Deathmatch is ON!

And the game is on! If you want to watch, its in the Veteran’s Vortex game room for Yahoo Reversi (yes, that’s right, we’re veterans)

If you missed out on any of the coverage thus far:
Announcement
Interview with Vrushali
Interview with Ben

An Interview with the Aged Veteran

Earlier, we featured an interview with Vrushali, the hot-shot contender. Now, the aged veteran has his say about the game:

Interviewer: What do you think of Vrushali?
Ben: As a person? She’s great. As a reversi player? She’s doomed against me.
Interviewer: Oh really, and why’s that?
Ben: Well, I beat her last time, didn’t I?
Interviewer: Good point. On the subject of your last game, Vrushali said that she had you beat for most of the game.
Ben: I wouldn’t say most of the game.
Interviewer: No?
Ben: Nope. I mean look, I’ll admit she had me beat for much of the midgame to the point where I thought all my moves would be just about survival and damage control. But, I think that at the start of the game, I was winning.
Interviewer: So what happened?
Ben: I didn’t see a couple of openings that I had left for her, and she capitalized on them. Again. And again.
Interviewer: So, she was a good opponent?
Ben: Definitely. A big chunk of my fall from the lead in the beginning was due to her being able to find good ways around my traps and to find the weaknesses in my formations. I mean, she was totally merciless in the mid-game. She left me no good place to run, and when I made a mistake, she straight PWNED me every time.
Interviewer: Did you think you were going to lose?
Ben: Oh yeah. While I got to an edge first, it didn’t matter. She positioned her pieces so well that she captured two corners before I even got one. AND SHE JUST DIDN’T MAKE ANY MISTAKES!
Interviewer: When did it turn around then?
Ben: Well, towards the end of the mid-game she started getting sloppy. She made quite a few mistakes and I’ll admit I was so desperate she probably wasn’t quite sure what I was doing.
Interviewer: So you confused her?
Ben: Not on purpose. But, I think her making mistakes was only part of it. The real reason she lost was because the two corners that she had captured were useless to her.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
Ben: Well, in our attempts to fight for the corners, we had made it so that the two corners she captured didn’t amount to much of a bonus for her. We had so many pieces on that side of the map [both of her corners were on the same edge] that she couldn’t do anything with them. But, because I got a corner that was still useful, I was able to quickly turn the score.
Interviewer: I see. So, to wrap this up, what do you think will happen in today’s game?
Ben: Well, more of the same. There was nothing wrong with my strategy in the last game – I just have to make sure I don’t make too many mistakes. But, it will be a good game. Vrushali and I are very evenly-matched.
Interviewer: Well, good luck to you.
Ben: Thank you!

An Interview with the Princess of Playing Reversi

This just in, the Ultimate Deathmatch has been scheduled for 4:30 PST. Stay tuned for complete coverage of this epic event including an interview with the veteran champ himself, a special on Reversi, a play-by-play re-cap of the game itself, and a final interview to conclude the events!

As promised, here is the interview with upstart Vrushali who wishes to challenge Ben’s dominance in the game:

Interviewer: so
Interviewer: so
Interviewer: how long have you known ben tseng?
Vrushali: so.. umm… ive know ben since highschool
Interviewer: were u enemies from the start?
Vrushali: yes… i knew.. this boy was evil!
Interviewer: i see
Vrushali: but i didnt show it
Interviewer: but unbelievably good looking yes?
Interviewer: hey.. this interviewer person is asking biased questions!
Interviewer: i’m just asking basic, unbiased questions
Vrushali: hmm i dunno about that
Interviewer: allright
Interviewer: well
Interviewer: seeing how u won’t speak about ben’s unbelievable attractiveness
Interviewer: lets speak about ur last game
Interviewer: what were ur impressions of the game
Vrushali: umm.. so ben started out too confidently
Vrushali: that smug smile on his face!
Vrushali: oh man.. i knew i was going to get him
Vrushali: and indeed i did
Vrushali: he was in a panick state in the middle
Interviewer: interesting
Interviewer: so
Vrushali: but then i made some fatal errors… and he played a strong finish
Vrushali: it was a good game
Vrushali: well.. i was playing well
Interviewer: what got ben so panicked?
Vrushali: well.. i dont think he expected me to capture the corners so fast
Vrushali: his strategy.. didnt work too well for him
Interviewer: what do you think his strategy was?
Vrushali: well… he put pieces of his on the diagnol on the squares before the corner
Vrushali: this way.. if i tried to get the frontier space.. that piece would turn my color.. and he could get the corner
Vrushali: keep in mind that all the pieces on the diagnols were his
Vrushali: so the strategy was not bad
Vrushali: ive seen it done before.. but you have to be more careful when you do that
Interviewer: you seem to have a good understanding of ben’s strategy
Interviewer: so
Interviewer:: how did it all fall apart at the end?
Vrushali: hmm.. i remember i make a risky move.. and it wasnt well thought-out
Vrushali: it really turned the game around
Vrushali: i mena.. ben played really well at the end
Vrushali: i though at one point.. the game would be just damage control for him
Vrushali: but .. i mean. .he really turned the game around
Vrushali: he played aggressively … and won
Interviewer: what do you think you’re goin to need to watch out for in this game
Vrushali: well.. i think im going to play a safe game and take less risks
Vrushali: we’re well matched in terms of skill
Vrushali: i just have to be super careful
Interviewer: well, best of luck this saturday
Interviewer: its been a real pleasure interviewing you
Vrushali: thank you!

Make Me Popular

An Appeal to Comics Companies

I am a comic book nerd. They do say the first step of dealing with a problem is admitting that you have one. So, here I am. Openly admitting my *problems*. I enjoy reading them. I browse comics news sites like Newsarama on a daily basis — mainly to procrastinate and to pass the time, but also to “keep up”. I find myself glued to these sites when San Diego Comic-con rolls around eagerly waiting for the announcements and teases.

Like I said, I’m admitting my problems.

Of course, for comic book shops and companies, people with my kinds of problems are the target audience. We’re the people who can’t stop buying them and can’t stop frequenting those stores, those movies, and buying their merchandise (thankfully, my Asian stinginess kicks in and reigns in my spendthrift tendencies). So, it would behoove them to listen to our needs and demands.

The most annoying thing I see about the current form isn’t really how much they cost per se (although that can be a bit prohibitive), but how drawn out they are. No, I”m not really complaining about the story arcs that last 20 bajillion issues (although it’d be nice to do away with some of those too), I’m talking about how a simple 3-part story takes 3 months to get through. If a 3-part story is good, then I still have to wait every month to get my next installment, no matter how much I may want the next part NOW. But if a 3-part story sucks, then I have to wait 3 months until I get to something that I might like, making me very frustrated and (*hint hint*) making me much more likely to stop going to the comic store and stop buying the series altogether. On the other hand, bringing me into the comic shop week after week is also more likely for me to buy other things as I inevitably “shop around”

On the artistic side, I think this may add some stress to the editorial department and the artists who will have to churn the stuff out a little faster, but given that most comic book storylines are worked out WAY in advance (so far in advance that writers oftentimes have to change their story so that other stories mesh well) and given that there already are a bajillion Batman books and a bajillion Superman books, I don’t think this is such an issue. Why sell multiple versions of the same thing (especially when in cross-over events they all tie back together anyways), when you can just publish one book more often. I think that this can also make continuity consistency and overall story planning easier by allowing editors to plan in blocks of stories which begin and end quickly rather than in terms of months and trying to figure out which story ends when and where, etc etc.

Several retailers, for instance, report that DC’s launch of the weekly series “52″ (gee, I wonder where that title came from) has been great for business. And a quick glance at sales reports shows that Ultimate Spiderman (which comes out every other week as opposed to every month) sells pretty well.

So, DC? Marvel? Come on… make me happy

ULTIMATE DEATHMATCH

Only once in a lifetime (or once every two months) does an epic battle the likes of which this world has never seen come to play — where titanic forces must face each other down in a no-holds-barred contest to the finish.

mighty BEN “the Ben” (me) vs the awesome VRUSHALI-”I got stranded on my rooftop”

the venue: Yahoo Reversi
the day: Saturday, August 5th
the time: TBA

Will the veteran champion (me) overcome the novice yet again, proving his worthiness to the title? Or will the fire of youth (vrushali, cuz she’s *widdle*) overcome the wits of the aged champion (again, me)?

Reputations are on the line.
The Honor of two noble warriors is in question.
The rematch of the century.

Check back here for the post-event coverage and a special “getting to know the competitors” post

A recap of the last deadly game:

I hung out with Vrushali yesterday. The thing about hanging out with Vrushali, is on paper, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.

“Oh, you went to Bobar? And played Othello? Uhh… great?”

But — that’s where you’re wrong. We played the most intense one hour game of Othello possible. It started with me more or less dominating the map. I had set up traps and backup plans up the hizzo as I raced for the edges and corners — I thought I had her beat and completely outmaneuvered.

But then, I made a few too many mistakes, and she saw some critical points of attack that I just did not see. And BAM! Instant turnaround. She captures a corner, and then I desperately fight for another corner but BAM! I still lose that one. With Vrushali having two corners, it’s just not looking too good for me . . .

But, she herself makes a few strategic errors after her quick victory. Consequently, I also shift strategies and… began playing smarter. Before, I had only tried to set up my future moves and only considered how to counter possible moves by Vrushali, a focus which led me to not see some of her big expansion/key moves, but this time I made a conscientious effort to predict what she was gonna do. And, through a series of maneuvers, I effectively neutered her corner positions (making them useless offensively for her) and I deftly captured one corner which still had offensive value.

Of course, you’d think that well, Vrushali has two corners and Ben has one — isn’t the game over already? That’s what I thought for sure, but then I realized it was not clear cut by any means. Her corners had no offensive value, but she still retained a large chunk of the board, while I possessed a corner with offensive value, but only in one limited area of influence.

The last couple of moves were played completely nervously by the two of us — each trying to capture that last corner and clinch the game. Luckily, I figured out a way (this was during the last five moves) to prevent Vrushali from getting the last corner. That coupled with a bad move on her part on the third to last move and…

the final score: 34-30

Ben wins!