My Top 10 Favorite Video Games

Today's list is my favorite video games of all time.  This list is fairly small because I haven't played many games at all.  I have only played on the NES, PS2, PS3 and on the PC.  Let's get to the list:

10.  River City Ransom (NES)
- When I first played this game, I didn't think much of it.  It seemed like a copy of Double Dragon.  You could play co-op with 2 players and the goal is to kill the bad guys using punches and kicks.  But unlike Double Dragon, there is an extra layer that makes this games good.  When you kill an enemy, you can earn coins.  With those coins, you can buy food to increase your health or if you have enough money, you buy special power ups that make your character do special attacks.  There are also a bunch of weapons that scattered all over the map and makes this game real fun to play.  

9.  Shogun: Total War (PC)
- Shogun is a turn based territory capture game.  The goal is to raise your army and conquer the entire map.  Shogun is based on the historical feudal battle in ancient Japan.  Much like another game on this list, there is a significant amount of history you can learn from playing this game.  Although the turn based system is nothing new from its previous games of the same genre, the fighting of different armies in this game is absolutely amazing.  There are various strategies in forming the shape of army and different army types. 

8.  Skyrim (PS3 + PC)
- Skyrim is an open world role playing game that is made by Bethesda Game Studios (the same company that made the Fallout series and previous Elder Scroll games).  Having played a previous Elder Scroll game, I knew what was to be expected (huge world with many different side quests).  What made this game better than its predecessors, is that there is no character class selection which makes it easier to start playing.  The music in this game is absolutely phenomenal and killing dragons feels absolutely epic (like who doesn't like to kill dragons). 

7.  Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (PS2)
- Hot Pursuit 2 is my favorite car racing game of all time.  Not are you only racing against other cars but you also have to avoid the police and their road blocks.  The graphics in this game is amazing, there are several different types of cars and the soundtrack is pretty good as well.  2 player mode is also a lot of fun. 

6.  Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game that I played a lot of.  Although it isn't too difficult (I made it to Bowser the first time I played it), there are various tips and strategies involved in this game.  Since I played this game a lot, I knew most of them by heart.  Quick story: When I was working down in the US, one of my co-workers brought his NES along with him.  Having told the guys I was working with that SMB 3 was an easy game, I played this game and beat it in about half an hour.  All the guys were like "WTF?!!??!". 

5.  NHL '94 (PC)
- The best hockey game of all time.  Not only this game had all the players, teams and stats of the real NHL but it also had things like injuries and glass breaking.  The game play was just ok (imo) but the rest of the game (like game modes, the music) made this game pretty epic. This game has an extensive cult following and is still remembered to this day.  Like this for example:

 Oh yeah this game has one of the finest video game music ever: Brass Bonanza!!

4.  Nobunaga's Ambition 2 (NES)
- Much like Shogun: Total War, this is a turn based territory capture game.  What this game had that Shogun didn't were things like the amount of generals you could control and the amount of political schemes you could do like steal peasants from rival daimyos or arrange a marriage.  Since this game came out before Shogun, its graphics isn't the greatest but the historical aspect I feel is much more accurate than Shogun.  

3.  Diablo 3 (PC)
-  It's probably a shock to many of you but Diablo 3 is one my favorite games.  Sure it has had a lot of problems but it is a game that I can play over and over again.  Having played Diablo 2, there were lots of expectations for Diablo 3.  At first, Diablo 3 was an especially difficult game.  But after a while (and after beating Inferno Diablo), there wasn't much of a goal in playing this game.  Only after the Reaper of Souls expansion came out, Diablo 3 has been heading in the right direction.  With seasons and various patches along way, I know that Diablo 3 will forever be one of my favorite games. 

2.  World of Warcraft (PC)
- WoW is my first ever massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG).  Having not played an MMORPG before, I didn't know what to expect.  At first I thought this game had a lot of issues (like how did that fireball hit me through a tree?), but after taking my first flight path to Stormwind, this game really opened my eyes.  Not only are the graphics unbelievable but the social aspect was incredible as well.  Having experienced the raids and the raiding aspect with my guild makes this game very special to me. 

1.  Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
- The finest sports video game ever.  Not only is this game way better than its previous version (Tecmo Bowl), but with all the teams and players in it (plus the stats and cut scenes), this game truly has it all.  You can select various running and passing plays and customize it even further by selecting your offensive players.  Your players can get hurt during a season or just be in a coaches mode by selecting the plays and making the computer execute those plays for you.  Not only did I play this game a lot but I also studied the playbook, figuring out which plays works the best.  This game truly made me a better football fan. 

Diablo 3 Season 4 Update

I have been having a lot of fun on Diablo 3 lately.  Even though I have kinda stopped playing on my monk, I have been enjoying playing other classes.  When I reached paragon 650 in season 4, my focus was now to cube every item in the game.  This is really hard thing to do because in order to cube all the items, you have to play all the classes.  All the monk items were easy because I had spent a lot time gearing up the monk throughout the whole season.  So my next class that I chose to spend time on was the wizard.  It was working fairly well, I had some problems finding some of the items (like the Moonlight Ward amulet) but I finally managed to finish cubing all the items right after BlizzCon.  I am now in the process of cubing all the items for the witch doctor.  I am really having fun playing with the witch doctor because I hadn't played that class for a long time.  For a long time, the witch doctor was my main class and I had spent almost my whole time playing Diablo on the witch doctor.  It feels really good to play the witch doctor again especially working with zombie charger and hex.

As we learned from BlizzCon, season 4 in Diablo is going to end some time in December.  There is going to be a couple weeks break in between the seasons, so hopefully season 5 will start in the beginning of January.  This means I probably won't have time to finish cubing all the items during season 4.  Right after I finish the witch doctor, I might try to cube items for the barbarian or the crusader.  Either the barbarian or the crusader will be next class when season 5 starts.  Right now, patch 2.4 is in the public test realm (ptr) but I haven't touched the ptr at all.  I might just spend more time playing non-season since all the items will be available even in non-season once the next season starts. 

In the next patch, there is also going to be set dungeons for each particular class set.  Each class has four distinct sets that you can collect.  Once you have that set, you can enter a set dungeon.  In this dungeon, you can achieve different goals.  If you manage to complete each set dungeon with the particular goals, you can be awarded with some cosmetics for you character.  All this means is that you have to play all the classes and collect all the sets for each class.  I think this is very difficult to do unless you play lots of Diablo.  Even when I am playing a season, I usually just stick to one class because it is very difficult to focus on many classes during the season.  Completing this achievement (also with cubing all the items) is going to take lots of playing time and I don't think many people will do this.  I think it would be much easier if Blizzard awarded something once each class set achievement was done.  That way many people won't be stressed to play all the classes at once.  In any case, I look forward to playing more Diablo in the future.  I don't know exactly what my goals will be in the next season but hopefully once I set my goals, I will have a good time playing Diablo again. 

BlizzCon 2015 Review Part 2

This review is a bunch of lists that I want to share with you.

5 Things I Missed During BlizzCon

1) Overwatch - Overwatch was one game that I didn't get to play.  The lines for Overwatch was super long so I decided not to lineup for it.
2) Starcraft and Hearthstone Finals -  These two final matches I wanted to see but I just didn't have the time to watch them.  I was busy eating my lunch during the Hearthstone finals and I was busy attending the Diablo raffle during the Starcraft finals.
3) Hearthstone Tavern - I knew where it was but I didn't go to it because I didn't have any means of playing Hearthstone (no tablet/phone). 
4) Voice Actor Stage - There were many voice actors but I didn't get the chance to watch any of it. 
5) Diablo Lightning Talks - There were bunch of small lightning talks at the Slaughtered Calf Inn, I saw some of them but not all. 


5 Disappointing Things At BlizzCon

1) No Jinx Store - Usually the Jinx booth sells t-shirts but unfortunately none this year. 
2) Poor seating in Hall D/theater - If you were seated near the back of Hall D or the theater, you had a very difficult time seeing the screen
3) Lineup for the Blizzard store - The lineup for the Blizzard store was insane, especially on the Thursday morning.  Better time could have been spent doing something else. 
4) E-sport viewing times were way off - There wasn't any good rhythm watching the Hearthstone matches.  Plus, the Warcraft arena matches were still going on during the closing ceremony.
5) Very small area for Diablo - The area for the Diablo play area was the smallest of all the games.  Plus, there was only 1 panel for Diablo (although the lightning talks kinda made up for that). 

5 Things to Improve BlizzCon

1) Make BlizzCon a 3 day event - It is sort of happening already with the badge pickup and the Blizzard store open all day on Thursday.  Maybe the convention could be open so that people could play games all day Thursday. 
2) Larger area for Diablo - Even though the Slaughtered Calf Inn was a huge success, Diablo could have used a larger area for their play testing area. 
3) Better seating for Hall D/Theater - I think it would be nice if the seats in Hall D/theater were raised so that the people in the back would have a better sight line to see the stage (sort of like a hockey arena - the further back you are, the higher seating you have).
4) Continued presence of Blizzard staff/dev team - Much like the Diablo area, I wish all other games would have the same concept where you could talk and ask questions to any Blizzard staff/dev team people.
5) Better stream times for e-sport events - It was a bit of a mess watching e-sport events.  With Overwatch being included in the next BlizzCon, things could get even more messier.  Definitely needs more planning.

5 Things That Made BlizzCon Special to Me

1) Diablo Dev Team - One of the first things I did was to visit the Slaughtered Calf Inn.  I was able to meet and talk to many members of the Diablo dev team and it was such a joy to do so. 
2) Blizzard Community Members - There were many people at BlizzCon and almost all of them were nice to each other, whether it was talking to total strangers or just having a great attitude towards the game that they love to play. 
3) Wil Wheaton/The Cos-Players - Wil Wheaton did an excellent job of hosting the costume contest (he talked a lot about Diablo).  The Cos-players were so amazing. 
4) Artists of Blizzard - There were many pictures on the walls plus the 3d models of various Blizzard characters were amazing as well.
5) Other small events at BlizzCon - There were so many different booths you could visit to do various activities such as getting your picture taken or getting your face painted or buying various items. 

This is how I would set the schedule at BlizzCon:

Hall D Friday  (Panels on Friday is a brief view of what each game is going to do in the future)
10:00 - 10:45 Opening Ceremony
11:00 - 11:45 WoW Panel
12:00 - 12:45 Heroes of the Storm Panel
13:00 - 13:45 Diablo Panel
14:00 - 14:45 Hearthstone Panel
15:00 - 15:45 Starcraft Panel
16:00 - 16:45 Overwatch Panel
18:00 - 20:30 Contests

Hall D Saturday (Panels on Saturday could be more specific)
10:00 - 11:00 WoW Panel
11:30 - 12:30 Heroes of the Storm Panel
13:00 - 14:00 Diablo Panel
14:30 - 15:30 Hearthstone Panel
16:00 - 17:00 Starcraft Panel
17:30 - 18:30 Overwatch Panel
19:00 - 21:30 Closing Ceremony

I would make Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch share a stage for their tournaments and Hearthstone and WoW share a stage for theirs.  Starcraft tournament can stay where they are. 

I would move the Hearthstone play area over to the Hearthstone Tavern.  Maybe move the Diablo play area over to the Hearthstone play area.  Since the panel stage for Hall A would be unused, use it for the voice actors/artists. 

My 2015 BlizzCon Review

Whew, just got back from Anaheim, California and I had a very wonderful time there.  My main reason for going to Anaheim was to go to BlizzCon.  I want to make another blog post in future on what BlizzCon could do to improve their convention show and write about what was good and what was bad.  This blog post is basically to cover all that I experienced in Anaheim from Wednesday to Saturday.  I flew to Anaheim on Wednesday and once I arrived there, I took a little nap.  I kinda wanted to go to a hockey game this time around so I decided to walk down towards the Honda Center at about 4:30pm.  It took me about 30 minutes to walk to the Honda Center from my hotel.  I had dinner at Hooters, which was near the Honda Center.  After eating dinner, I went to the Honda Center and bought a ticket there.  It cost me $50, which is fairly good for a hockey game and got pretty good seats (it was behind the net, on the 1st row of the 3rd level of the arena).  I also went to a hockey store, where they were selling all kinds of hockey related stuff.  I bought an Anaheim Ducks toque (or beanie in the US) which I am planning to give my brother for his birthday. 

The Anaheim Ducks were playing the Florida Panthers on Wednesday and it was a pretty good game.  It was kind of weird seeing so many former ex-Canucks on both teams.  The Anaheim Ducks had Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa, and Mike Santorelli, while the Panthers had Roberto Luongo in net.  Both teams played fairly well, the first Panther goal came off a real bad giveaway from a Ducks defender.  The Ducks tied it up when Chris Stewart shot an amazing shot from an impossible angle (he was below the red faceoff circle near the boards, absolutely sniped it).  The Panthers retook the lead when Gudbranson scored from the point (Fredrik Andersen, the Ducks goalie, should have stopped it).  The Ducks appeared to be heading towards another loss when there was a late penalty given to the Panthers in the 3rd period.  With the goalie pulled, Corey Perry scored with 5 seconds left to tie the game up (his first goal of the season? lol really?).  In overtime, Andersen made some quality saves to bring the game into shootout where the Ducks eventually won in the fourth round.  Final score: Ducks 3, Panthers 2.  Some Anaheim Ducks who played well were Andersen and Kesler.  Perry wasn't very noticeable for most of the game (I guess he was missing Ryan Getzlaf, who wasn't playing that game).  Florida Panthers star player was definitely Roberto Luongo, who was solid all game but not in the shootout. 

On Thursday, it was time to pick up my BlizzCon badge.  I headed towards the convention center at about 8:45am since the doors were going to open at 9.  I didn't think the lineup was going to be very long because last year when I went to BlizzCon, there wasn't really a big lineup at all.  This year's lineup was much longer.  The badge pickup wasn't too bad but because the Blizzard store was open, I lined up for that and that lineup was super long.  I ended up buying a BlizzCon magnet (which I always get at BlizzCon), a Hearthstone wallet and a Demonic Tyrael figure, which is probably my favorite swag item from BlizzCon.  When I was finally finished with the BlizzCon store, it was already noon time.  I was planning to go to Disneyland after my badge pickup but since it took super long to get my BlizzCon gear, I decided not to go to Disneyland and just walk around Anaheim for most of the afternoon. 

On Friday, I think I left to go to BlizzCon at around 7:30am and by the time I got to the convention center, there was already a big lineup.  I managed to about the base of the fountain, which is not too bad (I normally get to about around the fountain in previous BlizzCons).  I knew everyone was going to Hall D for the opening ceremony so I decided to take a different approach this time (which I am real thankful for).  I headed towards Hall A when BlizzCon opened and did so stuff around the Darkmoon Faire area.  One of my favorite areas is always the Jinx clothing store but when I got there, the Jinx store wasn't selling any t-shirts this year :(.  Instead they had a photo booth setup and if you got your picture taken, you got a free t-shirt (limited qualities).  Since I got there before anyone else, I managed to get my photo taken and got a free t-shirt too. 

Since the opening ceremony wasn't until 11:00am, I had a bunch of time to see other areas.  Diablo had a setup at the Slaughter Calf Inn and I went there.  There were many Diablo dev team people to talk to and I managed to talk to many members of that team (which was sooo cool).  I got my Diablo poster and got some signatures.  I headed back to panel stage in Hall A to watch the opening ceremony from 11:00 to 12:00.  The opening ceremony was pretty cool, they showed the Warcraft movie trailer (more on that later),  new Heartstone adventure, new Overwatch news and characters, new heroes and new game mode for Heroes of the Storm, more Legion info for Warcraft, and Legacy of the Void for Starcraft (Diablo noticeably absent wtf Blizzard).  After the opening ceremony, I went back to the Slaughter Calf Inn, played the demo for Diablo (which was pretty cool), talked to more Diablo dev team people, and watched a mini-panel (it was about treasure goblins).  I met Neinball from the Westmarch Workshop after the mini-panel and talked to him for a bit.  After that, I went around the BlizzCon getting posters from various other games.  I went over to the Hearthstone area first, played the adventure mode with the shaman.  After that, I got a signature from Ben Brode (woooo!) on my Hearthstone poster.  I also got posters from Overwatch and Starcraft (the Starcraft poster is super huge).  The Heroes of the Storm had a small poster as well.  I lined up for the Warcraft signing area but the lineup was too long, so I kind of skipped it.  At 3:30pm, there was the one and only Diablo 3 panel, which I didn't want to miss.  The Diablo 3 panel was very good, lots of info on the new patch 2.4 and it looks like there are going to be more patches after that.  After the Diablo 3 panel, I went to dinner and ate at the California Pizza Kitchen.  I went back to the convention center after eating dinner and I wanted to see the contest and cosplay show.  I wanted to see it in Hall D but when I got there, it was already pretty full so I went back to Hall A and watched the contest and cosplay show from there.  After the show, I walked over to the Hearthstone arena but they were already finishing up so that was it for Day 1. 

On Day 2, I really didn't know what to do.  I wanted to go back to the Slaughter Calf Inn but I decided to go see the Hearthstone semi-finals instead.  It took a while before the semi-final games began but the semi-final games were pretty good.  First, it was Ostkaka vs Thijs.  Both were playing very control oriented decks and it was a very good matchup.  Ostkaka ended up winning but Thijs could have won it too.  Their freezing mage vs freezing mage matchup was very boring to watch but still it was pretty entertaining.  The next semi-final matchup was between Hotform and Kno.  I was cheering for Hotform because he was from Canada, although it was pretty cool seeing a Japanese player in Kno.  Hotform won the matchup and it was pretty obvious to me who was going to win the Hearthstone finals.  Whenever you see a control oriented deck vs a mid range deck, the control oriented deck usually ends up winning.  So either Ostkaka or Thijs was going to have a major advantage in the final over Hotform or Kno.  After watching the semis, I went for lunch at about 3:00pm.  I wanted to eat from the food trucks outside the convention and I had very nice burger and curly fries (yum!).  After lunch, I wanted to go see the Blizzard trailers so I went to the ballroom level 3 and watched the Warcraft trailer again (hopefully I will make another blog post about this later).  After watching the trailers, I went back to the Slaughter Calf Inn, watched a mini-panel hosted by John Wang.  They were having a Diablo raffle at 5:15pm and they were giving lots of Diablo items away.  Unfortunately I didn't win anything but I was happy for the other people who did manage to win something.  After the raffle, I saw Leviathan and Neinball from the Westmarch Workshop and went to talk with them (I also met Lala, Monstrous and Dreadsythe).  It was cool talking with the Westmarch Workshop guys since I am huge fan of their podcast.  After that, the closing ceremony was about to begin, but since I am not a huge Linkin Park fan, I decided go play Heroes of the Storm instead.  I ended playing the new arena mode for Heroes, which was pretty cool.  I am not a very good Heroes of the Storm player but I managed to win with my team 2-0.  After that, I went over to the Warcraft play area and played with the Demon Hunter.  It was a pretty cool demo, though it dragged on a bit too long.  After Warcraft, I went back to Hearthstone and played one final game with the rogue.  And that finished my BlizzCon experience.