A Little Sad

Its a little sad to read about how some gamers out there actually believe pirating games is the right thing to do. What is the logic? Because these big game companies are fucking them over by "screwing up" the game they apparently love.

The game in question? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

There have been articles on various game news sites about how Modern Warfare 2 has the highest piracy amongst games. And there are people out there actually defending this because and as I mentioned before, Infinity Ward/ Activision screwed PC gamers by not giving them what they wanted.

I mean really? So because a game doesn't have what you wanted, the answer is to go and steal the game and try to ruin the company? What is this world coming to? So maybe if I wanted a new Honda Civic because of a set of particular features in an older model and the newest model no long have them, I suppose that gives me the right to go steal a car to fuck with their profit?

Yikes...

This thing just bugs me just a little bit with how irritatingly stupid it all is. If the game developers "screwed" you so bad, why even bother buying the game? Don't buy it at all! Is that so very hard to do? Let me share that method just one more time: Don't touch it, don't rent it, don't buy it, don't even play it! DO-NOT-SUPPORT-IT! That will send a HUGE message to the developer, no doubt about that at all!

All of this reminds me of a story my girlfriend shared with me from her workplace. She works in an electronics department and within the department, there are various vendors (ex: Song, Bose, etc) and one of the guys that works in one of these areas had a book of DVDs. He uses these to play to help demonstrate the products he is trying to sell.

Now with it being the holiday season, the store was obviously a little busy. As this guy's area beings to get crowded, he leaves the book of DVDs on the counter as he is helping other customers and forgets about it for a while.

Fast forward about an hour later and he realizes that the book is gone! Where could it have gone? Well he goes to security and they play back the video. A kid had taken the book from the counter and, as luck would have it, security was suspicious of this kid and stopped him. They bring the kid (and his father) back and question him as to why he took the book.

The answer? Dig this, this answer came from the father, a military man of all people:

"Well it shouldn't have been on the counter in the first place! You leave that stuff out and its fair game!"

So rather then going after his kid for stealing, he is actually defending him instead?! Granted it was sitting out in the open, but that does not give anyone the right to just take it either! Or in today's world, I guess it means you can...

Does This Change Everything?

As I sat here and wandered about the internet as I tend to do, I came across an article of interest. It pertained to Final Fantasy XIII, which I never really shy away from sharing my long rooted love affair for the series. However, after having read this article over at Kotaku, I think it is safe to say that I end up wondering just what kind of "game" Final Fantasy XIII will truly be.

One thing that caught my eye was the fact that there were no more towns in the game. Surely that does speed everything up some and it will certainly be a change of pace, considering how towns have always been a staple of any RPG.

I like the idea of shopping from save points though. That means if you've managed to forget (or have used up) your supplies, you could purchase more in the field rather then having to exit the whole place and backtrack.

The battle system sounded interesting, but it just rattled my brain trying to read it out and make sense of the whole thing. But like the Gambit system in FFXII, I'm sure this is nothing that a little hands on time won't remedy.

Now the one aspect that has me curious and a little worried is the last part of the article. So you spend a lot more time in cut scenes? Does this mean it'll be more like a movie with little pockets of interaction here and there? I don't think I really like the sound of that, no. But I suppose I will just continue to wait and come March, will find out first hand just what is truly up with this game. And to answer the question posed in the title of this writing: Does this change everything? The easy answer remains to be... no. I haven't bailed out and abandoned the ship. Not yet anyway and that will be that until the release of the game next year.

However, it does raise up some red flags in my mind after having read through the article. What has become of Final Fantasy? Has it finally lost everything that made it so great? Cut scenes are good, but I enjoy playing a game and not watching it. While I will stick to what I had just said previously; I still anticpate the release of this game here in the States, but reading this article has opened my eyes and raised a great deal of questions.

Worried I am...

Sherlock Holmes

It was a true work of art yesterday, to be able to watch a movie on X-Mas Day with so much family just beating down our doors to have us over to spend this joyous day together (note sarcasm). Regardless, yesterday we (girlfriend and myself) decided to brave the outside world and had actually hoped to watch Sherlock Holmes in a relatively empty theater.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Who'da thunk that many people would be out on Christmas day?! Hell I guess you could call us old fashioned because Dole Cannery was PACKED! It seemed a great deal of people were heading off to see Avatar, which had us both wondering just how good that one really is. But that will be saved for another day; we were there to see us some crime solvin'!

And Sherlock Holmes did not disappoint and it was entirely not how I expected it to be. It was actually a lot better in my book. I read a critic's review of this movie and said this was "designed for the ADD crowd." Huh. I guess I must have ADD for enjoying this one...

It is fast paced and it hardly does slow down to a crawl, as the way some movies of this type tend to do *coughAngels&Demonscough*. I would personally rather watch a movie like Sherlock Holmes over well... Angels & Demons.

I think a large part of the appeal here is Robert Downey Jr., as well as Jude Law and their portrayals of their characters. They are absolutely awesome together! Seriously, is there really a pairing that involves Robert Downey Jr. that isn't/hasn't been good? Man that guy is on a roll...

And I can't forget about Rachel McAdams, who very much holds her own amongst the infamous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

One last little note and it is about the movie's main villain played by Mark Strong. I like this guy! He plays a very convincing villain. Very natural, very... arrogant? I don't know how to explain it right, but he just works so well. Perhaps he has a naturally sinister look? Anyway I thought he was better here then he was in Stardust. And he was pretty good there, too.

Overall, I felt it was worth sitting in a packed theater that smelt of sour popcorn butter. And like with all movies nowadays, there looks to be a sequel in the horizon for this as well. Speaking of Robert Downey Jr. and sequels, Iron Man 2 looks awesome!

Brittany Murphy

So I sat down tonight and was browsing about the internet when a story of particular interest caught my eye. An actress has passed away? Intrigue overtook my interests and I clicked the link to see what has happened today. What I read surprised me as it was someone I wouldn't even have thought would be gone.

Brittany Murphy, known for movies such as Sin City and 8 Mile, died today at the age of 32.

It is sad in a way, to hear about yet another famous person dead and gone and at such a young age. I have read some articles that say she had a drug problem, which it is unfortunate that she had not sought help to control. Death, it would seem, was the price of such oversight.

Rest in peace...

The Blight is Over! For now...

One thing I forgot to write about yesterday was that I also finished off Dragon Age: Origins recently as well. I played it like Fable 2 in that I kept to the path of good or kept to it as closely as I thought I could. Alistair was none too pleased that I allowed Arl Eamon's wife to sacrifice herself and Morrigan wasn't too pleased that I left her ass for Leliana. But overall, I thought I did the best I could to lead a path of righteousness.

My only real regret was allowing that old guy that was searching for the ashes of Andraste to live. I felt like the location of her ashes were kept secret to prevent the world from exploiting it and there this fame hungry fool goes to spill the beans to the world.

It isn't really a problem though, because I have an asshole of an Elf that will remedy my previously good ways. I've already lied, murdered and been a jerk to man, woman and child. What? I believe in equality...

I'm Baaack..!

I've been quiet so far this month just because of the fact that, well... I've just not had all that much to write about lately. I can't say that that part has changed much, but here I am anyway just because of the fact that there have been some disturbances in the force...! And by that I mean the announcement for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

What I am most curious about now is what will be different this time around. I've read that the character portrayed in the trailer was Starkiller, whom it was to be believed had died at the end of the original Force Unleashed game. Oops, spoiler?

But let's just say he survived the encounter. What happened to him during the events of the final three Star Wars movies? And if had turned away from the Dark Side, does that mean his powers have been affected?

With this many questions, It could drive a gamer mad. But considering the game was just released, I suppose I shall have to depend upon my near non-existent patience until the time comes when hopefully more revealing information surfaces.

Final Fantasy XIII releases in Japan this Thursday. Again, patience.......

Speaking of patience, I recently saw the end of Borderlands and I must say the ending was truly disappointing. I mean it just kind of ended without anything really feeling all that resolved at all.

I say that I saw the ending because just as my girlfriend and I had played through everything and had finally reached the Vault, we decided to take a short break. Upon returning, what did I find?!

My data was corrupted. Yes, good bye 50+ hours of game play and all of that collected loot.

So do I really, REALLY want to play through all of that again? Meh, not exactly no... at least not at this very moment I don't. Perhaps a little later in the future? Every time I so much as think of that game I get annoyed by this lost. Reminds me of how I ended up losing my data in Gears of War 2.

Meh.

Patience!

Wait, this whole mess has got me thinking about that movie "Role Models" now. That is a funny movie and just one line keeps popping into my mind as I kept writing "Patience":

"Game face bro! Game face!"

Eddie "Umaga" Fatu 1973-2009

I would have hoped to be able to write about something positive, but alas that is just not to be. It is a sad way to start out the month of December, hearing about yet another death in the world of Professional Wrestling.

Yesterday Eddie Fatu, also known as "Umaga" in WWE, died apparently due to a pair of massive heart attacks. That is the story I've been reading and so far there has not been any further details. What is so very sad about all of this is the fact that the man was only 36 years old. That is just too young to go...

And to think that he had just wrestled recently and now he is gone. It goes to show you just how quickly life can end.

Rest in peace and thank you for the memories.