Knuckles the Echidna

After posting about Sonic, I started thinking about his friend and rival, Knuckles. I also realized that knuckles was an echidna, and I had no idea what an echidna was. When I looked them up, I kind of thought they looked like a mixture of a hedgehog and an anteater. That makes a somewhat good choice for Sonic's rival since it's not just another hedgehog, but a different, similar looking species. They didn't really make the nose look like an anteater nose, but I can understand why. Having a rival with a long nose, but everything else similar to Sonic facing him would just look silly. They did a great job with the concept of Knuckles since Sonic focuses on speed and Knuckles on strength, Sonic is blue, Knuckles is red, and while Sonic can run so fast he runs up walls, Knuckles can use the spikes on his fists to climb walls. They are opposites in many ways which makes them great rivals, yet they're still friends. Normally I would think they shouldn't be friends, but since they were brought together by a common enemy (Dr. Robotnik), it makes sense to me that they become friend's after his defeat.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog is my all time favorite character in video games. This is mostly because the first game I ever played Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Although I'm suprised at how little I actually knew about Sonic. Sonic was made to replace Sega's unofficial mascot at the time, which was Alex Kidd and combat Nintendo's mascot which was Mario. So in a way, if there was no Mario, then there would be no Sonic, which is his console rival. Also I found out that Sonic was created in 1991, which is the year I was born so that makes me like him even more since we were both born the same year. There were many designs submitted such as an armadillo, a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt lookalike in pajamas (which is actually what the villain, Dr. Robotnik, is based off of), and a rabbit. The only other thing I think I wouldn't have minded Sonic being is the armadillo. Any of the others seem like they would make him less of a good character to me. Of course if he was an armadillo, then he wouldn't have spikes on his back and that would make him look less threatening, so the hedgehog concept is definately the way to go.

Batarangs

Batarangs are a well-known weapon of Batman's arsenal. Most people probably just think of a boomerang that looks like a bat instead of looking further into its design. The shape of a bat works as a symbol for a weapon, so you know who's attacking when you get one of these thrown at you. Since you usually can't see Batman when he's attacking you, this instills fear in whoever sees the batarang thrown, because they know they're about to be attacked, but have no idea when or from where. However, I've sometimes wondered why batarangs are named after boomerangs, since they usually don't come back to Batman, just curve. Some don't eve curve, they're more like shuriken that are just thrown then stick into something or fall. After looking into boomerangs, I found that there are some that don't have to come back to you (I thought the reason mine never came back to me was because I just didn't throw them right...). So that explains most of the batarangs, but not the ones that are more like shuriken. So I suppose until they make a mixture of bat and shuriken as a word, batarang will have to do for the bat-shaped shuriken.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum was somewhat recently released and got great reviews from pretty much everyone. Personally, I like it because it seems darker than it should for Batman, but it still fits. It's also a great stealth game that requires strategy and also teaches a lot about the history of Batman and the asylum. I learned a lot about many Batman villains and even their history. This information is presented as files that are kept at the asylum since all the villains are kept there, which seems a great form to give the history as well as their habits in crime. Gamespot.com rank it high because of the amount of unlockable content, the fast-paced, easy to use combat system, and the great audio and visual presentation. They also mentioned how outstanding the story was. I thought that the story was good, but it was pretty much just standard "stop the bad guy" story. There were some twists, but not any that made my jaw drop and automatically know that the story was going to be great. I'm not saying the story was bad, but I don't think it was as great as Gamespot said it was.

The Tauren

The tauren are a race of the Horde on the MMO World of Warcraft. They are my personal favorite race because I find it a nice change of pace to be a bull while running around doing quests in games instead of the standard human, elf, or dwarf in RPGs with race selection. The reason I'm writing about Tauren is because I saw in a forum someone argue about a Tauren being able to be a Paladin (since they'll be able to in the next patch) because they're "bloodthirsty cows". I'm assuming some people think that since Tauren are on the Horde (assumed by most to be "evil" which it isn't) and look like they're minotaurs, they're bloodthirsty cowmen with no hearts. I looked into the backstory which I only vaguely knew of and found out that they're probably the most peaceful race in the game. They worship the Earthmother and are taught to not take anything away from her that they do not need to.

Cel-shaded Animation

Cel-shaded animation is a form of graphics that has started being used in video games which makes it look more like a hand drawn story.

An example of older cel-shading (The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker).

An example of newer cel-shading (Borderlands).

I like this style (not necessarily more than the normal graphics that are used) because it's interesting to play. It kind of makes you feel like you're in a storybook playing out the story. Some people may complain it makes it harder to get into the game because it looks less real, but I don't think looking real makes something much better. If you're looking at a huge monster that you can't even come up with in your imagination, it can't look real anyway since there isn't a real one in our world. I was curious about how this art style was produced, so I looked it up and found out it actually starts with a 3d model. Except then they take that model and use non-photorealistic lighting while rendering. This makes shadows and highlights look more like blocks of color instead of smoothly mixed, giving it a flat appearance.

Bionic Penguins

These are bionic penguins created by German engineers. They use their fins to swim through water just like actual penguins, and have sonar installed so they will avoid running into objects. They company called Festo is also producing other animals such as jellyfish and a bionic octopus. This could possibly lead to people having their dreams come true with pets without so much danger. Want a rhino as a pet? You can get one built for you. I also found that they made flying penguins as well. So they're actually making animals, then changing them. So you could get a sloth that is quick or a koala bear that can float. This could lead to extremely fun bionic pets that are safe for everyone in a home.