FanimeCon 2014 had their own mini-Street Fighter Tournament over at Stage Zero. Ramen & a Half host Eddie Ballar grab Julio Fuentes aka MMG Julio for a quick interview on plans and prepartion for EVO Championship Series in Las Vegas, July 2014.
The Best Street Fighter Gamer: MMG Julio @ FanimeCon 2014
June 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Our very own Tomb Raider @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In revamping the successful Tomb Raider franchise – we got a re-boot! Just when we thought Lara Croft would move forward from her ninth adventure to another artifact finding mystery, we get to find out about her – the origins of Lara Croft. We’ve all read her back story, but where was the episodic adventures that led to the skilled, acrobatic, and duel pistol-drawing heroine – Tomb Raider?
Watch Dogs Review
June 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I picked up this game a few days ago and I was a bit excited to see how this game was going to be. Played the game for a whole day and came to the conclusion that this game is exactly like another popular game – Infamous. Now I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing. I love the three Infamous games and they’re a ton of fun to play, I just didn’t expect Watch Dogs to play like them.
The two main differences between the games are 1) you traded in your superpower abilities for some awesome hacking abilities and 2) that you can drive a car in this game which is, oh boy, let’s just say the driving feels awkward. For instance, the first time I hit the gas I crashed into a wall. I thought I’d get better as time went on, but even as I got near the end of the game, I still can’t drive from point A to point B without crashing into a minimum of five things. You will be driving to a lot of places since there are a total of 39 missions in the game split into five Acts. Frankly, this is probably one of the longest games I have played so far this year, which is a good thing since most games you play nowadays can be beaten in a little over ten hours.
The Art of Watch Dogs
June 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The video game media went bonkers when Ubisoft unveiled Watch Dogs at E3 2012. The much anticipated and delayed game is now finally out and does it live up to the hype? I don’t know yet, but will get on my hands on a copy for my Xbox 360 soon. Just a quick note, you can also look for our review of Watch Dogs by our Retrenders video game guru Ramon Angel soon. But for now, I’m reviewing the release of The Art of Watch Dogs published by Titan Books.
In Watch Dogs, the GTA-type game, you play hacker anti-hero Aiden Pearce. Now on the path of revenge he uses Chicago’s Central Operating System (ctOS) to hack into security cameras, lock doors, control traffic lights, locate targets of interest and grab information on his enemies. The city of Chicago is now your playground.
Marvel Puzzle Quest Review
May 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I was never a big fan of mobile games so naturally I’ve never heard of Marvel Puzzle Quest. Even though this game had been out since October 2013, it wasn’t until a week ago when I was persuaded to try the game for the first time. Here’s a fun fact about myself: I’m not a fan of Marvel Comics – I’m more of a a DC man myself. At first I didn’t want anything to do with this game; my friends then compared it to Bejeweled which didn’t help their case either, but in the end, I gave in and ended up downloading it on my phone. And lo and behold, in just a matter of minutes, I got hooked on the game. I guess the features of leveling up your characters and having hit points for each really got to the RPG fan in me. Since each of your characters have HP, and it takes seconds to restore just one hit point, this is not a game that you are going to be stuck on for hours and hours. If your character(s) get beat down at the end of the match, it may take them hours to regenerate back to full health, causing you to take a break from playing if you have no health kits to cure them – so at least you’re not going to be spending your whole day playing this game non-stop.
Retro LEGO Builds for ALL!
May 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
If you ever feel nostalgic about past technological wonders like old video game systems, CRT tube TVs, rotary telephones and what not, and you are a LEGO builder, then check out – Chris McVeigh’s site Building Guides. I admit I am not a LEGO mad-genius builder, I’m like a Emmet who needs an instruction booklet and details before I can build anything.
The Art of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
March 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One hit video game franchise that has left on mark on video game history and players is Konami’s Castlevania. I remember playing Super Castlevania 4 on the SNES and boy, did it make an impression on me. Konami seeing the Castlevania series lose steam with fans over years, decided to let video game studio MercurySteam re-imagine and re-invent the game to a new audience. With the sequel Lords of Shadow 2 just released in stores, here is a look at Titan Books – The Art of Castlevania – Lords of Shadow.
The Art of Thief
March 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Enter into the world of Thief, were you take on the character of Master Thief Garrett. This cult classic looks to get bigger and better with Eidos Montreal’s latest release: Thief (February 2014 – Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4). Titan Books and video game journalist Paul Davies takes a behind-the-scenes look at the game with The Art of Thief.
Super Mario Kart for Toddlers
February 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review
February 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Lightning Returns is the third and final installment to the Final Fantasy XIII games. I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan, owning all numbered games, so of course I was going to get this game even if the previous one, Final Fantasy XIII-2, wasn’t that good. The first thing you’ll notice when playing is that the battle system has changed from the last two Final Fantasy XIII games – no longer do you have three characters in your party and the fighting goes away from the traditional Active Time Battle system. This did remind me a lot of another game, Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, however it’s not as fun. In Lightning Returns, you can move around while fighting, but it’s a slow walk; while in Crisis Core, you ran when you moved around enemies. Then there’s this interesting twist about having thirteen in-game days to beat this game, which reminded me a lot of Majora’s Mask. In actuality, you only have six days to complete the game, but by finishing countless side quests along the way, one can push it to thirteen. That’s fine, but time flies really fast in this game and some of these side quests just takes too long to be worth it. Most of your time will be spent running back and forth to do mundane tasks, such as getting flowers for someone, waiting for certain drops from monsters, or even eating at six different restaurants. I usually run through the main quests and when I stumble upon somebody giving out a side quest, also if I have time to spare, I’ll accept the quest. So far it’s worked out for me – I’ve still got a good few number of days to spare to complete the game. I’m not rushing to get through this though and neither should anybody else who plays it. [Read more…]
The Art of Titanfall
February 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Who doesn’t like piloting big bad mecha-robots? It brings back memories of playing Virtual On on Sega Saturn or Gundam Side Story 0079 on the Sega Dreamcast! This FPS shooter Titanfall isn’t even out yet, but has over 80-plus awards from critics already. The game launches March 11, 2014 on the Xbox One and PC and Titan Books releases – The Art of Titanfall.
The most looked forward to Indie Game for 2014
January 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the most looked forward to Indie Game for 2014 is The Witness, created by Jonathan Blow, who also created the popular game, Braid, a game based on the simplicity, the innocence and the motivation of an teen-adult life in the magical realm of forces and struggles. Hence, life isn’t simple, but it’s attainable when you search and struggle for it. Jonathan rendered the nature of life in Braid , but what to expect from The Witness and what will it’s theme really mean overall – we hope to find out soon from players, reviewers and the creator himself. Here’s a snippet interview from Game Life WIRED
Click here for the list of most looked forward Indie Games for 2014
The Tour de Force Street Fighter Tournament: Capcom Cup 2013
December 26, 2013 by 1 Comment
Capcom’s iconic 2D fighting video game Street Fighter II cost me a lot of quarters in middle school and now there are pro-Street Fighter button-mashing gamers. This year’s Capcom Cup took place at the Hyatt SFO in the SF Bay Area on December 14th, 2013. The Ramen crew interviews Street Fighter gamers and check out the announcements for Ultra Street Fighter IV.
Mattel Toys: A Look Inside the Toy Company
December 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Barbie, He-Man, Uno, Hot Wheels, just to name a few toy product lines from toy company Mattel. CBS Sunday Morning takes a look inside the fun factory. Make toys for a living. How cool is that?
Capcom Cup – December 14, 2013 – SF Bay Area
December 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wake up! Rise and shine on a Saturday morning! It’s game time as the top video game players battle it out. The Capcom Cup is all about Street Fighter madness. Yesterday night at Kidrobot SF we celebrated and participated in a fun Holiday Toy & Food Drive with artist JRYU and cosplayer Vampy Bit Me, but we also caught with CEO/Gamer/DJ Gootecks. Our Ramen host The Eddie chit-chatted away with Gootecks about Capcom Cup and Ultra Street Fighter IV
Assassin’s Creed: Hawk
November 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Assassin’s Creed comic book team of writer Corbeyran and artist Defali are back with the 4th comic book installment Hawk in the Assassin’s Creed universe. The story picks up right after the previous 3 comic book installments – The Ankh of Isis trilogy. This time the team travels back to 13th centure Egypt when an long lost artifact is found.
Max Payne 3: The Complete Series
November 21, 2013 by 2 Comments
I still remember the enjoyment of shooting mobsters in slo-mo with two guns blazing in original Max Payne game on my Xbox. The Max Payne 3: The Complete Series collects 3 stories – After the Fall, Hoboken Blues and Fight & Flight and ties everything together and is prequel to Max Payne 3 video game which was released last year on Xbox 360/PS3 and PC.
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Review
November 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
So here we are with another Assassin’s Creed game. They seem to be coming out with a new one every year just like all of the Call of Duty games. After playing the the previous game, Assassin’s Creed 3, I wasn’t so sure if I would be picking up this game at all, but I ended up getting my hands on it anyway. Right from the start I didn’t like the protagonist. He didn’t seem that likable during the beginning of the game, but after a few hours, he sort of grows on you.
The story in this game was pretty good, even if I did have a few questions at the end of it all, but I wasn’t able to get as invested in it as I did in the previous games in the series. The main reason was because of who you controlled in the modern time; it was just some random guy. You play him in first-person mode while out of the Animus and are never given a name and you aren’t able to even see what you look like. The one character I enjoyed the most out of the whole game was the I.T. guy, John. He made the modern portion of the game bearable and had an important role in the story. The characters Rebecca and Shaun showing up was also a plus – it was nice seeing and hearing them bicker again.
Besides that though, the real fun was when you were able to sail your ship all around the seas. Taking on little gunboats for small loot or attacking the large Man o’ Wars for some better salvage, it never got old. There was so much to do out in the ocean; sail to a nearby island and search for treasure, go deep sea diving, harpooning for sea creatures like whales and sharks, or just have fun destroying ship after ship. Finding floating pages of shanties was pretty neat also. Singing songs while sailing around was like listening to a pirate song radio station – and it did get annoying pretty quick. One could probably get really drawn into all the pirating or even the side-quests and forget all about doing any of the story missions. And to be honest, is that such a bad thing?
I give Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag a 7/10.
The Art of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
November 4, 2013 by 2 Comments
It’s been a busy couple of weekends just button-mashing in the living room after big releases like GTA, Arkham Origins, Battlefield 4 and now comes Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. This new installment takes you back to 1715 where Pirates rule the seas and you are thrown into the dark, gritty world of pirate life.
Batman: Arkham Origins Review
October 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I had been waiting a long time to play Batman: Arkham Origins – the third installment in the Batman: Arkham series. The first one (Arkham Asylum) was pretty good and I had fun with it and the second one (Arkham City) had me playing the game to 100% completion. In Origins, the game world is double the size of the one in Arkham City. Starting off in a new area, Blackgate prison, was nice, but the game soon kept sending me back to places I’d already been to in Arkham City, like the Steel Mill, the Gotham City Police Department, and in the Final Offer (Penguin’s ship). Visiting the BatCave saved me from all the familiarity though, where one can walk around and talk to Alfred plus you can even get to see a prototype Batmobile in the cave. It was actually pretty cool since you didn’t have to stay inside the city for the entirety like you did in the previous game.
Throughout the game, Batman is being hunted by eight assassins. The first is Killer Croc and the fight here was a lot better than in Arkham City. The fight with the Electrocutioner was useless and it actually bothered me that they put him in this game since he didn’t seem to have anything to do in this game, apart from giving you a new upgrade. The other bosses, on the other hand, were fun to battle against, such as Copperhead and her many shadow clones who got on my nerves a bit until I got a rhythm down, Firefly who was easy to beat but enjoyable to fight with, and even with Deadshot and Shiva – and they weren’t even a real boss fight. By the way, you could skip those two if you didn’t care about completing everything in the game.
One other thing that irks me is that even though this game takes place five years before Arkham Asylum, you seem to have much better technology in this game which just messes with the continuity of the story. For instance, in Origins you can get a glue grenade, so why wasn’t there a glue grenade in the Asylum and City? Plus, what about the Electrocutioners’ gloves? This game gives you many new upgrades that would make the Batman from the first two games say, “What’s that?”
Although, even with all the stuff that makes me just shake my head, the game is still pretty darn fun to play. The story in this game is well written and it’ll have you hooked. And when it comes down to it, the game was good – not great, but good. I give Batman: Arkham Origins a 7.5/10. One final note, don’t forget to check out the scene after the credits. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it.
Pokemon XY Review
October 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I have been playing the Pokemon games since Red/Blue. I bought the new Pokemon game (Pokemon Y) that recently came out for the 3DS, and I’ve been enjoying it to no end. I’ve been stuck on the “Wonder Trade” section of this game, helping me trade for the other starters in the game. Wonder Trade is a function in the game that lets you trade away any Pokemon you don’t want for another to anybody around the world. You won’t know what Pokemon you will be getting though so it is a bit of a risk. You might give away a level 50 Pikachu and receive a level 3 Caterpie. However, if you don’t want go sit through all the random trades to get what you want, you can always try GTS (Global Trade Station). GTS lets you choose which Pokemon you are looking for and see if anybody is trading it, provided you have Pokemon they want to trade for. The only thing that’s not great about GTS is getting the message “A communication error has occurred”, which forces you to end the game and restart it. Just be ready to get that message over and over.
Nintendo 2DS Review
October 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I bought the Nintendo 2DS last Monday so that I can play the new Pokemon game. Since I didn’t already have a 3DS, I thought that the new 2DS would be a good buy. It doesn’t have the 3D feature in it which was fine with me because I never liked it to begin with; it always got me dizzy. Without the 3D I had thought that the battery life would also be a lot better. I was wrong on that. The battery doesn’t last that long. My original DS probably had a better battery life than the 2DS. For a portable console, it may not last too long if you’re out and about. Playing with it connected to the charger will probably be your best bet while you play.
Bike Baron is my new Addiction
October 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Okay, I admit that I was hooked on Candy Crush Saga these past couple of months and became vain trying to get top scores! I’ll stop now and delete it from my iPhone. Now a new game I’m looking at is Bike Baron.
Devil May Cry: The Chronicles of Vergil
August 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Capcom horror-gothic hack & slash video game “Devil May Cry” first appeared on the PlayStation 2 and has now spawned many video game sequels and other multimedia tie-ins. This collected hardbound comic-book from Titan Comics – DmC: The Chronicles of Vergil is a prequel story of events leading up to the first Devil May Cry video game.
Alodia Panel Interview CUTS 2 : The Mistress of Cosplay
August 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Ramen crew felt a bit like a paparazzi, though we haven’t exactly dodged crowds, leaped over people, or body-checked anyone aside at any convention yet! The only thing we managed to dodge are off topic questions, loud hand-clapping and voices that over powered us from hearing our subject, Alodia Gosiengfiao FHM.
In this segment we get plenty of new surfacing information about our Mistress of Cosplay.
So here’s Panel Interview CUTS 2 – raw and lightly cut – which means I did very little editing. So it’s
STRICKLY FOR THE FANS to hear first hand answers from Alodia herself :
– Her Cosplay beginnings
– What she likes about being a Cosplayer
– Her stumbled upon opportunities
– Video Game influences like Final Fantasy
– Cosplay pointers
– Her first reaction as Guest of Honor at AX 2013
– The Fan that came all the way from Germany to see her
– Costume making
– Her make up – her eyes & contact lens of choice and why?
PREVIOUS MAGAZINE STORIES FROM ANIME EXPO 2013:
Alodia Panel Interview CUTS: Finally we get some answers!
ANIME EXPO 2013: Sleeping Cosplay? Batman & Spiderman duo? Mortal Come back?
AX 2013: Adventure Time & X-Men Cosplayers Collide
AX 2013: Captain Falcon & Crew!
ANIME EXPO 2013 : In line to see Alodia and we meet Kirito & Asuna Cosplayers
ANIME EXPO 2013 Masquerade: Thomas Depetrillo’s EVA-01
Jessica Nigri : Part 1 of 3
Jessica Nigri : Part 2 of 3
Jessica Nigri : Part 3 of 3
ANIME EXPO 2013 Masquerade : Ornament Tree Wings
Hey Hey Alodia from ANIME EXPO!
Each story is not just an interview, but one of the many interesting and entertaining things that happen at Anime Conventions. They’re short, sweet and you might find yourself liking our content!
Johnny Moreno
Edward Ballar
GuestContributor
Ramon Angel
Al Woo
Stephen Jang
SW biko
Retrenders 