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Don’t get me wrong, I am INCREDIBLY excited to be seeing Metallica perform Ride the Lightning and the Black Album in my home state of New Jersey.  However, since no one on the internet is ever happy, here is my grievance with the festival.  I want another metal band on the bill and my instant thoughts were either Kingdom of Sorrow or Down.    If I can have a magical wishlist, I’ll take Gojira, Crowbar, and Lamb of God too, but yeah, I don’t see that happening.  I’ve been going to festivals for years and I’ve never expected a lineup to be 100% made to suit my taste.  However, I see that more bands are set to be announced, and since the man himself with a KILLER cover of Escape on “For the Lions”, Jamey Jasta, has asked for websites to write about not enough metal at the show at @jameyjasta, here goes nothing.  I don’t care if we don’t have the amount of readers that other sites do, or an amount at all, it’s worth a shot.  Kingdom of Sorrow, Hatebreed, Down, Crowbar, Gojira, whatever, please add more metal to the bill.

So here we are, at the end of my 2nd day of juicing, and I’m feeling pretty good about it at the moment. I can’t deny that I’d like something to chow down on, but I feel like this could really work for me. Day 2 has gone pretty well for me. I woke up more energized than I normally do on any given day and I was rarely hungry throughout the day. It wasn’t without its lessons and pitfalls, though. I tried juicing a couple cucumbers this morning and it worked miraculously well. Just a little bit of cucumber yielded a ton of juice. Then, I tasted it and realized that ton of juice came with a ton of cucumber flavor. Overpowering, mighty, fierce, biting cucumber flavor. Any recipe that calls for 2 cucumbers can easily be fulfilled with one cucumber. For reasons of both flavor and volume. Now, I managed to cut it with some apple and pineapple, but it was still tough to stomach. Then, I managed to drop it all on the ground right outside of my car. Miraculously, the cup didn’t even tilt over, it landed perfectly straight. But a huge green splash erupted in my face, getting all over my clothes and the inside of my car door. On one hand, I had to run in and change my clothes. On the other hand, it left more room in the cup for more apple juice, making the drink much more palatable. I spent the day very positive, only needing a few doses of Strawberry Banana and Orange Mango Naked Juices throughout the day. I then made a Blueberry Banana smoothie for dinner and I’ll be damned if it didn’t taste awesome. I’ll have to Banana Smoothie everything!

Now, this day going along smoothly and easily was a big step from Day 1. Day 1 was rough. I felt tired and lethargic all day. I concocted an Orange Carrot juice for breakfast that was pretty great, but I just couldn’t get my act together. I was always hungry, and that just made things worse. I tried to fill in the hunger gaps with Naked Juice and Water, but my stomach kept nagging me. When I got home, I decided to try to juice broccoli and learned that not only does it smell like farts, but it also yields very little juice. I mixed it with plenty of green apple and it tasted OK. It actually kept me pretty satisfied but I started to doubt my ability to get through a juice fast. Thankfully, Day 2 was nothing like Day 1.

So now I have to come clean. I must’ve been out of my mind if I thought I was going to do this for 30 days. I actually think my willpower will allow me to hold out for quite awhile, but unfortunately my bank account will not. The juicer eats up a LOT of fruit and even more of most vegetables. I had to go through an entire pint of blueberries and then some to make my smoothie earlier tonight. That’s a lot of berries to spend on just one meal. I do plan on juicing on and off and continuing to juice for breakfast, but this juice fast will most likely end next week. I’m not admitting defeat, because if I wanted to admit defeat I’d just give up right now. Instead, I’m just admitting the truth. There are other ways to stay healthy that won’t break my wallet and when I’m through this juice detox cycle, I hope I’ll be in a better position to eat healthier. This is just my jumping-off point and I’ll continue to juice, try new recipes and utilize my juicer as much as is feasibly possible.

I do have my first gaming-inspired juice recipe. The top image on this post was my first juice concoction, and awesome recipe for Apple Lemonade from The Everything Juicing Book. It just calls for 2 red apples, 2 green apples and 1/4 lemon. When mixed up it comes out as a sandy gold color that made me think of the desert. I put the combination of desert and gold together and BOOM, The Gold Saucer. The Gold Saucer is an amusement park in the middle of the desert from Final Fantasy VII where you can taste the sweet flavor of victory in the arena, or suffer sour defeat by betting on the wrong Chocobo race. There’s so much flavor, it’s positively overwhelming, just like the first time you visit the Saucer. Chocobo races, an arcade full of mini games, live plays and a haunted hotel, there’s just so much to do! So, if you’re looking for a powerful sweet and sour drink, make yourself a Gold Saucer and enjoy!

I just started Final Fantasy XIII-2 today, so I can’t quite judge it yet but I will say that after about 3 hours, the storyline makes absolutely no sense. Maybe over time as things get revealed, but for now the game is a big bag of “What the Hell?!” However, the battle system from FFXIII is as fresh as  self-juiced oranges. It’s like riding a bike, as soon as I got into battle I was shifting paradigms and staggering enemies like a boss! Say what you want about it’s annoying characters or linear storyline, but FFXIII had one of the most streamlined and exciting battle systems in the series. I can only hope its story achievements can eventually live up to its technical ones.

Well, I better get to bed and get ready for day 3. Tomorrow begins my Biggest Loser competition at work, so hopefully I didn’t lose TOO much weight today. If tomorrow goes as well as today did, it should go pretty smoothly. I’ve heard around day 3 you start to hit a slump, I hope I’ve already gotten past that point but we’ll see. If I’m miserable, you’ll hear about it. In the meantime, I’ve got some lemons, limes, spinach and pears waiting for me in the fridge and plenty of role playing to go. Juice on!

PS: Protein is overrated.

So the time is nearly upon us. My adventure down the noble path of juicing is nigh. It really hit me this afternoon. I walked down the hallowed halls of the great Mart of Wal. In my basket sat the Jack Lalanne Power Juicer, which was the one I had gotten upon personal recommendation from Carrie. Plus, let’s not forget Jack Lalanne is the man who once pulled a cruise ship to shore with his teeth on The Simpsons. As it turns out, I’m probably returning it tomorrow to get the smaller, easier to clean Express model, but the point is I bought a juicer, dammit! Anywho, it really hit me that I’m changing my life around as I wandered through their produce section, looking for the right apples, lemons, cucumbers and spinach to make my juices. As I looked over the lemons, it hit me, I have no clue what the hell I’m doing. I don’t know what a good or bad lemon looks like, they just look like lemons to me! Besides maybe a cup of grapes or pineapple from Wawa or a fruit party tray, I had never bought produce for myself before in my life. And here I was, essentially buying the only foodstuffs that I’m going to be eating for the next several weeks. I’m not gonna lie when I felt pretty good about myself bringing that cart full of fruits and veggies up to the cash register. Normally the food I buy for myself falls more into the cookie, chips, frozen pizza and energy drinks realm. To buy bags of actually good food did a little bit to feed my ego. Hopefully it’ll be enough to feed my face. Monday, the struggle begins. Monday, I become The Juicemaster!

So, when I got home I did the most appropriate thing I could think of. I hit up my buddy Lee and we went to Famous Dave’s for my last hurrah. In a sea of chopped pork, boneless wings, corn fritters and spicy link sausage, I feasted like a king. If I’m going out of my horrible eating ways, I’m going out with a bang. And what a bang it was, hours later I’ve been stuck to my couch, feeling my insides turn to glue. I was very happy with the meal, but I’m looking forward to not feeling this aftermath for a long time.

On the gaming side of things, I’ve found myself turning to my handhelds a lot more, my 3DS and PSP. I think it’s a combination of factors. First, the couch in my room is covered with recently bought CDs, recently opened mail and Xmas gifts that I haven’t found a proper place for. Therefore, they sit on my couch and rotate between there and my bed whenever I want to sit on the couch. Secondly, I’m still waiting for Final Fantasy XIII-2 to come out and distract me from my want for food. Finally, I just beat the two games I was really deep into (Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Metal Gear Solid 3 HD) and I don’t really want to get into anything because it’s just going to be overshadowed in a few days by Final Fantasy. So spending my free time with games I play for a little bit and not really get sucked into like Mario Kart 7 and Ultimate Ghosts n’ Goblins is pretty perfect at the moment. However, I have been playing quite a bit of Gears of War 3 as of late. I was finally able to finish up Gears 2′s campaign during this downtime and start a little bit on 3′s. However, the real draw for me has been the multiplayer. I’m god-awful at the competitive modes, I might as well be running around waving a flag that reads “Kill Me, it’s Easy” but the action is still pretty fun. However, Horde Mode is the bomb-diggity. I can hold my own pretty well against wave after wave of enemy-controlled combatant monsters, and it’s a great way to kill a few hours. Another neat thing about Gears 3 is the enemy horde, the Lambent, are aliens infused with some kind of radioactive substance that causes them to bleed bright yellow. I’m looking out for yellow fruits and veggies that I might be able to juice together and create some kind of “Lambent Juice” or “Lambent Cooler” if you will.

That’s all I have for tonight. Tomorrow night is the Royal Rumble, which I’m fairly sure I’ll be watching at Brendo’s and eating some kind of terrible last meal. I might as well put a blindfold and cigarette in my mouth while I do it, for I will be giving up one of my mightiest vices, being a foodie. It’s OK, though. I’m pretty excited and nervous about this whole juicing affair. Trying something new and the possibility of bettering my health actually have me pretty hyped to give this a try. But the regret of losing one of those few vices in my life may be nagging away for awhile. Best not to think of that now, only focus on the Rumble. Which, by the way, WILL either be won by Chris Jericho or my ginger brethren Sheamus. At least that’s what I’m hoping for. I think anyone knows that a CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho feud would be pure gold, and the two would probably put together a fantastic match. Concerning Sheamus, if Daniel Bryan keeps weaseling his way into continuing to be World Champ, who better to put him down than the Great White himself? Ugh, I still don’t feel right saying that. Sounds racist.

Well, good night all. I’ll probably be back writing again on Monday with my Day 1 thoughts on my juicing situation. I’ll be experimenting with a few recipes I picked up over the weekend tomorrow and then Monday, it is ON!

So I’ve finally decided it’s time. Time to change my life. Time to leave my fatass trappings behind and walk down the righteous path to losing weight and  living healthier. For both selfish and righteous reasons, I need to get thinner. I don’t need to be one of those creepy, gaunt, lanky tall guys who looks like their entire body would fall apart like a tower of jenga blocks if they took a slapjack to the back of the knee, but I also don’t need to be rolling around like a taller Bam Bam Bigelow, God rest his soul. So this is it, my ultimatum. Starting next Monday, Jan 30, I will be beginning a 30 day juice fast cycle and trying to ride it out as the beginning of changing my gluttonous ways.

My friend Carrie was the one who planted the juice fast idea in my head. She had watched a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead where a man in his lower 40′s, who had had a history of health issues and a rare skin disorder, tours across America while ingesting nothing but juice from whole fruits and vegetables that he juiced himself. It was quite an inspiring journey, seeing how he had started out his adulthood thin, had added on the pounds over the years and finally got to the breaking point where he decided he needed to change his lifestyle and used 60 days of juice fasting as his kickstart. He managed to drop dozens of pounds, his skin condition eased up and he was able to move off of the plethora of medication he had been surviving off of for years.

What was even more impressive was when he found a man with the same rare skin disorder who was far worse off and about a hundred pounds even heavier during his travels. The 2nd man reached out to the documentarian and managed to change his life, overtime dropping from over 420 lbs to about 220, losing the majority of it during a 60 day juice fast. Now, I do realize as a student of the media that most documentaries are made to prove a point rather than objectively point out the facts, but Carrie herself is someone who has a very difficult time losing weight. She’s probably the healthiest person I know but has an extremely hard time shedding the pounds no matter how hard she tries. But this method worked for her, she fought her way through it, I can fight my way through it too. I’d recommend watching the documentary, seeing how two men’s lives have changed through… well… the power of juice.

Now, why specifically am I juice fasting? Well, I’m fat, but hardly ever sick and nowhere near dead. I have lost an impressive amount of weight previously. At my absolute worst point in Fall 2009, I weighed 367 lbs. This was the result of years of neglecting what I was eating, pouring tons of money into fast food and generally just not giving a shit about what I put in my mouth. I was healthy, I never get sick, my back or knees act up every now and then, but who’s doesn’t? I was encouraged to join a Biggest Loser competition at work, which is how I found my motivation to do something about it and make some money in the meantime. I managed to lose almost 40 lbs over 6 weeks, dropping to around 329 and I made some money for the most total weight lost (the real winner won by higher percentage). I walked every day (and quite honestly, fucking hated it), I cut down on my portions, I ate better when I went out, cut off all fast food, candy, soda and frivolous snacks. However, when it was all said and done,  it was only a matter of time before I drifted back into my old ways. I had gone halfway to living better and in the end I ended up living as crappily as I did before. I’ve drifted around 330-335 for the past 2 years and haven’t made any strides to losing weight since. That’s why I’m juice fasting now, I keep telling myself I’m going to change things, but I never do. I’m desperate case of routine and Taco Bell, it’s going to call for desperate measures to get me to change.

So, I mentioned I had “selfish” reasons for losing this weight. Quite honestly, my number 1 goal right now is to make sure that I am small enough to fit on the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” ride at Universal when I go to Orlando in May. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I hear that ride is AWESOME, and I hear they are very strict about being able to properly fit in the restraints. My older brother Andy is about an inch shorter than me, but he was able to fit on it. He’s also probably about 50 or more lbs lighter than me. So that’s part of why I want to lose weight quickly, but I don’t want to completely starve myself or fall into other dangerous habits. Juice fasting will still give me the nutrition I need, just not the extra stuff I don’t. Also, the added benefit of being in better shape will hopefully help me overcome my life-long self-confidence issues. But we’ll cross that road when we come to it.

Now, as far as referring to myself as the “juicing gamer”? One advantage I do have is that I don’t snack at home that much. Thanks to me spending plenty of time being distracted by video games, being engaged and focused on something, I’m usually not worrying about stuffing my face after dinnertime. However, being at work is a bad munchy time, having a few bucks in my pocket and wanting to stop for Wawa breakfast on the way into work is a bad habit. Pretty much any situation where I can get bored and have a few bucks in my pocket is a bad situation for me, as I tend to turn those bucks into candy or chips. By denying myself the possibility to take those snack breaks, hopefully I’ll be cutting out a big chunk of my problem. Then, when I get home at night, I can focus on my games, my website and my writing to keep my idle hands busy and out of the cookie jar. Final Fantasy XIII-2 comes out next week and is sure to fill my time with dozens of hours of distraction to keep my body focused on the game at hand, not on the ice cream in the freezer. Also, as I create my own juice concoctions, I’m hoping to come up with clever names for them after my favorite games (I’m already imagining up one called the “Golden Sun”).

Finally, I will admit that this week I’ll be going for one last hurrah of gluttony, one last chance to indulge in that which I am leaving behind. I’ve come up with the foodstuffs I will miss the most and will be waving good-bye to this week. I started tonight by getting some wings from Buffalo Quarters, I can’t make it all the way to the Pic-A-Lilli for the greatest wings on Earth and these are a good runner up. I will say goodbye to burgers at Bobby’s Burger Palace sometime this week. I may say goodbye to Pizza at Lorenzo’s in Philly when I go to see Lamb of God this Thursday. I would like to hit up Pat’s and say goodbye to Cheesesteaks. And this Saturday, I think a Famous Dave’s trip NEEDS to happen to say goodbye to delectable BBQ this weekend. This will be my final farewell to my life of gluttony, spending it with some of my closest food friends. Hopefully on the back-end of my 30 day juice journey we will meet again, and I will be able to balance you in moderation with a healthier lifestyle.

So, I will be blogging throughout my journey on my new site (when it launches), but I wanted this one chance to lay out my thoughts on why I’m doing, why I’m doing it and why will believe it will actually work for me. I have my friend Carrie to be my support and advisor, I will be buying a juicer next weekend with my paycheck and hitting up the oft-ignored produce aisle. I hope my blog will act as a reminder to myself of what I was willing to try to get better, and perhaps as a message to others to try it for themselves.

I know you’ve heard the phrase, “If I can do it, anyone can”. Well, I have no willpower, I love good food, it is my main vice, but if I can let it go to live better… anyone can.

Less than a month and a half here to go in 2011, and I’m already mentally cashing it in, yet I’m nowhere near done.  This has been quite the year for me, very eye opening to say the least.  Laid off in February, physically incapacitated for the better part of a month, ended my engagement of almost a year,  got a new job in June, and had quite a few rude awakenings besides that.  It wasn’t all bad, but that’s the timeline running through my head.  Expect a full writeup promise on the first, or maybe I’ll type it up early, and just throw it up then.  Boomaga and I attempted a podcast but that didn’t work due to the last one not getting edited.  Perhaps he can do that in his next week off, even though it’s, what, 6 months old now?  LOST EPISODE!  Anyway, before the year is over, I have at least one more show, one that I am incredibly proud to announce.

JCW makes it return to Philadelphia after 2 and a half years on 12/30/11, with the Wake the Dead at the Asylum Arena, some of you know it as Viking Hall or the ECW arena, the most famous bingo hall in the world!  Tickets available soon at ticketmaster.com.  Broadcast live over the world, order it LIVE at psychopathiclive.com!  You can also order the videos from the Dark Lotus show in Rochester and the full show of Hallowicked on demand, so, do that.  Both were real dope.  Ya boy was even on stage for ICP in Detroit…until I immediately fell off, 3 weeks later I have to get x-rays taken of my knee.  Whatever, still worth it.

As of the past week, I’ve been ripping through Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, leaving my legacy.  Ezio LOVES to murder those begging whores.  They deserve it.  I got through the story mode of Batman: Arkham City and loved it, I’ll be going back to it when I finish AC.  I also pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I’ve never been an MMO guy, and I completely blame the Rooster Teeth podcast for this one.  Fucking cockbites.

I quit drinking in January as part of a weight loss competition in January and just never started again, outside of the night it ended, so I have about 2 months until I can drink, or 4 depending on how I look at it.  I can feel myself fading in so I’ll leave you with these 2 things.  I can be reached at my public twitter account @counterfeitg0d, that’s g0d with a zero.  Second, take a step back from your life and re-evaluate everything.  You may find things are out of order and need to be changed, moreso than you’re comfortable with.  This had an alternative meaning, I just need to figure out how to phrase it.  Until next time, go buy the new Doomtree album, and the new Dessa album.  Both are hot lava.

So for the last week or so at my video game music Twitter feed, @Gametunes, all 17 of my followers have been blessed with some of the fines tracks from the epic gothic action series, Castlevania. Besides being my second favorite game franchise (Zelda comes first), Castlevania has produced some of the most incredible orchestrations in video game history, from the bleeps and bloops of the NES era to the symphonic pieces for the Playstation 2 games. I don’t count the Xbox 360/PS3 title Lords of Shadow, that’s not really a Castlevania game.

So, my week of Tweets has all led to this, my gift for Halloween, possibly the greatest and most well known track in Castlevania music history, Bloody Tears from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. Enjoy the increased orchestration and fidelity this track has been given in numerous installments through the years…

The Original: Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

The Revival: Super Castlevania IV

The Genesis: Castlevania Bloodlines

The Synthesizing: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood

The Conversion: Dracula X (SNES)

The Epicness: Castlevania Chronicles

The Minimizing: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

The Reinvention: Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles

The Battle: Castlevania Judgment

There you go, only God knows when Konami is going to release another real Castlevania game, but with all hopes the series is not dead and will rise from its grave much like Dracula himself has been known to do now and again. And if there is to be yet another Castlevania game, I’m sure there’s another place for Bloody Tears to be revived.

I’ve been posting on the forums of Unikgamer.com for awhile now. It’s a great site dedicated to users building lists of their favorite games of all time and they have a small but dedicated forums community. These are people who really take their time and care about gaming and yet, it completely blows my mind that there are users on there who don’t see the problems arising from the proliferation of used video games thanks to the business practices of companies like Gamestop.

Gamestop is in the used game business. Yes, they also happen to sell new games and they’re going to push you oh-so-hard for that new game reservation but in reality, they sell used games first, and new games second. The reason they push new games reserves at all is because they hope you bring in your used games to trade-in towards that new game so Gamestop can reap the massive profits off your used sale. Let’s say you just bought Batman: Arkham City from Gamestop and beat it in a week? Well, you paid $60 for it from Gamestop, and they maybe made $5-10 off that sale. Then you trade it into Gamestop for $30 in credit, and Gamestop turns around and sells it to the next guy for $50, turning a $20 profit off that second sale. They double dipped, made money twice off the same product and actually made MORE off the second sale. That’s how Gamestop makes money, that’s also how Gamestop is undermining the video game business.

Now, I always hear the same arguments defending the practice of used games. “Used games have existed for decades, why is it a problem now?”, I also hear “There are used movies, books, cars and other products, why is games such a problem?” and finally, “Well, people have the right to do whatever they want with their property.”

The argument that “Used games have existed for decades and therefore shouldn’t be a problem now” is a fallacy. Yes, used games have been around for decades. But back in 1994 the majority of the game buying public probably didn’t know that the used games market existed. It was a niche market, mostly facilitated through the limited number of FuncoLand retailers out there. You know what hasn’t been around for decades? Used games sections in Gamestop that are larger than the new game sections along with a Gamestop at every single strip mall in America. Used games at Best Buy. Used games on Amazon. The accessibility of buying used games is so much greater now than it has ever been. It’s far easier to find a used game than any other used product. Now, I’ve bought my share of used games to save a few bucks, but if it’s a game I really enjoy and really want and can find it new, it’s worth paying for it. Nowadays the only used games I buy are games that are usually years old that I can buy for extremely cheap and if I were to buy a new copy of it at this point, it wouldn’t matter because it’s probably being sold at-a-loss from its original value. The proliferation of used games has never been stronger and Gamestop has more sales and deals on used games than just about every retailer has on new games. Gaming isn’t a cheap hobby and we all like to save a few bucks, but there gets to a point where if too many people are saving too many bucks, someone’s got to be hurting from it somewhere.

And a used car/book/movie doesn’t really compare to a used game. First off, movies have multiple revenue streams, they don’t JUST make their money from DVD sales. Movies also make money from theater runs, TV airings, and video streaming services, none of which exist for console games. Used books are more likely to have wear and tear from regular use than a video game, same with used cars. A console video game is something that only exists as a physical product that (ideally) maintains the exact same experience for everyone who uses it. What someone paid $60 for new and what someone paid $50 for used get the exact same experience for their money. So, why not go for the $50 one, right? Oh, because the company who actually produced it gets nothing for your $50 and at least gets a little cut from your $60.

Finally, yes, every person has the right to do what they want with their own product. If you choose to trade your game into Gamestop or Amazon or sell your game on eBay, that is your choice. I can’t give a valid argument against people who trade in their games, because that would make me a massive hypocrite. I would love to be able to keep every game that I buy, but sometimes I need a crutch to help me pay for more new games. However, most of the games I trade in are games I’ve owned for several months or years and have probably lost most of their new sales potential. What I think is wrong is the practices of retailers pushing trade-ins and used sales so much harder than new sales on recent releases, to me it seems to do more harm to the industry that allows them to exist. The practice of trading in games isn’t inherently evil or harmful to the industry until it gets out of control and the game manufacturers see their sales suffer from too many copies of their titles being traded in, and that’s exactly what’s happening. I went to Gamestop the other day to pay off my reserved *NEW* copy of Super Mario 3D Land and saw at least 5 used copies each of Dead Island and Deus Ex: Human Revolution on the shelf, two games that are less than two months old and they are already saturating the used games market. That’s where the problem is, games that still have new sales potential that is being taken away thanks to the pushing of quick trade-ins and used sales.

If you’re someone who wonders why the game industry keeps pumping out the same kind of games over and over (military shooters, sci-fi shooters, sequels), it’s because games cost more to make. The teams needed to develop games is larger than ever. Yes, little indie hits like Super Meat Boy and Limbo exist, and they’re just fine. But the majority of us enjoy big-budget games that take advantage of all the technological advancements that have been made in gaming over the last few decades. We’ve seen dozens of games studios get shut down and employees get laid off over the last few years for as little as ONE big-budget game title that fails to meet sales expectations. Well, the saturation of newer used games in the gaming market doesn’t help those sales expectations at all. There’s nothing that can be done to stop it, but all the companies who are actually producing these games can do is hope to deter it and I support that as someone who cares more about the future of video gaming than about saving 10 bucks.

That’s right, believe it or not, this…

Costs a hell of a lot more to produce than this…

What’s wrong then with game publishers/developers wanting to recoup the extra costs involved with making it? It boggles my mind that some people who call themselves gamers prefer to back up the retailer practices over the publishers/developers. Like the publishers are some big evil monster in the hills for wanting to make more money, and the retailers who are reaping the profits off used games are some noble, pious organizations.

If I have to choose the lesser of two evils, I’ll take supporting the entity who actually creates the games I want to play over one of the dozens of retailers I can purchase it from anyday. I can buy Batman: Arkham City from any retailer I want, Amazon, Best Buy, Target. But Rocksteady is the only developer who made it, WB Interactive is the only publisher who released it, and they both deserve my money for it. If Gamestop loses money and goes out of business, fine, I’ll buy my games at Best Buy. If EA loses money and goes out of business, there’s dozens of potential future games I’ll never get to play.

The first time I saw the machine, I was unable to resist it’s captivating spell. With it’s bright colors, flashy graphics, interesting characters, engrossing story, and best of all, buckets of blood dripping from every connecting strike, Mortal Kombat quickly assumed the role of one of my favorite and most played games of all time. More importantly, it was securing it’s place as one of the most influential games of all time thanks to it’s ultra-violent play style, and the ability to perform fatalities once your foes have been vanquished, the perfect way to ice the cake of winning. This would often send the person you just beat into a rage and create an experience you just can’t have through an online service.

Adding to the game’s mystique were the different versions of the arcade ROM. Invisible to most players, only the most hardcore players would notice the slight subtleties. The boot up screen is a dead giveaway because it’ll give the revision, but if you paid close attention you could notice things like the way the screens run, and the silhouettes that appear on the moon over The Pit. These small things would let you know what you could get away with, whether or not you could fight Reptile with certain characters, or at all.

It seemed not too much later, Mortal Kombat was released for home systems. Friends ended up with it for the Genesis out of chance, and I couldn’t have been happier. I didn’t care if the SNES looked better, I was always a bigger Sega fan anyway, and soon we learned that there was a code for this game, a code of honor, a blood code. Maybe it was harder to remember because I was always so excited, or because I hadn’t learned how to commit things to memory, or because my memory is shot in general, but at this point I never forget entering A-B-A-C-A-B-B. I remember being so happy that we now had a code to put the blood back in the game, even if the game didn’t look as close to the arcade version as the SNES version, who cares, WE HAD BLOOD! Later, when the DULLARD code came out, it got that much sweeter.

By the time Mortal Kombat II was ready to hit the arcades, the fever had hit the entire country, thanks to the release of MK on the Genesis, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Gear, and even Sega CD. Let it be known that while the Sega CD version was late to the party, it in no way got a quiet release. An awesome commercial was produced, and is fondly remembered with the screams for “Mortal Monday”. The questions of what secrets would be in this game were running rampant. We ended up with new characters in the form of Jax, who was intended for the first game but swapped out for Sonya in order to have a playable female, Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Baraka, and the ability to play as Reptile, and a much younger looking Shang Tsung. Missing from the roster were Sonya and Kano, but as soon as you reached Shao Khan’s stage and saw them chained up, you saw why. The new bosses were Kintaro, another Shokan like Goro, and Shao Khan, ruler of Overworld, the one that Shang Tsung serves.

Kung Lao quickly rose as a fan favorite, partially thanks to the ability to control his hat after it’s thrown, and his ability to jump up and appear behind your opponent and attack them. A new set of fatalities was entered into the game, along with a set of friendships and babalities. This is where the genius of the team that created Mortal Kombat shines. Creativity like this along with tongue in cheek humor is what makes for greatness. Where as getting murdered in the previous game could be humiliating enough, now you run the risk of being handed a rainbow, or worse, turned into a baby.

Secrets and rumors abound, word was spreading quickly. The Dead Pool was an amazing stage fatality, quickly followed by The Pit II. Some fans quickly discovered that if you hold down on both joysticks after the stage fatality is performed on The Pit II, the body will slide off the spikes and fall back down to the floor, a great touch. Rumors spread of finishers like nude-alities and such, but these were never a reality, no matter what the kid at the local arcade told you, or how much he offered to sell you the codes for. Certain conditions would have to be met to enter some battles, such as when landing an uppercut, you may see a face appear at the bottom of the screen and yell “TOASTY!”. This Dan Forden, when seeing him pop up on the Portal stage, if you can hit UP and START in time, you are transported to a secret battle with a hidden fighter known as Smoke. Another hidden fight can be obtained by fighting your way up the ladder to the fight before the question mark, and only using Low Kick for one round. This will allow you to fight Jade. Other secrets include fighting Noob Saibot as a reward for winning 50 fights in a row, and playing a game of Pong for winning 250. Many false rumors were spread, such as ones about a stage fatality in the Forest, or other hidden characters. It didn’t help that in the hints for Jade it said “Ermac who?”, a joke based on the line ERRMAC on the boot screen of the original Mortal Kombat. An abbreviation for the term Error Macro, rabid fans pounced on this as the name of a fighter buried under lines of code that was just never used.

Again, a very wide release followed for home systems. Only this time, Nintendo allowed blood on their consoles, having heard the outcry of fans and seeing the number of copies sold greatly favoring the Genesis despite the graphical difference. Soon to be discovered was another debug mode, much more robust than the one that the DULLARD code unlocked in the first one, allowing things like one button fatalities and similar settings.

Even sooner to the arcades was the most comprehensive game yet, Mortal Kombat 3. Offering tag team modes as an alternative to the one on one that everyone was used to, MK3 also offered an impressive roster. Another thing introduced with MK3, officially, was a combo system. I’d had combos set up since day 1 with Sub Zero, but now they had actual combos set up and programmed in, instead of just a patten people figured out, that people couldn’t block. The ability to do a standard uppercut and send your opponent flying through the ceiling of the stage up to the next level was an exciting aspect, and it was always a race to see if you or your friend could pull it off first. Arguably the most controversial addition was the Run button. This made it harder for players to corner camp and try to control the flow of the match and run down the clock. Now, you could just run in and attack, and destroy that strategy. Another addition was Kombat Kodes. When playing in Vs mode, a series of 6 blocks would appear across the bottom of the screen and depending on what 3 buttons each of the players pressed, it would enter a code ranging from no throws, to no blocking. Let me tell you, turning off blocking was awesome. People that like to turtle didn’t think so, but they don’t count Turtling is a HORRIBLE strategy against a human opponent, and makes you eligible for ridicule and banishment.

New to this game were the characters Kabal, Striker, Cyrax, Sektor, Sheeva, Sindel, and Nightwolf. Kano returned, as did Jax but with metal arms, and Sub Zero was now unmasked and had a scar running over one eye. Shao Khan returned as the main boss, but the fight before him was now with a creature known as Motaro.

A new version of MK3 was released later in the same year, known as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Heralded to this day as the best version of MK to play by many fans, the only game that gives it competition is Mortal Kombat II. Added to the lineup are Ermac(this was met with an incredible level of applause by longtime fans), and Classic Sub Zero. These 3 were unlocked by entering a code at the Game Over screen. A very elaborate code that you never had enough time to put in. Smoke was also now playable, but was a cyber ninja like Cyrax and Sektor. Noob Saibot returns as a NPC character and is joined by a new fighter known as Rain. If you held the correct buttons before the fight started, you could turn him back into a human with a completely different set of moves.

Now, I know I’ve left out a lot. A staggering amount, actually. Everything from where Skarlet came from, to the 3 head Johnny Cage fatality gimmick, but it wasn’t my intention to cover everything. My original intention was just to explain the joy of playing games in arcades and as I kept writing, this evolved into an expression of how much I’ve loved Mortal Kombat over the years. The stories, secrets, and mythologies of this series have kept myself and my friends talking late into the night on many occasions, discussing scenarios of how we think certain events unfolded, or arguing about how something did happen. Not many fighting games have such a rich history and story, or one even worth learning. One day, I’ll own a UMK3 machine, and it’ll be fantastic. Until then, I’ll make do with the collections I have on my Xbox, and the incredible memories I have, pouring quarters into the machines at the now closed arcades all over New Jersey, getting my fix of Kombat and blood wherever I could.

Real short update tonight, I plan on a longer one later in the week about gaming, but this one is strictly about Psychopathic.  Now, I’ve been to a LOT of fucking shows.  Even so, some of my friends that I run with have me dwarfed by comparison.  Shit, I think one friend’s number is like 16 Mirror Mirror dates, and that’s just for ONE tour.  Anyways, this is the list of tours/events I’ve been to from what I can tell, 77 total.  That does count afterparties seperate.  After October, the way this looks, my number will jump by 6, up to 83.  Sadly, the 4th New Year’s Evil is looking like it’ll be the first that I’ll be missing.  I just wanted to throw this out there before I went to bed since the American Psycho being kicked off tonight has me stupid excited to see Blaze, Twiztid, ICP, and Dark Lotus all over again.

Juggalo Funhouse Supershow
Wicked Clowns From Outerspace
StrangleMania Live!
Rock The Dead
B/B Philly
B/B Old Bridge
Freek Show
Hatchet Rizing
Mirror Mirror*
Big Money Hu$tla$
GOTJ02*
Wraith Release Party
Shangri La Philly
Shangri La Philly
GOTJ03
Green Book Philly
Green Book Philly
Wicked Wonka
Black Rain
GOTJ04
Fright Fest 04
Psychopathic All Stars Asbury Park
Psychopathic All Stars Philly
GOTJ05
Man’s Myth Allentown
Man’s Myth Philly
Hell’s Pit Sayreville
Hell’s Pit Philly
Fright Fest 05
Guillotine Tour Philly
Guillotine Tour NYC
GOTJ 06
Blaze (KMK)
Tombstone of Terror
Fuck The Fuck Off
Hallowicked 06 TOUR
Tempest Release Party Philly
Tempest Release Party Allentown
Tempest Tour
Hallowicked 07 TOUR
Toxic Terror Tour
Opaque Brotherhood
Dark Lotus @ Gothic Theater
Hatchet Attacks Denver
GOTJ 08
Shock Therapy Tour
Monster’s Ball
Hallowicked 08 (Detroit)
Hallowicked 08 afterparty
Twiztid New Year’s Evil
End of Days Philly
End of Days Woopsta
GOTJ 09
Bang Pow Boom Philly
Bang Pow Boom Woosta/Rock and Shock 09
Hallowicked 09
Hallowicked 09 afterparty
Bang Pow Boom Sayreville
Bang Pow Boom Allentown
New Year’s Evil 2
Oddball Bonanza
Happy Daze Philly
Happy Daze Woopsta
Boondox in Allentown
Gang Ragz tour
GOTJ 2010
Blaze (KMK)
Rock N Shock 2010
Old Shit Philly
World of Webs
Old Shit CT
New Year’s Evil 3
ICP in NYC
Midnight Clown Cruise
The Bamboozle
Blaze/Boondox in Woopsta

So maybe that took longer than I expected, but it wasn’t my intention.  A raging tooth, work, and other issues got in the way.  Anyways, it looks like the WWE has played with fire one too many times and Sin Cara may be heading back to Mexico to play with his piles of money.  It hasn’t been the original Sin Cara/Mystico under the mask for a while now, and now they’re contemplating letting him go, but keeping the gimmick going due to high sales of his mask.  Fantastic.  The most noise you’ve had for a signing you’ve had since Danielson, and you botch it.  Speaking of, it’s spread far and wide that the Kings of Wrestling, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, have signed with WWE and are reportedly getting to skip developmental.  No clue on when they’re making their debut, but I am very highly anticipating this moment, and you should be too. On a different topic, Hulk Hogan needs to knock this shit off, there is already an MCW, it’s been running for a LONG time, it’s great(even if the WBM has never been there), and you’re going to confuse people.

Coming soon to a city near you, unless you live in Minneapolis(seriously, wtf?), is the American Psycho tour.  Featuring ICP, Twiztid, and Blaze, with random Dark Lotus pop up dates and Rydas afterparties, I can’t think of a better way to unofficially commemorate the Hatchet Rizing tour from 10 years ago.  The Philadelphia date was October 24, 2001, and I’ll be catching this tour in Woopsta on October 15th, and Philly on Philadelphia 16th.  I’ll also be catching Dark Lotus on October 14th in Allentown.  BEYOND stoked.  That venue is stupid tiny.  Then it’s out to Hallowicked in Detroit…Halloweeeeeen.  It’s definitely the greatest time of the year.

One last note, video games.  Blizzard: GIMME GIMME DIABLO III BETA KEY!  Pretty please?  I’ll stop bashing World of Warcraft for like, a month.  No?  That’s fucked up. I mean, I’m still going to buy it, but I want it now.  I do have to take the time to recommend the game Catherine to anyone reading this.  While LUDICROUSLY aggravating at times and it made me want to throw my controller at my 360, and my 360 through my TV, I persevered and completed this amazing game that would typically only be an import.  I highly suggest everyone at least give this insane puzzler/broad juggling simulator a try.  However, if you do not have patience, this may not be for you.  That’s all for now, say hi if you catch one of us out at a show.