The NHL has released the schedule for every team for next season.
San Jose's schedule can be found here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/schedulebyseason.htm?team=sjs
It seems like a pretty favorable schedule for the Sharks. Their three biggest road trips, both consisting of 5 away games in a row, will take place in the beginning of December, the end of January, and the beginning of March.
It is right in the middle of the season, so they should not be worn out like they were last year when they were beginning the stretch of securing the President's Trophy in 2009. In fact, in between two of those three road trips should be the All-Star break. None of those away games also involve any back to backs, although the last game in the March campaign will be the first of a back to back, with the second being played in San Jose.
The season will end with a two game road trip, but 10 of the last 15 games will be played at home, including a 6 game home stand. Out of the 15 games, San Jose will be seeing Vancouver, Dallas, Minnesota and Calgary the most: twice each. And there is Colorado twice, but they probably won't be contenders next season.
In terms of the Stanley Cup finalists, the Sharks will be seeing Pittsburgh once this season, in an away game on November 7th. San Jose and Detroit will square off 4 times throughout the season, with two home games for each team, but the majority will be in the first half of the season.
Lots of optimistic things to take out of this schedule, if scheduling really is that important in an 82 game season.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
BlazBlue: Review Part 2
Yes, there is going to be a part 2. Because as of now, I have officially 100% everything you can in terms of single player BlazBlue. What does that mean? I've unlocked every trophy that doesn't involve online play, I've unlocked every gallery picture and sound, I've beaten Arcade Mode on "Hell" difficulty, and I've beaten Score Attack mode. Oh, and I've played my first 100 online matches: 20 ranked matches and 80 player matches, winning 18 ranked and 62 player.
So first, beating story mode is a lot easier than it was in the Guilty Gear series. A couple of characters require distortion finishes on every match, but other than that it is as simple as losing to every character (sometimes losing to a specific character will unlock a new story arc), and going down every arc and beating every character. Beating Arcade Mode with every single character will also unlock their Astral Heat moves, except for Ragna, V-13, and Rachel, who get their "unlimited" modes unlocked (boss versions) since they already have Astral Heats to begin with.
Beating "Hell" Arcade Mode and Score Attack mode is extremely hard the first few times around, but as with any video game, a computer than can input commands flawlessly is still restricted to a set program. What does this mean? To put it simply: you can cheese the computer if you just look for the opening. For example, Tager will always use his down D charge move if you're on the opposite side of the map, meaning he will stop and be vulnerable in the middle of the map. Using a character like V-13 can punish this extremely hard with some well placed D swords. That being said, the AI does adapt to your tendencies, so you can't just chain throw or spam a single move all day, and having to fight unlimited versions of the 3 possible boss characters is still a royal pain regardless of how open they may be in certain situations. Which, of course, adds to the already high replay value, making the game that much more enjoyable.
The online play (I play on Playstation Network), the main content lacking in my first review, is phenomenal. There is very minimal to no lag at all. If you do happen to play a match against someone who is very laggy, the entire beginning of the match is used to synchronize the lag delays, making any kind of delay in your command inputs to on-screen actions almost unnoticeable. There are cases of people lagging out, but I have yet to lag out of a match myself.
There are 2 minor problems with the network, however. First, if you join a game and can't connect, you'll be stuck trying to connect until the host disbands the room or starts a match. With ranked matches, rooms fill up fast enough so you won't be waiting for long. But player matches, especially when the host is not paying attention to his television, can cause some long waiting times while your internet repeatedly fails to connect.
Secondly, friend invites will not work 100% of the time, and will often be subject to the "being stuck in connection" problem until you tell your friend to disband his room. Does that mean you can't play with your friend? No, it just means he/she can't reserve a slot for you in his/her room all the time. If he/she makes a completely public game, you can manually search for it in the list of public player matches, and join it that way. There are usually no more than 20 rooms in queue at a time, so it is pretty easy to find a specific room or a specific host.
With everything missing in my last review now covered, I'm still retaining the same score I gave it last time. I doubt I'll be bored of this game before summer ends, as this game can easily provide several hours of entertainment at a time, especially during network play. I was debating if I should throw in decimals to my score system just because I think BlazBlue deserves a 9.5 or higher, but I don't think that will be fair or very convenient.
Score: 9/10 (still)
By the way, if you want to check out my BlazBlue achievements or just get a glimpse of my player card, check out this album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2400962&id=6023771&l=7a78261ef7
So first, beating story mode is a lot easier than it was in the Guilty Gear series. A couple of characters require distortion finishes on every match, but other than that it is as simple as losing to every character (sometimes losing to a specific character will unlock a new story arc), and going down every arc and beating every character. Beating Arcade Mode with every single character will also unlock their Astral Heat moves, except for Ragna, V-13, and Rachel, who get their "unlimited" modes unlocked (boss versions) since they already have Astral Heats to begin with.
Beating "Hell" Arcade Mode and Score Attack mode is extremely hard the first few times around, but as with any video game, a computer than can input commands flawlessly is still restricted to a set program. What does this mean? To put it simply: you can cheese the computer if you just look for the opening. For example, Tager will always use his down D charge move if you're on the opposite side of the map, meaning he will stop and be vulnerable in the middle of the map. Using a character like V-13 can punish this extremely hard with some well placed D swords. That being said, the AI does adapt to your tendencies, so you can't just chain throw or spam a single move all day, and having to fight unlimited versions of the 3 possible boss characters is still a royal pain regardless of how open they may be in certain situations. Which, of course, adds to the already high replay value, making the game that much more enjoyable.
The online play (I play on Playstation Network), the main content lacking in my first review, is phenomenal. There is very minimal to no lag at all. If you do happen to play a match against someone who is very laggy, the entire beginning of the match is used to synchronize the lag delays, making any kind of delay in your command inputs to on-screen actions almost unnoticeable. There are cases of people lagging out, but I have yet to lag out of a match myself.
There are 2 minor problems with the network, however. First, if you join a game and can't connect, you'll be stuck trying to connect until the host disbands the room or starts a match. With ranked matches, rooms fill up fast enough so you won't be waiting for long. But player matches, especially when the host is not paying attention to his television, can cause some long waiting times while your internet repeatedly fails to connect.
Secondly, friend invites will not work 100% of the time, and will often be subject to the "being stuck in connection" problem until you tell your friend to disband his room. Does that mean you can't play with your friend? No, it just means he/she can't reserve a slot for you in his/her room all the time. If he/she makes a completely public game, you can manually search for it in the list of public player matches, and join it that way. There are usually no more than 20 rooms in queue at a time, so it is pretty easy to find a specific room or a specific host.
With everything missing in my last review now covered, I'm still retaining the same score I gave it last time. I doubt I'll be bored of this game before summer ends, as this game can easily provide several hours of entertainment at a time, especially during network play. I was debating if I should throw in decimals to my score system just because I think BlazBlue deserves a 9.5 or higher, but I don't think that will be fair or very convenient.
Score: 9/10 (still)
By the way, if you want to check out my BlazBlue achievements or just get a glimpse of my player card, check out this album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2400962&id=6023771&l=7a78261ef7
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
BlazBlue: Review
So I've spent the past 6 hours playing the heck out of the story mode of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, which was released yesterday on June 30th. And let's just say I doubt I'm 50% through. I've done a single run through of every selectable story arc (12 characters and a "true ending"), and another run of Ragna the Bloodedge. I've also went through an Arcade Mode run with Rachel Alucard, but it took 2 continues, so I'm sure I haven't unlocked everything for her yet in that aspect. I have not yet tried out the network play.
I was really hyped up about this game 2 months ago, and I must say that it has lived up to all my expectations. Playing several hours in the arcades probably helped my first time experience in the console version as well, and I already knew a little of each character's backstory heading into my first run through of story mode. That said, it was pretty odd transitioning from stick to controller, and the stories were just as crazy/unpredictable as Guilty Gear's despite a lot of spoilers being leaked previously online before the US version was even released.
Well, let's dive right into the positives of this game. It looks amazing in HD, although I was already used to playing it via arcade cabinets. The cutscenes are fantastic, although short-lived. The music, of course, is once again top quality stuff from Daisuke Ishiwatari. Character development is a bit on the empty side, obviously because I haven't explored all of the story and if the design holds similar to the Guilty Gear franchise, even getting 100% completion won't tell me all the in and outs of the plot, but several characters have come out with unexpected twists/personalities that I didn't perceive from their online backgrounds or the arcade. And that was a very very good thing for me.
The appeal will be very limited, as the heavyweight fighting franchises have all already transitioned to 3D fighting. Also, for a fast-paced, anime-style fighting game, button mashing is not very effective. There are way too many combos and moves that rely on quartercircles, double quartercircles, dragon punches, crouches, forwards, dashes, etc, that if you try to mash, you'll end up doing the wrong move, leaving yourself vulnerable to a counter-attack. Which, of course, is how a fighting game should be. There has already been several unofficial tier lists published due to the release of cabinets much prior to the consoles, which would imply that there is some sort of unbalance in the game. However, even the lowest C tier characters (Tager, Carl, etc.) have their huge advantages against some of the top tiers, which makes them much more useable than say, certain low tier characters in Street Fighter 4 which you never see used in tournaments.
There are plenty of unlockables in the game, most of which take the form of art. There are drawings for various scenes in each characters' 3 story paths, Arcade mode endings, special CG drawings that can only be unlocked when "certain circumstances are met", and other goodies as well. Which is also a good measurement of how much of the game you've actually completed, and where I got my theory that I'm not even 50% done with the game (lots of empty picture spaces in my gallery). And if you think it's just random art, let's just say the "partial nudity" rating in the ESRB rating isn't through arcade/story mode.
One neat feature is the Network Play capabilities of the Playstation 3 version. For those unfamiliar, if you own a PSP and a PS3, you can connect to the PS3 via the internet through your PSP, no matter what your location is (as long as there is a wireless internet connection available, obviously). In terms of playing games, BlazBlue is one of the very few games that support gameplay on the PSP through your PS3. It does lag a bit since all your Playstation's data is being streamed through wireless internet onto your PSP, but it is perfect for those who want to mess around with the game while they don't have access to their TV and PS3. Just leave your PS3 idled, and you can turn it on and off with the PSP, and do everything your PS3 can do as well, such as browsing the internet, visiting the Playstation Store, and access all your Playstation 3's media on your PSP (to play BlazBlue, you have to leave the game disc inside the PS3, and access it under the "Game" menu as you would on your PS3). Obviously it doesn't play in HD on your PSP and the half second delay takes some adjusting to, but honestly it is perfect for some training/arcade mode when you have a roommate sleeping in the living room.
Now, for the negatives. First, in terms of gameplay, the only complaint I have is the very incomplete command list provided for each character. I was hoping I would be able to have a full command list and practice those 20-30 hit combos I see from the top players in training mode, but the moves provided are as bad as the ones online. You have your basic A, B, C, and D moves, along with each character's drives. Astral Heats have to be unlocked, but I rarely find the opportunity to use it anyways. But due to the incomplete command list, it looks like I'll be forced to use the tutorial disc they provided me with the limited edition pre-order.
The soundtrack in the limited edition was flaunted for having 12 more tracks than the Japanese release. But after uploading both CDs onto my iTunes, the 12 tracks are: 6 remixes by DJ Oh No, each about a minute and a half long, and various story mode BGMs. The BGMs are nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about the remixes. The main thing that upset me with the OST is the lack of songs I know are in the game but aren't on the CDs. The intro anime sequence to the game's background music and the music playing when Bang uses his drive ability that makes him gold and glowy both have lyrics and singing, and there isn't a single song on the soundtrack with either. Sticking with limited edition goodies, the GameStop artbook pre-order bonus is nothing special. A couple of pages are wasted on the prologue of the game (which can be found in the manual), and every other page is concept designs of stages and characters. The only useful page was a neat relationship tree of all the characters minus Hakumen and V-13, and even the cover of the artbook (the skimpy Noel drawing) can be found at the back of the game manual. With all that said, it was great that the limited edition costed the same amount as the normal edition sells for now, so I really can't complain too much about all the stuff since it was virtually free.
From a professional standpoint, the limited appeal of BlazBlue is really the main factor that brings down this game. Obviously not everyone is keen with the anime-style and the crazy 30 hit combos and timed attacks to execute said combos, but honestly I believe anyone who picks this game up and actually gives it a try will enjoy it, provided they actually take the time to learn some basic combo links. You could theoretically do crappy two hit moves and win matches against the computer through good teching and defensive play, but that would be extremely boring. And of course, the confusing and incomplete story could have some screaming in anger and frustration.
But as a huge fan of the Guilty Gear series, I am absolutely in love with BlazBlue. Even before I first went to the arcades and I simply stuck with YouTube videos, I could already tell this game was a must-buy for me. Obviously I have a long way to go in terms of learning the ins and outs of the gameplay of each character, and I intend to spend most of my day today going through the tutorial video (must learn Rachel's 10 hit command!). Until I feel comfortable that I'm somewhat decent, I will avoid the Playstation Network's ranked matches. But I have no doubt that the servers will be just as good, if not better, than Street Fighter 4's.
Grade: 9/10
I was really hyped up about this game 2 months ago, and I must say that it has lived up to all my expectations. Playing several hours in the arcades probably helped my first time experience in the console version as well, and I already knew a little of each character's backstory heading into my first run through of story mode. That said, it was pretty odd transitioning from stick to controller, and the stories were just as crazy/unpredictable as Guilty Gear's despite a lot of spoilers being leaked previously online before the US version was even released.
Well, let's dive right into the positives of this game. It looks amazing in HD, although I was already used to playing it via arcade cabinets. The cutscenes are fantastic, although short-lived. The music, of course, is once again top quality stuff from Daisuke Ishiwatari. Character development is a bit on the empty side, obviously because I haven't explored all of the story and if the design holds similar to the Guilty Gear franchise, even getting 100% completion won't tell me all the in and outs of the plot, but several characters have come out with unexpected twists/personalities that I didn't perceive from their online backgrounds or the arcade. And that was a very very good thing for me.
The appeal will be very limited, as the heavyweight fighting franchises have all already transitioned to 3D fighting. Also, for a fast-paced, anime-style fighting game, button mashing is not very effective. There are way too many combos and moves that rely on quartercircles, double quartercircles, dragon punches, crouches, forwards, dashes, etc, that if you try to mash, you'll end up doing the wrong move, leaving yourself vulnerable to a counter-attack. Which, of course, is how a fighting game should be. There has already been several unofficial tier lists published due to the release of cabinets much prior to the consoles, which would imply that there is some sort of unbalance in the game. However, even the lowest C tier characters (Tager, Carl, etc.) have their huge advantages against some of the top tiers, which makes them much more useable than say, certain low tier characters in Street Fighter 4 which you never see used in tournaments.
There are plenty of unlockables in the game, most of which take the form of art. There are drawings for various scenes in each characters' 3 story paths, Arcade mode endings, special CG drawings that can only be unlocked when "certain circumstances are met", and other goodies as well. Which is also a good measurement of how much of the game you've actually completed, and where I got my theory that I'm not even 50% done with the game (lots of empty picture spaces in my gallery). And if you think it's just random art, let's just say the "partial nudity" rating in the ESRB rating isn't through arcade/story mode.
One neat feature is the Network Play capabilities of the Playstation 3 version. For those unfamiliar, if you own a PSP and a PS3, you can connect to the PS3 via the internet through your PSP, no matter what your location is (as long as there is a wireless internet connection available, obviously). In terms of playing games, BlazBlue is one of the very few games that support gameplay on the PSP through your PS3. It does lag a bit since all your Playstation's data is being streamed through wireless internet onto your PSP, but it is perfect for those who want to mess around with the game while they don't have access to their TV and PS3. Just leave your PS3 idled, and you can turn it on and off with the PSP, and do everything your PS3 can do as well, such as browsing the internet, visiting the Playstation Store, and access all your Playstation 3's media on your PSP (to play BlazBlue, you have to leave the game disc inside the PS3, and access it under the "Game" menu as you would on your PS3). Obviously it doesn't play in HD on your PSP and the half second delay takes some adjusting to, but honestly it is perfect for some training/arcade mode when you have a roommate sleeping in the living room.
Now, for the negatives. First, in terms of gameplay, the only complaint I have is the very incomplete command list provided for each character. I was hoping I would be able to have a full command list and practice those 20-30 hit combos I see from the top players in training mode, but the moves provided are as bad as the ones online. You have your basic A, B, C, and D moves, along with each character's drives. Astral Heats have to be unlocked, but I rarely find the opportunity to use it anyways. But due to the incomplete command list, it looks like I'll be forced to use the tutorial disc they provided me with the limited edition pre-order.
The soundtrack in the limited edition was flaunted for having 12 more tracks than the Japanese release. But after uploading both CDs onto my iTunes, the 12 tracks are: 6 remixes by DJ Oh No, each about a minute and a half long, and various story mode BGMs. The BGMs are nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about the remixes. The main thing that upset me with the OST is the lack of songs I know are in the game but aren't on the CDs. The intro anime sequence to the game's background music and the music playing when Bang uses his drive ability that makes him gold and glowy both have lyrics and singing, and there isn't a single song on the soundtrack with either. Sticking with limited edition goodies, the GameStop artbook pre-order bonus is nothing special. A couple of pages are wasted on the prologue of the game (which can be found in the manual), and every other page is concept designs of stages and characters. The only useful page was a neat relationship tree of all the characters minus Hakumen and V-13, and even the cover of the artbook (the skimpy Noel drawing) can be found at the back of the game manual. With all that said, it was great that the limited edition costed the same amount as the normal edition sells for now, so I really can't complain too much about all the stuff since it was virtually free.
From a professional standpoint, the limited appeal of BlazBlue is really the main factor that brings down this game. Obviously not everyone is keen with the anime-style and the crazy 30 hit combos and timed attacks to execute said combos, but honestly I believe anyone who picks this game up and actually gives it a try will enjoy it, provided they actually take the time to learn some basic combo links. You could theoretically do crappy two hit moves and win matches against the computer through good teching and defensive play, but that would be extremely boring. And of course, the confusing and incomplete story could have some screaming in anger and frustration.
But as a huge fan of the Guilty Gear series, I am absolutely in love with BlazBlue. Even before I first went to the arcades and I simply stuck with YouTube videos, I could already tell this game was a must-buy for me. Obviously I have a long way to go in terms of learning the ins and outs of the gameplay of each character, and I intend to spend most of my day today going through the tutorial video (must learn Rachel's 10 hit command!). Until I feel comfortable that I'm somewhat decent, I will avoid the Playstation Network's ranked matches. But I have no doubt that the servers will be just as good, if not better, than Street Fighter 4's.
Grade: 9/10
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