Blog #1 HD Remix

Next month marks two anniversaries for me; my 33rd birthday and my 7th year as a member of 1UP. I've technically been using the website since it came online, but it wasn't until March 25th of 2005 that I decided to write my first blog.
                                   

A pic of myself from one of my early blogs in '05, lol

Over the course of my years as a member of 1UP  I've seen my abilities as writer evolve as well as how I define what a blog is. When I first began writing blogs it was nothing more than a way for me to express what was on my mind in a very crude, straight forward manner. Even though I've enjoyed writing stories since I was a child and language arts was always my strongest subject, I wrote my earliest blogs as if I were beaming my thoughts onto the screen without nary a care for things like spelling or proper punctuation.

In those early days the only friends I had on 1UP were my brother from another mother, Josh, and my friend Matt. If ever there were comments on one of my blogs, it was from them - usually giving me hell, lol. But it was fun and we had a good time talking on here.

  

Another early blog pic, this one of all my bottlecaps from RE4

Those were also the days before you could just click a button if you wanted to add a pic, video, create a link, or change the font size and color of the text. These things were all done in XML. Yes, you had to write your own code into a blog back then. Now, without sounding too much like your dad telling you about how he had to walk 10 miles through a snowstorm to school, barefoot,  I will say that as fond as my memories of those days are, the way it is now is much better. Although, you could do more with the old way. Just saying, lol.
But as time went on and I started to make friends on here and read other people's blogs, I slowly began to care about what I was typing.  I think part of it was just learning how to do things like post pics, videos, create links or even change the font size and color of the text. All of those things really helped me to start caring about my writing. And in turn helped me to try and write meaningful, thought provoking blogs. These days I usually proof read a blog two, maybe three times before clicking "publish".

                                                     

An EGM cover I posted in an older blog,

it's still one of my favorites.

So I thought it would be fun to post my first blog I ever wrote here on 1UP in a rewritten, or "HD Remix" version . Ironically, in light of the recent release of SoulCalibur V, which is all I've been playing, my first blog was about SoulCalibur III.
So without further ado, here is the original blog in all of it's unpunctuated glory:

soulcalibur3 a ps2 exclusive?!?
im a little confused about the reasoning behind namco's announcement that sc3 will be a ps2 exclusive.If I remember correctly , the gamecube version sold the best of the three versions and the xbox version was heralded by egm and other mags as the best of the three.Hmmmm.I want to say that they are trying to do the same thing that they did with the dreamcast version bay making it system exclusive(b/c soulcalibur2 didnt look THAT much better than the dreamcast version),but even then it doesnt make since b/c at that time the dreamcast WAS the most powerful system out.Now im not saying that graphics and power are everything,BUT , it doesnt make a whole lotta since to release it as multiplatform and then come back and make it system exclusive on the weakest system available(and im not saying that to bash the ps2 , im just stating FACT).Thats not only unfair to the people who bought sc2 on their gc or xbox (and now wont be able to buy it b/c they are not willing or able to buy a whole new system for one game),but its also unfair to the people who own all three consoles , but prefer a specific version other than the ps2 version(like me:)).
On a more positive note,im really excited about the new features like creating your own fighter.
Im also concerned that nothing was announced pertaining to online,fighting games are the PERFECT games for online,i mean,the WHOLE game is multiplayer!!If you dont have someone that lives with you to play with or a friend thats over all the time then that game ends up in the "not being played stack".Now im not getting myself all worked up b/c:1.)i own a ps2 and therefore will buy that version if thats all there is. 2.)my best friend has the ps2 version and it controls really well with the ps2 controller.3.)if everyone remembers ,this is exactly what happened when namco first announced soulcalibur2,they said that it would be a gamecube exclusive(hell i was gonna buy my next system based on what console soulcalibur2 was on!!)and then a few months later they announced it for all systems.So hopefully the same thing will happen here,and if not then i guess i'll be buying the ps2 version.:)


And here is the same blog, rewritten, HD Remix style!:


SoulCalibur III to be a PS2 Exclusive?
                                   

Namco's recent announcement that SoulCalibur III is to be a PS2 exclusive has me somewhat perplexed. If I remember correctly, the GameCube version of SoulCalibur II was the best selling version of the game while the Xbox version was praised by EGM and other magazines as the best overall. So why the switch? At first I thought maybe it was an attempt at recreating the success of SoulCalibur on Dreamcast. The problem with that is the Dreamcast was the most powerful console on the market at the time, making the game look even better than it's arcade counterpart.

Now, obviously graphics and processing power aren't everything, but they help. So why make SCII a multiplatform game, only to come back and release the sequel as an exclusive on the least technically impressive console available? That is not only unfair to those that bought the Xbox and GameCube versions of the game, it's also unfair to those that own all the consoles, but prefer a specific version like myself.

While I am very excited about the possibilities of the newly announced "character creation mode", the lack of any announcement pertaing to online play has me worried. The multiplayer nature of fighting games make them the perfect candidates for online play. Without online play, if you don't have someone living with you or close by to play against, things can get stale rather quickly. Beating up on the CPU is only fun for so long.

Ultimately I will be buying SoulCalibur III as I own a PS2. I've played the PS2 version of SCII at a friend's house and the controls were fine on the Dual Shock 2, though I still prefer the Xbox controller. But if history is any indicator, this PS2 exclusivity won't last. Namco also said originally that SoulCalibur II would be a GameCube exclusive (I was planning on buying my next console based on what system SCII was to be on), before eventually announcing that it would be multiplatform. So I'm hoping history repeats itself. If not, then I guess I'll be playing it on PS2.

Well that's it, I hope y'all enjoyed this little trip down memory lane as much as I did. If y'all have any blogs that you've written that you have fond memories of, or has a special significance to you, post links in the comments so everyone can check them out. Or if you just want to talk about the good old days feel free to do that too, it's an open forum.