In recent years, the popularity of RPG's (Role Playing Games) have risen to a mainstream standard amongst gamers as the "pinnacle" experience in gaming. Now, RPG's have existed for a long time, since the days of Dungeons and Dragons from the 80's, and would later migrate into video games through text based computer games like ZORK. Since then, games have become more elaborate with their ability to let the player choose his or her destiny through their decisions, relationships, and other worldly actions. The Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda has been the center piece of this genre for the past few years now with their hit games such as Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. These games are a great departure from linear based, single player experiences, where the plot, and set pieces are unfolded before you in a scripted fashion. In modern RPG's however, the game's story and plot unfold when you want it to. Though the ending results for the most part are the same, how you arrive to that destination is for you to decide, which brings up the current issue.
Amongst these great RPG's, another game stands out for it's sophisticated ability to let player's make decisions and choose conversational paths, which dictate your character, the world as a whole, and even the plot (to some extent). That game is Mass Effect. Since it's release on Xbox 360 in 2007, Mass Effect has been acclaimed as one of the richest RPG experiences in gaming. Though criticized for it's rough combat mechanics, the game's story, and ability to let the player decide the demeanor of their character is unprecedented. The release of Mass Effect 2 in 2010 marked another great achievement in the games on going franchise. Winning countless game of the year awards, and best RPG at E3 2010, Mass Effect 2 was a juggernaut of a success. This game had the experience gamers loved and wanted out of a AAA title.
In March 2012 however, things began to change for Mass Effect 3. With the game's huge marketing campaign, with the hype to back it up, Mass Effect 3 was intended to be the ultimate RPG, action, sci-fi, soap-opera experience since sliced bread (if sliced bread was any of those things). For the most part upon it's release, Mass Effect 3 received high scores from critics of the likes of G4, IGN, and GameSpot. It was stated that the game ended the franchise on a good note. That was not the case for the rest of the gaming community. Interestingly enough, fans were outraged, angered, infuriated, and other descriptive words of distress in regards to the games ending. It was that they either didn't get the ending that they wanted (because there are suppose to be various endings based on the decisions you made and carried over from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and 3) or it was indeed just underwhelming. Demands for a new ending have swamped over the internet, to the point where BioWare and EA are telling disgruntled gamers to direct their complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (government organization designed for consumer protection). Players felt that the games ending fell shot of what it had promised and built up to since it's release in 2007.
As successful a game Mass Effect 3 is, it's surprising to see such a movement being developed amongst the fanatic community (who essentially hate the games ending) be so motivated to have the ending be changed. There have been some disappointing endings in many games, but most of those games follow a linear structure, and were made to end that way because the game demanded it. RPG's like Mass Effect 3 are dictated mainly be the player's choice, therefore the game needs to be able to facilitate that players particular experience. Now, the game overall follows a straight forward story. Everyone's beginning of Mass Effect is the same, meaning shouldn't the ending be the same as well? The game isn't so sophisticated to where there are great differences in the endings that suit that particular players path, only slight variances are noticable. I can see the frustration, but I digress.
I just hate seeing people turn on a game that gave them so much to love. It's the Star Wars Prequel argument all over again. "They turned against me" "It's ruined" "George Lucas Raped my childhood!" (not involved with Mass Effect). BUT IT'S ALL THE SAME! People, gamers, and society alike has become incredibly demanding. People act as if they deserve the best, because they think they've already experienced the best there is, when in fact they have no clue. Over time people have become desensitized of what is entertaining and fun mixed up with whats artistic, and high quality. They want the blend of everything and nothing elese. They have been given everything, and refuse to accept anything that isn't everything.
WHOA...I'll tone it back (had to get it out). But in all seriousness, games have become a beautiful and accepted artform. It might not be excessively graceful, but it allows people to create experiences outside of their actual lives in a visceral way. Games like Skyrim, Mass Effect, and Fallout allow you to execute your objective any way you want. Grand Theft Auto gives you the choice to be a bad guy, or a good bad guy ( I feel that there is a difference in there somewhere), and have an approach to a situation that can have an ending result in which ranges from good, to bad, to catastrophic.
Simply put, enjoy the choices given to you in games, but try not to take them for granted. If you can get extremely worked up over something as petty as a video game's ending, then whose to say that you cant get worked up over something else. This goes for everything from movies, to music, to TV shows. People can't enjoy anything anymore. If I could prove it with numbers, figures and graphs I would say it's a fact. Just talk to somebody, ask them what they thought of the last Star Wars, or the latest Gears of War, or Skyrim, or episode of Big Bang Theory. Chances are they'll have something negative to say, and a really cynical person will have TONS of negative things to say. This doesn't mean that they're wrong, but if they're "nit-picky" then yeah, they just cant like anything designed to bring joy. Stay true folks.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Simple Fitness Goal?
I'm gonna say right off the bat, nothing in this life is meant to be simple or easy. Ask any physicist, even the most simplistic theories in regarding the universe or the human existence is wrapped around complex processes and codes that can take centuries to fully decipher. This goes for anything, even fitness goals. Now I'm not going to preach of what you "have to do" in order to be the perfect physical being you desire to be. I myself am still a ways from looking how I hope to be (not too far) but still need some time.
When I was in middle school, and early high school, I was always in denial of my weight. Though I new I was "chubby" as my mom called it, I wondered if I was going to ever get thin, or have muscles like my dad, or Arnold. I was never a lazy child by any means; I played sports, loved to be outside and engage in physical activity, and still maintained the appearance of a boy that couldn't lose the weight. I ate badly, pure and simple. The accessibility of ordering pizza, eating TV dinners, and going to Carls Jr. down the street was too simple to ignore. With both parents working full time, very little time or energy could be used during the week to cook healthier food at home, so it's merely situational what happened to me, and I know I'm not the only one.
It wasn't till the Summer going into Junior year of high school that I was going to actually "work out" on the old weight bench my dad had downstairs. That summer, I felt better than I had in years, making accomplishments, and getting strong was something that I thought I could get used to. I didn't approach it with a sense of consistency then, once or twice a week really is all I put into it. It wasn't until high school graduation that sent me off into a new life of what I call "Physical Fitness Awareness". The fact that I discovered within myself the strong desire to go above and beyond anything I had ever done when it came to my health.
During that summer (2007) I had lost 35 pounds, no joke. I went to the gym at 9 am 4 days a week, had a strict eating habit and schedule (more importantly) and stayed away from what was obviously bad, and thats where most people fall short. People trying to fulfill fitness goals fall short because they create unrealistic fitness goals, fail, then fall off the wagon, then don't want to try again for another 3 months.
The proper way it should be done is to stay away from the "small bad things". The reason why I refer to these things as the small bad things is because these items are easily substitutable. No mayo, pure and simple, its stirred up egg and oil (FAT). It provides no benefit, and has hardly any flavor unless you glob it on. Another thing to stay way from is white bread. Do what you can to transfer over to wheat, you cut calories and are taking away the starchiness of white bread and actually provide your body with proper vitamins. Of course you need to refrain from fast food, pizza, and soda. All these things can be modified to be healthier ( no cheese, grilled chicken sandwich instead of a burger, veggie pizza) but they can only be taken in moderation, once every other week tops.
I've been made fun of before for becoming a "food Nazi" but im extremely lenient compared to most trainers and professionals. Trust me, I like to eat, and I justify my means of eating by duking it out at the gym, or at least working out 10 hours a week vigorously.
Im not a certified professional, but I have had good results by certain methods that I have tried for myself, so take it or leave it. Just know this if you wan't to lose weight, burn more than you consume, and eat 5 small (good/healthy) meals a day. You can eat 5 bowls of cheerios a day with bannana and be just fine. The big thing next to working out is getting your metabolism running. Once you get it going, it'll start burning off fat without you actually needing to work out (not saying you should stop). Another major tip is to really invest in weight training. It burns more calories, workouts don't take as long, and help increase your metabolism over the cardio counterpart. This doesn't mean that cardio should be excluded from your workout. It's recommended to perform 30 minutes of cardio 3 days a week, but thats for people who don't want to build but merely shed pounds, to be honest, I feel that it's best to work out with weights for 30-45 minutes then 15 minutes of cardio to finish. This way you help build muscle, reduce fat, and increase your metabolism in the process, merely a suggestion.
So for any of you out there asking if there are any simple fitness goals out there, just know that nothing is simple unless you truly want it to be. Physical fitness, eating right (not diet, diet is a bad word) are all factors necessary to accomplish these goals, not pills, or surgery. Making the slightest adjustments to your lifestyle can make all the difference in your appearance and how you feel, which go hand in hand, it's a cycle if you will. The harder you work, the better you'll feel, the better you feel the more confidence you have, the more confidence you have the better you feel and so on. So to answer, there are easy goals, you just have to be willing to follow through on them.
When I was in middle school, and early high school, I was always in denial of my weight. Though I new I was "chubby" as my mom called it, I wondered if I was going to ever get thin, or have muscles like my dad, or Arnold. I was never a lazy child by any means; I played sports, loved to be outside and engage in physical activity, and still maintained the appearance of a boy that couldn't lose the weight. I ate badly, pure and simple. The accessibility of ordering pizza, eating TV dinners, and going to Carls Jr. down the street was too simple to ignore. With both parents working full time, very little time or energy could be used during the week to cook healthier food at home, so it's merely situational what happened to me, and I know I'm not the only one.
It wasn't till the Summer going into Junior year of high school that I was going to actually "work out" on the old weight bench my dad had downstairs. That summer, I felt better than I had in years, making accomplishments, and getting strong was something that I thought I could get used to. I didn't approach it with a sense of consistency then, once or twice a week really is all I put into it. It wasn't until high school graduation that sent me off into a new life of what I call "Physical Fitness Awareness". The fact that I discovered within myself the strong desire to go above and beyond anything I had ever done when it came to my health.
During that summer (2007) I had lost 35 pounds, no joke. I went to the gym at 9 am 4 days a week, had a strict eating habit and schedule (more importantly) and stayed away from what was obviously bad, and thats where most people fall short. People trying to fulfill fitness goals fall short because they create unrealistic fitness goals, fail, then fall off the wagon, then don't want to try again for another 3 months.
The proper way it should be done is to stay away from the "small bad things". The reason why I refer to these things as the small bad things is because these items are easily substitutable. No mayo, pure and simple, its stirred up egg and oil (FAT). It provides no benefit, and has hardly any flavor unless you glob it on. Another thing to stay way from is white bread. Do what you can to transfer over to wheat, you cut calories and are taking away the starchiness of white bread and actually provide your body with proper vitamins. Of course you need to refrain from fast food, pizza, and soda. All these things can be modified to be healthier ( no cheese, grilled chicken sandwich instead of a burger, veggie pizza) but they can only be taken in moderation, once every other week tops.
I've been made fun of before for becoming a "food Nazi" but im extremely lenient compared to most trainers and professionals. Trust me, I like to eat, and I justify my means of eating by duking it out at the gym, or at least working out 10 hours a week vigorously.
Im not a certified professional, but I have had good results by certain methods that I have tried for myself, so take it or leave it. Just know this if you wan't to lose weight, burn more than you consume, and eat 5 small (good/healthy) meals a day. You can eat 5 bowls of cheerios a day with bannana and be just fine. The big thing next to working out is getting your metabolism running. Once you get it going, it'll start burning off fat without you actually needing to work out (not saying you should stop). Another major tip is to really invest in weight training. It burns more calories, workouts don't take as long, and help increase your metabolism over the cardio counterpart. This doesn't mean that cardio should be excluded from your workout. It's recommended to perform 30 minutes of cardio 3 days a week, but thats for people who don't want to build but merely shed pounds, to be honest, I feel that it's best to work out with weights for 30-45 minutes then 15 minutes of cardio to finish. This way you help build muscle, reduce fat, and increase your metabolism in the process, merely a suggestion.
So for any of you out there asking if there are any simple fitness goals out there, just know that nothing is simple unless you truly want it to be. Physical fitness, eating right (not diet, diet is a bad word) are all factors necessary to accomplish these goals, not pills, or surgery. Making the slightest adjustments to your lifestyle can make all the difference in your appearance and how you feel, which go hand in hand, it's a cycle if you will. The harder you work, the better you'll feel, the better you feel the more confidence you have, the more confidence you have the better you feel and so on. So to answer, there are easy goals, you just have to be willing to follow through on them.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Transformers Dark of the Moon is going to be 2 and a half hours...seriously!?
Ok, I know the movie isn't out yet, and I do want to really see it despite the "not so great" quality of the last Transformers movie, but one problem I can see for this movie already is it's running time of 2 and a half hours, which was one of the big issues with the last movie. Unnecessary length only takes away and waters down whatever integrity this movie has to offer. It's a big action blockbuster thats going to have big robot fights, explosions, sweaty people and a sci-fi story line that will bring together mostly kids and sci-finerds alike. Two hours should be it really, but we can only tell until the movie comes out, so until then, no further judgment, because it does look awesome. It's an action movie, not an addition to the lord of the rings, keep it short and sweet and us wanting more, because if the movie starts to go on too long and robots and explosions no longer keep my interest the story better better be amazing which I seriously doubt is going to be the case.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tomato Meter....BURN IN HELL!
Think of a time before the website Rotten tomatoes. When there was a movie you had interest in, YOU WENT TO SEE IT, plain and simple. There was no pre-disposition or expected disappointment because some digital meter on a website decided for you. Sure you can say that regardless of the tomato meters score, you went to see the movie anyway. That is still the point; you knew a score or the percentage on the site, which even though didn't phase you to not see the movie left a place in your sub-conscience and affected the way you watched the movie from there on out. You were expecting in some way to be disappointed, forcing yourself throughout the movie to just like it and not think about the dreaded tomato meter. Think of the meter like it's Inception; whether it was a good or bad review, the fact you saw the score is implanted in your mind, like an idea. You can try to force yourself against the dictation of the meter, but ultimately it won in the fact that it left an impression on you, good or bad. Thats why I say, IGNORE the meter. Yeah sure, from time to time you can agree with it. But no more can you enjoy a fun, non-artsy movie without pompous, and elitist movie reviewers trying to make a name for themselves by giving bad reviews to movies that they know the people will enjoy.
What is this Blog about?
Well, it can be about anything; well at least if it's of interest to me, but don't worry, if your interests are my interests, and you want those interests to expand so later on you and I have something we can relate to, well then 'aint life grand.
I like to go all over the map (which are four things), Video Games, Movies, Music, and final fitting choice, weight lifting and exercise YAY! Sports are something I like but don't find to be a big topic of conversation but If I feel like bringing it up, don't be afraid, because if there's an audience that loves to talk sports, it's the movie and game nerds.
So I'll end this little "what the?" and you decide where to go next.
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