The End Of The Iceman

Looks like things could be up for Chuck Liddell. After losing his latest bout, again by TKO, the once unbeatable light heavyweight looks to be leaning towards retirement. Dana White is really pushing hard for him to hang up the gloves, citing concerns for Liddell’s health, and though there are times when illogical doesn’t even begin to describe the stuff that comes out of White’s mouth, it’s tough to argue with his reasoning this time around. I really don’t think its so much that Liddell’s ability has deteriorated, as much as it is that people have simply stopped fearing him. Everyone was scared of Mirko Cro Cop for the longest time until Gonzaga kicked his head off, and Mirko’s career has yet to really recover from that fight. Same thing with Liddell. Chuck maintained an aura of invincibility for a good couple of years until Rampage came along and put his lights out. Since then, it seems like Chuck has been getting laid out in every fight that he’s been in; Jardine, Evans, Rua...it hasn't been pretty. Liddell’s last win came over Wanderlei Silva, and in hindsight, that would have been the ideal fight to close his career with.



I’ve never really been a big fan of Chuck, but it’s tough to dispute his status as one of the greatest light heavyweights that the sport has ever seen. The final chapter of his career may have been a forgettable one, but at least he’ll always have those two wins over Randy Couture. Dana apparently wants to give Liddell a job as a spokesman for the UFC, but somehow I don’t think Chuck is the guy that you want in a suit representing your company at board meetings. Just saying.

Final Fantasy XIII Demo Impressions

The cut scenes are absolutely breathtaking, but the in-game visuals aren’t quite as mind-blowing as you might be inclined to expect from the FF series’ first installment on the Playstation 3. I wasn’t floored like I was when I first played FFVII on the original PS or FFX on the PS2...which isn't to say that Final Fantasy XIII isn't one of the best looking games that I've ever seen. I guess that I was just expecting something revolutionary when I should have been content with excellence.



I hated the whole “command stacking” system for the first 5 minutes, then got used to it, then started to love it, then got lukewarm on it again, and now I’m really not so sure what to think. The idea was apparently to create battles reminiscent to the gravity defying exchanges seen in Advent Children, and while the launch command and air combos do somewhat succeed in replicating the aforementioned melees, it’s somewhat difficult to imagine the game’s battles not getting a little repetitive under the system. To be fair, my skepticism is probably directly linked to the fact that I was playing a demo, as there were obviously only so many different combinations of “attack,” “launch,” and “ice” that you could throw at your opponent. As the game goes on and your characters begin to add to their arsenal of commands, I imagine that the stacking system could potentially get really deep. For what it’s worth, the game does feel very fast-paced, and you really don’t feel like your character is simply waiting around for the ATB bar to fill up (even though he/she technically is).



Lightning doesn’t quite come off as a “female version of Cloud,” which was what Nomura was apparently shooting for, but her gritty, bounty hunter-like appearance is sure to be well received by fans. She’s accompanied by a twin pistol-wielding black dude who appeared to have a baby chocobo living in his afro…and I'm not even sure how I should react to that.



Snow, the other playable character in the demo, is big, wears a bandanna, and (barring false reports) apparently rides Shiva around in the form of a motorcycle at some point in the game. That sounds kind of silly, but I’ll hold judgment until I actually see it myself. Considering that a lot of the monsters in the game seem to be machine-based, I wouldn’t be surprised if the summon creatures in this installment are all Transformers-esque shapeshifters.

There are definitely a few weird details here and there, but things look to be shaping up pretty nicely overall. I could do without the heroine's American Gladiators name, but other than that, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the finished product this winter.

"What Have We Always Said Is The Most Important Thing?"

Sooooo stoked right now. My immediate family sent me a big box of nothing for my birthday, but my Aunty always comes through with the good stuff.



I got my 1/2 Cents and my Eggplant Foams in the mail earlier this month, but I honestly got more excited over this because I wasn't expecting it. Never underestimate the importance of breakfast. Or family.

Where Will Amazing Happen This Year? (Hint: Not Phoenix)

Which isn't to say that I'm not interested. I'll be rooting for Sheed and Dice over in Detroit, but it's kind of tough to give them much of a chance with LeBron pretty much destroying everything in his path. It was actually pretty funny when Kevin Harlan proclaimed that Bron had "NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE!" the other year, but that statement is becoming more and more appropriate as the games go by. By the way, that particular call by Kevin Harlan is probably #2 all time in Harlan lore, second only to:



"OH, HE JUST SUCKED THE GRAVITY RIGHT OUT OF THE BUILDING!" Harlan is seriously the man. Yeah, yeah, he reuses lines from time to time, but what play-by-play guy doesn't? Nobody can effectively cap a moment quite like him these days.

The team that I'm really pulling for is the Hawks, if only because of Joe Johnson. Unfortunately for Atlanta, there are probably four individual players in the league that you almost have to fear, and Miami's D-Wade is one of the them (the other 3 being Kobe, LeBron, CP3). I can't see Wade singlehandedly taking four games from this Atlanta squad, but it should be a fun series.



Check the pair of Old Love XX3s on JJ's feet. Maybe that ATL/Boston series is why I love those particular shoes so much.

Advent Afterthought

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete. Not quite the high point of my week, but it's close.



Of course, this is really what it's all about:

WWE Draft In Review

Raw: Oh boy. HHH, Cena, Orton, Batista, Big Show, Michaels…guys like Matt Hardy and MVP aren't even going to sniff a world title shot with that mess clogging up the main event scene. I'll be perfectly honest, all this WWE draft talk is just an excuse for me to post this picture of Cena wearing the Jordan 2K9.



I like that the Tag Team titles are unified and on Raw, but hopefully Carlito and Primo won’t immediately be jobbed out to DiBiase and Rhodes. It’s pretty clear that Legacy will have those belts eventually, but a proper feud with the Colons over the titles would be nice. Sucks that THE Brian Kendrick will likely be reduced to getting squashed by Batista on a weekly basis, but I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes.

ECW: Not sure why Christian is still stuck on this show. He’s in his prime and seems to be getting big reactions, but I guess that management doesn’t want to really push a guy who still has that TNA vibe.



They probably need a vet who knows how to work the ring and bring along the younger talent, but isn’t that what Finlay and Dreamer are around for? Speaking of Finlay, the fact that they separated him from Hornswoggle is likely a sign that they plan to turn him heel soon. I like the addition of Hurricane Helms to the roster, and would love to see a series Bourne/Helms matches. It’s funny, when Sugar Shane Helms first broke in during the later WCW days, he was pretty much the equivalent of Bourne today; young, talented, fast, and with a killer finish (the Vertebreaker) to boot. I actually like the idea of the ECW brand being a developmental area of sorts, where the younger talent can hone their skills until they “graduate” to one of the main shows, ala Miz and Morrison.

Smackdown: SD looks like it could be a real good show. Jericho is so damn good on the microphone right now that I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take Edge’s spot as the show’s top heel. When Jericho was feuding with HBK, I would actually track down clips of Raw just to watch him cut promos. No disrespect, but I’ve never thought to myself, “Hmm, I wonder what HHH said last night?” I just haven’t.



While the midcarders on Raw have virtually no chance of breaking through that bulletproof glass ceiling, the guys on SD have a legitimate chance to make a splash. Aside from maybe Taker, the main eventers don’t seem to have problems putting people over. Here’s to hoping that they pull the trigger on John Morrison or Shelton Benjamin, preferably both. Raw wins in terms of star power, but purely from a wrestling perspective, SD could potentially rock.

Hare Jordan I

I like them. Simple & clean, just like Hikki. Call me crazy, but I’d actually rather have a pair of the Lola version. Too bad it looks like they only come in kids/women sizes. In reality, I wear less than 50% of my shoes anyway, so maybe it wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable to buy a pair just to have them. Crazy talk, I know.