And sometimes the opposite is true as well.
So how do you calculate risk vs reward? Paying attention to your opponent's patterns is a start. It's important to keep in mind all the options you have available to you at all times, and selectively catagorizing which move is appropriate for each situation.
Let's examine one particular move from Tekken: the hopkick (uf+4)
By itself, the hopkick is a very basic looking move. On hit, it knocks the opponent up into the air, allowing free damage. Hopkicks in Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion also carry another unique trait: they "crush" low attacks, meaning they're invulnerable to all low-hitting moves.
Why is it low-risk? Simple. Hopkicks benefit from the fact that on block they're -12 frames. That means that only moves that can come out in 12 frames can effectively punish it. In the world of Tekken, only jabs can reliably punish hopkicks, and for most of the cast there aren't very many jabs that can deal a whole lot of damage. At best, jab punishing will only turn the momentum in the opponent's favor, but it won't exactly destroy your health bar.
Look at it from your side. If you land a hopkick, you're liable to take away up to 40 to 50% of your enemy's health bar -- why wouldn't you want to throw out more of those! That's why hopkicks are extremely high-reward, low-risk moves.
There are other instances where the risk is minimal while the rewards are plentiful. In 2D fighters, jump in attacks can be considered high-reward, low risk moves. If you land a jump in, chances are you're going to follow it up into a combo. But if they other guy knocks you out of the air, you won't exactly lose a ton of life -- just that one opportunity of dishing out damage.
First off, I need to apologize to the guy who claimed he watched the Tekken 6 Nationals over the weekend. He was right. They did happen over the weekend. I was wrong about that. However, I won't apologize for the claim he made about the top three players being Bob users. That was flat out wrong. Not only that, but he was being a total couch warrior about the matches, saying how boring they were to watch and uninteresting.
I hate couch warriors.
The top place finisher was an old schooler from the Tekken Tag days named ChetChetty, a really phenomenal Paul user. Second place went to Mr. Naps, a very excellent Bryan user and Street Fighter player. Third went to another Tekken Tag player (who coincidentally is a former National champ for the U.S.) named Insanelee. He used Julia.
Congratulations to all the placers. Good luck in Japan guys; take home the world crown for the U.S.!
Youtube user Nyawu has a ton of match vids up from the event, which I'd recommend over the UFragTV stream. The UFragTV stream has 10 hours worth of coverage, but there's no timestamps around to tell you what exactly you're looking at, if you happen to skip around a bit.
Here's a sample match vid between Antonio and JTChinoi, a super-impressive Xiaoyu player:
The meeting at Copenhagen ... is a battle between two world views. The angry men who seek to derail this agreement, and all such limits on their self-fulfilment, have understood this better than we have. A new movement, most visible in North America and Australia, but now apparent everywhere, demands to trample on the lives of others as if this were a human right.
The angry men cannot find the words for the constraints they hate. They accuse those who would impede them of communism, fascism, religiosity, misanthropy, but know at heart that these restrictions are driven by something far more repulsive to the unrestrained man: the decencies we owe to other human beings.
This is from an interesting column in the SMH (from the Age, and possibly the Guardian), which I think succinctly points out what is going on in the world today.
The "To Aru" series seems to be picking up pretty big lately -- it was only a few weeks ago when the Railgun show was featured on PSN's Toro Station! Still no Figma announcements though...
Source: ねこあれぶろぐ Blog
I sat down and watched the entire DVD movie this morning. While it wasn't as mind-blowing as chapter five or as action-packed as chapter three, Satsujin Kousatsu (殺人考察) made it's mark by being emotionally heavy. The orchestral score was excellent in this regard. There were times where it suspended quietly in the background during the darker scenes, creating an unreal sense of unease.
It was especially dramatic during the final scenes, filling in the lack of words with climactic music.
Watching it again however, I noticed that are a few scenes that probably won't make much sense for viewers who haven't read the novels.
Case in point -- in a particular scene near the climax, Ryougi clutches her blood-stained knife to her breast while the antagonist slashes wildly around her. It's an odd looking scene, for sure. Why is Ryougi ignoring this extremely dangerous situation, and choosing to focus her attention instead on her knife? They don't spell it out for you, but in the novel it's noted that she wanted to keep the lingering warmth left on the knife before it fades away. I'd say more, but I don't want to blow the ending.
I'm kind of sad that the series has ended, but then again I'm looking forward to Witch on the Holy Night next year. There hasn't been a Type-Moon novel since 2004, so with eager anticipation I'm sitting on the edge of my seat for this one. Here's hoping to more continued success from Kinoko Nasu!
I was reading up the latest issue of Wired at Barnes and Nobles today, and I glanced across an article for James Cameron's Avatar. I never knew James Cameron used to be a trucker. That blew my mind. And his inspiration for getting into movies was Star Wars. Didn't know that either. But what really impressed me about him was the fact that he was so passionate about making a movie that would rival George Lucas's creations that he quit his steady job and plunged head-first into cinematography.
Made me think about my own life again, and how much dedication I have (and haven't) put into life.
On a different note, my sister finally graduated today. Was pretty awesome. It took her roughly 10 years to do it, but she got it done and I'm super proud of her. Grats, sis.
Not too many links this week; I've been a bit of a mess, juggling all kinds of stuff. Didn't help that it was kind of a slow news week...
まにあっくすZ ルフィ、「メンズノンノ」表紙を飾る …漫画キャラは初
Luffy getting on the cover of a popular Japanese Men's fashion magazine is a bit...counter-intuitive...
2 Eva Fender Guitars Auctioned for 17 Million Yen
Holy crap! I should make me one of them and sell it on eBay!
Famitsu: Final Fantasy XIII Misses Perfect Score [Story Spoiler!] - final fantasy XIII - Kotaku
Not quite a perfect score, but it's one of the best scores the Final Fantasy series has gotten from famitsu. Kinda odd that a lot of other titles get perfect scores.
Cool Video: Suzuki Motorcycle Assembles Itself | Autopia | Wired.com
Pretty cool stop-animation video!
YouTube - NachumeがElectro Worldを踊ってみたNachume danced Perfume's Electro World
Is this the next big thing in Japan!?
One of the most common refrains when talking about people's wait is "I've got a diet for you, eat less and exercise more! herr herr herr", This is often followed by something along the lines of: "it's a simple equation, calories in - calories burned equals weight gained". The idea behind this is that everyone's metabolism is the same and a thinner person is just more strong-willed and disciplined than a heavier one -- although I've noticed this incredible discipline rarely spills over into other aspects of life.
The problem with these flat-earthers is that their position just isn't supported by science. There are the genetic disorders and thyroid problems which cause people to be heavily overweight, although these are a minority. However, at least 60 genes have been identified with variations that affect weight, and researchers feel there's a lot more to come. Each gene might only cause a difference of a pound or so, but when they're all added together there's a big effect: "About 70 per cent of body size and shape was determined by genetic inheritance". That means body shape is affected by genetics more than intelligence is. Of course, there still is that 30 percent so people have some lee-way...
Being overweight is not always unhealthy in terms of cardio-vascular fitness, if the food intake is mostly fruit and vegetables -- although if it's saturated fats and chocolate then it's going to be unhealthy no matter what you weigh. The good news is that as these genes become better understood they should be able to tailor exercise and diet regimes to individual types of people.
(The article is based on a paper published in Nature on a particular genetic issue, which may get debated back and forth as new evidence comes in, but it seems there's enough evidence of enough genes to give the general issue credence. Oh, and the "I" in the title is rhetorical.)
Source: SMH
I've seen one of those remarkably good suggestions that make you wonder why it wasn't done before, and what forces could possibly muster to prevent it happening in the future. This SMH article led me to this op-ed piece by Andrew Leigh. To summarise, a paragraph from the SMH:
The people and corporations running our prisons should be paid in proportion to the number of their inmates who don't re-offend. That could turn prisons into rehabilitation centres instead of schools for crime, slash recidivism rates and reduce considerable direct and indirect costs of crime - everything from insurance claims to police, courts and victims' expenses, not to mention the very costly business of keeping people in choky and the tendency of prisoners' and their families to be more frequent social welfare customers.
In addition it stops them being criminals, of course, which is what society wants. It gives prisoners a better opportunity for a second chance at a decent life, which should please the left, and will be a more cost effective way to run the prison and detention systems, which should please the right. Leigh notes that "ex-prisoners are disproportionately high users of other government services, such as counselling and income support", so reducing recidivism and providing a better start once out of prison will save even more money.
How can this possibly fail? Apathy. It's the only thing I can think of: Apathy.