MapleStory 20th Anniversary

Today is the day MapleStory turns 20. An incredible feat for a South Korean MMORPG that made the impact of South Korea's Hallyu Wave on pop culture huge. It gets even more incredible when MapleStory survived cybercriminal activities and tensions threatening to reignite the Korean Peninsula's (still unfinished) civil war, while giving StarCraft a good run for its money in the South Korean video game market. On top of that, MapleStory made South Korea a serious contender in the video game industry. Let's not forget that its "Safe For Work" classification revitalized PC gaming in Japan when the Japanese version launched in early December 2003. So much for a cutesy MMORPG coming from a South Korean online gaming Chaebol. Happy 20th Anniversary, MapleStory!

Kyubey the Cruel

Today is the day Liko begins her quest to unravel the mysteries of Pokemon and the Pokemon World, as well as the secrets of her amulet.

Let's face it. Even if justice is not the main theme in Pokemon, the injustices committed against Ash "Satoshi" Ketchum are nothing compared to all the wrongs Kyubey did. It will be extremely awful if Kyubey and the Incubators existed in the Pokemon series. Already, Pokemon is a very dangerous series, if Professor Oak warning us about the tall grass being hazardous in Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow was any indication. If Kyubey were to one day show up in the Pokemon World, Pokemon Trainers will do anything to capture Kyubey, only to be disappointed that Kyubey is not a Pokemon. Of course, most of them will reject Kyubey, but he will insist on making girls become magical girls at the expense of their souls. In other words, life in the Pokemon World will be beyond unbearable if Kyubey existed.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica © Aniplex.

The Best Way to give Ash and Waluigi Justice

The Ash Ketchum Arc of the Pokemon TV series has officially ended. However, its conclusion left us with several disappointments. Especially when Gary Oak and Ritchie did not apologize for all the wrongs they did to Ash "Satoshi" Ketchum. However, Studio OLM deliberately chose not to deliver justice for Ash Ketchum, for giving Gary and Ritchie any kind of comeuppance will offend their respective namesakes Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, the latter having died in 2013.

Even if Nintendo, Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, ShoPro and Studio OLM do not want to give Gary Oak and Ritchie any comeuppance whatsoever because it will be a huge insult to Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, I would give Gary Oak and Ritchie a brutal death by hurling a Molotov Cocktail and a Bob-omb at their faces if I had to be in a room with them and Waluigi. Therefore, I am sparing Waluigi so that he can become playable in a future Super Smash Bros title. Talk about giving Ash Ketchum and Waluigi the justice that had eluded them for years...

Then again, the biggest disappointment was that there was no special message from Ash Ketchum's namesake Satoshi Tajiri regarding the conclusion of the Ash Ketchum Arc. This means Ash Ketchum and his namesake Satoshi Tajiri are even more of outsiders than Waluigi and his designer Fumihide Aoki as far as Nintendo is concerned.