Tag: Karate »

It seems like more and more people are taking self defense classes these days. It's a practical skill, sadly, but I also think some of them do it because it's a lot of work and can burn off calories and tone muscles like nobody's business. But unless someone's nine, it can be hard to make time for lessons X number of times a week. Sometimes people just can't make it to the dojo.

This is why we have Self Defense for All, courtesy of YawaraJitsu. This "interactive self-defense course" sticks to the basics with a chronicle of many different techniques to learn. Each one also includes 3D video (featuring models with MASSIVE HANDS) that can be viewed from multiple angles to help users to fully understand the motions.

I want to stress that I don't believe this app will truly teach anyone to be a self defense master. Something like that requires a senei with years of experience to point out inconsistencies in forms and other students to toss around so as to get an idea for what the moves actually feel like. But I do think it's a useful tool for students that want to keep practicing off the mat. Self Defense for All is available on the App store right now in English, Spanish and Dutch for $5.99.

I remember going to video game arcades in the 80’s and feeding all of my hard-earned allowance into the mouths of select, unassuming coin-operated, wood-encased predators.

While the majority of arcades all died off in the mid-to-late 80’s, there are developers who still work to bring us back to those beloved, nostalgic days of soda-soaked fingers and greasy joystick bliss, only without the joysticks.

One of my favorite games was Data East’s arcade classic, Karate Champ, which, in addition to providing me with hundreds of hours of entertainment, played an integral role in teaching me Karate moves I would later need to fiend off bullies, thugs and arcade employees.

Imagine my delight when I learned Revolutionary Concepts is working to bring the original fighting game that started it all to the iPhone! Karate Champ’s controls consisted mainly of two joysticks and only those players with expert timing, intuition and the satisfaction of knowing Chuck Norris would be proud were declared winner.

Karate Champ will include:

Dual Stick Control

1 Player vs CPU over 12 environments

2 Player Mode via Bluetooth and WIFI

Classic 80’s sounds

Look for it in April!

[via Finger Gaming]