Sunday, September 29, 2013

This Fall, will Modern Warfare 2 overshadow Halo 3: ODST?

Given Call of Duty 4: Modern Watfare's ...-million-selling record, do you feel Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 is likely to gain the mass market

With this Fall in gaming shaping up, is it safe to say Call of Duty fans

With last year's Call of duty waw sales charting not as well than 2007's Call of duty: mw, is it safe to say these relatively poor sales indicate the fact that Call of Duty fans are either aware of the fact that Infinity Ward did not work on World at War, or they are apathetic towards World War II at the setting's already abused point? Regardless of either potentially true fact, I believe Modern Warfare 2 will greatly overshadow

8.16.09

July

As we kiss our beloved July away,
There is only one thing I can bear to say,
I will miss her gleaming rays, and vibrant colors,
In her stead, will be dear August, unlike all others,
The relaxation she provides is unparalled, and will surely never be forgotten,
Although we must wade through all the seasons, be they dreary, or be they rotten,
In my younger years, have I rarely appreciated oh sweet July,
But now that I've lived through a frigid winter, I may as well cry,
For that winter will inevitably come again,
To pass the time, we must count ten, ten, and omce again ten again,
And by that rewarding time, oh my,
Surely we deserve some variety to something different finally try,
For life strives on new experiences and new joys to be had,
We must cherish our time, for eventually, will we be not glad.

8.3.09

Girls' Short Attention Spans

For as long as time has gone on, women have been discredited for their lack of ingenuity, denied education, and

Why do the majority of teenage girls lack articulation, eloquence, and contemplative thought? They're endlessly looking for new goals, never perfecting their skill at anything, and succeed in school purely because the majority of their classed are grounded in objectivity. Teenage girls not only fail to understand comedy, but also even a level of intelligence that exceeds that of a preschool-dropout.

8.2.09

...

My pathetic mother
Complain, tire, ache, grieve is all my mother may perform,
I would think she'd have another activity, as if to conform,
Depressed and denouncing of the world and all its flaws,
Always emphasizing failures, deaths, and broken laws,
As if to justify the addage, 'bad news travels fast',
My mother never fails to constantly live in the past.

7.29.09

Counter Strike

Recently, I re-listened to the July 10th 2008 episode of GFW Radio, and after upon hearing the crew discuss the novel, Game Boys, Shawn Elliot brought up an interesting point: Many hardcore Counter Strike players are likely to never switch to another game. I'm certainly no expert, but when you think about it, most of the modern shooters we play today seem to be  iterations based on the original Counter Strike formula. And the only way for a modern shooter to stand out these days is to spin the Counter Strike formula in a way that seems believably distinct to a largely civilian audience. For example, Call of Duty 4 has been cited in the past by Shawn Elliot to present the same appeal to its players as Counter Strike did to fresh eyes many years ago. When further examined, Call of Duty 4 may even possibly appear as a reskinned version of Counter Strike with new maps, weapons, a regenerative health system, a running mechanic, and the ability to go prone.

But the strange thing is that to an outsider, any given Call of Duty clearly appears as a war simulation -- whereas Counter Strike is set in a world where all of the commonly accepted rules of soldiers are neglected in compromise for a barbaric, gladitorial-like deathmatch to the death. Maps are not laid out to accomodate modern warfighting tactics, and the weapons handle and respond to continuous fire unrealistically with exaggerated recoil, and the lack of the ability to look down the sight of the weapon, which would inevitably add some depth, be it not welcome in the already tremdously deep shooter experience the game already provides.

7.29.09

Polish is Annoying.

As I return to the suburbs in a daily fashion,
I am greeted with a shocking, yet greatly savage passion,
What is this dreadful cacophony? Stop, oh dear,
Yelling, with little regularity in her speaking, may one find a cheer,
It's nearly tribal and primative, if you so will,
Relative to our high-class way of speaking, which sounds so chill,
How can humans with great minds a language such as that construct?
It is incoherent and nonsensical to say what doesn't matter but,
She speaks with such rapidity



7.27.09

For balancing's sake!

For balancing's sake, I've witnessed countless nerfing, tweaking, altering, and adjusting of games. This is such a prevalent concept that games have been delayed, have had their reviews based off of them

7.20.09

Loneliness.

I may ignore it, and I may act as if it doesn't exist, but it does
It is a profound feeling of emptiness, and deep desolation,
I may console that emptiness with activities such as writing or reading, but it doesn't go away,
I may have a brief conversation, or a minor rapport with a stranger, but other than that and a very few friend visits throughout the year is all I'll see,
I've permanently gotten myself in a hole where I become conditioned to a lonely lifestyle, and whenever I may try to adapt or to join into a conversation, people ignore me outright, a social stigma, or a pushing away of what's different, what a hole,
All my life, I've been expecting my friends that I rarely visited to be unwilling or strictly considering me coming over to be a waste of time, and to be forming a preference to spend more time alone,
Oh dear, was I wrong,
Social interactions through the Internet are nothing more.
I could live off of the feeling of true social interaction,
It's exhiletating anticipating how people will prceive what you say or do, and when they look at you -- it's a sense that's indescribable --maybe gratifying,
Only a limited amount of growth can be done alone
But alas! A glimmer of hope -- smiling in the mirror, and hoping for good times yet to come makes a brilliant remedy

7.21.09

Growing Up.

Words take on new meanings,
"To play" is perceived inappropriate,
While not knowing the latest trends is considered taboo,
Espousing conservative beliefs is frowned upon,

7.23.09

A Year.

It's difficult to fully understand how much I have gone through within the span of a year. Transferring schools has drastically altered my life. Life has been an endless crucible against time, and I have been working more efficiently, as well as have finally broken out of my comfort zone socially. I have endured the many new experiences that have jarred me, have been subservient to teachers who seek a dominant, adamant position in class, and have been exposed to an incredibly egotistical lot, as I have learned to live with people of that level of self-respect, while sustaining my dignity.

7.27.09

Grandfather.

My grandfather, Stanley Lenoch has fled communism, escaped poverty, and has made a name for himself, both literally, and

7.16.09

All Publicity is good publicity

Given the tremendous popularity of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, coupled with the fact that it has made countless headlines, and supposedly has brainwashed parents into thinking video games are inherently bad (When the ESRB 'M' for mature rating is prominently posted on the front of the box), Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare becomes a forbidden fruit to numerous youths.

6.8.09

Pain

Pain, it is a virtue,
It is a form of abuse,
It is also a sense that makes our lives concrete,
Pain prevents our lives from becoming fey, meaningless dreams,
It gives us variety; time to relax and make effort,
Pain gives us things to look forward to, and things to detest.
If pain had not existed, we would be careless creatures, with nothing to do, because in every sport there would be no loser, and therefore, not any considerable pain or sense of suffering,
There would be no pride taken in the pity of another, there would be absolutely no joy, and no gratification for perserverence, no accomplishing of anything, no desire to do anything, and no reason to do a thing.
Pain and comfort are both good, and should be proportional

7.16.09

An Eye-Opening Experience

After listening to year-old GFW Radio episodes for the past week now, I think I've developed some sort of affinity for Shawn Elliott, and the fashion in which he expresses himself and verbalizes his opinions, which seem to have been ingrained in my mind. I'm getting a sense that I understand him more as a person although I have never personally met him. Strangely enough, I can hear his voice in my conscience and have noticed that my style of writing has been showing similarities to Shawn's style of speaking. I would dare to link this metaphysical connection with someone I have never met before due to the credibility Shawn bears when he changes his tone of voice to a more serious one, and how much more deeply I listen and how I concentrate to truly grasp his message and to learn from such a wise, [seemingly self-taught due to as he describes as an unfavorable youth] and well-read man. I may not try, but I think I look up to Shawn, not as a big brother, but as a role model, as someone to become in my own sort of way. Thanks Shawn for helping me develop a healthy aspiration for such a healthily humorous and humitile person that is well-rounded.

 I imagine how little this means to Shawn -- he seems like a naturally talented speaker with a little attention span, which is equally as juxtapositioned as the fact that he reads articles concerning neuropsychological defects, dillusions, and hysterias, yet laughs at nearly anything, and acts like a complete fool on the podcast, which imaginably is not true outside of the podcast recording.

I subconsciously seem to place a sense of belief behind Shawn Elliott's voice in particular at the moment he says something along the lines of "I think ... is coming to a point where ...", "It's interesting to see ...", "To its credit", "To be fair", or retracting his potentially false or otherwise incomprehensible views by timidly saying "I don't know".
I'm aware of how utterly bizarre it is to say this, but I can even imagine the type of voice Shawn would use to mock me.

These days it's becoming clearer and clearer how in need 1up.com is in of truly articulate individuals who are readers first and foremost, not gamers. There's a certain quality that is present on the Listen Up! podcast in terms of intelligent conversation, but it is never particularly as psychological, analytical, or nearly as meaningful as what I hear on the Out of The Game podcast. And that's fine, but I think after listening to GFW Radio for a week straight and nothing else, I think I'm coming to a point where I am beginning to expect more value from a podcast. For example, on GFW Radio, Shawn analyzed not only the quality of the game, but also the decision-making by the developer that influenced the particular game we know today, while also somehow smoothly diverging into psychological conversation.

7.11.09

Germany

I've been to a few nations in my life,
and none of them nearly as breath-taking. I've seen seemingly billions of video clips, images, and other modern forms of media about and around all things German. But finally, today is the day I was to make that abundantly anticipated impression to the German people at large -- to be collloquial, funny, social, and to be willing to make a fool of myself if that means I would get some speaking experience out of it. The flight prior to this spurt of angst was unbearable to say the least. I was fed twice, and have been in one relative position for the last eight hours. I am willing to bet I could run from Frankfurt to München, our two destinations for this trip. Well I better impress my parents, the Germans around me, and make a fool of myself while astounding them both with my finess and skill that I so greatly utilized in order to earn the knowledge of the German language I know at this very moment. With eight hours of mental preparation, I am confident I will make a stellar, unabashed performance.

6.9.09

Urban Sprawl

"Sprawl’s impacts upon ecosystems and other environmental resources are considerable. Sprawl and associated activities degrade environmental resources such as surface water and groundwater, air quality, and landscape aesthetics, and destroys wildlife habitats."




7.9.09

True Learning

Progressing our species, in some cases, we are,
We may think this, but in trueness, the world, we mar,
Appealing to the economy and seeing what sticks in this ever-evolving modern life,
But to work, work, more we must, to only promote pollution to become ultimately even more rife with dust,
Intelligence is a question not answered by many,
Especially by those who only bear a penny,
City people, so numerous and neglected,
Stuffed in a smoky haven of selfish individuals who stay connected,
What is this world coming to?
Certainly not any closer to the days of the sky, so wonderous and blue,
Children are failing, misusing the English language,
Their only medium to communication,
But one question that no one can answer is whether or not I am a self-delusioned scholar,
As all the opinions and criticisms of those around me are purely subjective, so why should I bother?
Do I credit myself or over-validate my opinion?
The annoyance of constant laughter and internal noise,
Is this a thing that we are prone to be poised?
Cunning, convincing and swindling too,
There is nothing a money-grubbing American won't do,
For more of it, and more of it, the dirty green substance,
And in the end, who knows, none of it will we have a chance,
And forget life's truest values, and to sell them off for a minor monetary gain,
In America, we are forced to purchase our "happiness", a fact that will have me willingly flee to Spain,
America is slow to adapt, and to spread the theory of green,
And by doing so, America is proving less likely for it to be a side in which I would lean,
Americans would not be so attached to their native land had they known the beauty that lies abroad,
And for their blissful ignorance, I satirically applaud,
For luckily, my green Europe will not be mucked away by the land-grabbing Americans and their empires of wealth,
For I shall reside humbly in Germany in comfort and stealth.

7.3.09

Wasting My Life

Sitting still,
Not doing a thing,
While passively letting my life slip by,
Watching the numbers grow, seasons change, all the while doing not a thing,
Not doing my hobbies, flexing my muscle or stimulating my brain,
Sitting, stagnant, worthless,
If donating my time is an indication of selflessness, then I am the greediest milionaire to purchase a golden toilet,
Although thinking about wasting time is a sound investment of my wealth,
Contemplating, and progressing my mind is always wise mental growth,
Writing in twisted ways, with wild and convoluted paths that even I can't devise an immediate end to,
Being open to obscure inferences, and constantly hoping to be an impressive, reverred writer, notably for my young age is an ironic way I want to spend my time before I grow old and then fully realize my dream of expression by the time I reach a certain age.
Oh how greatly I try to cherish my young age,
To do as I want and to make my time spent as a child count and increase my depth of knowledge

6.17.09

Fathers' Day

Daddy...
You defy all the commonly accepted rules of labor,
Make a spectacular steak,
Manage five or so hotels, a five-star restaurant as well as an enormous staff consisting of maids, chefs, waitresses, receptionists, and janitors,
And fly an aircraft straight from World War II,
Yet you still have time for all of us... Most of the time at least

You truly are a superhero Daddy-o-Daddy!

6.22.09

Soccer.

Soccer. When I say the very word, what comes to mind? Excitement, national pride, glory, and triumph may be a few words that epitomize the beautiful game. The FIFA World Cup is the most bombastic and intense culmination of all the world’s soccer tournaments. Since 1930, the World Cup has stunned fans with unexpected victories, housed upsets, and thrived as the world’s premier soccer event.

An estimated________ fans come from far and wide to see the World Cup every four years. This year, the World Cup is set to take place in South Africa in 2010, with the final match to take place in the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. According to Voanews.com, “nearly 400 million people will be traveling to South Africa” for all of the World Cup matches across ten different locations throughout South Africa. The largest stadium in all of South Africa, the Soccer City Stadium is anticipated to seat an enormous crowd of 95,000 screaming, jumping, and enthralled fans, sitting on the edge of every seat. For years, the World Cup has rendered as the spark to some of the world’s most notorious rivalries, a few being, Argentina and Brazil, England and Germany, France and Italy, and Argentina and England.

What puts soccer at the top of the sports hierarchy is its pace of play, the pure energy that is incessently exerted by each and every fan, and above all the universal love countries share for soccer with each other.



6.30.09

Giant Bombcast

Each episode of the Giant Bombcast begins with friendly chatter about the past week in gaming, revealing the very little chemistry the Giant Bomb crew has, and the awkward nature in which the show has grown.
And whenever Jeff begins to speak, the conversation quickly gains steam, bringing a segmented stop to the idle talk that comprises the hours-long weekly show.

7.2.09

My family

I can only stand obligatirily stunned by my family's astounding lack of any remote value to any religious devoution. It is possibly the most saddening sense I have ever felt to witness a family such as mine, born wholly of Adam and Eve, and entirely guilty to an uncommted life of Christianity, enamored by mere human secularities.

Edit: As of June 5th 2009 on my last day of Sophomore year at Saint Ignatius my family has progressed tremendously. We all get along famously now, and everything is good, and God is great.

5.9.09

Bungie: Too Conservative?

Is it me, or is the tried-and-true Halo shooter formula losing its luster? Even two years after the fall of 2007, which saw the pitting of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare against Halo 3, Halo ODST shows how much faith Bungie has in their engine, style of play, and graphics, as ODST appears to be ostensibly Halo 3 with a new paint job. Throughout the duration of Microsoft's E3 Press Conference, Modern Warfare 2 as well as Halo ODST had their time to shine. Not surprisingly, Halo ODST looked very dated in stark comparison to Modern Warfare 2. Why is it that it seems as though Bungie is not willing to conform to what is obviously successful in the realm of shooters? Is it that Bungie feels  they can have their own unique shooter experience? Personally, and maybe you've already deciphered this through my wording above, but I feel as though the Halo franchise has a far less immersive shooter experience to offer. Certainly Halo games have their climactic moments, but in terms of multiplayer and the simple act of shooting, Halo does far less to give the player a visceral sense of force behind the rifle. In fact, it's as if Halo is becoming primitive in this ever-evolving industry. The Halo franchise may also feel overwrought due to how little Bungie is willing to take risks, and how little they seem to have noticably implemented to the gameplay over the past years. It is evident Bungie does not want Halo to become a game where Spartans are lying down in multiplayer matches, trying not to be seen, or conversely, like the high-speed pace provided by the Unreal Tournament games. Rather, the Halo games have apparently been trying to achieve a balance of pace, tactics, and action. But if the Halo franchise were to endure a drastic change in gameplay, the genre of shooters as we know it may change forever. So I suppose I've answered the question for myself: Halo is Halo, and Call of Duty is Call of Duty, and there's no worth in changing that fact.

6.3.09

Leaving...

My heart is leaving my body,
My reistance is growing thin,
I anticipate the arduous car ride that lies ahead,
I think of the cramped car and the ensuing arguments between siblings, and sometimes parents alike,
I feel like staying home,
Yet I know I must attend this or that party or celebration, and must somehow find an activity that will pass the time,
I hope my youth does not slip away,
My mother is screaming like
a maniac, trying to gather the family, ignorant of the discussions upstairs,
I anticipate the cleaning I'll be forced to do once I arrive home,
I look out the windows and regret the stellar day I could be having,
I smell the intoxicating scent of the world's perfumes combined, making me quesy,
I imagine how easy it would be if my cousins lived within walking distance,
I sense the sensitivity of my family when in such close proximity and how easily a heated debate could emerge,
I do my best to not object or arouse any anger in my family by acting complacent,
My mother does the same as she adjusts  the route-divising GPS,
My father mocks his own arrogance and age, my family family responds joyfully with laughter,
Contrary to as I predicted, this car ride is progressing smoothly,
My family discusses the anti-social qualities of my cousin -- the cousin who is having the graduation party, my mother calls him a "blob",
My sister is the first to notice the repugnant scent,
My mother then turns on the air conditioning, retorting with an "eew",
Throughout the concrete expanses, my mother earns her title as 'most wobbly driver'

5.25.09

I feel as though there is no single individual that can speak for the entire...

I feel as though there is no single individual that can speak for the entire
American community as there is such great diversity, yet no to little unity. People are so detached from each other in America, and people live such private lives that rarely incorporate and accept the views and opinions of others. People act incredibly complacent

5.24.09

Aspirational Video Game Journalists

As evident by the rampantly enthusiastic community of video gamers on various internet message boards, video game journalism is something the majority of those gamers are setting their sights on. Given the sheer amount of those who aspire to be video game critics, one eminent issue I forsee is the surplus of enthusiastic video game fanatics who are not necessarily well-read or otherwise articulate writers or thinkers in general. This is also a problem dealing with an unbalanced quality to quantity ratio. There is an innumerable lot of gamers who are certainly enthusiastic enough about games to make it his or her living, but the question is whether or not those dedicated gamers will ultimately contribute to the industry's creativity, originality, and overall reputability. You can search on YouTube for a gamer's "rant", and you will witness a potential candidate for America's Funniest Home Video. Gamers seem to think their intensity of enthusiasm counts for something. It doesn't mean a thing unless that same enthusiasm bleeds through the page, and is communicated in a creative manner.

Another common misconception gamers seem to hold is that in order to become a video game journalist, one must be more knowledgable in the realm of video games rather than literature.
Industry veteran, Shawn Elliot has on multiple occasions, gone out of his way to teach the public that video game journalists should read more than play video games. This is often a topic of contention as on message boards, as it's fair to expect a divided community who will unendingly debate the strengths and weaknesses of being more knowledgable in the realm of either literature or video games. Personally, I consider it vital for there to be a proportion of one's knowledge of games and literature, as the two familiarities can complement each other in terms of writing an accurate, interesting, and societally aware piece.

5.22.09

The Culture of Message Boards

Video game related Message boards seem to emphasize release dates, quotes of various outspoken developers, podcast discussions, and few high-brow discussions that ultimately are highjacked by short-attention spanned fools who haven't the patience to understand the topic. The problem I see in all of this is that there isn't much variety, and whenever a new, unique sort of topic arises, the community is apt to ignore it. This creates a sort of dynamic hierarchy within the community that sets the underlings as ones who only respond to the queries of the people who are vain enough to consider themselves intelligent, or at least moreso than that of their fellow community members.

5.15.09

Does every Game need an Experience System?

In the wake of 2005's Battlefield 2, Infinity Ward capitalized on DICE's experience system with Call of Duty 4, and to great effect. So much so that this sort of carrot-stick incentive-based system has gone rampant. Games that trailed off of Call of Duty 4's explosive success are Lost Planet 2, Gears of War 2, Battlefield: Bad Company (although it's arguable whether or not Bad Company's inclusion of the experience system was a reaction to Call of Duty 4 or it was fully intentional from the start of development), Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhead, and Fear 2. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how much you might have to earn to play at a reasonable level these days, especially if you're playing multiple shooters at once? And do you imagine yourself dividing your time between shooters given the time-consuming nature of the RPG-like experience system that is seemingly duck-taped in most modern online shooters? Personally, I find the ranking systems in some games truly unecessary, but then again, I'm certainly not someone who can plow through all the ranks in a few days, which
is something that may color my opinion.

The bad thing about this whole situation is the fact that fans don't seem to be getting bored of this experience system, no matter what game it's hastily botched on to. That's not very good in terms of the growth of the industry. As far ad I can see, people are eating any game up that has an experience system in it, and that's not encouraging any revolution. All I can hope is that Infinity Ward implements on some new gimmick before the experience system truly loses its luster.

5.5.09

My life, determined for being human

Why is my life essentially predestined by other humans. I have relatively very little choice how my youth should be spent, as my childhood will have expired by the time I have completed the minimum education requirement.

Call me insane for perceiving my own mind to be intelligent, but call me utterly mad for imagining my personal, permanent sense of joy to be spent obligation free, and spent

4.18.09

U2

U2 is virtually the best band the world has ever seen, as the group's music can be appreciated by an indiscriminant fan base, such as casual listeners to devout fans. That is particularly the brillance of U2 and the collosal failure of the large majority of the world's bands, as the world's bands typically do a competent job attracting an exclusive fan base, but as far as I can see, U2 appeals to anyone with any music preference. I'm almost convinced the band has achieved absolute mass appeal.

4.18.09

The wind, how arbitrary and serene

The wind, how arbitrary and serene,
Cooling the world at every scene,
Flowing like the wings of a butterfly, undisturbed, and ceaseless,
And its presence oh how conspicuous it is, like a sweltering day that goes breezeless,
Moving like a constant wave, over every man woman and child, breathing great life into them,
And its exhaling, so incredibly natural as a stem,
The wind is the most reliable companion, wherever one goes, it shalll go along,
And so, wherever it may go it shall be quite strong,
It is slow and vivid, rather harmonious too,
The greatest thing is that it's always surrounded by blue,
The wind, the freest creature to exist,
Even moreso than the being of mist,
Its smooth great claws pull the ocean ever so nearer,
Bringing that which it pulls ever so clearer,
Immersing one into great daze of delight,
Nearly so daunting, it evokes fright,
That which I speak of involves the undersea,
Had you in any case experienced any swimming with glee,
Then you would be rather informed and aware,
And not delirious and up asnare,

Posted: 4.11.09

McDonalds "Restaurants"

First, in providing the world with food no one wants,
A place that creates fuel not food,
An artery-busting giant

 Posted: 4.11.09