Gamestop Lawsuit

James Collins of California has issued a class action lawsuit against the game retailing giant known as Gamestop. James filed the lawsuit on behalf on himself and others who have been impacted similarly after he had purchased a used copy of Dragon Age:Origins stating that he bought the game after reading the back of the case that indicated a free down-loadable Quest and character. after playing the the game and attempting to input the code for the DLC he found that he had to pay $15 to download the content without the one time use code. He tried to return the game but had already passed the 7-day return time. James is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and corrective advertising/practices on GameStop’s behalf. James is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, and corrective advertising/practices on GameStop’s behalf.

Gun Mistook for Wii Controller. 3 Year Old Kills Self.

March 7, 2010. An ambulance rushes to 3-year-old Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan to the hospital with a .380 caliber bullet wound in her abdomen. Police say that it is speculated that the 3-year-old picked up the gun from the living room table after her father had gotten it out. He had heard some prowlers outside and had taken it out and placed it on the end table in the living room before going to bed. The child’s mother was in the room at the time of the shooting. Tina Ann Cronberger (the mother) told the police that the child might have thought the gun was a gun shaped wii remote.

Dropping a Deu….Bomb

Bungie has dropped “the bomb” and im sure everyone is a little disapointed but, we are all celebrating over the gameplay shown in their latest video. show casing their new modes and new game style im absolutely taken away by what they have done from ODST to reach in terms of graphics. http://www.bungie.net/projects/reach/vidaudio.aspx?c=58

unless you have been under a rock for the past week you should know bungie is done with alpha and is gearing up to start the in-house beta and then the delta, which is what we will be playing come the Open-Beta. after watching the video and seeing some of the newer things to come from Reach i would have to say, my top 5 favorites would be:

5.DMR and Needle Rifle
Why: i love scoped weapons and to find 2 guns that add to my playstyle im all for it
4: The Graphics
Why: with all the newer games trying to look their best, from what ive seen, this game pushes the standards WAY up.
3: Head Hunter
Why: seems like a neat game type.
2: The Maps
Why: Because i love new Maps
1: May 3rd Beta
Why: Because it will be the first time any one besides the few thousand who did the alpha and beta will be able to play the game.

If you have anything to add or want to post your own top 5 just place them below in the comments.

Apple Console

there has been alot of speculation pointed at Apple and what seems to be its inevitable entry into the Video Game market. Still, researches have doubts since Apple already has 3 other “Gaming Devices”, the Iphone, Ipod Touch, and the Ipad. But there has been one researcher that says Steve Jobs and the gang will develop its own standalone console just to have one more thing to compete against Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

“‘I think Apple’s going to be a serious gaming company,” the Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, Michael Pachter said on the latest episode of his show. “The difference between Apple and Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft is, Apple is not known for internal software development. So I don’t think you’re going to get an Apple Games Group like you have Microsoft Games Studios making games – you’re certainly never going to approach the quality of games you get out of Nintendo.’” ~ by Ernice Gilbert

Apple will, most likely, develop their own console. But, will it be able to compete with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo who have their own console out already? give me your opinion in the comments.
Every generation has something in their culture that has changed. With the Greeks it was the induction of written word. With our parents it was the invention of the cell phone or internet. With others its Video Games. All these things have evolved with technology and have changed the needs of the people, effectively changing their culture as well.
With the Greeks it happened across 3 different generations philosophers, Socrates,Plato,and Aristotle. Socrates taught Plato orally, everything that Socrates said couldn’t be questioned unless Plato talked to someone else who was an expert inthat field. Plato wrote down everything he had heard from Socrates and was then able to teach Aristotle both orally and in writing. By the time Aristotle finished learning under Plato he had written down everything as well. Before the Alphabet people could only go on what they heard. Meaning information had to be passed down from generation to generation by “word of mouth” and that usually causes some exaggeration or lost information from one person to the next after it goes through a persons psyche. So the invention of the written word really changed Greek society, allowing information to be written down and passed through the original writers words and providing others were multiple insights in a subject besides those based on what they hear.

With your parents its been the invention and evolution of cell phones and has even stretched to your generation as well. When the idea for it ctivity. The first wave of cell phones were those bricks that weighed like 10 pounds and had to be carried with a battery the size of yours cars. As they continued to evolve, they got smaller and smaller and did more and more. First, they got down to the size of your palm because they were too big. Next, they were turned into cameras because society deemed it needed to be able to take and send pictures. They continue to evolve, along with everything around you, based on the needs of society.came up people had a social need for conneVideo Games started out as a simple hobby on mainframe computers at
universities. As more and more people continued making them the interest ofthe public began to grow and thus the first game, at least that the general population will know, was Pong and was immediately a great hit in arcades, followed up by pac-man and other classic hits. Just as with cellphones, it continued to evolve around what the fan bases wanted, eventually going from the Atari, to the Nes and so on, mainly because the fan based wanted bigger games with better graphics. Between 1900 and 1940 the switch for games from fan based “geekery” to social “hot shot” was a pretty big thing. It allowed games to become mainstream and unlocktheir potential. Nowadays over half the American population enjoys playing games and probably have a console of some sort.

Technology hasn’t always been the one to change a culture. In the 1950’s it was up to the people to actively change the culture and behavior around them. The culture back then was discriminatory towards African Americans. It was difficult for African Americans to get jobs or housing in “white neighborhoods because of this. It would be like if every time you went to get a job they turned you down because of your race or ethnic background. Moving to a white neighborhood or riding on the same bus as a white person was foreign and often despised back then, though we never give two thoughts about how it is today. Only by standing firm and resisting the majority and protesting did they get over the discrimination that was such an issue back then. If not for them then racial discrimination would still be legal to do in America.

Anyway you look at it i believe that culture will always be influenced by the mind set of the people. Whether it be big or small, the decions we make as a society change our culture, even if by the smallest of margins. Whether it be where to eat at or whether to protest a political policy, it will change our culture whether for the better or worse we wont know until we make that decion. Does Technology change our culture? yes. Do people actively change our culture, slowly, everyday? Definitely.Titanic, its the tragic story where most everyone knows the tragic ending of the movie before watching it. As for all of us Halo Fanboys we also know the fate that awaits Reach. the more and more i read the more and more its apparent, bungie is revamping the game, adding to the players, excitement, detail, and the depth of the story.

Revamping of course means new weapons. and as for “How can they add new weapons?” its pretty easy, Bungie has said “during Reach we have both military forces, the Covenant and UNSC – at the height of their powers. They are coming to Reach with everything they have and the assumption is that some of these things never made it off the planet. They were rendered extinct by the end of it. That’s one of the fictional wrappers we’re using.” and, so it is said, so it must be. but i for one am glad to see the addition of new weapons. after dealing with the same weapons game after game, and only seeing one or two new weapons its gotten pretty dull.

Larger gameplay has been hinted at throughought the creatation and, being a fan of anything big, i cant wait. i guess we will have to wait til fall Twenty-Ten.
i dont know if these are legit or just gamer propaganda but, heres a few screenshots of the latest Halo game.With the rising popularity of Modern Warfare 2, im taking a look at what Modern Warfare 2 has put on the table for bungie to try and top. im not going over the campaign since those only provide so much playability, however, Modern Warfare 2 has added a Special Ops gameplay of completing objectives and earning stars wich adds a few hours to gameplay where Halo 3 has nothing like this and Halo:ODST was very limited with Fire Fight. Multi-player wise Modern Warfare 2 adds alot of selection to weapons and load outs when trying to decide to go with an ACR or a M16 while also deciding what perks, kill streaks, death streaks and what your gonna be carrying as a side arm. Bungie has done poorly in this area, providing a very limited selection of weapons and game play altering modes such as Modern Warfare’s 3rd person Team Deathmatch.

Im not saying bungie hasnt had a good run, dont get me wrong ive been with them from the start, but after pumping out so many off-white copys of the same game im starting to get bored and am just hoping that they do something to refresh the Halo legend.

If you have any of your own Company Vs. Company debates, leave a comment and ill look into it.

Until next time, keep your RSS Feeds up to date and stay tuned.
Alright, so I’m sure I’m just like all of you, still playing my Christmas games and even though Ive beaten the story I’m gaming against my friends but in the back of my mind the question begs to be heard,what games will I be playing later this year? Well Ive done some research and so far I have these 10 games that i am most looking forward to for the 2010 year.

First up we have Ninety-Nine Nights II. I have waited for this to come out ever since the first one. I love the feel of the controls, the big gigantic battles and being able to feel like your in a war every fight.

Coming up to bat next is Halo:Reach. Not much has been discussed yet, and i will place info here as it arrives, but being a Halo Advocate im excited to see what will happen.

My Third choice is Brink. from watching a few videos i have gotten a feel for how the game would play. the S.M.A.R.T. movement system, which stands for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, allows easier maneuverability across, over, and under obstacles.

Metal Gear Solid:Rising…..Coming to Xbox 360 later this year and im sure it’s going to more than irritate some Playstation Fan Boys but i am one am over come with joy to steal yet another title out from their grippy little fingers. MGS welcome to the big boys.

At the half-way mark is Fable 3. ive played, and loved, the previous instalments of Albion and just cannot wait to see what features the newest instalment entails.

Seeing as how this is the season of sequels it wouldn’t be right to go without mentioning a sequel of one of the games that shipped with the Xbox 360 at release…im talking of course about Lost Planet, and the new addition Lost Planet 2. Set right back into the frozen wastes and now including some co-op im readily excited to see what becomes of this.

The Action/FPS/RPG Bioshock has awakened a whole slew of games from the FPS RPG genres and is back again to re-inspire itself with added multiplayer with Bioshock 2.

Metro 2033 is an upcoming Action/RPG/Horror game coming out based on a russian Eastern European cult novel Metro 2033 from Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Based in the destroyed subway of an apocalyptic Moscow,Russia. A Horror version of Fall Out 3? maybe. but i for one would like a little blood and gore aside from head shots from an ction RPG and will embrace this game with the same love i embraced Modern Warfare 2 in.

Dark Siders and Dante’s Inferno…..they appear very similar to me and have both tied for 9th and 10th. they both deal with a system very similar to God of War and as such will be on my watch list to see what is said about them.

I will updating this list as I remind myself. Tune in next week when I discover what is really so magical about project Natal.
Lately a few colleges here in Michigan have been making additions to their courses, these additions have influenced a few companies to move into the area including Epicenter Studios and Stardock.

Michigan Technology Industries, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and International Academy of Design & Technology have all add a Game design and/or Game Programming course into their available Courses. This has helped train people for the upcoming or already available jobs here in Michigan which have replaced some of the jobs lost from outsourcing job companies.

It was in Fall 2005 that Michigan State University’s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media got together to open up the Game Design and Development Specialization course.

Michigan University is enter newly into the world of Gaming, opening the doors of their Computer and Information Science Department which has a Game Design including in the under grad courses.

As far as Game Companies go currently their are only a few and most of them deal with flash games but one or two are currently making games for computers and/or Xbox 360 such as Stardock who made the game Sins of a Solar Empire or Epicenter who made the game “Real Heroes:Firefighter.”

I think it is a very good thing for companies to expand into michigan and allow for more games and more Jobs.

Thanks again for reading my 2 cents. ~Jon

Apple Set to Release New Console, Will Rely On 3rd Party Titles

there has been alot of speculation pointed at Apple and what seems to be its inevitable entry into the Video Game market. Still, researches have doubts since Apple already has 3 other “Gaming Devices”, the Iphone, Ipod Touch, and the Ipad. But there has been one researcher that says Steve Jobs and the gang will develop its own standalone console just to have one more thing to compete against Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

“‘I think Apple’s going to be a serious gaming company,” the Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, Michael Pachter said on the latest episode of his show. “The difference between Apple and Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft is, Apple is not known for internal software development. So I don’t think you’re going to get an Apple Games Group like you have Microsoft Games Studios making games – you’re certainly never going to approach the quality of games you get out of Nintendo.’” ~ by Ernice Gilbert

Apple will, most likely, develop their own console. But, will it be able to compete with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo who have their own console out already? give me your opinion in the comments.

Technology And Culture

Every generation has something in their culture that has changed. With the Greeks it was the induction of written word. With our parents it was the invention of the cell phone or internet. With others its Video Games. All these things have evolved with technology and have changed the needs of the people, effectively changing their culture as well.

Aristotle

Socrates

With the Greeks it happened across 3 different generations philosophers, Socrates,Plato,and Aristotle. Socrates taught Plato orally, everything that Socrates said couldn’t be questioned unless Plato talked to someone else who was an expert in

Plato

that field. Plato wrote down everything he had heard from Socrates and was then able to teach Aristotle both orally and in writing. By the time Aristotle finished learning under Plato he had written down everything as well. Before the Alphabet people could only go on what they heard. Meaning information had to be passed down from generation to generation by “word of mouth” and that usually causes some exaggeration or lost information from one person to the next after it goes through a persons psyche. So the invention of the written word really changed Greek society, allowing information to be written down and passed through the original writers words and providing others were multiple insights in a subject besides those based on what they hear.

With your parents its been the invention and evolution of cell phones and has even stretched to your generation as well. When the idea for it came up people had a social need for connectivity. The first wave of cell phones were those bricks that weighed like 10 pounds and had to be carried with a battery the size of yours cars. As they continued to evolve, they got smaller and smaller and did more and more. First, they got down to the size of your palm because they were too big. Next, they were turned into cameras because society deemed it needed to be able to take and send pictures. They continue to evolve, along with everything around you, based on the needs of society.

Video Games started out as a simple hobby on mainframe computers at 
universities. As more and more people continued making them the interest of

MainFrame Computer

the public began to grow and thus the first game, at least that the general population will know, was Pong and was immediately a great hit in arcades, followed up by pac-man and other classic hits. Just as with cellphones, it continued to evolve around what the fan bases wanted, eventually going from the Atari, to the Nes and so on, mainly because the fan based wanted bigger games with better graphics. Between 1900 and 1940 the switch for games from fan based “geekery” to social “hot shot” was a pretty big thing. It allowed games to become mainstream and unlock

An Arcade

their potential. Nowadays over half the American population enjoys playing games and probably have a console of some sort.

Technology hasn’t always been the one to change a culture. In the 1950′s it was up to the people to actively change the culture and behavior around them. The culture back then was discriminatory towards African Americans. It was difficult for African Americans to get jobs or housing in “white neighborhoods because of this. It would be like if every time you went to get a job they turned you down because of your race or ethnic background. Moving to a white neighborhood or riding on the same bus as a white person was foreign and often despised back then, though we never give two thoughts about how it is today. Only by standing firm and resisting the majority and protesting did they get over the discrimination that was such an issue back then. If not for them then racial discrimination would still be legal to do in America.

Anyway you look at it i believe that culture will always be influenced by the mind set of the people. Whether it be big or small, the decions we make as a society change our culture, even if by the smallest of margins. Whether it be where to eat at or whether to protest a political policy, it will change our culture whether for the better or worse we wont know until we make that decion. Does Technology change our culture? yes. Do people actively change our culture, slowly, everyday? Definitely.

Bungie: Halo:Reach “Like Titanic”

Titanic, its the tragic story where most everyone knows the tragic ending of the movie before watching it. As for all of us Halo Fanboys we also know the fate that awaits Reach. the more and more i read the more and more its apparent, bungie is revamping the game, adding to the players, excitement, detail, and the depth of the story.

Revamping of course means new weapons. and as for “How can they add new weapons?” its pretty easy, Bungie has said “during Reach we have both military forces, the Covenant and UNSC – at the height of their powers. They are coming to Reach with everything they have and the assumption is that some of these things never made it off the planet. They were rendered extinct by the end of it. That’s one of the fictional wrappers we’re using.” and, so it is said, so it must be. but i for one am glad to see the addition of new weapons. after dealing with the same weapons game after game, and only seeing one or two new weapons its gotten pretty dull.

Larger gameplay has been hinted at throughought the creatation and, being a fan of anything big, i cant wait. i guess we will have to wait til fall Twenty-Ten.

Halo:Reach In-game Screenshots

i dont know if these are legit or just gamer propaganda but, heres a few screenshots of the latest Halo game.   http://www.allgamesbeta.info/2010/01/halo-reach_19.html

Bungie Vs. Infinity Ward

With the rising popularity of Modern Warfare 2, im taking a look at what Modern Warfare 2 has put on the table for bungie to try and top. im not going over the campaign since those only provide so much playability, however, Modern Warfare 2 has added a Special Ops gameplay of completing objectives and earning stars wich adds a few hours to gameplay where Halo 3 has nothing like this and Halo:ODST was very limited with Fire Fight. Multi-player wise Modern Warfare 2 adds alot of selection to weapons and load outs when trying to decide to go with an ACR or a M16 while also deciding what perks, kill streaks, death streaks and what your gonna be carrying as a side arm. Bungie has done poorly in this area, providing a very limited selection of weapons and game play altering modes such as Modern Warfare’s 3rd person Team Deathmatch.

Im not saying bungie hasnt had a good run, dont get me wrong ive been with them from the start, but after pumping out so many off-white copys of the same game im starting to get bored and am just hoping that they do something to refresh the Halo legend.

If you have any of your own Company Vs. Company debates, leave a comment and ill look into it.

Until next time, keep your RSS Feeds up to date and stay tuned.

Top 10 Anticipated Games of 2010.

Alright, so I’m sure I’m just like all of you, still playing my Christmas games and even though Ive beaten the story I’m gaming against my friends but in the back of my mind the question begs to be heard,what games will I be playing later this year? Well Ive done some research and so far I have these 10 games that i am most looking forward to for the 2010 year.

First up we have Ninety-Nine Nights II. I have waited for this to come out ever since the first one. I love the feel of the controls, the big gigantic battles and being able to feel like your in a war every fight.

Coming up to bat next is Halo:Reach. Not much has been discussed yet, and i will place info here as it arrives, but being a Halo Advocate im excited to see what will happen.

My Third choice is Brink. from watching a few videos i have gotten a feel for how the game would play. the S.M.A.R.T. movement system, which stands for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, allows easier maneuverability across, over, and under obstacles.

Metal Gear Solid:Rising…..Coming to Xbox 360 later this year and im sure it’s going to more than irritate some Playstation Fan Boys but i am one am over come with joy to steal yet another title out from their grippy little fingers. MGS welcome to the big boys.

At the half-way mark is Fable 3. ive played, and loved,  the previous instalments of Albion and just cannot wait to see what features the newest instalment entails.

Seeing as how this is the season of sequels it wouldn’t be right to go without mentioning a sequel of one of the games that shipped with the Xbox 360 at release…im talking of course about Lost Planet, and the new addition Lost Planet 2. Set right back into the frozen wastes and now including some co-op im readily excited to see what becomes of this.

The Action/FPS/RPG Bioshock has awakened a whole slew of games from the FPS RPG genres and is back again to re-inspire itself with added multiplayer with Bioshock 2.

Metro 2033 is an upcoming Action/RPG/Horror game coming out based on a russian Eastern European cult novel Metro 2033 from Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. Based in the destroyed subway of an apocalyptic Moscow,Russia. A Horror version of Fall Out 3? maybe. but i for one would like a little blood and gore aside from head shots from an ction RPG and will embrace this game with the same love i embraced Modern Warfare 2 in.

Dark Siders and Dante’s Inferno…..they appear very similar to me and have both tied for 9th and 10th. they both deal with a system very similar to God of War and as such will be on my watch list to see what is said about them.

I will updating this list as I remind myself. Tune in next week when I discover what is really so magical about project Natal.