A Pixilated Version of Rhetoric

In the previous post, I posted the video that explained why video games were rhetorical. However, due to the the horde of exams and work that I had to do due, I neglected to explain the explication. Hence, let me do so here (Warning: Long Post).One of the first pictures that is seen in the video, is perhaps one of the ones with most significance. Such a picture would be the one that shows the "Pong" arcade. The picture accurately portrays just how much different the classics are from the new breed of video games. One of these differences is the fact that technology limitations made it impractical to have such a big machine in other place but in a a dedicated arcade place. The technological limitations also allowed but a few bits in the screen to be displayed, which meant for monochromatic and simple shapes were the only choice for video game developers to have in their games.  

The next picture of major significance is the picture where Super Mario Brothers was showed. Being a more recent game, a lot more people remember to have played at least a couple of levels in that game. The game also symbolizes the change from story-less video games, to the ones that actually had something that could be called a story. The story was very crude, save Princess Peach and rescue Mushroom Kingdom, but it allowed for the users of the video game to feel some sort of connection to the character, thereby making it more appealable and rhetorical.

Another picture that has a lot of meaning behind it, is the Fight Night 3 picture where the two boxers are playing. The graphics of Fight Night Round 3 are so realistic, that it is hard to realize it is a video game. The graphics upgrade upped the ethos of the video games making them more than just "childish games."

The picture with the most significance, at least to me, is the one that reads "Bioschock: Breaking the Mold." The picture mentioned before is from one of the best video games out there. Bioshock, as it called is most known for the way in which it delivers its story. Bioshock’s narrative not only uses the technique of staring the story in the middle of it, to grab the player’s attention, but it also adds a new twist to it which utilizes the properties of the medium. The first one of the slight twists that Bioshock gives to its narrative is that there are no cut-scenes or text that tells the user the complete story of the events that happened before the user entered the city. Instead, the pre-game story is scatter abroad throughout the city of Rapture in “Audio Libraries” which are voice recordings of the fictional characters that used to live in that city.

These recordings, rather than being mere additions to the main story, they are the story themselves. Such is Bioshock’s first interactive twist. The second one however surpasses the first one in the effects it has in the real world.

Bioshock is a video game that not only changes the way in traditional narrative is done with its “Audio Libraries,” but that it also incites further discourse in the user’s world. The main goal for the user in the video game is to escape the city of Rapture. However, as the player progresses and the enemies become stronger and stronger, it becomes obvious that the user controlled character will need to upgrade.

The only way to upgrade is by finding little girl (which appeared in the two following pictures) infected with a parasitic creatures living in them called “Little Sisters,” and taking “Adam” (the game’s currency) from them. The Adam however, is not on them, but in them and there are only two ways to take out: the player needs to either save the Little Sisters by cleaning their body from the parasite that makes them produce the Adam, or by “harvesting” them. Saving the little girls will only give the player half of the Adam which the player would have otherwise gotten had he/she harvested the Little Sisters. Nevertheless, harvesting a Little Sister means to take the life away from her. Although in paper the decision might sound obvious (get the most points), in practice, it is not as easy. Although the Little Sisters are not humans in the video game, their only purpose is to create Adam now, they still look like little girls. Hence the dilemma, should the Little Sisters be harvested or saved? Thus it is possible to see the how games have incorporated logic and morals into a dilemma that has no real right answer. The paradox being discussed bares a striking resemblance with the current issue of cloning.

The rest of the pictures are meant to depict some of the greatest nay sayers when it comes to video games. The main argument of people like Arnold and Jack, is that video games are way to influential to be left in the hands of little kids. This is not the case however, since video games are regulated, much like the movie industry, by an independent organization called the ESRB. One fact is to not about this, if video games were not rhetorical, no one would be arguing that they are too influential. Hence, in fighting them, the opposers of video games have actually made them to win.

A Pixilated Version of Rhetoric

Rant #3: Movies: Iron Man Lives Again! Hopefully

As the release date for Iron Man The Movie draws closer and closer, I can't help but to wonder, will it be everything they promised? I know that that is the basic question for any movie, but the danger for a flop  considerably risen as of late. If you don't believe me, just try to remember any awesome movies that have come out as of late; when I say "awesome," I mean movies that make you forget where you are and that you don't even want to stand and go to the restroom for fear of missing something. Think...not that many huh?

The last movie I can remember that kept me sit down like that was "The Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers," but that was 6 years ago!; after that, not much as really stood out of the bunch. Which leads me to my real concern, is the age of great movies over? I mean, movies are costing more and more, but I am not that sure that the are getting and better. Take for example, "I Am Legend," everyone and their mom said that movie was great. The movie lasted about one hour, don't you think that there was far more material to stretch the movie to 2 hours? Yet they didn't. How about Spiderman 3 which, for me, destroyed most of the affection to the franchise since it was waaaaaaay to cheesy? How about Pirates of the Caribbean 3? Another flop. Shrek 3? flop. Star Wars 1? Flop. Star Wars 3? Flop. The list of "heavy releases"gone wrong goes on and on.

Why is it that movies have gotten  worst? Well, it your fault! And mine too... All of the movies that I mentioned above were movie flops, but not on the money they made. When Spiderman 3 makes $382 million Worldwide what is that telling the producers and directors? It is saying "give them anything, they'll eat it." Hence, the point of this my rant is, don't be fooled by advertising, wait and see if the movie was great, than go. If you don't do so, expect more horribly and short movies as well as shorter. 

Wake Up When It's Over...

As the time for the presidential elections draws closer and closer, the democrats seem to put more and more nails on their coffins. Why is? Well, while McCain is already planning for the election, Clinton and Obama are still fighting in their little corner of the world. In the end, their struggle will prove to be the downfall of the democratic party for God knows how many years to come. 

As the fight for the democratic nomination draws on, one thing is for certain, people, or at least me, are growing tire of it. It seems as if though every day there is some sort of "news" regarding Clinton and Obama. Usually these news include awesome topics like: Obama is winning, but Clinton is not defeated; Clinton takes the lead, Obama prepares plan; Obama attacks Hillaray; Hillary attacks Obama. In other words, there is a stalemate between both of them and, who wants to hear about a stalemate? Yet journalists keep on sticking stories about the now boring democratic election on their front pages.

The continual flow of story creates an agnostic feeling among the people. This feeling can very much mean the downfall of the democratic party as more and more time and resources are wasted on the race. 

Is the pre-election ever going to finish? I don't know, but we might still find Obama and Clinton fighting during and after the election. So, just wake up when its all over...

Video Game, Meet Music; Music, Meet Video Game

(For best results, play the video while you read)

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a Rock Star? Don't lie, everyone of us has had that dream of some point. However, for one reason or another, like money, time, or lack of talent, most of do not get to accomplish that dream. But what if there was a way, in which to bridge all of these things? what if you could start a rock band at the entry price of $170.oo? This has all been made possible by Rock Band. 

Rock Band is just one of the many rhythm-action games that have been released in recent history. In fact, before Guitar Hero I came out, there were only a handful of games that belonged to the music-genre, most of which, failed to break into pop-culture. If I was to mention games like 'Space Channel 5" and "Samba de Amigo" (remake coming soon to Wii), few of you would even know what system they were published for. That whole notion was destroyed when the first Guitar Hero I, came out. Little by little, everyone started to take notice of these games making them, sometimes, the sole reason for which people bought systems.  

What makes these games so popular? In the case of Rock Band, it is the feeling of becoming something, even if it is for a few seconds, that you are not. Another factor contributing to the success of Rock Band is the fact that it is the perfect party game. Grabs some friends give them one of the three controllers and watch as you all look like a bunch of freaks in front of the TV as Bon Jovi Sings "Dear or Alive." This may sound altogether weird to some people, but that is because you need to play to understand what so great about it. 

Hence, my advice to you is leave the computer and go running right now to Best Buy to get Rock Band, or find someone that has, it, and go and play Rock Band. Go on, be a Rock Star. You'll thank me later.

But It Looks Pretty...

How many times have we not found ourselves in the store wanting something that could potentially be completely useless, but that it looks pretty cool? As of recently, I have found myself staring at a video game like that which would cost me about $500 to play. Its a lot of money, for one game, but it looks so pretty...

The game I'm referring to is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. That game is for the PS3, a console I do not have since there was never a cool game to get for. Well, now there is, but the price of the console is $400 in its cheapest skew. What is better, to buy the game and the console and feel proud for about a month and dumb for the rest of my life? or don't buy it and watch as the rest of the world does? The choice looks very easy, but it suddenly becomes harder when you look a the game.

The game has an amazing plot which feature PMCs which are Private Military Contractors taking over the world. This may sound far fetched, but the elements for that to happen are here in today's world. I won't say anything else since the video does a pretty cool job of showing off the story. Now, if you remember a some posts back, I talked about just how much important are lyrics in a song for me. The same follows in a video game, where I value a lot the story, so this is right up my alley.

Even if I didn't care about the story, the graphics are pretty darn awesome. Just look at them and tell me if you have seen anything better out there? It sure looks pretty huh?

To buy, or not to buy that is the question...that is the question...

To Buy or Not to Buy A Hybrid

As the prices of gasoline keep on the rise, we cannot help but to wonder whether or not we should buy a car. Think about it, is your car really an asset, or is it a liability? Even 4-cylinder cars are spending $40 plus dollars right now. What is there to do? Buy a hybrid... and pray to God that the battery doesn't die.

As of late, we have been bombarded with just how awesome a hybrid is. The car stops using the gasoline engine, and, in a way, recycles some of the energy you just wasted. The hybrid also provides the perfect solution to contamination since it reduces the emissions of CO2 (since you aren't using the gasoline that much). Have you, however, heard anyone mentioned anything serious about the hybrids batteries? I bet you haven't.

Doing a quick Google search you might find that it is not as easy to find the prices of hybrid car batteries. Most websites only tell you just how awesome the hybrid and how you should stop doing everything and go and buy a hybrid NOW. However, they often omit the price of the batteries. When people omit telling you something about that which they are speaking about, you know it cannot be good. This is not the exception as $3,000 is not such a far fetched quantity in the world of hybrid car batteries. Hybrid batteries are supposed to last as long as the car itself hence, you should start to rule out buying a used hybrid since, more than likely, they batteries are dead. What is there to do? Sit down and wait...

Another technology that completely throws away gasoline are cars that run on ethanol. Already several corn plantations have been set aside to produce the ethanol for these new types of cars. Is there a catch with this cars? I do not know, but with corn being potentially cheaper than oil, is it not worth the try?

Spring Break from Vegas

Although half of the premise of this blog was to talk about video games, it kind of dawn on me that I hadn't really spent that much time playing video games; like nothing for the last three months. Although this may not sound long, this comes from the guy that used to play from three to four hours straight every day about three years ago. Little by little though, I kind of being reducing the time. Do I regret this? No, its all about prioritizing and allocating time where it needs to be.

Anyway, this Spring Break I dusted off my 360 and rented a couple of games: Devil May Cry 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The first one I played was Devil May Cry 4 and I can tell you that it is a pretty cool game. The game falls under the category of Action and Adventure and from the moment you start playing it, you just can't put it down until the end of the story. Its got a few problems like making you play the same bosses several times, or some weird sex innuendos that feel sometimes off places but the game is overall pretty cool. The other game however, was not an instant hit for me.
At first when I began to play RSV2, I felt sick playing it, literally. One of the main problems with why most people don't grab first person shooters is that the view makes their eyes or stomach hurt (it looks like if you were watching the game from the eyes of the character). I c just couldn't believe that after sometimes of criticizing people and telling them to take it like a man when playing fps, I myself was having the same eye straining and dizziness (it wasn't the time; I only played for an hour). On top of that, I was really lost in the first mission: I didn't know what to do, my AI (Artificial Intelligence) guys were not helping at all, and my weapons were just not doing the damage they should be doing. I was very close to just returning the game (I rented both of them). After that first hour, I didn't play the game again for a day or two. After that, having nothing better to do, I gave the game another shot. This time, it all clicked. The eye strain and the dizziness went away for the most part and the gameplay was not bad at all, it just was different from the games I had played before.
The morale of the story is: don't get carry away if things don't work out in the first 30 or so minutes. Give things some time.

Cheap Can be More Expensive

As the scheduled day for all TV signals to change to digital, we are all feeling the itch to buy a new and shiny TV. That would include me. Some like going for the cheapest option, that's all we need right? others like buying the most expensive TV in the market, quality over quantity. As I walked through Walmart, I found out that neither of the two is the best one.

First, let us analyze the cheap TV. The Vizio brand is considered to be the number one selling brand of LCDs in America. That may true, but what they don't tell you is that their product is very inferior to that of its competitors. About a couple of weeks ago, I was at the brink of buying a 26" Vizio; I truly was seconds away from doing so. However, as I looked to other TVs, I noticed something very interesting about TV, the TV displayed no gray colors! Whenever an object casted a shadow, the TV would just display a big blob of black. I tried adjusting the contrast and the brightness to see if I could fix that. To my surprise, the contrast was all the way up already. I started playing with it anyway, up and down, the image didn't improve that much and sometimes it got worst. I played with the brightness, but raising that only made the rest of the colors looked like they were washed away. Long story made short, Vizio was clearly worst than its competitors.

Next to Vizio, was a Samsung TV which looked light years better than Vizio and I'm not only talking about the image in the TV, but also the overall shape of the TV was just sexy. Samsung TVs are known to be one of the best in the market, and the TV I was looking didn't prove otherwise. The catch: it was almost double the price of the Vizio! Unless you have some extra cash sitting around, or you can wait a couple (or more) months to get double the money, don't buy Samsung. What is there to do?

Among the things you can do, as I said before, you can wait some time and save up some money. You can also with about $100 more, you can buy a Phillips or a Sharp TV. They are not as awesome looking or awesome displaying as Samsung, but they are pretty close. In fact, the difference between them, are nigh impossible to see. Hence, like in everything else, don't buy the cheapest one because you are going to end up paying more for it, and don't buy the best, why waste money?

Rise of the Machines (Critical Learning Part 2)

Most of you might remember the popular movie the Matrix where machines take over the world as we know it. Such a movie played with the fears of people of being conquered by something they create whether it be a robot, or something else. What comes as a surprise in this whole deal is how is it that rather than trying to stop that from happening, we are just sitting down and playing with our thumbs, Home-Style!
Computers, as we all know, are machines that can compute one thing at a time, at a super-fast speed (if you add dual-core, than 2). There is little to no hope that we can possibly one day match their speed with raw force, why then are trying to do this? With the current system of education, it seems as if though most people were trying to to beat the computer in things like adding, remembering, and other one-action tasks. Hence, one again the importance of using our critical thinking. Machines, under this ideology, are made to compliment our living, while the critical thinkers take the complicated decisions.
In the current future forecast of copy-paste knowledge, the future is much more grim. With humans providing a similar or worst contribution to the world, what then would be left for humans to do? Sit down and die? Become sources of energy?
"The concept, not date" should then be the norm, not the option.

Critical Learning

In this my short time in college it has already come to my attention the fact that classes in college have something very different  from classes at any other level. Thus, I set myself to think about what is it that makes classes in a college different from any other classes. The conclusion  that I reached was that classes in college actually make you think. Already deeply divagating in some place other than earth, I started to wonder why was it that most students have troubling answering "critical thinking" questions which are very much the bread and butter of college. The answer was simple, most of us were taught to repeat and not to think.

As hard to believe as this may be, i is in fact difficult to contradict. Think about it for a second and try to remember just how many times your told in, say, history classes in high school to memorize when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President of the US. Do you, at this moment in time, remember the date? I throw not. Such is the case of most of the education we were taught in high school; information which has little to no practical use for other than history majors (and even some may not care about it!). 

Dates and the alike make up for awesome test questions, but they give, most of them that is, no real enlightening value to the students. This example is not limited to history. Now, imagine if you will a reality where you were asked on a test, not dates and people, but rather their contributions to society and how their actions shaped the lives of the world. Tests would in fact be more difficult, but, GBW, we should get used to it and the net gain of such tests would be, I believe, better than a useless date. Let me not be misunderstood; there are some dates that are imperative to know like December 7, 1941 or significant dates like that one. Again, this example is not limited to history alone. Math: learning the "Mean Value Theorem" is useless if you don't know when or how to apply it; Chemistry: memorizing every aspect of every element of the periodic table when most likely, you'll have one wherever you go, etc.

However, education must focus on critical learning, not on "copy-paste" learning since, much like the computer function being refer to, the knowledge of such things quickly goes away. 

The Best Way to Help...is Not To

One of today's hottest topics is immigration and hence, almost everyone has something to say about it, those who are for it particularly. This is, most of the time, the right thing to do since it further pushes reform in some way, shape, or form. However, when two weeks ago I saw Kinto Sol's video "Los Que Luchamos," I just started shaking my head. The one aspect I wanted to talk about is just how effective his video is at achieving its purpose as outlined in the song: help immigration. The video is incredible at damaging the image of Latinos in general and of further stalling any immigration opportunities.

First, let us analyze, the video. All through the video, several pictures are shown of struggling Latinos and of them protesting. Both of those pictures are exactly the wrongs ones to show right now. As it is, there isn't that many jobs available for citizens or residents of the US. Hence, to show how these unlawful Latinos have jobs which other citizen or resident could have had, only further kindles the anger of those in power. Some might argue, nevertheless, that the Latinos working in the video were righteous workers abiding by the laws. This could indeed be the case but then, wouldn't that make them "malinches" as expressed in Kinto's video?

The second thing to look at here are the video clips showing Latinos protesting. The videos only show that Latinos are one conflicting people. If we look at past history, one can find that political action is by far more effective than parading across a city. Parades and protest are also useless nowadays. Why? Well, if you have ever been trapped in the middle of a street because some dude decided he had nothing best to do than to walk in the middle of the street then you have part of the answer of why protesting in a "parade form" is a failure. Indeed, protesting only causes the general public to be further displeased about the issue. Let us however, fall into the trap of just mere bashing; protests are in fact useful to achieve goals. They must, let us not forget either, be done in the right place and at the right time. The middle of a recession is not exactly the best time...

I don't know who is directing the protests, or Kinto's videos for that matter, but someone needs to tell these guys that some times, the best way to help a cause is not to help at all.

I Give You...Rapture/City Seventeen/Halo

As some of you might remember, I picked video games as my topic for the my final paper. Thus, why are video games rhetoric? Basically because they fulfill all of the aspects of the definition. Video games like Half-Life, Halo or Bioshock, take you inside a world, thus creating a reality. The world is totally fictitious, but any exceling video game should be able to immerse the player in the game enough so that the player's reality changes.

The second aspect of correct rhetoric is for that "something" we are talking about to analyze both sides of the arguement. Once gain, the video games mentioned above take you through both factions of the story thus making you understand both sides of the argument. That is why I argued that Quinto Sexto (or whatever the name of the latin rapper was) was correct rhetoric. The guy never took into consideration the "maliches" he spoke.

Lastly, that "something" we are talking about must insite further discourse in order for that something to be called rhetoric. Video games do this by making the player play through the game. How so? Well with the reality now being created, the player must battle through that reality, and hence change it himself, in order to change the game.

Becauae of these things, and many other not yet analyzed, Video games are rhetoric.

Do you Trust the Trust?

Last week, one of the main headlines was Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo. By now, Yahoo has officially rejected Microsoft's bid. However, the fact still remains that Microsoft's greed apparently knows no boundaries. "What do I care?" you ask; you should be caring a whole lot.

Microsoft is known as the company that brought you Windows and Office; the ever better benefactors of mankind... not anymore (where they ever? Not Really). As of late, Microsoft's true colors have been showing. Remember Vista? That one OS (Operating System) you don't want in you computer, the one that looked more like a Beta (or Alpha) of what should have been. Well, Microsoft released it like that because they were almost sure that their grap on the market was so secure, that people would buy anything label "Microsoft." Imaging that same ideology carried it out but with success?

With the anti-trust laws being dimished, it is our duty as consumers not to buy all the thrash that microsoft spits out until they fix it properly or, better yet, buy Apple. If you are worried about Office not working on Apple, it does and it is a legit program which Microsoft publishes (you get Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and the Messenger in the package).

Don't let Microsoft win by monopoly. If it wants to win, let it win by quality.

Are Video Games Art?

Are video games art? This is among some people (more than two for sure) one of the thrilling questions of the century. As video games become more and more mainstream, some some nay sayers are having to reorganize their arguments against video games. 

Are video games art? Let us first look at the basic elements of other forms which are called "art." First, let us agree that most forms of art are known because they provide a compelling story (at least those pieces which are most memorable and define and give the meaning to that particular form of art). Whether it is through a picture, which undoubtedly tells the story of its painter and its own personal story, or through words, which are the very epitome of a compelling stories, or through music, or a combination of all of them, there is always a grappling story behind what we call art.

Do video games have this? I would argue that they do. As a person, story in any form of art means whole lot to me: I often pick songs based on what they say, not so much as how they sound (there are exceptions though). Regarding movies, I give a huge value for story this is why Spiderman 2 was, to me, awesome, and Spiderman 3 was a piece of thrash. On two, there was an awesome story ark which flowed very nicely throughout the movie. On 3, the plot was just too convoluted, and none of the scenes really depict the overall story of the movie. It was just of pretty scenes thrown together with few if any grandiose meaning.

Are video games Spiderman 2 or 3? The ones that matter are Spiderman 2.

If we look at "party games" of course you will believe that video games are hollow. However, if we were to look upon some of the classics, it would be possible to see that video games are indeed art. Let us take for example Bioshock one of last year's best games. The game told the story of the world of Rapture an a utopia brought to nought by man's corruption. 

Are video games art? My answer is this: Would You Kindly look at the video below and tell me what you think? (You have to play the game and get to the ending to understand the irony in this question).

Fox News and What NOT to Do

Not that long a small website reported a story, which was error filled, puclished a story on "graphic sex" in Mass Effect, few people bodered to check the news from that site as they were flat out wrong. The incident went without much thought in the world and everyone thought that the false statements would cease; we were wrong.

A couple or so weeks ago, Fox News recycled that story from the small website and blew it up into a full debate (see video on top of the page). This would had been perfectly ok, had they correct the errors of the original story unfortunately, they only added upon the already big pile of lies found in the original story.

First, as pointed out by the video game journalist Geoff Keighley, for the sex video to appear, the player has to follow a path that is both long and complex. The game does not just load and asks you "do you want to see sex scene now?"

Fox News repedeatly stated that the video game Mass Effect "featured full frontal nudity and interactive sex scenes." The reality is that the game does not show full frontal nudity since it only shows angled shots which display as much nudity as you would find in other popular prime telivision shows. The game is does not feauture interective sex either. Like many other video games and forms of media, it features a NON-interactive video with the shots previously defined before. If someone was to edit a few clips from some of the scenes of prime time shows, the outcome would be far worst. Looking at movies, things only get worst. Have any you guys seen or read the plot of the Saw series? Are you telling me it is ok to display "torture-porn" in movies, and to display sex in TV, but it is not ok to show a clip, on a video game?

The sad reality is that most of the people running the world right now have little to no idea of what a video game are or what they are made of. Indeed, video games have become the easy band wagon to ride to gain some votes.

For those of you reading this, just keep in mind that when you see something on the news, it does NOT have to be true.

Real Story

From One End to the Other: MLG and the Wii

In these our modern times, what people thought of gaming and gamers has radically changed. The image of some fat nerd playing in front of his computer has largely been eradicated due to the more accesible consoles that have been created. Nevertheless, these consoles may have come to change more than the gamers' image.
What is a harcore? One look at the wonderful world of MLG will tell you that. Only those who go through rigourous tests can have the honor to become an MLG player...or you pay you way up. Like everything else in life, MLG is all about the money. In order to enter into a tournament, you basically only need to pay the fee and create an account online. The only thing that stops most people from entering is the extreme level of competition of most players in there. These are people who devote almost all day long to practicing in these tournaments. They often live from the sposoring that companies like ATI, INTEL, Ubisoft, and the alike provide for them.

The league is not only for men; believe it or not, there are very hardcore girls out there. Ubisoft, a company that makes games, sponsors what could be one one of the most deceiving teams out there: The Frag Dolls (pictured right). The picture only shows four of a group of about twelve which play everything from PC to Xbox 360. Hence, anyone can be MLG, but if you don't want to go in the first round of the competition, do you? If you guys are interested in battling it out online out go to MLG (click here) to see what's up.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have the Wii which has come to break what a lot of people thought was possible in the world of video gaming. The success of the Wii comes from its super cheap price point . Although most people don't have $250 just lying there in the floor, it is still not such a high price to pay to have some fun. The Wii is a pretty cool machine to bust out when your friends come home. Still, the Wii can have unforseen consequenses for "hardcore" gamers.

Some of these consequences are that as people buy more and more "party" games, the rest of the genres may vanish away. Games like Halo, Half Life, or even Mario and Zelda may not even be made in the future if people aren't buying them. That is why many hardcores are angry at the Wii, because it may destroy all that they care and love.

In the middle, of these two extrmes, we have games like World of Warcraft (WoW). WoW has attracted not only casuals, but also hardcores into its world. Personally, I haven't really play that much WOW since it has a monthly free to play. I don not have a WoW account but I have, seen someone else playing and have often times wanted to jump in. However, WoW also is one of those games that makes the time disappear really fast; next thing you know five hours have slipped by hence, it is not my type of game.

What is the future of gaming? I don't know, really. I just hope that in the future I still get to play first person shooters with a joystick.

First Post!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, let me apologize for my pic since I took the pic in the library when I working with in the blog. It should change, hopefully, in the future.

On other news, yeah MLG!!!!! Even though most of you guys haven't play games like Halo 3 or Half Life, I know most of you have played Guitar Hero or the "infamous" Wii. So, you guys know where I am coming from by playing games competitively.

I'm not into "official" leagues anymore since it requires some retarded amount of time of practicing just to hang out with the big guys. College takes some time too you know... I do still, however, hit XboxLive now and then, and I'm always ready for a challenge in whatever games you guys are playing. My gamertag is "The C Nerd." 

If you guys are curious about something gaming related or chemistry related, just post back!

Isaac