AlphaISM Radio

I just had a fan of AlphaISM Radio message me on AIM asking when will I ever do a show again. I realized that I don’t really update the site everytime a new episode of Bunkei’s Corner airs. So please follow me on Twitter if you want to stay abreast of the latest podcasts.

However, with that being said, I will do my best to also post updates on here too (or maybe I can find a Twitter plug-in).

Later!!

~Bunkei

This podcast is now available for download. Click here.

Yo peeps,

Tonight, I will be broadcasting the 4th installment of the “Bunkei’s Corner” series, which focuses on non-video game related (but relevant) topics. Tonight I’m covering three subjects:

1) Changes to Regulation E for the banking industry, and how it pertains to you. I’m going to make it a point to keep you guys in the loop on what’s going on in the banking world. I feel that if I help you better manage your finances, it’s a win for all of us.

2) Final Football Results and NFL news/discussion. We’ll talk about my picks that were randomly selected for me since I couldn’t make the draft due to the next topic. We’ll also talk about various teams and their aspirations for this coming season, and of course, the NFC Championship rematch!

3) I almost bought a car, but it didn’t happen. Let me give you the benefit of my painful experience so you’re prepared to avoid the pitfalls that most buyers fall prey to. Some good info here!

See ya at 8:30!

In February, AlphaISM’s sister site, streetfighter4.us will be taken down, and its place, I’ll use the new domain I’ve purchased, SuperStreetFighter4.net. To that end, I will need a new chief editor to manage the site. Between my job and AlphaISM Radio, I won’t have time or the knowledge to properly manage this site. If you are interested, go to this thread for details. (Registration is required on the forum)

More info on this soon!

Yo everyone,

One of the hottest tournaments of the year, Final Round, is just around the corner! For those of you who may not have attended last year’s tournament (shame on you!), let it be known that it was one of the HYPEST tournaments EVER with the release of Street Fighter 4 just a few weeks prior. Unfortunately, this time, the game won’t be released until a couple of weeks afterwards (end of March is what some retailers are speculating). To that end, I have a started a petition for Capcom to sponsor Final Round by bringing advanced copies of SSFIV, and holding a side tourney with good prizes, cash or otherwise.

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!! PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT BY POSTING ON THIS THREAD. WE CAN DO THIS IF WE MAKE A BIG ENOUGH FUSS ABOUT IT!!!! Think about it the past petitions to Capcom that worked (MvC 2 re-release, GGPO). So we know that they DO listen to us. So please, PLEASE show your support!

I’ll keep you informed on any updates regarding our petition.

Good luck to us all!

To the friends and family of Ricardo LeFaurie:

I think I speak for all of us in the fighting game community that we wish you Godspeed in this time of mourning. There are simply no words that I or anyone else can say that would be of much comfort to you. Dasrik and I have had a great friendship over the years, and I want you all to know that he was one of the most insightful, intelligent, and brave people I’ve ever known. Very few of us in this world can relate what he was been going through. Most of us do not have to confront our mortality on a nearly daily basis, but yet he did. Not only that, instead of shying away from it, he accepted it, but not let it dictate how he was to live his life. Since we’ve heard of his passing, I’ve been receiving messages and comments from various people within the community who enjoyed his insights. I concur with these thoughts, and I’m glad, no, proud that I can say emphatically is one of my friends. I will miss him, and he shall never be forgotten.

I spoke with him just 2 weeks ago. Ironically, he was mourning the loss of one of his friends. He told me that he is so sad that he won’t be able to talk with her anymore. He also expressed his belief in God. With that in mind, I hope you can take some solace in a scripture that I read from time to time when I lose someone in death:

“With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3, 4)

In closing, I’d like you to know that you will in our thoughts and prayers. He left a legacy that shall never be forgotten, as long as we, his extended family, keep him in our memories, he will continue to exist within us, until he returns.

Edit: (12/25/09) A special thanks to Jesse, Amp, and Jetay for joining me on last night’s show. Your feedback is STILL needed (read below). Here are the links to the podcast. (broken up in 3 parts; you will need to download all 3 parts to extract the file)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Yo everyone,

For this show, I need your help in figuring out my role in AlphaISM Radio for here on out. skisonic has proven to be an excellent host, with a knowledge of fighting games that I can’t simply match. Now, I know everyone says “Yeah Bunk, but you’re good for laughs though”. While that may be true, comedy is like dessert; it’s great to have, but not a steady stream of it. Sooner or later, you’ll want some meat and potatoes. So … what should I talk about? Fighting games can always be a topic, but with my ignorance, it could only go so far, and skisonic already has that covered. I could talk about various noteworthy stuff going around in this country and beyond, but would people (like you) be interested in hearing my commentary on what’s going on? Should I talk about the latest in banking/finance news, and ways you can improve your financial life, as I do at work?

So if you have any ideas, please post them here in the comments field; I’ll be reading them aloud on tomorrow’s podcast. As usual, the details on how to access the show are below. See you there!

If you want to listen to the show, use VLC or Winamp, and connect to http://www.alphaism.com:8000/listen.pls (only works when show is live)

If you want to participate, simply follow the steps below. (Microphone is required, laptop mics are NOT allowed)

1) Download Skype.

2) Install and add Benji-man01 as the contact via Tools.

3) Simply select Benji-man01 by right clicking the name on the Contact list, and select “Start Call”.

4) Join our IRC channel, #alphaismradio on EFnet, or if you do not have an IRC client, try out our webchat version.

Thanks to the hard work from Seth K. and others, I’m happy to report that GGPO is being used in the upcoming release of Final Fight Double Impact for PSN/XBLA. YES, we know it’s not a fighting game, but if we want it to be used in Capcom’s fighting games, we NEED to support this release. I really don’t care if you like FF or not, BUY THIS GAME. If this game is a flop, then obviously, we can pretty much be certain that GGPO won’t go much further than this release.

So again, BUY IT and leave a comment on the blog (Seth was really specific about making our verses heard). He wouldn’t ask this if there wasn’t important eyes who will be looking through the comments. Tell them that you’re buying it in support of GGPO.

PEOPLE, I cannot STRESS the importance of this. We’ve all clamored for the use of GGPO in Capcom’s fighting games. Capcom is testing the waters to see if it is indeed worth it, we need to respond with our wallets with a resounding “YES!!!”.

If you use Firefox, IE7, or IE8, I have a nice little shortcut how you can keep up-to-date information on this site.

You probably heard of RSS, which stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. In short, RSS allows you to be notified of any new content on RSS-capable sites (read: most sites).

I’m sure you’ve seen the symbol, it looks like this:

The neat thing is the fact that you can do this for all major sites. For instance, I have SRK, Dailytech, tomshardware.com, and others all coming to my RSS feeder. I can then just read all the new stuff right there on one page, without manually going to each site.

Isn’t that neat? So … how do you use RSS? Easy, you just need to subscribe to the feed by clicking on the icon shown above on your browser when visiting that site. In both IE and Mozilla, it will ask you to confirm your subscription and BAM! You’re done.

So what happens if SRK reveals the next character in Super Street Fighter 4 and posts it on their blog? Well, at first, I thought that when a new RSS feed becomes available, IE/Mozilla would notify you of the new feed. As it turns out, that is NOT the case. For Firefox users, you’re (sorta) in luck; there’s an RSS Feed Sidebar extension that will notify you of new feeds. The reason why I said “sorta” in luck is that this extension has had issues with missing some RSS feeds and other random errors.

For IE7/IE8 users, the only option is to use the Windows Live Mail RSS Reader. This isn’t as bad as you think–as long as you have a Microsoft email address (msn.com, live.com etc). The neat thing is that it does notify you of newly downloaded RSS content. However, if you don’t have a Microsoft e-mail address, then using the Windows Live Mail software might not be as appealing. Another caveat is that if you’re a Windows XP user, you will need to download Windows Live Mail software and must have IE7. Sooo .. why not just use the reader in IE7?? Right.

Moving on …

So what if you use an older version of IE (6 or below– NOT recommended) or you use Google Chrome? Better yet, what if you want to get the latest updates without the need of your browser being open? Well then, you will need a RSS Reader. You have two options:

1) If you have a Gmail account, you can subscribe to RSS feeds and when there’s any new content, Google will send you an email. But you may ask, “doesn’t that mean that I have to login to Gmail account to see if there’s any feeds?” Actually … NO

You can use Google Notifier for Windows or Mac. That way you are instantly alerted when there’s new content available. The nice thing about Google Notifier that it shows you a preview of the new message so you can decide if it’s worth checking out or not.

You can also use http://www.igoogle.com ; which shows RSS feeds as well as your inbox for your Gmail account.

-OR-

You can download a standalone RSS Reader. Most of the good ones cost money, and if you’re willing to pay for one, FeedDemon is what I recommend. There are free RSS Readers, but be careful. As the saying goes: “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”. So beware of malware/spyware included in these “free” readers. If you don’t want to pay one, then the solution is simple: USE GOOGLE READER!

I use Google Reader (I use Chrome, which doesn’t include a reader like Firefox/IE). I set my homepage to http://www.igoogle.com (which has the RSS feeds right there on the main page). That’s not to say that the RSS readers included with Firefox/IE are no good; but they don’t notify you of new updates which partially defeats the purpose of RSS.

I promise you, once you start subscribing to RSS feeds, you’d wonder how’d you ever use the web without one. GET TO WORK! Here’s a few sites I’d recommend for fighting gamers:

http://www.shoryuken.com

http://www.alphaism.com

http://www.twitter.com/alphaismradio

http://www.capcom-unity.com

http://www.kingoffighters12.net