After travelling from the other side of the world, I finally touched down in Auckland, albeit, 2 months earlier than planned but at least I got back. 20,000 km traveled in a week from Berlin – London – Seoul – Tokyo – Auckland. It was a hell of a trip and definitely a story to tell once the world settles down (or you can just go back and read my travel diary which covers it in detail!) Continue reading “The Travel Diaries – 9. Return of the Maori”
While it would seem a rather random stop over instead of going straight to Berlin from Amsterdam, there is one reason Hamburg came up on my radar when I was looking for places to visit on my trip. That reason was the Miniature Wunderland. I came across this while searching online and thought it looks pretty good, why not take a slight detour to check it out. I am so glad I did! Continue reading “The Travel Diaries – 5. One night in Hamburg”
Welcome to Amsterdam! One of the most carefree cities in the world. A city that doesn’t get hung up on the bullshit and one that was basically founded by entrepreneurs and with the motto, let’s make money! From this, it has grown into one of the the primary cities in the global economy. Now tour guides have mentioned this, and I believe it, it seems in this area of Europe, it rains, a lot, like every other day and of course on arrival, it was raining, oh to be wet… Continue reading “The Travel Diaries – 4. The Alpha City of Amsterdam”
After what seemed like a very short foray in Go Battle League with the Great League being opened up first, trainers were now thrust into the second level of competition and what was arguably the most expensive on, the Ultra League! Pokemon up to the 2500 CP mark were allowed to be used which really changed the dynamic of battles. That extra bulk made a huge difference in the way matches play out. For most of us who are used to Great league especially with the Silph Arena, this didmake a nice change. However, the cost of preparing Pokemon for this league was steep… very steep. Continue reading “The Battle Diaries – GBL Ultra League”
After much anticipation, Pokemon Go has finally delivered us with its fully realized version of PvP, the Go Battle League. The League is an online matchmaking system with a fully integrated ranking and elo system. Designed basically the same as most other online competitive gaming systems, the Go Battle League of course has the single goal of trainers competing to be the very best, like no one ever was. Continue reading “The Battle Diaries – Go Battle League”
December paved the way for yet another new take on the Silph Arena themed cups, bringing us another original set of rules and restrictions. The Timeless Cup intended to bring us back to the main series games by choosing your starter Pokemon and building your team around that. In this cup you could only choose pokemon from the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh regions and you had to include one, and only one, starter in your lineup. Also, targeted bans were placed on Fighting-, Normal-, Fairy-, Flying-, Steel- and Psychic-type Pokemon, as well as legandaries, mythicals, Alolan and Galarian forms, Umbreon and Sableye. Again, this was to try and encourage as much variability within teams as possible and not have certain Pokemon dominate the meta. While the idea was right, it kinda failed. Continue reading “The Battle Diaries – Getting it wrong”
Given the interest shown in my other article Fading Frontier: Kukje Electronics Centre, I thought I might as well continue on and re-visit the other final bastion of Retro Video Gaming here in South Korea, the legendary Yongsan Video Game Alley. I would be very interested to know the history of this place and how long it has been around. Suffice to say, its been there a long time and is the best known place in Korea to get your hands on some great retro (and also modern) games and consoles.
Located out the back of Yongsan Ipark Mall in Yongsan Y-Valley and across from the Sunin Plaza Building (your one stop shop for everything PC related, if your looking to get set up, check out the man himself Phil!), Video Game Alley is literally a small little alley at the bottom of an open mall type building that you would easily miss if you didn’t know it was there or where to look for it. Continue reading “Fading Frontier: Yongsan Video Game Alley”
Time for a bit of a life update since it has been awhile and 2017 was a pretty crazy ass year. Managed to accomplish quite a bit during the year, from holding down a residency at one of the hottest clubs in Korea to DJn at Seoul Comic Con, there was some good memories. But now things seem to be winding down a bit for me, might be time to admit that mid life is here and it is time to look ahead and decide just where the fuck I want to be in life. I can’t do this forever and there are various obstacles that have been holding me back here in Korea that I just have no desire to overcome. In saying that, there are other things that I have been contemplating doing and have now decided to look more seriously into pursing those, especially now that I have decided that I have had enough of teaching. Change is needed.
After finishing the Pacific Open Division I managed to join up in time for the AAOL. An amateur Overwatch tournament run in Australia and NZ. Even thou I am over in Korea, being an online tournament with a small time zone difference, I am able to participate without problems. I was wanting to join the KTV league but their game times are on a Friday night and I wouldn’t quite make it back in time from work to play. But since the AAOL is on Saturday, it works out perfectly for me with games being played at 5pm Korean time.
Continue reading “AAOL – Australian Amateur Overwatch League Season 3”
Well, it is over, done and dusted. Our first venture into the competitive arena of video games. We had some ups and downs but hopefully throughout it all, the team learned something along the way. And that is what this was all about, learning something new. Learning more about the game and how it is played on a more cohesive and professional level. To see just how much time and effort teams and players put in to the game and seeing first hand how much of a difference it makes. To learn just how detailed the game can be and how intricate the strategies are which make the game that much more impressive and also shows just where the differences lie between regular and pro players.
akadjblaze 