DCUO (It Consumes My Life)

Warning: I'm going to freakin' nerd out all over your face.


I'm really not into MMOs at all, but  DC Univere Online totally just became free to play and is about comic books.  Thus, it came to take over my life.

Badassery.  The emblem on my chest means Love.

I'm not going around doing missions or battles with friends (yet), but rather exploring and leveling myself up so far.  I enjoy the game for its open world and expansiveness.  Exploring Metropolis or Gotham City and meeting iconic heroes like Superman and the Flash is super fun.  Fighting alongside them is exhilarating as I hear they're encouraging and complimentary words.  They give me strength and I feel good about myself in being a real superhero.

Flying with mah jetpack.  Jealous, much?

Gameplay mechanics is also super fun with combat customization and how I interact with villains.  Punching a thug in the face is very satisfying as I save the day with my awesomeness.

What I really hate are those stupid level 30 assholes who just straight up run up to me and start attacking me.  I'm a feeble level 10 and thus a third of their strength and quickly crumble under their evil might.  I say to myself, "Someday you'll rue this moment, villain.  Imma totally level up and eff you up.  We'll see who's laughing then."  This is actually one of the reasons I stay up until 4 and fall asleep in lecture.  Ha, this ain't helpin' my "video games are good for you" argument.

The reason DCUO works is because of its wide reaching demographics.  It's free to play, which is a very, very strong allure.  In fact, in one week, the game gained one million new players since it became free.  Its revenue increased 700 percent and is increasing even more.  MMO lovers will play it because of its social features.  Interacting with friends or strangers can be very fun with battling each other or completing missions together.  Leveling up with one another can a very rewarding feature as you guys complete a journey to be top dogs in the game.  Finally, comic book geeks like me enjoy the lore behind the game.  Flash and Gorilla Grodd match up against each other and I get to be there to help win the fight.  Oracle gives me intel while Superman, himself mentors me.

Technology today, survives because of its audience.  Despite its stupidity in the simplest things like no right click, .exe files,  or archaic boycott of Flash, various iProducts survive because of appealing to its ignorant loyalists (srsly, no offense y'all).  With its flashy apps (sometimes not literally Flashy), or cute commercials with admittingly addictive jingles, Apple touts itself as a more "user friendly" company and less tech heavy like Windows.  (I say, in today's technology reliant world, even an eight year old knows how to use a PC).

Anyways, I've totally lost the "cool, suave guy" reputation I've built up in class, so might as well just nerd out some more.  I'm off to save the world from some villains (again).  See y'all!

Black Friday

Black Friday was a hilarious holiday this year in my household.  I spent this year's at Stockton, with the family.  Normally, we'd spend it sitting in line outside Best Buy etc. and hanging out for 6 hours for the stores to open.  We'd never really be in it to buy anything wicked awesome or super important, but rather just do it to hang out laugh at our stupidity.  This year's Black Friday though, we avoided.  Lines in Stockton at every store this year wrapped around the entire building.  Violence was also much more common throughout the country than in previous years.  In fact, a man got shot during a robbery right outside the nearby mall.  This happened in the morning, when all the crazy hustle to be first should have ended.  I myself visited the mall Friday afternoon to find the place still packed and crowded.  I overheard a man reporting a different robber to the police, too.


But why all the violence and urgency to camp out all night in the freezing cold to be in the top 100 people to be first in the stores?  (< that sentence feels too wordy, eh).  The answer is technology (see?  it's actually related to the assignment).  People go crazy for the stuff and crave to buy all the newest TVs, laptops, video games, etc. all at the lowest price.  When I went to Best Buy, I found myself not even wanting a single thing in the store.  What I noticed was people weren't necessarily in need of anything, but want to buy something just because it was available.  Old laptops and small TVs still sold well just because they were cheaper.  In a technology/money-centric society, common sense and human decency became disposable.


My solution: do all your shopping behind a screen.  Go online on Cyber Monday and shop (possibly while you're in class) with your computer/laptop/etc.


P.S.  Don't be stupid and buy a 500 GB hard drive for $80 or even $60.  All HDD are priced highly right now because of the flooding in Thailand and no matter how black Fridays or how cyber Mondays are, they won't be as cheap as they can be.  You're better off just waiting or actually researching online.  


Oh yeah, post was inspired by that idiot pepper spraying everyone at Wal-Mart. 


:( No pictures.

NMA, Soooooo Good

My last blog post reminded me of how awesome NMA is.  NMA, or Next Media Animation, is a Taiwan-based company that makes wicked awesome animated clips that discuss or present the news.  They're always high larious and have been recently started being recorded in English.

I for one don't really care about the news.  Unless directly pertaining to me or something I find interesting, I won't bother wiki-ing it.  The Pennsylvania coach thing for example, I had no idea what the controversy was about.  But watching the video below, everything becomes so high lariously clear.  The disturbing scene was actually funny to me because of the size of NMA's balls to pull it off.  

The next clip is soooooooooo "who cares?" to me it's ridic.  I would never have known about this or cared about it if not for NMA.  The 50 second mark makes it an instant Oscar winner.

The next is a weirdly bloodier than necessary clip.  Listening to the content seems so innocent, but the extravagant embellishments NMA makes, makes this super high larious.

Aside from the obvious comedic content, NMA brings the news to me when otherwise I would not have cared to know.  It allows easy access and a much more intriguing way to keep me informed.  I see NMA a much shorter version of The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.  I not only get entertained, but I also become more learned.  That's how I see our Web Design class, amirite?  Oh, I've lost my soul.

Video Games Ain't So Bad

NMA makes wicked awesome animation videos and I recently stumbled on this one.  It's true video games have been targeted for its "evil ways" and corrupting the youth, though usually more by the conservatives.  I like the video because it brings up valid points in defending the past time.  Video games help people, socially and professionally.  The image of a 300 pound man living in his parent's basement comes to mind when it comes to relating gaming with social lives.  But in reality, those are a select few and even then, they interact with other players and have actual friends.  Professionally, video games have been known for a long time now, to help surgeons better with their hand eye coordination.  I know for a fact that I'd rather have someone good with their hands operating on me than someone less skilled.  The United States Army, in fact, create their own video game and release it as freeware for public recruitment and simulation.  Flight simulators are also vital to test pilots, students, and even the Air Force.

People get away with calling video games evil and whatnot because they prey on the emotion.  Games get a bad reputation because of people like the Columbine kids and the fact that they played video games before their massacre.  In reality, people kill because they're crazy or evil.  They played the games because they were killers, not kill because they were players.  

In short, nothing is wrong with playing video games.  The only thing proven about games is that gamers and non-gamers are a little different from one another.  Simple as that.  The end.  El Fin.

Random Part 3

Quick posts: 


-Google Music ain't beta no more!  Go visit!  

-Totally forgot, but enjoyed a badass evening last night with Michael Ian Black at the Theater.  Anyone else go?  Did not see any of you guys there.  I saw Prof. Scott Hopkins there and it was hilarious seeing his reactions.  Older generations might not have appreciated the vulgarity and "immature" humor as much as us college students.  Eh he seemed to enjoy it regardless.  Ask him about it if you see him!


-About 3 hours late, but Happy Birthday, Prince again!


-Strike safe tomorrow, y'all!


-!

Blogging (This Post is Totally Meta) 0_0

I hurt myself trying to do this

Blogging in today's world seems rampant and widely accepted as a modern social platform for diary-ing.  I personally wouldn't mind blogging about my day, random thoughts, and deep, dark secrets (I secretly love Justin Bieber).  The problem with blogging however, is when forced to discuss a specific topic that you might generally have no compelling feelings about.  Let's pick a completely random topic that's in no way preplanned...let's say..."technology."  (Sidenote: Is there such a thing as preplanning?  Isn't that just planning?  I digress...).  


Technology, while very interesting and influential in modern life, can be boring to me.  I am by no means an 80 year old man who hates technology and would rather sit on a porch all day yelling at kids, than learn how to type an email.  I am however, a virile, young man who would rather go around doing backflips and karate kicks than spend an hour trying to to come up with a good topic to talk about and making sure I have enough interesting things to say about it.


Some would say I should just go to Google News and pick a tech article and talk about that.  To that, I respond with, "I refuse."  Tech news are boring and writing about them would just reflect that in my words.  I enjoy writing stuff about things I actually care about and would prefer not to bring up a boring topic and just say, "I agree.  This is totally kewl, guys."


My point is this: blogging, in my opinion should be an expression of thoughts and feelings genuinely felt by the author.  It should not be an assignment, a duty, or a dreaded exercise in essay writing from an English class.


With that said, this post should totally count for the media diary assignment.  I think...nee know this is in some tiny way related to technology.  Please?  Pretty please?


P.S. In no way is this an insult or complaint towards the assignment or assigner.  I totally love doing these things.  The assigner herself, is wicked cool too.  In fact, one could say the purpose of this was just to serve as an alibi for the tardiness of these blog posts.  Pretty please?


One of my favorite things about the assigner is her leniency towards quality.