I Played Wavenet MK3, and it's awesome!
Dave Jeitner
Well, MK3 has entered an entirely new dimension. I played the new Wavenet
system MK3 on Saturday night, and it is awesome. This is the future of all
video games. I stopped going to the arcade because there was hardly
anyone around to play against, but with wavenet, you always have an opponent.
And maybe now we can settle all of those stupid "I'm the best" posts that
crop up here so frequently.
[If any of you were on there, I was DJ at Dennis' Place.]
Actually, I don't know how the arcade name showed up--it's Dennis' Place on
Belmont in Chicago.
For those of you that missed the announcement a few days ago, Midway is
testing a new system at some Chicago area arcades whereby they're all
linked together through a network, allowing you to play against people
at different locations.
Here's what happens:
You put your money/tokens in (Dennis' Place was charging 3 tokens/play,
which equals $.50, since you get 6/$1), and the game asks you if you
want to play Local or Wavenet. Local just puts you against the computer,
as before. If you choose Wavenet, it asks you for a name, and gives you
an alphabet screen. Ten letters per name max, I think, and I saw one guy
try to use the word "fuck," and it just showed up as "F---," so I guess
some words are censored.
Some names I saw were: Billy at Times Square, Kim at Diversions, MKJedi at
Bala Games, and the ever-present Pacman at Wavenet Labo, who plays a mean
Stryker. When Wavenet puts you against an opponent, the screen clears, and
it says
YOU ARE PLAYING
NAME
AT ARCADE
So, some people would try to be clever by using names like "WITHURSELF." I
must have pissed somebody off, because they used the name "IWANTDJ."
Anyway, if you lose, and the next person continues your game before the counter
runs out, they keep your name. So, as people would take turns, there were
actually many people using the name "DJ." Then, when some guy changed it to
"MOO," we were all "MOO" for a while. It's kind of a pain to change the name.
Especially since part of it didn't work. It says when you're done with the
name, hit the start button. But, that didn't work, so it would sit there
for like 20-25 seconds, just waiting.
Well, after you get your name in, it begins searching for an opponent for you.
If it doesn't find one, you go into local play against the computer, while
it continues to search. Once it finds somebody, it interrupts your play and
tells you who you'll be playing. You then go to the selection screen, and it
tells you which cursor, red or green, to use. Playing as Player 1 or as
Player 2 has no bearing on being on the right or left or as red cursor or
green. I think that might be decided by number of wins, or if the challenger
is returning a second time.
So, you pick your characters, put in a code if you wish (remember, this is MK3,
not UMK3), and start fighting. As I mentioned above, you may be on the right
or on the left at the beginning of the round, but at least the game puts a
little flashing "Your Opponent" over your opponent.
I'll go into the game-play below.
If you win, it asks you if you want to play the same person again. If you
choose yes, it waits to see if the opponent chooses to continue. If they
do, you play again; if not, you get the message "NAME HAS DENIED YOUR
CHALLENGE," and it searches for someone else.
If you select no, it searches for someone else, and it gives the opponent
the message of "NAME HAS DENIED YOUR CHALLENGE," if they tried to continue.
So, that's the basic set-up.
As for game-play, there are some small problems, but it is absolutely amazing
when you consider that this is a network. The play was very smooth. There
was only the occassional screen pause or jump. Out of many, many games, I
only saw one real bug--once, the screen jumped, and when round 1 was over,
it called the winner the winner of the match, and began looking for another
opponent. Also, every once in a while, it would get you an opponent, but
then the message would come up that Shao Kahn was searching for another
worthy opponent. I don't know why.
The play didn't seem slower, but there was the tiniest delay that you could
only notice in the most crucial of timing situations. For example, if
playing as Sub-Zero, you tried a ground combo, and it was blocked, you could
do the ice-clone right away to get the hell out of there. However, in this
game, you couldn't do the ice-clone fast enough to get away from a slide, or
Cyrax's net, or Nightwolf's combo, etc. I don't know if this was a change
in the game, or an effect of the network slowing things down slightly. I
also couldn't do Nightwolf's big combo: HK-HP-HP-LP-axe-axe-stepforward and LP-
axe-jumpkick. It would consistently miss the third axe. I don't know if this
was me, a change, or a network effect. Cyrax could do a LP-net after a throw
a lot easier than he could before. Just slight things like that.
The absolute biggest problem with this is that it's MK3, not UMK3. So,
everybody kept picking Sub-Zero (because of that damn ice-clone), Kabal
(that damn nigh-unbeatable 40% combo), and Cyrax (myriad of combos, and
the way-too-easy throw-HK combo). I played a game of UMK3, and I
realized I had forgotten just how different the two versions are. This
Wavenet thing really needs to be for UMK3. I admit it was fun to use
Sub-Zero's ice-clone again, but the disadvantages inherent in the unbalanced
characters takes a lot of fun out of the game.
One of the best things about it, in my opinion, is that the moronic
no-throwing rule is gonna go out the window pretty darn quickly. Everybody
at Dennis' Place throws, and so when that happans, other arcades with
chumps who don't know how to deal with it get creamed. Everybody
on the Wavenet is gonna have to learn to play with throws.
Another drawback is not seeing your opponent. I never paid attention to
my opponent's hands, but there are almost sub-conscious things you pick up
without paying attention--like if they're tapping a button over and over
again, or moving the joystick in a complex way to get a special move
or a morph out. You can't get any of that when your opponent's not next
to you. This can kind of be good, since it's more of a challenge, but
if you're an asshole like Billy at Times Square, and all you know how
to do is pick Cyrax every single time (and do a throw-HK combo
whenever it is even remotely possible, which is more frequent now because
of those tiny delays in special moves), you can get away with it without
having your ass kicked for real.
Another drawback is that if you're on the net, sometimes you can't avoid
somebody forever. I beat Billy 3 times with different characters--
Kabal (who I only use when somebody pisses me off), Shang Tsung (my favorite),
and Cyrax (to give him a taste of his own medicine), but I got sick of
playing against a perpetually throwing Cyrax, and denied his next challenge.
Well, Wavenet looked around for another opponent, and couldn't find one,
so I went into local play. About 5 seconds later, it tells me I'm now playing
Billy at Times Square. Oh, well. Maybe this could be changed somehow.
Or maybe it won't be an issue if/when Wavenet goes national.
In summary, I just have to say that this is one of the coolest things I've seen
in a long time in the arcade, and I will be going back again. This really
does open up a whole new dimension, with having available opponents all over
the place. And you get to see things that you maybe never saw before, or
rarely see.
So, if you play against DJ at Dennis' Place, let me know what you think.
DJ
Tx
: I don't think I'd want to play. Then everyone would know how bad I
: suck. :-)
Funny, it seems like many people wouldn't like to play
this thing (right, Jenn?)
--
_______________________________________________________________
Tx = bilo...@craft.camp.clarkson.edu TTTTTTTTT X X |
http://fire.clarkson.edu/~bilodeaj/personal/ T X X |
Lets go Red Sox - Fan of the Catamounts of UVM T X |
Coming Soon! Clarkson's Chi Phi page T X X |
C'est la vie....so......embrasse mon fess T X X |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kano
>
> Rat (r...@rat.org) wrote:
> : I don't think I'd want to play. Then everyone would know how bad I
> : suck. :-)
> Funny, it seems like many people wouldn't like to play
> this thing (right, Jenn?)
>
I would! Er...wait...REGULAR MK3?... Hrm... Maybe not... :)
-kl
--
| |/ / *ke...@cs.oswego.edu*_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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JFavors620
1. How is the slowdown as far as punching people out of the air? Is it
easy or is the timing off?
Kestrel the Fairly Decent Dragon
>>Well, MK3 has entered an entirely new dimension. I played the new Wavenet
>>system MK3 on Saturday night, and it is awesome. This is the future of all
>>video games. I stopped going to the arcade because there was hardly
>>anyone around to play against, but with wavenet, you always have an opponent.
>>And maybe now we can settle all of those stupid "I'm the best" posts that
>>crop up here so frequently.
>I don't think I'd want to play. Then everyone would know how bad I
>suck. :-)
I'd play you, then we'd see who the crappiest MKer of all time is :>
Kestrel
The Fairly Decent Dragon
Jenn Dolari 'n' Baron Otto von Cheesebiscuit
bilo...@craft.camp.clarkson.edu (Tx) wrote:
> Funny, it seems like many people wouldn't like to play
>this thing (right, Jenn?)
I'm LOOKING for competition...if there was a WaveNet here in San Antonio, I'd
play it! Unfortuantely not only is there no WaveNet, but no one who has Kali
will play MK3 with me. Boo hoo... :)
Jenn
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ROSE Strength. Beauty. We have no equal in the kingdom. KING
PAI CHAN das...@eden.com MAI SHIRANUI
CHAOS - MORRIGAN - CHARLOTTE - NAKORURU - CHAM CHAM - FELICIA - ORCHID
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C.R.+ inc...
what the competition is like out there. This is especially cool since the
tournaments are coming up and we here at Diversions haven't found any real
competition, yet...
Oh well, if any of you guys are playing against someone named
"Crosshanded"(but I think that someone else uses that name too...), or someone
named "Sweetalker," (both from Diversions) that would be me...Hope to play ya
all soon...
C.R.+
Chris Reyes
cre...@shrike.depaul.edu
DePaul University
Diversions Game Room Regular
If to do were as easy as to say, then chapels would be churches and poor men's cottages would be princes' palaces.--Shakespeare--The Merchant of Venice--
Gumbo...
regular MK3 was I think on november.. Maybe thats why you cant find any
good competition...
C.R.+ inc... (cre...@shrike.depaul.edu) in sacrificial blood n' sweat, wrote:
: Anyway, I play it almost everyday...and I like it. It lets me see
--
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Personal and New Wasted Youth Web Page
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http://pages.prodigy.com/G/U/O/gumbo
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Dave Kirsch
Dave Jeitner <jei...@alumnae.caltech.edu> wrote:
>
>One of the best things about it, in my opinion, is that the moronic
>no-throwing rule is gonna go out the window pretty darn quickly. Everybody
>at Dennis' Place throws, and so when that happans, other arcades with
>chumps who don't know how to deal with it get creamed. Everybody
>on the Wavenet is gonna have to learn to play with throws.
The one thing I don't understand is how people are complaining about throws
in MK. You can block throws (just hold back on the joystick, you don't
even need to hit block). I *never* get thrown, since if I'm not running
forward, I'm always holding the joystick back.
So how is it that people can "cheese" you with throws in MK? Maybe I'm
missing something here.
--
/// Dave 'Zoid' Kirsch __ | http://mindlink.net/zoid
zo...@giant.mindlink.net \/ | R&D Dept. -- iSTAR Internet Inc.
Fighting Games FTP Archive Maintainer: ftp://brawl.mindlink.net/pub
Kano
>
> In article <4i1s5g$h...@gap.cco.caltech.edu>,
> Dave Jeitner <jei...@alumnae.caltech.edu> wrote:
> >
> >no-throwing rule is gonna go out the window pretty darn quickly. Everybody
> >at Dennis' Place throws, and so when that happans, other arcades with
> >chumps who don't know how to deal with it get creamed. Everybody
> >on the Wavenet is gonna have to learn to play with throws.
>
> in MK. You can block throws (just hold back on the joystick, you don't
> even need to hit block). I *never* get thrown, since if I'm not running
> forward, I'm always holding the joystick back.
>
> So how is it that people can "cheese" you with throws in MK? Maybe I'm
> missing something here.
>
This annoys the heck out of me...
...I hold D+B+Block . . . and I get thrown every time!??
Dave Jeitner
It seems the same, actually. It may even be easier. There's one guy I
used to play against all the time, and he was never able to do it to me,
but I saw him pull it off multiple times on the Wavenet. Could just
be a coincidence, though.
DJ
C.R.+ inc...
>You want competition for regular MK3.. Lets see here.. Last time I played
>regular MK3 was I think on november.. Maybe thats why you cant find any
>good competition...
>
Well, I haven't either so I am assuming that everyone else is as rusty
as I am... It's not as if I kept on playing MK3 while UMK3 was out...
The BIah
strange =)
The X Factor