Episode 17: “Lourdes in the Sky with Diamonds”

I’ve been embarking on a series of adventures, now that I’m “unleashed”. In this week’s podcast, I share with Chuck my first attempts at rock climbing and my amazing road trip to a classic arcade auction.

Chuck’s put together an interesting conspiracy theory about both Sony and Microsoft’s next generation consoles…or console? I’m convinced, which is a feat.

Oh, those crazy celebrities! Stealing brand names, hippie parenting, and taking the Fifth on drug references.

Episode 109: “There Can Be Only…Two.”

Manyuu Hikenchou… Oh, why are we bothering with formalities? The show is Titty Ninjas. If you have an oedipal complex, this show is a dream come true. If you’ve had or wince at mastectomies, this could be a nightmare…

Kevin and I have returned to form; berating current, exploitative anime. There’s probably no better specimen than this show to usher our wrathful return. This podcast is not without our staples: Pretentious energy drinks, 1980s action flicks, monkeys, and irresponsible science.

Episode 18: “Horrible Holocaust”

This is not a typical episode of the Alpha Counter podcast… More of a frankensteined construction of two partial recordings; forged together to form a single, patch-worked entity. If you’re just discovering this podcast after coming from Animazement, you should probably catch up on our previous episode first.

Kevin had a lot more to say about The Hunger Games after last week’s podcast was recorded. We have some…colorful peers that offered…unique perspective on the film and how it’s often discussed by others. But first I get to tell a story about how I, as a child, learned about a very important word.

The second part of this podcast is an excerpt from a recording with M. Due to some mental and technical failings on my part, the audio quality nearly doomed this material to oblivion. However, it’s directly relevant to my conversation with Kevin and contains one of the greatest jokes we’ve ever done on the podcast; earning it a second chance at life.

In a rare instance of humility, the A3K Podcast provides more examples of their guilty pleasures. Jahmere is diagnosed with OVA/OCD, Cody Baier is finally on the receiving end of anime outrage, Sean Ryan pounces on one member of the podcast, and is Mike in danger of being replaced by Fightbait?

What’s your anime guilty pleasure? Tell us here in the comments or, even better, tell Anime 3000. You may just score yourself some fabulous prizes!

Episode 17: “Tracker Jackers”

Hunger Games has Kevin in a fury. It’s the hot new book-to-film series that no one will remember in five years. By the way, how’s that The Lost Symbol movie coming along?

Turbo-spoilers contained within! This could be one of Kevin’s most unleashed podcasts; wasting no energy on delicately veiling this movie from the oblivious. If you haven’t seen the movie, read the book, or if you’re especially sensitive to virgin experiences, you have some homework before engaging this podcast. I don’t give a shit, so I’m quick to indulge in discussion.

Episode 108: “Monkeys Sad! Monkey Die!”

We needed an excuse to revisit Michiko to Hatchin–a show we discussed in our earliest episodes–and listener feedback provides! This particular recording went on much longer than expected, as Kevin rolled into his recent movie review. That bit, my friends, will appear in two days in the form of the next Alpha Counter Podcast.

If you’d like to contact us, you can comment below, send an email, mention us on Twitter, or post to us on Facebook!

Episode 16: “Car[olla] Talk”

Reality shows can’t be considered trash TV. Most are so scripted and doctored that they’re worse than garbage–they’re immitation garbage. And yet, there’s always at least one that we each call our guilty pleasure. For Matt and I, it’s this season’s Celebrity Apprentice; mostly for its involvement with our hero, Adam Carolla. That is, until he was fired due to producer shenanigans.

After the break, M joins us to talk about a show that’s genuine about its fiction: The Walking Dead; specifically Season 2. If you haven’t seen it yet, do, for here there be spoilers.

Episode 15: “Warp Factor WTF”

M and I got gabbin’ ’bout some gamin’ for this episode of the podcast. The Wiimote controls of Skyward Sword has M flailing and failing. Meanwhile, I’m inventing new ways to get court-martialed in Star Trek: Bridge Commander.

After the break, we vent out our frustrations by laughing at the 1990s era of comic books–The publicity stunts, the market flood, the talent…or rather, lack thereof.

To correct an oversight: Joe Madureira did find success in the video game industry, as creative director to Vigil Games’ Darksiders and its upcoming sequel.

Omake 19: “Quantum Liam”

This batch of outtakes features various tangents we’ve had on Method to Madness. There’s talk of Heroes Unlimited RPGs. We miss classic Looney Tunes, despite its past insensitivity. We come up with the greatest time travel TV series idea EVER. And webcomics that actually kick ass, like Axe Cop.

On the tail end, I’ve included an outtake with Anime 3000′s Cody Baier, aka @LordSchmeckie, recorded after we’d wrapped up our AniRiff for Garzey’s Wing.

Episode 14: “Giant Osama Bin-Ladenzilla”

What begins as me fawning through nostalgia over Bionic Six quickly roller-coastered into Kevin and I both ranting over the horrible era of comic books and cartoons known as the 1990s. Image Comics was one of that decade’s greatest creations, but also its most potent toxins. The only relic of that era to survive–and strangely still be worth picking up–is Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon.

I never got around to mentioning that Rock-1 was one of my earliest childhood cartoon crushes. Add that to my list of “thank yous” for TMS entertainment. We need you guys back working for Warner Bros!

I also mentioned this: THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW.

RoboGeisha hardly needs any endorsement from the likes of us. If you’ve read the title of the movie, you’ve already decided if you’re going to watch it. And by visiting this website and reading this text, I already know that you are.

Matt and I reviewed this movie for Anime 3000–the experience was more a favor for us than for them. This was no chore to sit through. It’s just the right kind of goofy movie you watch with friends and spend the next half hour or so debating, “What the hell did we just watch?” And that’s not a rhetorical question.

WE KEEP WATCHING ANIME THAT SUCKS. (This is becoming a theme.)

For the A3K Podcast over on Anime 3000: Sean Ryan, Cody Baier, Jahmere Durham, Michael Martinez, and host Sean Russel formed a pact. We came together–as brothers–in mutual support under a tent of trust to share each other’s anime guilty pleasures. But Cody, our resident villain, creeped in with a knapsack filled with judgement.

This is the main course of this discussion, but there’s an extra serving with some dessert coming up! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this podcast in the coming weeks. In the meantime, what’s your anime guilty pleasure? Tell us here in the comments or, even better, tell Anime 3000. You may just score yourself some fabulous prizes!

Cross Ups 01: “Commencing 4th down; Hut, hut, hike!”

On the success of our Method to Madness Omake outtakes, we present some of the pre-game anecdotes that take place before the show really gets started. They’ve been collected and released for you in a new podcast sub-series we call Alpha Counter Cross Ups.

You’ll probably notice a slight difference in audio quality, at least on my side. These audio clips are taken straight from our Skype recordings, before I mix in my locally recorded track. But the content makes up well for it. Especially for bonus content…that’s free!

Episode 107: “Planet B612…You’ve Never Heard of It”

The Little Prince is a hipster douche who comes to Earth to remind us how much we suck. He’s that guy whose charity work includes being the weekend friend to children of modest means. Never all that emotionally invested and once he flies back to his home of luxury, you may never see him again.

This is a show from the infant days of Nickelodeon; before it developed any notable original programming. It was an innocent, episodic series of visits, similar to Kino’s Journey. Fantastic for small children, but offers nothing (but ironic comedy) for anyone whose age has reached double-digits.

Episode 14: “If You Can Read This, The Bitch Derezzed”

That girl is Poison… Or is she? That is, is she a she? It’s a debate that’s been waged since before many of its participants were only just born. With the release of the video below, it’s time we accept the truth and begin asking ourselves some very deep, personal questions.

M hops on for the second half of the show to adjust the focus of our male gaze while we discuss the recent Cross [Sexual] Assault scandal. Take notes, fellas. This may actually get you dates.

I’m about to lose all my nerd credit with one statement: I goddamn hate Star Trek: First Contact. But what brings my blood from simmer to boil is how this has been generally accepted as one of the best Star Trek movies of all time.

First, can we please just admit that the plot is a fucking mess? You can still love the film, but at least with that we have to be honest with ourselves. The writers of the film have already been completely open that they couldn’t agree on whether to produce a story about the historic First Contact or an epic confrontation with the Borg. So they decided instead to combine those two ideas together, regardless of how well they meshed.

In fact, once the Borg sphere is destroyed, “First Contact” splits into two separate movies, only to barely tie back into each other near the end. If you were to completely carve out any of the scenes that take place on Earth’s surface, nothing would feel missing (save for absent cast members). You’d have a shorter, though more focused storyline.

That might have been to the movie’s benefit, since the pacing of the movie as we know it starts off at a break-neck speed. There’s no build-up to the Borg’s arrival at Earth, so we don’t feel the true weight of its significance. Without any sense of anticipation, the attitude is more like, “Oh, those pesky Borgs! They’re at it again!” It gives the feel that we just tuned in to the second act of the plot, with the adventure in the past being the third. The event is further depreciated by focusing the point of view on the Enterprise’s busy work as they avoid the Borg’s raid entirely.

Of course, the excuse given is that Starfleet doesn’t trust Picard around the Borg, so he and the Enterprise crew are assigned outside the range of influence. Is there any reason why Starfleet couldn’t just order that Picard be dropped off somewhere safe while the Enterprise join the fleet under Riker’s command? Then we could have had an interesting sequence where Picard covertly makes his way to the battlefield to save the day.

That's no moon...

Speaking of the ease of time travel…this is no chore for the Borg–all they have to do is fly their Borg Sphere through the biggest plot hole of the film. Their master plan is to travel back to the days shortly before Earth’s first contact with the vulcans and development of warp technology.

Here’s my biggest problem: WHY?

Let’s reflect for a moment on the Borg themselves, as villains. When the Borg first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, their modus operandi was to spread across the universe to assimilate technology. Later in the franchise, their ambitions would include the domination over the universe as well, but technology was their favored commodity.

Where, then, is the sense in traveling back so far into the past? Why do they care if Earth makes First Contact with the Vulcans? What is the value of traveling back to when Earth was in a pre-warp, post-war ruin? Whatever surviving population that remained had just crawled out of the still-smoldering nuclear craters from World War III. There’s nothing to whet the Borg’s appetite.

The 21st Century may in fact be the most dangerous for the Borg, since it’s a time when firearms are still in heavy use. As established in the unnecessary Dixon Hill scene, bullets appear to be the one weapon the Borg cannot adapt against. Upon discovering this (or as Picard seemed to know it already), once the Enterprise crew learns of a weapon that works, why ever go back to phasers? Time to start hitting the replicators for some M4 Carbines and rain down on the Borg with a thunderstorm of bullets. That’s the perfect moment for, “Assimilate this.”

The Borg are no match for holograms and bullets.

I propose some alternate plans for the Borg:

First, how about two cubes? The Borg keep sending one cube at a time to assimilate worlds. Or at least, Earth. We know they have more than one flying around. Considering how close they came to victory (twice) with a single cube, imagine how much hassle they could save and how swift the task if they sent just two cubes. Again, why play games? At most, they could play rope-a-dope with the Federation; deploying one cube to wreck the fleet and send them into a false sense of security…then pop in the second cube to punk them while they’re busy licking their wounds.

I concede that Picard and his residual gifts from his time as Locutus are the Borg’s Achilles Heal. In theory, the Borg could send a fleet of cubes only for Picard–invincible to them–to disable them all. Time travel may be necessary to attack from a point before Locutus’ advent. But isn’t 310 years a bit of an overshoot?

A wiser destination would be traveling back only eight years to the first season of The Next Generation; a time before the federation had any knowledge of the Borg’s existence. The entire Alpha Quadrant wouldn’t know what hit ‘em! The rewards would be assimilating the peak of culture and technology pre-Wolf 359! Assimilation at the time of First Contact means they miss out on over three centuries of cultural and technological development!

Thank you, Mistress, may I have another?

Then there’s the Borg Queen. Her entire character is fan service. Period. No matter how you explain her role with the Borg in canon, it still detracts from the Borg’s defining characteristic: That they are a unified, collective. Her function in the movie is to be the seductive dominatrix of the Borg-themed BDSM dungeon. She’s fetish fodder to titillate the audience. Resistance is futile…but it’s oh, so fun to struggle.

Had Star Trek: First Contact actually had been about First Contact, this could have easily been the Next Generation’s “The Voyage Home”. But this was instead an action thriller with the occasional distracting vignettes. I believe that fans love this film because of its grand “Yippee Ki-Yay” lambasting of the Borg. But how it manages to repeatedly top the ranks of favorite Trek films–often second after “Wrath of Khan”–astonishes me, considering its flaws.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Developer: Bioware
Released: March 6, 2012

Full Review:

In 2007, Bioware took on an ambitious project by creating a Sci-fi RPG trilogy with a brand new franchise, called Mass Effect. Since the release the Mass Effect, the game has spawned numerous tie-in comics, novels, anime, and even has plans for a feature film. Many websites have stated that Mass Effect is one of the most important Science Fiction Universes of this generation since Star Wars or Star Trek.

This epic trilogy has recently come to a close with the release of Mass Effect 3, while it may not be the final game set in this universe; it is at least the final chapter for Commander Shepard. The Mass Effect Trilogy plot involves the threat of Galactic Annihilation of all intelligent life by an overpowering force called “The Reapers”. The Reapers are a machine race that comes every 50,000 years to harvest advanced intelligent life and make it as its own. In Mass Effect 3 you play Commander Shepard, who has been able to slow down The Reaper Invasion in the previous games. But now there is no more time left for the galaxy, and it’s up to you to unite all the races in the galaxy in single strike against The Reapers.

The Mass Effect Trilogy has had some well known celebrities voicing the diverse cast of humans and aliens throughout the series, and Mass Effect 3 is no exception. Bioware has tapped recognizable Hollywood talent including Martin Sheen (The Departed, Apocalypse Now), Seth Green (Family Guy, Robot Chicken), Keith David (Gargoyles, The Thing), Tricia Heifer (Battlestar Galactica), Freddie Prince Jr. (Scooby Doo, 24) and dozens more. It’s amazing to see all this top notch talent voicing over this game, and it makes the performances that much more believable and emotional. Even the voice actors known only from other video games or animation bring their best in telling this amazing story.

Graphically, Mass Effect 3 is a beautiful game; many of the central characters you meet throughout the game look incredibly realistic at times. The in game cutscenes are well directed and have a theatrical feel to them as you experience the story play out. Many of the landscapes during the game are jawdropping due to the enormity of The Reapers, which stand taller than most skyscrapers. As you combat the small ground units, Reapers can be seen miles away destroying cities and fleets of vessels on most of the planets you visit. Their size in comparison to yours gives you a sense of scale, and makes the threat feel all the more impossible to defeat.

Depending on your choices and actions, The Reapers could win.

From a gameplay standpoint, Mass Effect 3 is the strongest and well balanced of the trilogy. It was believed that the original Mass Effect was too cluttered with RPG elements, and Mass Effect 2 had almost no RPG elements at all. Mass Effect 3 meets it somewhere in the middle with intense cover based shooting reminiscent of Gears of War, but features armor and weapon customization to tweak Shepard and his companion’s abilities to your liking. This game is a unique hybrid of two different genres, but it’s so well mixed it actually makes it easy to pick up and learn whether you come from an RPG or Shooter background. Combat difficulty can be cranked up to “Insanity” for the most avid shooter players, but those who just wish to play Mass Effect 3 for the story and RPG elements can set the Combat difficulty to “Narrative”.

One of the key features of the Mass Effect Trilogy is the ability to make decisions and see how those results play out throughout the entirety of the trilogy. Bioware’s goal was to give nearly every player their own unique experience based on the choices Shepard makes in the previous games. Bioware claims that over one thousand decisions from both Mass Effect 1 & 2 can be imported into Mass Effect 3, so long as you still have your save data. These results come in multiple forms, whether its people you meet, specific missions, and even being called out on a bad decision by a superior officer or friend. With this being the final installment of the series, Bioware does a great job of getting every question answered by the time the credits roll.

As a franchise Mass Effect is a must play, but by itself I’m not sure if I can recommend Mass Effect 3. It would be like starting Lord of the Rings at Return of the King, or starting Star Wars at Return of the Jedi. The dramatic moments in Mass Effect 3 have more meaning and reward if you can manage to play it from the beginning. If you can’t start the Mass Effect Series from the beginning, at least start it from Mass Effect 2, especially if you own a PS3. The PS3 version includes an interactive comic that sums up the events of the first game in about 30 minutes and allows you to make all of the critical decisions needed to move forward to Mass Effect 2 and eventually Mass Effect 3.

I’ll admit now that Mass Effect 3 made me shed some man-tears, I saw characters I have come to know and love over the last 5 years die or wish me farewell in this emotionally powerful finale. Mass Effect 3 is an unforgettable adventure that teaches us that the journey is just as important as the destination, and even in March is a serious contender for Game of the Year.

Score: 5 out of 5

Hey, Charles Lai, AKA @Comtar, here again with not just one review, but ten reviews as I bring you Alpha Counter’s Top 10 Games of 2011.

Now, before I go into my Top Ten, let me say that there were a lot of amazing games this year, and plenty worth mentioning that could have easily ballooned this list into becoming a “Top 15” or even “Top 20″. For example, we finally saw the 3DS blossom and prove its 3D capabilities with Super Mario Land 3D. We witnessed new technology prove that real actors and gaming can combine in L.A. Noire. And the smaller direct to download games aren’t always of low production value nor should be overlooked like inFamous: Festival of Blood and Bastion. Also 2011 finally saw the release of Duke Nukem Forever, a game that took nearly 15 years to create… Let’s just say the Duke won’t be appearing on this Top 10 list.

Now, the rules for this list are quite simple, it has to be a game that came out in 2011, that I played in 2011. So you won’t find massively multiplayer military shooters like Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Sadly you also won’t find The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword either, because I’ve only gotten a few hours into it. Let me just say that Skyward Sword is the last, and best Wii game. It’s a great finale to the Wii console before moving onto the WiiU.

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s get this party started!

10. Shadows of the Damned (Xbox 360, PS3)
Release Date: June 21st, 2011

This game may have been overlooked by a few people, but not by me. Shadows of the Damned is a survivor horror shooter created under a team of some of Japan’s brightest game creators. Shadows of the Damned is brought to us by Suda 51, of No More Heroes fame, with Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil, and Akira Yamaoka, the person who does all the music and audio for the Silent Hillseries.

Shadows of the Damned puts you in the shoes Garcia F. Hotspur, a Mexican Demon Hunter. Garcia’s girlfriend Paula is kidnapped by Fleming, the lord of the underworld. Fleming explains to Garcia that it is Paula’s fate to be killed over and over again and make her suffer for Garcia’s deeds as a demon hunter. Garcia follows Fleming into the underworld with the help of his sidekick, Johnson, a skull that can shapeshift into a motorcycle, as well as numerous weapons, like The Teether, the Dentist, The Skullfest 9000, The Hot Boner, and the Big Boner.

Taste Garcia Fucking Hotspur's Big Boner

And thus begins Garcia’s epic quest into dick jokes.

No, seriously. This game is from start to finish of sexual innuendo and dick jokes, almost more so than Duke Nukem Forever. How does Johnson become the Big Boner weapon? He calls a demon sex chat line on a payphone. How do you blast a hole in the wall? You… and this is a quote, “Shoot those cracks with your explosive hot boner.” What other video game can you name that has you run along the bare breasts and ass of a giant naked version of your girlfriend as a stage? I bet not many.

The difference here though is that this game is funny, but many may miss the point of Shadows of the Damned if they try to take it seriously. If you look at the reviews you’ll see they go from the low 6s, to the 9s. Shadows of the Damned is a love it or hate it kinda game, which plenty of other Suda 51 games previously like No More Heroes and Killer7 have been before. It’s the video game equivalent to a Grindhouse style movie like Machete, it’s not meant to be taken seriously.

The gameplay is very similar to Resident Evil 4 or Dead Space in respects to it being a 3rd person over-the-shoulder shooter. The game is morbid and twisted, and plenty of memorable moments. The soundtrack is amazing thanks to Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGylnn of Silent Hill fame. You can definitely feel, see, and hear the mix of these developers’ talents in the game. But too many cooks in the kitchen do not create a perfect game, the game isn’t bad, but it’s not without its flaws. I suggest this game if you are a fan of any of these creator’s previous games.

9. Dead Space 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Release Date: January 25th, 2011

The original Dead Space quickly became a hit in 2008 when reviewers praised the games horrific setting, saying it was a throwback to science fiction horror films like The Thing, Alien, and Event Horizon. The games frightening spin on an alien invasion style video game made it unique and one of the best new survival horror franchises.

In Dead Space, the U.S.S. Ishimura discovers an alien relic called The Marker on a distant planet it was sent to mine. Soon after bringing The Marker on board the crew goes insane and is attacked by creatures called Necromorphs. Once the ship ceases communication a rescue crew is sent to find out why the Ishimura went dark, you play one of the rescue team members, Engineer Issac Clarke.

Clarke discovers that The Marker was really made by humans who reversed engineered an actual alien relic to test it on a smaller scale. Issac manages to destroy The Marker and the planet it came from in hopes to ending the Necromorphs and to stop is slow sanity loss from The Marker’s influence. Dead Space 2 picks up soon after the events in the first game with Issac waking up in an insane asylum on board a distant space station, seems to have no memory of the last few years and has to pick up the pieces on how he ended up on station after destroying The Marker.

The first minute of Dead Space gets right in your face.

The game play of Dead Space 2 is very similar to Resident Evil 4 by using the ever growingly popular over the shoulder view. What makes the Necromorphs unique is their weak spots are the limbs, which are much more difficult to hit because they flail so erratically. Going for a head shot may actually make the creature more aggressive, give birth to smaller creatures, or cause it to mutate. It’s a required change of strategy that must be learned quickly to survive.

As Issac deals with the Necromorph threat on board the station, one can see how his skills as an Engineer have helped him survive. Issac quickly takes medical and scientific equipment and turns them into cutting and piercing weapons, he also obtains levitation equipment to move heavy objects or throw them at the Necromorphs. These skills come in handy as it is necessary for Issac to fix or dismantle equipment on board the station to move forward through the game.

It has often been compared that if Dead Space is like the film Alien, then Dead Space 2 is Aliens. The action has picked up a little bit and Issac is now fully aware of the threat this time around as the survivor of the Ishimura. If you missed out on the original Dead Space, it’s easy to pick up the game from this point with its very informative introduction. The story is packed with plenty of “Oh shit” moments, and this game is easily one of the most frightening games of 2011.

8. Mortal Kombat (Xbox 360, PS3)
Release Date: April 19th, 2011

Probably one of the bigger surprises for everyone in 2011 was the resurrection of Mortal Kombat. After the horrid Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe and the collapse of Midway in 2008, many felt this franchise was to be left dead and buried. It was believed that there would be almost no way to bring Mortal Kombat back to its roots. But thankfully the original creators of Mortal Kombat were able to successfully reboot this series into something amazing and a must play.

One of the best aspects of Mortal Kombat that may take most gamers off guard is the single player campaign. It’s truly one of the best single player campaigns in 2011, but for a fighting game it’s probably the best of all time. The plot starts with Raiden failing to stop Shao Khan from destroying the world and is about to kill Raiden once and for all. Raiden in a final act of desperation sends a message to his past self, warning him of future events with a single message… “He must win.” The Raiden of the past tries to understand this message and how to change the events of the future… This storyline sets the groundwork for a reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise.

While the story does start with Raiden, you actually start playing with Johnny Cage. You are unable to choose your character throughout the single player campaign, but that’s okay! The 8 hour campaign you constantly changes from one character to another, all piecing together the story of how the Earthrealm plans to prevent Armageddon at the hands of Shao Khan for good. This allows newer players to the series to get a good feel how each character moves before heading down the road to online play.

Admiral Ackbar: "It's a trap!"

Online wise, Mortal Kombat has a lot to offer. You can play 1vs1 against random players in an old school arcade mode. Or even play with a partner in Marvel VS Capcom like tag modes. You can even participate in competitive rooms where you watch others play and spectate as chibi versions of your character, where, as players lose, another person in the room will step up to challenge the winner. The variety the game allows in both online and offline modes will keep a person busy as you collect Kombat Koins, redeemable in game money where you can unlock new costumes, characters, and new finishing moves in the Crypt.

Mortal Kombat is not just a good game, it’s a great one. This game came out soon after Marvel VS Capcom 3 broke a lot of fighting game enthusiasts hearts. The timing in its release couldn’t have been any better, and this game is easily one of the best fighters of this generation right next to Super Street Fighter IV. The game was so good it got a place in the Evo Fighting Game Championship in 2011, a first for the franchise. What more about this game is there to say other than, “Flawless Victory.”

Episode 12: “Breaking Boobs”

Matt has challenged my distaste for sports and its rampant fanaticism. He doesn’t understand why, with my fervor for fighting games, don’t I gravitate toward real-world martial art contests. The truth is, I’d sooner watch WWE than MMA.

There may be some weight to Matt’s argument, since I do enjoy both playing Ace Attorney games and watching The People’s Court, though my joy of each stems from different roots. On the other hand, my love of the Portal series hasn’t inspired me to volunteer for testing experimental quantum weaponry in deadly labyrinths. No, the source of my Portal passion is likely more Freudian.

Matt and I do agree on one thing: Our opinion on boobs. We dig ‘em. And apparently, they could just save your life.