Solitude

I tried something new this time, I found a quote and tried to interpret it visually. I experimented freely with colours this time. Hopefully the finished article isn't too bad.

Starbound

Starbound is an up and coming game on development which will be a dynamic 2D platformer. What can we expect? A destructive and hazardous environment, aliens, and Terraria like gameplay! This game is being developed by a team which was originally part of the Terraria development team. One big thing I noticed is that starbound is like a 2D space-stage spore. But it seems that it will be much greater fun than spore's let down.

The basic story of starbound goes something to the extent of this: You're fleeing from your home planet aboard a space shuttle and it is shot down. With your last resort you fire out in an escape pod in some aimless direction. You eventually land in an abandoned space station. You will slowly renew this station back to it's glory and former awesome and set out to explore the galaxy!

There are a couple unique aspects to this game:

Capturing and training aliens [or basically life forms from these planet's you'll be exploring]. Further more at some point you'll be able to claim an entire planet as your home world. You'll be able to populate this world and terraform it to your desire. A big part of the game is exploration right? Thus all the planets are procedurally generated.

It is expected to be released in the summer of 2012, but who knows? But when it does come out... Fun will be had!

Essay Writing

Too many times I have no time because of essays that need to be written for humanities or language arts. These usually involve some overly-complex way of explaining a simple concept to get the best possible mark. Thus, you spend too much time trying to add in everything you possibly could. Which reminds me too much of how writing often bores me. But usually this is because I have no particular interest in the current topic that we need to write upon. Essays needs to be more free without word caps or word minimums, as long as you can express your opinion accurately and strongly you can thus make an argument over anything.

Moonlight

My first attempt at creating digital art. I tried to use my knowledge of sketching and pixeling that I have acquired to help me better understand this field. Without further ado i present to you my handiwork: (P.S there's a mouse somewhere, I wonder if you can find it.

Trisis 2 Development Details

The Trisis 2 Concept, based on the original game which I also have created. Of course, I will upload the first kind of draft or rough game I developed in my spare time on Game Maker 8.0.

Let's begin with the concept itself. Trisis is an arcade style top down shooter. It involves two kinds of defenses, basic turrets and special turrets. The default turrets are turrets you will have in place no matter what. However, the special turrets are chosen by you at the beginning of the game. Whichever turret you choose dictates your play style. Two default turrets are placed on either side of the special turret this forms your defense line. The goal of the game is to defend your base from waves on enemies. Any enemies that fly over your defense line will remove health from your base. When your base loses all it's health you lose.

Invisible Children 'Conspiracy'

After the huge blowout on attention about the KONY 2012 campaign, a lot of people have delved deeper into the subject. It's a rather good thing that they took the time to do so. Invisible Children seem to be slightly single minded or misled. The thing is, they pretty much only focus their attention on Joseph Kony. However, the armies they support for military intervention to arrest Joseph Kony also have histories or raping and pillaging as well as having child soldiers. While they will most definitely have a good heart I suppose. Not only should they be trying to rid the world of Joseph Kony, but along with all armies with child soldiers. Here's a video of one of the many people who have found evidence against supporting KONY 2012:

KONY 2012

People need to know this, and get involved. If you thought the video was too long then here I'll make it short. Joseph Kony is the leader of the L.R.A (Lord's Resistance Army). It's not the fact that he's the leader of a rebel group that makes him so important, it's the fact that he kidnaps children and forces them to become soldiers. Girls he kidnaps become sex slaves. The crimes against humanity he has committed needs to be stopped. KONY must be arrested and it must happen NOW. The goal of the project is to make his as famous as possible or, infamous as possible. Build up a reputation so large of being the worst man alive that he will gather attention from all the major powers of the world. And hopefully be found and arrested. What is appalling is that he avoided attention from us for 20+ years.

The United States of America has responded by sending 100 military advisers to advise the Ugandan army and track down the monster that is Kony. Before this video only 2% of the world knew who Kony was, this has to be changed, our voices must be heard. We need to demand that the powers of the world help stop Kony for his crimes against humanity. This isn't just about Uganda, its about the world. What we're doing is changing history.

The website found here will give information about pledging to fight Kony and for peace. Along with donations and ways to contact the people who will influence the world. 20 culture leaders, and 12 powers. This cannot go on for much longer. We need to stop him, NOW.

Vote, Pledge and Donate for Peace

Nostalgia: Pokemon

During my time growing up in elementary, my generation if you will allow, had gone through many, I suppose phases. Beyblades, yugioh, Bdaman, etc... just to name a few. But there was one nostalgia topic that many of us know and probably still love. Pokemon.

If somehow you do not pokemon is, pokemon is mythical creatures that exist in a mythical world. People called pokemon trainers capture and train pokemon to battle another pokemon or compete in contests. Which test how you can exploit the beauty of pokemon. That's a nice little summary I suppose, otherwise read Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokemon.

Like any good nostalgic toy or game or character there is an anime associated with the topic, for lack of a better term. All of the previous things mentioned also had their own animes. The thing that the pokemon universe had going with it was that it's main character stayed it's main character. In yugioh the main character, Yugi, changed every new season. There always seemed to be a kind of conspiracy however, universally based around how Ash never seemed to be recognized even though he saved worlds and beaten the best in another region he was regarded as a new trainer in every new region he visited. The simplicity of the main character always intrigued me as a child. The simple desire to just become the very best pokemon trainer. A task which had a simple meaning but a difficult task to accomplish.

Now what good universe doesn't have it's own series of games? One thing about pokemon games is that they were done well a lot of the other universes had relatively poor games. They were simple and yet had puzzles and let you liver life as a pokemon trainer. As a kid that was just something I'd opt to be. They consisted of a basic plot, of which the main goal is still to become the very best. However, there are still villains that need to be cleansed from the world. As a result the game is an addicting rpg style game. Having the ability to capture pokemon and use them in battle always had a quirk in it. It's like playing any old mmorpg or rpg, and wishing anything could be your pet. The game revolves around random encounters with certain areas, such that trainers could choose to avoid them. Of course, these areas which are usually referred to as tall grass, provide an obstacle in some cases. Sometimes you can walk through the entire bush without encountering anything, while others you'll encounter several. It all depends on how you play. Traditionally people would level up their party of pokemon rather than having a single bruiser to take on an entire enemy team. However, many people do focus on their starter as it is simply easier to manage that way.

Of course, don't tell me that when you were a kid you didn't have that internal longing to want pokemon to be a real thing.

I just want to talk a little bit of the sense of the above statement. What I'm getting at is the fact that society would be in utter shambles if pokemon existed. Crimes would be easier to execute and pokemon can kill people. All those times charmander burned Ash's face should have been death. I understand it's a cartoon but that longing cannot be justified which I'm sad to admit.

Interesting stories of pokemon: Creepy Pasta

Morals

Question: Pretend if you had a wife/husband, now lets say someone would give you a hundred dollars to cheat on your wife/husband would you do it? No, you wouldn't, however what if the reward was increased to one million dollars with the guarantee of nobody knowing. Would you now?

Yes - There are several possible reasons for opting yes for it. For example if you were poor, in this way not only would you have money now to pull yourself out of financial burdens such as credit card bills or taxes. Not only that, if you told your wife/husband or your wife/husband ever somehow found out, you are poor... Think about it, she/he will (hopefully) understand. Further more, there is a guarantee that nobody will ever find out, so that's basically a free million dollars.

No - Blah Blah Blah GUILT... Anything more to say?!?!? I mean, the guilt could lead to depression,insanity or whatever. Immorality is another thing, a person's honor happens to be a valuable thing and often, they decide correctly when defending this. Such this is because the person in question feels 'dirty' for accepting this offer. However what if, your wife/husband needed surgery and this was the only opportunity to be able to afford this expensive surgery. You would probably accept the offer, your wife/husband would likely understand. If you say no, you're trying to hard to do the 'right' thing. Life isn't always about being the better man/woman, sometimes you have to do an underhand tactic to get what is required.

Argument - Everyone would always say no first, when asked this question. To look like a moralistic character etc... But with the real deal people are broken and circumstances change. You cannot be sure you would never take the offer.

*Everyone has a price* - There will always be a way to persuade or bribe an individual. Nobody is immune to this. Whether it is torture or harming your family, there will always be a way. Bribery doesn`t necessarily need to be money, it could be protection, etc... Which finally boils down to: there is always a limit any individual will endure before their morals are lower than their needs and or priorities.

English Class...

I don't know about you, but when you were small many of us liked to read. For reals. While I still read, I'm not as an avid reader as I was before. However, there is one thing I have to disagree with about the Novel Studies that we do during English Class or otherwise known as Language Arts. These 'Studies' involves an 'indepth' look at a novel. While usually these novels are of a decent entertainment value, the way they are presented suck out it's interest factor. Because I was an avid reader I still appreciate books however, many of people won't thus, presenting them in an utmost boring educational matter is not helping people get into reading, neither is the way you want us to analyze the text. It almost pretending the book is a riddle comprised of symbolism and allusions put into the literature by the author in a thoughtful and meaningful way. However, while I do know and believe that some of this symbolism and allusions were thought of purposely, I think that the author's instinctual mind have set the other allusion automatically. English class needs to focus more on creativity of writings rather than indepth analysis of brain dead topics.

Emotions

Whether it is the feeling of happy, having a bad day or the feeling of anxiety. Humanity has always had to deal with these feelings. But do they benefit us, or are they a binding which keeps us from doing the correct action. I believe that while emotions do induce fear, torment and anxiety they are what makes us human. Emotions have taught us morals, for example the feeling of guilt overtakes a person who has stolen belongings or murdered somebody for selfish reasons. If we are sharing or helping others the feeling of ‘charity’ perhaps for lack of better term will lead us as humans to believe that these are the correct actions to take. On contrary however, emotions can lead to our own downfall, as emotions happen to be balanced differently in each person. Certain people have an overwhelming greed feeling which will lead to their own wrong doings. I conclude that while emotions both teach us and lead us to bad intentions, without having these ups and downs of life, life would be a series of meaningless events.

Gaming Intellect

Often, gamers will become an IB/AP student. While people often question how come people who value entertainment so much end up doing so well at academic learning? Well I'm here to answer your questions through a gamer's standpoint.

So, what are games, really?
I tend to define games as an activity whether it be virtual or not which induces 'fun' entertainment value.

And fun is defined as?
The act of learning. Why? Well I'll tell you why, if you go to the roots of fun; the basis is that you're learning. Don't believe me? Well consider this: how are puzzles games entertaining to you? That's right, you want to solve the puzzle. This in turn means that you end up learning how to more efficiently do the puzzle and finally beat the game. Now, the obvious question is how do action games incorporate learning then? Well I'd have to say, finding the weaknesses of your enemies and how to navigate the terrain is pretty much the same thing as a puzzle game. Killing the enemy is essentially solving the puzzle, finding his weakness if just finding the most efficient way to solve the puzzle. Why is killing everything fun then? Well, while I don't have a concrete answer for this, I admit, I figure that the most logical course of action is that. It's fun because you're actually learning how it would feel like to be a person of such power. However, this gets boring quickly because your mind eventually cannot learn anything new. Same thing with grinding, it's not fun because you've learned how to kill this enemy several times already and your brain does not want to function to do such a repetitive task. Same thing with exploration, it's fun because you learn about the world around you.

So why is school boring then if you define 'fun' as learning. The fundamentally boring aspect school comes from how it's being presented. Inside a virtual world everything is exciting and the information comes to you in controlled 'spoonfuls'. Whilst during school you are force fed the concepts rather than exploring it. If you don't understand correctly, learning in my terms is defined as: "The discovery of new things". In video games this is discovering how to kill an enemy, seeing a new area etc... However in school, you're not discovering anything, you are being presented with information. This is not 'learning' per say, it's just trying to make your brain recognize this information and process it. Since the discovery element is not in play during school, we naturally perceive school as boring.

Why are so many gamers academically capable? Well that lies within the learning process of gamers. From gaming we know that learning is usually straightforward or out of the box. Straight forward games involve the simple hacking and slashing of multiple enemies while out of the box encompasses usage of switches, levers and in game mechanics to get to the next area. The very best games are a balance between the two. Because gamer's always take two different approaches to learning it is easy to see why they can absorb the information. gamers tend to take the information and remember it because of knowing this information can lead to further discoveries. Consider mystery games, gamers need to take note of everything they see so they can solve the case or puzzle of the game. Many games require you to be environmentally aware to accomplish in game tasks. What does this mean? Gamers remember things because the brain is in the habit of remembering information for later use as it may become important in completing something elsewhere.

Gamers who use the pc are even put in a greater advantage than your average gamer. They will normally have experience in coding. Because at some point a gamer's mind will be curious of how a game works. Normally this leads to the eventual knowledge of a coding language of some sort. Coding and programming in general includes lots of trial and error. Because trial and error is an important skill to know for academic success. For example, figuring out what caused the error in the program will let you more easily identify the same error if it occurs again. This is how studying works. Finding out what causes your errors and get into the habit of no longer making them. But because gamers will eventually develop this skill on their own accord through an entertaining hobby it becomes much more thoroughly developed as it was developed by doing something you enjoy, which acts like a catalyst for this skill. You know what I mean, you learn a certain subject better because it's more enjoyable then the next one; demonstrating my theory, of which you learn better if you enjoy doing it. That's the core reason gamers tend to be more intellectually fit. Furthermore, pc gamers will have to deal with viruses, errors, etc.. that they come across while using the pc. The process which they take to solve these problems are often the same process they will use whilst solving a problem at school. First attempt a straightforward way, and if that doesn't work, try something a little 'random' per say. Eventually you find the problem through all these random extentions from the straightforward process.

There are a couple of disadvantages of this style of learning however. The way your brain works in this stage makes you more of the logical type. You want solid concrete answers rather than arbitrary assumptions with evidence. You'll struggle with language arts especially. When you're trying to prove something you'll be driven crazy by the fact that you will rarely be able to back up your argument 100%. This sense of doubt will be your downfall. Often we end up only leaving in the points where we know we can back up 100% thus leaving a lot of gaps in our work. So I suggest that you try and forget that philosophy just for language arts class. It also a well known stereotype that gamers are somewhat uncreative. I believe this arose from how much we spend in a world created for us rather than day dreaming or something of the such of our own virtual world. However, gamers are equally creative, think about it. Gamers often ask themselves in video games: "I wonder if I could...". This ideology leads to the ability to think outside the box when solving problems which is a useful skill. I think that gamers which are left brained will have the greatest affect in their academic career. They will enhance the already logical mind while also prompting the brain to think about what ifs.

Finally, I think the most valuable skill you learn as a gamer is persistence. Because we sometimes try many, many times to succeed in a level or get a max score. our brains have that feeling of needing to do very well, and if that means you have to try several times, it will. And because we are gamers this skill is very well developed.

Just so you know, I disagree with everything that politics has said about video games. They always like to link video games to violence and miss doings these days. Particularly related to the FPS genre and GTA series. While I do agree that some people may get ideology from video games. The amount of people is almost negligible. Half the time they forget to factor in the many other sources of ideologies these days. The internet, movies, books, tv shows, etc... Which can also factor into this. Most of all however, is that fact that it isn't their entertainment values which lead them into their own wrong doings, it's often peer pressure or parents which just abuse their child. You cannot blame virtual worlds for the decisions of real people. It's the decisions of the person(s) to do crimes. And even if you did blame video games, they have ESRB ratings. I's not the developer's fault that parents give their 6 year old child CoD: Black ops.

[Game Review] - Osu!

This game is a beat based point and click game based of the Japanese Nintendo Ds game: Osu! Tatakae! Quendan.

Which eventually led to the release of Elite Beat Agents in north america which is based upon the game Osu! Tatakae! Quendan. Osu! Tatakae! Quendan also has a sequel titled: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Quendan 2.


Let's begin with the core game play mechanics of Osu!. There are a few different ways to score points in Osu!

Hit Circle: This is also commonly referred to as a 'beat'. These are circles which you will click to score points. The only way to successfully score however, is to make sure that the outer ring [called the approach circle] is as close to touching the hit circle as possible.

Sliders: These are displayed at two hit circles with a path which connects the two. The goal is to hit the 'head' or start of the slider [the hit circle which displays the combo number]. And then hold your mouse click whilst the a ball appears called a slider ball. While this ball rolls down the path you must also keep your mouse within the ball's 'slider circle'. If there is an arrow at the end of any given slider you must follow the ball back along path in reverse. Additionally along the path of a slider there are small white dots which are called 'slider ticks'. These are the equivalent of a hit circle, by increasing the score multiplier. However only give 10 points per tick.

Spinners: Like the name suggests a dialog which says: "spin". When this occurs the player must spin the mouse around the center point of the spinner. A approach circle will appear and once it reaches the center the spinner ends. If the player has reached the threshold to pass the spinner [gauged by the bars on each side of the spinner] the player receives 300 points and any additional spin counts after the threshold gives bonus score.

In addition there are a couple more terms and mechanics which relate to score:

Score Multiplier:

The number which appears at the bottom right corner of the screen. This number rises as each successful hit circle / slider / spinner. The number pertains to the amount your score is multiplied by: for example a 12x score multiplier will multiply your points received by 12x and then increase the multiplier to 13x. If you miss a note this number resets to 0. Missing a slider tick does so as well.

Geki: Referred to as a Beat! in Elite Beat Agents. This is a type of score which significantly regenerates the life bar. It is done by having an entire combo [hitting all the notes in succession of the same color] hitting only 300s.

Katu: Same as Geki, however at least 1 100 score was obtained with no 50s or misses.

There are 6 different ranks you can achieve in this game for each beat map: D, C, B, A, S and SS. Going by ascending order. Each is determined by how accurate you were. However S requires no misses and less that I believe 2% 50s. And an SS requires no misses in addition to a 100% accuracy. If multiplier mods are included, such as flashlight or hidden, the S or SS may become platinum/silver in color rather than a gold hue.

There are two additional modes in Osu! Such as Taiko which originates from Taiko no Tatsujin. And catch the beat, which basically has your character holding a plate above his/her head. Of which you catch 'beats' which are fruits in this game mode.

Multiplayer exists as a lobby system where you enter a menu which lists available multiplayer rooms of which you can join. The game can be put into teams or individuals which also allows the ability to lock rooms with a password. It is worthy to note that importing a song as the host can cause you to go back into single player mode if imported while browsing for a song to play.

Osu! feels like a very smooth game, props to the creater, peppy, who pretty much programmed and created the visuals for Osu!. Thus most of the game you have smooth rendering and tons of rhythmic fun. However I personally experienced some lag at the start of some maps; but, that is probably the fault of the beatmap creator since some of the beatmaps can be quite complex with videos or story boards. Another positive thing I found about this game was the fact that all the beatmaps are largely user made. With moderators to approve submitted beatmaps to filter out the WIPs and the completed and polished beatmaps. The in-game editor of beatmaps is a really useful tool and is actually quite complicated - in a good way. In which it has many different function to help you along the way. I fell the strongest aspect of this game is the ability to completely recreate the GUI for the game to match the current beatmap being played.

I'd give Osu! A Gamer's Tag of 9/10.

When your friend...

...is hanging out with people you personally hate.

So one thing that bothers me sometimes is that one of my friends ends up hanging out with people which are generally retarded idiots. While you may first criticize me for this point of view and not getting to know the guy; trust me, I know this guy enough. All that matters is that this guy's opinion is so radically stupid it boggles my mind. While I don't generally mind so much that my friend has other friends and wants to hang out with other people. Even if it's people I hate. But the fact that this specific douche always wants to hang out with my friend that it's almost like my friend is his only friend. The fact of the matter is, whenever my friend actually is in the skype call with me and my buds he is often interrupted by his friend calling him through phone/skype/whatnot. My friend is great and all but he doesn't know how to tell someone that maybe he doesn't want to do something. Further more his friend actually lives ridiculously close to my friend, as a result if my friend doesn't pick up, he eventually gets a doorbell ringing instead. But you have to wonder whether or not you're friend enjoys your company more or less than other's company. While there is no way to find out, you just have to assume that he enjoys company of both equally well. Finally, the last thing I have to say is that my friend's friend  is hated by my friend's brother. Why keep a friend who your brother hates because of how much of a retard your friend is?

Social Networks

These days we people are more socially connected then we ever were. We're connected to our peers through emails, cellphones, social networks and blogs. So why do a lot of people feel really lonely or isolated during this generation? Whether it's depression or being 'alone' all the time people are often much more reclusive for some reason during this generation, even with 100+ friends on their social webpages.

So how do emails and cellphone usage contribute to this cause? Well people seem to have some unknowns urge to need to receive replies or texts to feel 'special' or 'wanted'. As a result many people seem to be lonely even though they have a lot more contacts than many of their peers. People have to understand that you don't need to be 'popular' to be social. All you have to do is enjoy life, whether it be a life of gaming or a life of hanging out. As they say life isn't about the goal it's about the journey there.

So what other ways do these types of services cause problems within our society. As a student lots of my peers often complain about not having enough time to do their assignments. However I am fairly confident that it's just because they are too busy writing their latest blog post or status. Or replying to their friends within instant messengers or texting. I feel that this is the root cause of procrastination next to the fact that the human mind just doesn't want to do such a monotonous task. Time management is a crucial skill for people to have. As a result I know that these services are actually causing our generation to be the worst at getting assignments done. While schools with programs to prevents this such as detention or something of the same category can fix this situation temporarily. There needs to be a real incentive to do homework or a strong deterrent to stop the problem of procrastination.

Another issue which I know a lot of, being a gamer, is cyberbullying. Often these individuals who join online gaming or aforementioned services will experience cyberbullying. This means that this individual is harassed through online means. While it is usually harmless anonymous individuals who feel like it might be fun to insult another player or is just plain mad at them. However, some people are not used to or take the harassment seriously, in the worst cases real individuals they know will bully them through the internet.  There's a little Facebook app that I'm aware about the application called "Honesty Box". This app lets you talk to another person with this app anonymously, as a result this lets you bully people anonymously. Sometimes leading to suicide or therapy for the victim. While this may seem obvious, if you're being harassed constantly by bullies you have to tell someone. Or even if you don't want to you can just simply stop using the internet or the social service in question. To you individuals who bully others just to make yourself feel better, if this is how you're getting self esteem; it will turn into shame and regret which will forever make yourself ashamed.

However efficient and convenient these services are there is no doubt that they are causing problems. However I'm not entirely sure whether or not the problems outweigh the positives of the internet and these services.

In every class...

Of highschool we can expect many different types of individuals. But there are these certain individuals which stick out based on their actions during class. When I say this I mean the few individuals who seem don't blend into the mosaic of faces.

Let's begin with Ask a Million Questions [AMQ] students. These students tend to ask every question or mishap during class. Any little detail they aren't 100% sure on is asked and it is quite the annoyance. So let's begin with the positives of these kind of students. Often you may be just a little behind on notes or asking yourself whether or not the question you want to ask is stupid or not. Never fear! The AMQ student will most likely decide to ask this question at one point or another. Thus, allowing you to know without asking. Another advantage/disadvantage [anomaly] is that fact that the hail of questions directed at the instructor slows down the class. As a result there's two points to discuss: 1. This lets you catch up on notes. and 2. This delays the handing out of assignments. Now I suppose if you're a slow writer that you need to catch up on notes. However, since I take notes quickly I feel that this delay in receiving the assignment really decreases the amount of time in class that I have to do the said assignment as a result, that's less time to socialize among your peers during class. There's one more positive thing about this person: when they something really obvious/stupid. [Ex. 7x7 isn't 50? Right? (me: You don't say?)] Finally, the repetition of these questions begins to bore me.

Additionally there is the individual who Randomly Laughs Annoyingly [RLA] students. These are the people who will randomly rofl or lol during class at something that is irrelevant, whether it be what the teacher has said or remembering a joke previously said. It's especially annoying when the class is currently watching a film. Any corny moments or rather subtle jokes that should rather be left 'subtle' is subject to this individuals screeching laughter. There are a few ways to take advantage of this in class though. For example knowing a surefire way to make this individual laugh can redirect attention in the classroom towards this individual. You can also use this redirected attention to do something you wouldn't normally be able to do without distraction (eg. steal you're friends pencil for lols). However the laughter of this person is almost always characteristically the most obnoxious and annoying voice you could ever possibly hear. Think 'diva' voice obnoxious. (You know the "OMG I know right" and "Whatever"  and "Did you like, you know?").

Let's not forget the Teacher's Pet [TP]. This infamous student often gets to the 'softer' side of the instructor. Often getting praise for doing literally nothing and shunned by his/her peers. However there's prizes to be had and booty to be plundered if the TC is on your side. For example if the TC is asked during class what would be a good way to teach a certain topic. The TC should (if he's on your side) choose the easiest of most entertaining way to be educated. Such as a film example or a visual group project. However is the TC is not on your side he/she may just smite you by asking for a written essay or an oral presentation. Furthermore often purposely or accidentally reminds teacher that there is homework even if only 20% of the class did it. Often however people seem to lose their morals and insult this person. Only because this individual did what was right in the first place.

Finally we have that kid who is really stupid [RS]. These individuals are often sitting in the back of class ignorant of the instructor while socializing with his/her friends. Often this individual is subject to ridicule from the other students due to his/her stupidity. Often the instructors will get impatient with this individual and either be very frustrated for the rest of the day or ignores this individual. As a result everybody is in the danger zone with the instructor for the rest of the day.

While there are more types of individuals in these classes, these are the main 'classes'. I hope you agree with me and if you do not, please voice your opinion below.

Self Esteem

For us gamers there are often a couple of jerks you'll meet along the road of life. Fratboys for instance. As a result we often go through life with a lower than normal self esteem. So let's look at some of the root causes of this reduction in self esteem. First let's begin with bullies/Jocks/or fratboys. Often these individuals seek to make your lives miserable for their own entertainment value, whether it be from parental abuse or whatnot it ends up lowering self esteem for the harassed individual. So let's represent this in gamer's point of view: the bullies are the over fed champions while your a "feeder". However, with enough confidence you can overcome this and become the "carry" of which ultimately lifts you out of this tragedy. When I say become the carry, I mean you have to ignore these individuals and set out a task for yourself to be better than these individuals. Don't stoop to their level, make them want to come up to your level.

Often the root causes however, are just being shy or not as good looking as the next person. It could even arise in a simple interest in electronics and computing when you were younger. So why should we be shunned if we just happened to be a little more socially awkward as a child? Or if we thought the computer daddy brought home when we were 4 was the coolest thing we have ever seen? I'm not sure, but  do know that we are shunned and we shouldn't let this bring us down. There are 5 different aspects before you can halt the free-fall of your self esteem. You should never hate yourself, you're this kind of person because you wanted to be, don't ever feel otherwise. Know who you are, what do you like to do? Why do you like to do it? Like yourself for being this person. Embrace who you are, feel good that the person you chose to be is the person you want to be. Never want to be someone you are not, this only helps in decreasing your self esteem. And you're the person you are the person you are for a reason, don't change that.

Consequently however, many people with these self esteem issues within the gaming society end up having problems with socializing, like being socially awkward and being more reclusive. The inability to socialize just further decreases your self esteem. Now I know one of the biggest insults people have to deal with is being labelled "geek" or "nerd". While these two terms will probably initially cause you to feel bad, know this: being nerdy or geeky is considered 'bad' just because individuals who are 'popular' probably know that they have limited futures whereas they know that you possibly could have brilliant careers where their's are total dumps as compared to yours. Consider nerds or geeks as a whole for a bit: who created windows? Apple? C++? Yeah, nerds. Hey, fratboys, without nerds you wouldn't be able to socialize and insult us using facebook and other social media! And what have you as a people accomplished? Nothing besides slowing down the ingenuity of humans by causing suicides within nerd ranks for years. Consider Einstein. nuff' said.

Lets increase self esteem! Think of it this way: bullies/jocks/fratboys tend to have an 'early game' advantage due to their attractiveness and or popularity. However, what they lack is the ability for 'late game'. At the end who gets the best life? The people who try for it, who are most often people of a higher intellectual standard. These people tend to be gamers of some sort. So move on with life. Highschool/college only lasts 4~10 years.

Cortex Command: Cortex Shock!

This new mission made by the popular mission creator of DRLFF: Weegee called Cortex Shock has been released! If you always thought cortex command itself had a pretty pointless plot [since there is very limited amounts in the vanilla content], worry no more! Weegee has a created a single player mission of a plot and entertainment value which pretty much revolutionizes the way you play Cortex Command. Basically, you choose a character out of 5 [assuming you have all appropriate modules installed]. After of which you proceed through a storyline which I believe is unique to each character. The unique PDA which you'll be using quite a bit during the course of the story is really well implemented. I feel that we weegee should be hired by Data as the campaign manager, because with incentive imagine what weegee could produce for cortex command 1.0!

League of Legends: The scum of the community.

Earlier I discussed the game League of Legends, and I said as a con was the fact that it's community was rather harsh. Well I'd like discuss the multiple reasons why I think this.

There are a couple different 'classes' of total idiots/noobs/retards/etc... In League of Legends.

Now if you want to win, you should in fact be trying to correct player's missteps. But do not make the mistake of harshly yelling insults at them. First, the player is almost 5 times more likely to listen if you suggest it rather than yelling in 'ALL CAPS RAGE'. Second, players are more likely to purposely die if there is someone on their team who is of utterly fowl language and just cusses about how much his team sucks. The people are called It's not my fault, my team just sucks[this is slightly nicer form(this is actually MY TEAM ARE FUCKING FULL OF RETARDED CUNTZ)] or in short, [MTS (my team sucks)]. While it is true that you can possibly lose games because of less skilled players, yelling at them and telling them to uninstall the game does not help in the slightest. They learn nothing, and do not gain anymore skill this way. So this directly means that MTS players are directly contributing to their own problem. Yes, if you are one of these players, your not helping yourself.

There are many variations of the MTS:

• The All Chatter [TAC] - tells the other team how much their team sucks in an effort to make themselves feel/look better.
• The Afker [TAFK] - sits in well until game ends, but doesn't leave so they don't receive disconnection bans.
• The Feeder [TFED] - becomes so mad that they simply repeatedly walk into enemies just to make their team lose faster.

Generally, MTS players always blame their team for their losses and always considers themselves the best player on their team. However they are generally unskilled, and gains kills through kill stealing [however real men don't care about kill stealing]. It's even worse when they are clearly the worst player on the team. Protip: if you were actually good at this game you should be able to carry your own team.

Further more, when I say carry your team I mean do the following:

• Don't die
• Don't save bad players on your team
• Attempt to save good players, only if you're sure neither of you will die
• Ignore said bad player's gank requests unless you're sure you can get kills without any losses.
• Gank for players you trust
• Don't make rash or hurried decisions about engaging the enemy.
• Only engage if you're sure you can come out ahead.
• Buy wards, wards save lives.

MTS Players also have the tendency to cry about nobody buying wards. If nobody is buying wards, buy some yourself goddammit. Let' not forget the team comp, MTS players will choose whatever they like always then to top it off they'll say: "We need a tank/support/ap" and go on to say "No we don't need anymore AD carries!" and finally "Fuck, our team comp sucks, fucking noobs". If you need a specific role and nobody is willing to do so, do it yourself, man up and maybe you'll win some. True players choose based on the team, they shouldn't expect the team to choose based on their pick. MTS makes up the majority of the bad players in LoL.

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We also have the plain bad people. Which I just like to call "BAD" Big Ass Derp. While these people do exist, they simply make bad decisions constantly. How I often like to imagine their brain activity: "Oh there's a bush over there! I'm going to check if there's people in there!" Who then proceeds to walk into 4 champions from the opposite team. Now these people should not be confused with people that MTS is ranting about. While it is true that at specific times MTS players are correct; that is largely not so.

BAD people are generally these people:

• SO FUCKING OP [SFO] - these are the players that constantly go "[blank] is so fucking op, he should get nerfed" (Aka the reason Evelynn does shit all these days) [F.Y.I SFO players, in HoN there is a hero who has permanent invisibility. DEAL WITH IT]
• JUNGLE SUCKSSS [JUNS] - the sad fact about LoL, if losing, blame jungler. These players constantly harass the jungler for a gank, only to do completely and absolutely nothing when the jungler arrives.
• The Feeder #2 [TFED2] - These people are often asked to stop 'feeding' all they end up doing is to tell us that we complain too much. We're just pointing out that you should playing so offensively.
• The Troll [Trolololo] - JUNGLE RALLY REVIVE SORAKA! [nuff' said]

Generally, there are more types of noobs than this, but if you want to be good. Reread the carry list and do just that. Good Luck!

Also, a video which make some pretty good points: [Just so you know, to win LoL you have to buy wardssss]

Dr Mcninja

nuff' said.

But uh anyway, this comic is about a badass ninja, named Dr Mcninja. He's a ninja who is also a doctor. It's ironic because he can kill people without being seen but he heals people. BUT ENOUGH WITH THE DRY HUMOR. This comic delivers page after page of action. Not only is the protagonist ridiculous and badass, the antagonists are equally as badass as well! The comic itself has a plot and style similar to traditional superhero comics but always has that twist that makes it all that much refreshing. If that wasn't enough during his clinical work his secretary is a gorilla. Lets also not forget his sidekick rides a raptor and the raptor is named fucking Yoshi. So why am I writing about a comic? That may be because, this comic, is what a video game should be. Full of action, full of plot and full of BADASSERY. Did I say anything about how badass it is?  YOU SHOULD READ IT.

Fratboys...

"From urban dictionary: 2) The neanderthalistic douchebags that used to play high school football and talk about how shitty you were in high school who now joined a homoerotic club so they can rape each other's ass in private."

 I always hated these stupid individuals. Especially when your labeled a nerd or geek of some sort. As soon as you talk about players in ESports (Huk, TheOddOne, etc...) and their statistics your immediately labeled as a nerd. Let me get this message out there to you douche bags: just because we know e-sports doesn't make us any more nerdy than you, that's right; in your definition of nerd, your just as nerdy as we are. And if you don't believe me, let me make a few little comparison which will probably make you make you think twice before ever calling a person a nerd again.

First, you know how we know the win loss ratios or kill death ratios of popular gamers? Well, if you think about it... its the fucking same as knowing a athlete's statistics, yeah, I mean you fags who know every single fact about Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. Those people who nearly memorized all the records in sports. What's the worst part? That they are labeled 'cool' for knowing this, while people who know about famous gamers are repeatedly shunned. Please, mind your own business and we'll mind ours.

In addition to the last point, don't go around calling nerd's nonathletic. Even though we're not the sportiest people around, we don't go around calling you fools the 'mentally handicapped' just because you don't know how to build a computer or program a calculator. Yeah, you know why? Because most people who end up into the gaming hobby tend to have morals do you know what that word means? Because, if you don't you may actually be mentally handicapped. And if we truly were afraid of you we'd tell the local authorities. Your immediate reaction of course would be to immediately call us cowards. And you'd be wrong, cowards may traditionally known to run from fights, but true coward-ism is not having the guts to report such harassment to the authorities. As a note, sports is like video gaming; don't challenge a 'nerd' to your sport. Not only does this make you a coward for wanting to fight on your home turf. You always have your damn cronies to further harass the individual after he declines. Just stop being a fucking douche bag, get some morals and move on with your fucking life.

Cortex Command :D

First and foremost this is almost a niche type of game. Basically it is horrifically fun, but you have to appreciate gravity sandboxes and pixel graphics to be able to enjoy this game to it's fullest extent. In this game, we control a brain [cortex] which is the center hub of activity in Cortex Command. The story of the game has humans who separated their brains from their bodies so they can explore space without having the physical restraints of their bodies. Instead, replaced with various robotic and organic 'dummy' bodies. The controls in this game is somewhat 'hacky', however once you master the controls it'll feel second nature and game takes a serious upturn. As of now there is a campaign in alpha phase. This campaign has you choose a faction [which is not fully implemented in yet] and try to take over Midas [the planet you're trying to conquer]. But the real fun comes form the sandbox skirmish modes of various difficulties. Where you can either survive for a definite amount of time or sandbox and spawn enemies infinitely.

I've been a long time member of the Data Realms Fan Forums [DRLFF], however it's mostly not the game that keeps you attracted to forum or the game itself. It's the community. Not only is community not hostile at all. I feel that they will help when they can and there hasn't been any power corrupt admins at all. Over the years of the game's development.The community has pushed out more modded content then official content at a ratio of close to 1:20. There are also some mods which created milestones, such as the Online Deathmatch mod [hacky but real network play] and Abdul's Vehicle mod [Wheels working].

Please give this game a try and purchase a copy if you like it and support the developer, Data! It's been my first and foremost favorite indie game of all time. It probably will continue to be.

Excited for Dota 2

DotA [Defense of the Ancients], a custom scenario for Warcraft III. If you don't know anything about it you can find the official website here:

http://www.playdota.com/

Anyway, while this game is quite a distinctive community asset; it's direct sequel Dota 2 is soon to come out for PC. As a result many of the people [me included] have an urge to get our hands on this game. What makes it better is that the company behind it's development is Valve. Which can only possibly mean that the game will be great almost no matter what. And form what I've heard from the closed beta testers; this game does not disappoint.

Since we're on the topic of these style of games, commonly known as MOBA [Dota-Genre]; let's have a little chat of the other clones or branch offs of the original map. First there's all the hero war maps available in Warcraft II along with DotA. Of course, these are lesser known and tend to be of lesser quality & polish. However they appeal to the audience of lesser than competitive play. There's also some unique abilities and heroes in these less optimized maps.

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Let's first talk about the most well known branch off: LoL or more commonly known as League of Legends.

What this title does that the others did not is revamp the stats. Rather than keeping the original base stats of agility, strength and intelligence. They are simply removed and all the items and hero levels simply increases the base stats of the hero (AP [ability power], AD [Attack Damage], Armor, MR [Magic Resist], Health and Mana, Health Regen, Mana Regen.). All the items in this game simply increases on or more of these stats. For example, Ruby Crystal increases your base health by 180 hitpoints. There's also three designated starter items, all of which are named with a Doran prefix. Doran's ring, Doran's blade, and Doran's Shield. All of which are probably meant to replace bracer, etc.. from DotA.

Pros:

• Free to play.
• A less steep learning curve.
• More players and higher popularity guarantees games.
• Refreshing concept on a traditional play style.

Cons:

• Community is usually harsh or seem to have mental problems [True with most MOBAs]
• Lots of re connection glitches
• I personally hate runes & masteries. [Play more get advantage, lolwut?]

Summary:

I play this game quite a bit considering my friends all play this. However i would enjoy a game or two of HoN every now and then because LoL has it's own infuriating moments. [People dying repeatedly to Tryndamere (people get money for kills, thus this is coined the term 'feeding') Essentially how people are called or are noobs.]

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Further down the branch we see HoN or better known as Heroes of Newerth.

Honestly if you're looking for a DotA replacement, you've essentially found your game (of course DotA 2 will take this spot once it actually comes out). Same to similar heroes? Check. Same to similar items? Check. Same map structure? Check Identical creeps? Check. This game just delivers for full on DotA content. It's basically DotA refined, better graphics, has servers, matchmaking, full on client and a bunch of other stuff like new maps etc... A great trait of this game is basically how much it touches it's roots. If you can't get enough of DotA, try this one out as well. [Especially since it became free to play (I bought my copy back in the day!)].

Pros:

• Almost mirror game play of original DotA.
• Optimized reconnection, replays, controls and maps. [Yeah those 'everywhere' hotkeys are no more!]
• Beautiful graphics, with great optimization. [Basically so beautiful without using too much power]

Cons:

• As usual a community is mostly full of tards and douche bags which automatically label you as noob no mater what you are currently doing, right or wrong.
• Extremely steep learning curve
• LOOOOOOOOOOONG queue times [I once queued for 20+ minutes! ]

Summary:

While this game can be heavily enjoyable and quite entertaining, it's community causes the game to drag. As well as the fact that the lack of high popularity of the game due to their early choice of making this game retail rather than free to play resulted in a respectable, but lower fanbase that that of LoL causes this game to take ages to find an appropriate match for you to participate in.

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We've covered the well known MOBAs now lets talk about those [mostly] obscure games that are lesser known and or are unavailable to some parts of the world.

First: SotIS, or better known as, Storm of the Imperial Sanctum.

This is just like DotA, if only in the respect of the fact that it's another custom scenario for another Blizzard RTS game; Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty. While this game is enjoyable, it has it's own downfalls. I fell that the map is a little too small and the item and shop system could be enormously improved. Also because it lacks it's own client etc.. It lacks a matchmaking system and re connection. However I do give props to the impressive use of triggers for the skills. he gameplay is smooth and fluid and feels wonderful to play.

Pros:

• Fluid based gameplay
• Better community than similar MOBAs

Cons:

• Difficult to understand shop system
• Steep learning curve
• No matchmaking

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Second: Bloodline Champions

I put this in here because of it's slowly, but steadily rising fanbase. While it is not a traditional MOBA or even necessarily is a MOBA, it borrows elements off of MOBA combat etc. Basically in this game you control a hero (derr?) and of which you have 7 abilities. Of which are used/controlled using the following keys: Q, E, left/right mouse clicks, spacebar, R and F. Traditionally Q, E,left/right mouse clicks typical contain most of the damage dealing moves. Q also often hold a disabling/debuffing spell as well. E and R are often used for defensive or support abilities. Spacebar is used for the displacement ability[teleporting, flash, blink, etc...]. And finally f is your ultimate, often a heavily damaging and or disabling ability. Which can be sued when your energy bar is full. You gain energy from attacking and dealing damage. Also at 50% energy Q and E have powered up abilities called EX moves are hotkeyed to Z and X. Which are often much more potent then Q and E. Almost all the abilities are skill based aiming.

Pros:

• Very fast paced gameplay.
• Really good community.
• Requires almost all skill. No random based elements.
• Pits you right into the action.

Cons:

• Steep learning curve
• Ridiculously hard to gain bloodcoins
• Some unimaginative bloodlines. [Igniter for example (hurr durr durr, I shoot fireballs and make more fire!!!!!]

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Etcetera: Things I'm not in a position to compare:
Realm of the Titans [RotT] and Rise of Immortals [RoI]

I cannot possibly review RotT, because I'm not going to bother play it. While it may be good it's in Chinese and it's servers are in Asia. From what I heard however, it has good reviews.

I also do not want to review Rise of Immortals, it has a terrible review from my friends and from what I've hear it is very mediocre. However, feel free to argue against it.

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After a splurge of text, you may see my need to play this new fangled game known as DoTA 2, not only is it receiving positive reviews from every corner of the internet, it's also led by the current developer of the DotA map, Icefrog.

Also to summarize my review:
LoL: 8/10
HoN: 8.5/10
SotIS: 7/10
BC: 7/10
DotA: 8/10

I would greatly appreciate followers; and please comment on your own opinions; such because they are opinions you may still be able to overturn my opinion in your favor.

People don't understand...

This is of my opinion and I do not mean to purposely offend anybody with my opinions.

There are many times where I am asked what I do during my spare time; I'll usually simply respond, "I usually play video games or read." But there's those persistent fuckers who ask what kind of game? "Starcraft or warcraft usually." I'll say. Then there's three usual answers that tick me of: "Isn't that the same thing?", "Is it the same as/rip off of Minecraft?", and "You play World of Warcraft?????"

Let me start with the World of Warcraft bullshit. People are so goddamn clueless of the origins of Warcraft. Ever since Blizzard has been advertising World of Warcraft, which personally I don't think it's that bad of a game; but I generally dislike MMORPG's. However, the first image people get when they hear Warcraft is WoW. Whenever I say Warcraft alone I am referring to the fucking RTS game which WoW is fucking based off of. It's even worse when a WoW player does this, how can you possibly play WoW without knowing of the story of the previous games? Which bring's me to the another point, how the fuck do you know what DoTA is but not know Warcraft III? That makes absolutely no fucking sense. I mean, when you launch Wc3 to play DoTA the first thing you see is a splash screen which says in huge letters: Warcraft III. Are you that blind or are you ignorant of the game that DoTA is running on that it literally matters so little that you don't have the brain capacity to remember Wc3's name.

Which brings me to my second point. The "Isn't those two the same thing?" I feel like people who don't even have the knowledge or play time of both have no right to compare two games side by side unless they have played both. Which also is a fair argument for the Ps3 vs Wii vs Xbox360 argument; but I'm not going to get into that. For example, (this applies to most people actually), let's compare CoD and Battlefield just a little. There's those retards who will say they are the same " They both take palce in modern times and in both you shoot guns, therefor they are the same." I know a lot of you fanboys on either side will argue all day about this. Basically that's my argument, you just can't compare two games like that. There can be a million analogies made but i feel have made my point.

The third point happens, but not as often [luckily]. I feel that these people are entirely clueless about videogames and should not be even commenting on this kind of stuff. I love Minecraft and Starcraft etc... But some Minecraft fanboys are just fucking retarded. First of all just because the name has a fucking 'craft' in it it doesn't necessarily mean the games are related in any way. Second, even if Starcraft was somewhat similar to Minecraft [which it's not], Starcraft came first anyway. It's like some retard going like "Why the fuck does Queen have a song titled "Somebody to Love"? That's the same fucking title of Justin Bieber's song!!! Fucking get some new and original ideas Queen!!!" [I want to punch this kid in the face so fucking badly (I'm not hating on JB, it's just these people are complete and utter fools.)]

To sum it up: compare only if you have the knowledge to fucking do so.

Since this is my opinion you are welcome to argue against me or suggest other reasons.