So all must now listen to this.

Hello again, dear readers. Do you know what the Sonic Cycle is? If not, take a look at this image. I didn't make it and I don't know who did, but I'm sure you'll agree that it is very astute.

Ever since the end of the Megadrive era, when Sega killed the real Sonic and replaced him with a 3D surrogate, the Sonic Cycle has been constant and unchanging. Until now. Take note, dear readers, of this historic event: Sega has broken the Sonic Cycle with "Sonic and the Black Knight".

You don't believe me? Well, watch this then:


Now do you see what I mean? It is impossible to get excited about this. No one could ever think for a second that this is going to be good. And thus, the Cycle has ceased to be - though sadly not in the way we had hoped.

I copied this image from webcomic XKCD. It's funny because it's true!



And a note to Vista users: if you've noticed nothing wrong with Vista, you have not been paying attention.

Because I am entirely too busy to write something good here, I would like to direct you to some articles by people who aren't.

Two heartwarming tales on Destructoid:
A typical Wii user tries to buy a game
The Associated Press shows proper appreciation for Wii Music


Additionally, here are some stories by people who do have time to write, but lack the necessary skills to do so in an eloquent or remotely funny manner.
Wii gift = Christmas ends in tears
Boobies, lol!

Game Over is like family to me.So there's this article on Gama Sutra about what they call Missing Gamers, people aged 25-35 who used to play games but no longer do. Well, I happen to belong to that same age group and I certainly can't be bothered to play the rubbish that passes for "games" today. So naturally I immediately felt compelled to read it, expecting to find some kind of acknowledgement in the esteemed web site's words.

But no.

The article in question turned out to be a magnificent disappoint right from the very first chapter. The people Gama Sutra dug up to represent the "missing gamers" consisted mostly of inept facebook zombies with a fancy for online poker. I'd bet a fair sum these are the people who click on spam. Apart from their tendency to view gaming primarily as a social event, they were nothing like the 25-to-35-year-olds-who-used-to-play-games I know. And trust me, I know a lot of them.

Having spent roughly 10,000,000 times more time with the demographic than Gama Sutra, I believe I'm entitled to say a thing or two about the subject myself. First of all, it is of vital importance to understand that most people in this age group were never gamers at all. Many people today, including games journalists, often overlook the fact that video games weren't always as popular. One might even say that despite their presence in every toy store, video games used to be an obscure pastime. Those who enjoyed them, belonged to an ill-understood minority who could count on little understanding from their non-gamer peers.

One might be tempted to draw the conclusion that the gamers of yore were social outcasts, loners or even hermits. But nothing could be further from the truth. Gamers looked each other up, and played together in the same room. Since online gaming has now replaced the simple joy of playing side-by-side, anonimity has replaced face-to-face conversation. Thus, the missing gamers will most likely perceive modern gamers as hermits.

Secondly, many video games in that era were HARD. And when I say hard, I mean the kind of hard that gamers today can't even begin to comprehend. There was no quick save. In fact, there was no save at all! You didn't wiggle a remote control pretending you were actually in control of something. In the time it takes to wiggle a controller, you'd be dead! And no inifite continues, either!

Game Sutra didn't pick up on this fact, but even if they had, they probably would have drawn the same false conclusion that most people do. Although a game like Gremlins 2 (NES) or Nam 1975 (Neo Geo) required nigh-religious commitment to finish, it would be wrong to assume that the missing gamers' interest could be recaptured simply by making today's games relentlessly hard. Easy games were also available back then, and many people preferred them over the harder ones. So what's the point I'm trying to make here?

My point is twofold:
1) It's not that the old games were hard, but that they dared to be hard. The industry has become cautious, even cowardly. When pouring millions into the development of blockbuster games, to earn back those millions they have to reach the biggest possible market. That means every idiot has to be able to play them, and thus modern games cannot be too hard, too clever or too different.
2) The old games, regardless of their difficulty level, were typically based on the same principle: try to reach the end without going "game over". Modern games often don't have a game over screen. In fact, many of them don't even have an end. The new basic principle of games is to keep people occupied without posing a challenge, because challenges lead to failure, and failure leads to frustration.

I could go on, but I think my point stands out fairly well already: the gaming landscape today is completely and utterly different from what it used to be. And that's the thing Gama Sutra completely missed, the one thing all the missing gamers have in common: it's simply not their world any more.

For a long time, many details about the new KOF XII sprites have been unclear. In fact, the earliest videos were so blurry it wasn't even possible to tell whether the characters even were sprites. It might as well have been evil 3D, like the Maximum Impact series. Gamers sighed in relief when it was revealed that the game was in fact fully 2D. But then it took forever to get some information about the sprites themselves. Were they pixeled, or digitally painted? Had the classic SNK style remained intact? All the news sources just kept saying "hand-drawn", but no one seemed to have any detailed information about the art style and technique - or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered! In any case, another agonising wait followed. But now, some high resolution screenshots have finally emerged! Let's analyse them!

General findings

• The first thing one should notice is that it's pixel art! SNK, I love you so much.
• The sprites appear to be drawn at half resolution, and then scaled without ugly filtering. SNK, if I were a woman I'd beg to have your baby.
• Flash effects and such are of the blurry persuasion. Personally I find this a little disappointing, but it's not that big a deal.
• Backgrounds don't seem to be pixeled either, but even though this makes the sprites stand out a bit, they look really good.
• As expected, the style of the sprites has changed a little. More colours were used, and the shading style looks like a blend of cel-shading in the shadows and colour gradients in the lighter areas. It's a clever trick that works really well.

Some of the characters themselves have received a makeover as well. So let's analyse them too!

Ryo Sakazaki

Ryo definitely changed a lot. He reminds me a bit of Street Fighter's Akuma now, with his angry face and much redder hair.

Ralf Jones

As if he didn't have enough already, Ralf grew some extra muscle!

Athena Asamiya

Instead of having grown older, it seems Athena has grown younger. Her face has become rounder and more childlike. Perhaps she should change her diet, because her legs got rounder, too.

Terry Bogard

In another reversal of nature, Terry has devolved and lost the ability to stand in an upright position.

Iori Yagami

Iori traded in his trademark red pants with the belt between the knees for an ordinary white pair. He also seems to have lost some weight, gained two shoe sizes and put on his prettiest pretty-boy face.

Leona Heidern

Leona hasn't changed much, but I do love what they've done to her. Her hair looks nicer, and her tighter outfit and ditto measurements makes her at least twice as sexy. Rrrrawr!

Kyo, Ash, Benimaru, Robert, Shen, Andy, Kim, Raiden
None of these characters seems to have changed much if at all (except if you count that Raiden is new to the KOF series). Kyo is wearing his leather jacket, Robert reverted to his familiar old looks, and Ash is still a terrible girlie-boy.


For more screenshots, I recommend that you visit KOF Cyberfanatix.