Sadly, we’ve all been a victim of something going wrong, and it costing us an arm and a leg; or if you so choose, a kidney on the black market. However you’ve had to pay for it, you’ve had to pay for it, and in a big way. Afterwards though, you look at [... Read more here]]]>

Sadly, we’ve all been a victim of something going wrong, and it costing us an arm and a leg; or if you so choose, a kidney on the black market. However you’ve had to pay for it, you’ve had to pay for it, and in a big way. Afterwards though, you look at the bill and wonder really if it should have cost that much. Or if charging that much is even a fair price, depending on what the service is that you had to have accomplished. Unfortunately, unless you’ve worked in the industry personally, we as consumers may never really know how much the hardware involved in these tasks cost, but most of us can give a ballpark estimate and assume that it’s just too much for what is being done.

Anyone who owns a car can attest to car repairs being a huge cash suck. And it also just so happens that something will go wrong at the most inopportune times, creating even more of a hassle. But have you ever stopped and read the bill afterwards? The first thing that always stands out is usually the diagnostics. Most of the time, especially when they have to use their computer diagnostic tools, it will cost upwards of $115, even though all they do is hook your car up to the machine and let it do it’s work. The main point though is that that entire cost is in the “labor” category. Usually when a computer does the work, doesn’t one just have to sit back and let it do it’s job? Sure, they have to watch it to see where the issue lies, but the inspection alone costs about half of the price of a fuel pump.

Of course, any of us who live in a winter weather area will understand the plight that can befall us if we are to let our guard down driving in inclement weather, even when it really isn’t our fault, or when we just hit a patch of bad luck (also known as “ice”). As an example, when driving to work one day, a driver is coming up the off ramp of the highway. He needs to turn right, so at a slow speed, knowing the weather is bad and that there is ice on the ground, he gets into the right turn lane. Suddenly, he loses control of the car, ever so slightly, so that the car turns sideways barely to the right and the front tires of his front wheel drive car become stuck on the ice. No damage is inflicted to the car, and the only issue is that he can’t get his tires off the ice. Due to this, he is forced to call a tow truck, which quite simply, spends two minutes dragging the front of the car off of the ice. The total charge? $75. And that, according to the tow truck driver, is the minimum he is allowed to charge! One can understand the cost of gas, and the time taken, which was minimal, in order to drag the car out, but can that $75 charge be justified?

There are, of course, many other things other than our vehicles which can cost us a ridiculous amount. For example, technology can become a huge burden on us, especially when things go wrong. Anyone who has ever had a problem with their computer knows that one of the first places we think of to go to get it fixed is the Geek Squad, and most of us go there even though we know that they charge an extreme amount for what can potentially be the simplest of tasks. For this example, let’s say your computer doesn’t start up one day, without any prior warning, and the error, of which you search online for, doesn’t give you an answer on what the problem could be. The Geek Squad says that they’ll look at it for $70, and if there’s something wrong with the hard drive, and they can get your data off of it, it’ll cost you another $100 to back it up. Once again, one can understand that there’s probably some work involved to find the issue, but a part time job with an hourly pay of $9 an hour would have to work eight hours for that much to be made. And after you find out that the issue is your hard drive, you not only have to pay $75 for the hard drive, but another $50 for them to install it. Mind you, installing something, especially like a hard drive into a computer, is a simple task which requires minimal work. That comes to an approximate total of $200+, after finding out that your hard drive can’t be backed up.

Electronics must be complicated to some people, because even Target is getting into the installation business. Target now has Target Zip, which is a service of blue shirt wearing employees (gasp) who will come out and install your electronics. To have your new HDTV taken out of the box, set on your entertainment center and plugged in, it will cost you $99. Not only that, but they’ll teach you how to use your new television, and even take the box and packaging with them when they leave. That same price can also get you your computer or video game system set up, in case it was a challenge for you. And just in case you get a bigger HDTV and want it wall mounted, as long as you buy the wall mount and HD cables, for a price of $299, Zip will come out, wall mount your television, set it up, connect it to up to three HD devices, show you how to use it, and remove the packaging. For some, particularly those who are unable to due to age possibly, this may be a great deal, but to most, setting this kind of thing up could probably cost you much less to do yourself, and nowadays, it isn’t like this type of thing is that difficult to do.

This article could be considered a rant in some cases, but it’s still surprising to see how many people use these services even though if they had the time and resources, they could probably find a small establishment, or even a friend who did it as a side business, which could do the same types of services at a much lower price. Sadly, most of these companies are so mainstream that we forget to think to look elsewhere, especially when we are in times of need and can’t afford to wait around and look for other places. This is just the way things are, and while we may not like it, we’re pretty much forced to pay it when the need arises. None the less, it’s interesting to think about how much we really are paying over what the actual cost for what they’re doing will provide for us.

Have you been charged an immense amount for a service you’ve needed done? Leave a comment with your story below!

Last week, Austin made an article on the current, sorry state of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Reading this spawned some thought into me as well, as I also have accounts on a lot of MMOs, or have tried out a lot of different MMOs in my time. As Austin said, MMOs [... Read more here]]]>

Last week, Austin made an article on the current, sorry state of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Reading this spawned some thought into me as well, as I also have accounts on a lot of MMOs, or have tried out a lot of different MMOs in my time. As Austin said, MMOs have changed over the course of time, and MMOs tend to change over their lifetime as well, as they have to try and change in order to attract new audiences, and/or keep their currently/previous audience playing. For some games this means adding full amounts of content which significantly change the game, for others it just means adding new features or areas that will keep players playing enough for them to have to pay for another month.

World of Warcraft

As shocking as it may seem to the hardcore game playing community out there, I actually do not play, nor do I like World of Warcraft. Of course, that’s not to say that I don’t know a thing or two about the game, as most of my friends play it. It just never hooked me though. And especially with how the game has changed, I don’t think it ever will either. As Austin said in his article, being able to level and get to the content which was once just for higher level players so much faster doesn’t exactly make the game better to play. Unfortunately I understand why Blizzard did such a move. At this point, most people who have heard about the game and aren’t playing it yet have heard from their friends all of the cool stuff that you can obtain in the higher levels. So when one of those people finally get into the game, they’re eager to get to that content sooner than later. In order to keep them hooked sooner, Blizzard just makes it easier for them to get that stuff, and then the player is happy.

In some cases though, they don’t purposely make the game easier for new players, but it just happens, at least, to the best of the consumer’s knowledge. That being said, I look towards Guild Wars, which technically is actually a CORPG, or Competitive Online Role-Playing Game, which is a term that was actually coined by ArenaNet, the developer of Guild Wars, themselves. To continue on Austin’s train of thought, with each campaign that was released, they added some sort of new feature which made the games easier to complete, and since each expansion campaign just adds to the map more or less, you can travel back to the original games with those features and be even more powerful than before. In the biggest case, the feature was called Heroes, which were customizable AI players which fought with you. I played Guild Wars on Day One, and it was awesome how people worked together to get through missions, and using the original AI players that you could add called Henchman was a challenge, as they weren’t that powerful. Now with the addition of Heroes, the idea of the game being multiplayer has somewhat gone out the window.

Guild Wars

Now of course, to every rule, there is an exception. Even though we complain about all of these different things which hinders the game in our eyes, there is one game that, at least in my own opinion, has done nothing but improve over the course of their lifetime. That game would be CCP‘s own EVE Online. EVE Online is one of those special cases because, honestly, it doesn’t have the kind of user base that these other MMOs have. That doesn’t stop it from being one of the most social and impactful MMOs on the market today. Every expansion that has been released for EVE Online, which is now up to ten plus, is a free expansion. In saying “expansion” though, I don’t mean in the amount of explorable space, but rather, the feature list. Over the course of the past years, EVE Online has not only improved in gameplay, but graphically as well, at an amazing rate. Most MMOs that you see leave their game where it is, and just go for adding content, which, in most cases, is what people want more. And the fact is, EVE does that, but also makes the game look just that much better in the process. It’s amazing what they’ve done with their game, and this is why I play it. And of course, it’s hard. Not TOO hard, but it’s difficult. There is no easy button in EVE, even for new players, which is half of the reason why is chases most new players away.

There are tons of MMOs out there, more than what one person could play at a time. Using Austin as an example though, you can still play multiple MMOs with only paying one subscription fee by hopping. And that seems, in the cases listed, that it might be the best idea. After time, people become bored with a game, especially one that they have to play for an extended period of time in order to get further in it. But when it comes to the developers’ choices in order to make the game more appealing, both for new players and for previous players, some of them could be better. Making the game easier may work for some people, but for others, we are just looking for more content, or improved features upon what the game already has.

EVE Online

Now of course, on the flip side, there are times when the developers DO make the game harder for players, which brings in the idea of “nerfing”, or changing what an ability does to not make it impossibly overpowered in many cases. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help make the player base exactly happy, although nine times out of ten it’s just the players complaining because they have to choose a new strategy to be able to beat a boss, or a certain area, etc. There are a ton of MMOs out there, and they are run differently in one way or another, yet at the same time, in some way, they all are run similar, as MMOs must follow a certain progression style in order to attract peoples’ attentions. Finding the right one for you, that doesn’t feel like it’s insulting your intelligence with how easy it is, but isn’t making you want to throw your computer out of a window with how hard it is, is the ultimate challenge of the MMO player.

Again Internet reference. Internets to you for laughing at it :D

So, MMORPGs. We love them, we hate them, we spend days on them, there have been GIANT studies on how they are destroying the lives of children in the world. I am a big fan of these games personally. I really enjoy playing [... Read more here]]]>

Again Internet reference. Internets to you for laughing at it :D

So, MMORPGs. We love them, we hate them, we spend days on them, there have been GIANT studies on how they are destroying the lives of children in the world. I am a big fan of these games personally. I really enjoy playing them. Yes I said “them”. I have accounts for the following MMOs: Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies and Champions Online. Now you are probably wondering, “Wait a minute there Mr. Jennings, you have four games listed there, that cost 15 bucks a month, at least! How are you playing all of them at the same time!?” That is a valid question, and the answer is, I don’t pay for them all. I jump around. Currently my EVE is active, and my Galaxies is active. That’s it. I like to keep my options because to be honest, I jump around. I will probably NEVER have a level 80 UBER Shaman in WoW, the main reason being I haven’t bought Burning Crusade or WOTLK. It is SO not the games fault either. I am the biggest ADD gamer ever. I will be in the middle of a boss fight in… Metroid Prime we will say, and I will turn it off to go play something else, because I get reminded of something in another game so I go play it. This is what I do with MMOs. I’ll keep a subscription going for a few months, then just let it expire, and go off to another game.

This frustrates my guild mates sometimes LET ME TELL YOU! So yes now to get to the point of this wonderful little editorial. MMOs are getting too easy, with the exception of EVE, and it’s not that it’s hard, it’s just deep. I have friends in all the games I play that have been around for years, and I have been told countless times that “vanilla” WoW was something reasonably difficult. It was level 40 before you got something to ride on, and level 60 before you got to get a faster one! These days, you get your basic mount at 20, and your epic at 40 (I am near certain). It very much seems that they rush you through level 1-60 just to get you to the outland so you can have REAL fun. My level 80 friends say that the game gets way more fun in the outland. It’s awesome blah blah blah. Now keep in mind, if you want to go through the dark portal, and ACTUALLY be in outland, you’re dropping at least another $20, just to get Burning Crusade. Plus another $30 if you want to pick up Wrath of the Lich King! So to do some math, your paying $15 a month, plus $20 for BC, plus $30 for WOTLK. And you are not going to get to level 80 in one month. I mean, sure it;s possible… but highly unlikely. There are power leveling sites you can use, but that costs hundreds of dollars, and breaks the WoW EULA. Good luck with THAT.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (WOTLK)

OK, seems my last paragraph turned into a rant on prices of WoW. It’s still a valid point, but that’s not what I wanted to get at. Money is money. It costs to keep these games running and, with the exception of Guild Wars, they all need a fee to keep running. The reason the money frustrates me in WoW is because they made the original kind of worthless with out the other two expansions. Level 60 is pretty low in the WoW world, and short of the battlegrounds, the chance for you to get ganked ["gank" definition] by a level 80 is huge if you stick to the basic WoW. I have a Warlock on Stormscale, and it’s level 50, or 52, something like that, and most of it I soloed. I mean, I had a few good runs through the Scarlett Monastery, that helped, and a friend who ran me through the Deadmines more times than I can count, but as far as questing goes, I did it all by myself. I have a Shaman on Dentarg, that I have up to level 30… maybe 25, that I soloed. The first 30 levels go by like nothing. And the latter 30, up to where I am at now, have been cake. And people still complain about how slow leveling is. I mean ‘scuse me? WTF? It bothered me when I was in a city and folks were whining that with the newest patch they actually made a few things HARDER. Oh noez, you actually have to get geared and take on Onixya with a reasonable amount of skill. WOE IS ME!!!!!!1!1!1!!!!!!!!1111! Lame.

The other game I play that has gotten stupid easy is Star Wars Galaxies. I started playing it back in 2006 and I loved it. I could have my own ship fly out bust some ties (Rebellion FTW) and it was easy when I started. There is a quest line that took me all the way to level 60. I mean it was one long aspirations quest, but still one quest group. Now the space is still challenging, you have to gear your own fighter go into space, fly patrols, blast ships. It’s awesome. I am now level 75, and most of those levels were achieved doing TADS, in-game lingo, AKA Ten a Days – they are little missions that you take from a terminal, and you go out kill two guys and blow up a flagpole. After the flag is blown up you get somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 thousand credits, and a huge chunk of XP. Enough XP that if you do ten of these missions, you typically get one level, almost two. It’s kinda silly. I mean it really is, with these terminals found the core of recent MMO’s. Run out, kill the NPC, get XP. Get to max level, own the people lower than you. That is what it seems like in WoW and Galaxies. Just blasting your way to max level just to beat on other players. Now I do know that there are RP servers in WoW, I have never personally played on one, but I am sure they stick to their story. Heck, maybe if I want to enjoy it more I should play there…

Star Wars Galaxies

Now then, Guild Wars. I love this game, but I have to say, it has gotten easier with each expansion. The original GW Campaign was tough, and getting skills was a reward for doing well in game. You had to use what you had, or pay to get new skills. It was tough and it was fun. You have to plan your strategy and know what skills will work the best for the NPC enemies you will be fighting. Same goes for PvP, which in this author’s opinion is the best out there. I love the PvP in GW. It is smooth and fun, and very enjoyable. But the later “campaigns” have gotten much easier. I started playing in the Factions game, and it was awesome, I loved it. When I picked up Prophecies, I realized how tough the game used to be. Then Nightfall hit the shelves and man it got EASY. Compared to the first game even it was quick. In Prophecies I am still working on a character that is level 18 or 19, the max level being 20, but in Nightfall, I think I hit 20 within about two weeks. It was fast. and it was much easier. They added in these Hero characters that you can customize, and they also level with you, instead of the “Henchmen” that you used to use in the game. These henchmen were capped at the lowest level you could be to enter the zone, or something like that. You can fully customize the Hero’s right down to the weapons they carry, and its kinda nice I have to admit. Instead of spending time trying to find a group and get people together to go do a boss, OH WAIT IT’S AN MMO!!!!! You are SUPPOSED to get people together and take on bosses! Yes GW tends to lean towards the single player but come on! That game, as all MMOs, are so much more fun when you are playing with others!

And that may be why they are getting faster and faster in moving you to max level. People do not want to work to get a group together of people that do not know each other. It seems that the focus of these games, have become “PVP AT MAX LEVEL” and not work with others towards a common goal. I know that in Guild Wars it seems that the only groups I hear of are ones that are people charging in game money to “Taxi” other players to other cities. I am even guilty of it. I use my Heroes first because I know that I can rely on them. I know that they wont drop out on me in the middle of a fight. Which is probably why people are moving away from player groups unless the ACTUALLY know the player at the other end of the Internet. I understand it. MMOs take a degree of commitment. You have to know going into it that you are going to have to spend some time on it. Which leads me to another point.

EVE Online

People don’t want to devote time to these games. They feel that if they have to pay monthly then they better get the reward right out. No working at your character, no spending months attempting to get to max level. I paid my $14.99, I want my max level! I don’t want to work for it! GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE! That and the plague of Gold farmers and sellers, it’s totally screwing the in-game economy. Players that want instant max level are using their real money to buy in-game items, just to get themselves to the  max fastest. On Stormscale where I keep my Warlock, prices for things are out of whack. I can sell a stack of 20 bronze bars for 20 gold. Thats right folks one gold, for one bar of BRONZE. On other servers the economy is not that crazy. Dentarg, where I keep my Shaman, things are normal. Stuff sells at reasonable prices, and the expensive items are actually good items that you would want to spend some gold on. I hate gold farmers, and sellers. That and they fill my inbox and chat with ads! I hate them. Let me say that again, I. HATE. GOLD. FARMERS. (And ISK farmers, and credit farmers, YOU GET IT.)

Champions Online, I don’t know much about you. I HOPE YOU ARE TAKING LESSONS ON WHAT NOT TO DO.

This also goes for you Star Trek Online. TAKE NOTES, AND DON’T SUCK.

So that’s how I roll. MMORPGs are AWESOME and they can be really fun. Until they get nerfed ["nerf" definition] to hell because of whiny lazy players. That’s the gist of it.

- Austin J.

I am an avid video game player. If a game that I love, or have been dying to play comes out, I’ll be one of the first to be in line to get it. But these days, when it comes to video game purchasing, a popular concept is the idea of pre-ordering. I [... Read more here]]]>

I am an avid video game player. If a game that I love, or have been dying to play comes out, I’ll be one of the first to be in line to get it. But these days, when it comes to video game purchasing, a popular concept is the idea of pre-ordering. I used to pre-order all of my games, but now, I look at the idea and shake my head in disgust. This has been a battle in the video game business for quite some time, whether or not pre-ordering should happen. The worst case of pre-ordering comes from the video game specific retailer GameStop. GameStop is already a controversial retailer as they buy and sell used games. The main problem with used games, is that the publishers and developers of the game get no cut of what GameStop sells of them, because it’s purely a business between the game owner and the retailer. Also, they underpay you for your used games, while jacking the price up on them so that they are able to make a hefty profit off of the game which you spent a lot of money on. But I digress.

Good Bonus (Physical art book for BlazBlue)

Let’s say you walk into a GameStop on the day of a big game release. As you walk in, you see piles and piles of the game that just came out today, and you’re excited that they have some in stock. As you walk up to the register and ask for the game, the employee tells you that they are out of stock at the time. Puzzled, you point to the stack of games behind him and ask him what those are then. He tells you that they are all pre-ordered copies, and that they are all accounted for. Checking your watch, you see that the store is about to close in an hour and tell him that they still haven’t been claimed, so why can’t you buy one. He tells you that they have a week to pick them up before he can actually sell them to anyone else. This is a situation that I feel is ridiculous. Yes, I understand that pre-ordering guarantees you a copy of the game when it comes out, but for those of us who are excited enough to go on day one to go and pick up the game just to find that we’re not allowed to get it really rains on someone’s parade.

Bad Bonus (Killzone 2 demo access)

GameStop needs to entice you to pre-order from them though, so that they can get a guarantee that they are going to get your money when the game comes out, so they bribe you with “pre-order bonuses”. This is where the game industry hits a serious road block for me. The following is a list of pre-order bonuses that you can receive from GameStop if you pre-order the game from them.

• WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 – GameStop exclusive in-game character “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
• Assassin’s Creed 2 – unlock the Palazzo Medici, a majestic building with treasure inside of it
• Dragon Age Origins – in-game items Feral Wolf Charm and Memory Ring
• God of War: Collection – code allowing you to download the God of War III demo
• Left 4 Dead 2 – in-game American baseball bat weapon
• The Saboteur – in-game Nazi knife weapon
• MAG – in-game character S.V.E.R. and GameStop exclusive beta access

Some of these pre-order bonuses are trivial, such as the in-game weapons, especially if you’re able to unlock them later on in the game anyways. Even if you aren’t, it’s still just a single weapon, and won’t change the gameplay too much. But let’s look at the game WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 for a moment. If you know anything about wrestling, or have even heard anything about it, you know that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is a very popular and well known wrestler, albeit a little old by now. Basically what the developer did is took him out of the game so that only the people who pre-order from GameStop would be able to play using him. Again, obviously this is a very small issue, and to most people, wouldn’t matter, but those people who are hardcore fans of the WWE are now forced to not only buy the game from GameStop only, but also pre-order it.

Good Bonus (Physical Mirror's Edge runner's bag)

Another thing that has baffled me lately is the idea of making the demo for your upcoming game exclusive. In saying this, I turn to the God of War: Collection. As of November 17, the only people who will have access to download the God of War III demo, a demo which is supposed to help and try encouraging people who maybe are on the fence if they want to buy the game to follow through by giving them actual gameplay, will be the people who buy this collection. To me, this completely defeats the purpose of a demo, unless of course they follow through by opening it to the public sometime later on. But by doing that, that means that this pre-order bonus is completely useless, unless someone is just so excited to play the demo that getting it before everyone else makes them think that they are superior.

Bad Bonus (In-game costumes for LittleBigPlanet)

A lot of people ask me if I pre-ordered these popular games which have just come out or are coming out in the future, and I continue to tell them that I haven’t. By pre-ordering these games, yes, I may get some sort of bonus (in-game Revenge Attribute bonus for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves) or early access to a feature in the game (early access to the multi-player mode “Extraction” for Army of Two: The 40th Day), but none of that is worth the hassle for me, when I can just go out and get the game from my local Target the day it comes out without any issue. When developers start pulling features from their games so that only people who pre-order can access them, then I’ll start to be upset, but until then, I’ll just play the game the way it’s been meant to be played.

Have you pre-ordered games recently? Which ones? For what bonuses? Weigh in in the comments! :)

I’m not sure how many of you have a YouTube account, or have been paying attention to anything that’s been going on over there, but a chain reaction has started that, frankly, I’m finding to be extremely disturbing, and greatly unnerving. First off, let me start with what we know.

For years, the issue [... Read more here]]]>

I’m not sure how many of you have a YouTube account, or have been paying attention to anything that’s been going on over there, but a chain reaction has started that, frankly, I’m finding to be extremely disturbing, and greatly unnerving. First off, let me start with what we know.

For years, the issue of copyright infringement has been a huge issue in the land of the Internet. That would pertain to anything, from written works such as what you’re reading right now, to works of art, videos, and music. If you’re in any kind of school right now, you’ll know first-hand about the issues of copyright, except in most cases, this is limited to papers and works of writing. Students have to cite their sources in Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or whatever other acronym citation type, for their paper, or they are subject to getting a zero on their paper, or worse, being dropped from the class. While I agree that copyright infringement is a serious thing to be considerate about, and that the citation methods needed are a bit over the top, I fear that there is another copyright issue that is coming into play now that, frankly, I find absolutely ridiculous.

In 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was brought into effect, extending the reach of copyright to the Internet as well. And when it comes to the issue of music, and music streaming on the Internet, this has become outrageous. Recently, one of my videos that I uploaded to YouTube from the Race For The Cure in 2008 (video link), had it’s sound muted from playing due to the fact that it had the song Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw playing in it’s background, stating that the song is owned by Warner Music Group (WMG), and that I do not have the proper permission to use the song. When reading further, YouTube shows reasons that are not valid in being able to use this music, and why. I found a few that stand out in a massive way.

• I own the CD / DVD or bought the song online.

Buying a song, CD, DVD, or other piece of media doesn’t give you authorization to post that content on YouTube. The content owner still has the right to choose where it is distributed.

• I gave credit in the description. Isn’t that enough?

No. Giving credit does not give you authorization to upload the content.

• I’m not selling my video or trying to make money.

Whether or not you benefit financially from using the content doesn’t matter. Unless you have permission from the owner, it’s not yours to use.

Let’s look past the laws for a second, and just think about this, because in a realistic point of view, there’s just something wrong with this. First of all, you’ve legally paid for the music, yes, and, I can understand how that isn’t a good enough reason yet. Looking further though, I am not claiming this song as my own in any way, this song is owned by their respective owner, and credit is given in the description. In the case of my video, I specifically put the following into it’s description literally ten months ago, when the audio was still working perfectly fine.

Music: Live Like You Were Dying by Tim McGraw (© CURB RECORDS)

By saying this, I’ve officially let anyone viewing the video, including the owner of the music themselves, that it is their property, and I am only using it to serve as, in this case, background music for a video that fits with this song perfectly, which brings me to the final point. Again, I understand the point of copyright laws, and that it IS their property, they created it, so they should receive money for the use of it outside of their control. But really, in 90% of these videos, especially in ones that you find on YouTube, they are solely there for the purpose of aiding make the video more whole. You are not using it to make a profit, or even any money at all. Branching off from this, I did some research into broadcasting music as well, because I’ve always been extremely interested in the streaming of music, as in a radio. This topic almost becomes very convoluted, and I happen to disagree with much of it, but, I won’t get ahead of myself. There are two main issues when it comes to streaming music through the Internet. First, in many cases, you need a license to be able to do so, and secondly, you need to pay royalties for each song that you play to that music label. On top of this, you must also comply to the DMCA, which when it comes to broadcasting, it downright stupid. The following are a few of the items involved in the DMCA for all online US broadcasters.

• In any three-hour period, you should not intentionally program more than three songs (and not more than two songs in a row) from the same recording; you should not intentionally program more than four songs (and not more than three songs in a row) from the same recording artist or anthology/box set.

• Rebroadcasts of programs can be performed at scheduled times three times in a two-week period (for programs of less than one hour) and four times (for programs of an hour or more).

• Do not publish advance program guides or use other means to pre-announce when particular sound recordings will be played. However, a webcaster may name one or two artists to illustrate the type of music on a particular channel; and, DJ “teaser” announcement using artists’ names are permitted, but only those that do not specify the time a song will be played.

These requirements leave me speechless. I honestly couldn’t even begin to see the justification in these in any way. I shouldn’t say that, because, I can understand how they wouldn’t want a DJ to play the same song multiple times, due to the fact that it would rack up some serious unstable royalty fees towards a certain label, but that still doesn’t explain anything about these. In addition to that, in 2007, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) increased rates for webcasters 300 to 1200 percent. Following this, many popular streaming music services, including AOL Radio, Yahoo! Radio and Pandora, have suffered greatly. Later in 2007, this rate was obviously fought by webcasters across the country, who formed a coalition called Savenetradio.org, and the Internet Radio Equality Act was brought into place. This forced a flat fee instead of a fee based on how many songs the station played. The fee came to either 0.33 cents ($0.0033) per hour of transmission, or 7.5 percent of the revenues brought in by the transmissions for that year. Following up on that information, here are some example rates before and after the rate change, using an example of fifteen songs for one hundred listeners each hour.

Copyright Royalty Board rates
2009: $23652 ($.0018/song * 15 songs/hour * 24 hours/day * 365 days/year * 100 average listeners/hour)

Internet Radio Equality Act rates
$2890.80 ($.0033/hour * 24 hours/day * 365 days/year * 100 average listeners/hour)

As you can see, it’s a massive change in the rates, and one that will save many streaming radio stations to come. For a small broadcaster, this would come to approximately $240.90 per month. Unfortunately, reading up on all of this hasn’t explained to me if this is the full fees that a broadcaster would be paying, or if there are still some hidden fees not included in these that must be paid as well. Either way, it can be a lot for a non-profit webmaster. Stopping and taking a look at the big picture though, I have many arguments towards the handling of internet radio broadcasting.

• The broadcaster paid for the music they are broadcasting, so the record labels already have been paid once to begin with.
• Anyone can make a burned mix CD and, technically, that is legal, so what is the difference with letting your friends hear music over the Internet.
• Technically, you are doing nothing but streaming the music, so you are not sharing the music for download in any way at all.
• By playing an artists music, you are, in the end, doing nothing but promoting them, and listeners will be more swayed to purchasing the song themselves if they like it, but without hearing it in the first place, they’ll never even consider to purchase it at all.
• Many small broadcasters, 100-150 listeners, are completely non-profit, they aren’t making money off of playing someone’s music.

Obviously, my realistic points fall on deaf ears, as, chances are, they wouldn’t fly in a court of law, but, let’s be honest, as a human being, can you not see the point in all of this, in a most obvious way? My fears go a little deeper than just broadcasters though. Moving back to the original thought of music in general, I wonder when this will hit the school-wide level. With copyright infringement becoming such a major issue, I wonder when it is that no one will be allowed to use any works that aren’t theirs period, no matter the circumstance. Basically, standing back and looking at the full issue here, copyrights have become out of control, as humans are greedy, and looking for nothing but money in their lives. I refuse to give in to such rash ideas that our government has provided for us, and will always keep a realistic eye to things like these, because really, there becomes a point where having a heart, mind, soul and common sense just seems to disappear in our world.

Hey, we all bitch sometime now, don’t we? Haha, now it’s my turn.

For those of you who are unaware, I work for Target, that big bullseye corporation conglomerate coo-coo house. Then again, what retail job isn’t filled with some kind of crazy weirdness? Anyways, I am basically the owner of the electronics backroom. [... Read more here]]]>

Hey, we all bitch sometime now, don’t we? Haha, now it’s my turn.

For those of you who are unaware, I work for Target, that big bullseye corporation conglomerate coo-coo house. Then again, what retail job isn’t filled with some kind of crazy weirdness? Anyways, I am basically the owner of the electronics backroom. Fitting, is it not? I make sure everything is located correctly in our backroom so that when something needs to be pulled out to the floor, it’s where it’s supposed to be, and easy to get. I’m the chief organizer of that room. My weekend is Tuesday/Wednesday, since I have school on Monday/Tuesday nights (and it would be a heck of a pain to have to wake up at 2 AM the morning afterwards). I come in this morning to find, well… take a look.

Lots of Crap - Click for Larger Image

I’m obviously kind of ticked off. It pretty much looks like no one did any work in my backroom in the past two days. I’ve got four hours to make things look good. This includes that tub in the front, that cart in the middle, that silver rack on the right side, and boxes upon boxes of books hiding right behind that cart. So what do I do?

No Crap - Click for Larger Image

I get it done. I work too hard, haha.

When it comes to terms used in video games, or to describe them, everyone has a different opinion on what they mean. For those of you that may not have known, I am currently going to college at ITT Technical Institute for Digital Entertainment and Game Design. In a nutshell, it means I want [... Read more here]]]>

When it comes to terms used in video games, or to describe them, everyone has a different opinion on what they mean. For those of you that may not have known, I am currently going to college at ITT Technical Institute for Digital Entertainment and Game Design. In a nutshell, it means I want to become a video game designer. The problem is, what we are being taught, and what we have always thought have been the definition of terms used in the industry, tend to clash with each other greatly. Take the following examples for instance, and tell me what you think of these.

Our latest assignment we were given involved creating an interface design for a fake squad-based tactical game called “Chain of Command“. Of course it isn’t that simple, there are many stipulations to it. You play as the squad leader, giving commands to three other commandos under your control. You are a player in this game, so you still have control over yourself. You play in a third-person viewpoint, and most of the combat is fought in outdoor environments.

The target audience for this game is 18-34 year olds, who are into a casual-gaming experience. Here’s where my first argument came into play. What is the difference between casual and hardcore, if we’re going to get into using these terms? In society, most people who think “casual” when it comes to video games think of people who enjoy playing something like the Nintendo Wii, or being able to pick up a game and play it without having too much trouble. That definition is actually close, looking back, but it’s wrong. When I think of a shooter game at all, though, the last thing I think of is a “casual” audience. Yet, supposedly my teacher tells me that more and more casual game players have been picking up shooter games since September 11th, because it makes them feel like they’re in the action and helping. I don’t believe a word of that, because I haven’t heard one person say that that is the reason why they would play a shooter game, if anything, I’ve heard people be more against shooters since that day. In the end, I was explained that a casual game player is someone who is able to pick up a game, learn the controls quickly, and be able to play for a short amount of time without being tied down by it. Once again, I bring up my point that I don’t agree that any shooter game, especially one with squad tactics, can be considered “casual”, but I was forced to do this assignment with that mindset.

In this game, you need to have the choice of which squad member you want to select, individually, or as a group. You also need to be able to designate a waypoint for your units, and finally, be able to issue an order movement. The three order movements are Check Position, which makes your team approach the target cautiously; Double-Time, which makes your team move to the target in the fastest speed possible; and Patrol, which makes your team follow the series of waypoints that you’ve previously set down. Using all of this, you are to create a button combination that would be best for a casual game player.

Now, just to argue semantics, for fun, I would never have an order in a game called “Double-Time”. Unless you’re making a military-specific hardcore game, where the people who play know exactly what that order means, you will never use an order like that. And the military-specific games have never been huge popular sellers anyways.

The main problem with this is that you can’t just map one button to be exactly one thing. You still need to be able to move your own character properly, and have actions for them, as well as being able to issue commands to your squad, meaning that you will have some buttons that will actually have multiple functions. The line between “casual” and “hardcore” I felt was tread very hard in this aspect, because the way we were taught, we were made to believe that having a player press multiple buttons at once was too much for a simple game to have, yet in this example, we were requiring the player to remember that one button would actually have two different actions depending on the situation that it was used in. Also, I can’t remember the last squad based shooter that I’ve played where you’ve actually been able to just control one or two of your squad mates, without being forced to move them all to the position that you designate.

My issue with all of this is simple. I feel that the curriculum is either old, and doesn’t make sense in today’s modern game-creation norm; or it is just made by someone who makes a book, and doesn’t know anything about the industry itself anymore, nullifying my interest in learning something that doesn’t actually have any hold in the industry now. Yet, our teacher has been in the industry, and claims that most of this is true, and that game companies actually will use such an idea for a game. I argue that greatly, because I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever seen a game use any of these kinds of tactics recently. Unfortunately, I’m just here to learn what they are teaching me, and therefore I need to abide by their rules. Anyways, enough of my rambling. What is your opinion on this assignment, and the terms and wording used?

By the way, here is the control interface that I came up with in the end:

Click for larger image.

The “console wars” have been an interesting, and usually quite stupid thing to watch. For those of you who don’t exactly like video games, know nothing about video games, or just haven’t visited a section of the internet dealing with video games ever, let me catch you up to date real quick. There are [... Read more here]]]>

The “console wars” have been an interesting, and usually quite stupid thing to watch. For those of you who don’t exactly like video games, know nothing about video games, or just haven’t visited a section of the internet dealing with video games ever, let me catch you up to date real quick. There are two video game systems out there that are mainstream and deal with everything from graphical power to high focus gaming. Those two are Sony‘s PlayStation 3, and Microsoft‘s Xbox 360. The Nintendo Wii is also in the “next generation” system of consoles, but they aren’t trying in any way to compete with the PS3 or 360. They lack the graphical power, and care to want to be better, and try to focus more on interactivity and group gaming, of which they succeed in. Unfortunately though, that leaves the other two systems, both vying to show that they are better than the other, to fight for the market and consumers to buy them.

Both systems carry a wide variety of similar features that are standard for this generation of gaming. Both carry an online store in which you can buy and play downloadable games, watch downloadable movies, buy add-ons for games that you’ve purchased and much more. They both have an online system which allows you to have a friend’s list, play online, send messages, etc. Both systems have a hard drive, minus the Xbox 360 Arcade, which can store and play music, photos, and videos. They each can play DVDs, CDs, and other media. Both use wireless controllers, both use headsets, both have typing pads for their controllers, both can have webcams. So, as you can see, the market standard for video games has been upped with this new group. But in the hardware sector, there are some notable differences between the two.

Microsoft's Xbox 360

The Microsoft Xbox 360 comes in three different bundles, each of which comes with multiple games to get your collection started. Each bundle comes with a different sized hard drive, and different accessories included. Which the arcade just comes with a Composite cable and 256 MB worth of external memory, the Xbox 360 Pro, now just the standard Xbox 360, comes with a 60 GB hard drive, a headset, a network cable, and Component cables. Finally, the Xbox 360 Elite comes in the color black, has a 120 GB hard drive, the headset and cables, but also includes an HDMI cable for true high definition output. Software-wise, the 360 comes with the exclusive Dashboard, now upgraded to the NXE, or New Xbox Experience.

On the other hand, the Sony PlayStation 3 comes in two different bundles. The 160 GB PlayStation 3 which comes bundled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and a voucher for Pain, and the 80 GB system which comes standalone. Unlike the 360, the PS3 has a few more special nuggets that comes standard within it. Compared to the 360, the PlayStation 3 has free online through the PlayStation Network, while with the Xbox, you are required to pay $20 for 3 months, or $50 for a year, just to be able to play with your friends online. Also, the wireless controllers for the PS3 come with a built-in rechargeable battery pack, which the 360′s use AA batteries, or, sold separately, a rechargeable battery pack of their own. The PlayStation 3 comes built-in with Wi-Fi, meaning if you have a wireless internet point nearby, you can connect automatically. The Xbox 360 is wired-only, or you can purchase a wireless adapter which will set you back $100 to give you that function as well. Also, the PlayStation 3 has built-in Bluetooth, so if you have any Bluetooth headset, you can use that for your online gaming and chatting; the 360 only allows Microsoft headsets to be used with it. One of the biggest differences, though, is that the PlayStation 3 is also a Blu-Ray player, and all games made for it are put onto Blu-Ray discs, which contain up to four times the space of the DVDs that are used in the Xbox 360.

Out of all of that, the PlayStation 3 is a clear-cut winner, looking at the hardware side of things. But most people tend to look past that and look towards the software side of things, which is an extremely understandable thing to look at. This is what sparks most of the console wars that turn up in discussions. The most talked about issue is that of “exclusives”. The Xbox 360 has notably more exclusives than the PlayStation 3, including such titles as Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and more. The PlayStation 3, on the other hand, carry titles such as LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, and Killzone. A few games, though, have brought up much controversy in the land of gaming due to them being put out multi-platform, which used to be format exclusive games. Final Fantasy was the big shocker as it was announced for the Xbox 360 as well, while there is also a teaser that shows a possibility that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots may also be porting over (source: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/mgst/?ref=kjp_eng). The problem is, most people tend to think that the system with more exclusives, or “better” exclusives, as a matter of opinion, is the better system overall. While Final Fantasy XIII is coming over to the 360 as well, SquareEnix has announced that they are creating the PlayStation 3 version first, and porting the game to the 360 afterwards. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will be worse, hands down, on the 360, it does mean that they are looking to not sacrifice the quality of the game just so that it can be made for both systems.

Sony's PlayStation 3

Another issue that I’ve found with porting games over is the fact that Blu-Ray discs hold at least four times more space on them than the DVDs used for the 360. If they were to port a game such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots over, they’d have to “dumb” the game down, and take out a lot of extra content just to make it fit on a disc to be played on it. While exclusives is a big part of having a good console, in the long run, making a good game isn’t just looking at the system it’s played on. If a game is good, it will be good on it’s own, not just because it’s on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Another issue that turns people to one system or another is it’s user base. The Xbox 360 has been around for longer, therefore meaning there are more people who play online with it. Even though that’s true, the PlayStation 3 online service has been picking up steam with the holidays approaching, and the longer it’s out, the more it sells. Also, being a free service, having built-in Wi-Fi, and including new features such as PlayStation Home into the mix, it creates a more easily accessible and immersive experience for players.

One thing I understand is that people are going to take this as a biased rant of a fanboy for Sony. The fact is, yes, I only own a PlayStation 3, but, I know a good game when I see one. I am currently in college for Multimedia, Digital Entertainment & Game Design, so I look at the quality of a game in general, not the fact that it’s exclusively on the system that I own. I am also a video game journalist, I write about video games, review them, and talk about them all of the time. My honest opinion does boil down to the fact that I believe the PlayStation 3 is better when it comes to a hardware perspective, and a software perspective as well, but I will not be so naive to say that the Xbox 360 does not have good games, is a very well made system, and has a fan base just as large, if not more, than the PlayStation 3 does. Surfing forums of sites that I regularly visit, and seeing threads ranting about how one system is better than the other, though, get to me, because “fanboys” and “fangirls” tend to put their blinders on, and only look at how the system that they own and use is the ultimate video game machine ever made. The fact of the matter is, video games in this day and age… are cool.

It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my [... Read more here]]]>

It’s a sad day in the world of Japanese animation in the United States world. I JUST heard this moments ago, but Cartoon Network has cancelled, after 11.5 years of running, the Toonami block. I don’t know about you all, but a little bit of me just died inside. Toonami was, quite frankly, my childhood, and I grew up watching almost every show on there. Yes, eventually, when Tom, the host, started becoming different, and the shows they provided became more lame, I stopped watching, but I always had a place in my heart for the entire setup.

Tom was voiced, starting with Tom2, by Steven Blum, and stayed in that position to this day. The original Tom, which you see pictured in the banner above, was voiced by the famous Sonny Strait. Both of them were famous for their roles, not only as Tom, but in many other English dubbed animes.

Even as I write this, I am still truly upset. It still bothers me, even though I know it shouldn’t, and this happens with all of these types of things. But Toonami is really what got me onto the path that I’m on right now. There was so much there that kept me interested, like their Total Immersion Events, which started with “The Intruder” in 2000.

I’ve decided to change my desktop picture in memory of this event, and I shall leave you with a picture of the original Tom, convieniently with a somber look to him. You can find much more information on Toonami on their Wikipedia page, or if you’re interested in seeing ancient videos of the original Toonami and beyond, you can visit Toonami Digital Arsenal.