Ness, Lucario and Jigglypuff Confirmed For Brawl

       On Nintendo’s Japanese website, a “how to play” video for SSB Brawl has leaked important information to the smash community. Although the video has been edited since, it originally displayed a brief segment about sticker power-ups, with three new characters icons on the white bar at the bottom of the screen. These three characters are Jigglypuff, Lucario and Ness. Fans of Ness and Jigglypuff may rejoice to see their favorites return in Brawl. Lucario may well be the replacement Pokemon for Mewtwo. Check out the screenshots below:

Here’s the orginal unedited Japanese video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfb2l-iYlRo&eurl=http://brawlcentral.com/

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The Rise Of YouTube

                As I was casually thumbing through an article on the famed creators of the YouTube enterprise the other day, I began to realize something. Since the technological gods have dubbed YouTube their posterchild, the quality of viral videos elsewhere has floundered.

                 I can remember a time when ebaum’s world was king, funnyjunk flourished, and killsometime was on top of the world. Nowadays, it seems the popularity of these once megastars has drastically dwindled, overshadowed by the monsterous ectoplasm of the YouTube stratasphere. While YouTube support soars leaps and bounds over the competetion, the quality of actually “funny” videos elsewhere is just plain dismal. Many sites that used to be hilarious have slowly turned into soft-core porn hatcheries, and offer more videos of brutality than humor. I can see the entertainment value in watching a 20 year old smash a fluoeresecent light bulb across his back, but I would rather be laughing than seeing him pick the glass out of his skin.

              

      

                 Almost all of these videos will end up on YouTube anyway, so the reality is that YouTube just has the best of both worlds. Heck, YouTube already serves 60% of ALL online videos watched anyway. Why go to 4 different websites when YouTube features that music video you were dying to watch, Donald the skateboarding monkey, John Doe getting tazered and the latest bashing of Michael “The Dog” Vick? I guess the underlying factor at work here is simple: since the massive surge of YouTube popularity, other viral sites just simply seem less important.

              YouTube even has support from the Whitehouse now, being the sole carrier of questions in the first “YouTube” debates ever held. From a snowman’s plea on global warming, to a southern man’s yawl to save his baby (an assault rifle), every last inquiry came from the YouTube database.

              Then you have one of the biggest additions to YouTube in recent years, its purchase by the gargantuan Google. So if for some reason you did not know about YouTube, now it is owned by the biggest search engine ever created and has massive financial backing. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of YouTube. I am not trashing on the multi media powerhouse out of personal angst, but rather public awareness. The death of the smaller video websites on the net is indeed a tragic one, I hope someone invites YouTube to the funeral.

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