[tekken 5: dark resurrection]

Got the news from Nikki's blog that there's gonna be a new Tekken 5 expansion coming. It'll be out late this year in arcades and unlike Tekken 5.1, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection features more than just tweaks on character balance but more stages, more items and two new characters! (Lili and Dragunov). click here for more details.

Makes me want to play Tekken again.

It's been a (long~) while since I've last played. When go back to Baguio, I won't be surprised if Marck and the guys will own my ass in the game, sure I can probably pull-off a few classic (or should I say old and overused) muscle-memoried combos here and there and maybe a few Electric Godfists but I can't possibly compare to their experience anymore. I feel kinda sad since I used to be the "king" of Tekken in our small circle of friends back in the days of Tekken3 - when I was the only one who knew what an electric godfist was and how to "counter" and "chicken". I remember it was always me and Noel fighting it out for the top-spot sa barkada and it was always me who had the last laugh (it was a friendly sort of rivalry pero naging personalan din). It's like I've totally abandoned the mantle.

These days when I play against my friends there's just so much that I don't know about anymore it's embarassing. I'm stuck with only knowing how to play two Mishimas (Kazuya and Jin), Asuka and Xiaoyu (whose movelist has already changed so much I don't know what to do with her anymore) while the other guys know how to play almost every character in the list. Marck, who I always used to kind of bully back then, easily kicks my ass with characters like Roger. Garry, who used to be the "underdog" is now waaay~ above me in terms of skill and knowledge of different characters and combos. Noel simply laughs at me now (but then again he's always been like that when we play - even when he's losing). Neal just annoys you with shameless turtling and practical combos with almost no style at all - it's painful to see yourself losing to his play-style. And David.. well, I guess he's the only other kabarkada I know who shares my pain of being left behind.

Why all this fuss for a game? well.. these days, when I play Tekken with the guys it's not about winning or losing anymore. I just play for old time's sake. Of course there's still that goal of winning, a player's competitive spirit, it's just that with me it's a big deal not because I have to prove I'm still number one but because Tekken has always been something we do on the few occasions that we get together. Parang inuman session. Tekken is one of the first "glues" that made us stick with each other, I just want to be able to keep up with them. It's just one of those games that I can never really abandon.

Now I really want to play again.