Sunday, June 21, 2015

E3 2015: Games, games, and more games

E3 2015 wrapped up last week! Overall, I was impressed with this year's E3. There were big announcements, and gameplay footages revealed from third party developers. Fallout 4, Just Cause 3, Need for Speed, Star Wars Battlefront, and Rise of the Tomb Raider among others are shaping up this holiday season to be an exciting one. The future in gaming definitely seems promising. Popular series are returning such as: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Doom, and Kingdom Hearts. New visually stunning IPs like For Honor, along with the remake of Final Fantasy 7 were also announced as well.

I enjoyed Nintendo's E3 Digital Event because, of it's charm, humor and obviously, for their strong lineup for the remaining of this year, and next year. Their event caught, and held my attention with the following games: Star Fox Zero, Animal Crossing Home Designer, Mario Tennis, Yoshi’s Woolly World, and Metroid Prime Federation Force. There were only a few titles from Microsoft's and Sony's conferences that I'll keep on my gaming radar. Rare Replay is a game I would definitely pick up for the Xbox One. It's a collection of thirty games created by Rare in celebration of their 30th year anniversary as a video game company. It was great to see that The Last Guardian is coming out next year, hopefully. Uncharted 4 looks gorgeous! Guerilla Games, video game studio behind the Killzone series, are developing a new IP called Horizon Zero Dawn. Developers of the LittleBigPlanet series, and Tearaway for the PSVita, Media Molecule, are developing a PS4 title called Dreams. All I can say about that game is it looks intriguing, in a good way.

Here is a list of games I look forward to play later this year, and next year:

  1. Fallout 4
  2. Just Cause 3
  3. Star Wars Battlefront
  4. Doom
  5. Animal Crossing Home Designer
  6. For Honor
  7. Uncharted 4
  8. Unravel
  9. Horizon Zero Dawn
  10. Metroid Prime Federation Force
  11. Star Fox Zero
Game On!

Sunday, June 14, 2015

My reactions to UFC 188 (Co Main & Main Event)

Last night, UFC delivered an awesome night of MMA action with their UFC 188 event in Mexico City, Mexico. Eddie Alvarez pulled a tough win over the two time Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, and one time WEC Lightweight Champion, Gilbert Melendez. In the main event of the evening, Fabricio Werdum shocked the MMA world by out striking, and getting the submission victory in a UFC Heavyweight Championship unification bout against Cain Velaquez in his country. Here are my reactions to both the co-main and main event of the evening. Enjoy!

(CO MAIN) EDDIE  ALVAREZ VS. GILBERT MELENDEZ

In the first round, things started off very slow. Both fighters were in the feeling out process. As the round progress, Gilbert Melendez shown his sharp striking ability by landing elbows, and jabs. Melendez's striking was definitely effective because, Alvarez's left eye begun to swell. At the end of the first round, Melendez landed a total of ten head strikes, while Alvarez only landed one. Then, in the beginning of the second round, Eddie Alvarez pushed the pace by landing strikes, and attempting a takedown. Alvarez was definitely the aggressor throughout this round. He kept pressuring his opponent by pressing him against the cage, landing leg kicks, and finally scoring a takedown. Alvarez also landed a spinning back elbow that impressed the Mexican crowd.  The third round was quite similar to the second. Eddie Alvarez kept pushing the pace by scoring three takedowns. Melendez and Alvarez did exchanged shots for a bit. Both men went the distance, and Alvarez won via split decision. It was a tough win for Eddie Alvarez, simply because, he had to battle some adversity in this bout. His left eye swell due to a broken nose (never blow your nose if it's broken), which made it hard to see from that eye, and obviously, hard to breath from his nostrils. On top of that, he competed at high altitude. This was a great win for Alvarez because, he redeemed himself from his previous fight which was his first UFC bout, where he loss against Donald Cerrone.

(MAIN) FABRICIO WERDUM VS. CAIN VELASQUEZ

This fight was exciting from the beginning to the very end. Both men started off swinging, exchanging huge shots with one another. Velasquez pressured Werdum by utilizing his clinch game, and landing knees to the body. Both men scored takedowns in this opening round. Cain Velasquez  definitely won the first round, because he landed more shot than his opponent: uppercuts, jabs, and knees. In the second round, Cain continued to land combinations, and was very light on his feet. However, Werdum shown no intimidation to Velasquez while standing up. He also landed sweet combinations of his own, and was more aggressive than Velasquez. In the third round, both men kept a great pace, and exchanged devastating shots. Then, Velasquez attempted a takedown, which backfired. Werdum put Velasquez  in a tight guillotine choke, and submitted him. Werdum who was the underdog entering this fight, silenced the Mexican crowd, and became the new undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Incredible heavyweight action! The UFC heavyweight division is currently filled with stars such as: Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Stipe Miocic, Andrei Arlovski, and Ben Rothwell as well, so it's going to interest to see who will be next in line for the gold.

Fight On!