So I ended up attending one of the Gamestop Pokemon tournaments on Saturday. When I told Kara that I wanted to go she told me it would just be a bunch of little kids. I explained to her that Pokemon was no longer just a kids game. That a large number of men my age played Pokemon now. I told her I'd probably be surrounded by guys my age who took it way more seriously than I did. I'm really glad she decided not to go with me. As it turns out I was the oldest person in the tournament by roughly twenty years and the only one not wearing a shirt with Pikachu on it.

I showed up at the Alderwood mall Gamestop and entered my name. As the little kids poured in I became less and less convinced I should participate. The little boys with their Pokemon backpacks and the girls with tiny Pokeballs in their hair seemed to assume I was just someones Dad rather than their competition.  It was actually really cool to see how much these kids love Pokemon. I've been so into it recently that I think I'd forgotten I should be having fun. With my pages of hand written math and charts of carefully plotted out EV training regiments I actually felt sort of dirty. These little kids were showing me teams comprised not of statistically optimal Pokemon but of their favorites. A little girl talked to me for five minutes about why she loved Kyogre so much. When she asked why I used Rotom I couldn't bring myself to tell her that his ghost/electric type meant he had a lot of immunities while giving him some surprising moves that should allow me to cripple sweepers with status effects but still fight off any Dark types I encounter. "I think he's cute." I explained. She smiled and nodded as though this was the reason she had expected to hear.

I noticed one of the kids there was actually quite a bit older than the rest of the group. Still probably half my age, but he towered over his opponents. I watched as he struck up conversations with the other children, inspecting their Pokemon and always finding them lacking. "I've EV trained my entire party." he said to a few of the kids who obviously had no idea what that meant. He showed of his multiple "shinies" to a couple of very impressed young men before explaining that he wasn't going to use them in the tournament because it just wouldn't be fair to everyone else. No, he would dominate them with a mixed bag of EV trained legendaries and obscure all stars culled from every single incarnation of the series. He was essentially being a little Douche.

I had just decided to pull myself out of the tournament in order to let the kids have their fun when Cory, who was running the show told me he'd matched me up against the little loudmouth in the first round. I figured I might have a chance to take him out and then none of the other kids would have to face him. So I stayed in and when it came time to play I synced up my DS and loaded my fairly mundane crew. It worked out that we were standing on the wrong sides of the television so his team showed up on my side and mine on his. The crowd of kids around me cheered and congratulated me on such an impressive roster. I explained that those were his and that mine were on the other side. "You really need to play more." one of the younger boys instructed. I agreed and selected my three Pokemon to take into battle. A few of the kids behind me would shake their heads in disgust as my finger hovered over each possible selection. My opponent, in what I can only assume was an attempt to show off grossly underestimated this old man's skillz. He tried to pull off an extremely risky strategy involving the near sacrifice of his first Pokemon for a "baton pass" maneuver and a quick stat boost to his second in line. This failed miserably as the aforementioned Rotom I pulled in did not give two shits about anything he hit me with. Once I'd taken him out I moved to the next round but really had no desire to continue. I played my opponent but then bowed out and gave him a free pass onto the next round. The young man I played earlier kept approaching me and telling me he could have beat me easy, he just used the wrong Pokemon. I nodded, yes well that's sort of the whole game.

I watched a bit more of the tournament and I was really impressed with the sportsmanship of the kids. I've been watching the cartoon with Gabe and it really stresses the importance of winning and losing graciously. Each of these kids when they lost shook the others hand and thanked them for the match. The winners complimented the losers Pokemon and strategies while impressing on them that it really was a very close game. I know they weren't my kids but as a thirty year old gamer with a kid of my own I could not help but be extremely proud of all of them. Their passion for the game was totally infectious and I've decided to throw away my spreadsheets. I'm no longer hatching five eggs at a time in order to find babies with the optimal natures and stats. I've also brought  Beautifly back into my team. She's not very tough, but I like her, she's pretty.

-Gabe out

Gabriel actually attended a Pokemon tournament for reals, the one you have heard described recently.

I thought it might be good to have our San Diego Comic Con info up over the weekend. Here is the rundown from my previous post:

PS3 Fanboy just did an interview with Jim Zubkavich about the new version of the game Capcom is kicking out, the one that has all new high-res art from Udon.  We've seen a few of the Udon guys multiple years running now at San Diego, Jim in particular, who always buries us in fresh merchandise - so fresh that it may in fact be dope.  Khoo in particular has a soft spot for the franchise, and he loves their work. 

Jim is also a webcartoonist of some renown, having been the creator of The Makeshift Miracle in the infancy of the medium.  It's available online, but there's a remastered version available now in book form. 

(CW)TB
 

After seeing Chore Wars mentioned yesterday, the opportunities for manipulating people seemed... rich. The possibilities for mashups based on this data are also rich - I wonder if it could be exposed, somehow. When my charge is old enough to manipulate in this way, my crib is going to fucking sparkle.

This is a heads up for all our Omeganauts. I had originally told you all that the first round of the Omegathon would be Pac-Man. That game has actually been replaced with Jenga. Not the new Wii version of Jenga but actual wood blocks on a table Jenga. Sorry for the mix up.

-Gabe out

It took three separate discs and two consoles to finally work out the Goddamn kinks, but we were able to play almost the entire Eternal Sonata demo. Almost! I wasn't aware people were still boiling discs, presumably in black iron cauldrons where carrots bob, but I don't want to live a life where boiling discs is normal.

"Live Free Or Die Hard" is a movie where a man drives a car into a helicopter, and that may be all one needs to know about it. For some reason, regardless of what is present in the strip, I found myself quite able to place my brain in neutral and roll down the film's gentle, sloping grade. I thought that Gabriel would be proud that I had done so, but he was not. He held the film to some higher standard, and on a very specific topic - its presentation of technology and technology culture. I know, right?  Look out your window; there's probably frogs and blood and shit.  

Poring over Reggie's announcement on Super Mario Galaxies, one of the words he used stuck out. I suppose he couldn't list off every country on the landmass, but any classification so wide that it could usefully describe both Nova Scotia and Chile seems problematic.

Porkfry is coming over to my house tonight to give me the Pokerus Virus.

-Gabe out

Thanks to everyone who mailed me their Pokemon tips. Every single person who mailed me stressed the importance of EV's and proper EV training over just about everything else. I was given some great links and spent a good chuck of the day yesterday reading everything I could about them.

Did I not tell you? Did I not suggest that when natural justice fails, another burning energy may deliver that result which is good and proper? Despair, mine enemies! Unless you like swamps, in which case you might find my wrath pleasant.

I just discovered this site today and I had to do a couple.

I am proud to introduce you all to your PAX 2007 Omeganauts! Please use whatever digital music service you subscribe to and pull up You're The Best from the Karate Kid soundtrack before reading the following. Trust me it's worth it.

Sorry for the late comic strip. I just got back from my annual vacation to the Oregon coast.  I spent last week in Lincoln City with my family reading and playing Pokemon. On the book side I got through two really good ones. First I finished up Sacrifice, the fifth book in the new Legacy of the Force series. All the books in this series have been great but no one writes Jacen as well as Karen. <Spoiler>. Somehow she's able to make falling to the Dark Side seem like the right thing to do. Every step he takes seems so logical. I know what he's doing is horrible but I can't help but sympathize with him. I never liked the way Anakin's fall was handled in the prequels. He was a was an annoying prick and I never bought his motivations for falling. The way Karen has handled Jacen I can't help but think I'd have made some of the same choices. As I read his thought process I can't help but feel like maybe he's got the right idea. Maybe this whole Dark side thing just got a bad wrap. And that's how it should be! The Dark Side is supposed to be seductive and I don't think anyone has ever captured that as well as Karen has. </spoler>

The second book I read was Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. take a look at the cover and tell me if that does not fit perfectly with my book buying rules:

The book must have a picture of an alien planet, a space station or a space ship on the cover.

It's a collection of short stories all set in his Revelation Space universe. As universes go it's a pretty good one and the stories are pure Sci-Fi fun.

On the Pokemon front I've just about got Diamond wrapped up now. I've got sixty hours logged on it which is more than I've put into any other game with the exception of a couple Square titles. I captured my Dialga which was a really nice feeling of accomplishment. I decided to try taking my new an improved crew online via Battle Revolution to see if the addition of an ancient dragon with the power to warp space and time would give me the edge I needed to win. Turns out no. I still got completely hosed all night. I love the game but when I drop into a game and the other guy is fielding nothing but giant robot dragons and massive cats that one shot everything I throw out I get a little discouraged. Am I just coming in to late in the game to be competitive or is there something I'm missing?

Anyway the vacation was nice but it's good to be home. I'm currently working on our Assassins Creed comic book for Ubisoft and even though I was having a great time in Oregon I was really excited to get back and keep plugging away on this project. I'm just having a blast drawing Altair. I'll try and post some stuff from the comic soon if I can. Otherwise you should see it in the collectors edition of the game.

-Gabe out

Two fabulous new picture packs have recently been unearthed!  Behold the riches of our latest expedition: