Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Escape to Vice City


Well I found myself tired of my current game selection and I didn’t want to start a new game yet, so I thought about the games that I had the most fun playing. The games that came to me were of course GTA3 and GTA Vice City, 2 well put together games from Rockstar available for a variety of consoles. the above picture shows our charecter "Tommy Vercetti" voiced by Ray Liotta, running with an assult rifle through the streets of Little Havana, Vice City, the picture came from GameSpot.com. The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series of games is no stranger to controversy and speculation, in fact if Rockstar even hints at a new GTA game the media goes nuts about violence in the game. Now the controversy started with a game called GTA3 available at first for the Playstation 2 and then later for the Xbox. The big issue I remember hearing about just after the games release was on talk radio one morning as I was pulled from school to help my dad with his work was about the use of hookers in the game. The game gives the ability to increase your characters health by pulling up to a woman on the street and driving with her to a dark secluded area, like a parking lot or ally, and then the car bounces up and down for a while as your health starts to increase. Upon receiving the max health available the car will stop bouncing and the female will exit after taking a bit of your money for “the Job.” The radio program also mentioned how you can afterwards kill the women and take back your money plus whatever money she had on her. I think its bull $#!+ that the designers get flagged for a little bit of sexual content and basically a slap on the wrist if there is a massive amount of blood and gore. All these complaints about kids playing these games are bogus, why are these kids playing a Rated-M game, because stupid parents didn’t check the rating before purchasing the game for their child. I think that parents need to stop relying on Video Games, TV, and movies as a watcher for kids and take some initiative and blame for their own mistakes.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Paradise City, Were the Grass is Green and the Girls are Preaty



This week i will be descusing my encounters with a game for the Xbox 360 called Burnout Paradise. The Above image came from Gamespot.com and shows one of my favorite cars in the game, i call it The Beast. Now for those of you who dont know about the burnout serease, this is one of many games in the serease spaning differant consoles from hand held to next Generation. the games basis is to award drivers for insain crazy stunts, crashes, and as in any racing game winning the race. the city you inhabit is called Paridise city, and it is large, and the graphics engin doesnt need to load mor scenery, all that you see you can drive to. i picked up this game being a virgin to the burnout serease, i had never played a burnout game before this, but i found myself unable to put this game down. the best idea for a racing game, is not to make you have to pay for a car but to let you choose a car of choice and Paradise city does this well. with several junk yards scatered around the city just drive to one and swap cars no charge. now i know what your thinking why would you want a car from the junk yard, well that is the only place to get a car in paradise city. and thet theoreticly in the city other racers race and crash and then their cars end up at the junk yard for you to have. the vast selection of cars would cling to every type of car enthusiest from the exotic lover, to the muscle maniac, and to the street tuner. now no midifitactions need be made to these cars they come pre modified all you need to do is keep them running by driving through the auto repair shop every now and then, free of course. in this game money is non existant everything can be won by completing stunt chalenges and races. as you complete the challenges you move up in rank from a class D driver to class C and so on. now this game does have an Xbox multiplayer feture but i havent played online but once and i dont have much to add about it accept know your cars and dont hesitate to switch before another race. well i will be closing this post i hope you write me your Paradise City responses.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Blogging is back!


I noticed that this quarter I’m working harder as a full time 23 yr old student at OSU, with no job and no girlfriend. A while back I stopped writing in Myspace to focus more on my school work and life, rather then to meet girls online. And so I had not wrote a blog for about a year until this past quarter English assignments about blogging.

I found the experience enlightening and fun; we were able to blog at our own will once a week and comment on whom we wanted to once a week. This assignment began as just that homework and so I staggered on it for a while but eventually it awakened my blogging self and now I am still blogging once a week and the class is over.

I feel that blogging is an outlet for me to discuss my feelings with whoever wants to know without compromising my identity if I so choose. Being that I’m such a huge gamer, I made my homework blog topic video games for the sole reason that It’s a topic that I know and love. It turned from homework assignment to a fun little entry every week about the latest game I have played or herd about.

After blogging and commenting I felt better that I was interacting with people outside my normal group, even though it was only with the other people in my class. Upon writing the blogs I got many responses from other students commenting on my post, I became happy. It became a joy to know people are actually listening to some of the things I have to say. I think in the end blogging helps me it’s a form of journaling and I like the technology aspect of blogs.

Do Blogs Have a Purpose?


Blogging is a very creative form of self expression that can be read and commented on by others. College students, young adults, and people around the world like to blog: blogging gives people a place to talk and rant about personal interactions they have had. In some way each of us as humans needs to rant, or get stuff off our chests every now and then, and in some cases there just isn’t anyone around who wants to listen. Internet sites devoted to blogging like Myspace, Technorati, and Blogger are needed now more than before, when all we wrote our thoughts in was journals. Many people keep a journal or diary of their interactions for sharing and discussion, but no one is there to read or comment on them. For me specifically I feel good knowing I have spread word about a game I played and I also enjoy hearing back about others exploits with that game. I believe that blogging is a simplified form of gossip, if you want to talk or hear about certain topics just use the search function, it’s that simple.

Blogging is a great tool that can be mastered by anyone willing to just sit down and type. My reasons for blogging are mostly to explain to others what I think about certain issues, or facts. Instead of verbally discussing the topic, witch in my case causes people to wander away or tune out; with the search function of blogging people can choose to skip my blog post. In a way blogging keeps me from wasting my friend’s time with useless chatter that they don’t care about. Blogging also helps to reduce the amount of uncomfortable interactions with people who just do not know what I’m talking about or do not understand. Most of the people I hang out with do listen to what I say; there are just a lot of subjects they don’t care to hear about. By displaying my topic of discussion as games with the blog post, using the search function people who do not want to talk about games will not see my page.

Blogging, as I described to “my mom” the other day, is a form of self expression and discussion of topics over various aspects of our lives. I also told her, imagine if she had a journal of her thoughts that she wanted to get some advice on them but still keep her secrets secret. Well with blogging instead of verbally telling people and having to explain oneself afterwards, bloggers can be anonymous to the general public. I took a break from blogging on MySpace a while back and now that I am back, it feels good to know some people out there care. Blogging for me has picked up in the past quarter at OSU; due to the assignments in my English class I started blogging weekly. Just as I was beginning to hate having the extra assignment I felt a need to discuss more after hearing others positive interest in my blog. Though I use blogging to rant about video games, its primary use for me is to alert others of exciting news or services the video game community has to discuss.

Blogging just like most of what people find on the internet depends on the search term. People like me would be looking at video game, and movie blogs for information on upcoming movie and game releases. My blog on Blogger is like a journal of video games and current information that I see fit to disperse among the public. And it makes me feel good to hear others appreciate my knowledge. I like to hang out with my friends; unfortunately they are not geeks like me so I refrain from talking about geeky subjects, such as video games and Star Wars. Just recently I was struck with the idea that I had to comment on the movie trailer I had just seen at that time. Though my assignment was to blog about video games I chose to blog about the upcoming movie Iron Man. So I guess what I’m getting at is that I blog because some times I just feel like sharing what I think about new and what’s exciting to me news, and blogging helps.

Myspace-www.myspace.com
Blogger-www.blogger.com
Technorati-www.technorati.com
Gamefaqs-www.gamefaqs.com

Loads More "BS"


I was logging in to my email yesterday and I noticed a news post on AOL news titled Eight “Racist” Games; I had to stop and read it. After reading the short post asking you what you think about these games it displays a slideshow of screen shots from the raciest games. Upon seeing the screen shots, I was not surprised to see Grand Theft Auto-Vice City by Rockstar on this list. the above picture depicts our charecter Tommy Verceti with a shotgun next to a croup of Cubans, perfactly harmless because Tommy is helping them at the presant time.

Of course this game franchise is no stranger to controversy with the antics of the main character in the GTA games. The post pokes fun at the fact that in the game your character is given a mission to kill all the Haitian gang members. The post apparently raised some questions in New York with the Haitian Centers Council and Haitian Americans for Human Rights group. Ill bet, out there is a news article complaining about a mission in the game to kill all the Cuban gang members. The game even has an all white biker gang and of course it’s your mission to kill them, but you don’t hear about the biker gang being offended.

I must say I am not for racism, I do admit that I’m a little racist but most of you people out there are a little racist. I find this to be an outrage considering the makers of the game the Rockstar Company responded that the game is based in a time when those gangs existed and were known to brawl with each other on a regular basis much like in the game. Seeing as how the music, clothes, cars and cityscapes all have the design and feel of that time period, this argument should have died along time ago.

My opinion is that bureaucratic politicians haven’t noticed anything in the news about games in a while so they started something. It’s possible that some one was offended. Let us think about the game Medal of Honor: European Assault, do we have to apologize to the Nazi’s for in the game, killing them to save Germany as U.S. Army Lieutenant William Holt. Personally I think not but hay it’s your choice. I didn’t think so, and yes I noticed the characters’ name too when I first played the game.
The picture provided by gameSpot.com

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Assasins Creed Revisited


Today I will be revisiting my older post titled Silent Assassin, based on the video game Assassins Creed for the Xbox 360. A screen shot taken from the game shows our character Altair sitting atop a castle over looking the landscape. As seen in the picture above, Assassins Creed has a crystal clear look produced by a new and improved graphics engine which leaves me wondering why they didn’t improve the story. Upon playing the game we soon realize the true story that has remained unclear until the game came out.

Gamers have been lead to believe that they will be playing a game based in Europe during the time of knights and wizards. This reality as we can quickly tell is only part of the actual story your character Desmond/ Altair inhabits. The worlds were Altair, the silent assassin roams are merely a 3D interaction with people and things from the past as if you were in your ancestors foot steps. Consider the memories that Desmond gets to replay but they are not his memories but his long since dead ancestors’ memories.

I gathered from this story is that the game is based in the near future and Desmond is an ex-con being used as a test subject for this experimental machinery known as the Animus. I have started the game, but as far as I have already gotten I haven’t even scratched the surface of the immense landscapes the game offers. So far when my character is not inside the Animus he inhabits a locked one room apartment next to the lab.

Desmond is not alone, when working with the Animus he is accompanied by 1 or 2 characters that become closer to him in different ways. One person, an attractive young female is sympathetic to Desmond’s needs and the other is a lab coat wearing old man. It becomes apparent that the young lady will play a major role in the story as each time you awake from the Animus to see her, and sometimes the old man. After playing the game you soon realize a repetition in the story that gets old quick. Though the game has stunning visuals and an awesome character movement design, the creators could have done away with the ancestor memories thing and made it a story based in the crusades.

My advice is to rent this game before you buy it, that is if you can find an available copy at Blockbuster. It beats the money you may wast on buying the game only to realise you hate it. Now dont get me wrong i like a "killing" story line in my video games as much as the next person but i dont like the whole animus and ancestors memories thing. So feel free to check the prices and buy the game at 60 bucks depending on the console but you may be suprised, and not in a good way, more like the way most people were after the recent movie Cloverfield.

Sunday, March 2, 2008


In the blog post “The MASS EFFECT of the Writer’s Strike” the author Pastor James Harleman talks about the effect the Writer’s Guild strike had on him, and his wife. Harleman does not like to watch reruns, but does enjoy a sci-fi action game here and there. Pastor James wrote that he and his wife played the video games Resident Evil 4 and Mass Effect, passing the controller between each other during play. The Writer’s strike forced him to stop watching television and turn to video games for entertainment. I agree with Harleman’s love of adaptive story lines, and action science fantasy video games. After reading this blog post I am now more enthusiastic about playing Mass Effect.


James Harleman wrote about what effects the Writer’s Guild strike would have on current movies and sitcoms, which caused him to search for entertainment elsewhere. I was unaware of a strike formed by the Writer’s Guild at the time I read this post, but was enlightened to read the description and storyline of the video game Mass Effect. Pastor James wrote about how the strike will make television shows worse because they will be running out of material or ideas. Harleman and his wife retreat to the world of Mass Effect for some science fantasy action as the story adapts to the choices the player makes. I have been very interested in Mass Effect since its commercial debut and after reading this post I like the realistic aspects of the game. Just like Harleman I too like the adaptive story in the campaign mode of an action game. After reading Pastor James’s post a few times I came to the conclusion that his title and story don’t match topics. In the post Harleman talks mostly about the video game Mass Effect and very briefly about the Writers Guild strike.


Harleman stated that TV shows like Lost and late night talk shows would exhaust their scripts, forcing a change in the story or improvisations. The author does not consider himself to be a huge “gamer,” he does not own any modern game console or games, but he does enjoy a good story line. Pastor James has friends who are “gamers” and they let him and his wife play a few games with their “Game Cube.” They were good at different aspects of the story line and therefore it became fun for the both of them playing Resident Evil 4 on the “Game Cube”. Shortly after Resident Evil 4, Haleman began to get bored with TV from the effects of the strike, so he barrowed a copy of Mass Effect from a friend and began the campaign. As Harleman played he learned of the adaptive story line and science fantasy rich environment the game brings. It becomes apparent that Pastor James loves this game as he relates the visuals to computer animated films like Shrek and The Incredibles. In short, I can tell that Harleman is thrilled with the adaptive, science fantasy story filled with action and suspense.


At first glance the post looks like it will be a rant from a protest about the strike, but much to my surprise most of the blog post has to do with a game called Mass Effect. Pastor James wrote the first two paragraphs talking a little bit about the strike, and then started writing about Resident Evil 4 and Mass Effect. I like that this post was most likely created as Harleman and his wife enjoyed Mass Effect. I’m guessing that with this post they feel they must share the game, making the focus of his blog post the game. As in the post, the focus is not solely on the game but the writer widened the focus to the strike that lead to him playing the game. The writer does a good job of “showing and telling” in his writing when he made a comparison between cartoon animated movies and the animation in the game. Harleman does a great job explaining the “voice-overs” of the game done by known movie stars and the main character.
Pastor James Harleman wrote a closing statement relating briefly to the focus of the post, this also included a range of the ages and genders of current “gamers” out in society. I think Pastor James should describe more about the Writer’s Guild strike in the closing of the post to make if fit in to the story more. The author did do a good job explaining the game so that others would get a feel for how the game plays and what to expect. The overall effect of this post was to make the reader, hopefully a “gamer,” want to play this game called Mass Effect. The next time I have some free time I will pick up this game and compare it to the descriptions I got from Harleman.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Guest Blogging Experiment

in today's blog we will be discussing the differences and my thoughts on the guest blog from last week. I first noticed the writer mate a few simple grammatical errors that the spell checker should have picked up. i pre write most of my posts on Microsoft word than copy and paste. i also have noticed a lack of enthusiasm considering a Halo topic is my most favorite topic to write. the writer uses the i have played halo before enthusiasm as opposed to my Halo Geek jargon. Also being that i am a huge Halo fan I would have put a video link from the website G4TV from the episode were they talk about the game Halo Wars. I also noticed that the picture was placed in the middle of the blog and i like to place my pictures in the left hand corner of the post. i do feel a little bit out of place that someone from a different background as me can have such a familiar style of writing as me. though if i got more posts from this person trying to be me i would eventually notice more in difference. but over all i say the writer did a good job of capturing my style, he or she just missed a few things.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Guest post. by Doc


So you think you like Halo? Well check this out, there is a whole game solely based on controlling a whole army or Spartans to battle the Covenant. Based on the first 3 Halo games, the creators of Age of Empires have created this real war-like game called, Halo Wars In the previous Halo games you only controlled one player, Master Chief, but in this game you get to control a large army of Spartan’s and battle the Covenant.

This puts a whole new twist on the Halo series. Halo is pretty much an all out action game. But with its new creators, Halo Wars has become a real strategy game. Unlike all the other Halo games, you followed a path and killed everyone in your way. Now you really have to think about what you are going to do, where you are going to deploy your troops, where you are going to drop an air strike. I think this puts a really great twist to the Halo series. Halo Wars puts it self in a more real-life genre like other games such as, Call Of Duty, Socom, and Battlefront. This new twist might bring in a lager crowd of gamers. Personally I am a fan of the old Halo games and I love being able to control one guy and kill whom I want. But I also can’t wait to get my hands on this new game and actually see it for my self. Who knows maybe this will start of new generation with Halo.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Fable lost or soon reborn (hiperlinks added, reviseons made)





Unless you weren’t an owner of the large black and green four hundred dollar Xbox console: than you have probably herd of a game called “Fable” created by Microsoft Game Studios. When I purchased Fable it wasn’t new, it actually had been out for a while and was marked down from forty nine to twenty nine signifying the drop in popularity. The game play is considered RPG but the actual is evolving RPG witch isn’t an official game type but I think it should be.

The game follows a little boy after his town is burned and he is left for dead, a guild of hero’s take him in to train. As you play the character will age and so will the people you meet and interact with in the towns. Once you have trained in wizardry and sword fighting you can go off and literally make a name for your self. From the beginning of the story you have no name, until you become a hero and win some battles than your title is hero unless you buy a new title.

The character has a light and dark side depending on what missions you take and how you act in real time. In the game there are always choices between good and bad and the choices you make determines your characters look. If my character has very little magic but a lot of strength and speed than he will look buffer and more athletic, than say if I new a lot of magic and had very little muscle. An evil character, someone who fulfils bad tasks and disobeys the law or kills innocents will be rewarded with devil horns and more aggressive magic. If your not for the dark side than you are rewarded with a halo around your head and a glowing aura around you. My friend played with his character and got him to be really evil, I prefer the opposite a wise wizard instead of a powerful mage. my final words i would say pick this relic up from your local Gamestop or EBgames, and try it out, you may like it.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

"Iron Man"


After reading the title how many of you can guess what my rant is about this time you, “Dee Dee Dee’s”. It’s about the new up and coming movie from Marvel and Paramount Pictures “Iron Man,” set to come to theaters May 2nd of this year. The movie follows comic book character “Tony Stark” a billionaire industrialist and inventor, as he becomes Iron Man. In the movie Tony Stark (Iron Man) played by Robert Downey Jr. is kidnapped and forced to design and build a Missile. Secretly, Stark instead creates a mechanized suit of armor. After escaping Tony Stark returns to the U.S. were he discovers a dangerous plot and becomes Iron Man to stop it. From the trailers I have seen the movie looks awesome and I can’t wait till it comes out, I am also interested to see how the rest of the Iron Man story goes. I never got in to Iron Man as much as I got in to other Marvel comics like "Fantastic Four", and Spider Man. This blog will be shorter than normal because I don’t know much about the actual comic book character but I know what to expect from a Marvel comics movie. I am hoping there will be a movie based game that comes out as the movie hits theaters giving us those awesome Iron Man powers that we will see in the movie. So far looking at the CGI work done on the movie everything looks smooth and real as it should.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Halo Movie? (hyperlinks Added)


The topic under discussion today is the “Halo Movie” I have been reading and watching blogs on the internet and the topic under descusseon in those blogs is the "Halo Movie". If you’re a gamer or if you know someone who owns an Xbox or Xbox 360 than chances are you have probably heard about the live action Halo movie currently in production with a release date some time in 2009. Well what I have gathered from all the blogs and trailer clips online is that the game from Bungie Studios that we all know and love is coming to the big screen with the help of Peter Jackson responsible for King Kong and the Lord of The Rings trilogy.

A lot of talk online is that the movie will ruin the game franchise and loose lots of fans in the span of an hour and a half to two hour long movie with a plot line that only gamers and geeks would understand. From the trailers and movie clips I have seen I can tell you from a Halo lover’s point of view that the gamers won’t be displeased with this game originating movie. The footage I looked at was from “YouTube” and it’s a basic halo combat situation instead of you fighting you get to watch, no more starting over from the beginning of the level. I have seen only eight minutes of the movie and I love it already I can’t wait to see the finished product and it looks like it will blow me away.

I have viewed this clip many times over and I still find little things I didn’t see or notice before. When watching the clip, my advice to you is watch it several times so that you know you have the story correct. At first watch I thought that the commander of the UNSC ground team, who gets impaled by a spike, is the main character Master Chief. From a second look at the movie I determined this isn’t the case, master chief is in the process of landing to support the ground troops who we follow at the beginning.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

"One Ring To RUIN Them All"

My views on Microsoft’s next generation console the Xbox 360, and the problems I have had with the system. I have had about six different Xbox 360 console systems come through my house during a six month period. A while back I checked out the different Xbox 360 systems available for reserving: the “Core” system, and the “Elite” system. The difference between the two systems is around two hundred dollars worth of extra equipment added to the “Core” to become the “Elite.” With the bundle as oppose to buying them yourself you save fifty dollars and receive a silver Xbox LIVE online membership free. I have had many problems with the Xbox 360 console all due to the early release date that Microsoft set. I like the Xbox 360 system, I am just mad that Microsoft didn’t do enough testing on the console before selling it.

Since Microsoft's next generation console the Xbox 360 made its debut at the Electronic Entertainment Expo it was the talk of the town until Sony's PS3 made its debut one year later. At that point it became not a goal but a priority for Microsoft to beat Sony in what I like to call the race for the gamers. A year or so before, both manufacturers were spreading information about their new consoles and the power they could put forth for gaming. So it was no question weather both companies had next generation technology, the real question was who would release the console first. Unfortunately for Microsoft, a speedy release meant some bugs and software glitches would be over looked.

The day before Microsoft released the Xbox 360 I couldn't even go to bed due to all the hype that was made about the console. I found my mind running with thoughts instead of sleeping and my face wouldn't stop hurting I was smiling so hard. Due to the hype I would have to wait in line for twelve hours to get my console and it wasn't even the complete system it was the "Core” system. Seeing as how that store was only sent fourteen consoles and I was number thirteen in line I consider myself lucky to have purchased one. As a precaution I had reserved an “Elite” bundle of the console in advance incase I didn’t get one on the release night. I spent my time playing Perfect Dark Zero for a month or so until the second release date came and then I traded up from the "Core" system to the “Elite.” Now that I had my “Elite” system and the first game for that console Perfect Dark Zero, I played and waited patiently for word about Halo 3.

A year and a half before the Halo 3 debut I reserved a copy for myself to pick up on the release date, a release date that would be remembered as the day Halo lovers “finished the fight." Just months before that day, I had been playing games on my console when everything just froze up right in the middle of a game. The console then started flashing on its front display three red blinking lights that formed a ring, aptly called "the red ring of death." It seemed weird so I rebooted the system and tried again and I got the same results over and over after following Microsoft's troubleshooting tips. I then contacted Microsoft support who sent me an empty box with a return address and instruction for shipment of the console back to the factory for diagnosis.

During the three to five week period that Microsoft looked at my console, I had to pass the time so I read books, magazines, and hung out with old friends. Though I got word from Microsoft that they would send me another Xbox 360, I found myself waiting another week for shipping. As I saw the UPS truck come down my street the clouds opened up and a beam of bright yellow light followed the truck to my house. The next few days passed by quickly as I soared through the campaign mode of Halo 3. I then decided to let my friend Adam see how the game ends and so I began the campaign over with him. Adam and I were about fifteen minutes into the game and still on the first level when the system froze, again.

I remember shedding a tear as I began to curse Microsoft for such a big problem that should have been fixed before the release. I took a few minutes to gather myself before I called Microsoft and began the long task of getting the console replaced, a task that would soon become very familiar to me. I went through three more Xbox 360 consoles all with the same software bug before I received a bug free console. Though it does not sound like a long time, from the first console about six months went by until finally a console with no defects as far as I know showed up at my door. After the incident I found out that this was happening to many consoles around the world mostly those from the first and second generation Xbox 360. Those who waited a few months to get consoles were the ones who had, and probably still do have, working consoles.

My experience with the Xbox and PS2 led me to turn from a Sony lover to a Microsoft lover, but with the problems I had my love for Microsoft has been tested. Due to many problems the Xbox 360 console has I feel that Microsoft has not caught up with the overpowering PS3 from Sony. I have not heard anything bad about Sony since the Slim PS2 console had problems overheating a lot. Being first to release the next generation of gaming consoles was a nice idea for Microsoft, who had high hopes about the Xbox 360 console. In the end Microsoft was dealt a hard blow with the software problem that has plagued many consoles around the world giving them a bad rap. Microsoft had better pick it up or Sony is going to lead in the “gamers” market with the next console that the company makes.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Silent Assassin

I don't know about you guise but i sure cant wait to play Assassins Creed for the Xbox 360, i know it has been out for a little while but i just haven't been able to get a copy available from Blockbuster. I am so interested in this game due to the new graphics engine created and used for this game, it allows a totally new type of game play and movement for your character in the game. The new graphics engine enables you to create your own moves for this character not use set moves, in that if you are running to the edge of a building and jump you can preform almost any maneuver with the toggle and land wherever you toggle. in the end this leaves the task up to you to enjoy the story and immensely stunning visuals on the Xbox 360 but also make your own moves and combo's up to win. Another topic for discussion is the story line, its set back in medieval times with your character the Honorable Assassin Altair who works for the crown with 4 weapons and hand to hand combat skills. i love the look of this game; however the story setting doesn't impress me.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

"NFS Underground" compared to the recent "Pro Street" By EA Games

EA-games franchise of NFS (Need For Speed) games have all made us feel like real tuners with its amazing graphics, custom parts and colors, and all the cars you can dream in one game, not to mention current top of the chart EA picked tracks to listen to during the game. when starting with this blogg i will talk about Need For Speed Pro Street as i have played it, (Spoiler Alert) if you don't want to be spoiled then pass my blogg now.

OK . i have recently played the new NFS game Pro Street, the premise for this game is totally legit racing in competitions around the USA on tournament tracks. The big downer or upper however you look at it is you wont be seeing red & Blue, in this instalment your character is a recovering track racer back in the game but at the bottom of the barrel. Something new in this edition is that you can go to Xbox live and with micro points buy any car or performance mods and slap them on your car for more points faster, or so you think. I thought that this would mean a domination over the game since i went on Live and bought a new Nissan GT-R its awesome but the catch is that whatever car you choose to race with your opponents will be riding modded monstrosities as weak or as powerful as your car.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Possible Connection

Hello everyone, i am gonna start a little rant about the connection between video game violence and the past few school shootings. I took the time to watch a few hearings from the MSRP just before they stickered everything. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about those little white boxes with ratings on them and content warnings. I believe the visual rating system is a good idea but this should not be used to help parents make video games their children's guardian. many people claimed that after shootings at schools that they were actually putting some blame on violent images, and influences from video games. Now I'm not saying i dont think video games like Doom, Fear, and Silent Hill arnt violent by all means they are its just that many stores out there don't quite watch the ages of kids who buy games and parents are some times in the same sense too lazy to check the lable to see what the rating is. I think the problem is not to complain to the creators like (Rockstar) but to have our parents who have younger children playing games need to put those games away and stop being oblivious to what there kids may or may not be playing at their friends houses after school.
P.S. thanx for the coments if you need to get in contact with me for anything please email me Holt.158@osu.edu

Friday, January 4, 2008

blog possibilities

I am a student at OSU and my interests are computer building and Xbox 360 video games. along the lines of actual games i will discuss the issue of violence in video games and my opinion on such and the way the MSRP controls most of what we do. I think I'm good for this topic because i have a wide variety of videos games that i have played and am passionate about the issue of violence and its small connection to shootings in schools. When reading this blog i hope you will get an idea of what my focus on this subject is and my beliefs on the MSRP and parental guidance in games. Every game has a sticker on the cover displaying its rating and content and i believe this is all the MSRP organization should do to games and should stop Bitching at video game creators like the GTA franchise or other titles like Doom, and Quake. I am open to comments or questions on this subject, please use clear concise comments with very descriptive explanations, i don't mind an argument just be adult about it.