While I’m not exactly a fan of the Soul Series, I played SCII enough to at least develop an appreciation for it. If reviews prove to be good I might pick it up just so I can play as the guest fighter.

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

I entered Whiterun with a sense of dread. I knew that the first dragon fight was coming and I didn’t know if I was ready for it. At least I wasn’t going to take it on alone, I thought. Irileth and her cohorts were going to be there, as well as whatever was left of the tower’s defenders. They could at least distract the dragon long enough for me to get it down to half of its life. Maybe. I didn’t really have a solid plan as to how I was going to fight it.

I reported back to Farengar, gave him the Dragonstone and let the sequence run its course. As we were heading to the broken tower I still didn’t have a plan. When the dragon arrived I made sure cover was nearby. If my previous fights were any indication I knew that none of this was going to be easy. Our group managed to get a third of its health out before it bit down on some hapless guard and tossed it aside like a rag doll.

We carried on. I shot it with arrows, Brelyn alternated with bolts of fire and lightning while Irileth yelled commands over and over. It was intense yet funny at the same time. After all, I’ve done this fight at least five times since I first started playing this game. But I have to admit that every one of those encounters paled in comparison to what I was doing right then. It was tedious, frustrating yet strangely exciting at the same time. When the dragon died I felt like I actually earned that kill. Well, we all did. It wasn’t a solo effort. Still, a thought lingered. I just hope I didn’t open a can of worms by engaging this first dragon fight. I’m not looking forward to the next one just yet.

Assassination and dancing has proven to be a lucrative mix, as Just Dance 2 and 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations helped Ubisoft to lead this year’s best seller’s list with three entries. That’s according to the NPD Group, which also estimates the video game industry’s profits, comprising “new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games,” reached sales of somewhere between $16.3 and $16.6 billion in 2011.

[Joystiq]

Gunslinger Stratos is a multiplayer arcade shooter by Square-Enix. The gameplay seems to be a cross between light-gun and 3rd person shooter. Players will be able to fight against other players in arcades throughout Japan over the internet.  Players can access their characters in different arcades via NESiCA IC cards. Square has already announced a nationwide arcade tournament for the game and made mention of a cash prize.

[Shoryuken]

This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.

Considering what I was trying to do, I thought that having a follower would help. They were never seriously part of my dungeon romps back when I was playing on Adept but I figured that I might need them this time around. I wanted a mage, a conjurer specifically, thinking that the summoned creature would be beneficial.

After going through the list of followers who were conjurers, I picked Brelyna. It looked like she was the easiest to recruit, requiring just finishing Saarthal and then allowing her to test spells on you. Now, about the dungeon itself, I found out that the toughest part about Saarthal is Jyrik Gauldurson, the draugr NPC at the end who is a part of the Forbidden Legend quest line. Fortunately, he’s easy to kite. When things got too hairy I had the option to backtrack to the gate prior to his area and close it, preventing him from getting to me. This is going to sound lame, but I also found out that with the right distance you can rest for an hour to regain your health, mana and stamina then re-engage him. His health should not regenerate.

Once I had Brelyna I headed to Bleak Falls Barrow. She proved to be more than capable of handling herself, casting fire bolts and shooting lighting from her staff. When the charges on the staff were depleted she switched to a bow. She was a glass cannon, able to dish out punishment to take foes out before I could even draw my weapon but was unable to withstand a lot of damage herself. Also, the downside of having her around was that I couldn’t sneak as much as I wanted to. I had to micromanage her a bit to get past that problem. Having her around made the dungeon uneventful. I just had to make sure we weren’t dealing with multiple opponents.

After Bleak Falls Barrow I turned in my quests, first to Riverwood to return the claw then to Whiterun to deliver the Dragonstone. I knew what was going to come next: my first fight with a dragon. Will I survive and succeed or will the fight prove to be too much for me to handle?

Cosplayer DollWithAGun gives us a bit of history about the costume:

Growing up, I can’t tell you how much time I spent watching my older brothers play Street Fighter. Being the little sister, I didn’t get to play much, but when I did, Chun-Li was my girl! When I was picking my first cosplay, she was a no-brainer.

It’s hard to believe that the first time I put this costume on was almost 9 years ago! I was so thrilled to get some nice shots of it before anything happens to it.

Hit the link for the full gallery.

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (“Mad Catz”) (AMEX/TSX: MCZ) announced today a new range of Street Fighter® X Tekken® fighting game controllers, due for release to coincide with the upcoming Street Fighter X Tekken videogame from Capcom^® expected to launch on March 6, 2012 on consoles.

Due for release on the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system, the new range of fighting game controllers includes the Street Fighter X Tekken FightPad SD, the Street Fighter X Tekken Arcade FightStick PRO and the flagship Street Fighter X Tekken Arcade FightStick V.S.

“We are excited to support the Street Fighter^® and Tekken^® franchises with our new range of fighting game controllers,” said Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. “Our new V.S. FightStick and FightPad demonstrate our ability to continue innovating in this category and we believe that the fighting game community will react enthusiastically to our new product designs.”

The Street Fighter X Tekken Arcade FightStick V.S. features genuine Sanwa Denshi™ arcade components. The unique chassis allows gamers to join two sticks together via the Arcade FightStick V.S. Connector Kit (sold separately) for a highly realistic arcade presentation.

The Street Fighter X Tekken FightPad SD features a 15% smaller chassis than previous FightPad designs, inspired by the gaming preferences of legendary Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono.

Additional information is available at www.madcatz.com/SFXTekken.