Street Fighter IV has, as most reviews will suggest, been a positive experience thus far. However, this post isn’t about the game. This shares some of my thoughts about the Street Fighter IV Collector’s Edition.

The Negative – Let’s get this out of the way.

The Collector’s Edition (aka, the CE) comes in a box that is smaller than what I expected. At the least, I thought that the much hyped “hint book” would have taken up some room. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be the case.

The “hint book” for Street Fighter IV CE is a very thin, glossy paper thing with a very small number of pages. It is easily the most disappointing part of the SFIV CE. In fact, I seriously thought that the hint book had been left out of my CE because it was no where to be found inside of the box.

Only once I opened the Blu-Ray Street Fighter IV animation did I find this supposed… “book”. It’s more accurately described as a flyer at best. You’re familiar with the advertisements that come with products these days; the ones on glossy paper that are tucked into DVD cases and the like. That’s pretty much what the “hint book” turned out to be.

This SFIV “hint book” lists (seriously) only a few (four? five?) of the characters, and in turn only a few of their moves. There are no hints, nor any information, nor anything else. There isn’t even text aside from what is absolutely required to list the moves and the names of the characters. The only good thing about it was the artwork.

If this was supposed to sell me on the official SFIV Prima guide then it is has failed miserably. I won’t even bother looking at the thing.

The Okay – Cool, but not made of awesome.

Laying somewhere in the middle is the animation, Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind. This skin-deep introduction to Street Fighter IV is definitely not a high quality anime story, although the artwork itself is done well enough. On the other hand, I don’t think that anyone was expecting a deep story from this. It is, ultimately, a long intro movie for the game, and many of Street Fighter IV’s animated endings make direct references to the events in The Ties That Bind. (note: you can currently find the entire movie on Youtube and elsewhere).

As a part of the SFIV CE it’s not a bad perk at all. The voice acting (I only watched it with Japanese audio) employed some decent talent, and the image quality is good; of course, it’s Blu-Ray so you kind of expect that. The animation & artwork quality isn’t the best that I’ve seen in an anime movie, but it’s far from “bad”. If you do watch it on Youtube then keep in mind that you’re probably not watching the HD version.

The sound track also deserves to go here. Here are some thoughts on the Collector’s Edition sound track:

Thankfully – and yes, I do mean thankfully – the Street Fighter IV theme song itself is not on the CD. I just don’t even want to think about this song, so moving on…

Track 3 on the sound track is a good example of what makes this OST decent. It’s befitting a fighting game, but it’s use of strings, appropriately Asian drumming, voice (think group “hua!”), and fast paced music makes it something that’s actually well worth listening to. If you liked the music in 9 Dragons then you’ll totally dig this tune, though it’s a faster tempo than what you’ll find in that MMO.

The new Chun-Li theme (track 7) is also fairly well done. It’s clearly identifiable, but it’s been brought into the present with instruments, modern synths, and additions that make it an over all enjoyable listen for fans of the Street Fighter series. This music is only played during a “Rival Battle”, so it does have a more serious sound to it. Rival Battles: Serious business, amirite?

Track 16 is a mellow, nonetheless upbeat techno tune that I’ve heard occasionally played in the Lobby between online matches. It’s good for chilling for a moment before hitting “Ready!”.

The closing track, track 17, is a catchy Jazzy version (complete with synth Sax) of a traditional Street Fighter tune. Oddly enough, it reminds me of the background music found in the Out Run series of driving games.

Track 3 alone almost moves this OST into the “Good” category, but the rest of the tunes on the CD (all of which I skipped here) are firmly set in the category of “background noise”. At least to my ears.

The Good – Now we’re getting somewhere…

While I’m very disappointed in the “hint book”, the Street Fighter IV Collector’s Edition is, in all, a pretty good buy. Taken all together I’m not disappointed in spending the money for it. The addition of the Blu-Ray animation, the Ryu figure, and the sound track are all bonuses that come together to make it a good edition fitting any gamer’s collection.

The Ryu figure, which I have not removed from the box at all, looks decent enough from what I can see. The artwork on the box is pretty good (although I wish they’d stuck with Chun-Li, I have an obvious bias).

In all, the CE itself is the best part of the CE, aside from the game itself. As a package, it comes together well.

Good night folks.

Technorati Tags: Street Fighter IV, SFIV, Street Fighter, Collector’s Edition

As my Twitter mentions (Stephen’s Twitter), I’m no longer sick (thank goodness) and I’m going back to the gym. Last night was my first time back to the gym in a week.

I’m sure feeling it today. Especially in my calves, which are a new addition to my exercise routine. They burn the next day, particularly on the treadmill (which I need to set to a lower speed in order to complete). Hopefully those muscles will quickly adapt to the new stress.

Speaking of calves, every time that I use that machine I’m reminded that I need to buy some new shoes.

Anyway, I don’t know how long I’ll stay at the gym tonight. I’ve only had a few hours of sleep. Maybe I’ll take a nap before I go.

Later.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, weight loss, muscle building

I screwed up and forgot the push ups AGAIN yesterday.  Will have to do it tomorrow.  I tell you, if it’s not routine for me then it’s not remembered.

I was at the rec center for about two hours this evening.  Amazing.  When I finally showered, got dressed, and walked out of the locker room that’s when I saw some friends playing badminton.  I decided to join them for a game despite the fact that I was wearing street cloths at that point.

Hopefully they’ll forgive me for working up a sweat on a simple game like that, and realize that I was already quite tired from a lengthy exercise session.

At the end of tonight’s long session I decided to return to lifting (before the shower), but this was mostly out of curiosity.  Tonight was the first time that I lifted actual weights in the machines at the rec center rather than using the resistance machines (I’m a sucker for simplicity).

If I remember correctly, I lifted about 30 pounds on my biceps, about 130 or 160 pounds on my shoulder / back (I can’t remember which at the moment, but it surprised me that everything felt so light), and 190 pounds on the Hip Abduction and Hip Adductor (outer and inner thigh).  Laying leg press was at approximately 130 pounds, but I’m not sure because I left it at whatever it was set to when I got onto the machine.

Unfortunately I don’t remember the weight amounts on the others, but in all I was fairly pleased with what I was able to do.  In so far as strength training is concerned I’ve been doing resistance training exclusively for the past two semesters, so I’m impressed with the results.

Granted, the bicep amount of 30 lbs was quite light, but I’ll hopefully be improving those through push ups – assuming that I can remember to do the confounded things.

I’m wonderfully tired this evening.

Good night folks!

Technorati Tags: health, exercise, fitness, weight loss

This semester I’m going to begin the Hundred Push Ups Challenge (click for info).  I’m one of those people who can only sometimes do 10 push ups and I frequently need to do a beginner’s push ups on my knees.

That’s pretty sad considering how much effort I’ve put into increasing my health, strength, and general fitness.  This has always been the case for me though, and pull ups / chin ups are the same way.  I wonder if there’s a hundred pull ups challenge?

So anyway now I’m going to do something about it.  In addition to going back to the recreation center this semester I’ll also be doing the Hundred Push Up plan every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (I go to the rec center on Mon., Wed., and Fri).

I look forward to the results of all of this madness by the end of this semester or so.

Update:  This will have to begin tomorrow, February 5th.  I can’t begin it this evening because I just got back from the recreation center, and I was there for about two hours or so.  It’s time to relax.

Technorati Tags: exercise, health, push ups, hundred push ups, 100 push ups, hundred push up challenge