TIME and time again...geeks are insulted.

TIME magazine, in their newest issue, had an article on Halo and the overall gaming culture. It sounded like gamers would finally get the recognition we deserved. Unfortunately, what we got was an insulting and biased article that generalized gamers as lonely wankers who live in "ghettos." Don't believe me...click the link above and read on. Here's my response e-mail:

To see many people's favorite game on the cover of your magazine was great. Unfortunately, Mr. Lev Grossman wrote a very one-sided and, quite frankly, pretty insinuating and insulting article that deals more with how gamers are (stereotypically) lonely geeks who have nothing better to do. This adds to the fact that Mr. Grossman's article is not very researched, since the special edition Xbox 360 shown in the article is not the real console that will be made available to consumers. Of course what is most insulting is Mr. Grossman's constant reference that gamers and casual gamers alike live in some sort of ghetto or live in some invisible culture that is not recognized by the rest of society. That is an interesting statement seeing as how the game industry has made billions more than the film industry, Hollywood's sudden passion for adapting games into films (though some haven't been that great), and the fact that Halo 2 made $125 million the first day it was released making it one of the biggest releases on any medium in any industry. My point is that Mr. Grossman should research his stories a little better and not make simple-minded assumptions that geeks live in ghettos and gaming is still for said geeks and nerds. I am sure Mr. Grossman is a capable writer, but this piece does not reflect that. Oh, and never rile up gamers, such as myself. Sure, we might be geeks, but we have lives, we don't all live in ghettos, and we don't take kindly to bias.

Oh, and there's a new trailer for Hitman. Here it is.

Hitman the movie....is here.

Yes...its here...the official Hitman teaser trailer was and is showing before Live Free or Die Hard.  I had my concerns about the movie, since I'm a big fan of the games...but honestly I'm psyched about the movie.  October 12, baby.  Only a few short months.  Here's the trailer for ya.

"Lost" in Bioinformatics.

Once again, I am trapped in the Bioinformatics class. Hey, at least it's a great opportunity to catch up on my blog.

OK, first off...Lost. Last night was the season finale of the hit show on ABC. Well, to say the least, it was a doosy. It was two hours long, and it fit alot of story into those two hours. If you follow the show, things happened in Lost that kinda made some fans upset. One of which was the death of a lead character. So what? The real controversial part was the ending. Man, I was left questioning what had just happened in the picture tube in front of me. Suffice to say, it was a cliffhanger ending but not in the traditional sense. It was just...weird. Confusing...not so much. Just a total "WTF?" kinda of moment. Now, I expected the finale to end with more questions than answers, but it was really, really trippy. There were some parts that hinted toward something else but ended up being something completely different. Nothing left to do, however, except to speculate and bitch about the show until February of next year.

The past week or two has definitely a big week for gamers. Most importantly was the announcement of Starcraft II, baby. One of the biggest RTS's of all time is finally getting a sequel, and folks, it looks good. I have heard complaints of how the game looks too much like the first one, and really, it does. However, this is not a bad thing. From the screenshots I've seen, the graphics have been beefed and it looks good. The interface, though, has been minimally changed. Controlling units looks the same and the trademark look of Starcraft is left intact. Of course, a butt-load of new units have been introduced for both sides, but the Protoss are getting some pretty intimidating stuff. I won't go into deal here so head to Gamespy or IGN to read in detail what the units are. What my main concern is how overpowered the Protoss might be.

I love Starcraft and its story, and I can't wait to continue the story in the sequel. The thing is, the Protoss' new units might make them extremely overpowered. The Zealots seem to take out Marines with ease...which doesn't make much sense since Marines are a ranged unit and the Zealots only power lies in close combat. The Zealots would be easily dominated by Marines, but in Starcraft 2, a few Zealots made short work of the poor Marines. I don't know about you, but I really don't want the Protoss to be too overpowered...mainly out of bias for the Terran (Go Humans!).

Last night, I saw a video of Rosie O'Donnell verbally fighting the blonde lady on The View. I couldn't help but laugh. Why? I hate Rosie. She's so offensive, insulting, damn crazy, and she probably smells. I was glad to see someone at least attempt, if even feebly so, to put Rosie in her place. What dismays me is that she'll most likely get another show somewhere else after she's done with the view. You see, most of the TV and film industry are open liberals, and they love people who are crazy liberal. Crazy liberal to the point where anything that is meant to bash anyone who isn't liberal like them, they insult you and make you feel less than human. That is Rosie in a nutshell, and people like them really don't deserve their own TV show. Don't get me wrong, I'm neither liberal or conservative, neither Democratic or Republican, but the fact that liberal crazies like Rosie behave they way they do makes me like them less than I do conservatives. It's cool to have two different parties, but it sucks when each side degrades the other side for not agreeing with them.

Well, I got a term paper for tomorrow to do so check back soon. Take care and...

CTHULHU FTHAGN!!!

Halo 3 Beta, Part 1

Well, I'm here in my Bioinformatics (Bioinfo-whoooa?) ready to straight up ditch, but I'll hang around long enough to give you impressions on the Halo 3 Beta.

To start things off, you and I were part of what will become the darkest day in Bungie's history and that is the Beta Breakdown. Baiscally, folks like me who bought Crackdown to play the beta were unfortunate enough to not be able to download the beta at the pre-determined 5 AM release time. I actually had to wait till 730 PM until Microsoft fixed the bug and let me start my 3 and half hour download (I have a horrible connection). However, this is a beta so, as much as this was aggravating, it should have been expected. Anyways, here we go.

The first thing you'll notice is how good the game looks. Sure, Gears of War looks oh so much better, but Halo 3 is graphically solid and still looks damn good in HD. I can't wait to see the game at release. The game runs overall smooth but will lag only because of your internet connection. It's just great how the game runs silky smooth at this stage of development. The movements and animations of the chracters look good, and the water...good God the water looks great.

Okay, since I only played one game mode on one map, Ill tell you about that one now, and tommorrow I'll tell you about the rest. I played Territories on the map High Ground (excuse my mistake of the map if I get the name wrong), and it was a blast. The map is very asymetrical and perfect for CTF or Assault, not to say it was any less fun playing Territories here. The great things I noticed where the way grenades were thrown a lot faster, faster respawns of weapons, and the nice and balanced distribution of all the weapons. Not for a second did the map feel confusing or intimadating, which definitely accelerated the game from 0 to who-the-hell-just-fried-me-with-the-laser.

Of course, the weapons are alot cooler and better. The battle rifle, plasma pistol and rifle, shotgun, grenades, sniper rifle, and Covenant carbine are all back, but they all feel more powerful and easier to handle. The improved assault rifle now has a huge range as opposed to the AR from the first Halo. Not only that, it's alot more powerful. The Spartan Laser is the king of terror in Halo 3, thanks to its great range, extreme punch, and rather quick recharge time. However, what screams cool in this game are the Brute weapons. The Brute shot is back, but the Brute Spiker (the Brutes answer to the Human SMG) is what everybody wants to try out. Shooting little but powerful spikes at enemies with devastating effects, the Spiker is a death hose that can easily take down opponents when its either dual-wielded or used single handedly. Oh, the huge blades on the front...yeah, that kills people too. The Spike Grenade is kind of like a mine, except more brutal. It is able to stick to any surface and has a delay timer of about two seconds. Once it goes off, however, it launchs spikes in all directions that actually bounce and ricochet off of the walls and cielings, so don;t be anywhere near this once it detonates.

Once I play more of the Beta today, I'll give you the rest of my impressions tomorrow. And that thing at the top of the page...That's the Microsoft Halo 3 Zune. It's limited edition with a Halo 3 decal surface and already has various music and video clips, artwork, and pictures uploaded including an exclusive Red vs. Blue episode. Am I gonna get one even though I already have an iPod? I am seriously comtemplating it. Take care.

Once again, I Apologize.

Well, I haven't updated for a while, AGAIN. Well, I'll update later this week with some stuff I, and hopefully you, will find interesting. Not only that, I'll leave my impressions about the Halo 3 Beta hopefully on Thursday. For now, I can tell you, I'm bored to absolute annihilation in my Social Studies class. Take some care.