Well, I was right about Spain. Even if they didn't manage to crush the Irish like little green ants. But what an ugly shootout! So, through to the final eight so far: Germany, England, Senegal, Spain. Some of the favourites have fallen but others plow on relentlessly. I seriously hope England beat Brazil (who will almost certainly put Belgium out of their misery tomorrow), it'll keep my interest bubbling over if the English stay in the tournament a little longer.
Played Virtua Fighter 4 for the first time before and after England v. Denmark at Leighton's house last night. It was certainly an all-male affair: soccer, violent computer games and fast food. I was both impressed and slightly disappointed by the game. It was more cartoonish than I expected, and seemed very linear, and the moves just didn't look quite as cool as I was expecting. Ah, nothing quite compares to Tekken, it's true. That said, I'm sure the game's apparent lack of depth was largely due to the ignorance of those of us playing. Also, far too much time spent thinking about the qualities of an ideal 3D fighting game has raised my bar a little too high perhaps. Whatever else it is, this game is certainly superior to Super Smash Bros Melee. I don't care how cute the characters are, what I want is proper, intellectually demanding strategy. Leighton and I were the best out of a bad bunch, with me losing little time working up a line of cheese with Aoi and him exploring some of the rortier aspects of Vanessa. Duncan and Oliver brought up a distant rearguard, both exceedingly lacking in style and technique. But truly, we were a host of scrubs. After exams I may see if I can camp at Leighton's for a while and delve a little into the subtler mysteries of VF4.
Speaking of fighting games, I'm a miserable loser. I broke my Tekken vow again, and played eight straight hours of Tekken starting on Friday afternoon. It was a hell of a way to break a drought. This stint rated a mention in Chris Gorham's livejournal, in which he claimed that he was beating me four-ninths of the time. Well, he did win a few. But I'm fairly confident that when it comes to the crunch I still have a significant edge on him. Dave Thackaberry, on the other hand, would certainly be a danger to me in my present weakened condition. I obviously need to go back into hardcore training. Scary that I should be contemplating anything of the kind in the lead-up to exams, but also scarily predictable in its own way. Still, I will re-renew my Tekken vow in an entirely hopeful manner. I really do not want to get back into that avenue of time-wasting just now.
A new episode of Hikaru No Go has just come out. Suffice it to say (since I don't want to spoil it for you, gentle readers) that it doesn't resolve nearly enough. I want - no, I need - a little closure! It's very frustrating to only see one translated chapter of HNG released each week, and only have a plot point resolved about once every ten chapters! Bah. Also, haven't had a decent game of Go itself in ages. My last was against Chris Grubb, and he conceded about halfway through when it became obvious that despite not having made any glaring errors on the small scale he simply hadn't bothered to claim enough territory. Not very satisfying for me since I couldn't work out whether this was due to me playing well or him playing poorly, or indeed just random chance.
In other news: I really should study more. Nothing is out of hand yet, but it's a hard life when you're this talented at using up time.
Played Virtua Fighter 4 for the first time before and after England v. Denmark at Leighton's house last night. It was certainly an all-male affair: soccer, violent computer games and fast food. I was both impressed and slightly disappointed by the game. It was more cartoonish than I expected, and seemed very linear, and the moves just didn't look quite as cool as I was expecting. Ah, nothing quite compares to Tekken, it's true. That said, I'm sure the game's apparent lack of depth was largely due to the ignorance of those of us playing. Also, far too much time spent thinking about the qualities of an ideal 3D fighting game has raised my bar a little too high perhaps. Whatever else it is, this game is certainly superior to Super Smash Bros Melee. I don't care how cute the characters are, what I want is proper, intellectually demanding strategy. Leighton and I were the best out of a bad bunch, with me losing little time working up a line of cheese with Aoi and him exploring some of the rortier aspects of Vanessa. Duncan and Oliver brought up a distant rearguard, both exceedingly lacking in style and technique. But truly, we were a host of scrubs. After exams I may see if I can camp at Leighton's for a while and delve a little into the subtler mysteries of VF4.
Speaking of fighting games, I'm a miserable loser. I broke my Tekken vow again, and played eight straight hours of Tekken starting on Friday afternoon. It was a hell of a way to break a drought. This stint rated a mention in Chris Gorham's livejournal, in which he claimed that he was beating me four-ninths of the time. Well, he did win a few. But I'm fairly confident that when it comes to the crunch I still have a significant edge on him. Dave Thackaberry, on the other hand, would certainly be a danger to me in my present weakened condition. I obviously need to go back into hardcore training. Scary that I should be contemplating anything of the kind in the lead-up to exams, but also scarily predictable in its own way. Still, I will re-renew my Tekken vow in an entirely hopeful manner. I really do not want to get back into that avenue of time-wasting just now.
A new episode of Hikaru No Go has just come out. Suffice it to say (since I don't want to spoil it for you, gentle readers) that it doesn't resolve nearly enough. I want - no, I need - a little closure! It's very frustrating to only see one translated chapter of HNG released each week, and only have a plot point resolved about once every ten chapters! Bah. Also, haven't had a decent game of Go itself in ages. My last was against Chris Grubb, and he conceded about halfway through when it became obvious that despite not having made any glaring errors on the small scale he simply hadn't bothered to claim enough territory. Not very satisfying for me since I couldn't work out whether this was due to me playing well or him playing poorly, or indeed just random chance.
In other news: I really should study more. Nothing is out of hand yet, but it's a hard life when you're this talented at using up time.
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