Street Fighter V Video Game Review

Final Verdict - Definitely Worth Playing

Sorry this review took so long but given the shaky release and variable issues at launch I wanted to wait and give it a fair chance. With that being said lets jump right into the usual format. As expected I bought this game for PC since I have not yet joined the current next gen gaming family on PS4. I'm a long time fan of the franchise so I have been eagerly awaiting its arrival and the arrival of my main character in the series as she has been out of the game for a while. Its time to rise up....

Street Fighter V is a fighting video game published by Capcom, who co-developed the game with Dimps. It is the fifth main numbered entry in the Street Fighter series. The game was released in February 2016 for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, the game features cross-platform play between the Windows and PlayStation 4 versions. Similar to the previous games in the series, Street Fighter V features a 2D-esque fighting gameplay system. The game also introduces the "V-Gauge", which builds as the player receives attacks and adds three new skills. The game features 16 characters at launch, with 4 of them being new to the series. A story mode and additional characters were added through updates and downloadable content. According to Capcom, the game was a PlayStation 4 console exclusive as both Sony and Capcom had "the same vision for the growth potential in the fighting game space". The game was powered by Unreal Engine 4, and had a beta test prior to its launch. Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the game's graphics and gameplay, but was criticized for its lack of story-mode content and characters.

What’s Good:

Graphics: Some have gone on record saying the look is cartoony but I feel like Capcom did a good job using this particular art style to represent the brightly colorful and fast paced action of the franchise. I'm saddened that certain graphical aesthetics were tweaked all in the sake of being a PG rated game but aside from that the HUD, characters and stages are all wonderfully done.

Story-line: I must say the worth is well worth it given the content, character development and overall setup of the story provided. Well executed and gives both old and newcomers to the series a well rounded experience and introduction to new and returning cast members alike. Overall the story mode clocks in at about 3 hours, and even though Capcom released it months after I can see where the extra time and effort was placed into ensuring it was an enjoyable experience.

Soundtrack: Pretty solid soundtrack and voice acting overall. Without a doubt some of the best remixes for character theme songs. My top three theme song favorites are for Rashid, R. Mika, and Ken.

Game Mechanics: Stepping away somewhat from its previous iteration Capcom has introduced the "V-Gauge", which builds as the player receives attacks and adds three new techniques: V-Skills, V-Reversals, and V-Triggers. V-Skills are special attacks unique to each fighter; for example, Ryu can parry an attack while M. Bison can reflect projectiles, some of which build V-Gauge when successfully performed. V-Reversals allow players to use a section of the V-Gauge to perform a counter move whilst being attacked. Finally, V-Triggers use the entire V-Gauge to allow the player to perform a unique ability, such as a temporary damage boost for Ryu's hadoukens. Also a visible stun bar meter has been added to the HUD.

What’s Bad:

Game Mechanics: With a rough launch three major issues plagued many player for months on end, Netcode stability, lack of a penalty system for rage quitters, and poor ranked match making. Since the story mode DLC has launched however 2 of these issues have been rectified for the most part as matches flow much smoother and I no longer get matched up against people 2-5 levels above me consistently while playing ranked. Capcom even implemented a point deduction system for consistent Rage Quitting over extended time periods.

Replay: Not much to do besides fight your friends persay and an added difficulty for the new story DLC but the main reason replay value is lacking is the manner in which Capcom decided to implement character color unlocks. Literally no one is happy about the survival mode color unlocks; it is the bane of most current owners existence. I can say without a doubt on Hard and Extreme difficulty the computer is a dirty cheater on the higher up levels.

What Should Have Been Added:

Definitely more characters at launch because Street fighter has always been known for its robust roster and in this day and age especially people want a wide variety of characters to choose form and explore when diving into a new fighting game.

Final Thoughts:
Pound for pound this game even with its rough launch and poor PC port is too much fun to pass up. If you are a fan of Fighting Games or the series itself you without a doubt should add this game to your collection. It is relatively safe now to buy the game as most the launch issues have been improved on or fixed by this release of the story DLC alongside new characters Balrog and Ibuki. Enjoy the story mode gameplay with commentary below...

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One Small Step For The Empire; One Giant Leap For Jamaica!

Representing Jamaica worldwide, the son of Tony Johnson and Melody Frazer continues to push the envelope for eSports in Jamaica. Bringing his experience from the trenches of the eSports industry from abroad, TriForce Johnson has made some aggressive moves at the start of the year to make sure that eSports continues to improve in Jamaica.

This morning, January 26, 2015 TriForce was a guest on the RJR 94’s “Guest Room”. Paula Anne Porter and Alan Magnus interviewed him in regards to his past growing up as a gamer, to what he’s doing now with Empire Arcadia and his most recently contracted position at Cyberbox as their eSports Ambassador for the LAN Centre at Halfway Tree in Kingston Jamaica. Have a listen to the recording or watch the playback (RJR Link: http://www.rjr94fm.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/2015-01-26%2007-39-59%20JAMAICA%20MORNING%20Monday.mp3 or via Cyberbox YouTube Channel below.

Let’s find out more about some of the topics TriForce covered while he was on the show today.

Q. Welcome back to Jamaica TriForce. You left in September of 2014 and now you’re back in January 2015, what brings you back to Jamaica?

A. The food and the air. *laughs* Seriously speaking, Cyberbox is the real reason I’m back in Jamaica. I spoke with the Director of the company and we engaged in some serious talks about eSports and some of the initiatives he had in mind. I like his aggressive approach and he likes some of the things I’ve done in eSports. He then offered me a contracted position as Cyberbox’s eSports Ambassador to help him launch his eSports League.

The position comes with sponsorship and all of the trimmings. I honestly was pretty shocked in a sense. I discussed with him what is it that he wants to do and he said that he wants to provide the resources to the Jamaica’s gaming community so that it can be respected as a legitimate eSports scene. There were a lot of things that we see eye to eye on in terms of being aggressive in this endeavor and taking the necessary risks to make things happen. So my job now is to use my 13 year experience in the gaming industry and the accolades of my teams brand to position Cyberbox as the authority in eSports for Jamaica.

Q. As Cyberbox’s eSports Ambassador can you give some examples of how you plan to accomplish that goal?

A. Well honestly, Cyberbox gives me a distinct advantage. Of all the partnerships I’ve had recently, we’ve had to work from the rock bottom, up. That is one of the most difficult things to do and the success rate isn’t high. With Cyberbox’s resources such as their LAN center, vision and flexibility; it really makes my job a bit easier to perform. I’m able to onboard international sponsors such as Noscope because of the flexibility of the Cyberbox Executive team.

Cyberbox provides real measurable opportunities through their venue. It enables us to set up direct sales for sponsored products and services. From mobile phone cards and top up’s to video games and video game accessories. Their desire to uniform teams and create a professional environment for competitive gaming is what every eSports scene throughout the Caribbean should aspire to. These elements gives me the ammunition to approach potential sponsors with real opportunities to expand on the eSports initiative here in Jamaica. When I look at companies like PUMA, LIME, Wisynco, Inctomex and more, I can see the real integration of their sponsorship opportunities with the Cyberbox eSports League.

Before that it was tough because we had to put together community based resources along with the Empire Arcadia team brand and even with that, honestly it isn’t enough at times. This would put me in the position to put out 120% more effort than what was fairly needed to complete the required job of our sponsors. Thank goodness I had the help of some professionals who are passionate about eSports in Jamaica like Wayne Benjamin of the Lab Video Game TV. His work ethic is to be admired and was key to setting up the early landscape for eSports in Jamaica last year, that we work with now.

Q. ePro, eLearning and eSports; three things I heard you mention on the radio broadcast. Embellish on those three elements for us?

A. Technology is the future. It has always been the future. When you look at society from a global point of view, everything that we do from banking to mailing, to learning, sports, music, etc… all has been evolved by technology. The use of the lower case letter “e” before any of these words signifies “electronic”. Thus for Banking then, it’s now eBanking today. For Mail then you have eMail. The same goes for Sports in the traditional sense we call electronic competition eSports today.

For Cyberbox however it is more than just eSports. Cyberbox has a responsibility to Jamaica to provide more than just entertainment through technology. Jamaica needs the development tools to empower people today and our children tomorrow so that Jamaica can have a brighter future.  LIME’s CEO Garry Sinclair embraces this very same concept and has helped turn around the LIME brand. It is that visionary persona that attracts us to LIME as we have similar outlooks on what technology can do for Jamaica as a whole.

One of the key projects that Cyberbox is working on is its eLearning initiatives. We are very excited about this because we are working on a unique formula to combine the competitive aspect of eSports with the ability to learn. This would make learning not only fun but competitive. Something that would drive our children to learn more. In the United States and various countries around the world, there are scholarships that comes from games. MLG (Major League Gaming) has done it and so has EVO to name a few. That is needed here in Jamaica, tremendously and Cyberbox is the working on making that happen, this YEAR!

Q. You mention that Saturday January 31st, 2015 that Cyberbox would be launching its “Cyberbox eSports League Open”, what can we expect from the league’s launch?

A. The Cyberbox eSports League Open is the first of many events that Cyberbox will be hosting throughout the year. The open will feature FIFA 2015, League of Legends and Candy Crush. Now I know some of you may be thinking “Candy Crush?” Yes, Candy Crush. This game is one of the most played puzzle games in the world and is a gate way game. The problem people see in it is that usually played on a phone. This should not be a problem as Pokemon is played on a Handheld and the Pokemon World Championships has thousands of competitors.

This game gives ladies yet another path to enter competitive gaming despite not being exclusive to their gender. I know some ladies that would destroy guys at Candy Crush and it’s a simple game. Especially older ladies like mothers etc. The real issue is that the game needs an opportunity and we want to give it that opportunity. With the right partner and sponsor, Cyberbox envisions a wonderful experience that may not be matched by any other game in Jamaica outside of FIFA. Our idea sponsor and or partner would be LIME. We’re working on finalizing an agreement with them to continue the eSports Integration initiative that I started with them late last year.

Going back to our main game FIFA, well that game speaks for itself. It’s FIFA and this is the #1 played console game in Jamaica. After the Cyberbox Open then it will host the Cross Country Tour and the All-Star Finals, then the actual Cyberbox eSports League Season starts and we’ll introduce other games like Dota2, Halo 2, Call of Duty AW, Super Smash Wii U, and more.

Q. Controversial question here. You stated that you’ve worked with Digicel and LIME in developing eSports for Jamaica in 2014 but you said that you prefer to work with LIME because you like the way they do business along with their involvement regarding the Youth which caters more to your style. Please go into depth with us why you choose LIME?

A. The first thing I want to do is express the professional pleasure I had completing the work we did with Digicel regarding the eSport DigiCup Championship back in July 2014. If not for that first footprint we would not have gotten this far in Jamaica regarding eSports. I learned a lot working with a corporate giant like Digicel which prepared me to create my next eSports project with LIME.

My preference to LIME has nothing to do with either of their services, it’s literately Garry Sinclair. He is a leader that walks among the people he leads. The man comes on LIVE STREAM to answer questions from his consumers. He provides information to the people about the direction of LIME and its services. He reminds me of a much more mature and experienced version of myself. His work ethic is without question. He has a continued interested in technology and entertainment and we need that from a corporate giant like LIME if we are going to do eSports right in Jamaica. No one person or entity can do this. This is not to say we can’t have a leader but we need all hands on deck to make this work. Cyberbox has the resources, experience, innovation and vision to lead as the authority in eSports for Jamaica but that alone is not enough. We still need powerful partners and significant sponsorship to make this a successful venture.

Q. The Cyberbox eSports Cross Country Tour. What is that and when does that happen?

A. The Cyberbox eSports Cross Country Tour is a 7 week tour that starts out of the Cyberbox venue here in Kingston and passes through every region in Jamaica. Here is the schedule:
• Sports Day – Saturday, Jan 31 (Pre event: Cyberbox Springs Plaza, Kingston)
• Sports Day – Saturday, Feb 7 (Event 1: Jesse Ripoll Primary, Kingston)
• Sports Day – Saturday, Feb 14 (Port Antonio High, Portland)
• Sports Day – Saturday, Feb 21 ( Manchester High, Mandeville)
• Sports Day – Saturday, Feb 28 (Godfrey Stewart High, Sav-la-mar)
• Sports Day – Saturday, March 7 (Dinthill High, Linstead)
• Sports Day – Saturday, March 14 (All-Star eSports Finals: Cyberbox Springs Plaza, Kingston)

Cyberbox will be hosting a FIFA tournament, Candy Crush Tournament and a Tetris Ultimate Celebrity Challenge for 6 weeks which will end in Cyberbox for the All-Stars Finals for the championships. It will be the first eSports Cross Country Tour in the Caribbean ever. In fact the last Cross Country Tour eve hosted was Walter Day who is the Founder of eSports itself and that was back in 1983.

This tour will effectively spread eSports throughout the entire country and lay down the strongest foundation for eSports in Jamaica and possibly throughout the Caribbean. It is this type of aggressive campaign that we need to show others just how serious Jamaica is when it comes to eSports. With the full coverage provided by the RJR Communications group with Radio and TV; from TVJ, JNN, RETV and TVJ Sports Network, this will be the most comprehensive coverage for eSports in Jamaica and most certainly throughout the Caribbean. What better way for Jamaica to open up with eSports in 2015 than this.

Q. What’s your trade secret in getting sponsors on board for these eSports projects that you do in the different countries that you visit?

A. Honestly, there is no trade secret. My experience, passion and persistence is what gets the job done. It doesn’t always work. Some people are just too short sighted to see down the road. Let me tell you a story. In the United States, I engaged a sponsor for a digital eyewear product called Noscope and they decided to give our brand team a chance. I told them straight up what our team was about, what we’ve done and what we plan to do for them with Empire Arcadia’s global eSports initiative starting with the United States, to the Caribbean, then out to Africa and back.

They were skeptical but fair. Then we got some disbelievers telling Noscope that it was the worst decision that they’ve ever made sponsoring our brand team. With the integrity that Noscope has, they decided to let us show and prove. They were not interested in word of mouth. We are #5 out of 10,000 + accounts that they have. They are glad to have us and we are glad to have them as a true sponsorship. The integrity they showed us by standing by what work we do and not the fear of those who may influence others to not give us a chance is so much appreciated.

The same thing happen with Cyberbox and we found it funny. In my 1 week of work we have covered so much terrain and created so much ground breaking opportunities for Jamaica to effectively and significantly quadruple the eSports progress in just the first quarter alone in 2015. For me and Empire Arcadia, I’ve recently learned that it’s not how many partnerships and sponsors that you have on board but the integrity of your partners and sponsors who stand by the work you do for them.  At the end of the day this is business right? So what matters most is not what people say but the grade of the work you do that satisfy the people and your sponsors and partners.

Q. What can we expect from you in the immediate future?

A. I’m working with Cyberbox right now to lay down some real bedrock as a foundation for eSports in Jamaica and when I’m satisfied with that work, then my next move is to Africa where I can join my partner from Nex Gen who is working on similar initiatives to help develop the final frontier for eSports in Africa. My partner Nathan in Africa is working on a “Rally” game which we are in talks with having a Beta Tournament for the game here at Cyberbox. This would be to support the completion of the game’s development. Don’t be surprised if Cyberbox pops up in Africa in the future.

Right now, I just want to focus on the plans that we have for Jamaica and that is to onboard and integrate the potential sponsors that we are engaging with such as LIME and other sponsors that we can’t mention right now. You’ll hear more from Cyberbox before we even reach the middle of this week. First I want to thank you for the platform again Zalgo, it’s great to be back in Jamaica. I want to thank my sponsors NoScope Glasses, Cyberbox and DigiGear Pro. I want to also thank our supporters LIME, RJR Group, Guinness World Record, The Lab Video Game TV and all the remaining members in Empire Arcadia who understand the goal and the vision. Excelsior!

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The Man, The Mystery, The Martyr...

e-Sports! This is a word many will come to know in the days, weeks, and months ahead here in Jamaica. Fighter's Allegiance Jamaica, Str8 Games, and The Lab GameTV have answered the call to battle and currently are teaming up with LIME Jamaica to spread the good word of competitive gaming also referred to as e-Sports. How did this happen you might ask? Where did the initiative and infrastructure come from to facilitate a corporate investment in such a new and emerging market? Well let me introduce you to the man who started it all, a man who has seen the best and the worst of what the competitive gaming scene has to offer; CEO of Empire Arcadia, Isaiah-Triforce M. Johnson. I managed to get a quick interview with him so please take the time to educate yourself on the man so many love to hate...

1. What is your name?
My name is Isaiah-Triforce M. Johnson.

2. Is that your legal name?
Yes.

3. How did you come about such a name and why did you decide to make it as your legal name?
My friends didn’t want to call me GameMaster and tried to find a name for me. They knew I loved the Legend of Zelda a lot and they eventually came up with Triforce. It didn’t really end there though. My Father told me that your real name is the name you give yourself, not the name you are given at birth. I didn’t want to disrespect my Father by removing my first name so I amended it to my first name and that is why you get Isaiah Triforce Johnson. Everyone calls me Triforce for short though.


4. What exactly is Empire Arcadia?
Empire Arcadia is a Development Company for Digital Entertainment, Culture, Community, Industry & eSports. The organization has an eSports team named after the company and we use the exposure that we get from competition and winning to bring attention the organizations other services.

5. What is E-Sports?
eSports is just the modern name for competitive gaming. Its origin came about in 1999 around the CPL tournaments when gamers wanted to change the term to be more commercially viable. A lot of gamers got turned away from sponsors when they went to them asking for sponsorship for playing “video games”. Back then and even still now, the concept of paying someone money to pay video games is not appealing. Thus the moniker “eSports” was created to give outside business the true concept and vision of what Walter Day had laid the foundation down for competitive gaming. From that point on, more and more businesses get what we mean by eSports and have helped expand competitive gaming tremendously.

6. How does the Empire Arcadia represent and impact E-Sports?
Our team is one of the oldest teams to date. We pride ourselves on that. Over the years the team has scene players come and go and right now we’re looking to adapt to the ever evolving eSports industry. As new games come into play we are working with new players to help maintain this historic legacy brand.

In terms of our impact on eSports, I would like to think we've made a significant impact. I think we can do a whole lot more but the brand team has brought exposure to eSports on a commercial level throughout various countries around the world. The United States and Europe as a whole doesn’t really need our help. However areas like the Jamaica, St. Maarten and other island’s throughout the Caribbean, along with countries like Belize in Central America and Kenya in Africa are all areas that we’ve been working to develop eSports in. So far I’m confident that we’re coming along well. We recently just finished a integrated eSports project with LIME Jamaica.

7. What has the business accomplished in order to reach their goals?
Over the years we've accomplished a lot from the grassroots community. Of recent our goal to bring eSports to my home country Jamaica has seen tremendous success. This is all part in thanks to our partners Andrew Johnson of Fighters Allegiance Jamaica, Gregory Moore of Str8 Games and Wayne Benjamin of The Lab Video Game TV. With their help Empire Arcadia has been able to work with telecommunication giants such as LIME Jamaica and Digicel Jamaica to lay down the first corporate backed eSports tournaments in Jamaica.

Our most accomplished goal is the amount of competitions and world championships that we have won. We've won so much that we have the Guinness World Record for the most tournaments won by a video game team. We are nearing our milestone of 2,000 tournament wins, which at our pace we should reach before the end of the first quarter in 2015.

8. Wow that’s pretty impressive, where can people check out more information on your records and Guinness World Records?
You can check out our record on the Guinness World Record Page

9. Who are the main players in the business who have helped the business reach where it is today?
The main players that have helped me with the business reach its goal are not necessarily here. Although many of the champions are now on new teams, for Empire Arcadia to be here, that is credit goes to the unsung players who don’t necessarily just compete. Players such as Royal “Lance” Eustache, Phillip “KDZ” Atkinson, Todd Rogers, Arthur “Red” Hill and many more who are not in the spot light, all have helped maintain the organization to this point.

10. What made you decide to approach E-Sports and its development as your life’s goal?
Originally, I was just a casual gamer; as were we all. Some time around 2006 I realized the true potential of Empire Arcadia. The organization became bigger than myself and then submitted to my position to serve it. Since then I’ve also realized that eSports in its purity is really the advancement technology and entertainment. This can aid in human evolution and because I love video games so much, I have accepted this as one of my life’s work.

11. What have been some recent projects that you and the Empire Arcadia been spearheading?
Well right now our major focus is preparing a new front line of players for 2015. Along with building a League of Legends team. I’m currently working as an eSports consultant and architect for a new gaming league by laying down its foundation throughout several countries around the world. This is a pretext to what is going to come in 2015.

I don’t want to say much because everything launches in 2015 but what I can give out is their social media information at now. The League is called the MVG. It stands for Multimedia Video Game League. You can visit their Facebook Page and you can also follow them on their twitter page which is @MVG_League.

The Global eSports initiative that I’m currently working on for MVG directly affects the Caribbean and Central America for 2015. Our mission is to help bolster the eSports landscape; by partnering up with existing eSports foundations in Jamaica such as Caribbean Games and the Belize Gaming League in Belize. The professional services along with its commercially viable image will grant both entities international support and strengthen the integrity of the eSports industry in these key locations. Keep your eyes on their social media pages for upcoming news.

12. What do you think is the potential for e-Sports across multiple gaming genre?
We haven’t even scratched the surface of eSports true potential. Despite the fact that there are too many gamers and games out there, the demand is still high. Which is a good thing by the way. When we eventually get to the point of creating a Global eSports Network, I think that is when we will see the true potential of competitive gaming which will dwarf the combined accomplishment of what traditional sports has done for us in terms of entertainment. That statement may come as a surprise to many, but eSports has something that traditional sports does not have to help it evolve and that is technology.

With technology the world is literately and I stress literately is at our finger tips. No matter who you are or what you do, the technology in video games and the multimedia platforms that they are available in such as phones, tablets, handhelds, arcades, computers and consoles just opens up the world to not only spectate but also participate in a way traditional sports does not.

13. How well do you think implementing a better E-Sports influence in a region such as Central America will benefit the region?
Developing eSports in Central America is “CRITICAL”. I didn’t just randomly decide to go to Belize and set up eSports there with the ambitious eSports director Ahijah Holland. This is a strategy. Just as Jamaica is the focal point for the Caribbean, Belize is a crucial point for Central America. It will be one of the merging points to connect the entire west to eSports. From the North American Union, down to Central America, connecting to South America and then throughout the Caribbean; which finally connects the entire Latin America region. We will be one step closer to our ultimate goal, a “Global eSports Network”. If I were you guys keep an eye out for Belize and Jamaica in 2015. There is a rivalry coming.

14. In closing what do you see as the potential end game scenario that you want to accomplish with E-Sports and Empire Arcadia?
The potential end game for Empire Arcadia in eSports is to become one of the world leaders in this industry. We’ve already partly accomplished that in the competitive element. Now we need to follow suit from the business stand point. This is why the organization is taken a slightly different approach as we head towards 2015.

Well that is about it from your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh, as we forge ahead on this new path. Next big event upcoming is a League Of Legends tournament being held on the 27/11/14. Please do make the effort to come out and support the event as the more support these get the better they can grow to be. Until next time keep on gaming...

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Everything Has Gone To Shit

So this is just a short blurb, I know I been kinda inconsistent with the blogs of late which I do feel a ways about. So here is the reason why:

Had my first accident; ain't that a bitch. Thankfully nothing major and I am unhurt but the frustration of trying to get compensated and get my car fixed has been stressful and annoying. I wont get into all the details and get pissed off just thinking about it but in another week or so my car should be back to normal. Sad part is my car got the worst of it and their car ends up just getting away with this:

Anyways whats done is done. Currently finishing up Dragons Crown for review on Friday and on the side I have started playing LoL and am trying to not suck at that game. SO as always until next time; keep on gaming...

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Cosplaying Like A Bawse!!!

Freaks, weirdos, geeks, nerds, otakus, weeaboos all these different labels and names that people find for us but none capture fully the true essence of what we are. Passionate! About a culture so refined and foreign to us that damn near everything about it pulls you in. The time honored history, values and culture that is passed on through not only the people but also the media that manages to leave its country and make its way overseas for us to partake in. It has been 50 long and noteworthy years since Jamaica first partnered with Japan as countries in arms and I am proud to see such an out pouring of support from so many for events such as Anime Nation. This will now be the 5th year since this event took Jamaica by storm and oddly it shows no signs of slowing down. Every year more and more people show up and every year the lovely people at JA Cosplayaz have to find a bigger and better venue to house all the passionate anime/manga lovers out there.

JaCosplayaz is primarily spearheaded by the above 3 individuals; from left  to right: Tetrice Afayah Prendergast, Zane Francis, & Fabian Pinkney. AS you can see clearly they have a strong passion for the culture and all it offers whether through gaming or animation. It was this passion that has led them into a long standing partnership with the Embassy Of Japan that has helped bring awareness of Japan in Jamaica to higher heights every year. From the various cultural exchange programs such as JET (The Japan Exchange And Teaching Programme) to more local based events such as Anime Nation, Japanese presence and impact is at an all time high in Jamaica. Just want to take this time to say kudos to the aforementioned people and all the countless hours and sacrifices they made to make this recurring event the success it is today. Also want to give a very honorable mention to the three main admins of the JACosplayaz Facebook page Tara Sham, Sherae Morrison & Stephen Brown.

Stephen & Sherae Spent The Night Terrifying Patron Young And Old

The event started off well and granted some items ran overtime somehow managed to progress smoothly into the night. The day started off with a one of a kind interview segment with one of Japans animators of legend Masami Suda. One of the main driving forces behind such classics as Gatchaman aka G-Force and Fist of the North Star. Not to mention all the cultural displays and merchandise on sale; and if that wasn't enough there was a wide variety of live performances on display for the patrons from musical to animated. Hell there was even a video game tournament played for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. The night culminated into an epic costume parade to showcase some of the cosplayers in attendance. Local cosplayer extraordinaire Steffi Singh made a clean sweep of Anime Nation 2014 by winning not only the award for cosplayer of the year but also best costume of the event. Kudos to you Steffi you made a lot of people proud, really wanted to get one of your water paintings but my outfit broke my piggy bank so sucks to be me.

Steffi Singh

All in all great event, great turnout and great people. I am very happy with my first experience cosplaying even though I was pretty nervous about my outfit and being around so many people. The highlights of my night would be all the lil kids I took pictures with, seeing all the Japanese people instantly recognize my cosplay and wanting to take pics and getting to snap a picture with a fellow Dragonball Z cosplayer who was cosplaying as Gohan. Can't wait for next years event to roll around definitely going to cosplay a character that isn't short so I don't have to crouch for all my pics to stay in character, its been two days and my legs are still jello and ache. Sorry to those that would have preferred to see video coverage footage but my camera has issues and dies super fast if I record video so I focused mainly on taking pictures so feel free to look through the 200+ pictures I managed to get and remember to like our Facebook page. This is your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo Cometh signing off...

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Party Over Here...

Well guys its another Monday and boy oh boy do we got some good news. We got to go to a LAN Party this weekend and boy oh boy was it good. Haven't been to one of those since my University days of legend, glad to see little by little more people turning out for events like thee as well as more and more companies taking the initiative to be a part of events of this nature. Its an emerging market and a very good look for the forward progression of our country as a whole. Not much to say or show on my end since I was participating in the event and had to be at my station all the time but Ill leave you with the link to few pictures I did manage to take. Special thanks to all the sponsors and companies represented IntcomeX Jamaica, Microsoft, Pixel 3D Studios, AOC, Game On Jamaica, and Logitech. Honorable mention goes to the Knutsford Court Hotel for having us and also ATL motors for providing the generator to power all these epic machines that were in attendance. Great people, great machines, great atmosphere, great times and lots of bodies hitting the floor. Hope to see an even better turn out next time they have one of these. With all that being said I do believe i'm gonna go read some more manga on my new AOC tablet.

--->Click Here For Pictures Of The Event<---

If that's not enough and you still want more Rebel Queens got some coverage of the days events as well so you can go check out their Facebook fanpage

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PAX East 2014 Roundup

PAX 2014 happened this past weekend and it was truly the critically acclaimed event that we all know and love. The Penny Arcade eXpo (PAX) is a series of gaming festivals held in Seattle, Boston, and Melbourne. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop gamers. Created in 2004, PAX has been hailed as celebration of gamer culture. Defining characteristics of the festival include an opening keynote speech from an industry insider, game-culture inspired concerts, panels on game topics, exhibitor booths from independent and major game developers and publishers, a LAN party, tabletop game tournaments, and video game freeplay areas. This years PAX was filled with a wide variety of MOBA, Mobile, and MMO related games:

Click on a game title below to see what they're offering up at PAX this year. 

• Infinite Crisis ^(4/11)
• Below (4/11)
• Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel ^(4/11)
• Child of Light ^(4/12)
• Crowman & Wolfboy ^(4/11)
• Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition ^(4/12)
• Duet ^(4/11)
• Dungeon Defenders II ^(4/12)
• Framed ^(4/11)
• Grey Goo ^(4/11)
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft ^(4/11)
• Heroes of the Storm ^(4/12)
• Indie Showcase ^(4/11)
• MtG: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2015 ^(4/12)
• Murdered: Soul Suspect ^(4/11)
• Orcs Must Die! Unchained ^(4/11)
• Nosgoth ^(4/11)
• PlanetSide 2 ^(4/11)
• Record Run ^(4/11)
• Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth ^(4/13)
• Star Citizen ^(4/11)
• The Evil Within ^(4/11)
• The Spookening ^(4/11)
• Tiny Dice Dungeon ^(4/11)
• Watch Dogs ^(4/12)
• WildStar ^(4/12)
• World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor ^(4/11)
• Wayward Souls ^(4/11)

When I look at this list the main games that I am most excited for are:

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel



Murdered: Soul Suspect



The Evil Within



Watch Dogs

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Say Hello to Our Newest Team Member

Greetings Puny Fleshbags

Let me start off by saying sorry for not putting up the blog on Monday as usual but it was a special occasion. The arrival and grand coronation of Tigger, my newly acquired tabby and my first official pet. Yaay for me; achievement unlocked! Anyways if you have been following the typical random Monday blog posts I have been doing of late about the happenings of my life you would have known ahead of time of my plan to adopt Tigger. Just gonna give a quick run through of the overall process for those who may want a kitteh or puppay of their very own.

The JSPCA exists to promote kindness to animals, prevent abuse and reduce fear, pain and suffering. The JSPCA has been working in Jamaica for more than a hundred years, to protect animals from cruelty, neglect, injury and abandonment, and to defend and promote animal rights.

They operate a shelter at 10 Winchester Road, Kingston 10, and a veterinary clinic, open to the public, which also deals with more than three hundred charity cases per week. It is equipped with a laboratory, surgical suites, isolation unit and maternity ward. In addition, we have a mobile clinic which is currently stationed on weekends in the fast-growing metropolis of Portmore.

Their mission is to promote the compassionate treatment of animals through education, advocacy, veterinary care and the placing of unwanted animals in loving homes. They strive towards the improvement of conditions at the pounds and abattoirs, as well as the racetrack and riding establishments in Jamaica. One of our major goals is to amend the 1965 Cruelty to Animals Act and the Pound Laws, increasing the fines to levels which will constitute a real deterrent, and giving the JSPCA more authority to take suitable action against those who inflict harm, pain or suffering on animals. 

All strays placed in our shelter are either adopted or eventually euthanized. All reported cases of cruelty or neglect are investigated, and action is taken as quickly as possible.

The adoption process is pretty straight forward, you can come in to the JSPCA and view the animals they have from Monday to Saturday between 8 am and 3:30pm. All animals are spayed/neutered so they can't reproduce. After choosing your pet you fill out the relevant paperwork and pay the adoption fee. You will be given a date to pick up your animal after it has done surgery. When you go to the JSPCA they take you around back and you get to have a few moments to decide which animal you will be taking home as a new addition to the family. Once that important decision is done it is just a matter of preparing the home environment and waiting till your due date. Open to the Public: Monday - Thursday 8:00am to 6:00 pm; Fridays 8:00 am to 4:00 pm; Saturday 8:00am to 3:00pm. For emergency service after hours, call the main number (876) 929-0320 Fax: (876) 754-4594. Bear in mind that cats are $900, kittens $700, & dogs $3,000 & puppies $1,500. Well that's about everything you need to know; so what are you waiting for? Go out and adopt a pet who needs it today...

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Here's Some Friendly Advice

Hi everyone welcome to another random Monday blog post. Ill try to keep this short and sweet since my planet needs me. Friend is a term that gets thrown around  and mistakenly used in cases where acquaintance would be better suited. A real friend is far and few apart and should be cherished accordingly as they not only improve your surrounding but your overall life in general. Last  Monday I talked about changes I would be making in my life  after my near death experience. Soon you will be introduced to my newest friend Tigger, but that is for another time. I almost lost a very near and dear friend to my heart because of some oversights on my part. Word of advice people never get complacent and take real friends for granted cause you don't always get a second chance to fix your mistakes in life. One of the worst feelings to experience is regret and having to live with that as a painful reminder is that much worse.

Be sure to cherish your true friends and keep the lines of communication open so you can have a long and fruitful relationship to carry you through the years. Plus who knows you just might need a true friend to save you from a bad situation one day or vice versa.

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So Yeah I Almost Died

Whats good y'all? We back in this for another random Monday blog. We sorta messed up and didn't give you guys a Friday video game review and for that I wanna say i'm sorry. If you were paying attention recently on the Monday blog last week you would have seen that I was feeling a bit ill. Well that escalated quickly into me running a seriously high fever and hallucinating. This further escalated into me being rushed to the hospital in the wee hours of the night by my parents who drove a hour and a half journey to get me there for fear of my life. So anyways made a decent recovery under my mother's ever watchful eye over the course of the week and as such am now well enough to be writing up this random Monday blog-post. For those that don't know I live away from my family on my own in the city. Been a big boy for the past 2 or 3 years trying to start my life and make ends meet; hooray for financial freedom and shackles all at the same time. Anywhore there are a changes that must be done to avoid an immediate recurrence of such and safeguard my body. So lets do this!!!

Ok so added to the fact that I already have a somewhat weak immune system there will be much taking of Centrum to get my vitamin swag on. Add to that the fact that I am working seven days a week almost every week, balancing two jobs, while maintaining this blog and its Facebook page while somehow doing an online course my body could endure no longer. So will be trying to cut back a bit on the work load and try to take the occasional weekend off to rest up and rejuvenate a bit. Also I have decided I need more active enjoyment in my life so I will be making a conscious effort to get out more and have decided to adopt a kitten from the animal shelter. Another change I hope to make but i'm still up in the air about is to start exercising again but due to time constraints i'm not entirely sure where to fit that in. All in all I think that's about it as far as I can think for now so i'm gonna end this blog here and get back to drinking this Chicken Soup my mom made for me to get better. Later days...

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Fuck You Oscars; Fuck You...

What in the holy hell is up with Hollywood and the Oscar community? How does this man still not have a goddamn Oscar? Can someone just tell this man whose ass he has to kiss or dick he has to suck to win a freaking Oscar? Yet another year has come and gone where this brilliant actor is yet again denied of an Oscar and for what. A movie about AIDS, and a movie about slavery? Yes i'm butt-hurt and yes i'm probably more upset than I need to be but that's the whole point of me doing this rant. Don't get me wrong i'm happy that this years Oscar awards was a smorgasbord of Ethnic diversity but seriously how much longer is Leonardo suppose to endure..?

Ok maybe i'm going a bit overboard with the a movie about slavery bit but I mean its not exactly a new concept. Leo had two remarkably stellar performances in 2013 for The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street but somehow all of this equates to nothing? Sigh sorry for this rant but i'm fed up and can only imagine what Leonardo feels but he as always is taking it like a champ and being the classy gentleman we all know and love. I'll always be a die-hard Dicaprio fan; Oscar or no Oscar.

So in closing once more, Fuck You Oscars; Fuck You Hollywood Illuminati and for those of you that missed it here is a break down of the Oscar awards:

1. 86th Academy Awards winners

   Best Picture	12 Years a Slave
   Best Actor in a Leading Role	Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
   Best Actress in a Leading Role	Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
   Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
   Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
   Best Animated Feature	Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
   Best Cinematography	Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
   Best Costume Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
   Best Directing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
   Best Documentary Feature	20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
   Best Documentary Short	The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
   Best Film Editing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
   Best Foreign Language Film	The Great Beauty (Italy)
   Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
   Best Original Score	Gravity (Steven Price)
   Best Original Song	Let It Go - Frozen
   Best Production Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
   Best Animated Short Film	Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
   Best Live Action Short Film	Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
   Best Sound Editing	Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
   Best Sound Mixing	Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
   Best Visual Effects	Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
   Best Adapted Screenplay	12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
   Best Original Screenplay	Her (Spike Jonze)

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