Kent Ward's Land of Awesome

Completing Myself with Martial Arts

Kent Ward — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:01:29 +0000

When I was a teenager, I started to love martial arts movies from China. Bruce Lee has always been my favorite but I also loved watching movies that would star Jet Li, Jackie Chan, or Donnie Yen. There was a part of me that always wanted to be able to do what they do because it was so damn badass and cool-looking.

I didn’t go for martial arts back then so I settled for their movies and Street Fighter video games to live out my fantasies. Man, I must have seen Enter the Dragon at least 50 times by now.

The desire always remained and late last year a spark ignited within me. At the time I felt like there were some gaps in my life. I needed to move on up in my career(which I have) and I needed to be good at something that mattered and didn’t involve being near a computer. I did some soul searching and came with the conclusion that I needed to do martial arts for real in order to complete myself as a person. It was something I always wanted to do and I knew that it was time to finally give it a shot.

“Part of being a man is to be able to stand up and fight if the need arises” is what I thought.

By then, I’ve done some minor training sessions with my friend Shawn who’s been learning Muay Thai and Judo. I liked practicing both and I wanted to go in that direction. I had considered looking into Praying Mantis and Kung-Fu at the Wah Lum Temple, but I didn’t think that was for me. So I decided to look into schools that taught Muay Thai and Judo that were near me and check them out.

I stumbled upon a place within ten minutes from my home that looked interesting: Naja Muay Thai. The gym not only offers Muay Thai and Judo, but they have instructors who teach submission grappling and Capoeira as well. The gym offers a free week to try out any of the classes and they work on a month to month contract. The latter helps if you are a Full Sail student who’s class schedule changes unfavorably every other month. I choose to just stick with Muay Thai for the time being as I feel it would be the most practical style to use in a real fight.

Muay Thai is a hard stand-up style of martial arts that focuses heavily on kicks, punches, knees, and elbow strikes. For that reason it is referred to as the “Art of Eight Limbs.” Muay Thai also has an aspect of clinching your opponent around the neck so you can strike them with knees and elbows. It’s a pretty fierce style and requires a lot of conditioning.

A lot of you who read this blog will think of Muay Thai because that is the style that Sagat and Joe Higashi use in their respective fighting games. A lot of their normal moves(read: not fireballs or tornadoes coming out of their fists!) are accurate to the style but Tekken’s Bruce Irvin represents true Muay Thai in fighting games much better than those two. Some of these characters tend to be the best fighters to use when playing these games. Sagat is high-tier in Street Fighter IV for a reason. It wasn’t intentional; he is as effective as he is in that game because he just happens to be a master of Muay Thai!

And I’m not gonna lie; when I saw Tony Jaa in Ong Bak, I was like “Oh shit, this Muay Thai is for real!” You could destroy a person with Muay Thai if you were good enough with it.

After doing their Muay Thai classes for the free week, I knew that this had to be something that I must stick to. I’ve learned so much since I have started at Naja. I still have a long way to go and much of my technique needs improvement. It’s been almost three months since I have begun my path as a martial artist and I am glad I did. When I train with the others I never feel more alive and the training has put me in much better shape. I hope to keep getting better at this to the point that it becomes a big part of who I am.

Other than to complete myself as a person, I don’t see any other reason to do this right now. Things may change in the future. If I decide to participate in competitive fights down the road, that’s cool and I will do my best. If I get a new girlfriend that gets kidnapped by some unruly gang, I will get a bro and we will destroy them and any other douchebag that crosses our path. If the apocalypse comes, I will become the savior in a world torn by chaos.

I wrote this to let you all know that Muay Thai has been good for me so far. It’s never too late to get into martial arts. It will make you a better person and get you into shape. It will be more fun than being at some lame gym on a machine that does nothing in comparison to what practicing martial arts will do for you.

Naja Muay Thai is located at 7006 Stapoint Ct. Ste. F in Winter Park, Florida and is down the road from Full Sail University. The free week will let you know if any of their classes are for you. From there, it will be a lot of hard work and patience. It will be worth it. You also get to train with badasses like me.

If you ever wanted to be legendary, then martial arts is the path to travel on.

My KOF XIII wish list

Kent Ward — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:44:06 +0000

This was already assumed but now it’s topical so I will talk about The King of Fighters XIII. SNK has announced that they will have a play test in April in Japan which leads me to believe that it’s been worked on since the last one came out.

I expect that it will be based on the engine already established in KOF XII, which didn’t do to well in terms of commercial and critical success. A lot of KOF fans were pissed and some have even swore that they have given up on the series(a threat that I am sure will be just as empty as those of the Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 boycotts).

The King of Fighters XI was the reason people were excited for XII and the same reason they became disappointed. The King of Fighters 2003, which established a new tag system system for the franchise, but was not that great. But XI polished a lot of those concepts, and brought in save shifts, quick shifts, team leader desperation moves, and dream cancels that made it the most technical entry in the series. It was beautiful.

XII did a lot of new things that weren’t in the KOF series and it was a lot more basic in comparison. However, it also felt like a more balanced experience than before. There are a few gameplay tweeks to make in the engine but I feel that it is a solid start. I expect a similar jump in quality when XIII comes out because that is how it’s always been with the follow-up game.

I am going to make a wish list on the assumption that the game engine, art style, and existing character designs will not change much. I honestly don’t expect them too. I also don’t care how anyone else feels, this wish list is about how *I* feel.

Finish the Tales of Ash arc. We left off with Ash Crimson gaining Iori’s powers and his threats to get Kyo Kusanagi’s next. XI’s endings did good to get a lot of us excited only to be let down when XII didn’t even have a story in single player mode.
Speaking of single player modes, the game needs an end boss! One that is challenging to fight and satisfying to beat! Either this rumored “Dark Ash” or the unrevealed leader of Those from the Past will suit me fine.
More single player options. Time attack and Survival are standards in fighting games. The home version of XI had the challenge mode that could be used for unlocking hidden characters and other content. Something like that would be cool.
Whatever the game mechanics, move sets, and combos may be, have a real training mode that teaches players how to take advantage of these features so they can get into the game quicker and play longer. THIS SHOULD BE IN EVERY FIGHTING GAME DAMMIT!

Some characters need to come back. Whether it was because of their involvement in the game’s story or because they are just awesome I’d like to see the following back: K’, Kula Diamond, Oswald, and Vanessa because they are that awesome. Then Adelheid, Shion, and Chizuru because of their involvement in Tales of Ash.
I don’t care for her but I’d like her fans to shut up this time. Please bring back Mai!
Let’s have some standard teams again! It seems like XII axed a lot of things that made The King of Fighters stand out from other fighting games. Maybe that is why it deadpanned?
If it doesn’t break the game engine and animations, speed up the fighting! I’m used to KOF fighters moving a little faster than they did in XII.
Animation presentation counts. Redo all the knock out animations, finish some of the victory animations, and dammit have special introduction and victory animations for rival characters like the games used to! Also, when Terry Bogard throws his hat in the air, it should land at some point!

When a character gets hit, I want them to look like they really felt it. Games like Art of Fighting, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and Street FIghter III: Third Strike did this very well in their own way. This means that some animations need to be redone but i think it is work it.
Every character needs more moves. Raiden, Duo Lon, and Elizabeth seemed to be lacking more moves than anyone else. Every character should have about 4-5 special moves and 2-3 desperation moves. It will add more variety to the fights and strategy.
Speaking of desperation moves, I want to be able to cancel special moves to do a desperation move when I enter it’s input.
Unlocking characters is annoying in an age where we don’t carry memory cards around and use hard drives instead.
Even after XII’s online is patched, it still had input lag. Please switch to GGPO! It works!

Why do Sousai cancels, which take great skill and timing to accomplish, take away a player’s health while guard attacks, which have are easier to use and have a longer period to counter, do not? Sousai should not have a penalty to the player’s health while guard attacks do. Or at least lessen the time a guard attack can be used to counter a move so it isn’t spammed as often in matches.
Find a new publisher. Ignition bailed out hard when shit hit the fan during the online fiasco. SNK entrusted the next Metal Slug game to be published by Atlus. They know how to sell niche Japanese titles to Americans. I think it would be great if they handled KOF XIII as well.

I don’t think I am being too greedy here. It’s a fairly reasonable list. While I would like some new things in the game, I am currently more concerned with getting old things back that worked before and made the last game feel lacking when they were left out. If new characters and gameplay mechanics are introduced, that’s cool; however, SNK needs to focus on getting some standard aspects of the franchise back in.

Old people are now justified to appear in Fighting Games!

Kent Ward — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:57:44 +0000

Oh man, this awesome on so many levels! Thuggin’ ass punk bitch thinks he can take down an old guy and gets what’s coming to him! So who would win a fight, Epic Beard Man or Segata Sanshiro?

Why pointing your finger is important

Kent Ward — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:30:32 +0000

I have been told in one too many public speaking classes that it is rude to point your finger at someone while talking to them. I disagree. Pointing your finger at someone is an effective technique to gain their attention. Why is that? Because it triggers some level of anxiety. When you point your finger at someone, you are showing a form of aggression. Someone who interprets that as such will begin to feel scared because they know they did something wrong and that someone just found out. And when someone begins to feel fear, they try to become more aware of the source.

When I feel like calling out someone’s bullshit, I will most likely point my finger at them. I see them tense up with shock in their face as they try to blurt out whatever unprepared response they have when they receive their accusation. And because it’s unprepared, they will probably say whatever response comes from their brain first, contradicting themselves with lies or weak excuses that will of course be pointed out by me and my finger. With my finger pointing at them, I pierce into their very soul. This works even better when that person is singled-out in a crowd of people, because then they feel even more anxiety gets generated as they feel the eyes fixed on them.

Pointing your finger at someone while you talk to them shows that you have no fear in confronting them and is guaranteed to generate results in getting someones attention as you break their spirit.

He’s coming to a MegaCon 2010 near you!

Kent Ward — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:56:16 +0000

Attention, fandom! MegaCon is coming up in less than a month from now and will be at the Orange County Convention Center in (hopefully!) beautiful Orlando, Florida! I will be doing events there for what I believe is the fourth year in a row! I am pretty excited about this year; the Propeller Anime Club will be stepping out of the shadows and we will be showing off what we can do!

I will be hosting several panels and events at the convention in the Anime Events Track. It would be in your best interest to attend them if you happen to be going!

Anime is Already Dead?
Friday, March 12th from 2:30pm – 3:30pm in W224B

Anime in America boomed with tremendous popularity in the beginning of the last decade and by now the bubble has burst. What happened and who is to blame? What about anime has changed over the past ten years? Is there hope for the Japanese import? The founder of the Propeller Anime Club provides insight into this matter and how it will affect anime fandom in the future.

The Panel about Everything!
Friday, March 12th from 4:30pm – 6:00pm in W224B

Everything you should hear about convention culture will be discussed! Convention survival, how to talk to girls, the dos and don’ts of anime conventions, and all the dark secrets of the anime community will be covered!

(Note: I am not an expert on how to talk to girls, but my co-panelists are!)

It’s MANIME! The Manly Anime Panel
Saturday, March 13th from 12:30pm – 1:30pm in W224B

Learn what is to be a true man and makes a manly anime! This one is for fans of series like Fist of the North Star, Berserk, and other testosterone-filled classics! Both old and new anime of manly proportions shall be covered and you will even learn the gospel that is the Twelve Laws of True Man!

(Note: If you don’t go to this panel, then you are already dead!)

That is it for my panels! My club will also be running the Ninja Olympics, the Quickdraw! Contest, and Karaoke on Sunday! The anime events schedule looks better than ever this year at MegaCon so definitely check out as much as you can while you enjoy the convention. See you guys in March!

It’s Juza!!

Kent Ward — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:21:24 +0000

New screens of Hokuto Musou(that Dynasty Warriors game about Fist of the North Star) came out and Juza of the Clouds is in it! For those of you who don’t know, Juza is a fucking badass, a pimp, and a troll all at the same time. He was one of the five Nanto Chariot Stars(responsible for protecting the last Nanto general) and hung out in his own palace with naked chicks all day LIKE A BOSS.

Juza of the Cloud is most famous for stealing Raoh’s horse(!) and doing other things to piss him off. For instance, Raoh wanted to know who the last Nanto General was so he struck a pressure point of Juza’s, forcing him to tell the truth. Not being able to lie when asked again, Juza states that “Raoh is a fucking dickhead.” and spits blood in his face(I think it was in that order it happened).

Raoh was not amused and preceded to smash Juza with his fists until Juza eventually died on his feet. What a badass.

More screen shots here!

So what happened last weekend?

Kent Ward — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:39:08 +0000

Last week, I was pretty excited about Global Game Jam. And then I got sick. I decided that since I no longer work in an environment where people are regularly sick and spread disease, that I should stay at home and get some rest. So I dropped out. I was pretty sad but it gave me time to work on Skies of Orlandia, the new live-action convention game that will be at the next Anime Festival Orlando. So technically I did a stay at home game jam. That’s not too bad.

There were also last-minute convention meetings that I attended that were very productive and I actually did get to visit Full Sail University to see the presentations of the Orlando branch games of GGJ. They looked pretty awesome for 48 hours of work and the quality jumped up from last year.

Good job guys!

Check out the Orlando City Wide GGJ here.

I also discovered that an online manga website had all of Violence Hero Riki-Oh translated. That made everything better.

Why I’m more awesome than your boyfriend.

Kent Ward — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:28:34 +0000

You know what? February is a somewhat critical month in American history because we celebrate… my birth. We also celebrate Valentine’s Day. Well. Some of us. Not me. At least not this year. That’s okay though!

Because everything will be alright because I have the burning, romantic spirit of a true man.

In the greatest period of world history, the 1980s, women got kidnapped a lot. Gangs and other shady figures were usually behind these crimes happening; it was usually a good way to get out of going to class. So what did boyfriends do when this shit happened? Call the cops? HA! No dudes. They got their bro – who may have been their actual brother or a ninja and sneakers – and wrecked a whole town full of douchebags until they beat down some evil prick either named Slick, or Willy, or that guy in a wheelchair who wasn’t really crippled. And after that, the two loves were reunited once again.

Now that is true romance.

You know what’s not romantic? Writing a poem. Yeah, like that is fucking going to save your girlfriend when a gang wanting to learn Sousetsuken takes your woman away.

So when February 14th comes ladies, you judge your man by how far he is willing to go to save your life if it was in danger and not the fancy bullshit words he sings or writes. The man who will bleed and fight for you is the man you should be with.

Global Game Jam Cometh!

Kent Ward — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:03:25 +0000

The second annual Global Game Jam begins tomorrow! Once again, I will be participating in the Orlando session. I’m pretty pumped because I’ll get to work with a lot of the Full Sail homies (how come nobody from the other game schools go to this?) and make something awesome! Last year, I got to work on Retro Plague with David Brown and Jay Baird. It was a fun experience and I like how the game turned out in 48 hours. The experience also rekindled a creative fire in my belly that kept going on for most of the year.

I am hoping to get that creative flame burning once again because I could use it right now. I look forward to collaborating with whoever I am teamed with this weekend and making something cool. Next week, I’ll post up whatever game I end up being a part of!

Banzai Pecan voice recording session has begun!

Kent Ward — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:55:03 +0000

Brotha Kyo’s Banzai Pecan finally has a recording session underway! It looks like 3-5 characters in the game shall be recorded today, which is excellent news as it has taken many months for this session to come to fruition. One of my Propeller Anime Club members, Emilio Lopez-Centellas, is handling the session as the audio engineer. Right now, Angela Patane is recording Lemon-Lime. She sounds awesome in there!

I’d say that things are going to end up well for the game! The game engine itself is shaping up very well too! I haven’t seen the build ina while, but the core gameplay looks like it’s nearly complete. I really think the game will be awesome AND will come out this year! Cross your fingers!