Happy 15 Years TNA, er I mean Global Force Wrestling

When TNA (Total Non-stop Action, so don't go there) debuted on the wrestling scene, it was a weekly PPV show. Back in 2002, I didn't watch WWE PPVs. Paying to see the equivalent of weekly wrestling product was a non-starter. I became more interested in TNA around 2004-2005 as my interest in the independents grew but particularly because of its connection to the NWA. So I read up on the flagship of the NWA. They did put on series of PPVs, which were PPVs but I didn't see them until they were on DVD. Considerably after. So once NWA-TNA's Impact show was available on the 'Net and then TV, I made sure to watch.


The NWA connection didn't last long. I continued watching though. Total Non-stop Action wasn't just a fancy name. While the selling and story-telling could have used improvement, the action was top-notch. For a television show, Impact put on matches of a caliber that WWE reserves for PPV. I bought a bunch of DVDs. Some I still haven't watched.


Anyways, the company went through several phases but drifted away from the fast action pace into WWE lite. I'd like to say I stopped watching because of that. Really, it was for the same reason as WWE. Unlike WWE, TNA was, and far as I know currently is, a difficult product to follow. WWE has its network and Hulu streams some of WWE's shows. TNA has had... difficulties. Aces & Eights was the primary storyline when I last watched the promotion.


During the years since, TNA has had problem after problem. Occasionally, I would see a snippet on Social Media on go Hmmm. Jeff Jarret formed a new promotion called Global Force Wrestling (GFW). Both promotions would have cross-overs?


In any case, TNA was hyping up toward its big PPV of the year, what they call their anniversary PPV Slammiversary. As I still had yet to get back fully into wrestling, you could guess I wasn't planning on ordering it. You'd be correct. Still it was nice to see the underdog promotion was still ticking.


Then I discovered today, TNA was no more. Instead, it is becoming Global Force Wrestling. Turns out all troubles led to a new owner and that new owner liked how Jeff Jarret thinks. They also didn't want folks minds going into the gutter every time 'TNA' popped up. Ergo both of Jarret's promotions are merged into one, ala GFW. There's talks about expanded markets and entering the world of streaming television. The latter being a good thing as it would be nice to actually, you know, watch a full program of Global Force Wrestling.


So in two days time, at Slammiversary, TNA will officially become Global Force Wrestling. As an old fan, I wish it the best. Happy 15 years GFW.


Next Time.

First Impressions on Sega Frontier ala Phantasy Star II

The 8-bit and 16-bit video game consoles where a huge part of my childhood and adolescence. While I played quite a bit of NES and SNES, it was the Sega Genesis that I could play on a regular basis. I have many fond memories of playing Sonic the Hedgehog along with JRPGs such as the Shining Force and Phantasy Star series. While I do have a retro Genesis player, I don't use it as often as I would like; and I don't have immediate access to the aforementioned JRPGs. The urge to play them has become strong with this one.


Needless to say, Sega unveiling its Sega Frontier has me quite excited!


A quick primer is Sega will be releasing its library of games as apps for both iOS and Android under the umbrella of Sega Frontier over, hopefully, the next couple years. They are free although I guess they're will be in-game app purchases and one can pay in order to due a local save instead of saving via the cloud. More on that in a bit.


Remember how I stated the Phantasy Star series I had hankering to play? Well, Phantasy Star II was among the initial releases. To cut the suspense, I downloaded the game, like, yesterday.


Without further ado, here are my first impressions:


While I played Phantasy Stars 3, 4, and 1, I never really played 2. So there's that. I can now cross Phantasy Star 2 off my to-play list. There is/was a bit of a learning/remembering curve as I try remember some elements of the series as well become familiar with an older set up. Haven't gotten to far into the game, although I did add the third member to my party. But I suppose that's a subject for a later blog post.


Anyway, the console emulator is adequate enough. I can play the game just fine on my smartphone. More than occasionally I will accidentally press a button on my phone, which causes the screen to minimize and the game pauses. Probably because my hands are too big for the console emulator on my smartphone. A tablet may have sufficient size that such errors don't occur. One day I may investigate the possibility of a Bluetooth controller further down the road as pressing buttons does get distracting and the "control pad" isn't quite a precise. Yes, it works enough for PS2. However, controlling the characters is jerky enough that one can trigger more fight encounters than otherwise. Granted, that could just be me.


Phantasy Star 2 is also the first game I've played on my smartphone so it requires some getting used to. I find I don't have a desire to play for long periods of time. That can make grinding (ie seeking random combats for more xp and currency) difficult. Fortunately, Sega Forever allows Cloud Saves that unlike the original game can occur at any time.


The catch with the cloud saves is that one needs to watch ads and there's a bit of lag. So you're going to want to a good Wi-Fi connection. As I wasn't using data, I have no idea how data saving on the cloud consumes.


Overall, as a nostalgic gamer who isn't going to game for hours at a time, my first impressions on playing Phantasy Star II via Sega Frontier app umbrella on my phone has been quite positive. There's quite a bit of Phantasy Star II in my future; and I look forward to future Sega Frontier releases.


Happy Gaming!

Hmm, Guess Watching Wrestling is More of a Habit...

Once upon a time, I was an avid watcher of pro-wrestling.


Okay, sports entertainment. Happy WWE?


I would watch Monday Night Raw, Smackdown, TNA Impact, and ECW/NXT/Tough Enough and would record shows to ensure I wouldn't miss an episode. In retrospect, I watched a lot of wrestling. A lot. Needless to say that took quite a bit of time...


Well, then I went from being able to watch all that wrestling programming to just one show a week, WWE's Main Event. The advent of WWE Network meant no Main Event for me.


So for years, I wasn't watching any regular wrestling shows. Otherwise, there'd be much more wrestling coverage on this blog. Much more.  Cause there's more to gripe about...


Then I regained the ability to watch regular wrestling programming (to be covered in a future post). A week's worth of WWE programming.


Loved the focus on the IC belt on RAW. Cause Brock Lesnar works as often as a politician...


WWE NXT reminded of wrestling shows of old; and I liked the focus on new talent. Meanwhile, 205 Live was the cruiserweight show, which cruiserweights long needed. Greatly liked the toast Austin Aries received. Main Event isn't quite as good if you've seen Raw. Really didn't need to see Samoa Joe beat up on Seth Rollins after winning the match due to an exposed turnbuckle again.


Never thought Jinder Mahal would become #1 contender...


What? All that is month's old stuff, you say? Well, yeah, those events occurred on WWE shows that aired the week of May 8th 2017. Procrastinated about blogging my thoughts on those shows and since it is almost July it feels pointless now what with WWE's weekly new content. Maybe if I took notes about more memorable day stuff for an On this Day feel...


I also haven't watched any wrestling since then. Not because I didn't enjoy those programs. It's been so long a one star match would be at least two or three star match in my eyes. Which is kind of why I procrastinated blogging my thoughts for so long...


Upon reflection, my avid, weekly wrestling habit was broken. I didn't feel an overriding need to watch 5 hours of wrestling. Oops sports entertainment. I watched other things instead. Plus it doesn't help that for every 5 hours of WWE programming, there's really only one or two hours that are truly must see. So the lack of 5 hours, more like 6 or 7, that are must see really isn't conducive to habitual watching. Kind of like comic book reading and collecting. Sure, you may read an issue or two here and buy four issues there but then go months without reading and/or collecting. Feeling that with pro wrestling. It was because I would avidly watch pro wrestling week to week that I avidly watched sports entertainment week to week.


So yeah, I finally understand first-hand why other lapsed hardcore pro wrestling fans have a hard time being hardcore sports entertainment fans they once were.


Not saying I am gonna watch some good ole wrasslin' avidly again but it's probably going take time. Then expect more male soap opera stuff on this blog.


Next time.

Forgot about Darths & Droids!

First of June so figured it was high time to blog once more. Hadn't blogged more during May simply because I couldn't pick subject matter to focus on first! Good thing I don't write or blog for a living hehe


Must admit it would be June (insert date); and I would still be deciding which idea I've been procrastinating over to blog about. Decided what the heck I'll scroll through the blog as if I am visitor. Don't really do that all that much anymore when I glanced at the left hand header Webcomics and saw the Webcomic Darths &Droids.


'Ah, Darths & Droids, that is a webcomic I have not read in very, very long time.' Pardon the Obi-Wan reference pun.


Okay, to be fair, I had been thinking about Darths and Droids since I learned via social media that they completed the story from Episode I to Episode VI! Yeah, I know and they know Disney has released a couple more but back when the strip debuted back in the 2000s we were led to believe the prequels were the last of the Star Wars movies.


What is Darths and Droids you ask?


Darths and Droids is a webcomic inspired by the webcomic DM of the Rings, which uses photo scans from the movies to create a comic page. The story told with each comic page captures what would have happened during each scene if it was the result of a role-playing game. Both the in-character and out-of-character chatter is included. As any gamer would tell you the dialogue would be very different...


I stopped reading Darths and Droids simply because it fell out of habit. In fact, regular webcomic reading dropped to non-existence. Didn't help that I began collecting significantly more comics and my gaming became non-existent. Last time I followed the strip they were still on the Phantom Menace. Yep, that long.


So if you want to mix role-playing games, comics, and the Star Wars movies, there's Darths and Droids. Speaking of which, I should probably catch up!


Happy Reading!