After reading Silly blog and hearing about the people she rides the train with like T-Shirt Tony and the like, I'm writing this to let you guys know about a couple interesting people that live near me.

The first one is Scoreboard Guy. He's a guy who lives down the street from me and is a massive sports nut (Before anyone says it, yeah, I'm one to talk). He's called Scoreboard Guy because he walks around Malvern Borough listening to the radio on his iPod and getting scores/updates about games being played. He then writes the scores on his whiteboard he carries around and lets anyone who's interested see what the scores are in whatever games are going on. Right now it's NBA and NHL Playoffs. Soon it'll be baseball. Then it'll be college and pro football. He's pretty well-liked, particularly because he makes sure to get folks working at Anthony's Italian Restaurant and Wawa the scores.

Next is Celtic Marty, so called because he's a MASSIVE fan of Scottish soccer team Celtic FC. To the point that he can regularly be seen driving his kelly-green car, with Celtic FC's logo painted on the hood, filled with Celtic FC memorabilia, and flying his massive Celtic FC flag. I ran into him at Wawa recently and found out more about him: turns out he's originally from Glasgow, Scotland, that he came to the US to go to college (he's a Temple alum), and that some stock market picks he made along with inventing something that's necessary for HDTV (which he still has the patent for) enabled him to retire at 40. Right now he's over in Scotland watching the rest of Celtic FC's season. He's also a Philadelphia Union season ticketholder and has a Unionmobile much like his Celticmobile. He invited me and Kim over to his place to watch the Champions League Final on May 25th. He holds a party for it every year and invites anyone interested to come by.

Finally, there's John The Cripple, aka Stumpy John. So called because he lost both his legs fighting in Vietnam. Part of the reason why he's called John The Cripple is because he does not like the term "handicapped" at all. He always says, "I'm not handicapped, I'm a cripple. That's the term I grew up with, and I'm too goddamn stubborn to change it." Which is pretty true, since he works at a local mechanical firm as a manager. He can be seen out and about in Malvern hand-walking (which he likes to do when the weather's good. He also wears weightlifter's gloves to avoid callusing his hands and protect them from anything on the ground), working out at Planet Fitness, or having lunch at The Flying Pig. His arrival to The Pig is usually heralded by cries of "Heya Stump!". Pretty cool guy all-around and easy to talk to.

So those are the eccentric people living near me. Anyone else wanna share people near you guys?

First came A Boy and His Blob for the Nintendo Wii. Then came Double Dragon Neon for XBox 360 and PS3. And now THIS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N0PzqF9gWY

HYPE!!!!

A user had requested another review from me because they enjoyed my Double Dragon Neon review. Problem was, I hadn't had any new game to really review until recently. I saw a game out called Phantom Breaker: Battleground which intrigued me, especially after I heard some say it was better than Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. I'll be getting into that with this review. Does Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds top the sublime experience of Scott Pilgrim?


Graphics - Much like Scott Pilgrim, the graphics on Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds are done in a retro-pixel style, meant to invoke an 80s style arcade game. The characters themselves are chibi versions of characters from developer pb5's various franchises, none of which were released in the States before this one. The graphics are crisp and pleasant, but altogether a bit boring. Unlike Scott Pilgrim, which featured a lot of extra graphics (such as bystanders and furniture), Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds' graphics are concerned with depicting enemies, your characters, and not much else. The background looks deserted overall, which can make the areas you're fighting in feel like a ghost town.


Gameplay - Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds is a beat-'em-up, plain and simple, with you taking your character and fighting wave after wave of bad guys. Leveling up is simple, with enemies dropping XP crystals you pick up, as well as coins, healing items, and other crystals which power you up. There is a two-level system, in which you go from background to foreground to combat enemies. The game features a level-up system in which you earn points to boost stats and unlock abilities to power up your character. The abilities you unlock include counter-attacks, double jumping, dash attacks, special and finishing moves, and so on. Pretty straightforward. You can keep to just button mashing in the easier difficulties to defeat regular enemies, but bosses and enemies on higher difficulties require more skill. No worries though, because the game helps you ease into the more complex moves, as well as has the instructions available at any time during gameplay. A BIG plus is that this game comes with online co-op AND competitive play, something not available in Scott Pilgrim until recently. DLC exists which ups your level cap and introduces a new playable character. It's totally optional, but I would recommend you pick it up.


Difficulty - When you first get the game, you have Easy and Normal difficulties available. Beating Normal unlocks Hard, and beating Hard unlocks Nightmare. Problem is........the game doesn't really pick up difficulty-wise until the sixth stage, with new enemy types and a need to learn new tactics to defeat the new enemies. Other than the number of enemies, I saw no difference between Easy and Normal. Hard ramps things up a bit, but with all the leveling you do if you play Easy and Normal first, Hard's challenge is mitigated greatly. Additionally, it's easy to use the two-line system to defeat bosses in no time flat, and unlocking powers makes them even easier. Only in Nightmare did I feel challenged, but after a little bit that challenge goes away when you figure out how to deal with it. It's easy to blaze through, unless you play Arcade Mode with a non-Story Mode character, in which case the difficulty is significant and you might be frustrated trying to move through and level up.


Atmosphere - As I have mentioned before, at times it feels like you're in a ghost town during significant sections of the game, and that's a real downer. This is mitigated with co-op play, but even then, the generic backgrounds can feel like they're overtaking you at times. You'll have fun for a while hacking and slashing through and leveling up, but eventually the challenge disappears. Co-op thankfully allows you to have more fun, either competing with other players or clearing out waves of enemies. Still, there's a certain "je ne sais quois" missing.


Music - Pretty generic stuff really. Standard 80s sounding chiptunes tunes, which capture the atmosphere of the stage you're playing in, but are otherwise nothing memorable. Scott Pilgrim had chiptunes band Anamanaguchi writing all their music, and it's so memorable and so good they actually released a CD for it. Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds? Not so much. Sounds are fitting for the situation at hand, but nothing more or less.


Overall - I think the big thing that got people loving this game more than Scott Pilgrim is the online play. It was unavailable until some recent paid DLC (which is totally bogus, but it does come with a new character). Otherwise, Phantom Breaker: Battleground comes up short to Scott Pilgrim in most every other aspect. It's still a great game, but it loses its luster after some time. I would recommend it if you're into anime-esque stuff, but I recommend greatly that you try a trial before picking it up.

Thoughts? Comments? Leave 'em here.

Folks here know I'm a music junkie. And there's some recent tunes out there I gotta share with you guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYX-hI0aQVA - "Spark" by Fitz & The Tantrums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsXxLEXi2JI - "Moneygrabber" by Fitz & The Tantrums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ECw5DTULQ8 - "We Come Running" by Youngblood Hawke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbZQ4WqhFRU - "Anna Sun" by Walk The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFvHZ27yd_0 - "We Are Not Good People" by Bloc Party

Enjoy!

I'm just chilling out, listening to my iPod (which is on shuffle) when I come to AiB.


I don't think it's a coincidence that my iPod decided to play this just as the page loaded........

Pls read and comment.

INTO THE SINISTER UNKNOWN: A BLAZBLUE FANFIC
By: Queensryche


Once upon a time, a man hid under Rachel Alucard's skirt.

He was never seen or heard from again.

THE END

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum
Habemus papam!
Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum Herschel
Sanctae Omnia Transitu Cardinalem Layton
Qui sibi nomen imposuit Zosmius II


Translation:
I announce to you a great joy:
We have a pope!
The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord
Lord Herschel,
Cardinal Layton, member of All is Crossing
Who takes to himself the name Zosmius II



HIS HOLINESS, POPE ZOSMIUS II

Vote here.

The poll will be closed on March 17, 2013

We have leadership here, but we could also use a spiritual leader. Hence why I have begun this blog. This is to accept nominations for Supreme Pontiff of All is Crossing, Servant of the Servants of Mods, Vicar of Katsuya Eguchi.

The Pope of AiC should be someone who embodies the qualities of this site: a warm, friendly person, who is always happy to hook up with people to play, eager to donate Bells and/or furniture or other in-game items to worthwhile causes (ie. new members/people looking for something they've had difficulty finding). To preach the Gospels according to the four Apostles: Midna, Silly, Tres, and Spellman.

Guidelines:

-Any user on this site is eligible to be nominated as Pope of AiC, so long as they are in good standing (The troll badge does not preclude one from being nominated).
-You may NOT nominate yourself.
-You must post up a reasoning to justify your nomination.
-Nominations will be open until March 18th. 


I look forward to your responses.

Things really start picking up steam about 3 minutes in. But feel free to watch the whole thing.

All I can say is "best insult ever".