Star Wars: Battlefront 2

Woot. Another Star Wars game. This ones unlike the last. Battlefront is more of a shooter. A little different than Halo or Call of Duty.

      This Star Wars doesn't have much of a story. More just getting to play in the game the same you would multiplayer or just skirmishes. Basically you pick a role. There are different kinds. You could be a Blaster which is like the grunts up in the front. A sniper; stay back and hang low. Demolition; blow stuff up. And other types. But the point is to either destroy all your opponents enemies OR capture all their bases. It's an all out war from there. You can use different vehicles to blow them up or try to use it as a shield as you capture their base. If you die don't worry, you respawn at one of your captured bases and that plays a key role in winning the matches. While your dead you can choose a different person to be too. Eventually you may have the opputunity to play as one of the heros. I like Darth Maul. But the fun in this game is that even though the action is quick, you still need strategy to win it or else if is just a stalemate most of the match. Its not like it is the most interesting game in the world or the most challenging, but it does offer you some quick fun without having to complete missions or anything. That is why I love it so much. That and because its Star Wars.

   

Kingdom Hearts the series

So this is one of my all time favorite games ever. Kingdom Hearts. Probably Disney's best selling game to date.

          The main story is of a boy living on an island with his friends and seemingly no adults. One day these shadow beasts start appearing and Sora (the main character) uses a wooden stick to fight them off. Well that does nothing but at one point his stick turns into a giant key. This you later learn is a key blade and can open up portals to different worlds. Sora is then thrown around in space and lands on a different planet than his own. Who should be meet there? None other than Donald and Goofy. From then on out your mission is clear. Rescue and save your friends, and save the different worlds of Disney from destruction.

         Seems pretty dumb or childish right? NO! This game has such a emotional story line and ties it in with Disney. From Atlantis to the Beast's Castle, all the way to the 100 acre woods, and even back in time to King Mickey's first show. You get to travel through these Disney characters home lands and help them defeat the evil that is trying to take over. All the while looking for clue on how to save your friends. This isn't like your typically happy friendly Disney either. It's a twisted universe of what Disney is. Mickey is a badass who can basically beat the crap out of anyone. It's awesome to be able to fight along side your favorite characters. Its sort of like reliving your childhood in an adult way.

       They have two main games in the series. Most agree Kingdom Hearts 2 is better than one. It is just easier to use and the enemies aren't as hard to kill. I like the second one better just for its story really. The games are fun and challenging. The story is funny and emotional. What really gets me is that I love Disney and here I am fighting enemies with the greatest Disney characters around. Its an awesome experience and everyone should try it out. Might seem somewhat dumb at first but it draws you in and you'll want to keep playing.

Resistance

  

          No one knows why they are here or where they came from but one thing is clear; they do not want us around. Based in eastern Europe (mostly England) right before WWII, the story is that of aliens showing up out of no where and attacking all of Asia and Europe. Over a couple of years the humans have basically been wiped out except for pockets of them hiding. Just as in WWII the Americans decide to step in and thats where you come in.
 
                                                                    Pros

• The game is simple  to learn and easy to beat. Took me and my roommate less then 4 hours total to beat. 
• The story throws in there and you become connected with the main character. 
• Its fun to play with your friends in co-op because some of the levels require a lot of thinking to make it through

                                                                   Cons

• A little too easy if you ask me.
• Repetitive and simple
• You've probably played like 100s of other games just like it
• The shortness of simplicity of it made it lack in what made other games like Halo a big hit. 

Over all it was an easy game. Fun to play just the shortness of it made it something I'll put on my shelf and forget about. The good news is there is a second game and a third one coming out soon. The second one is supposed to kick ass so odds are I'll check that out soon and get back to you on that one. I'd give this game a 7/10

      

Star Wars: Forced Unleashed review

I LOVE STAR WARS! YEAH.

THE STORY:
      Anyway, Forced Unleashed is an awesome twist on the the star wars games. It takes place between episodes 3 and 4 in the movie series. Darth Vader and the emperor are taking over and the rebel army has yet to be made. You start off as Vader and you are on the planet of the wookies (whatever its called) hunter down one of the last jedi. You find him and and kill him but come into contact with his son. You sense the power coming from him so you decide to take him as an apprentice without the knowledge of the emperor. Fast forward many years and your roughly somewhere in your twenties and have taken on Vaders job of hunting down the rest of the jedi. Through most the story you remain Vader's slave and do his biding even after he nearly kills you.  At some point Vader instructs you to leave and start the rebel alliance to draw out the remaining forces and kill them. Of course when you do you start to view the darkside as bad and slowing turn good. In the end it is still however your choice to be good or bad though.
 
     Whats fun about this game is that it doesn't have to follow the well known story of star wars already. Its still true to the themes but has its own unique story in which you'll be drawn to keep playing. The controls are easy quick to learn and there are lots of unique force powers you can use such as force push, force lighting, blast wave and many others. You'll travel the universe and see many different planets. You'll fight in forests, on space ships and in junk yards. You will also get an opportunity to fight many different monsters and bosses. What makes this game even more fun is that the environment is destructible. Charging up my force push and using it on a group of peeps and having it destory trees, rocks, structures, is awesome. This is by far one of the best and interesting star wars games out there.

My Brother

     I don't remember much of my oldest brother Andrew living at home. He's 12 years older then me so he was in college before not long after I can remember. He was always my favorite brother, probably because I did not have to deal with him that much, but since coming to VCU I've gotten closer to him and his family. Andrew, Jonelle and their daughter, my niece, Reagan live in Charlottesville, Va which is only about 45min. from here. I really enjoy going there. It's kind of in the mountains/farmland area and its almost like a different world there from here. I can actually see the stars. All of them. Last time I was there I saw 2 shooting stars and I could see the milky way. Sure its kind of creepy up there at night, but I love it all. Except the ridiculous amount of stink bugs there.
     But Andrew has always been sort of a role model for me. He doesn't make a lot of money but he still seems happy. He does what he wants up there basically and has lots of friends. He has been places and experience things I've wanted to and did it without the need for a ton of money.
      Also last time I was there we made a big old fire and just sat outside for hours and talked. It was awesome. I just love it there. I feel stress free when Im there and with them

In Defense of the Rainforest

           Everyones probably tired of hearing it, but seriously, people need to stop with the cutting down of rainforest and trees in general. I mean its basically one of the most important parts of life here on Earth. The trees make oxygen here and last i checked we need that to live. So knowing that we need trees to live, companies continue to chop them down like its no big deal. And suuuure you can plant a tree to make up for the fact but that'll take what, like 30 years to get big enough. 

          Now I understand that people need places to live and expansion is inevitable but still, something needs to be done. Which is another point I believe. People are our own worst enemies. Over population will kill us, add in pollution and war and we are just a ticking time bomb. Back to the point though. We need to stop this mass chopping down of rainforest. Not only does it destroy the trees but also the animal and wildlife there. We are just killing thousands of trees and who knows how many animals. 

        I've already start planting my own little pine tree in my dorm. Started out from a seed. Everyone should try it. Plant some sort of plant and let it grow. Help out the earth here

Heavy Rain

        Another game because games are what I know so I actually like writing about them. This may contain spoilers. Not a lot but because I haven't played it in a couple of months I don't remember the order of events. Don't worry I won't give away the ending.

       Heavy Rain isn't like your typical game. Theres not much action. No gun shooting or face bashing. What it lacks in fast-paced action it makes up for in quick thinking and lots of suspense. It will test your own morals as a person also. The actions you choose could get your character killed off. I guess I would describe the game as a mystery game where you have to solve a mystery from the point of view of 4 different characters.
      The story in the beginning shows a happy family. Mom, dad and two sons. They are all well off and seem happy. From the beginning you play as the main character, the dad. In the first setting you are in your house. Everyone is gone and you are just waking up. As soon as your awake you take control of your character. You'll soon find that there is no run feature (unless the story calls for running), and simple actions such as opening your door or cabinet don't just require the quick push of the X button. You actually have to move the joystick in the fashion you would open the door. You have to rotate the joystick to turn on the shower. The game is not meant to be fast, but rather slow to let you pick up on all the details.
    So back to the story, basically one of the sons gets killed in the beginning and your family falls about and you start to care less and less about yourself. As this is all going on the Origami Killer in on the loose kidnapping children and killing them it seems. Well of course your only other child gets kidnapped and since you already lost one child you are determined to save this one. Thus begins the crazy stuff you would have to do to get him back. And that my friends is the moral of the story. DON'T TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OR YOUR OWN LIFE FOR GRANTED. Anyway at this point you've probably met the other characters. The mysterious private detective looking for the killer. The drug addict super FBI guy with some weird special glasses. And the sexy reporter trying to make a good story. You play as all these people and try to solve the mystery through there eyes.
       But its not all just looking for clues. There is some action to do. For instance the killer tells the day that he must drive in the rain on the opposite side of traffic for like a minute while going like over 50mph. This requires fast controlling and quick reflexes. There is also when the killer puts you in the room and requires that you cut off one of your fingers on video for him. There are multiple tools on the room to use. Knife, Saw, Fire. All sorts of crap. Theres also when you are forced to kill someone else too.
        Now I say forced to, but you actually don't have to. You can just give up on the first task if you wanted too. At any point in the game you can choose, as the dad, not to save your son. But thats the fun of the game. To see how far you would go. What would you do to save your son?

"Hey"
"Hey"
"So here we are again"
"Yep"
*sigh* "So why did you call me here?"
"I...I don't really know. I just wanted to see you"
"Oh.....well why did you want to see me now? We see each other every day in school"
"Do I need a reason to see you?"
"No..I guess not. It's just things have been different and weird lately"
"Oh how so?"
"Well you know-"
"No I don't know. Please explain"
"There's no need to get testy"
"Sorry"
"Anyway.. Its just lately I think we've both been feeling weird towards eachother"
" I guess...I guess I kind of...kind of like you"
"Yeah and I kind of like you"
"Thats why I brought you here really. To tell you how I felt"
"I'm glad you did. I think maybe things can move forward now that it's out in the open"
"Move forward like how?"
"I dont no. Like things won't be so awkward and maybe...maybe we can be 'together'"
"Yeah I'd like that. A lot"
"Good"
*kiss*

Demon's Soul's

So this is my review blog about a game that I've fallen in love with, so if you don't care for video games then get out. Naw you can stay.

    The game is called Demon's Souls. Its a somewhat new game made for the PS3. The story is that some creepy ass fog has invaded this kingdom (and apparently other areas) and with it, a bunch of ugly, dumb, horrible demons. Your job is, of course, to be the hero and come out of no where and destroy all these Demon's Souls. I am sure simple and cliché come to mind when you think of this right? WRONG! This has to be on of the most difficult games made. Especially if you beat it once and play through again. Even the game developers say your supposed to die. Here is a list I've compiled of why its so hard.


                                                        Why Demon's Souls will Kick Your Ass 

• The form of currency in this game is souls. Whatever you kill  you get souls. Big demons, little demons, all kinds of demons drop souls. It's what you use to buy items, upgrade, and level up. Well that all good and dandy but when you get killed in the game (which will happen 100s of times) you lose your souls. All of them. Hope is not lost though. You can run back to where you died and pick up the souls and you get them all back. Unless of course you die again on the way back to get your souls, then they are gone forever. Goodbye 60,000 souls.
• Assuming you are fighting monsters roughly your level it really only takes 3-4 hits for a monster to kill you.
• Numerous pitfalls and traps that always kill you in one hit.
• The weapons and armor require a hefty amount of skill to use
• Boss fights, while can be glitched and taken advantage of, are extremely difficult and long
• As if the demons themselves weren't bad enough, there is the possibility of an actual player invading your world and killing you for no reason.
• Probably some other crap I can't remember

Yeah looks tough. Why even try it. Well as I said before, you are meant to die in this game. Multiple times. But what you get from this game isn't one that is forgiving or just gives you a slap on the wrist for dying. Oh no no no. Demon's Souls will test your ability as a gamer to make tough decisions and think before you act. No longer can you run in there as the bad ass, huge sword wielding, mother fucker that you are. You actually have to hide behind your shield and calculate if its actually a good idea to go that way. 

     So if you love difficult, long video games (and you actually have a PS3), then Demon's Soul's is the perfect game for you. 

Hell yes you have to fight that shit. 

RAWR!

So I'm having extreme writers block as to what to write a blog about. So how about for this blog if you want you guys give me some ideas of what to do for next weeks blog. Ready! Set! GO!

LORD OF THE RINGS!!

Sorry for the obnoxious title. I like that movie. So I pick the speech Sam gave Frodo in the second movie.


Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. 
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam? 
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.
(source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/quotes)


    This speech was awesome. Hands down. It does what you would want a speech to do. To relate to you. To inspire you and wined you up. Touches you and almost gives you chill on how right it is. As you hear it you feel like its true. Everyday will get brighter and even when things are going terrible it will all pass and a new day will start. Especially if you have something worth fighting for you will push forward and make it through. And we should all have something worth fighting for.

Happy Days

June. I constantly find myself staring
at one picture in particular out of many.
Here in the heat of the day
two young people stand next to the bushes,
freshly cut grass, and the smiles of people walking around them.

As the giant castle glimmers behind them,
fireworks go off just as the picture is taken.
Its a magical place. Her smile says it all. As does mine
Its all we ever wanted.

The smiles told the world
we were ready for anything. We would make it through.
We had each other and thats all we ever wanted
What more could we have ever asked for?


The story is that me and my girl friend got our money together and spent 4 days in the happiest place on earth, Disney World. Visited every park and did just about everything. I love that place. ButI couldn't find the exact picture of the scene but here are some others everyone can enjoy.

DISNEY WOOORLD!! YEAH!!

Cute, I know

The Tree of Life

Tech World

Well I am typically a technology enthusiast so going a day without technology was pretty hard. Not as hard as I thought it would but still hard. I chose to go a day without my ipod. Although my first generation ipod touch has a cracked screen, no sound, no music, and not even a working head phone jack, I still use it daily. Mostly for the pages and pages of apps, specifically games, I have on it. When I’m bored I usually just whip out my ipod and play one of the various games I have on it. I figured it was a good choice because I use it enough to be addicted but not enough that I’d freak out without it. 

I’ve never understood why people give technology a tough time. Well maybe not a tough time but schools try to limit the use of technology in it and people complain that it’s making people lazy. Well I’m not going to argue that it makes people lazy because I know I’m lazy. I can literally sit in my bed and turn on my TV with the remote then take my PS3 controller and turn that on, cycle through different options I want to do, and when I’m done, turn off the system and watch TV, all without leaving my bed. But I don’t see this as a bad thing. I don’t see why they do not teach a class in school that requires you to learn to type or just no the basics of power point or any type of computer program. The times are changing and they are still trying to stress the importance of being able to write out a math problem when you can simply put it into your calculator. Sure it’s good thing to know but odds are your going to use the calculator anyway so why make more work. The times have changed. It is a technology world out there and we should be taking advantage of what we have, not restricting it. We should be teaching children how to use this technology instead of wasting there time on old ways. It really doesn’t make sense to me as to why in a world of increasing technology do we hold on to old traditions instead of making use of what we have giving us a huge advantage to discover greater things than previous generations.

Well that was my little rant about that. Back to the assignment. At the end of the day I felt good. Not because I went without my ipod for a day but because I knew I could now. I don't think people should solely rely on technology to do everything for them but they should use it when they need to or if it is of advantage to them.

My Best Friend Eric

            I've had a lot of friends. Many good friends. But I've only had a few best friends. I met my first best friend when he had just move into my neighborhood. I was 6 and he was 4. He was short and kind of chubby, African american, and very talkative. It seemed so long ago that I  don't even remember how we met. I think we may have just seen each other across the street and we both knew we wanted to meet one another so it just happened. We stayed best friends until he moved when he was in the fourth grade. We've still managed to keep in touch but he and I are so different now that its very weird.
            My next best friend, Eric, came around in the 7th grade. We had had some mutual friends and had seen each other in the halls a lot. I remember he liked some of the bracelets I used to wear and used to pay me a quarter a week to wear some. The friendship blossomed from there. Over the next 4 years we became closer and closer. His girlfriend became my almost best friend too. Almost everyday we all hung out and had fun. They were the best friends I ever had and I loved them unconditionally. Then events happened which involved my parents finding out about something and thus resulting in me not being able to see them for a long time. Things kind of fell apart after that. I felt left out of the group. Eric and his girlfriend broke up making things weirder. Though they stayed friends I knew things would be different.
             Took about two more years before I was able to see them again and things had indeed changed. Emma, his girlfriend, had moved on from him and I could barely keep up with who she was anymore. And Eric was different too. Not so much in personality or looks but just in how we acted around each other. He kept trying to make things like they used to but they couldn't be. I knew it but he wanted things to be like they used to. It became some awkward for me that I avoided hanging out with him. I avoided it all summer before I came to college. People told me he was sad about that. And I was sad that it happened too. It was only recently that I told him the truth about how I felt. Recently being like two days ago. He said he understood and he appreciated me apologizing for the way I acted. It felt good to be able to patch things up somewhat and I'm glad I did it. So things are looking up for our friendship and that makes me very very happy.

Why Am I Here?

                  Why am I here? I don't really know. Well I do know why but I don't know why I'm doing it. College was always one of those things I had to do. It wasn't because someone told me I had too. Everyone wanted me to though. Society, parents, teachers, friends and even myself. Through out my life college has always been the norm. It wasn't something that I had a choice, everyone just assumed that I was going to go to college. Which was fine because I did want to go. I wanted to improve my own life and skills. I am here because I wanted to be here.
                 As far as why I wanted to be here, I guess if you had to classify me into one of Ken Steele's categories than I guess I would say somewhere between careerist and scholar. My goal for college and why I picked the major I did was for the career opportunities. It was so I could get a good job and a high paying one at that. But its not only to make money and have a good job. Its bigger than that. I want my life and my families life to be easy and for them to have good lives. In this world money rules it all so right now I want to make the money for my future life.
                Now I've heard many different of how you should pick your career. You can follow your dreams or do whatever makes you the most money or pick a job you could stand doing for a long time something fun. Well I personally right now am doing what makes me the most money. Don't get me wrong, I love technology and computer so computer engineering is not something I'll probably hate. But to me right now this second (because this could all change), I would love to do something with animals. Animals always fascinated me. I love going to the zoo and all the local animal safari things. But most animal career choices are not that high paying. At least the ones I would like to do. Its become one of those situations to me that maybe I'm making the wrong choice as far as career choice is concerned but I don't know yet. I'm still deciding and hopefully college will help me with that. And that is why I am here.

The Beauty Surrounds Us

        I don't like the city and I don't like the country. I'm ok with the suburbs but that is not where I picture myself the most. I have always seen myself in the woods. Ideally that is where I am most at home. Something about nature and the wilderness draws to me. The simplicity of it but also the deep complexity. There are no laws in the wild. There are no classes. No hierarchy. No drama. All one has are their basic needs and instincts.

       Sure, it's not completely plausible to give up everything you've known and go out and live like a wolf. But simple needs are easily met without having millions of dollars. I mean lets be honest here, what are you going to do with a two million dollar house with 30 rooms? Who really needs that? Call me crazy but I would love to just live in a cabin out in the woods. Nothing fancy just simple. To live among the trees and animals would be my dream. As I stated before, I am not about to start wearing animal skin around and pretend I'm one of them. That would be crazy. And I'm not crazy (I don't think).

Could you imagine?

No no. I am more aiming for a simpler life style. One where money and celebrities and politics don't rule everything.

       This is all some fantasy of mine that I guess would never happen. But I like to think about it. It puts me at ease when things are tough. To me there is nothing more beautiful then just sitting quietly in the forest and watching everything unfold. The leaves fall, the birds chirping, water running, whatever it may be it is all so simple yet part of something so vast; so complex that we may never understand it's meaning.

             Now I'm not going to preach to everyone to "save the rainforest", I mean of course we should but I also do understand, especially in this day and age, that development is inevitable and trees will fall. But people should realize that this is our world and we only have one. Once its gone its gone for good. Animals, trees, and nature as a whole all share this planet with us and we must respect that or else we will be all thats left. Though we presume that we are the best of all the species of animals and that they lack a better understanding of certain things, none the less, we are all animals in nature. So I just ask of everyone to take the time to look around when you are camping or hiking or just walking through a park, look around at everything that surrounds you and do not take it for granted.

The Bucket List

x

 

Well lets see. 30 things that I would want to do before I die.

1. Make a really awesome tree house.
2. Travel to Africa or Australia.
3. I'd like to get some form of college degree.
4. Eventually have a family. Hopefully with at least one boy.
5. Become rich enough that I can support my family and live nicely enough. Also enough money to accomplish all of this on my list.
6. Take my family to Disney World because it's the best place on earth and I love going there.
7. Own a scorpion. One of my favorite creatures.
8. Own a Chameleon who I would name George.
9. At some point in my life, young or old, have a really long beard. I think it would be very interesting and odd.
10. Build my own computer.
11. Not become fat.
12. Attend a really nerdy Star Wars convention. (Yes I am a nerd).
13. Climb an actual mountain. Nothing extraordinary. Just something somewhat challenging.
14. Survive in the forest for a week or so with nothing ( yes just like Survivorman). 
15. Go on an African safari and experience the wildlife.
16. Be able to conquer my fear of airplanes in addition to heights.
17. Become an amateur star gazer. With a pretty decent sized telescope.
18. Dig up and discover a fossil of some sort.
19. Visit the worlds largest and coolest zoo.
20. Also worlds largest and coolest aquarium.
21. Rescue an animal.
22. Practice Buddhism.
23. Become good at photography.
24. Learn a little more about my Native blood.
25. Discover the beauty in the world.
26. Be able to tell all the friends I left behind I am sorry.
27. To know that I made a difference in at least someones life.
28. Forgive and forget
29. Die happy
30. And of course be able to own or at least hold my favorite animal ever the three toed sloth.

So cute right?

http://thedailydrivelnews.blogspot.com/2010/06/lifestyles-section.html