Well, what a busy week for me while working on this blog. Not only did I work a total of 32 hours at my actual job, plus going out and seeing Transformers 3 for next Monday's review (one of the reasons I didn't post one this week). I also was doing research for this week by skipping last week. And the reason I did this goes back to the harassment topic I posted about last month, and the fact that while we are online, we have a semblance of Anonymity in who we are.
Now, I bring this up because of a news story posted by Yahoo news, in which a New York City football star was recently killed in a stabbing just after his graduation. The incident was between the player, his father, and two parking attendants, in which the father had a 200 dollar bottle of cologne in his car as a gift to his son for graduation. However, upon returning to the car, the bottle was missing. He immediately accused the attendants, a brawl ensued, and in the end, his son was stabbed and killed.
This is a tragic story, one that has a few angles on it that can be told, but that does not mean that the news aggregates have every side of it. They have the side that gets hits, and sells papers, they are in the best interests of themselves and making money. So why is it, when people are commenting on these stories, that the internet should protect their identities from their stupidity?
NYC Football Star stabbed to death
To reference the article in question, a follow up does state that the father was in the wrong. But ever since that story broke on Yahoo news, there has been a split between people who were supporting the father, those who were being completely racist, and those who were in the middle claiming neutrality. No matter what the events happening were, there is no reason that comments like those should be made, either online or in public.
The fact that a person is anonymous online is something that is well known. Ever since the start of online connection, not knowing who is on truly on the other end of your chat is the way things have been done. Only recently with the invention of social media and connection have we truly known who is there. But that doesn't mean that all websites have moved into this social space. Many web news aggregates do have connections with Facebook and Twitter, for instance, but very few really use the connection for their accounts, starting their own and leaving them signed in.
This present a danger online to anyone who has an opinion, and the internet, like other public domains, is a place where people deserve to have not only their opinions, but their identities secure and safe from repercussions. But with that safety net comes people who use the safety of that to hurt others, to send racist, homophobic, hateful rants and insults to people in a major online forum that they believe is their only for their beliefs and no one elses.
While one could argue that the internet has evolved from the original educational purpose of the internet, in no way did the internet evolve into a weapon of hate and anger that people turn forums and comments into on the web. Repeated bashing of opinions and personal character by people who don't even know you can take it's toll, in real life or online. It all depends on how a person perceives what is written or said about them. But that doesn't change the fact that words can hurt, and those people who use words for that very purpose need to realize the true consequence of their actions.
Now I am not saying that people can't have their opinions, that's wrong. People will always have opinions about groups of people as well as topics in the world. And through the power of the internet, these topics should be debated and discussed openly with logic and fact rather than biased rants and insults, throwing salt into open wounds.
When it comes to the human condition, I believe that Adam Sessler said it best in February 5th, 2009 Sessler's Soapbox podcast. In the cast, he mentioned the people who said that he took money from Microsoft to review games on their systems for better than they actually are. He asked a very simple question that kinda summed up how he felt about people flaming his personal character.
The question was: "Do you F*** your mother? Yeah, you don't like the implication of that. Don't impugn my integrity."
The fact is that people read these comments and take offense to them is true. I am not going to post anything here, a lot of them are just too offensive to post. But as we've seen previous examples, words do hurt people. Calling people racist names whether to their face, behind their back, or online is wrong. Insulting people and trying to hurt them is wrong. People need to think about their actions before getting into an argument about something and throwing words around that they do not understand.
Yes, someone did die, and he might not have been the complete A+ honor role student that the article makes him out to be, but we don't know what really truly happened, or who the kid really was. But it's not up to use to judge him for who he was or why he died. That's not our decision to make, nor is it our right to spew off hurt and hate on comments.
Now, if you want to have an intelligent debate on topics, many other people and I are on message boards and websites willing to have one. We know a wide variety of topics, and are willing to have a willing and intelligent conversation. But that doesn't mean we're going to or should accept hatred and racism, and words that can hurt. And people need to start making a change not only online, but in the real world as well.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Random Review of the Week: The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm
To continue off of last weeks review of Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, this week will be the review of the technical "sequel" to the book, The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm. This book is once again written by Christie Golden, continuing the story of the heroes of Azeroth during the aftermath of the war against the Lich King after his inevitable demise. A good portion of the major characters in World of Warcraft are represented. From Thrall and Garrosh Hellscream, to Varian Wrynn, his son Anduin, and Magni Bronzbeard, the book has an ensemble cast of characters, each one having equal importance in the book's events.
The book begins with a lesser seen character, Drek'Thar, an orc shaman who players would recognize as the former leader of Alterac Valley in the game. He will continue to pop up throughout the story, as a shaman who is seeing dark and dangerous visions of the future. This is only the start of the parade of characters that will appear throughout the book, both major and minor characters from dungeons and quests that players have experienced through the classic game before the current expansion was released.
The story continues, bringing us Garrosh Hellscream and Cairne Bloodhoof as they fight to withdraw their troops from Northrend, the parades and memorials to the fallen of both the Alliance and the Horde, the occupation of Thunder Bluff and Ironforge, the deaths of Magni Bronzebeard and Cairne Bloodhoof, and many other events that led up to the recreation of Azeroth that we see in the game now.
The book is a very entertaining read, and all the characters are well written and received. Garrosh is the example of one of the characters that is shown in a light that sets up his character in the game. He is seen as both a brash, uncontrolled young warrior who has little regard for others lives but his own, and as a somewhat tactical general who is able to conceive backup plans and contingencies along with the main objective.
However, there is a couple major problems that I have with this book. It doesn't stem from anything that Christie Golden could control, or the fact that she failed at writing. On the contrary, the book is a wonderful addition into World of Warcraft canon and helps set up the expansion of 'Cataclysm'. The first one is that there is no true 'villain' in the book. Because the book is told from two separate sides that are rarely interacting, as well as each of those sides having their own internal antagonist, there is not one person for each character to fight against, but many.
In the previous book, this wasn't a problem, because we were being shown through the eyes of the villain. Arthas was the antagonist, so we didn't need a villain for him to fight. However, that's also what made Arthas great. Arthas was a character that readers could relate to. He was a human first, he wanted to do what is right for his kingdom. Over time, that right crossed a line and changed from kind-hearted intentions to twisted visions of torment. People can see something of themselves in Arthas, and that allows readers and players to connect with him more.
The Shattering has a true villain that is never shown, as the one causing the torment of the world is Deathwing, formerly known as Neltharion. He is the one who used to help shape and form the lands. Now he is out to kill everything that lives. But a villain like that is hard to connect to, since all they feel is pure hatred and rage. Arthas wasn't like that, he was human at one point, and that makes him a much better character.
The other problem I have with the book is that this book leads into an expansion where the world is led into chaos. In Cataclysm, the Horde and Alliance's cold war has heated up to a more aggressive level, and are fighting each other on multiple fronts for territory and resources. But at the same time, the whole world has faced devastating consequences from Deathwing's return. But not much is shown about that. The book ends leaving the expansion to tell the story, and can be separated from the book. Unlike Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which had a true ending, this one did not.
Overall, it was a great book, but nostalgia is what keeps me revisiting Arthas and his story. Warcraft 3 was the first Warcraft game that I actually played, and Arthas is one of the characters that I keep coming back to. He was the true darkness in the human heart, and Blizzard's writers brought that out beautifully. But The Shattering is an entertaining read, and to anyone who likes these books, will not disappoint.
My Review:
3/5 stars
The book begins with a lesser seen character, Drek'Thar, an orc shaman who players would recognize as the former leader of Alterac Valley in the game. He will continue to pop up throughout the story, as a shaman who is seeing dark and dangerous visions of the future. This is only the start of the parade of characters that will appear throughout the book, both major and minor characters from dungeons and quests that players have experienced through the classic game before the current expansion was released.
The story continues, bringing us Garrosh Hellscream and Cairne Bloodhoof as they fight to withdraw their troops from Northrend, the parades and memorials to the fallen of both the Alliance and the Horde, the occupation of Thunder Bluff and Ironforge, the deaths of Magni Bronzebeard and Cairne Bloodhoof, and many other events that led up to the recreation of Azeroth that we see in the game now.
The book is a very entertaining read, and all the characters are well written and received. Garrosh is the example of one of the characters that is shown in a light that sets up his character in the game. He is seen as both a brash, uncontrolled young warrior who has little regard for others lives but his own, and as a somewhat tactical general who is able to conceive backup plans and contingencies along with the main objective.
However, there is a couple major problems that I have with this book. It doesn't stem from anything that Christie Golden could control, or the fact that she failed at writing. On the contrary, the book is a wonderful addition into World of Warcraft canon and helps set up the expansion of 'Cataclysm'. The first one is that there is no true 'villain' in the book. Because the book is told from two separate sides that are rarely interacting, as well as each of those sides having their own internal antagonist, there is not one person for each character to fight against, but many.
In the previous book, this wasn't a problem, because we were being shown through the eyes of the villain. Arthas was the antagonist, so we didn't need a villain for him to fight. However, that's also what made Arthas great. Arthas was a character that readers could relate to. He was a human first, he wanted to do what is right for his kingdom. Over time, that right crossed a line and changed from kind-hearted intentions to twisted visions of torment. People can see something of themselves in Arthas, and that allows readers and players to connect with him more.
The Shattering has a true villain that is never shown, as the one causing the torment of the world is Deathwing, formerly known as Neltharion. He is the one who used to help shape and form the lands. Now he is out to kill everything that lives. But a villain like that is hard to connect to, since all they feel is pure hatred and rage. Arthas wasn't like that, he was human at one point, and that makes him a much better character.
The other problem I have with the book is that this book leads into an expansion where the world is led into chaos. In Cataclysm, the Horde and Alliance's cold war has heated up to a more aggressive level, and are fighting each other on multiple fronts for territory and resources. But at the same time, the whole world has faced devastating consequences from Deathwing's return. But not much is shown about that. The book ends leaving the expansion to tell the story, and can be separated from the book. Unlike Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, which had a true ending, this one did not.
Overall, it was a great book, but nostalgia is what keeps me revisiting Arthas and his story. Warcraft 3 was the first Warcraft game that I actually played, and Arthas is one of the characters that I keep coming back to. He was the true darkness in the human heart, and Blizzard's writers brought that out beautifully. But The Shattering is an entertaining read, and to anyone who likes these books, will not disappoint.
My Review:
3/5 stars
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Lulzsec: Cyberactivism or Cyberterrorism?
Hacking has been around almost as long as the internet has been. Like other destructive acts, hacking can do potentially major damage against people and corporations. Hundreds of different hacks occur every day, with the results leading to the theft of hundreds if not thousands of different users' credit card and financial information. Now, with the internet growing larger by the day, and our world shifting from an analog one to a digital world, the internet has become an even more dangerous place.
LulzSec Website
Surfacing in May 2011, a hacker group named Lulz Security has begun delivering some very high profile attacks against major corporations. Their largest attack was on Sony, stealing (allegedly) 1 million different users' information from their Playstation Network, and shutting the entire network down for over a month. Only recently has the network come up, being brought back up just before the E3 conference a couple weeks ago.
After the Sony attack, LulzSec has moved on from Sony and started focusing their efforts on other targets. Moving from Bethesda Entertainment, to PBS and Fox networks, and then going to a multitude of other gaming servers and finally onto different governments. Recently they attacked the British government's organized crime division, the CIA, FBI, as well as a couple Chinese and Brazilian Government websites.
On the same website, Lulzsec released a manifesto in accordance with their 1000th tweet on their twitter account, twitter.com/lulzsec. This manifesto outlined why they are doing what they are doing. Saying that they will continue to hack and take things offline until they are caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Asking if we honestly feel safe that they release something, when other hackers are potentially squatting on the same information. But that does not change the fact that they attacked Sony for their action against George 'Geohotz' Hotz, attacked PBS for their documentary about Wikileaks, attacked Fox for their story against the rapper/actor, 'Common'. Lulzsec does have a political agenda, and has shown it time and time again. To say that they're doing to for entertainment is naive and nothing more than a smokescreen from the truth.
Lulz Security Manifesto
The fact that this group, no matter how loosely affiliated to each other they are, has taken action against multiple countries, denying service to their websites, is an act of cyber-warfare. If people want to send a message to a country or a company, there are very legal, ethical ways to do it. To attack the government of any country in any way is an act of warfare, and this group has decided to go down a very dangerous road that could lead not only to their imprisonment, but potentially their own deaths.
Admittedly, however, they are right on one thing. To quote their manifesto:
"Do you think every hacker announces everything they've hacked? We certainly haven't, and we're damn sure others are playing the silent game. Do you feel safe with your Facebook accounts, your Google Mail accounts, your Skype accounts? What makes you think a hacker isn't silently sitting inside all of these right now, sniping out individual people, or perhaps selling them off? You are a peon to these people. A toy. A string of characters with a value.
This is what you should be fearful of, not us releasing things publicly, but the fact that someone hasn't released something publicly. We're sitting on 200,000 Brink users right now that we never gave out. It might make you feel safe knowing we told you, so that Brink users may change their passwords. What if we hadn't told you? No one would be aware of this theft, and we'd have a fresh 200,000 peons to abuse, completely unaware of a breach."
The thing is, people weren't safe before, and aren't any less safe now, but this group has made it their mission to potentially destroy hundreds of thousands if not millions of people identities and lives for their own amusement. While it isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time that hackers have banded together for a common goal, massive attacks by Lulzsec have already happened, and more will happen over the coming months, potentially years, if something isn't done soon.
The worst part potentially comes from the hands of laws and governments just like the United States government. How easy is it to defend a case for a cause like Net Neutrality when hackers conspire and attack our government? How easy would it be for them to suddenly ask for the reins and try to take full control of the United States network? How would it feel to suddenly have the world of the internet go from a completely free state, to one where a global government institutes laws, controls and restrictions on it. That's where we are headed if these attacks do not stop, if people don't begin to sit down and realize that their actions are destroying the online community at large.
As it is now, people see the Internet as the wild west of the 21st century. An infinite playground of information and data, able to be picked up and used in a second. However, it is not. People are subject to their local and federal laws. When you cross a border, whether in person or digitally, your laws change, you are now subject to more than just your local laws, or your federal laws, but the laws of a land you may not understand.
Now, as I write this, I already have the idea that Lulzsec is going to attempt to attack my livelihood, if they haven't already through some of the places they have already hacked. Every person who has spoken out against them or been arrested in connection with them has had their credibility attacked and defamed. My guess is that while I am a little fish in a very large pond, they possibly may come after my information. But to that I say bring it on. For I know that their time will come, and whatever is done to me can be reversed and corrected. But I will not live in fear of some hacker attacking my social structure online, because I know that maybe it is their hacks on me that could be detected and bring them to justice.
I will do my level best to help our government bring these hackers down. As should everyone who finds out their information and identities have been stolen. Make sure that you go through the motions, follow every angle possible if you suspect a breach, you may just be able to stop more people from suffering the same fate.
LulzSec Website
Surfacing in May 2011, a hacker group named Lulz Security has begun delivering some very high profile attacks against major corporations. Their largest attack was on Sony, stealing (allegedly) 1 million different users' information from their Playstation Network, and shutting the entire network down for over a month. Only recently has the network come up, being brought back up just before the E3 conference a couple weeks ago.
After the Sony attack, LulzSec has moved on from Sony and started focusing their efforts on other targets. Moving from Bethesda Entertainment, to PBS and Fox networks, and then going to a multitude of other gaming servers and finally onto different governments. Recently they attacked the British government's organized crime division, the CIA, FBI, as well as a couple Chinese and Brazilian Government websites.
On the same website, Lulzsec released a manifesto in accordance with their 1000th tweet on their twitter account, twitter.com/lulzsec. This manifesto outlined why they are doing what they are doing. Saying that they will continue to hack and take things offline until they are caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Asking if we honestly feel safe that they release something, when other hackers are potentially squatting on the same information. But that does not change the fact that they attacked Sony for their action against George 'Geohotz' Hotz, attacked PBS for their documentary about Wikileaks, attacked Fox for their story against the rapper/actor, 'Common'. Lulzsec does have a political agenda, and has shown it time and time again. To say that they're doing to for entertainment is naive and nothing more than a smokescreen from the truth.
Lulz Security Manifesto
The fact that this group, no matter how loosely affiliated to each other they are, has taken action against multiple countries, denying service to their websites, is an act of cyber-warfare. If people want to send a message to a country or a company, there are very legal, ethical ways to do it. To attack the government of any country in any way is an act of warfare, and this group has decided to go down a very dangerous road that could lead not only to their imprisonment, but potentially their own deaths.
Admittedly, however, they are right on one thing. To quote their manifesto:
"Do you think every hacker announces everything they've hacked? We certainly haven't, and we're damn sure others are playing the silent game. Do you feel safe with your Facebook accounts, your Google Mail accounts, your Skype accounts? What makes you think a hacker isn't silently sitting inside all of these right now, sniping out individual people, or perhaps selling them off? You are a peon to these people. A toy. A string of characters with a value.
This is what you should be fearful of, not us releasing things publicly, but the fact that someone hasn't released something publicly. We're sitting on 200,000 Brink users right now that we never gave out. It might make you feel safe knowing we told you, so that Brink users may change their passwords. What if we hadn't told you? No one would be aware of this theft, and we'd have a fresh 200,000 peons to abuse, completely unaware of a breach."
The thing is, people weren't safe before, and aren't any less safe now, but this group has made it their mission to potentially destroy hundreds of thousands if not millions of people identities and lives for their own amusement. While it isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time that hackers have banded together for a common goal, massive attacks by Lulzsec have already happened, and more will happen over the coming months, potentially years, if something isn't done soon.
The worst part potentially comes from the hands of laws and governments just like the United States government. How easy is it to defend a case for a cause like Net Neutrality when hackers conspire and attack our government? How easy would it be for them to suddenly ask for the reins and try to take full control of the United States network? How would it feel to suddenly have the world of the internet go from a completely free state, to one where a global government institutes laws, controls and restrictions on it. That's where we are headed if these attacks do not stop, if people don't begin to sit down and realize that their actions are destroying the online community at large.
As it is now, people see the Internet as the wild west of the 21st century. An infinite playground of information and data, able to be picked up and used in a second. However, it is not. People are subject to their local and federal laws. When you cross a border, whether in person or digitally, your laws change, you are now subject to more than just your local laws, or your federal laws, but the laws of a land you may not understand.
Now, as I write this, I already have the idea that Lulzsec is going to attempt to attack my livelihood, if they haven't already through some of the places they have already hacked. Every person who has spoken out against them or been arrested in connection with them has had their credibility attacked and defamed. My guess is that while I am a little fish in a very large pond, they possibly may come after my information. But to that I say bring it on. For I know that their time will come, and whatever is done to me can be reversed and corrected. But I will not live in fear of some hacker attacking my social structure online, because I know that maybe it is their hacks on me that could be detected and bring them to justice.
I will do my level best to help our government bring these hackers down. As should everyone who finds out their information and identities have been stolen. Make sure that you go through the motions, follow every angle possible if you suspect a breach, you may just be able to stop more people from suffering the same fate.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Random Review of the Week: Arthas: Rise of the Lich King
In 2002, Blizzard released Warcraft 3, a Role-Time Strategy game that began telling the story of Arthas Menethil. In November 2008, they released the second expansion to World of Warcraft, titled Wrath of the Lich King. The expansion continued the story of Arthas, telling the players more of the Arthas story, reliving certain aspects of it and showing us the full scope of what the power of the Lich King has become.
In 2009, Christie Golden released Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. This story did some retelling of the story in Warcraft 3, but also added a major amount of back story to the character of Arthas. It introduces one of the major catalysts of his personality, the death of his first horse, as well as more insight into his mental state as he went from a young boy to a paladin, then a death knight of the scourge to becoming the Lich King himself.
The book is wonderfully written, with both action an narrative standing out to keep the reader entertained. The narrative forces the reader to use a good chunk of their own imagination, but Christie Golden does enough with her writing where someone who isn't as well versed in the Warcraft Universe will be able to stay along with the story.
The greatest bit of story for anyone who has followed the lore of World of Warcraft through the expansion however, is the opening and closing scenes of the book. In these scenes, there are only three characters, gathered around a table in a traditional orcish hut.. Two of these characters have been seen by the players at some point. Arthas is one of these characters, along with a sickly, young boy who players of Wrath of the Lich King have come to know as Matthias Lehner.
The third character is the former shaman named Ner'zhul, and all three of these characters are important to think about as the story progresses. These three people represent certain parts of the psyche of Arthas as he progresses from Paladin of the light to King of the damned. One of the main things that Warcraft 3 failed to fully show the player before they turned Arthas into the lich king was the was Arthas felt about what he was doing. The weight of his crown as the prince of a human kingdom was a heavy and terrible burden, but it's what bolstered his personality.
Ner'zhul took control of the body of Arthas for certain points, but Arthas had the strength and the will to fight him for control as well. Ner'zhul represents the corruption that turned Arthas against everything he once stood for. Matthias stands for the innocence that was once present in him. And Arthas stands in the room as the person he wants to be. Each of these three will have a hold of him through the book, and it is these three figures that are the most important characters of the story.
The rest of the story unfolds over a number of years, ranging from Prince Arthas from the age of a child up until his time of undeath and becoming the Lich King. Anyone who has played both the RTS Warcraft games as well as World of Warcraft would find the book immensely satisfying. As a gamer who has played Warcraft 3, its expansion, as well as World of Warcraft and its subsequent expansions, the story of Arthas has always been once of my favorites.
It was because of this love for his story, and that we finally are awarded the chance to square off with him, that I love this book. While the end of that fateful battle ended in a cliched and predictable way, the end of Arthas was a satisfying one. When the lore is viewed in order, it is a very exciting story, one of not only corruption and betrayal, but one of wanting to do the right thing by your people, although you may not know what that is.
My review:
4/5 Stars
I do apologize for the late review, some surprise research for Thursday's post came spur of the moment and affected the release of this, but next week's review, "The Shattering" will be on time (hopefully)!
In 2009, Christie Golden released Arthas: Rise of the Lich King. This story did some retelling of the story in Warcraft 3, but also added a major amount of back story to the character of Arthas. It introduces one of the major catalysts of his personality, the death of his first horse, as well as more insight into his mental state as he went from a young boy to a paladin, then a death knight of the scourge to becoming the Lich King himself.
The book is wonderfully written, with both action an narrative standing out to keep the reader entertained. The narrative forces the reader to use a good chunk of their own imagination, but Christie Golden does enough with her writing where someone who isn't as well versed in the Warcraft Universe will be able to stay along with the story.
The greatest bit of story for anyone who has followed the lore of World of Warcraft through the expansion however, is the opening and closing scenes of the book. In these scenes, there are only three characters, gathered around a table in a traditional orcish hut.. Two of these characters have been seen by the players at some point. Arthas is one of these characters, along with a sickly, young boy who players of Wrath of the Lich King have come to know as Matthias Lehner.
The third character is the former shaman named Ner'zhul, and all three of these characters are important to think about as the story progresses. These three people represent certain parts of the psyche of Arthas as he progresses from Paladin of the light to King of the damned. One of the main things that Warcraft 3 failed to fully show the player before they turned Arthas into the lich king was the was Arthas felt about what he was doing. The weight of his crown as the prince of a human kingdom was a heavy and terrible burden, but it's what bolstered his personality.
Ner'zhul took control of the body of Arthas for certain points, but Arthas had the strength and the will to fight him for control as well. Ner'zhul represents the corruption that turned Arthas against everything he once stood for. Matthias stands for the innocence that was once present in him. And Arthas stands in the room as the person he wants to be. Each of these three will have a hold of him through the book, and it is these three figures that are the most important characters of the story.
The rest of the story unfolds over a number of years, ranging from Prince Arthas from the age of a child up until his time of undeath and becoming the Lich King. Anyone who has played both the RTS Warcraft games as well as World of Warcraft would find the book immensely satisfying. As a gamer who has played Warcraft 3, its expansion, as well as World of Warcraft and its subsequent expansions, the story of Arthas has always been once of my favorites.
It was because of this love for his story, and that we finally are awarded the chance to square off with him, that I love this book. While the end of that fateful battle ended in a cliched and predictable way, the end of Arthas was a satisfying one. When the lore is viewed in order, it is a very exciting story, one of not only corruption and betrayal, but one of wanting to do the right thing by your people, although you may not know what that is.
My review:
4/5 Stars
I do apologize for the late review, some surprise research for Thursday's post came spur of the moment and affected the release of this, but next week's review, "The Shattering" will be on time (hopefully)!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Libya: The Fight Continues, Congress is told to butt out
On March 19th, US Forces in concurrence with NATO forces began strikes in Libyan compounds that were government controlled as the citizens rebelled against their leader. President Obama didn't ask permission from congress, or anyone else, to begin these attacks. After two weeks of airstrikes and bombing runs on Libyan compounds, the United States handed over control of the operation to NATO forces.
However, publicly, all is not as it seemed.
The U.S. still has a presence in the operation. While we do not have troops on the ground, nor our planes in the air, we still have troops in the area in support roles for operations. Our ships still conduct strikes, along with our drones. The fact is, while no one in our government is admitting to it, this has turned into yet another war.
But the White House keeps saying that this isn't a war that the United States is involved in. Because under the war act of 1973, we have no troops on the ground fighting, therefore we are not at war. Though our drones and technology are still in the air, and our troops are supporting them through a computer.
We are at war in Libya. NATO may have control, but our tax dollars are being spent there, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. Our soldiers may not be fighting and dying on Libyan soil, we still have ships that could come under fire, and soldiers populating those vessels. I guarantee that if one of those ships ever came under attack by Libyan forces still operating today, the United States would press forward.
It is because of this that I can say that we are already at war. Because the U.S. is the biggest financial and military supporter in NATO, and our forces are still in the area. Even though our esteemed President would like to make us believe that we are not.
Now, I do not dispute that the people in Libya need help. Their dictator, Gaddhafi, has been violent as their ruler and has finally pushed them to the brink. And as our status in the world, holding both nuclear weapons and one of the largest armed forces to date, it is our duty to help those who ask. But that doesn't give our leaders the right to lie to their own citizens and the officials those citizens elect to represent them.
President Obama should have come to congress for authorization of any attack on the Libyan government forces. That is the way our country is supposed to work. When September 11th occurred, President Bush went to congress for approval for war. They agreed. Congress also passed approval for President Bush and his war in Iraq. The Libyan conflict and our actions in it have never been approved by congress.
It is with this, that I believe that our current President is trampling on our constitution. While it is not currently affecting our freedoms, it is showing how he really feels about the laws this nation has. The constitution yes, is a living, breathing document. But at the same time, there are certain powers that a President may never have, and the power to go to war without congressional approval is one of them.
Our country has to speak up against him, and the liberal media that supports this regime. He is ignoring the fact that all citizens have rights. Same with the world. While the Libyan people did ask for our help, President Obama knows that we may not have the funds to offer it. So, speak up, citizens of the nation, it is time the president actually heard us.
However, publicly, all is not as it seemed.
The U.S. still has a presence in the operation. While we do not have troops on the ground, nor our planes in the air, we still have troops in the area in support roles for operations. Our ships still conduct strikes, along with our drones. The fact is, while no one in our government is admitting to it, this has turned into yet another war.
But the White House keeps saying that this isn't a war that the United States is involved in. Because under the war act of 1973, we have no troops on the ground fighting, therefore we are not at war. Though our drones and technology are still in the air, and our troops are supporting them through a computer.
We are at war in Libya. NATO may have control, but our tax dollars are being spent there, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. Our soldiers may not be fighting and dying on Libyan soil, we still have ships that could come under fire, and soldiers populating those vessels. I guarantee that if one of those ships ever came under attack by Libyan forces still operating today, the United States would press forward.
It is because of this that I can say that we are already at war. Because the U.S. is the biggest financial and military supporter in NATO, and our forces are still in the area. Even though our esteemed President would like to make us believe that we are not.
Now, I do not dispute that the people in Libya need help. Their dictator, Gaddhafi, has been violent as their ruler and has finally pushed them to the brink. And as our status in the world, holding both nuclear weapons and one of the largest armed forces to date, it is our duty to help those who ask. But that doesn't give our leaders the right to lie to their own citizens and the officials those citizens elect to represent them.
President Obama should have come to congress for authorization of any attack on the Libyan government forces. That is the way our country is supposed to work. When September 11th occurred, President Bush went to congress for approval for war. They agreed. Congress also passed approval for President Bush and his war in Iraq. The Libyan conflict and our actions in it have never been approved by congress.
It is with this, that I believe that our current President is trampling on our constitution. While it is not currently affecting our freedoms, it is showing how he really feels about the laws this nation has. The constitution yes, is a living, breathing document. But at the same time, there are certain powers that a President may never have, and the power to go to war without congressional approval is one of them.
Our country has to speak up against him, and the liberal media that supports this regime. He is ignoring the fact that all citizens have rights. Same with the world. While the Libyan people did ask for our help, President Obama knows that we may not have the funds to offer it. So, speak up, citizens of the nation, it is time the president actually heard us.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Random Review of the Week: E3 2011
Every year, the Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3, is held in Los Angeles, California. Save the one year in Santa Monica, the big three gaming companies and a major collection of developers and publishers take control of downtown L.A. to show off what the biggest and best games of the next year are going to be. Gamers wait for this conference like a second Christmas, as it is where Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft show off what they think will be the next generation in gaming. The X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii, PS3, PS2, and many other systems were showcased here for the first time, and historically, this is the conference where gaming history is made.
However, after a failed experiment by moving the conference to Santa Monica, the expo fell in glory. What was once the yearly gaming mecca now became one of many different conferences and conventions about technology and gaming. It was fitting that this happened however, as gaming devices became much more than just gaming devices, fueling a much larger audience.
This year, in 2011, this wasn't any different of an expo. While the big three got together, I felt that there weren't many surprises they had. And I held off on making a thursday post to watch all the footage, and how best to describe what I felt about this. And what I felt, was nothing.
Maybe I am more jaded when it comes to video games and consoles, or possibly I'm looking just negative about certain things. But, in a conference where things have literally made my jaw drop in years past, this year felt like a moment of nostalgia. With both Sony and Nintendo showing off things that we've been hearing and seeing for months, and Microsoft not showing anything new in terms of software or hardware, it was hard pressed to find a surprise in the convention.
So, for a smaller in-depth look at the conferences, we'll start with Microsoft:
Microsoft debuted new footage of Gears of War 3, many Kinect enabled titles, showed off Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 footage, announced the same DLC deal they had in the previous year, and introduced yet another new interface for the X-Box and their Kinect motion controller. The conference didn't show much that we haven't already seen, and while the shiny new interface was different, it's the third one they've released in the last two years.
Sony: As Jack Tretton said about the conference, there was a major elephant in the room once he walked on stage. The Playstation Network outage that plagued Sony for a month was one thing that needed to be addressed, and Tretton responded with class. He apologized on behalf of himself and the company, and did it remarkably well enough to convince me at the very least. However, after that, there wasn't any more surprises to be had, except for the Sly Cooper 4 announcement trailer. The game has already been announced though. And while we now know the true name of the new Playstation Hand-held, the Playstation Vita, we've already seen how the system will function, what it can do. There wasn't anything that truly stood out, except for the graphics were of PS3 quality.
Nintendo: Yes, Nintendo did show off the new WiiU console, the hardware that they are releasing with Next-Gen Graphics capability, improved online play, and storage space in order to hold content and information. However, this is something we've been hearing rumors about from Nintendo for a while, and at the same time, it was something that was needed in order for the company to continue to compete with the other two console makers. The Wii at this point is underpowered, and is unable to handle experiences that the PS3 or 360 can. The WiiU and it's new "innovative" controller (a normal controller sporting a touchscreen for enhanced content and two cameras) is designed to make the console competitive.
The problem is, that they didn't show any gameplay. Third party titles were shown by footage from the other systems. First Party footage was shown in trailers of games that have been already released that were souped up. There is nothing of actual proof of what this console can actually do, which leaves me skeptical.
The rest of the conference was a mash of "been there, done that" for me, with all the games already shown at other conventions and conferences. This year, i'm sorry, has taken away my lust for the convention, and possibly even for following gaming news entirely. It is sad, since gaming is one of my favorite hobbies, and I did spend all week scouring the gaming news aggregates in order to find something that blew my mind. Sadly, nothing truly popped out like that.
I do apologize for skipping thursdays post for this one, and I will be back on schedule this week. Thanks for your patience.
No review score this week
However, after a failed experiment by moving the conference to Santa Monica, the expo fell in glory. What was once the yearly gaming mecca now became one of many different conferences and conventions about technology and gaming. It was fitting that this happened however, as gaming devices became much more than just gaming devices, fueling a much larger audience.
This year, in 2011, this wasn't any different of an expo. While the big three got together, I felt that there weren't many surprises they had. And I held off on making a thursday post to watch all the footage, and how best to describe what I felt about this. And what I felt, was nothing.
Maybe I am more jaded when it comes to video games and consoles, or possibly I'm looking just negative about certain things. But, in a conference where things have literally made my jaw drop in years past, this year felt like a moment of nostalgia. With both Sony and Nintendo showing off things that we've been hearing and seeing for months, and Microsoft not showing anything new in terms of software or hardware, it was hard pressed to find a surprise in the convention.
So, for a smaller in-depth look at the conferences, we'll start with Microsoft:
Microsoft debuted new footage of Gears of War 3, many Kinect enabled titles, showed off Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 footage, announced the same DLC deal they had in the previous year, and introduced yet another new interface for the X-Box and their Kinect motion controller. The conference didn't show much that we haven't already seen, and while the shiny new interface was different, it's the third one they've released in the last two years.
Sony: As Jack Tretton said about the conference, there was a major elephant in the room once he walked on stage. The Playstation Network outage that plagued Sony for a month was one thing that needed to be addressed, and Tretton responded with class. He apologized on behalf of himself and the company, and did it remarkably well enough to convince me at the very least. However, after that, there wasn't any more surprises to be had, except for the Sly Cooper 4 announcement trailer. The game has already been announced though. And while we now know the true name of the new Playstation Hand-held, the Playstation Vita, we've already seen how the system will function, what it can do. There wasn't anything that truly stood out, except for the graphics were of PS3 quality.
Nintendo: Yes, Nintendo did show off the new WiiU console, the hardware that they are releasing with Next-Gen Graphics capability, improved online play, and storage space in order to hold content and information. However, this is something we've been hearing rumors about from Nintendo for a while, and at the same time, it was something that was needed in order for the company to continue to compete with the other two console makers. The Wii at this point is underpowered, and is unable to handle experiences that the PS3 or 360 can. The WiiU and it's new "innovative" controller (a normal controller sporting a touchscreen for enhanced content and two cameras) is designed to make the console competitive.
The problem is, that they didn't show any gameplay. Third party titles were shown by footage from the other systems. First Party footage was shown in trailers of games that have been already released that were souped up. There is nothing of actual proof of what this console can actually do, which leaves me skeptical.
The rest of the conference was a mash of "been there, done that" for me, with all the games already shown at other conventions and conferences. This year, i'm sorry, has taken away my lust for the convention, and possibly even for following gaming news entirely. It is sad, since gaming is one of my favorite hobbies, and I did spend all week scouring the gaming news aggregates in order to find something that blew my mind. Sadly, nothing truly popped out like that.
I do apologize for skipping thursdays post for this one, and I will be back on schedule this week. Thanks for your patience.
No review score this week
Monday, June 6, 2011
Random Review of the Week: Hangover: Part II
In 2009, Todd Phillips directed The Hangover. The comedy told the story of four friends going to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, only to get totally messed up and losing one of their own. The remaining three friends then try to trace their steps in order to find their missing friend, and end up on the comedic adventure of a lifetime. The movie redefined drunk comedy, and made the comedy genre a highlight of the next year in a industry that is more enthralled with blockbuster epics than smaller films of this nature.
In 2011, Todd Phillips directed The Hangover Part II. A sequel to the original film, the four main leads reprise their roles and set off for a new adventure in Bangkok, Thailand. Justin Bartha once again sits out of the action, but this time it is Mason Lee portraying Teddy as the one that the 'Wolfpack' has lost in their night of drunken stupor. They set off into the heart of Bangkok in order to bring him back in time for Stu (Portrayed once again by Ed Helms) to get married to his sweetheart.
The premise makes it seem all too familiar, and to those who have seen the original, it pretty much is. While the idea was hilarious the first go around, the second one already feels dated and repetitive. I was apprehensive to watch the first one, but when I finally did, I laughed through every minute of it. As I sat through the sequel, I could see where the formula became contrived and outdated within just one film.
The opening of part two is almost a direct mirror of the original, with Phil (Bradley Cooper) making a call to Tracy (Portrayed once again by Sasha Barrese) and saying how they messed up once again. It then flips to only a few days prior as Doug, Phil and Stu prepare to leave for Thailand and end up once again bringing Alan with them to the wedding.
From here, the film becomes almost an exact carbon copy of the first one. The story is almost the exact same, but uses a couple new elements of a Buddhist monk and a drug-dealing monkey. However, the formula hasn't changed. The premise of the movie is the exact same, and the characters haven't matured or grown any from the events of the previous film.
There is laughs here, and the movie is a bit darker than the previous film, but the film is still contrived. The fact that this movie style has quickly gotten stale is a fact that is obvious from the first few minutes of the film. While I usually don't agree with the true movie critics, I do agree with them here.
The acting is the same quality, all the characters shine. However, you can tell they're just going through the same motions as before. If there is a third film, I will be surprised if it as much of a success as these last two have been.
My Review:
2/5 Stars
In 2011, Todd Phillips directed The Hangover Part II. A sequel to the original film, the four main leads reprise their roles and set off for a new adventure in Bangkok, Thailand. Justin Bartha once again sits out of the action, but this time it is Mason Lee portraying Teddy as the one that the 'Wolfpack' has lost in their night of drunken stupor. They set off into the heart of Bangkok in order to bring him back in time for Stu (Portrayed once again by Ed Helms) to get married to his sweetheart.
The premise makes it seem all too familiar, and to those who have seen the original, it pretty much is. While the idea was hilarious the first go around, the second one already feels dated and repetitive. I was apprehensive to watch the first one, but when I finally did, I laughed through every minute of it. As I sat through the sequel, I could see where the formula became contrived and outdated within just one film.
The opening of part two is almost a direct mirror of the original, with Phil (Bradley Cooper) making a call to Tracy (Portrayed once again by Sasha Barrese) and saying how they messed up once again. It then flips to only a few days prior as Doug, Phil and Stu prepare to leave for Thailand and end up once again bringing Alan with them to the wedding.
From here, the film becomes almost an exact carbon copy of the first one. The story is almost the exact same, but uses a couple new elements of a Buddhist monk and a drug-dealing monkey. However, the formula hasn't changed. The premise of the movie is the exact same, and the characters haven't matured or grown any from the events of the previous film.
There is laughs here, and the movie is a bit darker than the previous film, but the film is still contrived. The fact that this movie style has quickly gotten stale is a fact that is obvious from the first few minutes of the film. While I usually don't agree with the true movie critics, I do agree with them here.
The acting is the same quality, all the characters shine. However, you can tell they're just going through the same motions as before. If there is a third film, I will be surprised if it as much of a success as these last two have been.
My Review:
2/5 Stars
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Evil Empire of the Gaming World: Activision Blizzard
The world of video games has never seen a better time. With the process of device integration, the gaming console has become a much more powerful and seductive machine. With consoles being able to watch and download video content, stream files from other computers, browse the internet, the gaming console is becoming the one thing that many people have wanted for years, a computer to connect to the television.
But at the heart of the gaming console is still the games, and where there are games, there are large corporations that are dedicated to making games for these boxes we connect to our television. But with each Konami and Ubisoft out there, there is one major conglomerate that can be seen to not have the best interest of quality and standards at their heart. For most of the 2000-2010 decade, that company was viewed as Electronic Arts. However, in the recent couple of years, that balance of power has shifted, to Activision Blizzard.
While the company of Activision has been around since the early eighties, Activision has only been a true powerhouse in the industry of game development since 1999 with the start of the Tony Hawk series. Ever since then, Activision had been greatly chipping away at the market share that their biggest competitor, Electronic Arts. With the success of the Tony Hawk series, then Call of Duty, then Guitar Hero, Activision had become one of the largest gaming companies in the world.
On the same token in the PC market was Blizzard Entertainment. While only producing few games for the PC, those games have been monsters on the charts. Ever since they changed their name from Silicon & Synapse to Blizzard Entertainment, most of the titles they produced have been in their three largest franchises, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. However, each game has been majorly successful, and in 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, the largest MMORPG ever to be produced, now holding 11.4 Million Subscribers.
In 2008, the companies merged, forming the new Activision Blizzard, with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick having control of the entire company. Publicly, Blizzard Entertainment was still going to be run the way it was, with Kotick offering no interference. It was also in 2008, however, that we saw a downturn in quality from both companies.
In November of 2008, Blizzard released the second expansion pack to World of Warcraft, entitled Wrath of the Lich King. This expansion has been deemed some of the worst content in the game's history for both Player vs. Environment and Player vs. Player content. With some of the most boring and repetitive opening raiding content, and a questing environment that took away from the community aspect of the game, WotLK has been criticized heavily.
At the same time, things for Activision weren't any better. The Tony Hawk franchise that truly set the company on the map was starting to fall flat, with game after game being rated lower and lower. The Guitar Hero franchise was losing more and more market share to EA's Rock Band, and was also being scored lower than the franchise as well. Other Activision games were also lackluster, with the main money makers for the Activision Blizzard being the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises.
However, in 2009, Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game was lauded by critics, but gamers had some complaints about multiplayer glitches, rushed storylines, and all too similar feel of the gameplay on both sides. Later litigation by the former heads of the Infinity Ward, the company who made Modern Warfare 2 for Activision, revealed that Activision rushed the release of the game in order to meet the 1 CoD game per year deadline.
I call this company the Evil Empire of Gaming, because of the fact that Activision has put it's fingers into every aspect of game design. The biggest margin of proof of this comes from the release of the third expansion to World of Warcraft, Cataclysm. The expansion had been in development for at least a year, with artists working to rebuild the entire original world from the ground up and add new content into the game.
However, upon release, players saw almost two months straight of hotfixes (updates that can be done without patching), fixing different issues from bug fixes to damage in combat. 20-30 different changes a day, were released, which made the game have a very rushed feeling behind it. At the same time, Blizzard came out and admitted that one of their classes was broken.
These are things that should not happen with a company. No game or piece of software is ever going to be perfect, and it's expected to have some glitches when a game is a massive as World of Warcraft. However, when things are this broken upon release, when Blizzard has never had this magnitude of a problem before, is evidence that Kotick and his Activision design philosophy has severely impacted the company.
The next fault in the game is coming in the soon to be released content patch for WoW, 4.2. This patch has new raid content for endgame players in the Firelands, a dungeon designed with seven bosses and a new daily questing area. However, there are certain things that have been admitted by the company that make it seem like their either resting on their laurels, become lazy, or Activision is tightly holding the reins of the company.
This patch is supposed to be comparable to 3.1, which was the first released raid content in Wrath of the Lich King. 3.1 introduced Ulduar, a 14 boss raid encounter which, while the rest of the expansion was frowned upon until the final raid, had some of the best raiding experiences that the game had to offer. The World of Warcraft community praised 3.1, noting numerous changes to the game made the experience better and had much more to offer.
However, Firelands only has seven bosses, with their Baradin Hold instance getting a new wing added to make up an eighth boss. At the same time, a 5 man dungeon called the Abyssal Maw was supposed to be released with Firelands. However, in a recent post by the developers, the team on Abyssal Maw was moved onto Firelands to include additional bosses into the instance.
So to think that Fireands was actually supposed to have fewer than 7 shows that Blizzard has moved from a philosophy of "It's done when it's done" to moving towards the Activision philosophy of wanting the bottom line and getting the maximum dollar value of everything, regardless of quality.
It is sad when a company begins to take this route. In gaming history, we've seen this before. Electronic Arts during the last decade was like this, with most of their major game releases only being yearly updates to their sports franchises. People were buying them up, but the games in about 2006 begun to take a huge downturn. The releases of Medal of Honor weren't any better, and the whole company began to fall.
However, in 2008, things began to pick up. New IPs were introduced, and other IPs were transformed into innovative and powerful franchises. This allowed EA to once again become a major force in the gaming industry. But it took them a few years to figure this out, and now I have to wonder when Activision Blizzard will learn this same information.
With the next games coming out from the Activision Blizzard lineup, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Prototype 2, X-Men, Transformers and Spider-Man, things aren't looking to change. Activision has already put certain franchises on hold, but their studios are working on nothing substantial. On top of this, World of Warcraft just lost 600,000 subscribers, going from 12 million to 11.4 million. When you look at how much this is lost in revenue per month, that's 9 million dollars lost per month. Every month, the company will make 9 million less. And if the quality of content doesn't increase, it wouldn't be hard to see that loss go even higher.
So, as a company, Activision Blizzard, I plead with you to move away from this path, but it's only we the gamers who can truly make a difference and change this. The next release of Call of Duty, don't buy it. Or maybe for the 12 million wow players, cancel your subs for a month. Look at how Activision would feel at that point. That is a major blow to the company itself, and possibly could turn things around.
But at the heart of the gaming console is still the games, and where there are games, there are large corporations that are dedicated to making games for these boxes we connect to our television. But with each Konami and Ubisoft out there, there is one major conglomerate that can be seen to not have the best interest of quality and standards at their heart. For most of the 2000-2010 decade, that company was viewed as Electronic Arts. However, in the recent couple of years, that balance of power has shifted, to Activision Blizzard.
While the company of Activision has been around since the early eighties, Activision has only been a true powerhouse in the industry of game development since 1999 with the start of the Tony Hawk series. Ever since then, Activision had been greatly chipping away at the market share that their biggest competitor, Electronic Arts. With the success of the Tony Hawk series, then Call of Duty, then Guitar Hero, Activision had become one of the largest gaming companies in the world.
On the same token in the PC market was Blizzard Entertainment. While only producing few games for the PC, those games have been monsters on the charts. Ever since they changed their name from Silicon & Synapse to Blizzard Entertainment, most of the titles they produced have been in their three largest franchises, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. However, each game has been majorly successful, and in 2004, Blizzard released World of Warcraft, the largest MMORPG ever to be produced, now holding 11.4 Million Subscribers.
In 2008, the companies merged, forming the new Activision Blizzard, with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick having control of the entire company. Publicly, Blizzard Entertainment was still going to be run the way it was, with Kotick offering no interference. It was also in 2008, however, that we saw a downturn in quality from both companies.
In November of 2008, Blizzard released the second expansion pack to World of Warcraft, entitled Wrath of the Lich King. This expansion has been deemed some of the worst content in the game's history for both Player vs. Environment and Player vs. Player content. With some of the most boring and repetitive opening raiding content, and a questing environment that took away from the community aspect of the game, WotLK has been criticized heavily.
At the same time, things for Activision weren't any better. The Tony Hawk franchise that truly set the company on the map was starting to fall flat, with game after game being rated lower and lower. The Guitar Hero franchise was losing more and more market share to EA's Rock Band, and was also being scored lower than the franchise as well. Other Activision games were also lackluster, with the main money makers for the Activision Blizzard being the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises.
However, in 2009, Activision released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game was lauded by critics, but gamers had some complaints about multiplayer glitches, rushed storylines, and all too similar feel of the gameplay on both sides. Later litigation by the former heads of the Infinity Ward, the company who made Modern Warfare 2 for Activision, revealed that Activision rushed the release of the game in order to meet the 1 CoD game per year deadline.
I call this company the Evil Empire of Gaming, because of the fact that Activision has put it's fingers into every aspect of game design. The biggest margin of proof of this comes from the release of the third expansion to World of Warcraft, Cataclysm. The expansion had been in development for at least a year, with artists working to rebuild the entire original world from the ground up and add new content into the game.
However, upon release, players saw almost two months straight of hotfixes (updates that can be done without patching), fixing different issues from bug fixes to damage in combat. 20-30 different changes a day, were released, which made the game have a very rushed feeling behind it. At the same time, Blizzard came out and admitted that one of their classes was broken.
These are things that should not happen with a company. No game or piece of software is ever going to be perfect, and it's expected to have some glitches when a game is a massive as World of Warcraft. However, when things are this broken upon release, when Blizzard has never had this magnitude of a problem before, is evidence that Kotick and his Activision design philosophy has severely impacted the company.
The next fault in the game is coming in the soon to be released content patch for WoW, 4.2. This patch has new raid content for endgame players in the Firelands, a dungeon designed with seven bosses and a new daily questing area. However, there are certain things that have been admitted by the company that make it seem like their either resting on their laurels, become lazy, or Activision is tightly holding the reins of the company.
This patch is supposed to be comparable to 3.1, which was the first released raid content in Wrath of the Lich King. 3.1 introduced Ulduar, a 14 boss raid encounter which, while the rest of the expansion was frowned upon until the final raid, had some of the best raiding experiences that the game had to offer. The World of Warcraft community praised 3.1, noting numerous changes to the game made the experience better and had much more to offer.
However, Firelands only has seven bosses, with their Baradin Hold instance getting a new wing added to make up an eighth boss. At the same time, a 5 man dungeon called the Abyssal Maw was supposed to be released with Firelands. However, in a recent post by the developers, the team on Abyssal Maw was moved onto Firelands to include additional bosses into the instance.
So to think that Fireands was actually supposed to have fewer than 7 shows that Blizzard has moved from a philosophy of "It's done when it's done" to moving towards the Activision philosophy of wanting the bottom line and getting the maximum dollar value of everything, regardless of quality.
It is sad when a company begins to take this route. In gaming history, we've seen this before. Electronic Arts during the last decade was like this, with most of their major game releases only being yearly updates to their sports franchises. People were buying them up, but the games in about 2006 begun to take a huge downturn. The releases of Medal of Honor weren't any better, and the whole company began to fall.
However, in 2008, things began to pick up. New IPs were introduced, and other IPs were transformed into innovative and powerful franchises. This allowed EA to once again become a major force in the gaming industry. But it took them a few years to figure this out, and now I have to wonder when Activision Blizzard will learn this same information.
With the next games coming out from the Activision Blizzard lineup, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Prototype 2, X-Men, Transformers and Spider-Man, things aren't looking to change. Activision has already put certain franchises on hold, but their studios are working on nothing substantial. On top of this, World of Warcraft just lost 600,000 subscribers, going from 12 million to 11.4 million. When you look at how much this is lost in revenue per month, that's 9 million dollars lost per month. Every month, the company will make 9 million less. And if the quality of content doesn't increase, it wouldn't be hard to see that loss go even higher.
So, as a company, Activision Blizzard, I plead with you to move away from this path, but it's only we the gamers who can truly make a difference and change this. The next release of Call of Duty, don't buy it. Or maybe for the 12 million wow players, cancel your subs for a month. Look at how Activision would feel at that point. That is a major blow to the company itself, and possibly could turn things around.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Random Review of the Week: Return of the Ashbringer II
For those non-nerds out there, I do apologize, but this will be a week of World of Warcraft on the blog. Today's post as well as thursday's will be totally WoW related. Today, I will be reviewing a feature-length Machinima video, entitled 'Return of the Ashbringer II: Raiders of Northrend".
This movie is a sequel film (Obviously), and I have not seen the first one. However, you don't need to in order to enjoy the film. The most interesting thing about this film is that, unlike other Machinima films based on the World of Warcraft universe, this one is shot entirely in the game. All the animations of the characters are actual emotes that players are able to do with slash commands in the in game engine.
The story is also a major highlight of the movie. This is one of the few films that actually uses the WoW timeline from expansion to expansion to tell a story. As the movie is told in both a series of flashbacks and "current" events (I say current for the fact that the events of the film are actually now in a past expansion and are no longer current content), we see events from both The Burning Crusade expansion and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
The story follows a guild named Arctica, a former raiding guild during the events of The Burning Crusade expansion. We see as they have fallen from their former glory because of the lust for battle has left it's leader, Maxcell. The viewer also follows three other members of Arctica, Kraakku, Jallu, and Pykmi, as they go on a mission given to them by Maxcell.
However, the most prominent character in the video is Pykmi, a protection warrior for Arctica. The flashbacks are mostly of his story, and how he's lost people in the past and made him what he is today. His story is told magnificently throughout the film, as his story dovetails with the history of Arctica, and why they chose to stop fighting.
Another interesting part of the film is that they actually use players to tell a story of betrayal, murder, and the battle of will. There is a small twist in the film that uses two different player characters in a way that I hope they make a third movie out of. It is very important to the story, and allows people to really see where the game headed in Wrath of the Lich King.
The movie also uses many of the in-game mechanics and story pieces that were presented in the entire game of World of Warcraft. The flashbacks have the definite feel of having Classic WoW in terms of prejudices and hate. The current film timeline feels very much like Wrath, with desperation and fear taking a major toll on each character. That expansion did a very good job in storytelling, and this film does no different.
Each of the characters have brilliant voice actors (At least one of which World of Warcraft enthusiasts will recognize as the voice of OMFGCata, Jesse Cox), and they bring the script to life with the limited canned emotes that World of Warcraft provides in game. The best thing is that the voices are recognizable, but they actually have the quality that is presented in a lot of lower budget Hollywood films.
Overall, this film is an excellent set-up Machinima, and makes you want more. If you're into World of Warcraft at all, this movie whets your appetite for more.
My review:
4/5 stars
This movie is a sequel film (Obviously), and I have not seen the first one. However, you don't need to in order to enjoy the film. The most interesting thing about this film is that, unlike other Machinima films based on the World of Warcraft universe, this one is shot entirely in the game. All the animations of the characters are actual emotes that players are able to do with slash commands in the in game engine.
The story is also a major highlight of the movie. This is one of the few films that actually uses the WoW timeline from expansion to expansion to tell a story. As the movie is told in both a series of flashbacks and "current" events (I say current for the fact that the events of the film are actually now in a past expansion and are no longer current content), we see events from both The Burning Crusade expansion and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
The story follows a guild named Arctica, a former raiding guild during the events of The Burning Crusade expansion. We see as they have fallen from their former glory because of the lust for battle has left it's leader, Maxcell. The viewer also follows three other members of Arctica, Kraakku, Jallu, and Pykmi, as they go on a mission given to them by Maxcell.
However, the most prominent character in the video is Pykmi, a protection warrior for Arctica. The flashbacks are mostly of his story, and how he's lost people in the past and made him what he is today. His story is told magnificently throughout the film, as his story dovetails with the history of Arctica, and why they chose to stop fighting.
Another interesting part of the film is that they actually use players to tell a story of betrayal, murder, and the battle of will. There is a small twist in the film that uses two different player characters in a way that I hope they make a third movie out of. It is very important to the story, and allows people to really see where the game headed in Wrath of the Lich King.
The movie also uses many of the in-game mechanics and story pieces that were presented in the entire game of World of Warcraft. The flashbacks have the definite feel of having Classic WoW in terms of prejudices and hate. The current film timeline feels very much like Wrath, with desperation and fear taking a major toll on each character. That expansion did a very good job in storytelling, and this film does no different.
Each of the characters have brilliant voice actors (At least one of which World of Warcraft enthusiasts will recognize as the voice of OMFGCata, Jesse Cox), and they bring the script to life with the limited canned emotes that World of Warcraft provides in game. The best thing is that the voices are recognizable, but they actually have the quality that is presented in a lot of lower budget Hollywood films.
Overall, this film is an excellent set-up Machinima, and makes you want more. If you're into World of Warcraft at all, this movie whets your appetite for more.
My review:
4/5 stars
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Technical Difficulties: Take 2! Blogger joins PSN in failure!
Alright, now I am getting upset. Yes, my schedule has been busy, but not busy enough to write a blog post. I wake up on Monday, ready to do a review, and Blogger doesn't allow me to login. Nothing, nada. Wednesday was the first time I was able to log in, and here is the first post since then. Because of all this hoopla with Blogger it actually got my thoughts going on another recent outage that happened, and that's the attacks on the Playstation Network.
Now, ever since the Playstation 3 was released, there have been attempts to try and hack the system itself. There have been several ways to play burned games, but each one was eventually phased out through software updates. Unlike Sony's portable system, which is easily hacked and manipulated, it seemed that the PS3 was impenetrable.
However, things changed in January of 2010, in which George 'Geohotz' Hotz, was able to finally crack the PS3's software using the Other OS option, allowing him to play PS2 titles and install Homebrew applications. Sony responded by removing the Other OS option, which allowed users to install Linux Operating Systems onto the console.
George Hotz then began working on custom firmware for the console, however posted on his Twitter feed that he had given up trying to crack the Playstation 3. Things changed on January 2nd, 2011, when Hotz posted the Root keys of the console on his website. Sony immediately took action, forcing him to take them off of the website. Hotz complied, but began posting videos showing the system being cracked without any devices attached to the console itself.
This prompted legal action by Sony Computer Entertainment, in which they filed both a restraining order against Hotz, as well as a suit against him in order to stop hacking products they produce. It was this legal action that spawned what we have seen today with Sony.
After the suit was filed, Sony came under attack by an underground hacking group called 'Anonymous'. They began their attack on the Playstation Network itself, but gave up quickly, realizing that the only person they were hurting with their hack was the consumers. It caused some slowdown in gameplay, but nothing too severe.
However, days after their attacks ended, Sony came under a much larger attack, one that saw the theft of 77 million users' personal information. This attack became the largest theft in the history of business, and certainly is cause for speculation. Ever since the beginning of that attack, other systems of Sony have come under attack globally.
To speculate that these attacks are connected is a theory, but one that probably holds true. But the reasons for the original attack, as well as the homebrew hacking of the console by Hotz, I feel are completely stupid.
Hotz said in an interview that he believes that since he purchased the hardware, he should be able to do what he wants with it. Now, on this point, I can agree. I like to do many things with my gaming consoles as well as computer systems. But the problem is, the major thing that a custom firmware on these consoles allows is the burning and theft of video games. That's where I have an issue.
The fact that this firmware basically allows the PS3 to function totally like a computer is irrelevant, since most people who own gaming consoles have a computer in their homes or have access to one. Buying a gaming console with internet just for that console is redundant, so it would make sense to have computer hardware somewhere in the home.
To fight for the fact that you want to basically commit theft is an idiotic reason. Sony has every right to limit the ability for someone to steal software using their system. Game companies spend millions of dollars to produce titles for people to play and enjoy, and while 1 person's 60 dollars won't matter, if 100 people stole that same game, that price starts to add up.
Because of these constant attacks, Sony has taken major heat in the press for allowing these major breaches into their servers. While, yes, Sony is partially to blame for not having their security as tight as it could be, people can't just throw all of the blame on them. Sony did not ask for this to happen to them. They as a company did not pick the fight. People who want to break the law in a social medium that currently has no laws in place are the ones that chose the arena. So people, as you read about what is going on, really look at what should be happening on both sides of the spectrum.
I do apologize to non-gamers that are reading this post, but this wave of attacks is just a show of how much our world is evolving. As our society grows more and more on the internet, safety and security are top priorities. But just like the real world has murderers and rapists, the digital one has hackers and thieves like anything else, trying to gain more for themselves. So please, be careful in how you act online, and what you do with your information.
Now, Monday will have our scheduled review as promised, and I am sorry for the lack of updates. I would've been online sooner, but grr at you Blogger.
Now, ever since the Playstation 3 was released, there have been attempts to try and hack the system itself. There have been several ways to play burned games, but each one was eventually phased out through software updates. Unlike Sony's portable system, which is easily hacked and manipulated, it seemed that the PS3 was impenetrable.
However, things changed in January of 2010, in which George 'Geohotz' Hotz, was able to finally crack the PS3's software using the Other OS option, allowing him to play PS2 titles and install Homebrew applications. Sony responded by removing the Other OS option, which allowed users to install Linux Operating Systems onto the console.
George Hotz then began working on custom firmware for the console, however posted on his Twitter feed that he had given up trying to crack the Playstation 3. Things changed on January 2nd, 2011, when Hotz posted the Root keys of the console on his website. Sony immediately took action, forcing him to take them off of the website. Hotz complied, but began posting videos showing the system being cracked without any devices attached to the console itself.
This prompted legal action by Sony Computer Entertainment, in which they filed both a restraining order against Hotz, as well as a suit against him in order to stop hacking products they produce. It was this legal action that spawned what we have seen today with Sony.
After the suit was filed, Sony came under attack by an underground hacking group called 'Anonymous'. They began their attack on the Playstation Network itself, but gave up quickly, realizing that the only person they were hurting with their hack was the consumers. It caused some slowdown in gameplay, but nothing too severe.
However, days after their attacks ended, Sony came under a much larger attack, one that saw the theft of 77 million users' personal information. This attack became the largest theft in the history of business, and certainly is cause for speculation. Ever since the beginning of that attack, other systems of Sony have come under attack globally.
To speculate that these attacks are connected is a theory, but one that probably holds true. But the reasons for the original attack, as well as the homebrew hacking of the console by Hotz, I feel are completely stupid.
Hotz said in an interview that he believes that since he purchased the hardware, he should be able to do what he wants with it. Now, on this point, I can agree. I like to do many things with my gaming consoles as well as computer systems. But the problem is, the major thing that a custom firmware on these consoles allows is the burning and theft of video games. That's where I have an issue.
The fact that this firmware basically allows the PS3 to function totally like a computer is irrelevant, since most people who own gaming consoles have a computer in their homes or have access to one. Buying a gaming console with internet just for that console is redundant, so it would make sense to have computer hardware somewhere in the home.
To fight for the fact that you want to basically commit theft is an idiotic reason. Sony has every right to limit the ability for someone to steal software using their system. Game companies spend millions of dollars to produce titles for people to play and enjoy, and while 1 person's 60 dollars won't matter, if 100 people stole that same game, that price starts to add up.
Because of these constant attacks, Sony has taken major heat in the press for allowing these major breaches into their servers. While, yes, Sony is partially to blame for not having their security as tight as it could be, people can't just throw all of the blame on them. Sony did not ask for this to happen to them. They as a company did not pick the fight. People who want to break the law in a social medium that currently has no laws in place are the ones that chose the arena. So people, as you read about what is going on, really look at what should be happening on both sides of the spectrum.
I do apologize to non-gamers that are reading this post, but this wave of attacks is just a show of how much our world is evolving. As our society grows more and more on the internet, safety and security are top priorities. But just like the real world has murderers and rapists, the digital one has hackers and thieves like anything else, trying to gain more for themselves. So please, be careful in how you act online, and what you do with your information.
Now, Monday will have our scheduled review as promised, and I am sorry for the lack of updates. I would've been online sooner, but grr at you Blogger.
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