Draw!

That's how the last match I played tonight played out.

I ended up going to GameWorks tonight to play some SFIV. There were some good players there, one guy who was a decent lockdown-Akuma and a couple others that had their good characters (Chun-Li, Blanka, Sagat).

The machine was set to best of 5, and both of us had 2 rounds each under our belt. I had chosen Mr. Bison (Dictator) and my oponent was on a 6-7 match winning streak with Blanka. I had lost the first 2 rounds pretty hard, but then after I got adjusted to the controls, I managed to make a quick recovery and take the following 2 rounds.

On the last round, it was down to the hair, and somehow both of us hit eachother at the same frame, resulting in the dreaded Draw Game. Everyone railed behind us, and for a second, both of us looked at eachother with that "WTF just happened" confused stare. Priceless.

It was definately a treat to play against some people in person on the arcade system rather than trying not to humiliate myself on the internets. I'm thinking of going back tomorrow and trying again. The only down-side is that it's $1 per match, which could add up over time. It's just weird being at an arcade again. I haven't been to an arcade in a long time, especially just for the purpose of playing Street Fighter.

I wish I had some pictures, but my camera is still on the chopping block waiting for repairs.

Note: This summary contains spoilers about the new Bionic Commando game by Grin.

I managed to play through Bionic Commando this week, and I think Grin and Capcom did a fine job of re-opening the original NES franchise 20 years later.

In a nutshell, the game is exactly how I expected and just long and hard enough to not become overly repetitive and unintentionally frustrating.

It was everything I had hoped for since the day I heard Ben Judd and crew were going to come back to the series that I so dearly loved as a child and revamp it for the current generation, keeping the hardcore audience in mind.

There's a couple issues with the game that some people have been concerned about, but I want to assure everyone on the fence about this game that it is worth full retail price. You can wait for a small sale if you like, but chances are you'll be missing out on one of the best single player experiences this generation. If you consider yourself remotely a hardcore gamer, this is the game to get.

The things I like most about the game are 1. zip-kick, 2. dark story, 3. Spencer as a badass, 4. head explosions (in keeping with the original ending of Bionic Commando), and 5. easter egg dialogue changes "...you'll just have to f$@k it!".

Now that I've finally renewed my Xbox Live gold membership I'll be playing MP a lot more.

Overall score: 9.75/10