Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Mudazumo DVD 1 out

February 26th, 2010 by ron5

Just dropping by for a second to tell everyone who doesn't know it already that the first official Mudazumo DVD got released recently. Hopefully, we'll see (non-gg) subs for this soon.
Trailer for the DVD

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Beginners Guide and News(!?)

February 16th, 2010 by Osamu

Minor update: Thanks to some recent fixing by Osamu you can now add comments on the guide pages themselves. Well, if the need to strikes you, of course, it-it's not like we did it so we can read your feedback!

Hello there! We have created a beginners guide to online mahjong, so please check it out! The links to it are in the sidebar. One thing we noticed a lot was beginners wanting information on how to start playing, and we had nowhere to point them. You could either give them huge collections of links like some kind of internet riddle game, or just tell them to play online until they figured it out for themselves. Fortunately now we have a simpler option, and you can start your journey right here.

In completely different news, a list of Yakuza 3 trophies has appeared on the internet. This list is lacking the mahjong trophy and some others (shogi, cabaret trophies etc). Hopefully this means they haven't cut out mahjong completely for whatever reason.

Also, in the Japanese blogosphere (笑) there has been talk about whether or not Tsunoda should allow people to watch dan games in real time, but I could reading this wrong.

Finally NISEMARU2009 has posted a trailer for mudazumo. You may watch it here

10 ADVANCED MAHJONG STRATEGIES FOR THE ADVANCED PLAYER

February 13th, 2010 by TACOS

1. Always attack, unless you should be defending.

2. Always defend, unless you should be attacking.

3. If you are an expert like me, you can even try attacking and defending at the same time.

4. Only deal tiles that other players cannot use, or you will be helping them form their hands.

5. When other players are in tenpai, it is important that you do not deal into their hands.

6. Make other players deal into your hand by waiting on unexpected tiles.

7. Always score as many points as possible.

8. Win as many hands as you can.

9. It is silly to call tiles when you can always draw it yourself anyway.

10. Do not discard tiles nobody has discarded, or that anybody has discarded early, mid, or late game. If possible you can consider not discarding at all. But it's a double-edged sword. I can't recommend this to amateurs.

11. Always remember what your tiles look like, in case of sudden blindness.

If you are an expert player you are welcome to leave any of your own tips.

Saki-themed Firefox Personas

February 4th, 2010 by TACOS

Osamu found these some time ago. Kind of distracting at first, but I'm used to them now. When I win a match I can look up and find approval in their eyes, and when I lose they are still there, tirelessly cheering me on.

Here's the link to the thingy. There's also a Nodoka one available but for some reason this one is more popular by far.

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/gallery/All/search?p=saki&search.x=0&search.y=0

Bots? In my 7447?

February 3rd, 2010 by TACOS

My attention was diverted to a mahjong thread the other day, and something among the posts caught my eye, a welcome change from the usual jaw-dropping, eye-bleeding, rage-inducing tenhou screenshots. There was a certain amount of conjecture regarding the quality of play as well as the amount of bots, or automatic mahjong-playing programs, infesting lobby 7447 and tenhou as a whole.

As someone in possession of the facts, I wouldn't mind clearing up this minor issue for you players out there who are concerned about the humanity of their opponents.

There are no bots on 7447.

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My experience in the 1st USPML event

January 30th, 2010 by 11218

On January 24, I had attended the first USPML event that they held in Manhattan. I had first found out about this organization from this post on MahjongNews that was linked to me on IRC. Since I live in New York, I was supposed to be a liaison or whatever between #mahjong and the USPML. When they announced their open play event, I signed up.

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Grilled Chicken and Flowers

January 30th, 2010 by Osamu

Tsuno has recently added a new, optional, rule for Tenhou CHAMPIONSHIPS, 'shuugi', which I'm sure a lot of 'PUROS' will jeer at. Shuugi rewards players for luck. Basically, for every ippatsu, aka dora and ura dora you get a bonus point. You get points for tsumo, ron and for getting yakuman hands too. As far as I understand, each of these bonus points can range from 2000-10000 depending on the Championship rules. I have a feeling I'm way off on that last sentence though.

In more recent news, Tsuno also posted a list of optional rules he's thinking of adding to championship mode, this includes open riichi, yakitori, flower tiles, option to start with 2 dora indicators, wareme and Washizu Mahjong.

Edit: Apparently Tsuno was thinking of adding Aotenjou too but due to 32bit, it's nearly impossible to have numbers that high. He said something about 'buu mahjong' too

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Cancellation of my ron2 account

January 26th, 2010 by Osamu

Since I haven't played on ron2 in months, I decided to cancel my subscription and I was amazed at how they handled it.

Most online games at least allow you to use whatever remaining time you have left after cancelling but Ron2 decides to be completely different and delete your account. They didn't even allow me to use whatever remaining time I had left.

To give them some credit, they at least warned me before I cancelled my account!

Oh and afterwards they decided to tell me `we look forward to seeing you again'

退会しました。
すべてのデータが削除されました。
ご利用ありがとうございました。
またのご利用をお待ちしております。

I doubt I will actually become a paying member of ron2 again.

whoa

January 22nd, 2010 by TACOS

MahjongNews has just released an unofficial list of the best European riichi tournament players of 2009. For some reason, drob is in there. In spot #37. As the only Swede. If I'm not mistaken, this makes him the best Swedish player in Europe.

"... since formal EMA riichi tournaments were not held until 2008, when the first European Riichi Mahjong Championship took place, in Hanover. So, unlike the MCR list, comparisons with earlier rankings are not possible."

...best ever Swedish player in Europe?

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Statistics: The Value of a Lead

January 20th, 2010 by TACOS

After I started playing mahjong, I learned one thing very fast. It is great to be in the lead. It's not just great. It is amazingly awesome. You are like a champion looking down on the rabble, watching them scrabble around for crumbs from your table, more often than not having to cannibalize each other to stay ahead. When a minor threat emerges, you can just put on your defensive armor and snicker at the pathetic attempts at toppling you. Should you choose to take the offensive, you can strike from anywhere, at anyone, with anything. Or if you are rich and bored you can just take a luxurious stroll around menzen mansion and not do much of anything, while everyone else is hanging on your every discard, safe in the knowledge that even doing absolutely nothing can benefit you. Being in the lead is great. But how great is it?

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