps them. This is a good movie follow up and continues the storyline with much pace. I am waiting for the next movie with baited breath.

2001 Nights: Fumihiko Sori’s: TO. I have never heard of this before, so I didn’t know what to expect. The early thumping soundtrack and introduction sequence gave much promise but alas, once that faded away you are left with a very slow paced CGI animation as a backdrop for over 2 hours of empty viewing.  This was in two parts; part one consisted of a very cliche story of a ship’s captain and his love for his space travelling wife. Because of the cryostasis from 15 year journeys, she is forever young while he grows old without her. Meanwhile, the ship is invaded by politically motivated rebels, taking the ship and crew by force. This is all very well, if it wasn’t for the ridiculous set pieces and long pauses in between scenes. And calling your wife “Mother” was all just too much in the end, as the whole back row, including myself, burst into fits of laughter. Oh yes, the script was hilarious by the way. The second part does not fare any better and the drunken old man in this is well… you can’t treat any of this seriously. A jellyfish type lifeform called Picard? Are you kidding me? I was waiting for slugs to come out called Data.

Redline. Ah this is much better. They showed this last year and I still enjoyed it, although it was much more entertaining the first time. When this came on, half the audience was asleep, or drifting in and out of consciousness. It didn’t matter, because it was so high octane with that amazing dance soundtrack that you couldn’t stay asleep for long. Think of it as F-Zero without Captain Falcon and with much stranger characters. The race is not easy however, as there are others trying to sabotage proceedings with insider betting behind closed doors. All the while, the racers risk their lives to get the coveted prize of winner of the Redline race. “Sweet” JP is hot on the heels of the sexy Sonoshi but who will win? Go see it and find out, you will not be disappointed.

FOOD! And the sun really, really hurts.

When everything was done and dusted, we stepped outside into the harsh sunlight to find ourselves starving with hunger. Pancakes were the order of the morning and it was oh so good. I had a great time, if tiring time, but it was well worth it.

Collectable Technology – I love this book and it’s great for the coffee table. Technology has moved on over the years, and these monumental moments are recorded beautifully in this book. From the early incarnation of the pocket calculator, to personal computers and games consoles it’s all here. The first mobile phone made by Motorola is quite amusing; it is literally the size of a brick and not only that, but they originally worked in analogue only. My favourites include the Apple II, Commodore 64 (of course!) and the Sony Walkman. The dawn of computing during the 80s was an exciting time and it’s nice to sit back and relive them through these pages.


The Maps of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth – I got this book Stateside and seems to be near impossible to get on this side of the pond; it is half book and half maps. The map side of things are protected in an internal hardback folder, and contain Beleriand, Numenor, Middle-Earth and a map for The Hobbit which outlines famous landmarks such as Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. The second half is an actual book describing in great detail all the famous places mentioned and how they correspond to the novels. Each map is so beautifully drawn with great care and attention. A perfect companion for the Middle-Earth universe.


Star Trek. The Starfleet Survival Guide – Another Star Trek book, this time to help you along in your days as a Starfleet Officer. There are some interesting scenarios, such as how to wrestle free of a Denebian Slime Devil to protecting a campsite from pests using a Tricorder and Phaser. The best section is Dangerous Life-Forms. The universe is just teeming with nasties and you must be ready to combat them; this includes how to deal with the omnipotent being known as Q. It is also useful to know how to detect and escape a temporal causality loop; did I or did I not just drink the same cup of tea just now?


Terminator and Philosophy – This is a different look at the events in the Terminator films and the ethical dillema of artificial intelligence. When does a machine become sentient enough to be classed as more than just a machine? Should Skynet really be destroyed, or like any other species, is it just fighting for survival? Was it narrow minded of its creators to think that such machines could not obtain self-awareness? This book is easy to read but still thought provoking and asks many questions that you may not have considered before when watching the movies at home.

An early present arrived today; a shiny metal box with a copy of Inception inside. I can’t tell you how much I love this film, and this limited edition does not disappoint.

It comes in a metal case with the following contents:

- Spinning top

- 3 copies of the film on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy for download

- Collector art cards

- Device manual

I absolutely love the case, and of course the spinning top… I am hoping being at work today really is just a dream…

P.S blogging on the phone is awesome.

The best highlights were the Magic the Gathering stand, where I got to meet the guys afterwards at the hotel. Ultimately it led to a big MTG session with them and other people that wandered in and joined us. Going to bed at 3am afterwards was probably not the best idea, but they were kind enough to give me some freebie decks! Also of worthy note was Manga Entertainment, blu-ray boxset of Ghost in the Shell 2.0 and Innocence for £5, no arguments from me. Tecmo/Koei had a lot of games on show; I absolutely loved Fist of the North Star. We went back there twice to play on the consoles.

I also got voice actor autograph signings from Michael Sinterniklaas (‘Satoshi Osugi’ in Eden Of The East, also in Bleach, Naruto) and Stephanie Sheh (‘Orihime Inoue’ in Bleach, also in Eureka Seven, Vampire Knight, Naruto… the list is massive). Totally awesome to meet them and get their autographs and aahhh Eden of the East people! EPIC ANIME! By chance, I also bumped into Eddie McClintock from Warehouse 13. We were all playing Magic the Gathering at the hotel lobby and he just strolls in. I shook his hand and had my pic taken with him, a very cool guy. The entire 3 day event rounds off with the European Cosplay finals which came out with spectacular cosplays. Overall a fantastic event and quite possibly the best one I have ever been to so far.

Pictures speak louder than words, so enjoy the gallery!

I haven’t played Magic for that long but I wanted to try out the new core set to see how it fairs. The best way to get started is to buy the Fat Pack; you get the following to start your collection:

• 40-card basic land pack
• Eight 15-card booster packs from the M11 core set
• Player’s guide with visual encyclopedia
• Special edition Spindown life counter
• Excerpt from Planeswalker Novel
• Nice box to keep it all in

Now the one thing I am disappointed about in this Fat Pack, is the lack of plastic dividers for your cards. Older Fat Packs used to have them, but it seems they are skimping on what you get these days. However, you do get 8 booster packs which is pretty good. All I need now is several hours to plan and create my deck of destruction!

So what’s been going on in the world of game and tech etc. during this time? What I should have done was do a post for each of these but here is a very condensed version! In no particular order…

Starcraft 2 – Beta
I did a post about this on the Girlygeekdom blog, but to summarise… it is smokingly hot and I’m not talking about the summer heartwave we are getting in the UK. It is due to be released on 23rd July. I’ll try not to disappear when this arrives, and also promise to step outside once in awhile.

Apple iPad
Great for some, mediocre for others. Your lifestyle dictates whether this is a good match for you or not. Personally speaking, there isn’t much room for this slab in my life. I need a full OS, I need power, I need an open platform and I need to run existing applications I currently have. Also regardless of what Steve Jobs said in his keynote speech, this for me is not going to replace a netbook. And it’s too damn heavy.

E3
I personally prefer the Tokyo Game Show than E3, but this year I think the event has been very interesting. Microsoft announces Kinetic, Sony with their 3Dness, and Nintendo with their new 3DS portable console. Out of the three industry heavyweights, Nintendo outshines the rest. I’m buying the 3DS without a doubt; Kingdom Hearts, Zelda, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Kid Icarus the list goes on. And NO 3D GLASSES REQUIRED!

Sci-Fi London
A great event every year, I couldn’t go to the entire event because of fencing commitments. However, I did go to the Anime All-Nighter; 10 hours of anime movies back to back starting at midnight (with the odd RedBull/toilet break inbetween). I absolutely loved it, it’s like a pub lock-in but in a cinema. The best anime was Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks. I cannot tell you the sheer awesomeness of seeing this on the big screen; if you love Rin, Lancer et al then you must watch this. Unfortunately for some, it was the last anime shown that morning and the majority of the audience were fast asleep. I made sure I was completely awake for it.

iPhone 4
To grip or not to grip, that is the question. Either way, I am getting the HTC Desire running Android in a few weeks. At least people who are experiencing death grip woes get a free bumper case, offer valid until 30th September.

World Cup 2010
The tech angle for this is that I will never, ever, forgive ITV for their “transmission error”: showing a Hyundai ad JUST AS GERRARD SCORES THE FIRST GOAL FOR ENGLAND. Insert rage sentence here.

IT Crowd – Series 4
Our beloved geek series is back on Channel 4. Join Moss, Roy and Jen as they embark on more ridiculous IT shenanigans with utmost hilarity. Street Countdown!

My birthday
I got insanely drunk and played LAN games; apparently I can headshot quite well while inebriated. Everything else is a blur; I think we spent an hour trying to blow up the airbed at 4am. I highly recommend Danzka vodka with Mountain Dew.

Final Fantasy XIII
I completed it! You either love it or hate it, I personally liked it a lot. The battle system is to die for, yes the game is mostly on rails but the game does get going after awhile. There are some insanely difficuly bosses to beat, namely Proud Clad and Gigantuar if you find him on Gran Pulse. I’m just happy that I saw the ending after clocking in around 70 hours of gameplay. Also, I hate Barthandelus.

And finally…

Inception
I saw this movie when it was released on Friday. I have sat here for awhile thinking of how to review it and in summary, I just can’t. It’s such an amazing experience, that any words uttered on this page would not do it enough justice. Not to mention it’s rather difficult to describe, my mind was blown. If you think Memento was a mind masher, try this on for size… only Nolan can produce something like this on the big screen and succeed. A plot peppered full of twists and turns, stunts galore, and a great protagonist supported by a wonderful cast; these are the makings of a movie that will pull you in. I also love the music score by Hans Zimmer, it fits in with the film sequences perfectly.

I don’t like how you can’t change your characters. In fact the freedom of team customisation that is akin to say FF 7 or 8 is almost completely removed. Why Squeenix why? I tell you why, because they replaced this with something called the Paradigm Shift. You will soon realise just how important this function is, and how you cannot progress through the game without it. One time, during a 2 minute battle I must have switched Paradigms about 8 times; each Paradigm in the deck comprises of different tactical stances and roles for each team member. Your team works cohesively and dynamically depending on the situation. I like it, in fact after awhile I started to like it a lot. But walking into the next battle with full health is a bit weird, and I think takes away some of the real mechanics from the game. The left shoulder becomes a bit overused though. My index finger is testament to that.

The graphics are gorgeous, it’s so lush and lovely I just want to jump right in there. But everything seems to be on rails, rather like the old fashioned gun-toting Time Crisis. It does take the fun out of exploring, I am hoping that later on it will open up a bit more. I presume it will be, as you can catch a Chocobo to help you travel around. I encountered my first summon on Monday, or Eidolans. Shiva is a sister pair, which transforms into a rather awesome bike. It’s cooler than Fenrir for God sake. The game really picks up at this point, as the earlier chapters are too easy and slightly boring. Mainly they are used for tutorial purposes, which in a way is good. It would be too overwhelming to introduce so many new features in one go, so that was probably a good idea.

This game is gargantuan no doubt about it, I will write something more substantial once I complete it. Whenever that may be!