Shoulda Carried The Pads...

Dez definitely made the wrong decision on this one.

This doesn't sit well with me though. Sure, as a rookie it was wrong for Dez Bryant to refuse carrying pads for veteran Roy Williams. It's almost traditional that newer players are subject to tasks the veteran players are exempt from. But what Williams ended up making Bryant pay was way overkill. The article praises Williams for his "veteran" move, but I just think that was a dick move. Almost $55,000 worth of food? I don't know how much Bryant is paid, but it's definitely more than he's comfortable with.

C'mon Cowboys. You're feeding team of football players, not a whole damn town. 

I Didn't Know This Was Happening...

Excuse my tardiness - IB Higher Level Math portfolios aren't going to do themselves.

So a couple of days ago I found this article and have been holding on to it. Read it and feel ashamed for Canada.

We've always been known as one of the friendliest countries in the world, a shining beacon to immigrants and refugees, as well as war-dodgers. At least, that's how we were in the 70's. Now? When an American against the war leaves to seek sanctuary in Canada, they get caught, and marched right back to the US. Canada isn't involved in the war - in fact, I'm pretty sure Canada is against the war. So why reject others who are against the war?

It's possible that, as service in the US Army is now optional, that some of these war-dodgers joined initially out of curiosity or fervor, but after experiencing life in the army, whatever drove them dissipated. However, what I don't understand is this: correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, the US Army doesn't have any policy on leaving the army. Why not, then, just leave the army? Although, I suppose if one needs to attempt to seek sanctuary in a neighboring country, perhaps it's mandatory to stay in service after all.

Also, (again, perhaps it is because I am uninformed) I haven't noticed Canada suffering from any demographic issues. What's wrong with a few pacifists living in your country? Maybe our reliance on the US has gotten to the point where we're afraid of pissing them off. I sure hope not - I'd rather hate to see our peaceful image sullied.

Either way, what Canada is doing, or rather, not doing, is wrong. I hope that Bill C-440 gets passed.

Anti-Kinect Campaign: Tsk tsk

Pardon my lateness on this issue: Sony began an anti-Kinect campaign under the name "Yay Buttons!". It's not directly stated that it's against the Kinect, but considering how Kinect is the only controller-less gaming option in style right now (the original was the Playstation Eye-Toy; now how ironic is that?)

Honestly, I don't know what to say about this whole Move vs. Kinect situation. On one hand, I understand Sony's claim about how buttons give the user exclusive, precise, button-matched control over the game. But on the other hand, Kinect, though still rough around the edges, has the potential to revolutionize gaming (kinda like, again the Eye-Toy, except Sony didn't continue to develop the idea, and instead gave it the boot). One step closer to Tron, I say.

The article seems to mention that perhaps Microsoft is anticipating the release of some sort of handheld peripheral to accompany the Kinect, to which I have to say: why come full circle? You went out of your way to shed the bonds of a controller to make a handsfree experience, only to come back and mimic what the Wii and PS3 are doing. Doesn't seem like such a good investment there.

Sony raises an extremely valid point, that buttons give control. But still... don't be hatin'.

Think Fast!

The University of Rochester recently conducted a study that showed that FPS gamers make decisions 25% faster than gamers of other genres (as well as perhaps non-gamers; this was not mentioned). Fortunately, accuracy was not sacrificed - FPS gamers got just as many answers right as the opposing group.

This is a great step for FPS games, but it fails to provide an answer to one of the prominent arguments against it - that FPS games promote violence, and increases the chances of violent tendencies. This study only shows that FPS gamers can answer faster than others in a test where only questions with definitive answers are provided. Should the test have included morally ambiguous questions with answers that ranged subtly from pacifist to violent, the results of the study may well have been different.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an advocate of FPS's (even though I don't (have the time to) play them) - I support the results of this study. But someone should look into the real problems that plague shooters, and address them.

I'm Back!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am finally back from my long hiatus. Like I said in my previous post, I was in China for the duration of the summer break. as Blogger is blocked in China, I had difficulty accessing it. Aside from the one post I made to inform you of the hiatus, I didn't feel the urge to go through all the trouble to post. (Does that make me a bad blogger?)

Let's start off with something controversial that happened over the summer - the Manila Bus incident. I'm pretty sure I share the same opinion with the majority of the world when I say: Police of the Philippines - what were you thinking? Every single step of the rescue process was either completely nonsensical, or poorly executed.

First of all, why in God's name would you ever, ever deny the appeal of someone who has a bus load of hostages, with an M16 to shoot them? That doesn't make any sense! At least

Next, if you're planning a rescue operation, wouldn't you bring in another bus of the same model, and study it to formulate a plan. Oh, you did bring in a bus? Was it the same model? No? Again - what were you thinking?

When the hostage situation started, I think I speak for almost everyone when I say that we expected it to end without bloodshed - the man would either be placated and arrested, or executed with minimum collateral damage. But look out it turned out...

Way to go PNP, yet another mark on your already tarnished record.

Who Said That?

id Software was recently quoted for stating that PC gaming is not on its deathbed. Which implies that at some point, they thought PC gaming WAS on its deathbed.

Maybe I'm just not up to date, but I can't think of a single point in PC gaming history, where PC games were in danger of disappearing. In fact, I'm surprised PC games aren't trumping all the other consoles - PC gamers have the opportunity to raise the graphic quality of their games to surpass any graphics a console could muster. Not only that, but the hardware of a PC can be put to uses other than games, whereas, say, an XBox 360... You're not going to be multitasking between Word and iTunes any time soon.

Another advantage would be the flexibility of the controller. More than 60 customizable buttons, versus... a PS3 controller. PC wins. Oh, and don't forget the capabilities of a mouse, versus the capabilities of joysticks. Again, PC wins. The only limitation is that the mouse needs an appropriate surface, compared to controllers, which are handheld.

It might just be me, but I never, for one second, thought that PC gaming was in any trouble.

-------

Sorry about the small hiatus - I am currently in China, where Blogger is blocked. Fortunately, there are proxies which I can use to continue to blog, but the downside is, many of the functions are lost. So, here are some temporary replacements:

Words that were originally italicized will now be in COMPLETE CAPS, to emphasize a point

Links will temporarily be added to the end of the post. To see the original article, please copy and paste the link.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1112513p1.html

What Kind Of A Name Is That??

Heroes of Newerth is releasing a new Hero - Flint Beastwood, an orc who wields two double-barreled shotguns in each hand.

Really, S2 Games? Are you so, completely out of ideas for names that you would blatantly rip one from good ol' Clint Eastwood? Even the gun-toting bit seems suspiciously similar. All those Westerns, even Gran Torino. Are you sure this new hero isn't just Clint Eastwood, except twenty years younger and painted in green?

But then again, I guess it's more about the gameplay, and I should probably stop worrying about any possible copyright infringements. Honestly, if S2 Games doesn't get in trouble for the whole thing, I'd be pretty excited for the new Hero. Attack speed seems a little bit fast, and his ultimate seems strangely alike Witch Slayer's (unless I am mistaken, and that giant nuke shot isn't his ultimate.) But overall, a nice addition.

R2-D2 Phone!

Like I've said, I'm not a big Star Wars fan. But this phone... this phone looks awesome. Props to whoever at Motorola thought to make an R2-D2 edition of the Droid 2. If only someone had the smart idea to do the same with the iPhone 4, my life would be complete. (Not really, but you know what I mean.)

One Movie, Two Endings

Apparently, Return of the Jedi was supposed to have a different, more bittersweet ending than what was actually put in the movie. Han Solo was supposed to die, the Rebels were supposed to be "in tatters", and Leia supposed to struggle as a queen.

I'm not a big fan of Star Wars, so I don't see the real impact of a different ending - if I watched the movie, I'd probably accepted either ending. After all, both would've been rather cliche.

Ending 1: Everybody lives, and everything is sugar and rainbows. Happily ever after. Fairy tales anybody?

Ending 2: Han Solo dies, Luke Skywalker disappears into the horizon, the Rebels are ruined, the new queen Leia tries to keep everything under control. Seems a lot like the endings to Hollywood drama movies nowadays, no?

To me, the endings really wouldn't have mattered. But I'm sure that, had the ending used been what was originally planned, the achievements of the characters would seem less fantastic.

An Editor's Ambition

There's a man named Jeff Deck, and he is on a mission - to change as many public typos and grammatical errors in signs across America as he can find. It all started with a sign that said "No Tresspassing". Yes, with two S's.

All I gotta say is, I support you all the way man. By taking this step, you are one step closer making this country a more proper place. Good on you.

You Think YOU'RE Daughter's Going To Die Of Drug Abuse?

Courtney Love was recently interviewed by Britain's You magazine, and confesses that she fears for her daughter, Frances Bean (that's a girl's name?), who is getting $40,000 a month, on top of an all-expenses paid mansion.

Of all people to be concerned, Courtney should be the last. Sure she's the mother, and its sweet and all, but I think her own behavior would mark her as a hypocrite. A drug addict, telling her daughter to not do drugs. Huh.


But then again, their relationship was a mess to begin with. Love loses custody of her daughter in 2003 due to drugs (surprise, surprise), regains it in 2005, then loses it again 2008.


At least there's some happy ending - Love protects Bean's wish for a normal life; she says, "Frances is so beautiful, but she doesn't want to be famous. She was offered the part of Bella in the 'Twilight' movies, and Tim Burton wanted her for 'Alice in Wonderland.' But she wants to go to college: she's very good at graphic novels. Frances will be fine, it'll be fine."


Aww, that's touching. Now get that blunt out of your mouth, that needle out of your arm, and go do some push-ups or something.

What? They're Not Split Yet?

Remember that foul ball incident involving Bo and Sarah? Yeah, there was an interview of them, in which Bo confirms their continued relationship, but Sarah let slip her intentions.

I'm still wondering why they haven't broken up yet. C'mon, the guy embarassed both himself and his girlfriend on national television. How do you go on after that? Maybe they're just staying together for the press - kinda like the Falcon's Balloon Boy, but more accidental than elaborate.

Another One?

The creators of BioShock and BioShock 2 released a statement last night about another project they're working on - BioShock Infinite.

I can't think of how they could improve the formula. The original was good, the sequel... shaped up. But now they're making a third one? I know the setting is different, but I don't see how they could make the overall idea of it different. The only thing I could wonder about is what kind of creepy crawlies there are going to be this time. In Rapture, it was crazed druggy splicers. What's this game going to be? Alcoholics?

New Trailer For F.E.A.R 3!

A new CGI trailer for the upcoming action-horror game was released. Check it out!

Hey, I Have An iPhone...

OkCupid did a study recently that apparently shows some very interesting statistics: that iPhone users have more sex than other smartphone owners.

This is most likely a joke, as much as I'd like to believe it to be true. They only tested 10,000 people. In a world of 6 billion people - heck, there are 300 million in the US alone - that's an extremely small sample (less than 0.0001% around the world, less than 0.01% in America). Are you sure you didn't just interview a bunch of Apple employee's?

Chaos Rings Ain't Gonna Circle My iPad

So Square Enix took the step to port Chaos Rings over to the iPad, improving the graphics and layout, but overall leaving gameplay untouched - for good reason, I guess. IGN gave it a 9/10, and added it to the Top Apps for the iPad.

But personally, I can't see the appeal in Chaos Rings. I am a huge fan of RPG's, but from what I've heard of Chaos Rings, there is little character development - it's just one monster after another. (By all means, correct me if I'm wrong on this point - I want to find a reason to buy this game) Just because there are good graphics, doesn't mean that the gameplay will be good. After all, 8-bit games like Meat Boy still sell just as well as any other downloadable game.

Until someone gives me a good reason to press that download button, this game stays off my iPad.

Giant Block-Lettered Typo

So some poor fella just mispelled the word "school", right in front of a school. What makes it so bad is that it's painted in giant letters on the road.

I could hardly imagine what was going through this man's head when he painted it. Probably something along the lines of "*distracted**distracted**distracted*Oh shit..." At least have the word out in front of you, for god's sakes - it's only six letters. This mistake is only going to add to the whole American stereotype. I don't hate Americans; in fact we Canadians are frequent customers of the American Thrift Shop ( year old TV reruns, I'm looking at you), so I'm usually just indifferent to what America does. But this mistake... makes me sad.

Galio's League Judgement

The League Judgement of League of Legends' new champion, Galio, is now out for everyone's viewing pleasure. Check it out!

Good For You, Portugal

I'm probably just internationally ignorant, but today I found out that over the past five years, Portugal has been hard at work quitting fossil fuels. It's said that 45% of their energy source is now renewable.

That is awesome! How is no other country following in their footsteps? Portugal is by no means poor, but neither could it be considered one of the most prosperous in the world. So if they could do it, why couldn't any other country? Sure America has more land and more people, but that just means renewable energy sources on a grander scale; instead of 10 wind turbines, make 100. Instead of one hydropower dam, make five. There shouldn't be any excuses for the destruction of our planet, the pumping of tons of sewage into clean waters and gases into the atmosphere, except that the few people which power and influence have been sitting on their asses for far too long. Though global warming is heavily debated, there's no doubt that pollution is a present and immediate threat. There needs to be change, and there needs to be change now. Everybody else seems to only go for the change part. But Portugal? They've got the change now.

That's Too Much, Even For Me

Billy Mitchell has once again raised the bar, setting a new world record on the classic Donkey Kong game, beating out the last title-holder by 1,100 points. However, it took him 2 hours and 42 minutes to set that record. That's a single run of the game.

Now I'm not saying that the record is not impressive - I'd be hard pressed to admit if I could even score 1/10 of what he scores. But when you spend almost an eighth of your day on a single run of the game... it's not the most beautiful mark on your social resume. I can't imagine anyone picking up ladies in a bar by going up to them and saying, "Hey babe... I set the world record for Donkey Kong..." Yeah, no, not going to happen.

Oh, and he didn't just set the record for Donkey Kong - he spent another 4 hours setting the world record for Donkey Kong Jr. I only have three words for you, Mr. Mitchell: Get. Out. More.