SUMODOWNLOAD

(Is it already violence if Leon shoots the enemy trying to kidnap harmless Ashley?)

There are many people today who puts video games in the category of violence. Whenever they see blood, gore, and killing, their minds instantly tell them that “it’s violent.” With this kind of stereotype, extremists against violent video games asserts that it affects the minds of children. This is probably in reference of the saying “Whatever the kids see that are done by the adults, the kids immitate.” However, is the word “violent” really placed appropriately into such games? Are blood, gore and killing enough to label a video game violent?

My answer is no. Mere blood, gore and ruthless killing is not enough to call a game violent. Remember the incident where the Manchester Cathedral officials were furious with Sony when they found out that the cathedral was used as a setting in the game Resistance fall of Man? Seeing the game containing “violence”, the church officials demanded Sony to remove the game from store shelves if they won’t remove the church as a setting. Manchester Cathedral’s Dean very reverend Rogers Govender also wanted Sony to pay them money, for using the church as a setting without permission, as “donation money” for the church to be used in their “funds for the youth.” Well, I know you smell a huge, huge rat as much as I do in this case, but let’s get to the point now. We all know if this case pushed through, Manchester Cathedral would lose because the law would definitely say that Sony doesn’t even need to ask permission to Manchester Cathedral because it’s a public place and if it even had a patent, it’s already expired because the church was already there for a long, long, long time.

Thing is, they labeled the game as “violent.” I wish the church officials researched for the word violent and even played the game for a while to see what the game really depicted. Let’s summarize the game really, really short: Resistance Fall of man is a game where humans fight against human-turned-monsters (a.k.a. chimeras) to save humanity.

You see, there’s a huge difference between the words “violence” and “fight.”

Let’s say a game has lots of blood seen in it, lots of fighting, and the killing detail is very detailed. However the story of the game is that the main character is trying to save his kidnapped friend in the clutches of an evil warlord. The sidequests in his game include saving people out of a flaming building where people burned there can be seen realistically, nailing down rapists by using his samurai sword where he cleaves them so cleanly with the gore so vividly displayed. Is that already “violence?” Or is that a “fight?” I’d say it’s the latter.

Saving humanity in the brink of destruction brought by the chimeras is a fight that needs to be fought by humans. I don’t think saving your race is that violent. Yes, even if it’s inside a church. Besides, it’s not as if the protagonist of Resistance Fall of Man actually urinated inside the church walls, did he?

I wonder what will happen if a kidnapper helds all the priests inside Manchester Cathedral. Will the priests drive away the police that try to save them because the latter carry guns? Will they label the policemen blasphemers because they fired their guns inside the church?

(Monsters like that will try to kill you and you WON’T shoot it? Even if it is inside a church I won’t have second thoughts) 

Let’s look up the definition of violence. According to the American Heritage Dicitonary:

vi·o·lence - 4. Abusive or unjust exercise of power. 5. Abuse or injury to meaning, content, or intent: do violence to a text.

To quote that wonderful Japanese Live Action series “Gokusen,” the main character there Yamaguchi Kumiko said something like violence is when 10 people gang up on one person while a a fight is when someone defends someone dear to him or when is fighting honorably. This exactly nails the definition of violence and I believe that there’s such a difference between the two words depending on the situation. I don’t think the protagonist of Resistance Fall of Man actually abused his power unjustly by saving his race.

Now let’s name some games that have been labeled violent and I’ll give a brief description of them. You be the judge if its a fight or violence:

1. Resident Evil - A game where the Raccoon Police Department officers try to take down an organization guilty of making the a virus that makes the citizens zombies.

2. Metal Gear Solid - where Solid Snake, the game’s protagonist, tries to take down an organization that wants to bomb countries.

3. F.E.A.R. - Where special forces are trying to take down an extra terrestrial being that kills people.

(Snake: What it’s already violence if I defend myself? Self-defense is everyone’s right you know)

In my point of view, these games have been labeled poorly as violence just because their visuals have been either too scary or too much gore can be seen (sometimes both). I, however, like to call them “art in realism” and couldn’t find myself to label them as violence just because of the graphics they present. It’s like judging a book by its cover, debating if chicken tastes better than beef, or comparing Superman to a penguin: it’s completely pointless.

And if I’m going to be asked if these games affect the minds of children? I’d say it’s how their parents guide them. There are so many grown ups today who can’t be parents that’s why many children grow up very violent. Other things contribute to a child’s growth but I don’t really think violent video games are the primary cause of it. If it may be so, there’s no need to ban violent video games still, because it’s like deciding to shut down the rooftop doors of a 30 storey building because a person fell down there and died. Video games are harmless. It’s how people misinterpret realism and fantasy that’s scary.

Well, well, well whodathunkit… After all the hoohah, the advertising campaigns, the appearances of Master Chief EVERYWHERE except your grandmama’s homemade cake. Oh wait, he did! Anywho, picked up this yummy little tidbit from kotaku (via the Bungie forums) that Microsoft’s ace-in-the-sleeve, Halo 3, is causing data errors, lockups, freezing, and even the grandpappy of all console errors… the RRoD. Yep, Halo 3 is one big bomb of errors which is sad. Considering the fact that Microsoft spent enough cash to buy a small country on marketing the game, they’d have made sure that the game was flawless. This isn’t helping Microsoft at all. Add the fact that Halo 3 cds were below mint condish when bought, and you have a full-blown, laugh out loud situation. So anyway, based on the report and forum, most of the people that were hit were the ones who bought the standard edition, although some report that even their Limited Edition copies were defunct. The victims believe the copies were corrupting data on the hard drive, considering that they had replaced their cds twice or thrice. What’s funny is the error doesn’t occur on just one instance. Some errors occurs at the start of the game, some on particular maps while some games freeze when choosing certain game modes.

Oh man, Microsoft can’t get a break. First, the entire universe admits that Windows Vista isn’t anything to write home about and now, after spending a bajillion zillion dollars on marketing, Halo 3 is turning into the black sheep of the family instead of the favored one child. But then again, after 1.70 million sales, this could be an isolated incident but a hundred disgruntled, unfortunate buyers have friends. These friends have friends. And their friends have friends. You get the idea right? Before you know it, Halo will be as attractive as a… well… let’s not go there. But you get my drift, right? Good.

you wait three years for a game, braved through the RRoD scare to buy the game, and then it kills your 360. that’s like the ultimate kick to the balls.

PS3 is smelling rosier by the minute. Sure, the games aren’t that great yet but they’re coming out… almost.

Xbox360 = paperweight? Maybe. Let’s see how much money Microsoft loses before they address this problem. Oh oh oh.. don’t forget the RRoD as well.

Technorati tags: halo 3, halo, microsoft, xbox, xbox 360, xbox360

Obscure 2 unexpectedly makes your heart pound faster every time you play it even if it’s not as scary as other horror-dedicated games. Why so? Well, it’s one of the wonders of this superb horror/suspense game, making even big budgeted horror games drop their jaws by the wit and psych war Obscure 2 has to offer.

The events in Leafmore High was a dark history the survivors want to forget. However, even if they already moved to Fallcreek University and start living normal lives as college students, the dark history repeated itself. A strange black flower was infecting the university and the students were having weird, disturbing dreams. And worse, when the seeds of the flowers started to germinate, strange creatures suddenly erupted and started slaying every living thing that gets in their way. Could this be another attempt of the Leafmore High principal who was trying to revive his brother in Obscure 1? What exactly will the perpetrator of this bizzare happening gain from doing this? There’s only one way to find out. And “they” have to rely on each other if they want to survive this nightmare.

Game Play:

I am so happy with Obscure 2’s game play and it really deserves to be called the sequel of it’s wonderful predecessor. The moment you play this game you know something’s wrong. The constant mysteries that shroud the whole university will keep you at the edge of your seat, trying to figure out what exactly is going on. And when you finally get close to the answer, it slips away, giving you more mysteries and puzzles to figure out.

(”Like dude, I can’t…figure out where the toilet is.)

The idea of having more than one protagonist with different personalities and mad skillz were brilliant. The fact that you have to rely on someone if you need to do something special was one of the things that kept me interested in playing this game non-stop. Let’s see your roster of people: 2 strong varsity players, a hacker that can hack almost any electronic gadget with her PDA, a girl that has amazing analyitcal skills, an acrobat that can reach hard to get areas, a guy adept in lockpicking and a mysterious girl that has a dark aura. Good team right? Now go out there and start grinding some monsters!

Umm…but it’s not gonna be that easy. Although there are a good number of firearms you can find scattered in the game, the bullets are scarce and the enemies won’t go down with a bullet or two. Most of the time you and your teammate will have to rely on fighting with melee (baseball bat, hockey stick, spiked club and the likes) or battery powered weapons. One good thing is that the melee weapons are indestructable so you don’t have to worry about not having any weapons at all.

(”I have to go wack that blob?!” “Yeah, we only have one shell left, sorry”)

Yes, you read that right: “you and your teammate.” If you have a friend, you can let him/her play as player 2 because throughout the game, you’ll be exploring places by twos. It’s definitely better to have a human player than playing with the AI for obvious reasons.

Game play tips: Keep exploring with different teams if you get a dead end while solving puzzles. The keys in staying alive here are to have good teamwork and conserve a lot of bullets. Make one the bait while the other attacks and unload your firearms only in boss fights.

Graphics:

The dark places, arrangement of things and disturbing enemies are the top reasons why the game is quite scary. The graphics coating them is good, making even make believe things like the deformed enemies seem very real. Nothing groundbreaking but its enough to compliment the game to make scenarios, places and enemies very dark.

Controls:

The controls are ok and the hotkeys are placed really well in the controller. Personally, I didn’t encounter much difficulty controlling the characters while playing the game. The auto aim feature is nice although the maneuvering of characters coudld’ve been improved as they somewhat tend to be slow in running away from enemies. Other than that, the controls are perfectly fine.

(”Alright, the toilet! Oh crap…another puzzle!”)

Sound:

Another one to be proud of in this game is the sound. Nice background music, nice sound effects, and fluid character conversations are definitely heard in this game. I like the way the characters talk with each other depending on the situation they’re in. You just have to love some of the jokes they throw at each other, sounding as if they’re not in a bad situation. Definitely one of the games I played that has the best sounds heard in game.

Overall:

An improved version of its predecessor, this Obscure game is one of the best games one should play before shelving their PS2s. Even if it’s quite short, the game play as a whole is fulfilling and the storyline is great. Personally, I’m very picky in playing horror games because I did kinda got tired with the idea of most games in the genre using disgusting stuff just to make a game look horror-ish. Obscure 2 proved that a game can be horror without that mainstream idea, delivering a well-packaged game that responds well to the idea of being unique and creative.

The Guitar Hero series has invaded the living rooms of every wannabe rocker out there. Neighbors have complained, dogs barked in protest but still, the rocking continues. Hey, great sacrifices must be made if you want to be a Guitar Hero using their consoles, right? This time, the next installment of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, will be coming to the PC as well! Good times.

“You’ll be grinding your teeth to hard rocking tunes on your PC or laptop soon enough.”

As of now, you can use a keyboard/mouse combo to dole out intense tunes. The control scheme is (which is subject to change) the A,S,D,F and Caps Lock (green, red, yellow, blue and orange most probably) are the fret buttons while your left mouse button is used to strum up and right mouse button is used to strum down. Oh and don’t forget your Star Power! To use it, you can use the mousewheel. On the other hand, if you want make the Gods of Rock proud, you can use a USB-compatible Gibson Explorer Guitar Controller (which comes with the sipment of the game) and use that to strut your stuff a-la Cobain.

The headbanging begins hopefully on October 29, 2007 when the PC version is released along with the console version.

(Photo by Seattlepi.com)

Micrsoft founder Bill Gates surprised people at Best Buy in Redmond, Washington when he appeared at the midnight launching of Halo 3 today.

His purpose? To personally give the first copy to the first person on the line.

The lucky one was 17-year-old Ritesh David who got his copy complete with the Richest man in America’s autograph.

“I felt like a billion bucks,” David said Cheerfully as he said his plans of skipping school tomorrow to play Halo 3. “Business professionals around the world won’t be going to work tomorrow, so why would I go to school? It brings me joy.”

As quoted/reported by Reuters, Gates in a not-so-serious-tone said this: “I gotta check your ID to see if you’re 17,” Gates said, in a joking reference to the game’s “mature” rating, meaning it is intended for customers 17 and older.

W-h J: Lucky guy that Ritesh David.  Not only did Bill Gates signed his copy, even the Musicians and designers of Bungie studios signed his Halo 3 posters and memorabilias. 

I wonder how much money the kid’ll make if he sells that on Ebay…

XD

(Sources: GamePolitics, seatlltepi.com)

Sorry, I just have to post this.

(On the back of the helmet: “Master Chief in Training”)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology hackers took the extra mile of advertising Halo 3 by putting the helmet of Master Chief on the head of the statue of Harvard’s founder himself, John P. Harvard, during the release day of Halo 3. The statue was also equipped with an assault rifle and a Beaver-emblem on the right shoulder.

W-h J: What a prank! I dunno if I should laugh or what but i really feel 50/50 here. Part of me thinks this is a nice, harmless prank and if I were a teacher there, I would probably just laugh at it (I may even take a picture of me standing beside the statue). But then again that’s the statue of Harvard’s founder…

Teacher: Give me a synonym of serene? Anyone? Hmm…Master Chief?

Master Chief: …

Teacher: Nice one!

XD

(Sources: GameSpot, The Tech)