I just wrote a huge article about Devil Kings (aka Sengoku Basara) and why it wasn't really popular outside of Japan -- a lot of it has to do with really bad decisions Capcom made when the game first came out. (LOOKING AT YOU, CAPCOM USA :<  ) It's a really interesting, educational read and I tried to shove some humor in there so you wouldn't get bored. :)

You can read the whole thing over at my new site: blog.fanserviceftw.com/2009/07/09/sengok...

Check out the main page too, we just recently got the site going. It's...interesting. www.fanserviceftw.com

After being home for a month I finally got around to putting my TV and my 360 back in place. Plus I picked up Lost Planet: Colonies edition (I wanted to play through the singleplayer again and never got the chance to try Colonies e_e ), Prototype and Far Cry 2. Yay! Kinda still debating on whether or not to sell the 360...but for now, I'll settle for this. I've gotta watch our neighbor's dog all next week and will be sleeping at their place....I figure I'll have a little time to myself, why not spend it playing awesome games :D

I've been in Denver, CO for the past week for a number of reasons, one being that I'm in a medical study and had to come to the Children's Hospital out here for three days of testing. Basically, my kidneys are awful and don't do their job well. (Polycystic Kidney Disease -- wikipedia entry *WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES OF GROSS REMOVED KIDNEYS AHEAD* ) The study is for research into possibly prolonging the terminal effects of the disease or preventing the affects and the symptoms. It's pretty important stuff and I could be cured within my lifetime due to the research I'm a part of....so it's all very rewarding.

I bounced out of the hospital a few days ago and have been hiking in the Rockies since then. Been pretty awesome, probably hiked a total of 17 to 20 miles in the past three days. The elevation is rough!! I've been going to school down south at almost sea level...and most of these trails start at 9000 ft. elevation; some with 1000 ft. elevation gains from start to finish. Sounds kinda insane but it's fun.

Caught a few glimpses of E3...I've been thinking about selling my 360 and exchanging it for a PS3 but now I don't think that'll be the case. Lots of awesome stuff coming to the 360...lots of it seems like vaporware, but stuff like Lost Planet 2 are not to be missed! :)

I've been drafted into doing a guest comic for a little while for Kibou, a friend of mine and pretty awesome artist. I dunno how I'll stack up to her work...I haven't posted much of anything here, hopefully when I get to work on this comic I'll start drawing again. I have a few ideas for my own work in mind.....should be fun.

Capcosplayers update: I think I'm gonna cosplay either Sarutobi Sasuke or Sanada Yukimura for this year's Anime Weekend Atlanta 2009...are there any other Unity members going!? More on that as we get closer to the convention.

I guess that's it...tried to get EVERYTHING updated as I won't really have a chance to for a while. OH YEAH, twitter! I've wanted to get this on here somehow. Yay twitterize!

Arrivederci~

I've been watching the anime Sengoku Basara since it started airing a few weeks ago in Japan. For anyone not familiar with the title, this would be an anime based on Capcom's "Devil Kings" series released a in North America few years back for PS2. Devil Kings basically takes Koei's Samurai Warriors -- hack n' slash, Dynasty Warriors style gameplay that focuses on Japanese history instead of Chinese history -- and slathered a big juicy coat of Devil May Cry style and flare all over it. The anime takes this further and makes it even more incredible. The result??

↑ Title Sequence

↑ Yes, Japanese warlord Date Masamune speaks broken English to rally his troops.

↑ He also rides a horse with exhaust pipes.

↑ Japanese warlord Takeda Shingen scales walls with horses.

↑ Ninjas are not only seen, but this particular one gets punched in the face.

It's a great show -- the production value is through the roof. The animation is very well done and is being handled by Studio I.G., the company that made (most recently) Eden of the East and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The story is pretty humorously over-the-top, and all of the style from the original games is captured really well. Despite being completely absurd, the situations in the plot are actually historically accurate -- the retelling of the story is just...exaggerated. There's lots of MANLY HOTBLOODED YELLING and massive battles where two peoples' blades result in a nuclear explosion. Fight scenes are really well done and very fluid, and even the most exaggerated parts maintain a very realistic art style.

Devil Kings has always been something I've wanted Capcom to bring stateside. I bought the original game on launch here in the States after being sorta put out with Samurai Warriors, and have been completely hooked on everything Sengoku Basara-related since then. I actually imported Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes and Sengoku Basara X just to play them. They're pretty awesome, I don't usually like hack n' slash titles but Devil Kings just seems to work for me. It doesn't take itself as seriously as Samurai Warriors....this is apparently something I like in my games. :P

I dunno if I can post links to the current episodes of Sengoku Basara here without getting in trouble....it's on Youtube if you wanna check it out. PM me for links, I guess. It's a pretty stellar show, and if you liked Devil Kings, are a Japanese history fan, or you really just like watching awesome stuff (even if you don't like anime!!) you should definitely check this show out. If you don't feel like keeping up with the show, you should definitely look for a copy of Devil Kings if you don't have one already. It's one of Capcom's more entertaining and unfortunately under-appreciated recent titles and defintely worth playing in my opinion.

Now that it's summer, I decided that I've got the time to do some blog posts over here at Unity and around the internets, so I figured I'd kick off my Unity blog posts with something awesome. I have a thing for anime/video game figurines, particularly Capcom ones, and I've collected some over the years. I finally sat down and took photos of them. It isn't a lot, but I like'em! Enjoy!!

↑ Overhead group photo -- Gaia X and Megaman X in the back are really shiny.... @_@

↑ SearchMan.EXE, Lan Hikari and Megaman.EXE keychains -- SearchMan tends to fall apart VERY easily, I need to take some super glue to his removable parts. Don't think I'd ever use these as keychains because my keys take a lot of abuse, but they're cool to look at! :D

↑ Sexy Sylvia, Joe, Captain Blue, and Alastor -- loves me some Viewtiful Joe, I wish I had gotten a Viewtiful Joe in this pack but these Japanese figurines are randomly assorted in identical boxes so you never know what you're gonna get. Check out the Gaia Armor Megaman X and Megaman X model kits in the background...I forgot to take pictures of them. ^_^;

↑ From the Girls of Namco x Capcom: Xiaomu from NxC, KOS-MOS from Xenosaga, Roll Caskett from Megaman Legends, and Regina from Dino Crisis. Not pictured because her figurine base broke: Tron Bonne. (This makes me sad -- Tron is my favorite out of all of them!! ;_; ) 

↑ Alt. color Jin Saotome from MvC (or Cyberbots, whatever you prefer) -- badass. This figure is AWESOME.

↑ DMC3 Dante Revoltech -- Alright, I have to show this thing off. Revoltechs are designed specifically for custom posability and a full range of motion and articulation, plus they hold their poses really well because of the ratchet joints. This means you can make some pretty awesome poses that will hold themselves as long as you leave it alone:

It's a shame his v-base wouldn't connect to the posing arm (I think the arm I've got bundled up with Dante's equipment got mixed up with another, smaller arm from another Revoltech ^_^;; ) because I would have done some flying poses too.

That's all I've got for Capcom stuff...at least it's all I remember having. ^_^;; I'll probably come home from this year's Anime Weekend Atlanta with a few more items -- I try to snag Capcom stuff whenever I see it.