OH MY MY MY

Where does the time go? I'm already in college and I even managed to get a small and simple partnership for my lackluster YouTube channel! I' happy but I can't let it get to my head. No, this doesn't mean I'm going to become a huge star alongside by cohorts. I'm just happy that people enjoy the content that my friends and I put out. The channel is mostly gaming, but there's a lot of, "Little bit of this, little bit of that" going on. I mean, there's a podcast, there's a series of videos that teaches you how to play games in a sarcastic, trolling sort of way and I even started a series of videos that has people discussing their views on topics they care about.

Oh, and a junkload of LP's, if that's your thing.

But I'm also in College! Going to get my Bachelor's in Journalism. Gonna be good times and whatnot. The little child in me DESPERATELY wants to have my career in Gaming but hopes like that lead me nowhere, but I really would love that!

The Youtube channel is called, "The Team Monolith" if you care.

Link http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTeamMonolith

Be well!

Cookie Cutter, uninspiring and sequential.

Those are the words that come into my head when I think about gaming for this generation. Look back at the last five years and evaluate what the best titles were. Many of them were First-person shooters that look like they were injected with the blood of Micheal Bay. First-person shooters is bit of a dead horse now that companies like EA and Activision continue to beat until it continues to give them that shiny gold egg. These shiny gold eggs are indeed very shiny but what should be noted is that someone can only have one thing for so often until it becomes sickening to even hear the name, even if it's a shiny gold egg.


For my retreat away from FPS' , I point fingers at the powerhouse series known as "Call Of Duty". Don't get me wrong, I loved the series and it would be a bit hypocritical to say I don't enjoy the odd game of TDM in my afternoons, but COD creates a new game every year. These yearly births of highly rated titles generate two types of people, those who enjoy a shooter that hasn't changed since the creation of the Xbox and those who want some type of change. The change would really have to be large to really awe those who are currently selling their copies of COD to their local pawn shops but change or not, it doesn't stop them from eventually purchasing a copy of the latest, megaton hit to shoot people with their friends. They come home from their local Gamestop or Future Shop with the bag hanging loosely off two fingers. This is a sign of someone who is currently crossing those fingers for that groundbreaking shooter. But after you pop it in and watch that disc slowly disappear into the confines of your console/Pc, you know that you were lied to.

Again. I'm going to blunt, every Call Of Duty is a glorified re-skinned, expansion pack that you fork money for every year. If it entertains you, then great, you're one of those people who still delight in that bread and butter sandwhich. If you're like me who scowl at the new Black Ops II trailer then welcome to the party, drinks are at the back and you can get a honorary membership badge later on.

I don't mean to sound elitist or as if I'm holier than thou, I just want to make the point that FPS's are sort of on the border of being cookie cutter and being a drink coaster. I will say that there are many exceptions that attempt to break away from the horde. Games like Borderlands with their Diablo-isque loot system and RPG talent trees that allow you to customize your soldier of exploration and treasure hunting. Or games like Hard Reset, that resemble Serious Sam, a sub-genre of FPS which basically dips itself in 'A Clockwork Orange' and roars to the phrase, "Ultra Violence". Those shooters are different from the usual," My elite squad of soldiers that outrank me are waiting for me to move forward or else we shoot the same, neverending wave of enemies from that particular spawn point". Apparently there is no ," Sir, awaiting orders!" , it's now a silent protagonist that is the ultimate soldier that should be awarded every medal known to the military. But hey, it's a video game right, but wouldn't it be nice to not always be the guy that is unable to open the door and that your dumbfounded, elite sargeant opens it for you because you can't work a doorknob to the specified military standard.

But whatever, explosion, bang ,boom, scream, rockets, explosion, bullets, patriotism, and a giant heart warming scene where the soldier dies for his country. No matter what the game does, or doesn't too, it will always be slapped with a 9/10. And that's the bottomline, because paid advertisements and over-hyped sequels said so.

NOT GOING TO LIE

I've been doing not that much aside from playing games and stuff. Usual guy thing to do. I've graduated Highschool, and I'm going to be attending college pretty soon. I got time to kill and when I got the idea to visit Gamespot, I wondered if my account was still live. And it was! So here I am again, I will most likely be reviewing games both console and PC because I've invested in a computer that can actually pull that off. Small Blog, but hey, I'm back and I'm going to write reviews that will only matter to those who read it.




Good to be back.

~MerryXmas From Dafreewurld~

The wonderful time of the year where we all decide to empty our wallets in hopes of great games, great times and more importantly, a great Holiday season. I have to say, this is the 2nd year in the row that games have plagued wish lists all over the country. Last year was bad because of Fable II and I think Gears of War II (If I got my times right) werethe holiday wants. I think it's time to step back andsee what 2009brought us:

Borderlands - Beatles RockBand - Infamous - Mad World - The Sims 3 - Batman Arkham Asylum - Wolfenstein - Prototype - Modern Warfare 2 - Dragon Age: Origins - Guitar Hero 5 - Guitar Hero Metallica -Assassin's Creed II - Uncharted II - Left 4 Dead II - Resident Evil 5 - Brutal Legend - Halo 3 ODST - Killzone 2 - Final Fantasy Dissidia - Fear 2 - Afro Samurai - Skate 2 - Star Ocean 4 - UFC Undisputed - and Other's no one cares about!

2009 pumped out a lot of titles (Though this list shows more 360 games) and sadly, I think even MORE will appear next year! Here's hoping for another great New Year! Say goodbye to '09 and welcome 2010!

My Achievement for you!

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2010G - Happy New Year!

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I can't believe I had to blog about this!!

So I got Modern Warfare 2. Great, I'm happy and ambitious to play through it. Fighting terrorists and the world, chase scenes,EMP's,RPG's, chase scenes,Death by burning, death by gun shot, and then eventually tossing a knife into someone's eye. Decent.

BUT

Why is the online so laggy? And why are the people online so stupid? M16's make a drastic and dramatic come back with it's 3 burst ,and not to mention the FAMAS.Statistics of the National Board of Campers confirm that campers are now overjoyed as new areas for them to camp from without getting touched are now available for them. So band together campers, with your noob tubes,grenades,c4's,riot shields, WHATEVER!

Online is madness, and even causes me to yell at people for once. I never lose my cool and my attitude but JESUS, people think that since it's a new game, they can ruin it with Modern Campwarfare?Nah, and not only do I worry about that,but now the "Migrating host" stuff is ridiculous! Every 1 out of 3 games is going to be a laggy one, thus you quit it, adding a lost to your name. Right now I have like 129 wins and 134 losses, 33 were all from forfeiting,

Yes,I kept Count

IW should make a patch to clean up their network servers, or the world of COD is going to become cruel and unusual.

The Gamer's Unwritten Code

Every game with online capabilities has one. Whether it's no grenade launchers(I.e Noob Tubes) in Call of Duty 4 or not performing a double melee in Gears of War 1. Each game has a code that has been quickly stamped in the players head after a week of playing online.

The gamer nation has always been thought as nerdy,unruley and loud. But the actions in-game are quite ordered. Think of it as following the law, but in a game where you kill people with an assault rifle. This is how fun is preserved and equality is kept justified. Here's an example:

~Rules of Call of Duty 4~

1.One shall not use the Grenade Launcher attachement at all.

2.One shall not use the M16 for they will risk instant ridicule from his/her peers. This is subjectable if player is new to the game.

3.One shall not use Martyrdom for they will risk the same punishment listed in Rule #2.

4.One shall not use Juggernaught for they will risk the same punishments listed in Rule #2 and #3.

That's just an example, I'm sure there are more rules and more games that have these said rules. These unwritten rules keep the game in order, and keep online play fun for others. Though these rules do not stop any "Chirping" or bad mouthing of other player's but it does help in the fun factor of the game. The gamer nation is astounding on how a governmentless society can rule themselves discretely and effectively.

I was rocking out on Call of Duty 4 this morning,playing some Free for All when some idiots calls out,

"F$#% Dafreewurld!" and I have to think,"Well that wasn't nice".

Of course I said something's back but my point is that,Why do people weigh so heavily on other's gamertags? People have it in their heads that gamertags not only represent you, but they represent ALL of you. So when people read mine and call out about it, they think that I watch 8 Mile constantly and I listen to rap all the time.

Well, I do not listen to rap, I rather listen to Metal,Rock,or Indie and I haven't watch that movie in 2 years. Do people seriously have the tenacity to think that gamertags reveal that much? So if you met someone named MJ420, you think it's Micheal Jackson celebrating national Mary Jane day?

Anyways, after those guys called out, I had to own them 25 to 4.

It was the right thing to do, I feel bad for CocaineKitty23 and MtysonHEMP911.

The Community of Xbox live

..is harsh to say the least. You havemany different people you will run into.

The Squeakers:The kids with those voices that hurt your ears,makes them bleed, and causes you a headache.

The Hot-Shots:These are the people that talk tough, call people out to show their skills. These people play the game alot and know the "ins and outs". Beware about getting a arguement with these guys.

The Hardcore Gamers *MLG*:These guys are not Hot-shots, but they strive to be the best of the game to prove they are the best. They take the fun, and they put it in their guns and fire at you before you even know what happened. These guys are tough, but they are very influential in today's gaming culture.

The Good Gamers:The very nice and general kind of people that are rounded out and are very nice to talk to. They don't bring people down at all and they are very pleasant.

The Meaners:These people have it in their heads that if they are across the world from you, they can say whatever mean thing to you to bring you down and not get in trouble for it becaus they know you can't do a thing. Don't let these people get under your skin, because if they do, you're bound to get a headache in the next half hour.

The Ladies:I put this here because, YES gentleman, girls play too. They don't want you talking all nice to them and being asked,"Are you a girl?" all the time. They just want to play and game like everyone else. Equality people, practice it.

and that's pretty much it. Everytime I join a game, I sort people under all these categories subconciously. Though I wonder sometimes, has anyone encountered a Lady,Squeaking,Mean, Hardcore gaming,Hot shot? If so, That is one hardcore 8 year old female. Either way, I accept Xbox as it is, because it's community is what keeps us on our toes.

There is way to many games for the upcoming end of the year of '09. I mean, we just got through some sequels at the start of this year but now were being barraged by sequels of great games and being shown new ones that look really good themselves. I mean, we have Dragon Age a Neverwinter nights developer game that looks really, really good. Any people that like to be by themselves wanting to thrust a gigantic sword in some ugly monster's face , this is the game to do it in. Next Borderlands, this game makes me think of the new Prince of Persia in the way that it is cell shaded graphics, but I guess that's where it's charm is. Well other than being a First-person shooter rpg (Which is completely unheard of). But the big ones are Assassin's Creed II and Modern Warfare II. These are the big boys of the lot. These are the real money makers of last year, and Call of duty 4 still sells a lot. Everyone loved the first Assassin's Creed, despite saying it was "Repititive", they still played it. And Modern Warfare is just too fun in it's own right. The developers even added co-op in the game which probally will make it either really fun, or very easy, maybe even both. Either way, there's too many games. I mean, that's just the end of this year. In 2010, people are expectin Alan Wake, Final Fantasy XIII , possible new Elder Scrolls, and a new Dead space. Then the rumour bin comes flying out spilling it's contents all over my desk, showing me the "eventuals" and the "Possibly's".

All in all, I don't have a big enough wallet for this.