Hawkius Maximus

Reading the awards, I found it highly silly that Meltzer buried some of the choices the voters made. Seemed counter productive. If you don't want certain people winning certain awards or coming close (I think it was Santino getting #2 in most charisma that got him the most) to the point where you just bury it...then why not just have a ballot with names? Venkman explained the Elite XC/TNA thing well...The reason the Khali Kiss Cam was voted in, is because it would eat up six or so minutes per show with the same routine for week after week. And it didn't accomplish anything. Khali's not even on Smackdown much anymore, is he?

There's a pretty big difference. It wasn't the speed that beat Sylvia. It was Sylvia's own shittiness. Sylvia always throws that jab. Everytime. In every fight. Couture knew this, and came in right over the top. Fedor also knew this, but he had more speed and power then Couture and finished Sylvia. No matter what happened in that fight, even if you took away Fedor's "explosiveness", Sylvia was going to be finished. Because the man never *LEARNS* and uses the same goddamn tactic in every fight he has. Eventually Sylvia would have thrown the jab again, Fedor comes over the top, and you have a replay. Arlovski, even as bad as was (and could very well be against Fedor) has never had such an obvious tactic. Simply put, he's a better fighter then Sylvia overall. There's more to striking then stunning a guy and then throwing an assload of punches. Arlovski works angles, speed, and footwork. Fedor is like a more talented Henderson. He has mix it up with good speed and technique, but he's more interested in landing power shots to weaken you. There's a pretty big difference in how they tackle striking. Arlovski also throws kicks and knees. Fedor really doesn't, although he can. He's much more content to just punch you until you fall. Arlovski is just as capable of throwing a sudden flying knee in a flurry as he is a punch. There's also just the fact that simply moving around Arlovski's quicker. Fedor comes right at you. Arlovski probably won't until you are stunned. This is ALL based on "which" Arlovski shows up. If he's at his UFC glory days and at the level of Rothwell's fight in terms of speed, combination, and ferocity. If he comes in like he did after the fluke KO loss to Sylvia, then he's utterly utterly fucked.

The more I've thought about it, the more I like Arlovski's chances. I don't think I'd go as far as to say he has an even shot at winning, but I really think he could be the one that finally does it. Arlovski has a sizable speed advantage over Fedor. Fedor beats him in power. In standing striking, Arlovski's ahead of Fedor in terms of technique. Grappling's hard to say, but Fedor's probably ahead. Neither man has really had a problem with cardio. The biggest issue for Arlovski is his chin. All of his losses come from TKO/KO aside from the decision with Sylvia. You can't train yourself to have a good chin. Fedor has shown himself to be able to take shots and not go down. Fedor also has the advantage that most PRIDE guys haven't had, in that he doesn't show any signs of the "PRIDE weardown" issue like Nog and Silva. The reason, is while Fedor's fought a lot, he really hasn't overall fought that much even compared to UFC fighters. You divide the number of fights by the years he's been active, and it only comes out to about 3.75 per year. That's below some UFC fighters. And he hasn't exactly been in many "wars" where he took a beating. More or less, it was always him giving out the trashings. I still think Fedor will win, but I would not be surprised at all if Arlovski's able to get the victory over Fedor. Arlovski's strengths are similiar to Fedor's, and he presents a challenge for Fedor that Fedor's never dealt with before. If only Affliction wasn't going to die.

See, it's odd. Heading into Fedor/Sylvia I knew that Fedor would crush Sylvia. If anything I was too generous saying Sylvia would make it a minute or so. But with Arlovski, I'm not so sure. I can't really think of anyone Fedor's faced with Arlovski's style of attack. Arlovski is balls out. He doesn't have the greatest chin but he makes up for it in speed and technique. Outside of Mirko, I can't really think of anyone that Fedor's fought with Arlovski's style. And even then, Mirko was more powerful then Arlovski is and not as quick. This is of course if Arlovski comes out with the Rothwell style. If he's anything less then that, he's toast. I think I'll still stick with Fedor, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it go to a decision.

The only thing you can say about Shogun/Coleman is perhaps this was a Mir type situation for Shogun. He was coming off a long lay off, two major knee surgeries, and maybe this fight was just him readjusting after so much. He didn't look good at all, but he looked even worse then he did against Forrest, so I'm mildly willing to have benefit of the doubt with him.

Now that I remember that there's an Affliction card coming up, I'm kinda looking forward to it. I know from the Observer that Arlovski brought in Freddie Roach to hone his boxing skills and find a weakness in Fedor standing. So that has me intrigued. Roach compared Fedor to Tyson, saying that they'd use speed and precision to beat him standing. ...I honestly don't fucking know anything else on this card though.

There wasn't enough people to keep an overseas folder going. Most of the time when I'd post in a Puroresu thread there, I'd be talking to myself. Or getting into an argument with someone who doesn't like Hiroshi Tanahashi. The goddamn heathen.

Because it costs ALOOOOT of money to localize a game that big to another language. Add in the fact that they also have to pay for voice acting, scores, etc, etc, and the costs of the normal game itself are staggering. And judging from what I played of 12, Square's one of the few companies that gets quality for their releases with English dubbing. So that probably increases the cost several fold. Plus, delaying it only makes people want it more. I think Square figured that out quite awhile ago. And notice with that site you linked, both releases will fall in a separate profit year. Smart move.

[devil's advocate] don't forget Cote [/devil's advocate] In what parallel universe did this happen in?

One thing I really don't like, is the TUF aspect to this fight. Rich Franklin does *not* want to coach TUF. He does *not* want to go back to 185. Yet he's virtually being forced into both. Henderson, on the other hand, wants to do both. He even likes the "Team UK vs. Team USA" concept. A part of me thinks Franklin might lose, but not so much throw the fight, but more as...being infected with "dontgiveshit-itis". This fight does nothing for him. The plan may be to have the winner of Bisping vs. Franklin/Henderson fight Silva. And if you're Franklin, if that's the case...Maybe you don't want to win this fight.

If you nuke Megaton, you're not really missing much besides a convient base of operations. Go back to Megaton's ruins, and Moira will be there. She'll run off to Underworld. You can continue all the Survival Guide missions there. Course, you have to GET to Underworld first to do them. Tenpenny Tower is a fiiine place to shop if Megaton's gone. Great weapon merchant, items up the yang, stimpacks everywhere, always lots of money to barter with. That was my one-stop place for my evil character.

The movie made you hate the characters on purpose. Anno got tired of people bitching that Evangelion needed a real ending, so he made a movie that made you really depressed, or hate everyone. Also: "The only part I liked was I believe in Episode 26 where they flashed to the "alternate possibility", in which every character is just someone Shinji knows. I would have really liked to see this further developed." This has been done, read the manga Angelic Days. That only makes me hate the show even more. Honestly, why is it SUCH A PROBLEM with anime to demand that an anime series ends on a good note? I can probably count on my hand how many series I've seen that ended on a truly good note, or didn't have a better ending later in the manga. It seems like there's almost an aversion in Anime to giving people good endings, instead of half hearted cop out bullshit.

The problem with Shogun, will be his style. I don't know if he'll be able to do that with a bum knee. He was all about speed and ferocity. It's hard to do both when your knee is going to re-break at any moment. It's gonna be interesting to see, regardless of what happens.

I think it's a little unfair to say if Franklin is HOF or not just yet. It's theoretically possible he could make a play for the 205 title. He'll never win the MW title as long as Silva's around, but LHW? Possible. If I had to say right now, I'd say Franklin is bottom tier HOF. I think he'll get into UFC's easy, but an overall HOF I think he'd barely make the grade. Franklin's accomplishments can be questioned, but there's one thing that cannot be. He was pivotal in the beginning of this boom. He had charisma, which Couture and Liddell do not. And he never came off as a douche like Hughes does. Franklin was the basis for a pretty major ad campaign years ago, that helped establish MMA as something other then a brutal sport to many Americans. He's been a fantastic "ambassador" for the sport, due to his story, and how well spoken he is. MMA needed a top line guy to do that role, and Franklin was and in many ways is still one of the best in the sport at it. Franklin doesn't stand out in any one category, but he's one of those fighters that are overall good, and very intelligent. It never helped him with Silva (Probably due to the vast difference in their skill sets), but it's helped him throughout his career. He's a guy that's gotten where he is based upon hard work and not being gifted with some godly talent. The sheer fact that he's had to earn everything he's gotten, gives him even more credibility for a HOF. You can make a case that UFC handed him his role, but at the same time, the man has only ever lost three times in his career, and two of them were to Anderson Silva. He's ten and two in UFC. You can't just get that kind of record in UFC unless you're legitimate. Plus. He's HOF worthy if only for his comments on the countdown show. That was some of the best uses of sarcasm and wit ever in the UFC. The most interesting thing about the countdown show, was they made it seem like Shogun/Coleman was as important as the main event. I'm interested in the fight...I really want to see what Shogun is like. Coming back from two major knee injuries is going to be tough, and the layoff of fifteen months won't help any either.

GTA IV - I own GTA IV...I can appreciate what GTA IV is, and still not overly enjoy it. I've never been a GTA fan, but at the same time I enjoy how much you can do, even if I've never gotten far in single player. Online, it can be a blast...but it can also be a nightmare. You spend several minutes setting something up...Like finding a great car to jump with, or a helicopter, and either one of your friends, or douches online will blow you up. I've had this happen many times. I can't really tell you how the single player is; other then I just really didn't enjoy it much. It just comes down to taste. GTA type games aren't my thing. Fable 2 - Don't own, but I have friends who do. They enjoy the game, but the main storyline is said to be very short. They still seem to really like it and just doing random stuff, so maybe it'd be a good pickup. COD 4 & WaW - Owned 4. Sold it off. COD 4 online is ridiculously hard. There's a "level: system" in the game, but all it really means is that when you run into a Level 40 or higher, then they just have even more advantages over you then they would on skill alone. After awhile, it morphed from "fun, but frustrating" to just plain ass aggravating. When it hit that point, I just quit playing it. Getting sniped or blown up two seconds after spawning isn't much fun. GoW 1 & 2 - I just rented 2 actually. I can see why people like it, but I don't really get it. The main storyline is so ridiculously trying to be "MANLY~!" with gruff characters, roids up the ass, and speeches that it almost feels like a parody. The game itself plays well, but it's really nothing special beyond being third person. You can get the same scope from a game like Halo. Albeit you can't curb stomp people in Halo, but that still doesn't make it better. It still boils down to a shooter, and I think there are better tactical shooters on the 360. Perhaps you could view it as a middle ground between "Run and gun" and "Hide for twenty minutes" type gameplay. Oblivion & expansion - If you've already got Fallout 3, then you have the superior Bethesda game. There's nothing that Oblivion does better then Fallout 3, and they used the Oblivion engine as a base for Fallout 3. I enjoyed Oblivion, but it suffered from the same problems the Elder Scrolls games always have had and even took it a bit farther by reducing the abilities to roleplay or build a character, and making it so you could do everything with one single character. So, I'd just stick with Fallout 3. Mass Effect - I absolutely adored Mass Effect. There's some problems with the game (Land Rover, almost entire last mission), but it's still a great game. Good gameplay, good leveling system, good personalities. Just a fun RPG to play. I think I'd recommend it more then any other game on this list. Left 4 Dead - Fun, but ultimately you're going through the same thing time after time. You, and some friends (or AI) tries to escape, get ambushed, try to survive to escape despite the zombies, etc, etc. I never got a chance to try the other mode where other humans play the zombies, so that could be a deal maker. But what I played was fun, but really nothing substantial or deep enough for a sixty dollar investment.

I don't think it's out of the question that Overeem has naturally gotten bigger. At LHW he always looked like a stick figure. However, I don't think there's any question that Overeem's on some heavy gas. There is no way a man with that kind of build should be able to get down to 205 like he was doing. He's fighting at 240 to 250 right now. He'd have to cut thirty five fucking pounds as he is to fight at LHW. It's impossible. However, lets not play "moral demonize" here. Overeem's in an unregulated region, which means he never has to cycle. A large portion of the fighters in MMA use something. Most are just smart enough to cycle off properly. There probably isn't a top level fighter in UFC that isn't doing SOMETHING. It's the name of the game, just like how most professional athletes are doing something. Just because you're smart enough to avoid getting caught, doesn't mean you don't do it. And just because Overeem makes it blatantly obvious he's doing something doesn't make him worse either.

Very good job on the Swagger theme.

Overall, a good show despite having to wait till two fucking AM for the TBS broadcast to begin. Some thoughts below:

...Eh?

I don't get why killing the doctor is bad karma. The guy engineered a species of ant that slaughter an entire colony. And he shows no remorse for it, and won't take in the kid. I've killed him every game I've played. Just out of moral reasons. Bad karma be damned.

I swear to christ, they deserve to be killed if they remake Battle Royale. There's no way you can do that movie as it was in Japan. It's not even a question. A bunch of high schoolers blowing each other away? A high school killer who seems to take joy in it? A girl who fucks her way to what she wants and is a murderous bitch? No fucking way. And if you make them adults, it kills the entire point of the movie.

Max out Repair. As soon as you do that, or get it to a high enough level, you'll never really have to worry about caps again. Every raider, slaver, or whatever you encounter will just feed your stock of traveling fully repaired money lootz. Repair & Lockpicking are about the only two needed skills. Lockpicking will get you into things that you need to get, and let you access areas you wouldn't be able to otherwise. Repair, as stated, helps you make assloads of money but it's also practical. You wouldn't charge a behemoth with a two bar left Sniper, would you? I've maxed out two character, including my evil one I was raving about pages ago. I actually put the game on very hard with that character to get a challenge. Lost most of my companions (RIP Companion army), but nothing really effected me much by the end. By the time you hit probably past 12, the game goes in the opposite direction. 1-7, you're very weak. Game can murder you many times over. 8-12, you are about even with the enemies (unless you jack the difficulty up), 13-17, now you've gotten an advantage. And by the time you hit twenty you are a walking death god upon the field. I started a third character...Haven't gotten too far with him. He'll be a Big Guns, Explosive type. It's been pretty friggin hard so far. I can't come across big guns this early and if I *DO*, I can't use them very much. So I've been relying on mines, explosives, and the such. Worked out okay, just have to use assault rifles and whatnot to back things up. There's nothing like chucking a grenade at someone...but they keep running at you. This results in the grenade hitting them in the face, and then rolling right in front of you with long enough in VATS that you have the time to formulate "OH FUCK" before it detonates. Funniest, and at the same time, most intense thing I've had happen to me.

I've been avoiding this thread, because for the most part it really seems to be the two "camps" here taking potshots at each other. However, BJ Penn winning the WW title and holding both titles is *BAD* for UFC. Doesn't means it's a killer, but it's bad. UFC tries to get a somewhat cycle nature to their titles. BJ Penn will at most time three times in 2009. You are looking at him winning the title. Then, from there you get probably one more title match, MAYBE two depending on his condition. So, which title do you go with? No one else in either division is a strong marketable name really. Do you go with Florian? He's been waiting longer. Or do you go with Alves? He's been on a tear. And from that point, how long does the other guy have to wait? More specifically, how long does UFC have to wait to book a title match in the other division? Will Penn fight three times this year? What if he gets hurt? Where do you go there? Do you interim BOTH titles? More specifically, lets say GSP goes off on a big win streak. In UFC< usually all you need is about two wins to get a title shot. GSP could get that by early next year. UFC sees dollar signs, they make the third fight. And now the guy that didn't get his title shot before, is *REALLY* fucked over, because GSP swoops in with higher priority. It's bad for business to tie up both divisions like that. Thankfully, LW is the weakest marketing power division in UFC, but it's still a bad idea when BJ Penn should have enough drawing power to main event medium level shows by himself.

Quit the flaming. I don't care what happens in other folders, but by god, this is the MMA folder. Not accepted.

UFC and Affliction will never work together. Ever. The *ONLY REASON* Dana wanted to work with PRIDE back in the day, is because PRIDE was the bigger company and in a different region. UFC would only be helping Affliction. Dana White will never do it. Ever. It's literally not even worth discussing.